Power supply device, communication terminal device, and non-contact power transmission method

• US 10,666,095 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Katsuya, Suzuki, Kuniharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Fureman, Jared
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bukhari, Aqeel H
• Application Number:
  US15/848,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20180115199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 888 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/22 The load being a portable electronic device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• 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 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034
• 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: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/281 taking into account user or data type priority

Abstract

A power supply apparatus including a near-field wireless communication unit that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of communication terminals, a power transmission unit that sets a plurality of resonance frequencies to transfer power in a non-contact manner to each of the plurality of communication terminals, and a control unit that determines a priority level of each of the communication terminals based on identification information received from the communication terminals and determines an amount of power transmitted at each of the resonance frequencies based on the determined priority levels.

Claims

1. A power supply apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication interface configured to receive identification information from each of a plurality of communication terminal devices, wherein the identification information indicates whether each communication terminal device in the plurality of communication terminal devices is associated with a membership at a location where the power supply apparatus is provided; and

circuitry configured to determine a level of power that is transmitted in a non-contact manner to each of the communication terminal devices based on the identification information received via the wireless communication interface.

2. The power supply apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is configured to determine whether each of the communication terminal devices belong to a first priority level or a second priority level based on the identification information received from each of the terminals via the wireless communication interface.

3. The power supply apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the circuitry is configured to determine the level of power that is transmitted in a non-contact manner to each of the plurality of terminals based on a number of communication terminal devices belonging to the first priority level and a number of communication terminal devices belonging to the second priority level.

4. The power supply apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the circuitry is configured to set a first resonance frequency to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the first priority level and a second resonance frequency for communication terminal devices belonging to the second priority level.

5. The power supply apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the circuitry is configured to control transmitting power at the first resonance frequency for a first period of time over a predetermined period of time and transmitting power at the second resonance frequency for a second period of time over the predetermined period of time, the first period of time being longer than the second period of time.

6. The power supply apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the circuitry is configured to control transmitting power at the first resonance frequency at a first power level and transmitting power at the second resonance frequency at a second power level, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

7. The power supply apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the circuitry is configured to control transmitting power at the first resonance frequency at a first power level for a first period of time over a predetermined period of time and transmitting power at the second resonance frequency at a second power level for a second period of time over the predetermined period of time, the first power level being higher than the second power level and the first period of time being longer than the second period of time.

8. The power supply apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the circuitry is configured to set a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the first priority level and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the second priority level, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

9. The power supply apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is configured to set a resonance frequency to transfer power in a non-contact manner to each of the communication terminal devices based on the received identification information.

10. The power supply apparatus of claim 9, wherein

the circuitry is configured to control the wireless communication interface to transmit information indicating the resonance frequency set for each of the communication terminal devices to each of the communication terminal devices.

11. The power supply apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is configured to set a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a first of the communication terminal devices and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a second of the communication terminal devices, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

12. A wireless power transmission method performed by a power supply apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving identification information from each of a plurality of communication terminal devices via wireless communication, wherein the identification information indicates whether each communication terminal device in the plurality of communication terminal devices is associated with a membership at a location where the power supply apparatus is provided; and

determining a level of power that is transmitted in a non-contact manner to each of the communication terminal devices based on the identification information received via the wireless communication interface.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

setting a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a first of the communication terminal devices and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a second of the communication terminal devices, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining whether each of the communication terminal devices belong to a first priority level or a second priority level based on the identification information received from each of the terminals via the wireless communication interface.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

setting a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the first priority level and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the second priority level, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer program instructions, which when executed by a power supply apparatus, cause the power supply apparatus to:

receive identification information from each of a plurality of communication terminal devices via wireless communication, wherein the identification information indicates whether a communication terminal device in the plurality of communication terminal devices is associated with a membership at a location where the power supply apparatus is provided; and

determine a level of power that is transmitted in a non-contact manner to each of the communication terminal devices based on the identification information received via the wireless communication interface.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer program instructions further cause the power supply apparatus to:

set a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a first of the communication terminal devices and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to a second of the communication terminal devices, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer program instructions further cause the power supply apparatus to:

determine whether each of the communication terminal devices belong to a first priority level or a second priority level based on the identification information received from each of the terminals via the wireless communication interface.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program instructions further cause the power supply apparatus to:

set a first power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the first priority level and a second power level to transfer power in a non-contact manner to communication terminal devices belonging to the second priority level, the first power level being higher than the second power level.