Mobile terminal, power transfer system and computer-readable storage medium

• US 9,037,197 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2011
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Ohira, Masataka, Kono, Michiyo
• Primary Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhang, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/981,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20130310117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 455/573, 455/574, 455/343.2, 455/343.5, 340/855.8, 340/455, 340/636.1, 340/693.2
• US Class Current: 455/573
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• 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 7/342 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 7/0805 with single receiver and antenna switching H04B7/0822 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0848 Joint weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/00 Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes gain control in transmitters or power amplifiers H03G3/3042

Abstract

A mobile terminal may include a plurality of antennas to receive radio waves, a receiver circuit to receive power of the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas using a diversity technique, and a charging unit to charge a rechargeable battery coupled to the mobile terminal by the power of the radio waves received by the receiver circuit.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to receive radio waves;

a receiver circuit configured to receive power of the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas using a diversity technique to selectively switch from among the plurality of antennas to connect to a respective one of the plurality of antennas having a highest power reception level;

a charging unit configured to charge a rechargeable battery coupled to the charging unit by the power of the radio waves received by the respective one of the plurality of antennas having the highest power reception level; and

a control unit configured to send a power transfer request via the plurality of antennas in accordance with a remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery less than a predetermined value.

2. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to activate the charging unit in response to a notification notifying a start of a power transfer received from one of the plurality of antennas.

3. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to deactivate the charging unit and send an end request requesting an end of the power transfer via the plurality of antennas in accordance with the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery greater than or equal to the predetermined value.

4. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the receiver circuit is configured to receive a power transfer at a carrier frequency via the plurality of antennas;

and

wherein the control unit is configured to determine the diversity technique used by the receiver circuit in accordance with maximizing a reception power level of a carrier wave with respect to noise depending on the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery.

5. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the control unit is configured to make a power transfer, including making a notification to notify a start of the power transfer, via the plurality of antennas in response to receiving the power transfer request via the plurality of antennas.

6. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a switching circuit configured to switch an output therefrom in response to a control signal in order to selectively output a radio wave having a highest reception power level among the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas;

wherein the control unit is configured to control the switching circuit by supplying thereto the control signal.

7. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an adjusting circuit configured to adjust at least one of an amplitude and a phase of the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas in response to a control signal in order to selectively output a radio wave having a highest reception power level among the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas;

wherein the control unit is configured to control the adjusting circuit by supplying thereto the control signal.

8. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of antennas form an adaptive array antenna.

19. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the diversity technique comprises at least one of an equal gain combining, an in-phase combining, or a maximal-ratio combining.

9. A power transfer system comprising:

a mobile terminal; and

a plurality of external devices configured to communicate with the mobile terminal,

wherein the mobile terminal comprises;

a plurality of antennas configured to receive radio waves from the external devices;

a receiver circuit configured to receive power of the radio waves received by the plurality of antennas using a diversity technique to selectively switch from among the plurality of antennas to connect to a respective one of the plurality of antenna having a highest power reception level;

a charging unit configured to charge a rechargeable battery coupled to the charging unit by the power of the radio waves received by the respective one of the plurality of antennas having the highest power reception level; and

a control unit configured to send a power transfer request with respect to the external devices via the plurality of antennas in accordance with a remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery less than a predetermined value, and to activate the charging unit in response to a notification notifying a start of a power transfer received from one of the plurality of antennas in response to the power transfer request.

10. The power transfer system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control unit of the mobile terminal is configured to deactivate the charging unit thereof and to send an end request requesting an end of the power transfer via the plurality of antennas in accordance with the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery greater than or equal to the predetermined value.

11. The power transfer system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control unit of the mobile terminal is configured to determine the diversity technique used by the receiver circuit in accordance with maximizing a reception power level of a carrier wave with respect to noise depending on the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery.

12. The power transfer system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control unit of the mobile terminal is configured to make a power transfer, including making a notification to notify a start of power transfer, via the plurality of antennas in response to receiving a power transfer request via the plurality of antennas.

13. The power transfer system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control unit of the mobile terminal is configured to activate the charging unit in response to the notification notifying the start of the power transfer received from one of the plurality of antennas within a predetermined time from sending the power transfer request.

20. The power transfer system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the diversity technique comprises at least one of an equal gain combining, an in-phase combining, or a maximal-ratio combining.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform power transfer operations comprising:

receiving power of radio waves received by a plurality of antennas using a diversity technique to selectively switch from among the plurality of antennas to connect to a respective one of the plurality of antennas having a highest power reception level;

charging a rechargeable battery coupled to a charging unit by the charging unit using the power of the radio waves received by the respective one of the plurality of antennas having the highest power reception level; and

sending a power transfer request via the plurality of antennas in accordance with a remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery less than a predetermined value.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform power transfer operations further comprising:

activating the charging unit in response to a notification notifying a start of a power transfer received from one of the plurality of antennas.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform power transfer operations further comprising:

deactivating the charging unit and sending an end request requesting an end of the power transfer via the plurality of antennas in accordance with the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery greater than or equal to the predetermined value.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform power transfer operations further comprising:

activating a power transfer at a carrier frequency via the plurality of antennas; and

determining the diversity technique in accordance with maximizing a reception power level of a carrier wave with respect to noise depending on the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform power transfer operations further comprising:

making a power transfer, including making a notification to notify a start of the power transfer, via the plurality of antennas in response to receiving the power transfer request via the plurality of antennas.