Method and system for wireless charging pause and resume

Abstract

The poller is arranged for wireless charging with the listener. A wireless charging process includes establishing a near field communication (NFC) link between the poller and the listener, and determining tag information of the listener based on the NFC link. Wireless charging that transfers power from the poller to the listener is then performed based on the tag information. A pause request is sent to the monitor to cause the wireless charging to be paused, and then it is determined that the wireless charging is to be resumed after the pause. A resume request is sent to the listener to resume the wireless charging, and an acknowledgement of the resume request is received via the NFC link. The wireless charging is resumed without having to establish the NFC link and without having to determine the tag information based on the resume request being confirmed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure generally relates to wireless charging, and more specifically to methods and systems for pausing wireless charging and resuming wireless charging after pausing. Background Technology

[0002] A wireless charging system relies on a wireless charging transmitter, called a wireless charging poller, which transmits wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signals, and a wireless charging receiver, called a wireless charging listener, which receives the wireless charging RF signals to perform wireless charging on a battery coupled to the listener. Together with the device circuitry, the listener, battery, and device circuitry form a device that can be powered by the charged battery, such as earbuds, virtual reality glasses, styluses, etc. Summary of the Invention

[0003] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a method for wireless charging is provided, the method comprising:

[0004] Establish a near field communication (NFC) link between the poller and the listener;

[0005] The tag information of the listener is received via the NFC link;

[0006] Wireless charging is performed by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information;

[0007] During the wireless charging process, a pause request is sent to the listener to cause the wireless charging to pause.

[0008] Send a recovery request to the listener to resume wireless charging after a pause;

[0009] Receive confirmation of the recovery request via the NFC link; and

[0010] The wireless charging is resumed without establishing the NFC link or determining the tag information based on the confirmation of the recovery request.

[0011] In one or more embodiments, sending the pause request includes modulating a wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signal associated with power delivery to indicate the pause request, and then terminating the wireless charging RF signal.

[0012] In one or more embodiments, the wireless charging RF signal is terminated 5 milliseconds after the pause request is sent.

[0013] In one or more embodiments, the pause request causes the listener to wait only for the resume request from the poller.

[0014] In one or more embodiments, the poller sends the recovery request by modulating a wireless charging RF signal to indicate the recovery request.

[0015] In one or more embodiments, the method further includes performing foreign object detection before sending the recovery request.

[0016] In one or more embodiments, the power delivery is either negotiated wireless power delivery or static wireless power delivery.

[0017] In one or more embodiments, the method further includes determining that the recovery request has not been acknowledged and restarting the wireless charging by performing the steps of establishing the NFC link and determining the tag information.

[0018] In one or more embodiments, the wireless charging continues at the same power level as before the wireless charging was paused.

[0019] In one or more embodiments, the pause request is sent in response to determining that the wireless charging will interfere with other wireless operations.

[0020] According to a second aspect of the invention, a wireless charging poller for wireless charging is provided, arranged to establish a near-field communication (NFC) link between the poller and a listener; receive tag information of the listener via the NFC link; perform wireless charging by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information; send a pause request to the listener during the wireless charging to cause the wireless charging to pause; send a resume request to the listener to resume the wireless charging; receive confirmation of the resume request via the NFC link; and resume the wireless charging without establishing the NFC link and without determining the tag information based on confirmation of the resume request.

[0021] In one or more embodiments, the poller is arranged to send the pause request, including the poller being arranged to modulate a wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signal to indicate the pause request, and then to terminate the wireless charging RF signal.

[0022] In one or more embodiments, the wireless charging RF signal is terminated 5 milliseconds after the pause request is sent.

[0023] In one or more embodiments, the pause request causes the listener to wait only for the resume request from the poller.

[0024] In one or more embodiments, the poller is arranged to send the recovery request by modulating a wireless charging RF signal to indicate the recovery request.

[0025] These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the embodiments described below, and will be illustrated with reference to these embodiments. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 An example wireless charging system according to one or more embodiments is shown.

[0027] Figure 2 This is an example flowchart of functions associated with pausing and resuming wireless charging according to one or more embodiments.

[0028] The drawings are for illustrative purposes only, but it should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the arrangements and means shown in the drawings. Detailed Implementation

[0029] The detailed description of the accompanying drawings is intended to illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present disclosure can be practiced. It should be understood that the same or equivalent functionality may be implemented through different embodiments intended to be covered within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0030] Wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signals are used to transfer power from a wireless charging poller to a wireless charging listener to charge the battery coupled to the listener. Wireless charging RF signals may interfere with other pollers and listeners, or other devices transmitting or receiving RF signals, such as WiFi devices, cellular devices, video devices, audio devices, or may interfere with near-field communication (NFC). This interference prevents other devices or other pollers and listeners from transmitting and receiving RF signals, which may be higher-priority wireless operations, or causes noise in the video images, audio, or data transmitted by other devices. The interference may last from seconds to hours depending on the duration of the wireless charging.

