Wireless charging and communication

• US 9,077,390 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Joehren, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US14/133,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20150171930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 455/572, 455/573, 320/108
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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 9/005 using a power saving mode for copiers G03G15/5004
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems

Abstract

Wireless power and data transfer can be implemented for powering and communicating with a variety of devices, in a manner that facilitates device access under such wireless power conditions. As consistent with one or more embodiments, wireless power and data are communicated in an apparatus such as a mobile device having a power circuit (e.g., a battery) that powers a processor under normal operating conditions, and that also operates in a low-power state (e.g., in which the processor is not operating and/or not operating using the power circuit). Power is generated using wireless power signals and used to power the power circuit and to both extract and store data from wireless data signals. With this approach, data can be transferred in a low-power state, and the processor can use the stored data upon transitioning to an on state in which the processor is active and powered by the power circuit/battery.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a power circuit;

a processing circuit configured and arranged to operate in an on state in which the processing circuit is powered by the power circuit, and to operate in a low-power state in which the processing circuit consumes less power than in the on state;

a wireless communication circuit configured and arranged to

receive wireless power signals from a remote device, generate power via the wireless signals, and provide the generated power to the power circuit, and

receive wireless data signals from the remote device, and extract data from the wireless data signals by demodulating the wireless data signals using the generated power; and

a memory access circuit configured and arranged with the processing circuit to consume power at different levels relative to the low-power state, wherein while the processing circuit is in the low-power state, the generated power is used to store the extracted data in memory and to communicate wireless data signals to the remote device and, in response to an indication of transitioning from the low-power state to the on state, the stored extracted data is accessed by the processing circuit using power provided by the power circuit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the power circuit includes a battery configured and arranged to be charged using the power generated via the wireless signals;

the processing circuit is configured and arranged to operate in the on state by executing operating system instructions stored in the memory, using power from the battery; and

the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to store the extracted data in the memory by storing updated operating system instructions in the memory while the processing circuit is in the off state and, via the stored updated operating system instructions, configuring the apparatus to operate using the updated operating system instructions upon the indication of transitioning the processing circuit into the on state, via power provided by the battery.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the processing circuit is configured and arranged to operate in the low-power state by operating in an off state in which the processing circuit does not execute the operating system instructions.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to use the generated power to read data from the memory while the processing circuit is in the low-power state, and

the wireless communication circuit is configured and arranged with the memory access circuit to modulate the data read from the memory and to wirelessly communicate the modulated data to the remote device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to use the generated power to read the data from the memory by reading error log data from the memory in response to an error condition in the apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the power circuit includes a battery configured and arranged to be charged using the power generated via the wireless signals;

the processing circuit is configured and arranged to operate in the on state by executing operating system instructions stored in the memory, using power from the battery; and

the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to

in response to a boot error for the processing circuit, use the generated power to read the data from the memory by reading error data indicative of the boot error, wherein the wireless communication circuit modulates and transmits the read data to the remote device, and

in response to data received from the remote device and corresponding to the error data, reconfigure operation of the processing circuit by using the generated power to overwrite data in the memory with the received data while the processing circuit is in the low-power state.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the extracted data includes encryption data and wherein the wireless circuit and the memory access circuit are configured and arranged to encrypt the data read from the memory, modulate the encrypted data, and wirelessly communicate the modulated encrypted data to the remote device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1,

further including a secure module including a memory circuit,

wherein the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to store the extracted data in memory by storing authentication data in the memory circuit of the secure module, and

wherein the processing circuit is configured and arranged with the secure module to provide user-access via the apparatus, based upon the stored authentication data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is configured and arranged with the secure module to provide the user-access by using the stored authentication data to authenticate the apparatus on a wireless telephony network based upon information in the authentication data corresponding to a subscriber identity.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit operates in the low-power state by operating in an idle state in which the processing circuit is powered at a low-power idle state in which the processing circuit consumes less power than in the on state.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless power signals are inductive signals, and wherein the wireless circuit is configured and arranged to receive the wireless data signals embedded within the wireless power signals, and to demodulate the wireless data signals from the wireless power signals.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication circuit is configured and arranged to demodulate the wireless data signals by extracting wireless data signals embedded within dedicated data transmission frames within the wireless power signals.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication circuit and memory access circuit are configured and arranged to,

in response to a wireless communication from the remote device, accessing and communicating authentication data to the remote device, and

in response to receiving, from the remote device, a further wireless communication including the data signals and an indication of the authentication data, authenticate the further wireless communication and store the extracted data in memory as a function of the authentication.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless circuit is configured and arranged to receive the wireless power signals via electromagnetic induction and to receive the wireless data signals via near-field communications involving signals limited in communication distance to less than 10 cm.

15. For use in a device having a battery and a processing circuit, the device being operable in an on state in which the processing circuit is powered by the battery and being operable in an off state in which the processing circuit is not powered by the battery, an apparatus comprising:

a wireless communication circuit configured and arranged to

receive inductive power from an inductive power source, and

while the device is in the off state, use the received inductive power to charge the battery and to extract data from wireless data signals; and

a memory access circuit configured and arranged to, while the processing circuit is in the off state, use the generated power to store the extracted data in memory.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the wireless communication circuit is configured and arranged to extract the data from wireless data signals by extracting data embedded in electromagnetic waves that provide the inductive power.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, further including the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured and arranged to access the stored extracted data using power provided by the battery in response to transitioning from the off state to the on state.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein

the processing circuit is configured and arranged to operate in the on state by executing operating system instructions stored in the memory, using power from the battery;

and

the memory access circuit is configured and arranged to store the extracted data in the memory by storing updated operating system instructions in the memory while the processing circuit is in the off state and, via the stored updated operating system instructions, configure the apparatus to operate using the updated operating system instructions upon transitioning the processing circuit into the on state via power provided by the battery.

19. For use in an apparatus having a power circuit and a processing circuit that operates in an on state in which the processing circuit is powered by the power circuit, and that operates in a low-power state in which the processing circuit consumes less power than in the on state, a method comprising:

generating power via wireless power signals from a remote device;

providing the generated power to the power circuit;

extracting data from wireless data signals received from the remote device by demodulating the wireless data signals using the generated power;

while the processing circuit is in the low-power state, using the generated power to store the extracted data in memory; and

in the processing circuit, accessing the stored extracted data using power provided by the power circuit, in response to transitioning from the low-power state to the on state.

20. The method of claim 19,

wherein the power circuit is a battery,

wherein providing the generated power includes charging the battery,

further including, while the processing circuit is in the low-power state and prior to using the generated power to store the extracted data in memory, accessing data indicating an error condition of the processing circuit from the memory and wirelessly transmitting the data indicating the error condition, and

wherein using the generated power to store the extracted data includes storing updated operating system instructions in the memory while the processing circuit is in the off state, and correcting the error condition by configuring the apparatus to operate using the updated operating system instructions upon transitioning the processing circuit into the on state via power provided by the battery.