Patent Application
20160079781
This invention relates generally to portable battery power devices for mobile devices, and more particularly to a portable multi-functional device for back-up power and recharging the internal battery of a mobile phone or other similar electronic device, for remotely controlling the mobile phone, and for communicating with the mobile phone for locator, data synchronization and other operations.
Today, most people carry and rely upon mobile telephones or other similar electronic devices for communications and information while they are on the go, and to many mobile phones have become as essential as their keys. While mobile phones are convenient and for many are a necessity, they operate on an internal battery that must be recharged frequently. This is particularly true of the so-called “smart phones” which are essentially small portable computers that drain their internal battery quickly. When the battery runs out, the phone cannot be used until the battery is recharged. Phone chargers and spare batteries are bulky and inconvenient to carry, and many people either forget them or simply do not carry them. When the battery is drained, which typically occurs when the phone is most needed, finding some place to recharge it which is often a problem.
Another problem with mobile phones is that they are often misplaced. While one may dial the telephone number of the phone to ring the phone to locate it, this requires access to another telephone in the vicinity of where the phone was misplaced in order to hear the phone ring. Sometimes, there is not another available telephone in the vicinity. There is a related problem with respect to keys which also are frequently misplaced. Keys, however, do not have ringers, and are therefore more difficult to locate.
It is desirable to provide devices and methods to address the foregoing and other problems and inconveniences associated with mobile phones, and it is to these ends that the present invention is directed.
The invention addresses the foregoing and other problems by providing, in one aspect, a small portable power and control device containing a rechargeable battery that can be conveniently carried and connected to a mobile phone when the internal phone battery runs out to recharge the phone battery and provide an emergency supply of power to keep the phone operating for a period of time until its internal battery can be fully recharged. In a preferred form, the portable device is attachable to a key ring or keychain so it may be carried with the keys of the phone user, and it may include a USB or other connector that enables the device to be connected to a computer or USB power source to recharge its internal battery. The device may also have a user activated indicator that shows the level of charge of its rechargeable battery to inform the user when the device battery requires recharging.
In another aspect, the power and control device is preferably provided with an internal microcontroller and other circuitry so that it may interface either wirelessly via Bluetooth® or directly via a cable with a cooperating mobile smart phone application (“app”) to perform a number of different functions. These functions may include a locator function that permits the device to activate the phone ringer or other audible emitter on the phone so that a misplaced phone may be located. The phone app may likewise include a locator function that identifies the previous location of the keys, as by using GPS, so that misplaced keys may be located.
In further aspects, the power and control device may cooperate with the phone app to remotely control phone functions, such as the phone ringer or its camera, or to remotely control external devices such as music players and the like via the phone app. The device may additionally contain flash memory for data storage, transfer and synchronization with the phone or a computer, and may enable encrypting the data in the flash memory so that the data is secure.
The power and control device of the invention is particularly well adapted for use with mobile electronic devices such as smart mobile phones, tablets and the like, and will be described in that context. It will be appreciated, however, that this is illustrative of only one utility of the invention, and that a power and control device in accordance with the invention has other applicability more generally in connection with other types of portable electronic devices. As used herein, the term “mobile phone” will be used to refer not only to mobile telephones, but also to other portable electronic and computing devices such as tablets.
As further illustrated in
The power and control device 100 may have any convenient size, shape and dimensions. Preferably, it is small enough to conveniently and comfortably fit within a user's pocket or purse attached to the user's key ring. Aesthetically, in a preferred embodiment the device has certain proportions. The ratio of the diameter of the ring 144 in the top surface to the diameter of the cavity 130 is preferably of the order of 11:3. The cavity 130 is preferably semi-spherically shaped. If the sides of the triangularly shaped LED 142 were extended, they would preferably meet the diameter of the ring 144. The distance between the center of the latch member 132 and the top of the triangular LED 142 is preferably equal to the sum of the diameters of the cavity 130 and the ring 144, and the overall length of the device from the latch to the USB connector is preferably 1.414 times the diameter of ring 144. Other proportions as well as other configurations may, of course, be used.
