METHOD AND WEARABLE DEVICE FOR ENERGY SHARING NETWORK

• US 20140285134A1
• Filed: 11/14/2013
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Sang Joon, MUN, Min Young, CHOI, Chang Mok
• Granted Patent: US 9,343,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/103
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034

Abstract

A device and a method for an energy sharing network may include an energy store configured to store energy; an energy transmitter-receiver configured to transmit energy and energy related information to at least one neighbor device and to receive energy and energy related information from at least one neighbor device; and a controller configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver based on a predetermined condition.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an energy store configured to store energy;

an energy transmitter-receiver configured to transmit energy and energy related information to at least one neighbor device and to receive energy and energy related information from at least one neighbor device; and

a controller configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver based on a predetermined condition.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an energy generator configured to generate energy and to store the generated energy in the energy store.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the energy generator comprises at least one of a piezoelectric power generator, a solar cell, an acoustic noise power generator, a temperature difference power generator, a nanogenerator, or a radio frequency (RF) wave power generator.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver to search for the neighbor device when the energy in the energy store is less than a predetermined threshold.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver to transmit a predetermined control signal to request energy sharing to the neighbor device when the energy in the energy storage is less than a predetermined threshold.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver to transmit the predetermined control signal to a neighbor device having a greatest amount of energy, based on the energy related information.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver to transmit the energy to a neighbor device when an amount of energy in the energy store is greater than a predetermined boundary value at a time when a predetermined control signal to request energy sharing is received.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter-receiver is configured to transmit energy to and receive energy from the at least one neighbor device that satisfies the predetermined condition.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter-receiver is configured to interact with the neighbor device using a magnetic near field channel.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter-receiver comprises a magnetic near field antenna.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy store comprises at least one of a super capacitor, a lithium ion rechargeable battery, a power supplier or a thin film battery.

12. A method of sharing energy, the method comprising:

monitoring a first amount of energy in a device;

receiving energy related information from a neighbor device; and

sharing energy with the neighbor device by transmitting and receiving a second amount of energy and the energy related information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating energy; and

storing the generated energy.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the receiving of the energy related information comprises searching for the neighbor device when the first amount of energy in the device is less than a predetermined threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the sharing of the energy comprises:

transmitting a predetermined control signal to request energy sharing to the neighbor device when the first amount of energy in the device is less than a predetermined threshold; and

receiving the second amount of energy from the neighbor device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the sharing comprises:

transmitting the predetermined control signal to a neighbor device having a greatest amount of energy, based on the energy related information.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the sharing comprises:

transmitting the energy to the neighbor device when the amount of energy in the device is greater than a predetermined boundary value at a point in time when the predetermined control signal for requesting energy sharing is received.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the sharing comprises:

transmitting the energy in the case of accepting a request for sharing energy in response to a predetermined control signal for requesting energy sharing.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the sharing comprises:

sharing the energy with at least one device that satisfies the predetermined condition.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having thereon a program to execute the energy sharing method of claim 12 with a computer.

21. A method of sharing energy between devices, the method comprising:

monitoring a energy level of a first device;

obtaining, at the first device, energy related information from a second device; and

receiving, at the first device, a first amount of energy from the second device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the obtaining of the energy related information comprises:

searching for the second device;

transmitting a predetermined control signal to the second device to request energy related information; and

receiving the energy related information from the second device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the searching for the second device comprises searching for the second device when the energy level of the first device is less than a predetermined threshold.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the receiving the first amount of energy comprises:

transmitting a predetermined control signal to request energy transfer to the second device when the energy level is below a predetermined threshold; and

receiving the first amount of energy from the second device.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting a second amount of energy from the first device to the second device.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the transmitting of the second amount of energy comprises transmitting the second amount of energy to the second device when the energy level of the first device is greater than a predetermined boundary value at a point in time when a request for energy transfer is received.