[0031] One or more embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for pausing and resuming wireless charging. A wireless charging poller transmits a wireless charging RF signal to a wireless charging listener to perform wireless charging of a battery coupled to the listener. A pause command or sequence causes the poller, which is transmitting the wireless charging RF signal to the listener, to temporarily stop wireless charging and enter a paused state, allowing higher-priority wireless operations to continue and avoiding interference caused by the wireless charging process. Wireless charging resumes when the higher-priority wireless operations end. A resume command or sequence is received, causing wireless charging to restart, bypassing certain steps of the wireless charging process that would be necessary if wireless charging did not begin from a paused state. The pausing and resuming of wireless charging allows for efficient and rapid restarting of wireless charging. To avoid obscuring the description, well-known instructions, protocols, structures, and techniques are not shown in detail.

[0032] Figure 1 An example wireless charging system 100 according to one or more embodiments is illustrated. In the example, wireless charging may be based on Wireless Charging Specification version 2.0 as defined by the Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum. In one or more embodiments, the wireless charging system 100 may be used to charge the battery of an electronic device such as an earphone, wireless device, stylus, or virtual reality glasses. The system 100 may have a wireless charging poller (also called a poller) 102 and a wireless charging listener (called a listener) 104. The poller 102 may be a wireless charging transmitter that generates a wireless charging RF signal according to a wireless charging protocol to transmit power to the listener 104, and the listener 104 may be a wireless charging receiver that receives the wireless charging RF signal and the transmitted power from the poller 102 according to the wireless charging protocol. The listener 104 can then use the transmitted power from the wireless charging RF signal to charge a battery 112 coupled to the listener 104. Poller 102 and listener 104 may additionally have corresponding antennas 106, 108 for transmitting and receiving RF signals, and poller 102 may be coupled to power supply 110 to power poller 102. Battery 112 may also be coupled to and power device circuitry 114, such as circuitry for earbuds, wireless devices, or virtual reality glasses. Wireless charging circuitry 116, 118 may define circuitry for performing functions associated with wireless charging. Wireless charging circuitry 116 may facilitate wireless charging of poller 102, and wireless charging circuitry 118 may facilitate wireless charging of listener 104. In one or more examples, system 100 and its components may be implemented by one or more of analog circuitry, mixed-signal circuitry, memory circuitry, logic circuitry, and processing circuitry that executes code that performs the disclosed functions when executed by the processing circuitry, as well as other implementations.

[0033] In one or more examples, poller 102 may also be arranged to communicate with listener 104. Listener 104 may implement an NFC tag, and poller 102 may implement reader requirements defined for NFC forum tag types. The tag may be an electronic device for storing and transmitting data. Poller 102 may transmit an RF signal that causes listener 104 to generate an RF signal in response, containing a payload of tag information (e.g., data transmitted by the tag); this is referred to as NFC communication.

[0034] Poller 102 can generate a wireless charging RF signal for power transfer based on a wireless charging protocol. The wireless charging RF signal is transmitted by antenna 106 of poller 102 and received by antenna 108 of listener 104. The wireless charging RF signal transfers power from poller 102 to listener 104 to charge battery 112. In some instances, the wireless charging RF signal may interfere with other wireless operations, such as NFC communication between another listener and another poller with a corresponding antenna for communication, or may interfere with devices transmitting or receiving RF signals, such as WiFi devices, cellular devices, video devices, and audio devices. This interference may cause noise in the transmitted or received video images, audio, or data, and may last from seconds to hours depending on the duration of the power transfer. This interference may prevent certain devices from reliably transmitting and receiving RF signals, which may be wireless operations with higher priority than wireless charging.

