APPARATUSES AND METHODS THAT FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF POWER AND INFORMATION AMONG RADIO FREQUENCY-BASED DEVICES

• US 20130165046A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tang, John, Christie, Greg, Dorogusker, Jesse L., Novotney, Donald, Terlizzi, Jeffrey J., McKillop, Christopher D., Tikalsky, Terry, Rabu, Stanley
• Granted Patent: US 9,806,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/30 Charge provided using DC bus or data bus of a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/40 adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• 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: H02J 7/02 for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• 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 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/00 Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field H04B10/00, H04B15/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention is directed to apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer readable media that can facilitate the transfer of power between at least two electrical devices. At least one of the electrical devices is preferably a battery operated device. The present invention may also be used to facilitate the transfer of information among electrical devices. For example, the present invention may be used to automatically pair two Bluetooth devices together.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one port configured to electrically couple to a first radio frequency (RF) device and a second RF device; and

a microcontroller configured to;

determine whether the second RF device is enabled for automatic pairing with the first RF device;

in response to determining that the second RF device is enabled for pairing, exchange a device code via wire connections of the apparatus from the first RF device to the second RF device;

subsequent to exchanging the device code, wirelessly pair the first RF device with the second RF device using the device code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the exchanging the device code via wire connections of the apparatus enables wireless pairing of the first RF device and second RF device without requiring a user to enter an identification code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to:

prior to wirelessly pairing the first RF device with the second RF device, determine whether the first RF device is already paired with the second RF device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to:

prior to wirelessly pairing the first RF device with the second RF device, allowing the first RF device to query the status of the second RF device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to charge a battery of the at least one of the first or second RF devices coupled to the at least one port.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine a charge voltage associated with the at least one of the first or second RF devices and using the charge voltage to charge the battery of the at least one of the first or second RF devices coupled to the at least one port.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first RF device and a second RF device are electrically coupled to respective first and second ports, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow a first battery of the first RF device to charge a second battery of the second RF device via the apparatus.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one port configured to electrically couple to a first radio frequency (RF) device and a second RF device; and

a microcontroller configured to;

determine whether the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing with the first RF device; and

in response to determining that the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing, cancel the automatic RF pairing process.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the microcontroller determines that the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing in response to determining that the second RF device has a setting that conflicts with part of the automatic RF pairing process.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the setting is an airplane mode setting.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the setting is a user security setting which is password protected.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the microcontroller determines that the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing in response to determining that the second RF device is actively linked to a third RF device.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the microcontroller is configured to:

monitor whether the RF device is enabled for automatic pairing subsequent to the canceling of the automatic RF pairing process;

subsequent to the monitoring, determine that the second RF device is enabled for automatic RF pairing; and

automatically pair the first RF device and second RF device.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is configured to charge a battery of the at least one of the first or second RF devices coupled to the at least one port.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine a charge voltage associated with the at least one of the first or second RF devices and using the charge voltage to charge the battery of the at least one of the first or second RF devices coupled to the at least one port

16. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first RF device and a second RF device are electrically coupled to respective first and second ports, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow a first battery of the first RF device to charge a second battery of the second RF device.

17. A method, comprising:

electrically coupling at least one of a first radio frequency (RF) device or a second RF device to at least one port of an apparatus;

determining whether the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing; and

in response to determining that the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing, canceling the automatic RF pairing process.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing occurs in response to the second RF device having a setting that conflicts with part of the RF pairing process.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the setting is an airplane mode setting.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the second RF device is disabled for automatic RF pairing occurs in response to the second RF device having an active link to a third RF device.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

subsequent to the canceling the automatic RF pairing process, determining that the second RF device is enabled for automatic RF pairing; and

automatically pairing the first RF device and second RF device.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

charging a battery of the at least one of the first or second RF devices coupled to the at least one port.