Techniques for facilitating beacon sampling efficiencies in wireless power delivery environments

• US 10,199,879 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ossia, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ossia, Inc.
• Inventors: Zeine, Hatem, Mayes, Dale, Renneberg, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mourad, Rasem
• Application Number:
  US15/196,769
• Publication Number:
  US 20170005531A1
• Time in Patent Office: 951 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• 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 50/80 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0035 detecting errors in frequency or phase
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0075 based on arrival time vs. expected arrival time

Abstract

In retrodirective wireless power delivery environments wireless power receivers generate and send beacon signals that are received by multiple antennas of a wireless power transmission system. The beacon signals provide the charger with timing information for wireless power transfers and also indicate directionality of the incoming signal. As discussed herein, the directionality information is employed when transmitting in order to focus energy (e.g., power wave delivery) on individual wireless power receiver clients. Techniques are described herein for reducing the burden of sampling the beacon signals across the multiple antennas and determining the directionality of the incoming wave. In some embodiments, the techniques leverage previously calculated values to simplify the receiver sampling.

Claims

1. A wireless power transmission system, comprising:

an adaptively-phased antenna array having multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers;

control circuitry operatively coupled to the multiple transceivers, the control circuitry configured to;

determine if a location of a wireless power receiver client has changed since a previously received beacon signal by comparing samples of a most recently received beacon signal to samples of a previously received beacon signal;

determine a movement status of a wireless power receiver client located within a wireless power delivery environment;

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status is non-static;

determine if the wireless power receiver client has been in a static location for a threshold period of time or number of beacon signals;

when the wireless power receiver client has been in the static location for the threshold period of time or number of beacon signals,

set the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to static or semi-static,

compute and store an inverse directionality of at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location based on samples of the beacon signals; and

direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit a wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in a direction of the inverse directionality.

2. The wireless power transmission system of claim 1, wherein to direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client, the control circuitry is further configured to:

configure the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in the direction of the inverse directionality.

3. The wireless power transmission system of claim 1, wherein to compute the inverse directionality, the control circuitry is further configured to:

sample, at two or more of the RF transceivers, the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location.

4. The wireless power transmission system of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status of the wireless power receiver client is static or semi-static;

access the previously computed and stored inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location;

wherein to direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client, the control circuitry directs the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in the direction of the previously computed and stored inverse directionality.

5. The wireless power transmission system of claim 1, wherein to compute the inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location, the control circuitry is configured to:

compute a directionality of the at least one beacon signal; and

inverse the directionality of the at least one beacon signal resulting in the inverse directionality.

6. The wireless power transmission system of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has changed since the previously received beacon signal;

set the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to non-static; and

compute the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal;

wherein to direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client, the control circuitry directs the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in the direction of the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal.

7. The wireless power transmission system of claim 6, wherein to compute the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal, the control circuitry is configured to:

compute a directionality of the most recently received beacon signal; and

inverse the directionality of the most recently received beacon signal resulting in the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal.

8. The wireless power transmission system of claim 6, wherein to compute the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal, the control circuitry is further configured to:

sample the most recently received beacon signal; and

calculate the directionality of the most recently received beacon signal utilizing trig libraries to perform runtime calculations on the sampled most recently received beacon signal to calculate the directionality.

9. A method of operating a wireless power transmission system to reduce computational requirements for sampling beacon signals received from wireless power receiver clients in a wireless power delivery environment, the method comprising:

determining if a location of a wireless power receiver client has changed since a previously received beacon signal by comparing samples of a most recently received beacon signal to samples of a previously received beacon signal;

determining a movement status mode of a wireless power receiver client in the wireless power delivery environment;

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status is non-static;

determining if the wireless power receiver client has been in a static location for a threshold period of time or number of beacon signals;

when the wireless power receiver client has been in the static location for the threshold period of time or number of beacon signals;

setting the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to static or semi-static, and

computing and storing an inverse directionality of at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location based on samples of the beacon signals; and

transmitting wireless power to the wireless power receiver client in a direction of the inverse directionality.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein computing the inverse directionality further comprises:

sampling the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at two or more transceivers of multiple transceivers of the wireless power transmission system.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status of the wireless power receiver client is static or semi-static;

accessing the previously computed and stored inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location;

wherein transmitting the wireless power to the wireless power receiver client comprises transmitting the wireless power in the direction of the previously computed and stored inverse directionality.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein computing the inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location comprises:

computing a directionality of the at least one beacon signal; and

inversing the directionality of the at least one beacon signal resulting in the inverse directionality.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has changed since the previously received beacon signal;

set the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to non-static; and

compute the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal;

wherein transmitting the wireless power to the wireless power receiver client comprises transmitting the wireless power in the direction of the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein computing the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal further comprises:

computing a directionality of the most recently received beacon signal; and

inversing the directionality of the most recently received beacon signal resulting in the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein computing the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal further comprises:

sample the most recently received beacon signal; and

calculate the directionality of the most recently received beacon signal utilizing trig libraries to perform runtime calculations on the sampled most recently received beacon signal to calculate the directionality.

11. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, wherein the program instruction, when executed by a processing system of a wireless power transmission system, direct the processing system to;

determine if a location of a wireless power receiver client has changed since a previously received beacon signal by comparing samples of a most recently received beacon signal to samples of a previously received beacon signal;

determine a movement status of a wireless power receiver client located within a wireless power delivery environment;

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status is non-static;

determine if the wireless power receiver client has been in a static location for a threshold period of time or number of beacon signals;

when the wireless power receiver client has been in the static location for the threshold period of time or number of beacon signals,

set the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to static or semi-static, compute and store an inverse directionality of at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location based on samples of the beacon signals; and

direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit a wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in a direction of the inverse directionality.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein to compute the inverse directionality, the program instructions, when executed by the processing system, further direct the processing system to:

sample, at two or more radio frequency (RF) transceivers of the wireless power transmission system, the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processing system, further direct the processing system to:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has not changed since the previously received beacon signal and the movement status of the wireless power receiver client is static or semi-static;

access the previously computed and stored inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location;

wherein to direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client, the control circuitry directs the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in the direction of the previously computed and stored inverse directionality.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein to compute the inverse directionality of the at least one beacon signal received from the wireless power receiver client at the static location, the program instructions, when executed by the processing system, further direct the processing system to:

compute a directionality of the at least one beacon signal; and

inverse the directionality of the at least one beacon signal resulting in the inverse directionality.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processing system, further direct the processing system to:

when the location of the wireless power receiver client has changed since the previously received beacon signal;

set the movement status of the wireless power receiver client to non-static; and

compute the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal;

wherein to direct the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client, the control circuitry directs the one or more of the RF transceivers to transmit the wireless power signal to the wireless power receiver client in the direction of the inverse directionality of the most recently received beacon signal.