TWM614918U - Charging device - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure provides a charging device. The charging device includes a processor and a plurality of antennas. The processor is coupled to the antennas and configured to perform: in response to determining that a positioning request signal from an electronic device is received, enabling multiple antennas; controlling each antenna to receive a first radio frequency signal broadcast by the electronic device, and determining an arrival angle of the first radio frequency signal and a distance between the electronic device and the charging device based on the first radio frequency signal received by each antenna; and determining a relative position between the charging device and the electronic device based on the arrival angle and distance.

Description

Charging device

The present invention relates to a charging device, and in particular to a charging device capable of positioning an electronic device.

With the development of technology, wireless Bluetooth headsets have become the mainstream of the development of Bluetooth headsets. In order to prevent users from being unable to charge the wireless Bluetooth headset due to the loss of the charging box of the wireless Bluetooth headset, many positioning technologies for the charging box of the wireless Bluetooth headset have been proposed in the prior art.

However, most of the above positioning technologies need to be performed based on the coordinates of the Global Positioning System (GPS), and apart from being more limited to outdoor environments, the accuracy is also low (only about a few meters).

Therefore, for those skilled in the art, how to design a mechanism for high-precision positioning of the charging box indoors is indeed an important issue.

In view of this, the present invention provides a charging device which can be used to solve the above technical problems.

The invention provides a charging device, which is matched with an electronic device and includes a processor and a plurality of antennas. The processor is coupled to the multiple antennas and is configured to execute: in response to determining that a positioning request signal from the electronic device is received, enabling the multiple antennas; controlling each antenna to receive a first radio frequency broadcast by the electronic device Signal, and determine an angle of arrival of the first radio frequency signal and a distance between the electronic device and the charging device based on the first radio frequency signal received by each antenna; and determine a relative relationship between the charging device and the electronic device based on the angle of arrival and the distance Location.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a charging device and an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In different embodiments, the electronic device 199 can be implemented as various computer devices and smart devices, but it is not limited thereto. In addition, the charging device 100 is, for example, a device that can be used to charge various electronic devices, and can be matched to the electronic device 199 through any wireless communication protocol (such as a Bluetooth protocol). For ease of understanding, the following assumes that the charging device 100 is a charging bay that can be used to charge the corresponding wireless earphone group, but it may not be limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 1, the charging device 100 may include antennas 102 a and 102 b and a processor 104, for example. In different embodiments, the processor 104 can be coupled to the antennas 102a and 102b, and can be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a traditional processor, a digital signal processor, or multiple microprocessors. , One or more microprocessors, controllers, microcontrollers, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) combined with the core of the digital signal processor ), any other types of integrated circuits, state machines, processors based on Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) and similar products. In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 104 and the antennas 102a and 102b can be integrated in the positioning circuit of the charging device 100, but it is not limited thereto.

In one embodiment, the processor 104 can access specific software modules and program codes to implement the method of positioning an electronic device proposed in the present invention. The details of the method are as follows.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart of a method for positioning an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method of this embodiment can be executed by the charging device 100 in FIG.

In one embodiment, when the user of the electronic device 199 wants to find the charging device 100, the user can, for example, send a positioning request signal PQ to the charging device 100 by operating an application on the electronic device 199 corresponding to the charging device 100, but It is not limited to this.

Roughly speaking, after receiving the positioning request signal PQ, the charging device 100 can position the electronic device 199 accordingly, and can report related positioning results (for example, the relative position between the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199) Electronic device 199. Correspondingly, the electronic device 199 can reverse the position of the charging device 100 according to the above-mentioned positioning result, so that the user can find the charging device 100 based on the information provided by the electronic device 199. The relevant details are described in detail below.

First, in step S210, in response to determining that the positioning request signal PQ from the electronic device 199 is received, the processor 104 may enable the antennas 102a and 102b.

Next, in step S220, the processor 104 may control each antenna 102a, 102b to receive the first radio frequency signal S1 broadcast by the electronic device 199, and determine the value of the first radio frequency signal S1 based on the first radio frequency signal S1 received by each antenna 102a, 102b. The arrival angle θ and the distance R between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100.

In different embodiments, the charging device 100 can obtain the angle of arrival of the first radio frequency signal S1 and the distance between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100 based on different methods, which will be further described with different embodiments below.

Please refer to FIGS. 3A to 3E, where FIG. 3A is a flowchart of determining the angle of arrival according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3B to 3E are the application of determining the angle of arrival according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Situational map.

In step S310, the antenna 102a may provide the first antenna signal AS1 to the processor 104 in response to receiving the first radio frequency signal S1. In step S320, the antenna 102b may provide a second antenna signal AS2 to the processor 104 in response to receiving the first radio frequency signal S1.