[0035] One or more embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for pausing and resuming wireless charging. Poller 102 and wireless charging listener 104 may have corresponding pause-resume circuits for corresponding wireless charging circuits 116, 118. The pause-resume circuit 120 of poller 102 generates a pause request by modulating a wireless charging RF signal to indicate a pause request, and then stopping the transmission of the wireless charging RF signal used to perform wireless charging after a specific delay, such as 5 ms. Listener 104 receives the pause request detected by its pause-resume circuit 122. The pause-resume circuit 122 causes wireless charging listener 102 to enter a pause state. Wireless charging is paused, and poller 102 and listener 104 allow higher-priority RF signal transmission and reception to continue, avoiding interference with other devices transmitting and receiving RF signals. Listener 104 stops any transmissions and ignores any communication with listener 104 other than the resumption request. Wireless charging resumes when the higher-priority wireless operation ends. The pause-resume circuitry of poller 102 transmits a recovery request to listener 104 by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate a recovery request. Listener 104 receives the recovery request detected by its pause-resume circuitry 102. Listener 104 can then resume wireless charging, bypassing certain steps of the wireless charging process performed when it is initially started. The pause-resume process allows higher-priority wireless operation to continue, and wireless charging to restart efficiently.

[0036] Figure 2 This is an example flowchart of a function 200 associated with pausing and resuming wireless charging according to one or more embodiments. In one or more examples, these functions may be performed by corresponding wireless charging circuitry and pause-resume circuitry of poller 102 and listener 104.

[0037] At 202, the Wireless Charging System (WLCS) initiates the wireless charging process. At 204, an NFC link is established. A link can be established between the poller and the listener to facilitate NFC communication of tag information stored by the listener in the form of an NFC tag. The listener may have a tag with memory utilizing the stored tag information. At 206, the poller transmits an RF signal, which is received by the listener and causes the listener to transmit the RF signal back to the poller along with a payload of tag information. In one or more examples, the tag information may identify that the listener has a battery and indicate the battery level associated with the listener or support for a charging mode. The process of obtaining this tag information for wireless charging defines Wireless Charging Control Activation (WCCA). At 208, it is determined whether charging should be performed based on the battery level. If charging is not required based on the battery level, the process ends. If charging is required based on the battery level, at 210, it is determined based on the tag information whether the charging protocol is static wireless power transfer or negotiated wireless power transfer. In one or more examples, static wireless power transfer is a charging process performed at a single power level with a low maximum charging power, such as 100mW, thus eliminating the need for foreign object detection, while negotiated wireless power transfer involves negotiating a charging power range from 0.25mW to 1W. A foreign object is an object present near the poller that can cause the poller to overheat or be damaged due to coupling with the wireless charging RF signal transmitted by the poller. Foreign object detection is a process of detecting such a foreign object and stopping or adjusting the charging power to avoid problems caused by its presence. The charging type can be indicated by tag information received from the listener. If static wireless power transfer is used, wireless charging is performed at 212 by means of static wireless power transfer (WPT). Static WPT does not allow for requested power adaptation during charging and does not allow the field strength to exceed the maximum value specified for NFC communication. If static wireless power transfer is indicated, the poller transmits a wireless charging RF signal, which is received by the listener according to the wireless charging protocol. The power of the wireless charging RF signal is then used to charge the battery associated with the listener. In some cases, a timer can be set to limit the duration of wireless charging. Alternatively, wireless charging can stop after the timer expires, and the process can return to step 206 to receive additional tag information from the listener via NFC communication. The additional tag information can indicate whether the battery requires additional wireless charging.

[0038] In some examples, wireless charging can be paused to allow higher-priority wireless operations, such as NFC communication, or video, audio, or data communication, to be performed by another listener and poller or device. If a pause request is issued during wireless charging, wireless charging is paused at 214. In one or more examples, the pause request can be a proprietary command sent to the wireless charging listener by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the pause request, followed by stopping the transmission of the RF signal after a specific time, such as 5ms. When the listener receives the pause request, it stops any transmission to the poller or other device and ignores any communication from the poller or other device except for a resumption request from the poller. When the higher-priority wireless operation is completed, a resumption request can be issued. The poller resumes wireless charging by sending a resumption request by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the resumption request. At 216, it is determined whether the resumption request has been acknowledged. Acknowledgment can be sent via NFC communication over the NFC link. If the request is acknowledged according to the NFC communication, wireless charging is resumed at 212. In some cases, the recovery request may not be acknowledged by the listener because the listener's battery is already charged and does not need charging, or the listener is no longer near the poller. Wireless charging begins during the processing pause as a quick way to restart wireless charging, and then pauses again without having to repeat at least one or more steps 204-210. Otherwise, if the recovery request is not acknowledged, the wireless charging process begins at step 202. The poller restarts the NFC wireless charging process by returning to step 202.

