Cluster management of transmitters in a wireless power transmission system

• US 9,882,395 B1
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Energous Corporation
• Original Assignee: Energous Corporation
• Inventors: Leabman, Michael, Bell, Douglas, Nelson, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleming, Fritz M
• Application Number:
  US14/748,136
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/23 characterised by the type of transmitting antennas, e.g. directional array antennas or Yagi antennas
• 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: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/02 Details electronic switching or gating H03K17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/22 using time-division multiplexing
• 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

Abstract

The embodiments described herein include a transmitter that transmits a power transmission signal (e.g., radio frequency (RF) signal waves) to create a three-dimensional pocket of energy. At least one receiver can be connected to or integrated into electronic devices and receive power from the pocket of energy. A wireless power network may include a plurality of wireless power transmitters each with an embedded wireless power transmitter manager, including a wireless power manager application. The wireless power network may include a plurality of client devices with wireless power receivers. Wireless power receivers may include a power receiver application configured to communicate with the wireless power manager application. The wireless power manager application may include a device database where information about the wireless power network may be stored.

Claims

1. A system in a wireless power delivery network, comprising:

a plurality of transmitter managers, each comprising a database storing records associated with a plurality of user devices; and

a plurality of power transmitters communicatively coupled to (i) the plurality of transmitter managers and (ii) a power receiver coupled with a respective user device of the plurality of user devices;

wherein at least one power transmitter of the plurality of power transmitters is configured to transmit signals received from the power receiver to at least two transmitter managers of the plurality of transmitter managers;

wherein a respective transmitter manager of the at least two transmitter managers is configured to, based on (i) the signals received from the power receiver and (ii) the records stored in respective databases of the at least two transmitter managers, determine whether the respective transmitter manager has control over the respective user device; and

in accordance with a determination that only one of the at least two transmitter managers has control over the respective user device, then the only one of the at least two transmitter managers is configured to instruct at least one of the plurality of power transmitters to transmit a plurality of power transmission signals that converge to generate a constructive interference pattern in proximity to the power receiver; and

in accordance with a determination that the at least two transmitter managers of the plurality of transmitter managers have control over the respective user device, then each of the at least two transmitter managers is configured to instruct at least one of the plurality of power transmitters to transmit power transmission signals to the power receiver according to time division multiplexing (TDM) of communications between the power receiver and each of the at least two transmitter managers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmitter managers is configured to establish a network communication between the plurality of transmitter managers.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of transmitter managers is further configured to share an associated database via the network communication.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the network communication comprises at least one of a Wi-Fi communication, a local area network (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), or a wireless area network (WAN).

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of transmitter managers is configured to create an area model comprising information about movement of at least one of the plurality of user devices.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power receiver is less than 30 feet away from the at least one power transmitter of the plurality of power transmitters.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the records stored in the database comprise information related to at least one of charging history, charging schedules, charging status, or device IDs associated with the plurality of user devices.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of transmitter managers communicates with at least one of the plurality of user devices via a protocol selected form the group consisting of BLUETOOTH, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, NFC, ZIGBEE, and combinations thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of transmitter managers further comprises an antenna manager for mapping a location of at least one of the plurality of user devices.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of transmitter managers is configured to communicably deliver to at least one remote server, information related to performance of the plurality of power transmitters or performance of the plurality of power receivers, or information related to at least one of the plurality of user devices.

11. A method in a wireless power delivery network, comprising:

transmitting, by at least one of a plurality of power transmitters, signals received from a power receiver coupled with a respective user device of a plurality of user devices to at least two transmitter managers of a plurality of transmitter managers;

determining, by a respective transmitter manager of the at least two transmitter managers, whether the respective transmitter manager has control over the respective user device based on (i) the signals received from the power receiver and (ii) records stored in respective databases of the at least two transmitter managers;

in accordance with a determination that only one of the at least two transmitter managers of the plurality of transmitter managers has control over the respective user device, instructing, by the only one of the at least two transmitter managers, at least one of the plurality of power transmitters to transmit a plurality of power transmission signals that converge to generate a constructive interference pattern in proximity to the power receiver;

in accordance with a determination that the at least two transmitter managers have control over the respective user device, instructing, by the at least two transmitter managers, at least one of the plurality of power transmitters to transmit power transmission signals to the power receiver in accordance with time division multiplexing (TDM) of communications between the power receiver and each of the at least two transmitter managers.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising establishing a network communication between the plurality of transmitter managers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the network communication comprises at least one of a Wi-Fi communication, a local area network (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), or a wireless area network (WAN).

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising configuring the plurality of transmitter managers to share their associated databases via the network communication.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising configuring at least one of the plurality of transmitter managers to create an area model comprising information about movement of at least one of the plurality of user devices.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising configuring each one of the plurality of transmitter managers to communicably deliver to at least one remote server, information related to performance of the plurality of power transmitters or performance of the plurality of power receivers, or information related to at least one of the plurality of user devices.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the power receiver is less than 30 feet away from the at least one power transmitter of the plurality of power transmitters.