Intelligent wireless charging system

• US 10,270,298 B1
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products BV (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Chitrak, Files, Jace W., Roy, Mainak, Pattnaik, Aeiswarjya, Babu, Rathi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Sun J
• Application Number:
  US15/790,213
• Publication Number:
  US 20190123595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 547 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0087 with multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

In some examples, a wireless charging system includes a pressure sensitive plate, a plurality of charging coils, and a base that includes one or more processors and logic instructions. The logic instructions are executable by the one or more processors to detect a device placed on the pressure sensitive plate, determine coordinates of a plurality of vertices of the device, determine an approximate location of a receiver of the device, identify one or more charging coils of the plurality of charging coils that are nearest to the receiver of the device, and activate the one or more charging coils that are nearest to the receiver of the device, without activating a remaining charging coils of the plurality of charging coils.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by one or more processors of a wireless charging hub, a presence of a device that has been placed on a pressure sensitive plate of the wireless charging hub;

determining, by the one or more processors, coordinates of a plurality of vertices of the device;

determining, by the one or more processors, an approximate location of a receiver of the device, wherein the approximate location includes a locus and an orientation;

identifying, by the one or more processors, a charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device, wherein the charging coil is one charging coil of a plurality of charging coils of the wireless charging hub; and

activating, by the one or more processors, the charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a remaining charging coils of the plurality of charging coils are inactive.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining an approximate location of a receiver of the device comprises:

determining a center of the device based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining an approximate location of a receiver of the device comprises:

performing a search of a database based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device;

determining, based on a result of the search, that the database includes information associated with the device; and

determining the approximate location of the receiver of the device based on the information associated with the device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, a presence of a second device on the pressure sensitive plate;

determining a gap between the device and the second device;

determining an approximate location of a second receiver in the second device;

determining a second charging coil that is nearest to the second receiver; and

activating the second charging coil.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying a charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device comprises:

determining a subset of charging coils from the plurality of charging coils, wherein at least a portion of a particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils is located under the device;

for each particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils;

activating said each particular charging coil;

determining a charge rate of said each particular charging coil; and

associating the charge rate with said each particular charging coil; and

selecting, from among the subset of charging coils, a charging coil with a highest charging rate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, that the device is one of a large device or a small device.

8. A wireless charging hub comprising:

a pressure sensitive plate;

a plurality of charging coils; and

a base comprising one or more processors and logic, wherein the logic is executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

detecting that a device has been placed on the pressure sensitive plate;

determining coordinates of a plurality of vertices of the device;

identifying an approximate location of a receiver of the device;

identifying a charging coil of the plurality of charging coils that is nearest to the receiver of the device; and

activating the charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device without activating remaining charging coils of the plurality of charging coils.

9. The wireless charging hub of claim 8, wherein the identifying an approximate location of a receiver of the device comprises:

performing a search of a database based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device;

determining, based on a result of the search, that the database includes information associated with the device; and

determining the approximate location of the receiver of the device based on the information associated with the device.

10. The wireless charging hub of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, a presence of a second device on the pressure sensitive plate;

determining a gap between the device and the second device;

determining an approximate location of a second receiver in the second device;

determining a second charging coil that is nearest to the second receiver; and

activating the second charging coil.

11. The wireless charging hub of claim 8, wherein the identifying a charging coil of the plurality of charging coils that is nearest to the receiver of the device comprises:

determining a subset of charging coils from the plurality of charging coils, wherein at least a portion of a particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils is located under the device;

for each particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils;

activating said each particular charging coil;

determining a charge rate of said each particular charging coil; and

storing the charge rate associated with said each particular charging coil; and

selecting, from among the subset of charging coils, a charging coil with a highest charging rate.

12. The wireless charging hub of claim 8, wherein the logic is further configured to perform an operation comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, that the device is either a large device or a small device.

13. The wireless charging hub of claim 8, wherein the logic is further configured to perform an operation comprising:

wirelessly transmitting power from the charging coil to the receiver of the device.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising logic instructions executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

detecting a presence of a device placed on a pressure sensitive plate of a wireless charging hub;

determining coordinates of a plurality of vertices of the device;

determining an approximate location of a receiver of the device;

identifying a charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device, the charging coil is one charging coil of a plurality of charging coils of the wireless charging hub; and

activating the charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the determining an approximate location of a receiver of the device comprises:

determining a centroid of the device based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the determining an approximate location of a receiver of the device comprises:

performing a search of a database based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device; and

determining, based on a result of the search, the approximate location of the receiver of the device.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, a presence of a second device on the pressure sensitive plate;

determining a gap between the device and the second device;

determining an approximate location of a second receiver in the second device;

determining a second charging coil that is nearest to the second receiver; and

activating the second charging coil.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the identifying a charging coil that is nearest to the receiver of the device comprises:

determining a subset of charging coils from the plurality of charging coils, wherein at least a portion of a particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils is located under the device;

for each particular charging coil of the subset of charging coils;

activating said each particular charging coil for a predetermined amount of time;

determining a charge rate of said each particular charging coil; and

storing the charge rate with said each particular charging coil; and

selecting, from among the subset of charging coils, a charging coil with a charging rate that satisfies a predetermined threshold.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the coordinates of the plurality of vertices of the device, that the device is one of a large device or a small device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, further comprising:

deactivating remaining charging coils of the plurality of charging coils.