[0039] If the static protocol is not used for wireless charging, the process continues to 218, where additional tag information is obtained from the listener based on NFC communication between the poller and the listener. The tag information can indicate the power level of the wireless charging and how the power level can be adjusted based on negotiated wireless power transfer that defines the Wireless Charging Control (WCC) process. At 220, it is determined whether to continue charging the battery. If wireless charging is not to continue, it is delayed for a predetermined time at 222, and the process returns to 204. If wireless charging is to continue, it is determined at 224 whether to perform foreign object detection (FOD). If FOD is to be performed, the poller performs FOD at 226. In some examples, the listener may facilitate the performance of FOD (referred to as Joint Initial FOD or JiFOD), where the poller and listener agree on the FOD method, and in some examples, this involves the listener reducing the load associated with its antenna to aid in determining the presence of a foreign object. At 228, wireless charging is performed as long as no foreign object is detected in the form of a background FOD process or bFOD. In one or more examples, the power of the wireless charging RF signal used may be higher than that used for NFC communication. Additionally, at a specific time, such as when a timer expires, wireless charging may be stopped, and the process returns to step 218 to perform NFC communication between the poller and the listener to determine tag information from the listener, indicating the adjusted wireless charging level or whether the listener's battery needs further charging. Wireless charging may or may not continue after this.

[0040] If a pause request is issued during wireless charging based on negotiated wireless power transfer, wireless charging is paused at 230. In one or more examples, the pause request can be a proprietary command sent to the wireless charging listener by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the pause request, followed by stopping the transmission of the RF signal after a specific time, such as 5ms. When the listener receives the pause request, it stops any transmission to the poller or other devices and ignores any communication from the poller or other devices except for a resume request from the poller. A resume request can be issued when a higher-priority wireless operation is completed. The poller resumes wireless charging by sending a resume request by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the resume request. If a resume request is subsequently received, it is determined at 232 whether the request has been acknowledged. Acknowledgment can be sent via NFC communication over the NFC link. In some examples, the resume request may not be acknowledged by the listener because the listener's battery is already charged and does not need charging, or the listener is no longer near the poller. If the request is acknowledged, wireless charging is resumed at 228. Wireless charging continues at the power level at which it was paused, serving as a quick restart method without repeating at least one or more steps 202-226. Otherwise, if the recovery request is not acknowledged, the wireless charging process resumes at step 202. The poller restarts the NFC wireless charging process by returning to step 202.

[0041] In some cases, after determining to restart wireless charging but before sending a recovery request, the poller can run a foreign object detection (FOD) to check if any foreign object was inserted during the wireless charging pause. If no FOD is found, the poller sends a recovery request to the listener to resume wireless charging. If FOD is present, the poller does not send a recovery request to the listener to resume wireless charging, and processing returns to 202. This FOD detection can be performed after a pause but before resuming static or negotiated wireless power delivery.

[0042] In some examples, poller 102 may determine whether a higher-priority wireless operation is about to occur or is occurring based on receiving a signal indicating whether a higher-priority wireless operation exists or not, or by detecting whether a transmission associated with a higher-priority wireless operation exists or not. Poller 102 may receive a first signal when a higher-priority wireless operation begins or when the existence of a higher-priority wireless operation is detected (in which case, poller 102 sends a pause request). Poller 102 may receive a second signal when a higher-priority operation ends or when the absence of a higher-priority wireless operation is detected (causing the poller to send a resume request). For example, the first and second signals may be transmitted by a higher-priority device, detection circuitry, or via signaling circuitry.

[0043] In one embodiment, a method for wireless charging is disclosed. The method includes: establishing a near-field communication (NFC) link between a poller and a listener; receiving tag information of the listener via the NFC link; performing wireless charging by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information; sending a pause request to the listener during wireless charging to cause a pause in wireless charging; sending a resume request to the listener to resume wireless charging after the pause; receiving confirmation of the resume request via the NFC link; and resuming wireless charging without establishing an NFC link or determining the tag information based on confirmation of the resume request. In one or more examples, sending the pause request includes modulating a wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signal associated with the power transfer to indicate the pause request, followed by terminating the wireless charging RF signal. In one or more examples, the wireless charging RF signal is terminated 5 milliseconds after sending the pause request. In one or more examples, the pause request causes the listener to wait only for a resume request from the poller. In one or more examples, the poller sends the resume request by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the resume request. In one or more examples, the method includes performing foreign object detection before sending the resume request. In one or more examples, the power transfer is either negotiated wireless power transfer or static wireless power transfer. In one or more examples, the method further includes determining that the resumption request has not been acknowledged and restarting wireless charging by performing steps of establishing an NFC link and determining tag information. In one or more examples, wireless charging continues at the same power level as before the wireless charging was paused. In one or more examples, a pause request is sent in response to determining that wireless charging would interfere with other wireless operations.

