JP2016195482A - Non-contact power supply system and power transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cut down wasteful power in power supply even if non-contact communication and non-contact power supply are performed by one transmission means in an environment in which a non-contact communication apparatus can be installed at any place.SOLUTION: In a situation in which a reader/writer 10 is making non-contact communication with a mobile terminal 20 situated in a room 1 at the maximum communication power capable of non-contact communication and a power transmission unit 12 is not supplying power for power supply, if a communication transmission/reception unit 11 detects the mobile terminal 20 by non-contact communication, the reader/writer gradually increases power for power supply, and stops increase in power for power supply when the mobile terminal 20 notifies the reader/writer 10 of the reception of power for power supply.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a non-contact power supply system that performs non-contact communication and non-contact power supply to a non-contact communication device, and more particularly, to a technique for reducing wasteful power in non-contact power supply.

  In recent years, non-contact power supply that wirelessly supplies power to a non-contact communication device has been put into practical use, and two standardizations are in progress: an electromagnetic induction method and a magnetic field resonance method. Among them, the electromagnetic induction method is also adopted in the WPC standard Qi (Chi), which is currently most commercialized, and performs power supply by placing a power transmission coil and a power reception coil close to each other on a one-to-one basis. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

  In such non-contact power feeding, it is not necessary to provide a terminal for connecting a cable to each of the power transmission side device and the power reception side device, and power is supplied to the power reception side device only by bringing the power reception coil close to the power transmission coil. Will be further spread in the future.

  However, in the non-contact power feeding by the electromagnetic induction method, the power transmission coil and the power receiving coil are brought close to each other in order to perform power feeding, so that one power transmission side device feeds power to a plurality of power reception side devices. In order to perform this, a plurality of power transmission coils must be provided in one power transmission side device.

  On the other hand, in the non-contact power supply by the magnetic field resonance method, since a plurality of power receiving devices can be supplied by one power transmission coil, as described above, a plurality of power receiving devices are used by one power transmitting device. Even in the case where power is supplied to the power transmission device, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of power transmission coils in one power transmission side device.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2015-39271

  By the way, as described above, in an environment where non-contact power feeding is performed to a plurality of power receiving devices by one transmitting device in the magnetic field resonance method, the distance between the power transmitting coil and the plurality of power receiving devices is inevitably different. Become. For this reason, in the magnetic field resonance method, the power transmitted from the power transmission coil is received by the power receiving side device, regardless of where the power receiving side device is installed in the predetermined area where contactless power feeding is performed. As a result, even when the power receiving side device exists in the vicinity of the power transmission coil, it is necessary to always supply power with power that can be received in all areas within the predetermined area where contactless power supply is performed. There is a problem that wasteful power is generated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional techniques as described above, and a non-contact communication device is installed at an arbitrary place in a predetermined area, and non-contact communication and non-contact are performed by one power transmitter. An object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact power feeding system and a power transmitter that can reduce useless power in power feeding even when contact power feeding is performed.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
A non-contact power supply system having a non-contact communication device and a power transmitter that performs non-contact communication and non-contact power supply to a non-contact communication device existing in a predetermined area,
The power transmitter
A power control unit that respectively supplies power for communication for performing the contactless communication and power for power supply for performing the contactless power supply;
A communication transmitting / receiving unit that performs non-contact communication with a non-contact communication device using communication power supplied from the power control unit;
A power transmission unit that performs non-contact power supply to the non-contact communication device by transmitting the power for power supplied from the power control unit to the non-contact communication device;
When the non-contact communication device receives power for power feeding transmitted from the power transmission unit, it notifies the power transmitter to that effect,
The power control unit supplies the communication transmission / reception unit with a maximum communication power set so that the communication transmission / reception unit can perform non-contact communication only with a non-contact communication device existing in the predetermined area. In addition, when the communication transmitting / receiving unit detects a non-contact communication device by the non-contact communication in a state in which the power for power supply is not supplied to the power transmission unit, power supply supplied to the power transmission unit The power for use is increased, and when the detected non-contact communication device is notified that the power for power feeding transmitted from the power transmission unit is received, the increase in power for feeding is stopped.