In order to serve as an emergency source of power for a mobile phone, a power and control device in accordance with the invention has an internal rechargeable battery that may be recharged by connecting the device to the USB port of a computer or to a USB power adapter. As will be described, the device may also have internal electronic circuitry to control the recharging of the internal battery (as well as for performing other operations, which will also be described), and enable the state of the internal battery charge to be determined and indicated to a user by multicolor LEDs 142 so that the user may recharge the battery as needed. When emergency backup power is required to power a mobile phone whose battery that has been drained, the phone can be connected to the device using cable 104 and connector 106 to power the phone and recharge the battery from the internal battery of the device. For use with Android and Windows phones and tablets, connector 106 may be a mini USB connector. For use with Apple phones and tablets, connector 106 may be a Lightning connector. Because the device is formed to be releasably attached to the user's key ring and carried with the user's keys, the user will always have backup phone power available when it is needed.
In addition to providing backup power, the device may also cooperate with the mobile phone to perform other functions and operations. One of these functions is a locator function. Since it is very common to misplace one's mobile phone, the power and control device may be used to actuate wirelessly an audible sound of the mobile phone, such as its ringer, to enable the phone to be located. It is similarly common for one to misplace one's keys. Thus, the device may also include an audible device, such as a speaker, that can be wirelessly actuated using an app on the phone to emit an audible sound to enable the keys to be located. Wireless communications between the device and the phone may be via Bluetooth®, which allows the phone and device to communicate at a distance of the order of a hundred feet. Preferred implementations of the locator and other functions that may be performed by the device will be described more below.
The device electronics may also include an LED controller 340 for controlling the RGB multicolor LED 142 on the top of the device to indicate a charging operation and the charge level of the internal battery 314, and control discrete LEDs 342 located, e.g., in or below ring 144 on the top surface of the device so as to be visible when illuminated. The discrete LEDs may be used, for instance, to indicate power flow into the device from USB port 310 for recharging the internal backup battery 314 and/or for powering the phone via the USB phone port 328. The power and control device 100 may receive external power via USB port 310 for simultaneously recharging the device internal battery 314 and for supplying power to the phone via the USB phone port 328. The device may additionally include an accelerometer 344 which detects and characterizes forces exerted on the device. The accelerometer may detect a user shaking the device to initiate a process performed by the microcontroller 302 for determining the backup battery 314 charge level (as will be described) and for activating the RGB LED 142 to indicate the charge level to the user. The accelerometer may also be used to detect other user gestures as commands for other purposes, as will be described.
The microcontroller 302 may also receive an input command from, for example, pushbutton 140 on the top of the device to perform an operation, such as the previously described phone locator operation. In response to input commands, the microcontroller 302 may activate its embedded Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) circuit to transmit wirelessly certain codes as predetermined combinations or sequences of tones to the phone. These tones may be received by a Bluetooth receiver in the phone, decoded, and used to initiate prescribed actions. Different input commands to the microcontroller may comprise, for example, different numbers of actuations of the pushbutton 140 within a particular time period. The device may additionally include a speaker 346 controlled by the microcontroller to provide an audible indication to a user.
