Cross body charging for wearable devices

• US 9,917,459 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2014
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Durham, Lenitra M., Anderson, Glen J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Borroto, Alfonso Perez
• Application Number:
  US14/582,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20160181823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,176 Days
• Field of Search: 307104
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 13/00 Professional, industrial or sporting protective garments, e.g. surgeons' gowns or garments protecting against blows or punches helmets A42B3/00; clothing affording protection against chemical agents or for use at high altitudes A62B17/00; life-saving garments for use at sea, diving suits B63C; bulletproof or armoured clothing F41H; clothing affording protection against radiation G21F3/02
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 1/0054 provided with magnets, magnetic parts or magnetic substances
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 1/0081 made at least partially of hook-and-loop type material hook and loop-type straps for fastening purpose A43C11/1493
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/34 with electrical or electronic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/35 with electric heating arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/30 Charge provided using DC bus or data bus of a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• 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 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 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets

Abstract

Techniques to transmit power across a wearable device are provided. A wearable device can include a conductive transmission line and a set of contacts, the set of contacts configured to be releasably connected to a second set of contacts on another wearable device. As such, power can be communicated to the conductive transmission line through the sets of contacts and transmitted across the wearable device, via the conductive transmission line.

Claims

1. An apparatus to transmit power from a second wearable device to a first wearable device, the apparatus comprising:

a first article of clothing comprising the first wearable device, the first wearable device comprising;

a conductive transmission line to communicate electrical energy from a first position to a second position within the first article of clothing, and

a plurality of first wearable device contacts, at least one first contact of the plurality of first wearable device contacts in electrical communication with the conductive transmission line at the first position, the at least one first contact of the plurality of first wearable device contacts to electrically couple the first wearable device to the at least one second wearable device contact of the second wearable device arranged in a second article of clothing, the second wearable device comprising a power source to provide electrical energy to the second position through the conductive transmission line.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, at least a portion of the plurality of first wearable device contacts comprising a releasable connector to releasably couple the at least a portion of the plurality of first wearable device contacts to the at least one second wearable device contact.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the releasable connector comprises magnets, hook-and-loop closures, or snaps.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising an energy storage device in electrical communication with the conductive transmission line, the energy storage device to store energy received from the second wearable device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, the energy storage device comprising a capacitor or a rechargeable battery.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a controller coupled to the conductive transmission line, the controller to:

provide an indication that the at least one first contact of the plurality of first wearable device contacts are electrically coupled to the second wearable device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, comprising a speaker, the indication to include a control signal to cause the speaker to emit a signal based on the indication.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, comprising an LED, the indication to include a control signal to cause the LED to emit a signal based on the indication.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, the conductive transmission line comprising conductive thread, conductive paint, or a body coupled energy transmission system.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first article of clothing comprises pants and the second article of clothing comprises shoes.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first article of clothing comprises:

socks, under clothing, pants, a belt, a shirt, a sweater, a jacket, a hat, a scarf, eye glasses, a hearing aid, or a wristband.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, the plurality of first wearable device contacts comprising at least one second contact in electrical communication with the conductive transmission line at the second position, the at least one second contact of the plurality of first wearable device contacts to electrically couple the second wearable device to a third wearable device.

12. A system for communicating electrical energy across a wearable device, the system comprising:

an energy generation device; and

a first set of contacts arranged in a first wearable device and in electrical communication with the energy generation device, the first set of contacts to releasable connect to a second set of contacts arranged in a second wearable device, the second set of contacts in electrical communication with a conductive transmission line, the conductive transmission line to communicate electrical energy from the energy generation device to a third set of contacts.

13. The system of claim 12, comprising a releasable connector to couple the first set of contacts to the second set of contacts.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the releasable connector comprises magnets, hook-and-loop closures, or snaps.

15. The system of claim 12, comprising an energy storage device in electrical communication with the energy generation device, the energy storage device to store energy received from the energy generation device.

16. The system of claim 15, the energy storage device comprising a capacitor or a rechargeable battery.

17. The system of claim 12, comprising a controller coupled to the first set of contacts, the controller to:

determine whether the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts; and

provide an indication that the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts based on the determination that the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts;

or

provide an indication that the first set of contacts are not electrically coupled to the second set of contacts based on the determination that the first set of contacts are not electrically coupled to the second set of contacts.

18. The system of claim 17, comprising a speaker, the indication to include a control signal to cause the speaker to emit a signal based on the indication.

19. The system of claim 17, comprising an LED, the indication to include a control signal to cause the LED to emit a signal based on the indication.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the energy generation device is arranged in the first wearable device and the conductive transmission line is arranged in the second wearable device.

21. At least one non-transitory machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on a second wearable device causes the second wearable device to:

receive energy from a first set of contacts arranged in a first wearable device and in a releasable connection with a second set of contacts arranged in the second wearable device, the second set of contacts in electrical communication with an energy generation device of the first wearable device via the releasable connection; and

communicate the received energy across the second wearable device from a first position to a second position through a conductive transmission line.

22. The at least one non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, the plurality of instructions cause the wearable computing device to:

determine whether the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts; and

provide an indication that the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts based on the determination that the first set of contacts are electrically coupled to the second set of contacts;

or

provide an indication that the first set of contacts are not electrically coupled to the second set of contacts based on the determination that the first set of contacts are not electrically coupled to the second set of contacts.

23. The at least one non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, the plurality of instructions to cause the second wearable computing device to receive an indication from a third wearable device via a network interface, the indication to include a request to receive power from the energy generation component.