  In the present invention configured as described above, when performing non-contact communication and non-contact power feeding to a non-contact communication device existing in a predetermined region, first, the communication control unit supplies the power from the power control unit. The non-contact communication device is detected by the non-contact communication using the communication power, but the power control unit can perform the non-contact communication only with the non-contact communication device in which the communication transmitting / receiving unit exists in the predetermined area. The maximum communication power set in this way is supplied to the communication transmitter / receiver, and the communication transmitter / receiver detects a non-contact communication device by non-contact communication using this communication power. Even if the non-contact communication device exists at the place, the non-contact communication device is surely detected. At this time, the power control unit does not contact the non-contact communication device with the non-contact communication device because the power transmission unit does not supply power for power supply to the non-contact communication device. Electric power for power supply for power supply is not transmitted within the predetermined area. When the non-contact communication device existing in the predetermined area is detected as described above, the power for feeding supplied from the power control unit to the power transmission unit increases, and then detected by the communication transceiver unit. When the non-contact communication device notifies that the power for power transmission transmitted from the power transmission unit has been received, the increase in the power for power supply supplied from the power control unit to the power transmission unit stops. Power is supplied to the non-contact communication device by transmitting the power for power supply from the power transmission unit to the non-contact communication device. Thereby, in the power transmission unit, power is supplied to the non-contact communication device existing in the predetermined area with the minimum power that can be contactlessly fed, and unnecessary power is not transmitted.

  In addition, after the increase in power for power supply supplied from the power control unit to the power transmission unit stops, the communication transmission / reception unit detects the communication power supplied from the power control unit to the communication transmission / reception unit. If it is reduced to the minimum power that can be contactlessly communicated with non-contact communication devices, unnecessary power will not be generated even in the power for non-contact communication in the communication transceiver, and errors due to unnecessary non-contact communication will occur. The possibility of being reduced is reduced.

  According to the present invention, when a non-contact communication device exists in a predetermined area, the non-contact communication device is surely detected, but thereafter, the non-contact power supply is performed on the non-contact communication apparatus existing in the predetermined area. Since the power supply is performed with the minimum possible power, even if the non-contact communication device is installed in an arbitrary place and performs non-contact communication and non-contact power supply with one power transmitter, wasted power in power supply Can be reduced.

  In addition, after the increase in power for power supply supplied from the power control unit to the power transmission unit stops, the communication transmission / reception unit detects the communication power supplied from the power control unit to the communication transmission / reception unit. In the case of reducing to the minimum power that can be contactlessly communicated with non-contact communication devices, wasteful power can be reduced for non-contact communication with non-contact communication devices, and errors due to unnecessary non-contact communication can occur. The possibility of the occurrence can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows one Embodiment of the non-contact electric power feeding system of this invention, (a) is the figure which looked at an example of the environment where a system is installed from the horizontal direction, (b) is the environment shown to (a). FIG. 5C is a block diagram showing the configuration of the reader / writer and the portable terminal as viewed from above. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the non-contact electric power feeding system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the change of the communication area and electric power feeding area in the room shown in FIG. 1 by the processing operation shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the control table memorize | stored in the control table memory | storage part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation | movement using the control table memorize | stored in the control table memory | storage part in the non-contact electric power feeding system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the change of the communication area and electric power feeding area in a room when check communication is performed by the reader / writer.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a non-contact power feeding system according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a diagram showing an example of an environment in which the system is installed, and FIG. The figure which looked at the environment shown from the top, (c) is a block diagram which shows the structure of the reader / writer 10 and the portable terminal 20. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the non-contact power feeding system according to the present embodiment is installed on a portable terminal 20 placed on desks 3 a to 3 i installed in a predetermined room 1 serving as a predetermined area, and on the ceiling of the room 1. The reader / writer 10 is configured.

  The reader / writer 10 serves as a power transmitter in the present invention, and is attached to the center of the ceiling of the room 1 so that the power supply area and the communication area face downward. The communication transmitter / receiver 11 and the power transmitter 12, an antenna 13, a coil 14, a power control unit 15, and a control table storage unit 16.

