Method and apparatus for energy harvest from a proximity coupling device

• US 10,503,939 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2014
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gao, Jie, Lin, Xintian E., Konanur, Anand S., Karacaoglu, Ulun
• Primary Examiner(s): Gudorf, Laura A
• Application Number:
  US14/582,344
• Publication Number:
  US 20160188919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 235492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0709 the source being an interrogation field
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10158 methods and means used by the interrogation device for reliably powering the wireless record carriers using an electromagnetic interrogation field
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices

Abstract

The disclosure generally relates to a method and apparatus for energy harvest from a proximity coupling device (PCD) by a proximity integrated circuit card. In one embodiment, the PICC includes an integrated BLE. The BLE may be exclusively charged by the external magnetic field received from the PCD. The PCD may be configured to detect when the PICC is nearby and increase its duty cycle to thereby increase the magnetic field imposed on the PICC. The PICC may include circuitry to receive and convert the magnetic field to electric potential or voltage. The voltage may be store at a capacitor for BLE'"'"'s usage.

Claims

1. A proximity integrated circuit card (PICC), comprising:

a resonant circuit to receive magnetic energy from a proximity coupling device (PCD);

a rectifier to convert the magnetic energy received at the resonant circuit to a voltage energy;

a capacitor to receive and store the voltage energy from the rectifier;

a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio to electrically communicate with the capacitor and to be powered by the voltage energy stored in the capacitor; and

a PICC processor to communicate with the PCD through the BLE radio;

wherein the PCD is configured to detect a nearby PICC and to increase duty cycle of the PCD to expose the PICC to increased magnetic field generated by the PCD to thereby charge the PICC during the duty cycle.

2. The PICC of claim 1, wherein the BLE radio is configured to be powered exclusively by the voltage energy stored in the capacitor.

3. The PICC of claim 1, wherein the resonant circuit receives magnetic energy from the PCD.

4. The PICC of claim 1, wherein the BLE radio is configured to communicate login information with an external device.

5. A tangible machine-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

discovering a proximity integrated circuit card (PICC) within a magnetic field range of a proximity coupling device (PCD);

identifying the discovered PICC as having a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication platform powered by harvested energy;

communicating with the PCD through the BLE communication platform of the PICC;

increasing duty cycle of the PCD to expose the PICC to increased magnetic field generated by the PCD to thereby charge the PICC during the duty cycle;

resuming default duty cycle when the PICC is outside of the magnetic field range of the PCD.

6. The tangible machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 5, wherein discovering the PICC within the magnetic field range further comprises transmitting a request (REQ) command to the PICC and receiving an answer to request (ATQ) from the PICC.

7. The tangible machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 6, wherein discovering the PICC within a magnetic field range further comprises determining whether a plurality of designated bits in the ATQ indicate energy harvest requirement.

8. The tangible machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further comprise increasing duty cycle of the magnetic field if energy harvest requirement is indicated.

9. The tangible machine-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further comprise detecting movement of the PICC away from the PCD.

10. A proximity coupling device (PCD) comprising one or more processors and circuitry, the circuitry including:

a first logic to discover a proximity integrated circuit card (PICC) within a magnetic field range of the PCD;

a second logic to determine the discovered PICC as having a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio and to direct BLE communication between the PCD and the PICC using the BLE radio, the second logic to identify the discovered PICC as having a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication platform powered by harvested energy;

a third logic to increase duty cycle of the PCD to expose the PICC to increased magnetic field and to thereby charge the PICC during the duty cycle, the third logic configured to resume a default duty cycle when the PICC is outside of the magnetic field range of the PCD.

11. The PCD of claim 10, wherein the first logic discovers the PICC within the magnetic field by transmitting a request (REQ) command to the PICC and receiving an answer to request (ATQ) from the PICC.

12. The PCD of claim 11, wherein the second logic determines whether a plurality of designated bits in the ATQ indicate BLE availability.

13. The PCD of claim 12, wherein the third logic increases duty cycle of the magnetic field for a duration only if the BLE is available.

14. The PCD of claim 13, wherein the first logic further detects movement of the PICC away from the PCD and causes the third logic to resume the default duty cycle.