Other functions that the device 100 may perform relate to data storage, data synchronization and data communications. Accordingly, the device electronics may include non-volatile memory 350, such as NAND flash memory, and a flash memory controller 352 that are under the control of the microprocessor 302. Data may be communicated between the device memory 350 and an external computer via the USB port 310, and between the memory and the phone via the USB phone port 328. Conveniently, the flash memory may also be used to transfer data between the user's smart phone and the user's tablet or another data source. The USB port 310 may be connected to a USB hub 360 by a bidirectional bus 358. The USB hub 360 may be connected by a bidirectional bus 362 to a first USB multiplexer (Mux) 364 which in turn is connected to the flash controller 352 and to memory 350. A second USB Mux 368 may have a bidirectional bus 370 connected to the phone USB phone port 328, and may also connected to memory 350 via the flash controller 352. USB multiplexers 364 and 368 may be likewise connected together via a bidirectional bus 372. This arrangement enables data to be communicated bidirectionally between the USB port 310 and the memory 350, and between the memory and the USB phone port 328. The two USB multiplexers 364 and 368 allow data communications to be switched between the memory and the two USB ports. The memory 350 enables the device 100 to store and transfer data between devices connected to the USB ports, and the microcontroller allows the microcontroller to perform operations on the data, as for encryption and data synchronization.
Another user interface on the device is pushbutton 140. The pushbutton may be activated at 410 to send commands to the mobile phone app 412 via the Bluetooth® low energy wireless link 414. The commands may cause the phone app to activate an audible alert on the phone, as shown at 424, for the previously described phone locator function. The pushbutton may also send commands to the phone app at 422 to remotely control the phone to perform to perform various operations such as, for example, controlling the phone camera. Additionally, the commands 410 received by the phone app may also cause the phone to remotely control external devices, such as a music player. Similarly, the phone app 412 may include a pushbutton operation 424 that sends a command to the device via the Bluetooth® wireless link to remotely activate the device speaker 346 to perform the previously described keys locator function. As may be appreciated, the controllable functions that may be performed on the device and on the phone will be determined by the design of the phone app and the firmware within the device.
The accelerometer 344 may be a conventional integrated device that measures the vector magnitude of the three-dimensional G forces exerted on the device by it being moved, shaken for instance. To determine and indicate the battery charge level, the user may shake the device, for example. If at 702, the G force on any axis exceeds a predetermined threshold, such as 2 G's, an interrupt (IRQ) will be sent at 704 to the microcontroller to cause it to enter an active state. At 706 the microcontroller receives the G force vector data from the accelerometer, and at 708 loads the magnitudes of the data into a buffer. At 710, the microcontroller may calculate the magnitudes of the vector data stored in the buffer, may determine the corresponding directions (e.g., up, down, right, left), and calculate the accumulated magnitudes as a function of time or duration or both. If the cumulative magnitudes surpass a predetermined threshold at 712, the microcontroller acts at 714 to determine the battery charge level using the current and voltage data provided by the battery charger. It may determine charge level using voltage and current accumulated over a predetermined period of time, and indicate the charge level using the RGB LEDs as described above. The process may then return to the initial condition at 702. The cumulative threshold at 712 may be used as a necessary pre-condition for initiating the process of determining battery charge level to conserve internal battery power. The initial and cumulative threshold conditions discriminate between an actual shaking motion by the user and a momentary G force caused, for example, by dropping the device, and the three-dimensional directional data from the accelerometer may be used to discriminate between a shaking for checking battery charge and some other gesture for initiating another operation.
The invention affords another type of device locator function other than actuating an audible device alarm. Using the phone built-in GPS function, the phone app may remember the last GPS location of the device, which is useful if the device is out of range of the BLE wireless link at the time the locator operation is initiated. This may be accomplished by instructions in the firmware in the device microcontroller causing the device to transmit a periodic “heartbeat” signal (code) via the Bluetooth® wireless link to the phone app. The heartbeat signal may be sent every sent minute or two, for example. Upon receiving the signal, the phone app may determine its current GPS location using its GPS function, and store the current location in phone memory. Each new heartbeat signal may update the GPS location stored in the phone memory. If a user misplaces his or her keys with the device attached, the phone app may read the last GPS location stored in the memory and show that location on a map on the phone display. Thus, the user may return to that location and retrieve the device and keys.
While the foregoing has been with reference to particular embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that changes to these embodiments may be made without departing from the invention, the scope of which is determined by the appended claims.