。在不同的實施例中，天線距離d可介於61.5mm及10mm之間，但可不限於此。 As shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, when the electronic device 199 transmits the first radio frequency signal S1, the first radio frequency signal S1 may be transmitted to the charging device 100 in a plane wave manner, for example. Due to the antenna distance d between the antennas 102a and 102b, the first radio frequency signal S1 will reach the antennas 102a and 102b at different time points, and this will correspondingly make the first antenna signal AS1 and the second antenna signal AS2 Phase difference

. In different embodiments, the antenna distance d may be between 61.5 mm and 10 mm, but it may not be limited thereto.

。 Next, in step S330, the processor 104 may map the first antenna signal AS1 to a first signal vector SV1 corresponding to the antenna 102a, and map the second antenna signal AS2 to a second signal vector corresponding to the antenna 102b SV2, as shown in Figure 3D. It can be seen from Figure 3D that there will also be a phase difference between the first signal vector SV1 and the second signal vector SV2

.

。在本新型的實施例中，步驟S330及S340的細節可參照相關的天線信號處理技術文獻，於此不贅述。 After that, in step S340, the processor 104 may estimate the phase difference between the first antenna signal AS1 and the second antenna signal AS2 based on the first signal vector SV1 and the second signal vector SV2

. In the embodiment of the present invention, the details of steps S330 and S340 can be referred to related antenna signal processing technical documents, which will not be repeated here.

、天線距離d、第一射頻信號S1的波長（以

表示）估計第一射頻信號S1的到達角θ。在圖3E中，第一射頻信號S1的到達角θ例如可基於

的式子而求得，但可不限於此。 In step S350, the processor 104 may be based on the phase difference

, The antenna distance d, the wavelength of the first radio frequency signal S1 (in

Representation) Estimate the arrival angle θ of the first radio frequency signal S1. In FIG. 3E, the angle of arrival θ of the first radio frequency signal S1 can be based on, for example,

, But it is not limited to this.

It should be understood that although the above embodiments assume that the charging device 100 includes two antennas 102a and 102b for positioning the electronic device 199, in other embodiments, the charging device 100 (in the positioning circuit) may also include more More antennas to increase the accuracy of Z-axis detection. In different embodiments, these antennas can be arranged arbitrarily according to the needs of the designer. For example, the above-mentioned antennas may be arranged in an M×N array (M and N are integers) or a circular antenna array, but it is not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIGS. 4A to 4C, which are schematic diagrams illustrating various antenna arrangements according to different embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 4A, the charging device 100 may include, for example, the 4 antennas shown, and they may be arranged in a 4×1 array, for example. In addition, in FIG. 4B, the charging device 100 may include, for example, the 9 antennas shown, and they may be arranged in a 3×3 array, for example. In FIG. 4C, the charging device 100 may include, for example, the 12 antennas shown, and they may be arranged in a circular antenna array, for example.

When the antenna included in the charging device 100 exhibits the configuration of any one of FIGS. 4A to 4C, the processor 104 can still obtain the arrival angle θ of the first radio frequency signal S1 based on the mechanism taught in FIGS. 3A to 3E, and For details, please refer to the description in the previous embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

Please refer to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, where FIG. 5A is a flow chart of determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is the decision according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Application scenario diagram of the distance between the charging device and the electronic device.

In the second embodiment, the charging device 100 may perform step S510, for example, to control the antenna 102a and/or the antenna 102b to transmit the second radio frequency signal S2 to the electronic device 199 in the signal transmission time interval TX1 (which may have the transmission end time T1) . Correspondingly, the electronic device 199 may receive the second radio frequency signal S2 from the charging device 100 during the receiving signal time interval RX2, for example.

In addition, in response to the second radio frequency signal S2, the electronic device 199 may return the first radio frequency signal S1 to the charging device 100 during the signal transmission time interval TX2. Correspondingly, the charging device 100 may receive the first radio frequency signal S1 from the electronic device 199 in the signal receiving time interval RX1 (which may have a receiving start time T2).

，亦即發送結束時間T1與接收開始時間T2之間的時間差。相似地，接收信號時間區間RX2與發送信號時間區間TX2之間亦可具有固定間隔時間

，但可不限於此。 In other words, for the charging device 100, it can alternately send the second radio frequency signal S2 to the electronic device 199 during the signal transmission time interval TX1, and receive the first radio frequency signal S1 from the electronic device 199 during the signal reception time interval RX1. In the second embodiment, there may be a fixed interval between the transmitting signal time interval TX1 and the receiving signal time interval RX1, for example.

