System and method of wirelessly charging devices

• US 10,305,314 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Chitrak, Roy, Mainak, Babu, Rathi, Pattnaik, Aeiswarjya
• Primary Examiner(s): Diao, M Baye
• Application Number:
  US15/612,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20180351387A1
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• 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 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00714 in response to battery charging or discharging current
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007182 in response to battery voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

In one or more embodiments, one or more systems, methods, and/or processes may supply, via wireless charging endpoints, more power to a first device of multiple devices than to a second device of the multiple devices. While the multiple devices are wirelessly coupled to the wireless charging endpoints, current data, from each of the multiple devices may be received. If historical data of each of the multiple devices is available via a storage medium: the current data may be compared with the most recently stored historical data, and based on comparing the current data with the most recently stored historical data, more power may be supplied to another device of the multiple devices than to at least one of the first device and the second device. If the historical data is not available, the current data may be stored, via the storage medium, as the most recent historical data.

Claims

1. A wireless charging system, comprising:

a wireless charging hub that includes a processor and a memory medium that is communicatively coupled to the processor and that includes instructions executable by the processor;

wherein when the processor executes the instructions, the wireless charging hub;

supplies, via a plurality of wireless charging endpoints wirelessly coupled to the wireless charging hub, more power to a first device of a plurality of devices than to a second device of the plurality of devices; and

while the plurality of devices are wirelessly coupled to the plurality of wireless charging endpoints, the wireless charging hub;

receives current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes a current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and a current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices;

determines if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via a storage medium;

if the historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium;

receives most recently stored historical data, from the storage medium, that includes a most recently stored charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and a most recently stored discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices;

compares the current data with the most recently stored historical data; and

based on comparing the current data with the most recently stored historical data, supplies more power to another device of the plurality of devices than to at least one of the first device and the second device; and

if the historical data, from each of the plurality of devices, is not available via the storage medium;

continues supplying, via the plurality of wireless charging endpoints, more power to the first device of the plurality of devices than to the second device of the plurality of devices; and

stores the current data via the storage medium as the most recent historical data.

2. The wireless charging system of claim 1,

wherein the other device is the second device;

and

wherein when the wireless charging hub supplies more power to the other device of the plurality of devices than to the at least one of the first device and the second device, the wireless charging hub supplies more power to the second device than to the first device.

3. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the wireless charging hub further:

detects a third device wirelessly coupled to a wireless charging endpoint of the plurality of wireless charging endpoints that does not provide any data; and

supplies less power to the third device, that does not provide any data, than to the plurality of devices that provided the current data.

4. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices includes at least one of a wireless telephone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computing device, a rechargeable battery, a wireless battery charger, a wireless keyboard, and a wireless pointing device.

5. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes the current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and the current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices further includes a current cut-off voltage of each of the plurality of devices and a current charge voltage of each of the plurality of devices.

6. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein when the wireless charging hub receives the current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes the current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and the current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices, the wireless charging system receives the current data via at least one of a Qi protocol and a Bluetooth protocol.

7. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein when the wireless charging hub determines if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium, the wireless charging hub determines if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium via a network.

8. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein wireless charging hub further:

receives a priority associated with a third device of the plurality of devices; and

based on the priority, supplies more power to the third device than to at least one of the first device, the second device, and the other device.

9. The wireless charging system of claim 1, further comprising:

the plurality of wireless charging endpoints.

10. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the wireless charging hub further:

determines that the first device has reached a limit of charging capacity; and

discontinues supplying power to the first device.

11. A method, comprising:

a wireless charging hub of a wireless charging system supplying, via a plurality of wireless charging endpoints, more power to a first device of a plurality of devices than to a second device of the plurality of devices; and

while the plurality of devices are wirelessly coupled to the plurality of wireless charging endpoints;

the wireless charging hub receiving current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes a current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and a current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices;

the wireless charging hub determining if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via a storage medium;

if the historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium;

the wireless charging hub receiving most recently stored historical data, from the storage medium, that includes a most recently stored charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and a most recently stored discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices;

the wireless charging hub comparing the current data with the most recently stored historical data; and

based on the wireless charging hub comparing the current data with the most recently stored historical data, the wireless charging hub supplying more power to another device of the plurality of devices than to at least one of the first device and the second device; and

if the historical data, from each of the plurality of devices, is not available via the storage medium;

the wireless charging hub continuing the supplying, via the plurality of wireless charging endpoints, more power to the first device of the plurality of devices than to the second device of the plurality of devices; and

the wireless charging hub storing the current data via the storage medium as the most recent historical data.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein the other device is the second device;

and

wherein the wireless charging hub supplying more power to the other device of the plurality of devices than to the at least one of the first device and the second device includes the wireless charging hub supplying more power to the second device than to the first device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the wireless charging hub detecting a device coupled to a wireless charging endpoint of the plurality of wireless charging endpoints that does not provide any data; and

the wireless charging hub supplying less power to the device that does not provide any data than to the plurality of devices that provided the current data.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of devices includes at least one of a wireless telephone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computing device, a rechargeable battery, a wireless battery charger, a wireless keyboard, and a wireless pointing device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes the current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and the current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices further includes a current cut-off voltage of each of the plurality of devices and a current charge voltage of each of the plurality of devices.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless charging hub receiving the current data, from each of the plurality of devices, that includes the current charge capacity of each of the plurality of devices and the current discharge rate of each of the plurality of devices includes the wireless charging hub receiving the current data via at least one of a Qi protocol and a Bluetooth protocol.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless charging hub determining if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium includes the wireless charging hub determining if historical data of each of the plurality of devices is available via the storage medium via a network.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the wireless charging hub receiving a priority associated with a third device of the plurality of devices; and

based on the priority, the wireless charging hub supplying more power to the third device than to at least one of the first device, the second device, and the other device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the wireless charging hub supplying more power to the third device of the plurality of devices than to the at least one of the first device, the second device, and the other device includes the wireless charging hub supplying more power to the third device of the plurality of devices than each of the first device, the second device, and the other device.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the wireless charging hub determining that the first device has reached a limit of charging capacity; and

the wireless charging hub discontinuing supplying power to the first device.