Powering up a wireless power receiving device

• US 9,634,496 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2015
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Elad, Yuval, Porat, Shahar, Oster, Zeev, Ramakrishnan, Siva, Vilhauer, Reed D., Leete, Brian A., Bachrach, Yuval
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoynov, Stefan
• Application Number:
  US14/866,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20170090537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge

Abstract

Techniques for powering up a wireless power receiving device are described herein. An example computing device includes a power receiving unit to wirelessly receive power from a power transmitting unit. The platform hardware includes a System on a Chip (SoC), a multicomm device, and a power sequence manager. The multicomm device is for wireless communication with two or more communication standards. One of the communication standards is used as a side channel for communicating with the power transmitting unit. The power sequence manager component manages activation of platform components of the platform hardware during a low battery cold boot condition. Upon detecting wireless power, the multicomm device is configured to automatically activate and the power sequence manager component is to suppress activation of other platform components of the platform hardware.

Claims

1. A computing device with a wireless power receiver, comprising:

a power receiving unit to wirelessly receive power from a power transmitting unit; and

a platform hardware comprising;

a System on a Chip (SoC);

a multicomm device for wireless communication with two or more communication standards, wherein one of the two or more communication standards is used as a side channel for communicating with the power transmitting unit; and

a power sequence manager component to manage activation of platform components of the platform hardware during a low battery cold boot condition;

wherein, upon detecting wireless power, the multicomm device is configured to automatically activate and the power sequence manager component is configured to suppress activation of other platform components of the platform hardware.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multicomm device is a main wireless communication platform for the computing device.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multicomm device is configured to complete a registration process with the power transmitting unit and, after the registration process, enable the power sequence manager component to activate the other platform components.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the power sequence manager component comprises a power management integrated circuit (IC) coupled to the SoC and the multicomm device.

5. The computing device of claim 4, wherein, upon detection of wireless power, the power management IC is activated and the power management IC activates the multicomm device and suppresses activation of the SoC.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the power management IC is configured to monitor a battery of the computing device and activate the SoC when a charge on the battery is above a specified threshold.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multicomm device is included in the SoC.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the power sequence manager comprises a sequence manager included in the SoC, the sequence manager is configured to activate the multicomm device, the multicomm device is configured to suppress activation of other SoC components until after the multicomm device completes a wireless power registration process.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the sequence manager is configured to receive a battery state indicator to activate the other SoC components if the battery state indicator indicates that a battery charge is above a threshold regardless of whether the multicom device has completed the wireless power registration process.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the power receiving unit comprises a long beacon extension unit configured to send a long beacon extension request to the power transmitting unit.

11. A method of operating a computing device with a wireless power receiver, comprising:

detecting wireless power from a power transmitting unit;

activating a multicom device of the computing device, wherein the multicomm device is a general purpose wireless communication platform for the computing device;

suppressing activation of other platform components;

performing, with a communication channel provided by the multicomm device, a wireless charging registration process; and

after the wireless charging registration process is complete, allowing the other platform components of the computing device to activate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the multicomm device is included in a System on a Chip (SoC), and wherein activating the multicomm device upon a wireless charging cold boot comprises turning on a minimal set of power rails and a power optimized set of resources.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein suppressing activation of other platform components comprises sending a boot stall signal from the multicomm device to a sequence manager included in the SoC, the sequence manager to manage the activation of the other platform components.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

determining a status of a battery; and

activating the other platform components of the computing device if a charge level of the battery is above a threshold regardless of the boot stall signal.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the multicomm device is a discrete computer chip separate from an SoC of the computing device, and wherein the other platform components are activated by a power management IC of the computing device based on a charge level of a battery.

16. A system for receiving wireless power, comprising:

a computing device comprising a System on a Chip (SoC);

a power management Integrated Circuit (IC);

a multicomm device separate from the SoC, wherein the multicomm device is general purpose communication device that serves as the main communication platform of the computing device and comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module; and

a wireless power receiver configured to detect wireless power and, in response, activate the power management IC;

wherein, upon activation, the power management IC is to activate the multicomm device and suppress activation of the SoC.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the power management IC is configured to monitor a charge level of a battery and activate the SoC when the battery level is above a threshold.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein upon activation of the multicomm device, the multicomm device is to perform a wireless charging registration process using the BLE module as a side channel for communication with a power transmitting unit.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the wireless charging registration process is in accordance with an Alliance For Wireless Power (A4WP) wireless charging protocol.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the wireless power receiver is to issue a long beacon extension request using load modulation of the wireless power receiver.

21. A system for receiving wireless power, comprising:

a computing device comprising a System on a Chip (SoC), the SoC comprising a sequence manager and a multicomm device which is a general purpose communication device that serves as the main communication platform of the computing device and includes a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module;

a power management Integrated Circuit (IC); and

a wireless power receiver configured to detect wireless power and, in response, activate the power management IC;

wherein, upon activation, the power management IC is to activate the multicomm device, and the multicomm device is to suppress activation of other components of the SoC.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein upon activation of the multicomm device, the multicomm device is to perform a wireless charging registration process using the BLE module as a side channel for communication with a power transmitting unit.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the wireless charging registration process is in accordance with an Alliance For Wireless Power (A4WP) wireless charging protocol.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the multicomm device is configured to issue a boot stall indication to the sequence manager to prevent the SoC from completing a full boot of the SoC, and the multicomm device is configured to de-assert the boot stall indication after the wireless charging registration process has completed.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the power management IC is configured to monitor a charge level of a battery and activate a full boot if the SoC if the battery level is above a threshold.