, That is, the time difference between the sending end time T1 and the receiving start time T2. Similarly, there can also be a fixed interval between the receiving signal time interval RX2 and the sending signal time interval TX2

, But not limited to this.

After that, in step S520, the processor 104 can find the idle reception time length D1 starting from the reception start time T2 in the reception signal time interval RX1. In one embodiment, when the processor 104 receives the first radio frequency signal S1, for example, a fixed reception verification time (for example, 49.5 μs) is required to complete, and the reception verification time is the idle reception time length D1. But it is not limited to this.

In step S530, the processor 104 may determine the reception completion time T3 of the first radio frequency signal S1, and accordingly estimate the time length D2 between the transmission completion time T1 and the reception completion time T3.

及閒置接收時間長度D1估計第一射頻信號S1的接收時間長度

。在圖5B中，處理器104可以時間長度D2減去固定間隔時間

及閒置接收時間長度D1來估計第一射頻信號S1的接收時間長度

，但可不限於此。 In step S540, the processor 104 may be based on the time length D2, the fixed interval time

And the idle receiving time length D1 to estimate the receiving time length of the first radio frequency signal S1

. In FIG. 5B, the processor 104 can subtract the fixed interval time from the time length D2

And the idle receiving time length D1 to estimate the receiving time length of the first radio frequency signal S1

, But not limited to this.

、處理器104的振盪器頻率（以OF表示）及光速（以c表示）估計電子裝置199與充電裝置100之間的距離R。在一實施例中，距離R例如可基於

的式子估計而得。舉例而言，假設處理器104的振盪器頻率為8MHz且光速為

，則距離R例如可計算為

，但可不限於此。 In step S550, the processor 104 may be based on the receiving time length of the first radio frequency signal S1

, The oscillator frequency (indicated by OF) and the speed of light (indicated by c) of the processor 104 estimate the distance R between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100. In an embodiment, the distance R may be based on

The formula is estimated. For example, suppose the oscillator frequency of the processor 104 is 8MHz and the speed of light is

, Then the distance R can be calculated as

, But not limited to this.

Please refer to FIGS. 6A and 6B, in which FIG. 6A is a flow chart of determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is the decision according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Application scenario diagram of the distance between the charging device and the electronic device.

的式子來估計電子裝置199與充電裝置100之間的距離R，但可不限於此。 In the third embodiment, it is assumed that the electronic device 199 is designed to transmit the first radio frequency signal S1 at a transmission power (indicated by Pt), and the transmission power is known to the processor 104. In this case, the processor 104 may measure the received power (indicated by Pr) of the first radio frequency signal S1 in step S610. After that, in step S620, the processor 104 may estimate the distance R between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100 based on the transmission power and the reception power. In an embodiment, the processor 104 may be based on

The formula is used to estimate the distance R between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100, but it may not be limited to this.

2 again, after obtaining the distance R between the electronic device 199 and the charging device 100 and the arrival angle θ of the first radio frequency signal S1 according to the above teachings, in step S230, the processor 104 may be based on the arrival angle θ and the distance R determines the relative position between the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199. For example, the charging device 100 can know which direction of the charging device 100 the electronic device 199 is located based on the arrival angle θ, and can use the distance R to estimate the specific location of the electronic device 199.

In an embodiment, the processor 104 may also notify the electronic device 199 of the relative position between the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199. In this way, the electronic device 199 can reversely push the position of the charging device 100 accordingly, so that the user can find the charging device 100 smoothly.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a partial perspective view of a charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the charging device 100 is, for example, a charging bay of a pair of Bluetooth wireless earphones, but it may not be limited to this. As shown in FIG. 7, the antennas 102a and 102b of this embodiment can be arranged at the positions shown, but it is not limited to this.

In addition, in different embodiments, the charging device 100 may have different detection ranges due to the different communication protocols between the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199. For example, assuming that the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199 are paired based on the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol, when the distance R is less than 30 meters, the charging device 100 should all be able to detect successfully To the electronic device 199. In addition, when the charging device 100 and the electronic device 199 are paired based on the general version of the Bluetooth protocol, when the distance R is less than 50 meters, the charging device 100 should all successfully detect the electronic device 199.

In summary, the charging device of the present invention can estimate the relative position between the charging device and the electronic device based on the radio frequency signal from the electronic device through an additional positioning circuit. Compared with the technology of performing positioning based on GPS coordinates, the new method can not only achieve better positioning accuracy, but also be applicable to indoor environments. In this way, the user can smoothly find the charging device based on the more accurate relative position between the charging device and the electronic device, thereby improving the related user experience.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, The scope of protection of this new model shall be subject to the scope of the attached patent application.