  The power control unit 15 supplies communication power for performing contactless communication to the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11, and for the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 Then, the power transmission unit 12 is supplied with power for power supply for performing non-contact power supply.

  The communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 performs non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 via the antenna 13 with the communication power supplied from the power control unit 15. The non-contact communication method can use UHF radio waves, Bluetooth, or near field communication technology such as infrared rays.

  The power transmission unit 12 performs non-contact power supply to the mobile terminal 20 by transmitting the power for power supply supplied from the power control unit 15 to the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 via the coil 14. This non-contact power feeding method uses a magnetic field resonance method.

  The control table storage unit 16 stores power supply power and communication power for the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 in association with each other.

  The portable terminal 20 is a non-contact communication device according to the present invention, and is a desk in the room 1 when charging using the reader / writer 10 or performing non-contact communication with the reader / writer 10. It is mounted on 3a-3i. In this embodiment, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, as an example, one portable terminal 20 is placed on the desk 3f, but the portable terminal 20 is placed on the other desks 3a to 3e and 3g to 3i. It may be placed, or a plurality of portable terminals 20 may be placed on different desks 3a to 3i.

  The mobile terminal 20 includes a communication transmitting / receiving unit 21, a power receiving unit 22, an antenna 23, a coil 24, a control unit 25, a switch 26, and a battery 27.

  The communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 performs non-contact communication with the reader / writer 10 via the antenna 23.

  The power receiving unit 22 receives the power supplied from the reader / writer 10 via the coil 24 and stores it in the battery 27.

  The switch 26 is used to switch on / off the power stored in the battery 27 for power transmission received by the power receiving unit 22 and the supply of the power stored in the battery 27 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21. .

  The control unit 25 controls non-contact communication with the reader / writer 10 in the communication transmission / reception unit 21 and switches the switch 26 based on the non-contact communication via the communication transmission / reception unit 21.

  Below, the processing operation in the non-contact electric power feeding system comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation in the non-contact power feeding system shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, communication between the reader / writer 10 and the portable terminal 20 is indicated by a dashed arrow, and power supply is indicated by a dashed-dotted arrow. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing changes in the communication area and the power supply area in the room 1 shown in FIG. 1 due to the processing operation shown in FIG.

  In the non-contact power feeding system shown in FIG. 1, when the portable terminal 20 is not placed on any of the desks 3 a to 3 i installed in the room 1, the power control unit 15 sends it to the communication transmission / reception unit 11. On the other hand, the maximum power for non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 is supplied as communication power (step 1). This maximum power is not the maximum power of the reader / writer 10 but is set so that the communication transceiver 11 can perform non-contact communication only with the portable terminal 20 existing in the room 1. As shown in FIG. 3A, the communication area 4 in which the communication transceiver 11 can perform non-contact communication via the antenna 13 does not include an area outside the room 1, and the desk 3 a installed in the room 1. All of ~ 3i are included. The communication area 4 shown in FIG. 3A does not reach the corner of the room 1, but when a communication area that reaches the corner of the room 1 is set, A part protrudes outside the room 1 and the mobile terminal 20 existing outside the room 1 is detected by non-contact communication. In the present embodiment, the communication area 4 does not include the corner of the room 1, but includes all the desks 3a to 3i on which the portable terminal 20 is placed, so the portable terminal placed on the desks 3a to 3i. It is sufficient to detect only 20 by non-contact communication. However, the maximum power can be set as appropriate according to the application, and the communication area 4 may include a part of the outside of the room 1.

  When the portable terminal 20 is placed on the desk 3f in this state, the portable terminal 20 enters the communication area 4 in the communication transmitter / receiver 11, so that the communication transmitter / receiver 11 of the reader / writer 10 and the portable terminal 20 communicate. It is possible to perform non-contact communication with the unit 21 via the antennas 13 and 23.

  Then, from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 of the mobile terminal 20, a power transmission request for requesting power transmission and type information such as identification information of the mobile terminal 20 and power information indicating low power / medium power are transmitted via the antenna 23. (Steps 2 and 3), these are received by the communication transceiver 11 via the antenna 13 of the reader / writer 10 (Steps 4 and 5). As a result, the reader / writer 10 detects that the portable terminal 20 exists in the room 1.

