Method for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device with aid of variant slot timing and simple response indicating acknowledgement, and associated apparatus

• US 10,447,061 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Chi-Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Diao, M Baye
• Application Number:
  US15/098,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20160233715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 320108, 307104, 455 411, 455572, 455573
• 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 7/00308 Overvoltage protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1657 Implicit acknowledgement of correct or incorrect reception, e.g. with a moving window
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1692 Physical properties of the supervisory signal, e.g. acknowledgement by energy bursts

Abstract

A method for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device and an associated apparatus are provided, where the method may include: determining whether a voltage level of a direct current (DC) output at a DC output terminal of a rectifier in the electronic device is greater than a first voltage threshold to generate a first detection result; and according to the first detection result, selectively sending at least one random phase-delay packet, wherein each random phase-delay packet of the at least one random phase-delay packet has a random phase-delay with respect to a time slot, and the at least one random phase-delay packet is utilized for carrying information of at least one wireless charging report of the electronic device. More particularly, a wireless charging device is arranged to wirelessly charge the electronic device, and the electronic device does not obtain information from the wireless charging device through any packet.

Claims

1. A method for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting, by a controller of the electronic device, a voltage level of a direct current (DC) output at a DC output terminal of a rectifier in the electronic device;

determining, by the controller, whether the voltage level of the direct current output at the DC output terminal of the rectifier falls within a first voltage range;

generating, by the controller, a first detection result indicating whether the voltage level of the DC output at the DC output terminal of the rectifier falls within the first voltage range; and

by a communications module of the electronic device, selectively sending at least one packet to a wireless charging device, wherein the at least one packet is sent with a timing that is based on the first detection result, and wherein the at least one packet is utilized for carrying wireless charging information of the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless charging device is arranged to wirelessly charge the electronic device;

and the step of selectively sending the at least one packet further comprises;

according to the first detection result, selectively sending the at least one packet to the wireless charging device, without receiving a packet from the wireless charging device to acknowledge the at least one packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first detection result indicates that the voltage level of the DC output does not fall within the first voltage range, and the wireless charging device is arranged to wirelessly charge the electronic device;

and the method further comprises;

determining at least one random value for controlling a timing of packet transmission with the wireless charging information;

wherein the step of selectively sending the at least one packet further comprises;

based on the at least one random value, sending the at least one packet with a random phase delay with respect to a time slot to the wireless charging device, to trigger an associated wireless charging control operation of the wireless charging device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the voltage level of the DC output falls within a second voltage range, wherein determining whether the voltage level of the DC output falls within the first voltage range has higher priority than determining whether the voltage level of the DC output falls within the second voltage range.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the voltage level of the DC output falls within a second voltage range to generate a second detection result; and

according to the first and the second detection results, controlling a slot time for a packet being sent as a first predetermined slot time corresponding to the first voltage range or a second predetermined slot time corresponding to the second voltage range.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second predetermined slot time is greater than or equal to the first predetermined slot time.

7. An apparatus for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device, the apparatus comprising at least one portion of the electronic device, the apparatus comprising:

a controller arranged for determining whether a voltage level of a direct current (DC) output at a DC output terminal of a rectifier in the electronic device falls within a first voltage range, and arranged for generating a first detection result indicating whether the voltage level falls within the first voltage range; and

a communications module, coupled to the controller and a coil of the electronic device, arranged for, according to the first detection result, selectively sending at least one packet to a wireless charging device, wherein the at least one packet is utilized for carrying wireless charging information of the electronic device, wherein a timing at which the at least one packet is sent is based on the first detection result.

8. A method for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device with aid of a response of a wireless charging device, which is arranged to wirelessly charge the electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, by the wireless charging device, a packet from the electronic device, wherein the packet is utilized for carrying wireless charging information of the electronic device, and the packet comprises header information; and

controlling, by a controller, the wireless charging device to generate the response, to acknowledge the packet, wherein the response does not include a packet.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the electronic device detects the response as acknowledgement of the packet, having no need to perform decoding on the response.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the response comprises at least one predetermined signal pulse in a time domain or in a frequency domain.

11. An apparatus for performing wireless charging control according to the method of claim 8, wherein the apparatus comprises at least one portion of the electronic device.

12. A method for performing wireless charging control of an electronic device with aid of variant slot timing, the method comprising:

detecting, by a controller of the electronic device, a voltage level of a direct current (DC) output at a DC output terminal of a rectifier in the electronic device;

by a communication module, performing packet transmission between the electronic device and a wireless charging device, wherein the wireless charging device is arranged to wirelessly charge the electronic device, and at least one packet of the packet transmission is utilized for carrying wireless charging information of the electronic device; and

varying, by the controller, a length of a time slot of the packet transmission based on the voltage level of the DC output.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein varying the length of the time slot of the packet transmission further comprises:

when the voltage level of the DC output reaches a predetermined voltage level, decreasing the length of the time slot;

or

when the voltage level of the DC output falls within a predetermined voltage range, increasing the length of the time slot.