Wireless power transmitters for transmitting wireless power and tracking whether wireless power receivers are within authorized locations

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/939,506, filed Jul. 11, 2013, which is herein fully incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

This application relates to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/891,430, filed May 10, 2013; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/925,469, filed Jun. 24, 2013; U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,625, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Receivers for Wireless Power Transmission,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,630, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Methodology for Pocket-Forming,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,634, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Transmitters for Wireless Power Transmission,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,640, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Methodology for Multiple Pocket-Forming,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,641, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Wireless Power Transmission with Selective Range,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,643, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Method for 3 Dimensional Pocket-Forming,” all of which are fully incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to electronic transmitters, and more particularly to transmitters for wireless power transmission.

BACKGROUND

There are many tracking systems that have evolved for observing, controlling, monitoring, and identifying living beings or objects. The tracking systems follow the movement of living beings and objects for supplying a timely ordered sequence of respective location data to a model; for example, a tracking system that depicts the motion of an animal through a suitable interface such as a display.

Some of the systems utilized for tracking living beings or objects may be a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a Real-time Locating System, which may be integrated or adapted to suitable devices. Usually, these tracking systems applied in devices may include a battery, a signal receiver, and a transmitter. However, these tracking devices may not result in success since the battery life charge may not last for sufficient time and the user may be forced to plug it in or remove the battery from the device to gain charge and achieve the tracking purpose. Furthermore, these tracking devices may be expensive when other services are adapted, such as statistics reports.

Charging the battery or plug in to a power source may be a tedious activity and may represent a burden to users. Current solutions to this problem may include inductive pads which may employ magnetic induction or resonating coils. Nevertheless, such a solution may still require that these tracking devices may have to be placed in a specific place for powering. Thus, tracking devices during charging may not be portable.

For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for cost-effective wireless power transmission system where these tracking devices may be powered without requiring extra chargers or plugs, and where the functionality of this tracking devices may not be compromised.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes a wireless tracking system for tracking, controlling, monitoring, and identifying living beings and objects using wireless power transmission based on a pocket forming. The following wireless tracking system may operate by having one transmitter and one or more receivers adapted or integrated to a living being and objects.

In an embodiment, a description of pocket-forming methodology using at least one transmitter and at least one receiver may be provided.

In another embodiment, a transmitter suitable for pocket-forming including at least two antenna elements may be provided, and a receiver suitable for pocket forming including at least one antenna element may be provided.

In a further embodiment, wireless tracking system may be used determining the location of objects or living beings by using a wireless power transmission on pocket-forming.

In an even further embodiment, in order to track the location of a determined living being or object, a cloud-based service may be suitable for finding the location of receiver.

Yet, in another embodiment, wireless tracking system may be programmed to send notifications when living beings or objects are not in the place where it/she/he has to be.

Furthermore, wireless tracking system may optionally operate when receiver may include at least one audio component, such as a speaker or microphone.

Alternatively, in the wireless tracking system, transmitter may be connected to an alarm system.

The embodiments described in the following disclosure may provide an improved wireless tracking system for observing, controlling, monitoring, and identifying living beings and objects from any suitable device and/or place. Furthermore, the wireless tracking system may be extendable by integrating a variety of services that a user may require to supervise determined living beings or objects. In addition the workload of wireless tracking system may not be compromised by problems of power charging, because transmitter may be responsible to provide power or charge when receiver may require, without having to remove any battery or plug in to a power source.

These and other advantages of the present disclosure may be evident to those skilled in the art, or may become evident upon reading the detailed description of the prefer embodiment, as shown in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure can be better understood by referring to the following figures. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the disclosure. In the figures, reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 illustrates wireless power transmission methodology that may be used for pocket-forming according to the disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a transmitter including components that may be used for pocket-forming in wireless power transmission of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates component level embodiment for a receiver used for pocket-forming according to the disclosure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 describes a wireless tracking system for uploading to a cloud service according to the disclosure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary wireless tracking system for tracking the location of a dog according to the disclosure FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary wireless tracking system for tracking and controlling the location of a woman that has conditional liberty in her house according to the disclosure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary wireless tracking system for tracking and controlling commodities of generators stored inside a cellar according to the disclosure of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, which are not to scale or to proportion, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings and claims, are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used and/or and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.