  Then, a request for switching the switch 26 of the portable terminal 20 so as to store the power received by the power receiving unit 22 in the battery 27 is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 of the reader / writer 10 (step 6). . This is to avoid the destruction of the portable terminal 20 due to the large amount of power supplied from the reader / writer 10 when there are a plurality of portable terminals in the room 1. Is what you do.

  Further, in the reader / writer 10, power for power supply for performing non-contact power supply to the mobile terminal 20 is supplied as a power supply output from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12, and the power transmission unit 12 The power for feeding supplied from 15 is transmitted into the room 1 via the coil 14, whereby power transmission to the portable terminal 20 is started (step 7).

  On the other hand, in the portable terminal 20, when a request for switching the switch 26 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 8), the switch 26 is controlled by the control unit 25. The electric power received at 22 is switched so as to be stored in the battery 27 (step 9), and the electric power for feeding supplied from the reader / writer 10 is received (step 10).

  Then, in the control unit 25, it is confirmed whether or not the power for power feeding transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the power receiving unit 22 via the coil 24. Is transmitted from the communication transceiver 21 (step 11).

  In the reader / writer 10, when the power reception status transmitted from the mobile terminal 20 is received by the communication transceiver 11 via the antenna 13 (step 12), the received power reception status is transmitted from the reader / writer 10. In the case where the received power supply power indicates that the mobile terminal 20 has not received power (step 13), the power control unit 15 increases the power supply power supplied to the power transmission unit 12 by one step. (Step 14). One step for increasing the power for power supply can be arbitrarily set. However, if it is finer, wasteful power can be efficiently reduced. On the other hand, if it is rough, the process is simplified. .

  Here, in a state where the portable terminal 20 is not placed on any of the desks 3 a to 3 i installed in the room 1, the power control unit 15 exists in the room 1 with respect to the power transmission unit 12. Since power for power supply for contactless power supply to the portable terminal 20 is not supplied, power for power supply starts to be supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 through the processes in steps 7 and 14, and thereafter Thus, the power for feeding supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 increases.

  Then, in the power transmission unit 12, the power for feeding supplied from the power control unit 15 is transmitted to the room 1 via the coil 14, thereby transmitting power for feeding from the reader / writer 10 to the portable terminal 20. This process is repeated until the power for power feeding transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the portable terminal 20, whereby the power transmission unit 12 performs the process as shown in FIG. The power supply area 5 expands.

  On the other hand, when the power reception status transmitted from the portable terminal 20 indicates that the power for feeding transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the portable terminal 20, that is, the power is transmitted from the reader / writer 10. When the mobile terminal 20 receives the supplied power for power supply and notifies the reader / writer 10 to that effect, the power control unit 15 supplies power to the power transmission unit 12. The increase in power for use is stopped, and non-contact power supply to the mobile terminal 20 is performed using the power for power supply.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 3B, the power supply area 5 is expanded until the power supply area 5 using the power for power supplied from the power transmission unit 12 includes the mobile terminal 20. The expansion of the power supply area 5 is stopped in a state in which 20 is included.

  Next, in the reader / writer 10, a communication status transmission request for transmitting a communication status indicating whether or not the portable terminal 20 can communicate with the reader / writer 10 is transmitted from the communication transmitter / receiver 11 via the antenna 13. (Step 15).

  In the mobile terminal 20, when the communication status transmission request transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 16), communication is performed with the reader / writer 10. Therefore, a communication status indicating that communication with the reader / writer 10 can be performed is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 17).

  In the reader / writer 10, when the communication state transmitted from the portable terminal 20 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 via the antenna 13 (step 18), the portable terminal 20 communicates with the reader / writer 10. Since communication is possible (step 19), the power control unit 15 reduces the communication power supplied to the communication transceiver 11 by one step (step 20). Note that, in one step of reducing the communication power, it can be arbitrarily set in the same way as the power for power supply. However, if it is made finer, it is possible to efficiently reduce the wasteful power, but on the other hand, it can be roughly set. In this case, the processing is simplified.

