IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURING
RECHARGEABLE DEVICES
This invention relates to a new system of managing portable rechargeable devices in relation to their recharging stations, and a method of managing portable rechargeable devices in relation to their recharging stations.
Portable rechargeable devices (instances of which are hereinafter referred to simply as a "device") are usually charged either by: • attaching a wire from a recharger (Figure 1 ), or
• by dropping the device into some kind of receptive cradle connected to a recharger, or
• by dropping the device onto a surface connected to a recharger (Figure 2) Charging is either by via electrical contacts or a non-contact means, e.g. magnetic induction or light-power.
Examples include:
• The Palm Pilot™ series of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), which sit in a recharging cradle. • Mobile phones, which can be dropped into a cradle in a car for recharging and hands-free operation.
In some cases, devices charged by non-contact means may not need to be physically touching their rechargers - just placing a device close to a recharger may be sufficient to enable charging to take place. So hereinafter in this patent application, when the word "on" is used in the context of recharging a device on a recharger, it should be understood to mean that it may either touch its recharger, or be near enough to permit recharging to take place. Likewise the word "off' used in such a context should be understood to mean that it is being taken out of contact with its recharger, or far enough away that recharging is no longer possible.
In some instances, today's wire-recharged devices are able to perform certain useful automatic actions when they:
• are removed from the recharging station and/or
• are replaced on the recharging station and/or • remain on the recharging station
Examples include:
• Hagenuk™ DECT wireless cordless home phones, which if removed from the cradle while ringing automatically go "off-hook" (answer), and if off- hook automatically go "on-hook", terminating the call, as they are replaced onto the cradle.
• The Palm Pilot™, which is also able to synchronise data with a connected PC via its recharging cradle, on command from a manual pushbutton.
• Various mobile phones (e.g. Ericsson™ T68) which can detect when an external hands-free set is plugged in to them, and alter their "profile" setting accordingly. The "profile" is a collection of settings which affect the phone's behaviour, for example the volume setting and the answer mode. If the hands- free set functionality is incorporated in an in-car charging cradle, the combined unit has the functionality of automatically changing its profile when dropped into the cradle, and of automatically reverting to a previous profile when removed from the cradle.
Unrelated to the above, but of relevance to the present invention, there exist devices powered by an external inductive field, and capable of simultaneously exchanging data to and from the remote device generating that field. An example of such data modulation combined with an inductive power source is the passive "RFID" devices and smart labels, for example the Philips MIFARE™ smart tags, which are both powered and interrogated by an inductive field from a nearby reader.
Today more and more devices are capable of obtaining their data communications (e.g. voice data or computer data) wirelessly, for example by DECT or Bluetooth or 802.11 WiFi.
If such devices are also made capable of being recharged without wires (e.g. by induction-charging) then the devices become entirely wire-free, with obvious benefits of convenience for the user.
However in this case the mechanical contact connection which today serves to indicate to the device that it is in a cradle is not present in such inductively-charged devices. This removes a useful means of triggering automatic actions such as those described above.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided:
• a recharging station ("recharger") and
• a portable rechargeable device ("device"),
• the device incorporating a means for receiving power from such a recharger without direct electrical contact ("receiver"),
• the receiver having a means for detecting when it is in proximity to the recharger, and signalling this information to the rest of the device ("control means"),
• the control means using this information to change the state of the device, or to take some predetermined action.
Such a system is advantageous because it provides the device with a means of altering its behaviour in some useful fashion as it is removed from and/or replaced on the recharger.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of altering the settings, and/or triggering certain behaviour of a portable rechargeable device by means of a receiver capable of detecting that it is in proximity to a recharging station and informing the control software or electronics of the device electronics of this fact.
The receiver may receive power for example via an inductive loop or a photovoltaic cell. Typically it may incorporate some kind of power-conditioning circuit, for example a rectifier and a smoothing capacitor, and possibly a voltage regulator, which will then typically be connected both to the power-supply input of the device and to a rechargeable battery. There may be a separate charge-controller to control the recharging of the battery.
