ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER AND REDUCED POWER CONSUMPTION

• US 20170289905A1
• Filed: 03/30/2017
• Published: 10/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marcellus Chen
• Original Assignee: Marcellus Chen
• Inventors: CHEN, Marcellus
• Granted Patent: US 10,021,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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: H04B 1/40 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02

Abstract

An electronic device including wireless energy receiver circuitry and an energy receiver antenna that is connected to the wireless charging circuitry can be used to improve electrical efficiency. The energy receiver antenna has a tunable reception frequency that can be controlled to optimize energy reception. For example, the energy receiver antenna can be tuned to match a wireless transmission frequency being output by the electronic device itself. If the electronic device is not currently outputting any transmission signals, the energy receiver antenna can be tuned to optimize energy reception from any other available signal source. In some examples, the electronic device may dynamically tune the reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna according to the relative strength of signals being received. Energy received by the energy receiver antenna can be supplied to power various components of the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

wireless power receiver circuitry;

a first energy receiver antenna connected to the wireless energy receiver circuitry, the first energy receiver antenna having a tunable reception frequency; and

a controller configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a transmitter generating a wireless transmission signal at a radio frequency (RF) transmit frequency; and

a transmitter antenna for transmitting the wireless transmission signal at the RF transmit frequency.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna to the RF transmit frequency if the transmitter antenna is actively transmitting the wireless transmission signal.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna to a wireless energy signal frequency different from the RF transmit frequency if the transmitter antenna is not actively transmitting the wireless transmission signal.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna to a frequency that is between the RF transmit frequency and a wireless energy signal frequency if the transmitter antenna is actively transmitting the wireless transmission signal and the wireless energy signal is being received by the first energy receiver antenna.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

perform a sweep of a receivable frequency spectrum for the first energy receiver antenna and detect any frequency in the receivable frequency spectrum at which energy is being received at a level equal to or greater than required to power the wireless energy receiver circuitry; and

tune the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna to receive energy at least one detected frequency in the receivable frequency spectrum.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of energy receiver antennas connected to the wireless energy receiver circuitry.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a second energy receiver antenna connected to the wireless energy receiver circuitry and matched to the RF transmit frequency.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a second energy receiver antenna connected to the wireless energy receiver circuitry, wherein

the second energy receiver antenna has a tunable reception frequency, and

the controller is configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the second energy receiver antenna independently from the tunable reception frequency of the first energy receiver antenna.

10. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a transmitter generating a wireless transmission signal at a radio frequency (RF) transmit frequency;

a transmitter antenna connected to the transmitter for transmitting the wireless transmission signal at the RF transmit frequency;

an energy receiver antenna having a tunable reception frequency;

wireless energy receiver circuitry connected to the energy receiver antenna and configured to convert signals received by the energy receiver antenna into direct current power; and

a controller configured to tune the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to:

tune the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna to the RF transmit frequency if the transmitter antenna is actively transmitting the wireless transmission signal, and

tune the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna to a wireless energy signal frequency different from the RF transmit frequency if the transmitter antenna is not actively transmitting the wireless transmission signal.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to:

detect respective signal strengths of a plurality of signals being received by the energy receiver antenna, and

select the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna according to signal strength.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to:

detect respective signal strengths of a plurality of signals being received by the energy receiver antenna, and

select the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna according to signal strength.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to:

perform a sweep of a receivable frequency spectrum for the energy receiver antenna and detect any frequency in the receivable frequency spectrum at which energy is being received at a level equal to or greater than required to power the wireless energy receiver circuitry, and

tune the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna to receive energy at least one detected frequency in the receivable frequency spectrum.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 10, further comprising:

a battery connected to the wireless energy receiver circuitry to receive direct current power from the wireless charging circuitry.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 10, further comprising:

an isolating switch between the energy receiver antenna and energy receiver circuitry.

17. A method of reducing power consumption of an electronic device including wireless energy receiver circuitry and a first energy receiver antenna connected to the wireless charging circuitry and having a tunable reception frequency, the method comprising:

detecting signal strengths of a plurality of signals being received by the energy receiver antenna,

selecting a frequency according to the signal strengths of the plurality of signals, and

tuning the tunable reception frequency of the energy receiver antenna to the selected frequency.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the selected frequency is a transmission frequency of a wireless communication signal being output by the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the frequency is selected to be between frequencies of two signals in the plurality of signals being received by the energy receiver antenna.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

converting energy received by the energy receiver antenna into direct current power, and doing at least one of the following;

charging a battery of the electronic device with the direct current power, and

operating the electronic device with the direct current power to limit discharging of the battery.