Communication and wire-free energy transmission between telecommunication terminals

• US 10,389,409 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2016
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
• Original Assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
• Inventors: Kurz, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/554,718
• Publication Number:
  US 20180241435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 320107, 320108, 320114, 320115, 320116
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A method for communication between at least a first telecommunication terminal and a second telecommunication terminal includes: in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, transmitting a message comprising energy transmission information from the first telecommunication terminal to the second telecommunication terminal, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal; and increasing the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal, or transmitting at least one message between a telecommunication network and the second telecommunication terminal, for the first telecommunication terminal.

Claims

1. A method for communication between at least a first telecommunication terminal and a second telecommunication terminal, the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each having a wide-area communications interface and a close-range communications interface, the wide-area communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange with a telecommunication network, the close-range communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange between the first and the second telecommunication terminals, the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each having an energy store for storing electrical energy and each having an energy transmission interface, the energy transmission interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured both for transmitting electrical energy to the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals and for transmitting electrical energy from the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals, the method comprising:

in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, transmitting a message comprising energy transmission information via the close-range communications interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the close-range communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal from the first telecommunication terminal to the second telecommunication terminal, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal; and

increasing the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal via the energy transmission interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the energy transmission interface of the second telecommunication terminal, or transmitting at least one message between the telecommunication network and the second telecommunication terminal, for the first telecommunication terminal, via the wide-area communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal;

wherein the first and second telecommunication terminals are positioned in a predetermined physical arrangement relative to one another as part of a physical arrangement of shipment units.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein an information exchange between the first and second telecommunication terminals takes place via the close-range communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charge state of the energy store of the second telecommunication terminal is increased via the energy transmission interface of the second telecommunication terminal and via an energy source or energy transmission interface of a further telecommunication terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second telecommunication terminals are positioned on top of one another or side by side.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein an energy source or an energy transmission interface is arranged in or on an outer region of the physical arrangement of shipment units, wherein in a first energy charging step one or more energy stores of one or more telecommunication terminals arranged directly adjacent to the energy source or energy transmission interface are charged, and in a second energy charging step one or more energy stores of one or more telecommunication terminals arranged next closest to the energy source or energy transmission interface are charged.

6. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the first and second telecommunication terminals are arranged in at least one of the following configurations:

directly mutually adjacent;

or

directly adjacent in a diagonal direction with respect to the physical arrangement of the shipment units;

or

with at most one intermediate layer of shipment units;

or

with at most two intermediate layers of shipment units;

or

with at most three intermediate layers of shipment units;

or

with at most four intermediate layers of shipment units;

or

with at most five intermediate layers of shipment units.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the increase in the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal takes place via the respective energy transmission interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals by inductive energy transmission and/or by resonant energy transmission.

8. A telecommunication terminal for communication with a second telecommunication terminal, the telecommunication terminal comprising:

a wide-area communications interface, configured for data exchange with a telecommunication network;

a close-range communications interface, configured for data exchange with a close-range communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal;

an energy store for storing electrical energy; and

an energy transmission interface, configured both for transmitting electrical energy to the energy store of the telecommunication terminal and/or second telecommunication terminal and for transmitting electrical energy from the energy store of the telecommunication terminal and/or second telecommunication terminal;

wherein the close-range communication interface of the telecommunication terminal is configured to transmit a message comprising energy transmission information to the second telecommunication terminal in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the telecommunication terminal; and

wherein the energy store of the telecommunication terminal is configured to have its charge state increased via the energy transmission interface of the telecommunication terminal;

wherein the telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal are positioned in a predetermined physical arrangement relative to one another as part of a physical arrangement of shipment units.

9. A telecommunication terminal for communication with a first telecommunication terminal, the telecommunication terminal comprising:

a wide-area communications interface, configured for data exchange with a telecommunication network;

a close-range communications interface, configured for data exchange with the first telecommunication terminal;

an energy store for storing electrical energy; and

an energy transmission interface, configured both for transmitting electrical energy to the energy store of the telecommunication terminal and/or the first telecommunication terminal and for transmitting electrical energy from the energy store of the telecommunication terminal and/or first telecommunication terminal;

wherein the close-range communication interface is configured to receive a message comprising energy transmission information from the first telecommunication terminal in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal; and

wherein the energy transmission interface is configured to increase the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal, or the wide-area communications interface is configured to transmit at least one message for the first telecommunication terminal between the telecommunication network and the telecommunication terminal;

wherein the telecommunication terminal and the first telecommunication terminal are positioned in a predetermined physical arrangement relative to one another as part of a physical arrangement of shipment units.

10. A system for communication between at least a first telecommunication terminal and a second telecommunication terminal, the system comprising:

the first telecommunication terminal;

the second telecommunication terminal; and

a telecommunication network;

wherein the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each have a wide-area communications interface and a close-range communications interface, the wide-area communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange with the telecommunication network, the close-range communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange between the first and the second telecommunication terminal;

wherein the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each have an energy store for storing electrical energy and each have an energy transmission interface, the energy transmission interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured both for transmitting electrical energy to the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals and for transmitting electrical energy from the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals;

wherein the first telecommunication terminal is configured to transmit, in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, a message comprising energy transmission information to the second telecommunication terminal via the close-range communications interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the close-range communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal to the second telecommunication terminal, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal; and

wherein the first telecommunication terminal is configured to have the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal increased via the energy transmission interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the energy transmission interface of the second telecommunication terminal, or wherein the second telecommunication terminal is configured to transmit at least one message between the telecommunication network and the second telecommunication terminal, for the first telecommunication terminal, via the wide-area communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal;

wherein the first and second telecommunication terminals are positioned in a predetermined physical arrangement relative to one another as part of a physical arrangement of shipment units.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for communication between at least a first telecommunication terminal and a second telecommunication terminal, the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each having a wide-area communications interface and a close-range communications interface, the wide-area communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange with a telecommunication network, the close-range communications interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured for data exchange between the first and the second telecommunication terminals, the first telecommunication terminal and the second telecommunication terminal each having an energy store for storing electrical energy and each having an energy transmission interface, the energy transmission interfaces of the first and second telecommunication terminals being configured both for transmitting electrical energy to the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals and for transmitting electrical energy from the energy store of the first and/or second telecommunication terminals, the processor-executable instructions, when executed, facilitating performance of the following:

in the event that a charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal is below a predetermined reference charge state, transmitting a message comprising energy transmission information via the close-range communications interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the close-range communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal from the first telecommunication terminal to the second telecommunication terminal, the energy transmission information comprising a request to transmit additional energy to the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal; and

increasing the charge state of the energy store of the first telecommunication terminal via the energy transmission interface of the first telecommunication terminal and via the energy transmission interface of the second telecommunication terminal, or transmitting at least one message between the telecommunication network and the second telecommunication terminal, for the first telecommunication terminal, via the wide-area communications interface of the second telecommunication terminal;

wherein the first and second telecommunication terminals are positioned in a predetermined physical arrangement relative to one another as part of a physical arrangement of shipment units.