  Then, the communication transmitter / receiver 11 performs non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20 using the communication power supplied from the power control unit 15, and this process is performed by the non-contact communication between the mobile terminal 20 and the reader / writer 10. 3 is repeatedly performed until the communication status is not received from the portable terminal 20 by the reader / writer 10, the communication area 4 by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 is narrowed as shown in FIG. To go.

  When the non-contact communication between the portable terminal 20 and the reader / writer 10 becomes impossible and the communication transmission / reception unit 11 of the reader / writer 10 does not receive the communication status from the portable terminal 20, the communication / transmission / reception from the power control unit 15 occurs. The communication power supplied to the unit 11 is increased by one step (step 21), and a communication status stop request is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 to the portable terminal 20 via the antenna 13 (step 22).

  Thereby, after the increase of the power for feeding is stopped by the control of the power control unit 15, the communication power supplied to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 can be contactlessly communicated with the mobile terminal 20 by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11. As shown in FIG. 3 (d), the communication area 4 by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 is reduced to the minimum range including the mobile terminal 20, and the power is supplied to the communication area 4 and the power. The narrowing of the communication area 4 is stopped in a state where the area 5 is substantially equal to the minimum range including the mobile terminal 20.

  On the other hand, in the portable terminal 20, when the communication status stop request transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 23), transmission of the communication status to the reader / writer 10. Is stopped (step 24).

  Further, in the reader / writer 10, the power supply power value supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 and the communication power value supplied from the power control unit 15 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 are used. Thus, a control table is created and stored in the control table storage unit 16 (step 25).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a control table stored in the control table storage unit 16 illustrated in FIG.

  In the reader / writer 10, as shown in FIG. 4, the power supply for power supply, which is set as described above, is associated with the power for communication, which is a communication output, as a control table. 16 is stored. In the present example, it is determined whether the mobile terminal 20 performs communication with low power or medium power according to the type information transmitted from the mobile terminal 20 to the reader / writer 10. However, the power value for communication is divided according to the difference in power.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, first, the communication control unit 11 supplies the maximum communication power capable of contactless communication with only the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 from the power control unit 15 to the communication transmission / reception unit 11. Since the portable terminal 20 is detected by the contactless communication using the communication power in the communication transceiver 11, the portable terminal 20 is placed on any desk 3 a to 3 i installed in the room 1. However, the mobile terminal 20 is reliably detected. Further, in the initial state, power for power supply for contactless power supply to the mobile terminal 20 is not supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12, and the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 is When the power is detected as described above, the power supplied to the power transmission unit 12 from the power control unit 15 increases, and then the power supplied from the power transmission unit 12 is received by the mobile terminal 20. When the power is received, the increase in the power for power supply supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 stops, and power is supplied by transmitting the power for power supply to the mobile terminal 20. Therefore, in the power transmission unit 12, power is supplied to the portable terminal 20 existing in the room 1 with the minimum power that can be contactlessly fed, and unnecessary power is not transmitted. Thereby, the portable terminal 20 is installed on an arbitrary desk among the desks 3a to 3i installed in the room 1 where non-contact power feeding is performed by the reader / writer 10, and the portable terminal 20 is connected to the portable terminal 20 by one reader / writer 10. Thus, even when contactless communication and contactless power feeding are performed, useless power in power feeding can be reduced. In addition, after the increase in power for power supply supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 is stopped, the communication power supplied from the power control unit 15 to the communication transmission / reception unit 11 is changed to the communication transmission / reception unit. 11 can be reduced to the minimum power that can be contactlessly communicated with the mobile terminal 20 in which it is detected, so that unnecessary power can be reduced for the contactless communication with the mobile terminal 20 and unnecessary contactless communication can be performed. The possibility that an error will occur can be reduced.

  The processing operation using the control table stored in the control table storage unit 16 in the non-contact power feeding system shown in FIG. 1 will be described below.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation using the control table stored in the control table storage unit 16 in the non-contact power feeding system shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, communication between the reader / writer 10 and the portable terminal 20 is indicated by a dashed arrow, and power supply is indicated by a dashed-dotted arrow.

