Physical and virtual identification in a wireless power network

• US 10,164,467 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philips IP Ventures B.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Philips IP Ventures B.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Baarman, David W., Stoner, Jr., William T.
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Anh V
• Application Number:
  US15/095,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20160225024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• Field of Search: 340 58, 340 581, 340 585, 340 1034, 4551271, 4553431, 320108, 320109, 320137, 322 2 R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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: 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 7/00045 Authentication, i.e. circuits for checking compatibility between one component, e.g. a battery or a battery charger, and another component, e.g. a power source
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

A wireless charging system is disclosed. The wireless charging system includes a detector configured to identify device information related to a device to be powered at a location, a location processor coupled with the detector and configured to deliver location-specific information related to the location to the device to be powered based on the detected device information, a power supply in communication with the location processor configured to wirelessly provide power to the device based on the detected device information, such that the location processor is configured to deliver the location specific information to the device via a first channel, and wherein the power supply is configured to wirelessly provide power to the device via a second channel.

Claims

1. A method for providing a wireless charge with a wireless power supply, the method comprising:

providing, utilizing a location processing circuit, location specific information to a virtual account associated with a device to be powered by the wireless power supply, the virtual account maintained in memory on a data server, the data server associating the location specific information with the virtual account in memory to maintain a history of location specific information from wireless power transactions for the virtual account;

tracking, utilizing the data server, marketing information, wherein the marketing information is related to the device; and

targeting a customer associated with the virtual account with an advertisement based on the history of location specific information from wireless power transactions and the marketing information by providing the advertisement to the device for display on the device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual account records the location specific information from a plurality of wireless power supplies.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the targeting comprises using the location specific information from the plurality of wireless power supplies for targeting the marketing information for each virtual account.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the marketing information comprises a frequency of visits to any of the plurality of wireless power supplies.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the marketing information comprises a listing of purchases and transactions from visits to any of the plurality of wireless power supplies.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless power supply is at a specific location in proximity of the device to be powered.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the location specific information includes the specific location of the wireless power supply.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the location specific information comprises authentication information for the device to authorize receipt of the wireless charge from the wireless power supply.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the location specific information comprises authentication information for the wireless power supply to authorize transmission of the wireless charge to the device.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the marketing information comprises offers, deals, or related products.

11. A wireless charging system comprising:

a detector configured to identify device information related to a device to be powered at a location;

a location processing circuit coupled with the detector and configured to deliver location-specific information to a virtual account associated with the device to be powered, wherein the virtual account comprises a history of location specific information from previous wireless power transactions;

a power supply in communication with the location processing circuit configured to wirelessly provide power to the device to be powered; and

a server that accesses the virtual account and utilizes the history of location specific information from previous wireless power transactions for targeting geographic specific offers at the device to be powered at the wireless charging system.

12. The wireless charging system of claim 11 wherein the geographic specific offers are based on the location-specific information and based on the history of location-specific information from previous wireless power transactions.

13. The wireless charging system of claim 12 wherein the geographic specific offers comprise coupons, cross-selling products, or deals that are geographic specific.

14. The wireless charging system of claim 12 wherein the offers and any transactions associated with the offers are tracked by the virtual account.

15. The wireless charging system of claim 12 wherein the history of location specific information from the previous wireless power transactions comprises a frequency and purchase amount for each of the previous wireless power transactions.

16. The wireless charging system of claim 11 wherein the server comprises a data server that stores the virtual account and stores virtual accounts for a plurality of customers.

17. The wireless charging system of claim 16 wherein the data server collects information from the wireless charging system and from wireless charging systems associated with the previous wireless power transactions.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed cause processing circuitry configured to utilize a virtual account for data storage associated with wireless charging to perform a method comprising:

receiving charging information from a wireless power supply related to a provision of wireless power to a plurality of devices, wherein the charging information includes geographic information about a location of the wireless power supply;

storing the charging information in the virtual account in computer memory, wherein there is a virtual account for each customer associated with each of the plurality of the devices, further wherein each virtual account includes a charging history of the charging information from a plurality of wireless charging transactions; and

accessing the virtual account in computer memory for targeting geographic specific offers at each customer based on the charging history and a geographic location.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the accessing the virtual account comprises accessing marketing information associated with the virtual account that includes a transaction history.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the charging history comprises a frequency and a location of previous wireless charging.

21. A wireless power supply unit comprising:

a detector configured to identify device information related to a wirelessly chargeable device at a location;

a wireless power supply configured to wirelessly provide power to the wirelessly chargeable device at the location; and

a location processing circuit coupled with the detector and the wireless power supply, the location processing circuit configured to transmit location-specific information to a server having a virtual account associated with the wirelessly chargeable device, wherein the virtual account includes a history of location specific information from previous wireless power transactions, transmit a request to the server to access the virtual account and utilize the history of location specific information from previous wireless power transactions, and transmit a request to the server to provide a targeted geographic specific offer for the wirelessly chargeable device.

22. The wireless power supply unit of claim 21 wherein the geographic specific offer is based on the location-specific information and based on the history of location-specific information from previous wireless power transactions.

23. The wireless power supply unit of claim 22 wherein the geographic specific offer includes at least one of a coupon, cross-selling product, or deal that is geographic specific.

24. The wireless power supply unit of claim 21 wherein the geographic specific offer and any transactions associated with the geographic specific offer is tracked by the virtual account.

25. The wireless power supply unit of claim 21 wherein the history of location specific information from the previous wireless power transactions includes a frequency and purchase amount for each of the previous wireless power transactions.

26. The wireless charging system of claim 21 wherein the location processing circuit is configured to transmit wireless power transaction information to the server.