The control means may be dedicated analogue or digital electronics, or a microcontroller running a software program.
The communication from the receiver to the control means may be a simple hardware or software binary signal indicating whether or not the device is in proximity to the recharger, or it may be some more sophisticated hardware or software signal indicating for example the three conditions "far from recharger / close to recharger / on recharger".
The receiver may detect this condition for example simply by detecting that its received power has crossed a preset threshold. The detection may be conducted by component already mentioned, for example a regulator or charge-controller
It will be clear to those skilled in the art that the transition from one signal state to another (an "event") may be a useful trigger for causing actions to take place.
Optionally, a signal indicating that the device is being brought closer to the recharger may do any or all of the following:
• Cause the device to begin reception, transmission or synchronisation of its data with another device, for example a personal computer (PC). The data may be of any type, for example but not limited to calendar and contact data, photographic data, music data. • Cause the device, if it is interacting with the user (for example a phone "off- hook", or a computer streaming live video from some expensive source) to cease the interaction (for example, the phone going "on-hook", or the
computer ceasing to stream the video). Indeed the device may simply turn- off, or appear to do so.
• Switch to a different mode of communication with other devices.
Optionally a signal indicating that the device is being taken further from the recharger may cause the device to do any or all of the following:
• Cause the device, if it is signalling for attention from the user (for example, a phone ringing or an alarm sounding) to change into a mode suitable for interaction with the user (for example, the phone going "off-hook" or the alarm silencing). Indeed the device may simply turn-on ready to be used, for example an electric shaver starting.
• "Finish-up" any ongoing data transfers in an ordered fashion, on the assumption that it may be about to go out of range, e.g. leave the house.
• Switch to a different mode of communication with other devices. • Request a security verification from the user (for example, a PIN number or fingerprint). This would be useful in cases where a device is being recharged in a public place, to prevent thieves from find the device useful if they steal it.
Optionally, the location and/or orientation in which the device is placed relative to the recharger may be sensed by the device, the recharger or both, and made to control their behaviour or state. For example, placing a phone in a particular part of the recharger might mean "ring quietly" or "refuse calls". Moving a device relative to its charger might cause its light and/or a light on the recharger to illuminate, making it easier to pick-up in the dark.
Optionally, or additionally, to the control means detecting that it is close to a recharger via the power receiver (which indicates that it may be close-enough to actually charge), it. may detect that it is in the region of a recharger by some other longer-range wireless interface. For example, both the recharger and the device may have bidirectional Bluetooth or 802.11 WiFi interfaces capable of interchanging information. This allows the control means to know when it is "close, but not close- enough to charge". If this is coupled with a means for detecting that the device needs
recharging, the recharger may for example light an indicator to indicate its useful presence.
Alternatively or additionally, the flow of power from the recharging means to the device may be modulated to encode data upon it. It may be modulated in either direction:
• by the recharger (e.g. by skipping power cycles) to send data to the device, and/or
• by the device (e.g. by shorting turns during power cycles) to send data to the recharger, and/or
• both of the above.
Such data may be a simple static identity number ("ID"), for example a unique ID or class ID. In the case of devices which also have another ED for different purposes (for example the phone number of a phone, or the Internet Protocol or Bluetooth address of a data device), the two IDs may be the same, thus communicating the other ID over the recharging link. The ID may even be the ID of a related item, for example the Social Security Number or email address of the owner of a device, or the IP address of a computer within wireless range of the recharging station.
Alternatively or additionally, such data may be a dynamic flow of novel information between devices, for example the data needed to synchronise a PDA with a PC.
Depending on the type of power transfer, the data transfer rate may be quite slow.
A device may set its internal state (e.g. the profile of a mobile phone) differently, and/or conduct certain actions (e.g. synchronisation) differently, dependant on the ED of the recharger on which it is placed. For example, a mobile phone may set its profile to ring more quietly when on a recharger with a "home" ID than on one with a "car" ID).
