Adjustable power delivery scheme for universal serial bus

• US 10,545,907 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2015
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Trethewey, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phil K
• Application Number:
  US14/998,223
• Publication Number:
  US 20170185126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/2146 being detachable, e.g.. USB memory
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• 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: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Described is an apparatus which comprises: an adjustable power supply source to generate an adjustable power supply; a node to provide the adjustable power supply to a device; and a bus which is operable to: send a first message to the device indicating that the adjustable power supply source is capable of dynamically providing an adjustable power supply; and receive a request from the device, the request indicating a new voltage or current specification.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an adjustable power supply source to generate an adjustable power supply according to dynamic and sudden power demand from a device which already received initial power supply from the adjustable power supply source;

a node to provide the adjustable power supply to the device; and

a bus which is operable to;

send a first message to the device, the first message is to indicate that the adjustable power supply source is capable of dynamically providing an adjustable power supply;

receive a request from the device, the request is to indicate a new voltage or current specification; and

send a second request to the adjustable power source when it is determined that a power transmitter is to adjust its wireless power transmission, wherein the adjustment determination is made based on an optimal battery charging efficiency of a system.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second message includes an indication that the requested new voltage or current specification was accepted or rejected.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the bus is operable to:

send a third message to the device, the third message is to indicate that the requested new voltage or current specification is now activated and ready.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request is defined in a reserve bit of a Data Protocol Message Type of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Power Delivery Specification.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first message is based on a reserved bit setting in a list of Types of Power Sources of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Power Delivery Specification.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustable power supply source is operable to generate one of:

a fixed power supply;

a power supply for charging a battery;

or

a variable power supply.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustable power supply source is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Power Delivery compliant power source.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the node and bus are Universal Serial Bus (USB) Power Delivery compliant.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the node and bus are either part of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C cable or coupled with a USB Type-C cable.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device is a wireless charging mat.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustable power supply is to closely match an efficiency characteristic of a voltage regulator of the device.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustable power supply source is to detect sudden increase in power demand from the device, which already received initial power supply from the adjustable power supply source.

11. A system comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor including an apparatus which is to;

receive a first message which is to indicate that an adjustable power supply source is capable of dynamically providing an adjustable power supply according to dynamic or real-time power demand from the processor which already received initial power supply via the adjustable power supply source;

dynamically send a first request to the adjustable power source to dynamically adjust a power supply for the processor, the adjustable power source being external to the system;

send a second request to the adjustable power source when it is determined that a power transmitter unit (PTU) is to adjust its wireless power transmission, wherein the adjustment determination is made based on an optimal battery charging efficiency of the system; and

receive a power ready signal from the adjustable power source when the adjustable power source is to dynamically provide the adjusted power supply to the processor, wherein the adjustable power supply is to closely match an efficiency characteristic of a voltage regulator of the processor; and

a wireless interface which is to allow the processor to communicate with another device.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the PTU is to transmit power to another device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the other device has a power receiver unit (PRU).

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the adjustment determination is based on a wireless power delivery efficiency resulting from the relative spatial alignment of the PTU and the PRU.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the adjustment determination is based on real-time power consumption needs of the system under different software demand scenarios, including at least one of:

“

idle,”

“

web browsing,”

or “

video playback”

.

16. Non-statutory machine readable storage media having machine readable instructions that when executed cause a machine to perform an operation which comprises:

send a first message to a device over a bus, the first message is to indicate an adjustable power source nature of an apparatus;

receive a first request from the device over the bus, the request is to indicate a new voltage or current specification according to dynamic and sudden power demand from the device which already received initial power supply from an adjustable power supply source, wherein the adjustable power supply source is to provide an adjustable power supply; and

determine whether the adjustable power source can meet the request, and to send a decision of the determination to the device, wherein the adjustable power supply is to closely match an efficiency characteristic of a voltage regulator of the device; and

send a second request to the adjustable power source when it is determined that a power transmitter is to adjust its wireless power transmission, wherein the adjustment determination is made based on an optimal battery charging efficiency of a system.

17. The non-statutory machine-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the second message includes an indication that the requested new voltage or current specification based power supply is being provided to the device.

18. The non-statutory machine-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the first message is a Source_Capabilities message of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Power Delivery Specification, and wherein the second message is a Power Supply Ready message of the USB Power Delivery Specification.

19. The non-statutory machine-readable storage media of claim 16 having machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to perform an operation which comprises:

receive a second request to provide a fixed power supply; and

provide a fixed power supply to the device in response to the second request.

20. The non-statutory machine-readable storage media of claim 16 having machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to perform an operation which comprises:

receive a third request to provide a power supply to charge a battery; and

provide a power supply to the battery in response to the third request.

21. The non-statutory machine-readable storage media of claim 16 having machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to perform an operation which comprises:

receive a fourth request to provide a variable power supply; and

provide a variable power supply to the device in response to the fourth request.