Detecting an object on a wireless charging device

• US 10,218,228 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2016
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lin, Xintian E., Shao, Lei, Dinc, Bolat, Liu, Kai, Lin, Sen, Li, Qinghua, Wu, Yongwei
• Primary Examiner(s): Amaya, Carlos D
• Application Number:
  US15/200,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20180006504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings
• 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: H04B 1/3827 Portable transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A power transmitting device is disclosed comprising: one or more coils; at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory. The at least one processor may be configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to: cause to send to a first device a first load measurement request at a first instance and a second load measurement request at a second instance. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to receive a first load measurement associated with the first load measurement request and a second load measurement associated with the second load measurement request. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to determine a first average measurement of the first load measurement and the second load measurement. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to send to a second device a third load measurement request at a third instance and a fourth load measurement request at a fourth instance. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to receive a third load measurement associated with the third load measurement request and a fourth load measurement associated with the fourth load measurement request. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to determine a second average measurement of the third load measurement and the fourth load measurement. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to perform a load measurement of the one or more coils of the power transmitting device. The computer-executable instructions may cause the processor to determine a presence of one or more rogue devices based at least in part on a comparison of the load measurement and an aggregate of the first average measurement and the second average measurement.

Claims

1. A power transmitting device comprising:

one or more coils;

at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

cause to send to a first device a first load measurement request at a first instance and a second load measurement request at a second instance;

receive a first load measurement associated with the first load measurement request and a second load measurement associated with the second load measurement request;

determine a first average measurement of the first load measurement and the second load measurement;

cause to send to a second device a third load measurement request at a third instance and a fourth load measurement request at a fourth instance;

receive a third load measurement associated with the third load measurement request and a fourth load measurement associated with the fourth load measurement request;

determine a second average measurement of the third load measurement and the fourth load measurement;

perform a load measurement of the one or more coils of the power transmitting device; and

determine a presence of one or more rogue devices based at least in part on a comparison of the load measurement and an aggregate of the first average measurement and the second average measurement.

2. The power transmitting device of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals.

3. The power transmitting device of claim 2, further comprising at least one antenna coupled to the transceiver, wherein the at least one antenna is configured to dissipate and detect electromagnetic energy associated with transmitting and receiving the wireless signals respectively.

4. The power transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions, to determine a presence of one or more rogue devices, further include computer-executable instructions to determine whether a difference between the load measurement and the aggregate is greater than a predetermined threshold.

5. The power transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the load measurement includes at least in part a rectifier voltage measurement and a rectifier current measurement.

6. The power transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the first instance and the second instance are within a predetermined interval allocated for sending a plurality of load measurement requests to one or more devices.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

performing a load measurement of one or more coils of a power transmitting unit (PTU) after a timer expires;

causing to send a first message including a first timer, to a first device of one or more devices associated with the PTU;

causing to send a first measurement request message within a predetermined interval to the first device;

causing to send a second message including a second timer, to a second device of the one or more devices associated with the PTU;

causing to send a second measurement request message within the predetermined interval to the second device;

receiving a first measurement response message including a first load measurement performed after the first timer expires;

receiving a second measurement response message including a second load measurement performed after the second timer expires; and

determining a presence of a rogue device based at least in part on the load measurement, the first load measurement and the second load measurement.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the presence of the rogue device based at least in part on a rogue object detection (ROD) calculation performed after receiving the first measurement response message and the second measurement response message.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the ROD calculation includes, at least in part, comparing the load measurement to an aggregate of the first load measurement and the second load measurement.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether a difference between the load measurement and an aggregate of the first load measurement and the second load measurement is within a predetermined threshold.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the first timer and the second timer are synchronized.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the first load measurement is an average of one or more load measurements performed at the first device after the first timer expires.