Method and wearable device for energy sharing network

• US 9,343,924 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2013
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Mun, Min Young, Kim, Sang Joon, Choi, Chang Mok
• Primary Examiner(s): Siek, Vuthe
• Application Number:
  US14/080,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20140285134A1
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: 320/103
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 of the energy store and energy information to at least one neighbor device and to receive energy and energy information from the at least one neighbor device; and

a controller configured to control the energy transmitter-receiver based on one or more predetermined conditions,

wherein one of the predetermined conditions includes whether an amount of energy in the energy store is determined to be greater than a predetermined boundary amount at a time when a predetermined control signal requesting energy sharing is received by the device.

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 at least one neighbor device when the stored energy in the energy store is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold, as one of the predetermined conditions.

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 from the at least one neighbor device when the stored energy in the energy store is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold, as one of the predetermined conditions.

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 select neighbor device, of plural identified neighbor devices, determined to have a greatest amount of energy, based on respectively received energy information from the identified neighbor devices.

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

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter-receiver is configured to selectively transmit energy to and receive energy from the at least one neighbor device based on whether the received energy information from the at least one neighbor device and/or information of the stored energy satisfies one or more of the predetermined conditions.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter-receiver is configured to interact with the at least one 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. The device of claim 1, wherein the device and the at least one neighbor device are wearable devices.

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

monitoring an amount of available energy in a device;

receiving, by the device, energy information from a neighbor device; and

controlling the device to share energy with the neighbor device based on the received energy information, by transmitting or receiving energy respectively to or from the neighbor device based on the monitored amount of available energy in the device,

wherein the transmitting of the energy to the neighbor device includes transmitting the energy to the neighbor device based on a determination that the monitored amount of available energy in the device is greater than a predetermined boundary value at a point in time when a predetermined control signal from the neighbor device for requesting energy sharing is received.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the device generating and storing energy in an energy store of the device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving of the energy information comprises searching for the neighbor device when the monitored amount of available energy in the device is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the sharing of the energy with the neighbor device comprises:

controlling the device to transmit a predetermined control signal from the device to the neighbor device to request sharing of energy from the neighbor device when the monitored amount of available energy in the device is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold; and

receiving, by the device, an amount of energy from the neighbor device based on a response to the predetermined control signal from the neighbor device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the controlling of the device to transmit the predetermined control signal comprises:

transmitting the predetermined control signal from the device to a select neighbor device determined to have a greatest amount of energy among plural identified neighbor devices, based on respectively received energy information from the plural identified neighbor devices indicating respective available energies.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the sharing of the energy with the neighbor device comprises:

receiving the predetermined control signal from the neighbor device;

transmitting, in response to the received predetermined control signal, an acceptance indicating signal to the neighbor device that indicates an acceptance by the device to transfer energy to the neighbor device; and

transmitting, based on the transmitted acceptance indicating signal, the energy to the neighbor device.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the sharing of the energy with the neighbor device comprises:

selectively sharing respective amounts of energy stored in the device with plural neighbor devices.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having thereon a program to execute the energy sharing method of claim 13 with a computer.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the device and the neighbor device are wearable devices.

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

monitoring an energy level of a first device;

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

receiving, at the first device, an amount of energy from the second device based on the monitored energy level of the first device and the obtained energy information; and

transmitting energy from the first device to the second device based on a determination of whether the monitored 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.

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

searching for neighbor devices, to identify neighbor devices, including the second device;

transmitting, by the first device, respective predetermined control signals to each of the identified neighbor devices to request energy information of each of the neighbor devices; and

receiving the requested energy information from the neighbor devices.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the searching for the neighbor devices comprises searching for the neighbor devices when the monitored energy level of the first device is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the receiving of the amount of energy comprises:

transmitting, by the first device, a predetermined control signal requesting energy transfer from the second device when the monitored energy level is determined to be below a predetermined threshold; and

selectively receiving the amount of energy from the second device based on a response to the predetermined control signal from the second device.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the first and second devices are wearable devices.