Wireless charging surface

• US 9,941,719 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Seo, Hyun K., Urcadez, Edouard A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Amaya, Carlos
• Assistant Examiner(s): HTUN, WIN Z
• Application Number:
  US15/158,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20170338677A1
• Time in Patent Office: 692 Days
• Field of Search: 307 19
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2021/066 with power or communication connection interface
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2200/008 Tables or desks having means for applying electronic or electric devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0047 with monitoring or indicating devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/061 for DC powered loads
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]

Abstract

A surface with various layers that provide wireless charging may include at least one of a top surface layer, a second layer, comprising a plurality of lights and a power grid, disposed under the top surface layer, a charging pad disposed on a portion of the power grid, and a third layer, comprising a power supply which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid, disposed under the second layer.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a top surface layer;

an intermediate layer comprising a plurality of lights and power grid, and which is disposed under the top surface layer;

one or more modular charging pads disposed at one or more portions of the power grid, wherein the power grid is configured to receive the one or more modular charging pads at dynamic locations and supply power to the one or more modular charging pads at the dynamic locations thereby dynamically configuring wireless charging locations of the top surface layer; and

a lower layer comprising a power supply which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid, and which is disposed under the intermediate layer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lower layer is connected to the intermediate layer via at least one conduit which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid via a wired power source.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more modular charging pads comprise a plurality of removable wireless charging pads disposed on sub-sections of a surface area of the intermediate layer.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lower layer further comprises an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and a computing module configured to control the power supplied to the plurality of removable wireless charging pads.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the computing module is configured to change a color of the lights to indicate at least one of charging, not charging, and error charging.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the color of the lights changes in an area covered by a charging pad.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a fourth layer comprising a plurality of conduits that provide power to the UPS, the power supply and the computing module of the lower layer, the fourth layer being disposed under the lower layer.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of lights comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the top surface layer is transparent and permits the light from the plurality of LEDs to be visible.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power grid comprises a plurality of nodes that each provide a fixed amount of voltage to the charging pad.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer of the apparatus is movable with respect to the top layer of the apparatus thereby enabling the intermediate layer to be separated from the top surface.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power grid comprises a distributed network of attachment nodes exposed on a top surface of the intermediate layer which enable the one or more modular charging pads to be attached at dynamic locations on the power grid.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a computing module configured to power on at least one light from among the plurality of lights to indicate a wireless charging location of the one or more modular charging pads prior to a charge receiving device being placed on the top surface of the apparatus.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of lights disposed on a power grid;

a plurality of nodes disposed on the power grid that each provide power;

one or more modular wireless charging pads affixed to one or more subsections of the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes are configured to receive the one or more modular charging pads at dynamic locations and supply power to the one or more modular charging pads at the dynamic locations thereby dynamically configuring wireless charging locations;

a power source which provides the power to each of the plurality of nodes; and

an uninterrupted power supply connected to the power source and configured to provide power when the power source loses power.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising at least one conduit which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid via a wired power source.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more modular charging pads comprise a plurality of removable wireless charging pads disposed on the power grid.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a computing module configured to control the power supplied to the plurality of removable wireless charging pads.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the computing module is configured to change a color of the plurality of lights to indicate at least one of charging, not charging, and error charging.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the color of the lights changes in an area covered by the charging pad.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of conduits that provide power to the uninterrupted power supply, the power supply and the computing module of the third layer.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the plurality of lights comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a transparent surface layer disposed over the power grid that permits the light from the plurality of LEDs to be visible.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the power of each of the plurality of nodes is a fixed amount of voltage.