DC Motor with coil inside a rotating magnet. How does it work?
The coils in brushless DC motors are not energized by strictly DC current. The electronic control circuitry periodically changes the direction of the current and/or directs the current to different coils. Thus brushless DC motors are more like AC motors than DC motors. Note that this motor contains an electronic control circuit that is not included in the patent except to say that it is the same as used in conventional motors. The control for this motor likely periodically reverses the current in the single coil so that it alternately attracts and repels the permanent magnet rotor poles so that they provide torque to drive the motor.

I don't see a mechanism for determining which direction the motor will turn. Perhaps the circuit board contains components that detect the position of the rotor magnets and times the current reversals to determine direction and govern the speed.

You might want to look at the subsequent patents by the same person that cite this patent. Later improvements may reveal something more. One of the prior patents cited may have information about the circuit board.