SYSTEMS, DEVICES AND METHODS INVOLVING DEVICE IDENTIFICATION

• US 20130234839A1
• Filed: 03/08/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Williams, Rodney Owen
• Granted Patent: US 9,569,957 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/12.32
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/04 using variable resistance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods involving device identification are provided. In this regard, a representative system includes: a first device having a first power line and a first connector, the first connector being coupled to the first power line; and a second device having a second power line and a second connector, the second connector being coupled to the second power line and sized and shaped to mate with the first connector such that the first device electrically communicates with the second device; the first device being operative to modulate impedance exhibited at the first power line; the second device being operative to detect the modulated impedance and correlate the modulated impedance with an identification of the first device.

Claims

1. A system for device identification comprising:

a first device having a first power line and a first connector, the first connector being coupled to the first power line; and

a second device having a second power line and a second connector, the second connector being coupled to the second power line and sized and shaped to mate with the first connector such that the first device electrically communicates with the second device;

the first device being operative to modulate impedance exhibited at the first power line;

the second device being operative to detect the modulated impedance and correlate the modulated impedance with an identification of the first device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first device has a first oscillator and the second device has a second oscillator;

the second oscillator is electrically coupled to the second power line and operative to impose oscillations on the second power line;

the first device is operative to respond to oscillations on the first power line corresponding to the oscillations imposed on the second power line.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first device further comprises an impedance modulator capacitively coupled to the first power line, the impedance modulator being powered, at least in part, by electrical charge attributable to the oscillations imposed on the second power line and propagated to the first device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the first oscillator is capacitively coupled to the first power line; and

the second oscillator is capacitively coupled to the second power line.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first device is an accessory and the second device is a mobile device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the second device further comprises a battery charging circuit electrically coupled to the second power line; and

the first device is operative to charge the second device by providing power to the battery charging circuit.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first connector is a USB connector and the second connector is a USB connector.

9. A mobile device for use with an accessory, the mobile device comprising:

a USB connector;

a power line electrically connected to the USB connector;

a battery charging circuit electrically connected to the power line, the battery charging circuit being operative to receive power via the power line for charging a battery of the mobile device; and

a device detection system capacitively coupled to the power line, the device detection system being operative to sense an impedance modulation imposed upon the power line, the impedance modulation being imposed upon the power line by an accessory connected to the USB connector, and correlate the impedance modulation with an identification of the accessory.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the device detection system further comprises:

a signal conditioner operative to isolate the impedance modulation from a power signal transmitted by the power line;

an analog-to-digital converter electrically coupled to the signal conditioner and operative to receive a conditioned signal from the signal conditioner and, responsive thereto, provide a digital signal corresponding to the impedance modulation; and

a processor operative to receive the digital signal and, responsive thereto, correlate the digital signal with the identification of the accessory.

11. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the mobile device is configured as a smart phone.

12. The mobile device of claim 9, further comprising an oscillator capacitively coupled to the power line and operative to impose an oscillation on the power line.

13. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the mobile device is operative to selectively alter a mode of operation based, at least in part, on the identification of the accessory.

14. An accessory configured to connect to a mobile device, the accessory comprising:

a USB connector;

a power line electrically connected to the USB connector; and

an impedance modulating system capacitively coupled to the power line, the impedance modulating system being operative to impose an impedance modulation upon the power line, the impedance modulation corresponding to an identification of the accessory.

15. The accessory of claim 14, wherein the impedance modulating system has a power converter operative to store energy extracted from oscillations imposed on the power line by the mobile device.

16. A method for device identification comprising:

detecting, with a first device, an impedance modulation attributable to a second device; and

correlating, by the first device, the impedance modulation with predefined impedance modulations such that an identification of the second device is determined.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising propagating the impedance modulation from the second device to the first device via mated connectors of the respective devices.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the impedance modulation is imposed on a power signal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising using the power signal to charge the first device.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing oscillations, by the first device, on the power signal; and

using the oscillations to initiate the impedance modulations.