:固定間隔時間 D1:閒置接收時間長度 D2:時間長度 T1:發送結束時間

:接收時間長度 R:距離 d:天線距離

:相位差 θ:到達角 S210~S230, S310~S350, S510~S550, S610, S620:步驟 100: Charging device 102a, 102b: Antenna 104: Processor 199: Electronic device PQ: Request signal S1: First radio frequency signal S2: Second radio frequency signal AS1: First antenna signal AS2: Second antenna signal SV1: No. A signal vector SV2: the second signal vector TX1, TX2: transmission signal time interval RX1, RX2: receiving signal time interval

: Fixed interval time D1: idle receiving time length D2: time length T1: sending end time

: Receiving time length R: Distance d: Antenna distance

: Phase difference θ: Arrival angle S210~S230, S310~S350, S510~S550, S610, S620: Step

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a charging device and an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for positioning an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3A is a flow chart of determining the angle of arrival according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3B to 3E are diagrams illustrating application scenarios for determining the angle of arrival according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4A to 4C are schematic diagrams illustrating various antenna arrangements according to different embodiments of the present invention. 5A is a flowchart of determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 5B is an application scenario diagram for determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 6A is a flowchart of determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the third embodiment of the present invention. 6B is an application scenario diagram for determining the distance between the charging device and the electronic device according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of a charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

100: charging device

102a, 102b: antenna

104: processor

199: electronic device

PQ: Request signal

S1: The first radio frequency signal

S2: second radio frequency signal

AS1: first antenna signal

AS2: second antenna signal

Claims (11)

A charging device, which is matched to an electronic device, includes: Multiple antennas; A processor, coupled to the antennas, and configured to execute: In response to determining that a positioning request signal from the electronic device is received, the antennas are enabled; Control each of the antennas to receive a first radio frequency signal broadcast by the electronic device, and determine an angle of arrival of the first radio frequency signal and an angle of arrival between the electronic device and the charging device based on the first radio frequency signal received by each antenna Distance; and A relative position between the charging device and the electronic device is determined based on the angle of arrival and the distance. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the antennas and the processor are integrated in a positioning circuit of the charging device. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the antennas include: A first antenna, which provides a first antenna signal to the processor in response to receiving the first radio frequency signal; A second antenna, which is an antenna distance away from the first antenna, and provides a second antenna signal to the processor in response to receiving the first radio frequency signal, wherein, The processor is configured to: Mapping the first antenna signal to a first signal vector corresponding to the first antenna, and mapping the second antenna signal to a second signal vector corresponding to the second antenna; Estimating a phase difference between the first antenna signal and the second antenna signal based on the first signal vector and the second signal vector; and The angle of arrival of the first radio frequency signal is estimated based on the phase difference, the antenna distance, and a wavelength of the first radio frequency signal. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control each of the antennas to receive the first radio frequency signal broadcast by the electronic device in a receiving signal time interval, and the receiving signal time interval has a receiving start time, And before controlling each of the antennas to receive the first radio frequency signal broadcast by the electronic device in the signal receiving time interval, the processor is further configured to: The antennas are controlled to send a second radio frequency signal to the electronic device in a signal transmission time interval before the signal reception time interval, wherein the signal transmission time interval has a transmission end time, and the transmission end time of the signal transmission time interval There is a fixed interval time between the receiving start time of the receiving signal time interval, and the electronic device returns the first radio frequency signal to the charging device in response to the second radio frequency signal; Find an idle receiving time length starting from the receiving start time in the receiving signal time interval; Determine a reception completion time of the first radio frequency signal, and estimate a time length between the transmission completion time and the reception completion time accordingly; Estimating a receiving time length of the first radio frequency signal based on the time length, the fixed interval time, and the idle receiving time length; The distance between the electronic device and the charging device is estimated based on the receiving time length of the first radio frequency signal, an oscillator frequency of the processor, and a speed of light. The charging device of claim 1, wherein a transmission power of the first radio frequency signal is known to the processor, and the processor is configured to measure a reception power of the first radio frequency signal, and based on the transmission The power and the received power estimate the distance between the electronic device and the charging device. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the antennas are arranged in an MxN array. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the antennas are arranged in a circular antenna array. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the charging device is a charging bay of a wireless earphone group. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein there is an antenna distance between every two antennas of the antennas. The charging device according to claim 9, wherein the antenna distance is between 61.5 mm and 10 mm. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the processor further notifies the electronic device of the relative position.

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