  In the non-contact power supply system shown in FIG. 1, when the control table is stored in the control table storage unit 16 as described above, the portable terminal 20 is placed in any of the desks 3 a to 3 i installed in the room 1. In a state in which no power is placed, the power control unit 15 supplies the communication power to the communication transmitter / receiver 11 with the maximum power when performing non-contact communication with a mobile terminal that performs communication with low power as communication power. (Step 101).

  In this state, for example, when the mobile terminal 20 is placed on the desk 3f, the mobile terminal 20 enters the communication area of the communication transmitter / receiver 11, so that the communication transmitter / receiver 11 of the reader / writer 10 and the mobile terminal 20 communicate with each other. It will be in the state in which non-contact communication is possible via the antennas 13 and 23 between the transmission / reception parts 21. FIG.

  Then, from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 of the mobile terminal 20, a power transmission request for requesting power transmission and type information such as identification information of the mobile terminal 20 and power information indicating low power / medium power are transmitted via the antenna 23. These are received by the communication transceiver 11 via the antenna 13 of the reader / writer 10 (steps 104 and 105). As a result, the reader / writer 10 detects that the portable terminal 20 exists in the room 1.

  Next, a communication status transmission request for transmitting a communication status indicating whether the portable terminal 20 can communicate with the reader / writer 10 is transmitted from the communication transceiver 11 via the antenna 13 (step 106). ).

  In the reader / writer 10, when the mobile terminal 20 performs communication with medium power based on the type information received from the mobile terminal 20 in Step 105 (Step 107), the power control unit 15 The communication power supplied to the communication transmitter / receiver 11 is lowered to the maximum power when performing non-contact communication with a mobile terminal that performs communication with medium power (step 108).

  In the portable terminal 20, when the communication status transmission request transmitted from the communication transmission / reception unit 11 is received by the communication transmission / reception unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 109), communication is performed with the reader / writer 10. Therefore, a communication status indicating that communication with the reader / writer 10 is possible is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 110).

  In the reader / writer 10, when the communication state transmitted from the portable terminal 20 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 via the antenna 13 (step 111), the portable terminal 20 communicates with the reader / writer 10. Since communication is possible (step 112), a flag “1” indicating that communication is possible is set (step 113), and the power control unit 15 supplies the communication power to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 Is decreased by one step (step 114).

  Then, the communication transmitter / receiver 11 performs non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20 using the communication power supplied from the power control unit 15, and this process is performed by the non-contact communication between the mobile terminal 20 and the reader / writer 10. This is repeated until the reader / writer 10 no longer receives the communication status from the portable terminal 20, thereby narrowing the communication area of the communication transceiver 11.

  When the non-contact communication between the portable terminal 20 and the reader / writer 10 becomes impossible and the communication transmission / reception unit 11 of the reader / writer 10 does not receive the communication status from the portable terminal 20, the flag “1” is set. If the communication power supplied from the power control unit 15 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 is increased by one step, communication between the reader / writer 10 and the portable terminal 20 becomes possible. The communication power supplied from the control unit 15 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 is increased by one step (step 116), and a communication status stop request is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 to the portable terminal 20 via the antenna 13 ( Step 117).

  As a result, the communication power supplied to the communication transmitter / receiver 11 is reduced to the minimum power at which the communication transmitter / receiver 11 can perform non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20. However, it narrows until it becomes the minimum range including the portable terminal 20, and the narrowing of the communication area 4 stops in the state where the minimum range including the portable terminal 20 is reached.

  In the reader / writer 10, a request for switching the switch 26 of the portable terminal 20 so as to store the power received by the power receiving unit 22 in the battery 27 is transmitted from the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 (step S <b> 1). 118).

  Thereafter, in the reader / writer 10, the control table stored in the control table storage unit 16 is referred to, and the power supply power associated with the communication power set in step 116 is called up in the power control unit 15. (Step 119).

  Then, the power for feeding that is called from the control table is supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 as a power feeding output, and the power for feeding supplied from the power control unit 15 in the power transmission unit 12 is passed through the coil 14. By transmitting power into the room 1, power transmission to the mobile terminal 20 is started (step 120).

