Electronic system for notifying user of battery charging state

• US 9,450,447 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2012
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Akiyoshi, Koichi, Uramoto, Yoichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Levin, Naum B
• Application Number:
  US14/352,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20140266037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,405 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence
• 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 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge

Abstract

An electronic unit includes an electricity reception section configured to receive power transmitted using one of a magnetic field and an electric field, a secondary battery configured to be charged based on a received power received by the electricity reception section, and a state notification section configured to provide notification to outside as to a state of its own unit. A charging period during which the secondary battery is charged based on the received power and a non-charging period are set in a time-divisional manner. The state notification section notifies of the unit state based on the received power in both of the charging period and the non-charging period.

Claims

1. An electronic unit, comprising:

an electricity reception section configured to receive power transmitted using one of a magnetic field and an electric field;

a secondary battery configured to be charged based on a received power received by the electricity reception section; and

a state notification section configured to provide notification to outside as to a state of the electronic unit,

wherein a charging period during which the secondary battery is charged based on the received power and a non-charging period are set in a time-divisional manner,

wherein a communication operation is performed with a power feeding unit in the non-charging period, and the communication operation is set at a lower frequency in a period after completion of charging than in the charging period of the secondary battery, and

wherein the state notification section notifies of the state based on the received power in both of the charging period and the non-charging period.

2. The electronic unit according to claim 1, further comprising a charging section configured to charge the secondary battery based on the received power,

wherein, in the non-charging period, the state notification section notifies of the state using part of charging power stored in the secondary battery based on the received power.

3. The electronic unit according to claim 2, wherein the state notification section includes:

a lighting section configured to notify of the state in accordance with a lighting state; and

a lighting control section configured to control the lighting state of the lighting section using the received power.

4. The electronic unit according to claim 3, further comprising a control section configured to perform predetermined control in the unit,

wherein the lighting control section controls the lighting state using the received power in the charging period, and

the control section controls the lighting state using part of the charging power in the non-charging period.

5. The electronic unit according to claim 4, wherein the control section further controls the lighting state using part of the charging power in an overlapping period with the charging period, the overlapping period being set in one or both of periods before and after the non-charging period.

6. The electronic unit according to claim 2, wherein the non-charging period is a communication period in which predetermined communication is performed with the power feeding unit configured to perform the power transmission.

7. The electronic unit according to claim 6, wherein, in the communication period, supply of the received power is stopped to each of the charging section, the state notification section, and a load located in a downstream of the charging section and the state notification section.

8. The electronic unit according to claim 6, wherein the communication period is continuously set after the secondary battery has been charged by the charging section.

9. The electronic unit according to claim 2, wherein the state notification section separately notifies of states as the state, the states being a state during charging by the charging section and a state after completion of the charging.

10. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein in the non-charging period, the state notification section notifies of the state directly using part of the received power received during the non-charging period.

11. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein the electricity reception section is configured to perform the communication operation during the non-charging period.

12. The electronic unit according to claim 1, wherein, during the communication operation, an authentication of the electronic unit to the power feeding unit is performed.

13. A power feeding system, comprising:

one or more electronic units; and

a power feeding unit configured to perform power transmission to the one or more electronic units using one of a magnetic field and an electric field,

each of the one or more electronic units including;

an electricity reception section configured to receive power transmitted from the power feeding unit,

a secondary battery configured to be charged based on the received power, and

a state notification section configured to provide notification to outside as to a state of the respective electronic unit,

wherein a charging period during which the secondary battery is charged based on the received power and a non-charging period are set in a time-divisional manner;

wherein a communication operation is performed with the power feeding unit in the non-charging period, and the communication operation is set at a lower frequency in a period after completion of charging than in the charging period of the secondary battery, and

wherein the state notification section notifies of the state based on the received power in both of the charging period and the non-charging period.

14. The power feeding system according to claim 13, wherein the power feeding unit is configured to perform authentication of the one or more electronic units, determine that the one or more electronic units are placed on the power feeding unit, and detect contamination caused due to a dissimilar metal.