Electronic unit for notifying user of charging state in non-contact power feeding system

• US 10,541,569 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2019
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Akiyoshi, Koichi, Uramoto, Yoichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Levin, Naum
• Application Number:
  US16/267,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20190173322A1
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence
• 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 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge

Abstract

An electronic unit includes an electricity reception section that receives power transmitted using one of a magnetic field and an electric field, a secondary battery that is charged based on a received power received by the electricity reception section, and a state notification section that provides notification to outside as to a state of its own unit. A charging period during which the secondary battery is charged based on the received power and a non-charging period are set in a time-divisional manner. The state notification section notifies of the unit state based on the received power in both of the charging period and the non-charging period.

Claims

1. An electronic unit, comprising:

an electricity reception section configured to receive a power transmitted via one of a magnetic field or an electric field;

a secondary battery;

a charging section configured to store, in a charging period, the received power in the secondary battery;

and

a state notification section configured to;

notify, in the charging period, information of the electronic unit to an outside environment of the electronic unit by utilization of the received power from the electricity reception section; and

notify, in a non-charging period, the information of the electronic unit to the outside environment by utilization of the stored power in the secondary battery.

2. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein the state notification section includes:

a lighting section configured to notify the information based on a lighting state; and

a lighting control section configured to control the lighting state of the lighting section based on the received power.

3. The electronic unit according to claim 2, further comprising:

a control section configured to control the lighting state in the non-charging period based on the stored power.

4. The electronic unit according to claim 3, wherein

the control section is further configured to control the lighting state based on the stored power in an overlapping period,

the overlapping period overlaps with the charging period, and

the overlapping period is before and after the non-charging period.

5. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein the non-charging period is a period in which the electronic unit is configured to communicate with a power feeding unit that transmits the power.

6. The electronic unit according to claim 5, wherein, in the non-charging period, supply of the received power is stopped to each of the charging section, the state notification section, and a load located in a downstream of the charging section and the state notification section.

7. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein the non-charging period is continuously set based on a completion of the storage of the received power in the secondary battery.

8. The electronic unit according to claim 7, wherein

the non-charging period is set at a first frequency based on the completion of the storage of the received power in the secondary battery,

the non-charging period is set at a second frequency during the storage of the received power in the secondary battery, and

the first frequency is lower than the second frequency.

9. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein the state notification section is further configured to separately notify

first information of the electronic unit during the storage of the received power in the secondary battery, and

second information of the electronic unit that indicates a completion of the storage of the received power in the secondary battery.

10. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein

in the non-charging period, the state notification section is further configured to notify the information of the electronic unit based on a part of the received power.

11. A power feeding system, comprising:

at least one electronic unit; and

a power feeding unit configured to transmit a power to the at least one electronic unit via one of a magnetic field or an electric field,

wherein each electronic unit of the at least one electronic unit includes;

an electricity reception section configured to receive the power;

a secondary battery;

a charging section configured to store, in a charging period, the received power in the secondary battery;

and

a state notification section configured to;

notify, in the charging period, information of the electronic unit to an outside environment of the electronic unit by utilization of the received power from the electricity reception section; and

notify, in a non-charging period, the information of the electronic unit to the outside environment by utilization of the stored power in the secondary battery.