METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS TO OPTIMIZE A4WP WIRELESS CHARGING AND NFC CO-EXISTENCE

• US 20170085297A1
• Filed: 09/23/2015
• Published: 03/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gao, Jie, Yang, Songnan, KONANUR, ANAND S., Lin, Xintian, Karacaoglu, Ulun
• Granted Patent: US 10,673,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• 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: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The disclosure relates generally to method, system and apparatus to optimize wireless charging to identify a proximal Near-Field Communication (NFC) tag and prevent damage by a magnetic wireless charging field. The disclosed embodiment provide different methods for NFC tag detection without impacting A4WP wireless charging. In an exemplary method, dedicated NFC reader is used to interleave the NFC and A4WP signals on the same coil. In one implementation the signals are frequency-multiplexed. In another implementation, the signals are time-multiplexed.

Claims

1. A power transmission unit (PTU), comprising:

a controller having a processor circuitry and a memory circuitry;

a power amplifier for receiving an input to generate an amplified output;

a resonator coil in communication with the power amplifier, the resonator coil configured to generate an A4WP magnetic charging field and a secondary signal; and

a multiplexer in communication with the power amplifier and the resonator coil.

2. The PTU of claim 1, further comprising a Bluetooth Lowe Energy (BLE) communication platform for communicating with an external device.

3. The PTU of claim 1, further comprising a Near-Field Communication (NFC) reader to supply an NFC detectable signal to the multiplexer and to identify an NFC response received at the resonator coil.

4. The PTU of claim 3, wherein the controller directs the resonator coil to reduce the A4WP charging field when an NFC response signal is detected at the NFC reader.

5. The PTU of claim 4, wherein the controller continually detects the NFC signal while the resonator generates the A4WP magnetic field to charge an external device.

6. The PTU of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer further comprises circuitry with frequency selectivity to reject the out-of-channel interference and matching network.

7. The PTU of claim 1, wherein the controller directs the resonator coil to reduce the A4WP magnetic charging field if a proximal NFC device is detected.

8. A power transmission unit (PTU), comprising:

a controller having a processor circuitry and a memory circuitry;

a power amplifier for receiving an input to generate an amplified output;

a resonator coil in communication with the power amplifier, the resonator coil configured to sequentially generate an A4WP magnetic charging field and an NFC polling signal; and

a multiplexer in communication with the power amplifier and the resonator coil.

9. The PTU of claim 8, wherein the multiplexer is configured to periodically generate NFC polling signal and interleave the A4WP magnetic charging field and the NFC polling signal.

10. The PTU of claim 8, wherein the resonator coil is configured to provide one or more of a short beacon signal and a long beacon signal to detect presence of a proximal chargeable device.

11. The PTU of claim 10, wherein the resonator is further programmed to detect a load variation in response to the detected proximal chargeable device.

12. The PTU of claim 10, further comprising a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication platform to communicate with the detected proximal chargeable device.

13. The PTU of claim 8, further comprising an NFC polling reader to receive NFC signal from a proximal NFC device when the NFC device is powered by an NFC field.

14. A method to detect a Near-Field Communication (NFC) device proximal to a wireless charging station, comprising:

generating an NFC signal and an NFC detection zone;

generating a first magnetic field, the first magnetic field defining a charging zone to wirelessly charge an external device within the wireless charging zone;

detecting presence of an NFC device at or near the NFC detection zone;

generating a second magnetic field in response to detecting the NFC device; and

confirming presence of the NFC device at or near the NFC detection zone while simultaneously generating the second magnetic field.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein confirming presence of the NFC device further comprises multiplexing an NFC signal and a magnetic field at a resonator coil.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein generating a second magnetic field in response to detecting presence of the NFC device further comprises reducing the first magnetic field to a predefined level.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising continually generating the second magnetic field while detecting presence of the NFC device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein confirming presence of the NFC device further comprises providing an indication of the NFC device presence.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising communicating with a wireless charging (WC) receiver to decrease or increase WC field strength using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signaling.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the first magnetic field is defined by about 6.78 MHz frequency and the second magnetic field is defined by about 13.56 MHz frequency.

21. A method to detect an NFC device proximal to a wireless charging station, comprising:

generating a short beacon at a wireless charging station;

detecting load modulation at the wireless charging station, the load modulation indicating presence of a proximal device;

if the proximal device is detected, generating a long beacon;

generating a Near-Field Communication (NFC) signal at a period subsequent to generating the short or the long beacon; and

detecting a response to the NFC signal.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising sequentially multiplexing an NFC signal and a magnetic field at a resonator coil.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating the NFC signal subsequent to generating the short beacon.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating the NFC signal subsequent to generating the long beacon.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) advertisement from the NFC device.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising detecting the response to the NFC signal through a resonator coil used of the wireless charging station.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating a magnetic field for wirelessly charging a device if no proximal NFC device is detected.

28. The method of claim 21, further comprising communicating presence of a wireless charging (WC) receiver and the NFC device.

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

generating a short beacon at a wireless charging station;

detecting load modulation at the wireless charging station, the load modulation indicating presence of a proximal device;

if the proximal device is detected, generating a long beacon;

generating a Near-Field Communication (NFC) signal at a period subsequent to generating the short or the long beacon; and

detecting a response to the NFC signal.

30. The medium of claim 29, further comprising sequentially multiplexing an NFC signal and a magnetic field at a resonator coil.

31. The medium of claim 29, further comprising generating the NFC signal subsequent to generating the short beacon.

32. The medium of claim 29, further comprising generating the NFC signal subsequent to generating the long beacon.

33. The medium of claim 29, further comprising receiving a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) advertisement from the NFC device.

34. The medium of claim 29, further comprising detecting the response to the NFC signal through a resonator coil used of the wireless charging station.

35. The medium of claim 29, further comprising generating a magnetic field for wirelessly charging a device if no proximal NFC device is detected.

36. The medium of claim 29, further comprising communicating presence of a wireless charging (WC) receiver and the NFC device.