RF RECEIVER

• US 20170111073A1
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Published: 04/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Hajimiri, Seyed Ali, Bohn, Florian, Abiri, Behrooz
• Granted Patent: US 11,616,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/23 characterised by the type of transmitting antennas, e.g. directional array antennas or Yagi antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1607 Supply circuits converters H02M; filters therefor H02M1/14; voltage stabilisers G05F1/46

Abstract

A device includes, in part, an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal that includes modulated data, a splitter/coupler adapted to split the received RF signal, a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from a first portion of the RF signal, and a power recovery unit adapted to convert to a DC power a second portion of the RF signal. The splitter/coupler is optionally adjustable to split the RF signal in accordance with a value that may be representative of a number of factors, such as the target data rate, the DC power requirement of the device, and the like. The device optionally includes a switch and/or a power combiner adapted to deliver all the received RF power to the receiver depending on any number of operation conditions of the device or the device'"'"'s distance from an RF transmitting device.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a splitter/coupler coupled to the antenna and adapted to split the received RF signal into first and second portions;

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from the first portion of the RF signal; and

a power recovery unit adapted to convert the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power to power the device.

22. The device of claim 1 wherein said splitter/coupler is an adjustable splitter/coupler.

2. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from a first portion of the RF signal;

a power recovery unit adapted to convert a second portion of the RF signal to a DC power to power the device; and

a controller adapted to receive the RF signal from the antenna and generate the first and second portions of the RF signal in accordance with impedance values of the receiver and the power recovery unit.

3. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a switch adapted to receive the RF signal from the antenna;

a power recovery unit adapted to convert the RF signal to a DC power to power the device when the switch is in a first position; and

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from the received RF signal when the switch is in a second position.

4. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a splitter/coupler coupled to the antenna and adapted to split the received RF signal into first and second portions;

a switch adapted to receive the second portion of the RF signal from the splitter/coupler;

a power recovery unit adapted to convert the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power to power the device when the switch is in a first position; and

a power combiner adapted to receive the first portion of the RF signal from the splitter/coupler and further to receive the second portion of the RF signal when the switch is in a second position; and

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from an output signal of the power combiner.

8. The device of claim 4 further comprising:

a controller adapted to cause the switch to be in the first position when a power of the received RF signal is less than a first threshold value.

9. The device of claim 4 further comprising:

a controller adapted to cause the switch to be in the first position when the device indicates that its DC power exceeds a second threshold value.

5. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a switch coupled to the antenna to receive the RF signal therefrom;

a power combiner coupled to a first output terminal of the switch to receive the RF signal when the switch is in a first position;

a splitter/coupler coupled to a second output terminal of the switch to receive the RF signal when the switch is in a second position, said splitter adapted to split the RF signal into a first portion and a second portion, said splitter/coupler delivering the first portion of the RF signal to the power combiner;

a power recovery unit adapted to convert the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power to charge the device when the switch is in the second position;

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from an output signal of the power combiner.

6. The device of claim 5 further comprising:

a controller adapted to cause the switch to be in the first position when a power of the received RF signal is less than a threshold value.

7. The device of claim 5 further comprising:

a controller adapted to cause the switch to be in the first position when the device indicates that its DC power exceeds a threshold value.

10. A method comprising:

receiving an RF signal comprising modulated data;

splitting the received RF signal into first and second portions;

demodulating the data from the first portion of the RF signal; and

converting the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power.

11. A method comprising:

receiving an RF signal comprising modulated data;

demodulating the data from a first portion of the received RF signal via a receiver;

converting a second portion of the RF signal to a DC power via a power recovery unit;

generating the first and second portions of the RF signal in accordance with impedance values of the receiver and the power recovery unit

12. A method comprising:

receiving an RF signal comprising modulated data;

converting the RF signal to a DC power when a switch is in a first position; and

demodulating the data from the received RF signal when the switch is in a second position.

13. A method comprising:

receiving an RF signal comprising modulated data;

demodulating the data using either a first portion of the received RF signal or the received RF signal; and

converting a second portion of the RF signal to a DC power when the first portion of the RF signal is used for demodulating the data.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

demodulating the data using the received RF signal when a power of the received RF signal is less than a first threshold value.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

demodulating the data using the received RF signal when an indication is received that a battery charge exceeds a threshold value.

16. A device comprising:

an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal comprising modulated data;

a controller;

an adjustable splitter/coupler adapted to split the received RF signal into first and second portions in accordance with a value said adjustable splitter/coupler receives from the controller;

a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from the first portion of the RF signal; and

a power recovery unit adapted to convert the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power to power the device.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein said value is defined by a target data rate.

18. The device of claim 16 wherein said value is defined by a DC power requirement of the device.

21. The device of claim 16 wherein said value is defined by a DC power requirement.

19. A method comprising:

receiving an RF signal;

splitting the received RF signal into first and second portions in accordance with a received value;

demodulating the data from the first portion of the RF signal; and

converting the second portion of the RF signal to a DC power.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said value is defined by a target data rate.