  On the other hand, in the portable terminal 20, the communication status stop request transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the communication transmitting / receiving unit 21 via the antenna 23 (step 121), and then a request for switching the switch 26 is received by the antenna. 23, the switch 26 is switched so as to store the power received by the power receiving unit 22 in the battery 27 under the control of the control unit 25 (step 122). The power for power feeding transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received and stored in the battery 27 (step 123).

  As described above, the power supply power is set by referring to the control table stored in the control table storage unit 16, so that the processing from steps 7 to 14 shown in FIG. The power for power supply can be set only by exchanging communication with the mobile terminal 20.

  In addition, the control table shown in FIG. 4 is for the power supply for communication and the communication output for the communication output of the mobile terminal 20 for communication with low power and for the communication with medium power. The power supply is associated with the power supply, but the power supply is a power supply output for each of the mobile terminals that are placed on the desks 3a to 3i and have been subjected to contactless communication and contactless power supply with the reader / writer 10. If the power for communication and the power for communication serving as the communication output are associated with each other, it is possible to perform non-contact power supply with the power for power supply optimal for the mobile terminal. Also, for example, using a set of power supply output and communication output associated with each other in the control table, the communication output corresponding to the power supply output between the set of power supply outputs is interpolated and set in the control table. Also good.

  Here, when non-contact communication or non-contact power feeding is performed in the communication area 4 as shown in FIG. 3D, the mobile phone is carried on the desks 3a, 3c, 3g, 3i not included in the communication area 4. When the terminal is placed, the portable terminal is not included in the communication area 4 of the reader / writer 10 and therefore cannot receive non-contact power supply from the reader / writer 10.

  Therefore, it is preferable that the reader / writer 10 performs check communication for detecting whether or not a portable terminal exists outside the current communication area 4 at regular intervals.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating changes in the communication area and the power supply area in the room 1 when check communication is performed by the reader / writer 10.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, in the communication area 4 and the power feeding area 5 as shown in FIG. 3D, between the portable terminal 20a placed on the desk 3f and the reader / writer 10 It is assumed that the portable terminal 20b is placed on the desk 3c that is not included in the communication area 4 when non-contact communication and non-contact power feeding are performed.

  In the reader / writer 10, the non-contact communication and the non-contact power supply are performed in the communication area 4 and the power supply area 5 corresponding to the portable terminal 20a placed on the desk 3f as shown in FIG. The maximum power similar to that in Step 1 is supplied from the power control unit 15 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 at regular intervals, and is installed in the room 1 in the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 as shown in FIG. Non-contact communication is performed in the communication area 4 including all the desks 3a to 3i.

  Then, when the check communication causes the mobile terminal 20b to be included in the communication area 4 and the reader / writer 10 detects that the mobile terminal 20b exists in the room 1, the processing shown in FIG. In the same manner as described above, first, the power for power supply supplied from the power control unit 15 to the power transmission unit 12 increases, and as a result, the power supply area 5 by the reader / writer 10 is expanded as shown in FIG. To go.

  After that, when the power for power feeding transmitted from the reader / writer 10 is received by the portable terminal 20b, the power for power feeding supplied to the power power transmission unit 12 in the power control unit 15 as in the process shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6D, non-contact power feeding to the portable terminal 20b is performed with the power for power feeding.

  Next, similarly to the processing illustrated in FIG. 2, the communication power supplied from the power control unit 13 to the communication transmission / reception unit 11 is the minimum power at which the communication transmission / reception unit 11 can perform contactless communication with the mobile terminal 20. As a result, the communication area 4 is narrowed as shown in FIG.

  Then, the communication power supplied from the power control unit 13 to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 decreases to the minimum power at which the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 can perform non-contact communication with the mobile terminal 20, thereby the communication transmitting / receiving unit. As shown in FIG. 6 (f), the communication area 4 by 11 is narrowed until it reaches the minimum range including the mobile terminal 20 b, and the narrowing of the communication area 4 stops in a state where the communication area 4 is the minimum range including the mobile terminal 20 b. Will be.