A recharger in a public place may read the phone number (or other ED) of a device so that it can bill the user for power received, or push adverts.
Once the power is exhausted on a device, it may refuse to work again until it is recharged on a recharger with a particular ID or class of ED's previously-defined.
It can be difficult for users of wireless devices to configure them such that they are able to communicate with to one another. Such devices tend to have long EDs which must somehow be exchanged in order for a link to be established, and this normally either has to be done by entering many numbers or letters, or by requesting a list of all devices within range and choosing one.
It will be seen that for such devices, for example a wireless PDA trying to synchronise with a PC, the simple reception or exchange of such an ID may be of great help in informing one device of the other's address automatically, so that it may establish a link on a separate communication means, possibly a wireless network with higher data-rate and greater-range.
The usable distance within which a device must be of a recharger in order to recharge is usually short and well-defined (compared to that of a typical wireless data system), and thus it is convenient for the user to point or wave the device at the recharger, to make it clear which device should be talking to which.
If, for example, a recharger has a separate wireless Access Point built-in, or attached to or nearby to it (for example one using the Bluetooth or 802.11 protocols), it can advertise the P address of the Access Point to any devices placed on it. Without this, much button-pushing would be required of the user to .configure the device to achieve a simple task, e.g. collecting email, at a new location such as a cafe or office, which may never be visited again.
As another example, imagine that an inductive recharger is placed on a mantelpiece in the living room of a home, and it is set to encode a unique "living room ID" onto its inductive field:
• If the user places a video-camera or digital camera on the recharger to recharge it, and the video camera has a wireless link on it, this ED mechanism can ensure that when "play" is pressed, the image is sent to the correct TV, and not to the one in the room next door.
• Likewise if the user places a music player (e.g. an MP3 player) with a wireless link, this ID mechanism can ensure that when "play" is pressed, the audio is sent to the correct loudspeaker music system, and not to the one in the room next door.
The same scenario could be imagined in a car - where a user may want to ensure that any device they place on an in-car recharger uses their own networks and not those e.g. of the car next door.
As another example, if every device remembers the ID of the last recharger it has encountered (including any recharger it may currently be on), then placing the device on the recharger, even momentarily, becomes a means of establishing a "rendezvous ID" which can be used to exchange data by some other wireless means between two devices.
If the recharger is capable of simultaneously recharging more than one device, the recharging station can even become a "proxy" - an area enabling devices to exchange data with each other.
The receiver may optionally have an alternative mode of operation where it is capable of generating power for transfer to another device, rather than receiving it. In such a case, two devices may exchange EDs or data as described above directly between them without the help of any recharger.
Any combination of all of the above may be possible.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show it may be carried into effect, reference shall now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawing(s), in which:
FIGURE 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to Figure 3, a recharger uses an inductive coil to create an alternating magnetic field. This field is picked-up by a device in proximity. The device rectifies smoothes and regulates the power, before delivering it to the control means and, via a charge-controller, to the device battery. The area bordered by a dotted line may be considered to be the "receiver" in the present invention. So far, this is a description typical of any inductively-charged electronic device.
What makes it novel is the signal line (heavy dotted line) from the regulator to the control means. In this embodiment, the regulator is measuring the power received, and setting the signal line high if the power received is above a threshold, and low otherwise. The control means uses this information to change certain behaviour, for example to set Profile A when the signal line is high and to set Profile B when the signal line is low.
In a more sophisticated embodiment, the recharger modulates the transmitted power with an ED number which is the ED of a local wireless access point. The receiver now decodes this ID data from the incoming power and passes it to the control means which makes more sophisticated use of it, for example to use it to access the Internet.
The preferred features of the invention are applicable to all aspects of the invention and may be used in any possible combination.
Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words "comprise" and "contain" and variations of the words, for example "comprising" and
"comprises", mean "including but not limited to", and are not intended to (and do not) exclude other components, integers, moieties, additives or steps.