Apparatuses and methods that facilitate the transfer of power and information among electrical devices

• US 20080166968A1
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Christie, Greg, Rabu, Stanley, Dorogusker, Jesse L., Tikalsky, Terry, Terlizzi, Jeffrey, Tang, John, McKillop, Christopher D., Novotney, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,401,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention is directed to apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer readable media that can facilitate the transfer of power between at least two electrical devices. At least one of the electrical devices is preferably a battery operated device. The present invention may also be used to facilitate the transfer of information among electrical devices. For example, the present invention may be used to automatically pair two Bluetooth devices together.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

electrically coupling a first Bluetooth device and a second Bluetooth device together;

in response to the first Bluetooth device being coupled to the second device, determining whether the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing; and

in response to determining that the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing, canceling the automatic Bluetooth pairing process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing occurs in response to the second Bluetooth device having a setting that conflicts with part of the Bluetooth pairing process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the setting is an airplane mode setting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing occurs in response to the second Bluetooth device having an active link to a third Bluetooth device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, subsequent to the canceling the automatic Bluetooth pairing process, that the second Bluetooth device is enabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing; and

automatically pairing the first Bluetooth device and second Bluetooth device together.

6. An apparatus, comprising:

a port that electrically couples a first Bluetooth device and a second Bluetooth device together;

a microcontroller that;

in response to the first Bluetooth device being electrically coupled to the second device, determines whether the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing; and

in response to determining that the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing, cancels the automatic Bluetooth pairing process.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the microcontroller determines that the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing in response to determining that the second Bluetooth device has a setting that conflicts with part of the automatic Bluetooth pairing process.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the setting is an airplane mode setting.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the microcontroller determines that the second Bluetooth device is disabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing in response to determining that the second Bluetooth device is actively linked to a third Bluetooth device.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the microcontroller:

continues to monitor whether the Bluetooth device is enabled for automatic pairing subsequent to the canceling of the automatic Bluetooth pairing process;

subsequently determines that the second Bluetooth device is enabled for automatic Bluetooth pairing; and

automatically pairs the first Bluetooth device and second Bluetooth device.

11. An apparatus that facilitates the charging of a first and a second device, comprising:

a first port that electrically couples the first device to the apparatus, wherein the first device is battery powered;

a second port that electrically couples a second device to the apparatus, wherein the second device is battery powered;

a third port that electrically couples a third device to the apparatus; and

a microcontroller that facilitates;

a transfer of power from the first device to the second device via the apparatus; and

a transfer of power from the third device to the first device via the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first device is a cellular telephone.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first device is an media player.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first port is a 30-pin connector.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second device is wireless headset that is used with a cellular telephone.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the microcontroller facilitates a transfer of information between the first and second devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the microcontroller facilitates a transfer of information between the second and third devices.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the microcontroller facilitates a transfer of information between the first and third devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the third port receives a USB cable that couples the apparatus to the third device, wherein the third device is a computer.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the microcontroller, in response to the third device being decoupled from the apparatus, is further operative to facilitate:

canceling of the transfer of power from the first device to the second device via the apparatus; and

canceling of the transfer of power from the third device to the first device via the apparatus.

21. A method that facilitates the charging of at least one battery powered electrical device, comprising:

electrically coupling a first device to a second device;

electrically coupling the second device to a third device;

charging the second device from the first device; and

charging the first device from the third device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the charging the second device from the first device occurs in response to charging the first device from the third device.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the charging the second device from the first device occurs in response to the electrical coupling of the first device to the third device.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the charging the second device from the first device only occurs when the third device is electrically coupled to the first device.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the assigning the first device a medium priority is in response to identifying the first device as a medium priority device.

26. The method of claim 21 further comprising operating the first device as a cellular telephone.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the electrically coupling comprises physically connecting the first device to a 30-pin connector.

28. The method of claim 21 further comprising facilitating a transfer of information between the first and second devices.

29. The method of claim 21 further comprising identifying the third device as a device that has access to a continuous source of power.

30. The method of claim 21 further comprising identifying the third device as being a USB cable to a computer.

31. An apparatus that facilitates the charging of at least one battery powered electrical device, comprising:

a first port that electrically couples a first device to the apparatus, wherein the first device is battery powered;

a second port that electrically couples a second device to the apparatus, wherein the second device is battery powered;

a third port that electrically couples a third device to the apparatus; and

a microcontroller that;

assigns the first device a medium priority;

assigns the second device a high priority;

assigns the third device a low priority; and

facilitates the transfer of power from the first device to the second device via the apparatus based on the priorities assigned to the first device, second device, and third device, wherein;

power flows from the lowest priority port to the medium priority port;

power flows from the medium priority port to the highest priority port; and

power stops flowing to all ports when the third device is decoupled from the lowest priority port.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein power stops flowing to all ports in response to:

the microcontroller assigning the apparatus a priority higher than the third device and lower than the first device; and

the apparatus lacking a source of power to provide to the medium priority port.