  Thereby, when non-contact communication or non-contact power feeding is performed in the communication area 4 as illustrated in FIG. 3D, the portable terminal 20 b is placed on the desk 3 c that is not included in the communication area 4. Even in such a case, the portable terminal 20b can receive non-contact power supply from the reader / writer 10.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6, when non-contact communication or non-contact power feeding is performed in the communication area 4 as shown in FIG. 3D, the table 3c is not included in the communication area 4. This is a change in the communication area 4 and the power supply area 5 when the portable terminal 20b is placed. When non-contact communication is performed in the communication area 4 as shown in FIG. When the mobile terminal is placed on the other desks 3b, 3d, 3e, 3h included in 4 or when the mobile terminal placed on the desks 3a to 3i moves, FIG. By performing the same processing as shown, contactless communication and contactless power feeding can be performed with respect to each of the plurality of portable terminals with the reader / writer 10.

  When the mobile terminal placed on the desks 3a to 3i is taken out of the room 1 and no mobile terminal exists in the room 1, the power control unit returns to the initial state described above. 15, the maximum power for non-contact communication with only the mobile terminal 20 existing in the room 1 is supplied to the communication transmitting / receiving unit 11 as communication power, and the power for feeding is supplied from the power control unit 15. It returns to the state where it is not supplied to the power transmission unit 12.

1 room 3a to 3i 4 communication area 5 power supply area 10 reader / writer 11, 21 communication transmission / reception unit 12 power transmission unit 13, 23 antenna 14, 24 coil 15 power control unit 16 control table storage unit 20, 20a, 20b portable terminal 22 Power receiving unit 25 Control unit 26 Switch 27 Battery

Claims (3)

A non-contact power supply system having a non-contact communication device and a power transmitter that performs non-contact communication and non-contact power supply to a non-contact communication device existing in a predetermined area,
The power transmitter
A power control unit that respectively supplies power for communication for performing the contactless communication and power for power supply for performing the contactless power supply;
A communication transmitting / receiving unit that performs non-contact communication with a non-contact communication device using communication power supplied from the power control unit;
A power transmission unit that performs non-contact power supply to the non-contact communication device by transmitting the power for power supplied from the power control unit to the non-contact communication device;
When the non-contact communication device receives power for power feeding transmitted from the power transmission unit, it notifies the power transmitter to that effect,
The power control unit supplies the communication transmission / reception unit with a maximum communication power set so that the communication transmission / reception unit can perform non-contact communication only with a non-contact communication device existing in the predetermined area. In addition, when the communication transmitting / receiving unit detects a non-contact communication device by the non-contact communication in a state in which the power for power supply is not supplied to the power transmission unit, power supply supplied to the power transmission unit When the notification that the power supplied from the power transmission unit has been received is notified from the detected non-contact communication device, the increase in the power for supply is stopped. Contact power supply system. In the non-contact electric power feeding system of Claim 1,
After the power control unit stops increasing the power supply power, the communication transmitting / receiving unit can perform non-contact communication with the detected non-contact communication device with the communication power supplied to the communication transmitting / receiving unit. A non-contact power supply system that reduces power to a minimum level. A power transmitter that performs non-contact communication and non-contact power supply to a non-contact communication device existing in a predetermined area,
A power control unit that respectively supplies power for communication for performing the contactless communication and power for power supply for performing the contactless power supply;
A communication transmitting / receiving unit that performs non-contact communication with a non-contact communication device using communication power supplied from the power control unit;
A power transmission unit that performs non-contact power supply to the non-contact communication device by transmitting the power for power supplied from the power control unit to the non-contact communication device;
The power control unit supplies the communication transmission / reception unit with a maximum communication power set so that the communication transmission / reception unit can perform non-contact communication only with a non-contact communication device existing in the predetermined area. In addition, when the communication transmitting / receiving unit detects a non-contact communication device by the non-contact communication in a state in which the power for power supply is not supplied to the power transmission unit, power supply supplied to the power transmission unit If the detected non-contact communication device is notified that the power for power feeding transmitted from the power transmission unit has been received, the increase in power for power feeding is stopped. Electricity.

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