“Pocket-forming” refers to generating two or more RF waves which converge in three-dimensional (“3-D”) space, forming controlled constructive and destructive interference patterns.

“Pockets of energy” refers to areas or regions of space where energy or power accumulates in the form of constructive interference patterns of radio frequency (“RF”) waves.

“Transmitter” refers to a device, including a chip which generates two or more RF signals, at least one RF signal being phase shifted and gain adjusted with respect to other RF signals, substantially all of which pass through any number of RF antennas, such that focused RF signals are directed to a target.

“Receiver” refers to a device that includes at least one antenna, at least one rectifying circuit and at least one power converter for powering or charging an electronic device using RF waves.

“Cloud-based service” refers to services or resources made available to users on demand via the Internet.

FIG. 1 illustrates wireless power transmission 100 that may be used for pocket-forming. A transmitter 102 may transmit controlled Radio Frequency (RF) waves 104 which may converge in 3-d space. These RF waves 104 may be controlled through phase and/or relative amplitude adjustments to form constructive and destructive interference patterns (pocket-forming). Pockets of energy 106 may form at constructive interference patterns and can be 3-dimensional in shape whereas null-spaces may be generated at destructive interference patterns. A receiver 108 may then utilize pockets of energy produced by pocket-forming for charging or powering an electronic device, for example a laptop computer 110 and thus effectively providing wireless power transmission 100. In some embodiments, there can be multiple transmitters 102 and/or multiple receivers 108 for powering various electronic devices, for example smartphones, tablets, music players, toys and others at the same time. In other embodiments, adaptive pocket-forming may be used to regulate power on electronic devices.

FIGS. 2-3 illustrate transmitter 102 and receiver 108 including components that may be used for pocket forming in wireless power transmission 100. These components may not intend to limit the disclosure, other components may be added, modified or replaced in transmitter 102 and receiver 108 devices.

FIG. 2 illustrates a component level embodiment for transmitter 102 which may be used for pocket-forming. In this embodiment, transmitter 102 may be used to provide wireless power transmission 100. Transmitter 102 may include a housing 202 having at least two or more antenna elements 204, at least one RF integrated circuit (RFIC 206), at least one digital signal processor (DSP) or micro-controller 208, and one communications component 210. Housing 202 may be made of any suitable material which may allow for signal or wave transmission and/or reception, for example plastic or hard rubber. Antenna elements 204 may include suitable antenna types for operating in frequency bands such as 900 MHz, 2.5 GHz or 5.8 GHz as these frequency bands conform to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations part 18 (Industrial, Scientific and Medical equipment), Antenna elements 204 may include Vertical or horizontal polarization, right hand or left hand polarization, elliptical polarization, or other suitable polarizations as well as suitable polarization combinations. Suitable antenna types may include, for example, patch antennas with heights from about 1/24 inches to about 1 inch and widths from about 1/24 inches to about 1 inch. Micro-controller 208 may then process information sent by a receiver 108. Typically, receivers 108 may communicate to transmitter 102 through short signals (such as RF) or through communications component 210 for determining optimum times and locations for pocket-forming. Communications component 210 may be based on standard wireless communication protocols which may include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or ZigBee. Transmitter 102 may also include an external power source 212.