[0044] In another embodiment, a wireless charging poller is disclosed. The wireless charging is arranged to establish a near-field communication (NFC) link between the poller and a listener; receive tag information of the listener via the NFC link; perform wireless charging by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information; send a pause request to the listener during wireless charging to cause the wireless charging to pause; send a resume request to the listener to resume wireless charging; receive confirmation of the resume request via the NFC link; and resume wireless charging without establishing an NFC link or determining the tag information based on confirmation of the resume request. In one or more examples, the poller is arranged to send the pause request, including modulating a wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signal to indicate the pause request, and then terminating the wireless charging RF signal. In one or more examples, the wireless charging RF signal is terminated 5 milliseconds after sending the pause request. In one or more examples, the pause request causes the listener to simply wait for a resume request from the poller. In one or more examples, the poller is arranged to send the resume request by modulating the wireless charging RF signal to indicate the resume request. In one or more examples, the wireless charging poller further includes a poller configured to perform foreign object detection before sending a resumption request. In one or more examples, the power transfer is either negotiated wireless power transfer or static wireless power transfer. In one or more examples, the wireless charging poller further includes a poller configured to determine that the resumption request has not been acknowledged and to restart wireless charging by performing steps to establish an NFC link and determine tag information. In one or more examples, wireless charging continues at the same power level as before the wireless charging was paused. In one or more examples, a pause request is sent in response to determining that wireless charging would interfere with other wireless operations.

[0045] Several embodiments have been described in detail above, and various modifications are also possible. The disclosed subject matter, including the functional operations described herein, can be implemented in electronic circuits, computer hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof, such as in the structural components and their structural equivalents disclosed herein: it may include a program (e.g., a program encoded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which may be a memory device, storage device, machine-readable storage substrate, or other physical, machine-readable medium, or a combination thereof) for causing one or more data processing devices, such as a processor, to perform the described operations.

[0046] While this specification contains numerous details, these details should not be construed as limiting the scope of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features described in this specification in the context of individual embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented individually or in any suitable sub-combination in multiple embodiments. Furthermore, although features may be described above as functioning in certain combinations and even initially claimed in this manner, in some cases, one or more features from the claimed combination may be removed from the combination, and the claimed combination may involve sub-combinations or variations thereof.

[0047] Similarly, although operations are depicted in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this should not be construed as requiring such operations to be performed in the specific order shown or in a sequential manner, or requiring all shown operations to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Furthermore, the separation of the various system components in the embodiments described above should not be construed as requiring such separation in all embodiments.

[0048] Unless otherwise specifically stated, the phrase “at least one of…” or “one of…” following a list with the conjunction “and” should not be considered an exclusive list and should not be interpreted as a list of categories with one item from each category. A sentence stating “at least one of A, B, and C” may contain only one of the listed items, multiple of the listed items, one or more of the listed items, and another unlisted item.

[0049] Other embodiments also fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless charging, characterized in that, The method includes: Establish a near field communication (NFC) link between the poller and the listener; The tag information of the listener is received via the NFC link; Wireless charging is performed by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information; During the wireless charging process, a pause request is sent to the listener to cause the wireless charging to pause. Send a recovery request to the listener to resume wireless charging after a pause; Receive confirmation of the recovery request via the NFC link; and The wireless charging is resumed without establishing the NFC link or determining the tag information based on the confirmation of the recovery request.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Sending the pause request includes modulating a wireless charging radio frequency (RF) signal associated with power delivery to indicate the pause request, and then terminating the wireless charging RF signal.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The wireless charging RF signal is terminated 5 milliseconds after the pause request is sent.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The pause request causes the listener to wait only for the resume request from the poller.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The poller sends the recovery request by modulating a wireless charging RF signal to indicate the recovery request.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, This also includes performing foreign object detection before sending the recovery request.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The power transfer is either negotiated wireless power transfer or static wireless power transfer.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Additionally, it includes determining that the recovery request has not been acknowledged and restarting the wireless charging process by performing the steps of establishing the NFC link and determining the tag information.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The wireless charging will resume at the same power level as before the wireless charging was paused.

10. A wireless charging poller for wireless charging, characterized in that, The device is configured to establish a near-field communication (NFC) link between the poller and the listener; receive tag information of the listener via the NFC link; perform wireless charging by transferring power from the poller to the listener based on the tag information; send a pause request to the listener during the wireless charging to cause the wireless charging to pause; send a resume request to the listener to resume the wireless charging; and receive confirmation of the resume request via the NFC link. And to resume wireless charging without having to establish the NFC link or determine the tag information based on confirmation of the recovery request.

Images