Inductive power transmitter

• US 10,461,813 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Louis, Jeffrey Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Hanidu, Ganiyu A
• Application Number:
  US16/141,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20190028148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/12 Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits

Abstract

An inductive power transmitter comprising a transmission circuit having a coil, the transmission circuit tuned, adapted or optimised at or about a first frequency for inductive power transfer or object detection; an inverter operable to drive the transmission circuit at the first frequency; and a controller arranged to control the inverter to drive the transmission circuit at a second higher frequency, and to modulate a signal at the second higher frequency according to a predetermined handshake signal in order to generate a response from a predetermined non-authorised device proximate the coil.

Claims

1. An inductive power transmitter comprising:

transmission circuitry having a coil, the transmission circuitry adapted to transmit wireless power to an inductive power receiver at a first frequency;

an inverter configured to drive the coil; and

control circuitry configured to;

control the inverter to cause the coil to produce a handshake signal at a second frequency that is higher than the first frequency;

responsive to receiving, via the coil, a response to the handshake signal from a non-authorised device proximate the coil, forgo transmission of the wireless power at the first frequency with the coil; and

responsive to not receiving, via the coil, a response to the handshake signal from a non-authorised device proximate the coil, transmit the wireless power at the first frequency with the coil.

2. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1 wherein the coil is neither an NFC reader coil nor an RFID tag reader coil.

4. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein control circuitry is further configured to control the inverter to generate a first voltage to transmit the wireless power to the inductive power receiver at the first frequency and a second voltage to produce the handshake signal, the second voltage being higher than the first voltage.

5. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the response from the non-authorised device includes data indicating the non-authorised device is an RFID device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to forgo transmission of the wireless power at the first frequency with the coil by forgoing transmission of the wireless power at the first frequency responsive to receiving the data.

6. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

control the inverter to cause the coil to produce an object detection signal, wherein the transmission circuitry is configured to transmit the wireless power to the inductive power receiver at the first frequency by transmitting the wireless power to the inductive power receiver at the first frequency responsive to detecting an authorised device in proximity with the coil.

7. The inductive power transmitter of claim 6, wherein the object detection signal is at a third frequency that is different from the first frequency and the second frequency.

8. The inductive power transmitter of claim 7, wherein the first frequency is between 100-200 kHz for inductive power transfer, the second frequency is between 13-14 MHz, and the third frequency is between 1-2 MHz.

9. The inductive power transmitter of claim 8, wherein the transmission circuitry is configured to transmit the wireless power to the inductive power receiver at the first frequency by transmitting the wireless power to the inductive power receiver at the first frequency responsive to receiving a reply from an authorised device at a fourth frequency that is different from the first, second and third frequencies.

10. The inductive power transmitter of claim 9, wherein the fourth frequency is about 2 kHz.

11. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the handshake signal comprises On-Off Keying, Amplitude Shift Keying, or Binary Phase Shift Keying modulation of the second frequency.

12. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect the response from the non-authorised device by detecting a fifth frequency.

13. The inductive power transmitter of claim 12, wherein the fifth frequency is substantially between 106-318 kHz, 424-480 kHz, or 847-848 kHz.

14. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the non-authorised device is an RFID device.

15. The inductive power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the inverter to drive the transmission circuitry at a sixth frequency prior to the second frequency, and to modulate the sixth frequency according to a signal in order to instruct an authorized receiver, having a non-authorised resonant device, to disable the non-authorised resonant device.

3. The inductive power transmitter of claim wherein the transmission circuitry further comprises a tuning capacitor connected to the coil in series for tuning the transmission circuitry to the first frequency.

16. A method of operating an inductive power transmitter comprising transmission circuitry including a coil adapted to transmit wireless power to an inductive power receiver at a first frequency, the method comprising:

driving the transmission circuitry at a second frequency that is higher than the first frequency;

modulating the second frequency according to a handshake signal;

forgoing transmission of the wireless power at the first frequency with the coil when a response is received to the handshake signal from a non-authorised device proximate the coil; and

transmitting the wireless power at the first frequency with the coil when a response is not received to the handshake signal from a non-authorised device.

17. An inductive power transmitter comprising:

transmission circuitry having a power transmitting coil, wherein the transmission circuitry is adapted to transmit wireless power to an inductive power receiver at a first frequency;

an object detection coil configured to produce an object detection signal at a third frequency;

an inverter configured to drive the object detection coil; and

control circuitry configured to;

control the inverter to cause the object detection coil to produce a handshake signal at a second frequency that is higher than the third frequency;

responsive to receiving a response to the handshake signal from a proximate non-authorised device, forgo transmission of the wireless power at the first frequency with the power transmitting coil; and

responsive to not receiving a response to the handshake signal from a non-authorised device, transmit the wireless power at the first frequency with the power transmitting coil.

18. An inductive power transmitter comprising:

transmission circuitry having a coil, the transmission circuitry adapted to transmit wireless power to an inductive power receiver at a first frequency;

an inverter configured to drive the coil; and

control circuitry configured to;

control the inverter to drive the transmission circuitry at a sixth frequency prior to a second frequency, and to modulate the sixth frequency according to a predetermined signal in order to instruct an authorized receiver, having a non-authorised resonant device, to disable the non-authorised resonant device, the second frequency being modulated to provide a handshake signal to a non authorised device.