Most vacuum cleaners have a brush roller that beats the carpet. Sometimes they have a bar on the roller to beat the carpet that is called a "beater bar". The rollers are often called "beater brushes".

Sorry, I guess I should have actually commented on your idea. It might work, I don't know. Pulsing the suction could be done with a valve that opens and closes quickly. This would not only provide a "beating" effect, but also might increase the maximum suction pressure momentarily. While the valve is closed it could build up vacuum which would then produce a sudden surge when it opens.

I visualized the valve might be one tube nested inside another with a lubricated tight fit. Both tubes have holes piercing both sides so that when the holes match up the valve is open but when the inside tube spins so the holes do not match there is a seal. In effect the valve could be turned on or off to permit standard suction or spun to create a beater effect, much like the control on an electric drill which offers a smooth spin or a hammer effect.

I don't think the engineering of a method to pulse vacuum would be very hard-just a spinning wheel with slits in it would do.

But I don't actually think it would vacuum better. Seems to me that beating a rug add a lot of energy to the rug. Where pulsing the vacuum may even decrease the energy that would be expended because the work the motor would do would be less when the vacuum was blocked. Unless you can tune it to get a water-hammer effect...that might increase the instantaneous energy. I guess try it by kinking the hose...

I think that the primary effect of beating is to accelerate and flex the rug, causing the dirt to sort of spray off due to it's own inertia, and this could be done with a vacuum. the vacuum would have a near seal around it's edges and create a momentary vacuum pressure sufficient to lift that small area of the carpet, assuming it is not a glued carpet. then the vacuum would release, allowing the unit to be moved. in this way, the beating effect could be simulated by pulsating vacuum, but it would require a far more substatial vacuum pump than a standard vacuum, those don't really create much pressure, they just move a lot of air, but the dead time could allow vacuum pressure to buildup in an air tank, then be released, making this a bit easier. I'm not sure it would be much more effective than the regular vacuum, but i think it is worth a try. I know that when i beat my car's floormats after vacuuming, i get a lot more dirt out.