FIG. 3 illustrates a component level embodiment for receiver 108 which may be used for pocket-forming. In this embodiment, receiver 108 may be used for powering or charging an electronic device. Receiver 108 may also include a housing 214 having at least one antenna element 216, one rectifier 218, one power converter 220 and one or more communications component 222. Housing 214 can be made of any suitable material which may allow for signal or wave transmission and/or reception, for example plastic or hard rubber. Furthermore, housing 214 may be light, resistant to heat, water, corrosion resistant, durable, and adaptable to different types of environments (e.g., resistant to climate changes). In addition, housing 214 may be an external hardware that may be added to different electronic equipment, for example in the form of cases, or can be embedded within electronic equipment as well. Antenna element 216 may include suitable antenna types for operating in frequency bands such as those described for transmitter 102 from FIG. 2. Antenna element 216 may include vertical or horizontal polarization, right hand or left hand polarization, elliptical polarization, or other suitable polarizations as well as suitable polarization combinations. Rectifier 218 may be configured to convert the signal (e.g., an RF signal) received by antenna element 216 into a voltage (e.g., DC). Power converter 220 may be used for regulating the voltage obtained from rectifier 218 in order to obtain an appropriate output voltage for charging or powering an electronic device. As described above, receiver 108 may communicate with transmitter 102 using short signals (such as RF) or through communications component 222 as described in FIG. 2.

In some embodiments, receiver 108 may be implemented externally to electronic devices in the form of cases, e.g. camera cases, phone cases and the like which may connect trough suitable and well known in the art techniques such as universal serial bus (USB). In other embodiments, receiver 108 may be embedded within electronic devices.

In another embodiment, receiver 108 may be implemented in tracking systems for observing, following, and recording the movement of people, animals, or objects in determined period of time. Receivers 108 may be adapted to living beings or objects in a variety of forms such as including receivers 108 in bracelets, necklaces, belts, rings, ear chips, and watches, among others. In addition, the implementation of receiver 108 in tracking systems may be complemented with the use of a transmitter 102 which may be employed for locating receiver 108 through RF waves 104. Furthermore, receiver 108 along with transmitter 102 may allow that tracking systems may not be interrupted; due to receiver 108 always being charged or powered by RF waves 104. Alternatively, receiver 108 may be adapted to GPS, real-time location systems or other existent tracking systems for finding, monitoring and controlling the location of living beings such as animals or humans, and/or the location of objects such as cars, electronic devices, and commodities, among others.

FIG. 4 describes a wireless tracking system 300 for determining the location of objects or living beings. In this embodiment, wireless tracking system 300 may be applied in a wireless power transmission 100 using pocket-forming. Transmitter 102 may be in house 302 placed on a suitable location, such on a wall, for an effective wireless power transmission 100 to electronic device 304. Objects or living beings may use an electronic device 304 with embedded or adapted receiver 108. Receiver 108 may include all the components described in FIG. 3 and transmitter 102 may also include all components described in FIG. 2.

Receiver 108 may communicate with transmitter 102 by generating a short signal (e.g., RF) through antenna elements 204 in order to locate its position with respect to the transmitter 102. Receiver 108 may utilize at least one communications component 210, which may enable receiver 108 to communicate with other devices or components. Communications component 222 may enable receiver 108 to communicate using a wireless protocol. As described herein, the wireless protocol may be a proprietary protocol or use a conventional wireless protocol such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, etc. Communications component 222 may also be used to transfer information to transmitter 102 such as an identifier for the electronic device 304 or a user that owns electronic device 304 which require to be charged, battery level information for a connected electronic device 304, geographic location data, or other such information that may be useful in determining when to send power to receiver 108, as well as the location at which to send the power for charging or powering an electronic device 304. Communications component 222 may also include information about the same utilized receiver 108, such as the number of antenna elements 204, size and arrangement of those elements, power capacity, and other such information that can help to determine the size at which to focus the beam (e.g., RF signal), as well as how much power should be transmitter 102 via the beam of RF waves 104. Other such information may be communicated as well, such as account information for use in charging or powering the user's electronic device 304, or ensuring that the user, electronic device 304, and/or receiver 108 is authorized to receive power. Various other information may be transmitted as well in other embodiments.

While transmitter 102 may charge or power receiver 108, micro-controller 208 (from transmitter 102) may be able to process the information provided by communications component 222 from receiver 108, as described above. This information may be repeatedly uploaded to a cloud-based service 306 to be stored in a database in determined intervals of time. Through data stored in database, the information may be read through a suitable interface such as computer software from any suitable computing device and from any suitable location. Transmitter 102 may use a unique identifier of receiver 108 for identifying and tracking electronic device 304 from other devices. The unique identifier of receiver 108 may be according to the type of communications component 210 that may be used in receiver 108; for example, if a Wi-Fi protocol is used, the MAC address may be the unique identifier. This unique identifier may allow the information of electronic device 304 with receiver 108 to be mapped and stored in the database stored in cloud-based service 306. Other unique identifiers may include International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, which usually comprise a 15-digit unique identifier associated with all GSM, UMTS and LTE network mobile users; Unique Device ID (UDID) from iPhones, iPads and IPods, comprising a combination of 40 numbers and letters set by Apple; Android ID, which is set by Google and created when a user first boots up the device; or International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is a unique identification associated with the subscriber identity module (SIM). Furthermore, user may be able to obtain user credentials to access the database stored in a private or public cloud-based service 306 to obtain the information of receiver 108. In this embodiment, cloud-based service 306 may be public when the service, provided by the same transmitter 102 or wireless manufacturer, is utilized in the public network by using only the user credentials for obtaining the desired information. And, cloud-based service 306 may be private when transmitter 102 may be adapted to a private network that has more restrictions besides user credentials.

In another embodiment, in order to track the location of a determined living being or object, a cloud-based service 306 may be suitable for finding the location of receiver 108. For example, in FIG. 3 when receiver 108 may not be in house 302, a user may be able to access with user credentials to a suitable interface such as an internet explorer, to visually depict the places where receiver 108 was located, using information uploaded in database from the cloud-based service 306. Also, if receiver 108 may reach power or charge from another transmitter 102 located in public establishments such as stores, coffee shops, and libraries, among others, the information may be uploaded to cloud-based service 306, where user may also be able to depict the information stored in the cloud-based service 306.

Yet, in another embodiment, wireless tracking system 300 may be programmed to send notifications when living beings or objects are not in the place where it/she/he has to be. For example, if a cat is not at owner's home, a notification such as an interactive message may be sent to a cellphone notifying that the cat is not at home. This interactive message service may be adapted to cloud-based service 306 as an extra service. The interactive message may be optionally sent to an e-mail or to a computer software as it may be desired. Furthermore, additional information may be included in the interactive message such as current location, time, battery level of receiver 108, among other type of data.

Yet, in another embodiment, wireless tracking system 300, may operate when receiver 108 may include at least one audio component, such as a speaker or microphone, which may enable location determination via sonic triangulation or other such methods.

Yet, in another embodiment, transmitter 102 may be connected to an alarm system which may be activated when receiver 108 is not located in the place where it has to be.

EXAMPLE

In example #1, in FIG. 5 is an exemplary wireless tracking system 300 for tracking the location of a dog 402. In this embodiment, dog 402 is wearing a necklace collar 404 that may include a chip 406 with an embedded receiver 108. Dog 402 may be outside first room 408 and inside second room 410. First room 408 may be the place where dog 402 lives; however dog 402 escaped and arrived at second room 410 from a coffee shop. In first room 408, a first transmitter 412 is hanging on a wall, and in second room 410, a second transmitter 414 is hanging on the wall too. Second transmitter 414 detects that dog 402 is not at home, here the interruption of RF waves 104 transmission to receiver 108 from necklace collar 404 allows first transmitter 412 to detect the absent of dog 402 in first room 408. In FIG. 5, the type of communication component 210 to communicate first transmitter 412 or second transmitter 414 with receiver 108, is a Wi-Fi protocol.

Subsequently, the owner of dog 402 receives a message notification informing that his/her dog 402 is outside second room 410. When dog 402 arrived at second room 410, receiver 108 received RF waves 104 from second transmitter 414, while this second transmitter 414 detects the presence of a new receiver 108 and uploads the location and time to database stored in the public cloud-based service 306. Afterwards, the owner of dog 402 accesses public cloud-based service 306 through a smartphone application for tracking the location of dog 402. The owner may have his/her credentials to access cloud-based service 306, where the user account is mapped with MAC address of first transmitter 412 and receiver 108. In the cloud-based service 306 is displayed the locations with determined times where dog 402 has been during its absence from first room 408, using the MAC address of receiver 108. Finally, the owner is now capable to rescue his/her dog 402 by knowing the current location where dog 402 is.

In example #2, in FIG. 6 is an exemplary wireless tracking system 300 for tracking and controlling the location of a woman 502 that has conditional liberty in her house 504. In this embodiment, woman 502 is wearing an ankle monitor 506 that may include a GPS chip 406 with an adapted receiver 108 to charge its battery Ankle monitor 506 receives RF waves 104 from transmitter 102 that is hanging on a wall from house 504. Receiver 108 communicates with transmitter 102 through a ZigBee protocol. In this case, the unique identifier which is used to identify receiver 108 is Personal Area Network Identifier (PAN ID). Receiver 108 sends information to transmitter 102 about the battery status, how many times battery has been charged, battery age indicator, and cycle efficiency. This information may be uploaded to a private cloud-based service 306 which is monitored by a police station that supervises woman 502. Further, transmitter 102 may include an alarm system which may be activated when receiver 108 is not receiving RF waves 104 or/and woman 502 is not in house 504. This alarm system provides an audio sound alert, while transmitter 102 sends a notification to computer software of police office.

In FIG. 6, woman 502 escaped house 504; therefore the alarm system is activated providing audio sound alert and a police office receives a message notification informing that woman 502 is outside house 504. Then, police officer detects the location of woman 502 in a map using the GPS chip 406 from ankle monitor 506. Further, police officer accesses to private cloud-based network to monitor the battery life and the last time when receiver 108 received RF waves 104. Police officer may also have his/her credentials to access private cloud-based service 306, where the user account is mapped with PAN ID of transmitter 102. In addition, if woman 502 arrived to a public place such as coffee shop, receiver 108 may upload information and location of woman 502 to public cloud-based service 306 which may be transferred to private cloud cloud-based service 306; this operation is used as a back-up tracking system in case GPS does not work appropriately. Finally, the woman 502 may be found and handcuffed by police officer due to location was provided by GPS and/or private-cloud based service.

In example #3, FIG. 7 is an exemplary wireless tracking system 300 for tracking and controlling commodities of generators 602 stored inside a warehouse 604. Here, one transmitter 102 is used, which is hanging on a wall of warehouse 604. Each generator 602 has an electronic tag 606 with an adapted receiver 108. Transmitter 102 may transfer RF waves 104 to each receiver 108 for powering and tracking each electronic tag 606. The communication component 210 used in these receivers 108 is a Bluetooth protocol. In this embodiment, the unique identifier is UUID for the Bluetooth protocol.

If one or more generators are illegally subtracted from cellar facility, transmitter 102 activates an alarm and notifies a security guard through an interactive message informing that one or more generators 602 are being stolen. Security guard accesses to a cloud-based service 306 through an application and identifies generators 602 that were stolen through UUID of each electronic tag 606. Security guard receive another interactive message informing the current location of the stolen generators 602, in which this information was obtained when receivers 108 from electronic tags 606 receive RF waves 104 from other transmitter 102. This other transmitter 102 may uploaded the information of the current location of the stolen generators, allowing the guard finding these generators 602.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments may be contemplated. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.