Patent Application
20190148969
Mobile devices are often limited by the ability to store charge necessary for operation. Most devices require wired connection to a power source, such as an electrical outlet. Each device includes a battery, and the battery life is a function of the storage capability of the battery, the battery quality and age, and the usage behavior of the user. Charging the device often requires its user to have a portable charger and a cable compatible with the device's charging interface. Running out of power is problematic and frustrating for device users when the right portable charger is not readily available.
The present application may be more fully appreciated in connection with the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are not drawn to scale and in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and wherein:
Methods and apparatuses for wireless charging of a mobile device are disclosed. The mobile device, generally referred to herein as a User Equipment (“UE”), is charged wirelessly from wireless signals received thereon. A wireless charging unit having a metastructure antenna capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves is able to efficiently store and transmit power wirelessly to the UE.
It is appreciated that, in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. However, it is appreciated that the examples may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods and structures may not be described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the examples. Also, the examples may be used in combination with each other.
A schematic diagram of a WCU in accordance with various examples is shown in
The metastructure antenna 304 is a high directivity, high gain antenna based on a metastructure, which as generally defined herein, is an engineered structure capable of controlling and manipulating incident radiation (in this case, incident radiation from the TH) at a desired direction based on its geometry. The metastructure antenna 304, described in more detail below, enables WCU 300 to reduce its signal conditioning burden when receiving the wireless signal from the TH as it is capable of receiving RF beams in multiple directions at a high gain and increased performance. Further, the metastructure antenna 304 is capable of receiving the wireless signal from the TH efficiently thereby increasing signal strength when it is converted into a digital signal by the ADC 306 and enabling WCU 300 to have higher efficiency and power delivery to the UE.
The WCU 400 may be specific to a type of wireless signal, or may be adapted to acquire power from one of multiple wireless signals, such as cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and so forth. Each group or subarray of cells is responsive to a specific bandwidth of frequencies. In some examples, WCU 400 provides energy fluence, or energy through a metastructure antenna 406 with multi-frequency capabilities. Subarrays within the metastructure antenna 406 can respond to different frequencies, wherein a first sub array responds to a first frequency, and a second sub array responds to a second frequency. The subarrays may perform better at different conditions, enabling the WCU 400 to adapt its performance efficiently in different applications and scenarios.
The signals received from a TH, such as TH 102 in
Attention is now directed to
In one example, each cell 502 may be a metamaterial (“MTM”) cell. An MTM cell is an artificially structured element used to control and manipulate physical phenomena, such as the electromagnetic properties of a signal including its amplitude, phase, and wavelength. Metamaterial cells behave as derived from inherent properties of their constituent materials, as well as from the geometrical arrangement of these materials with size and spacing that are much smaller relative to the scale of spatial variation of typical applications. A metamaterial is a geometric design of a material, such as a conductor, wherein the shape creates a unique behavior for the device. An MTM cell may be composed of multiple microstrips, gaps, patches, vias, and so forth having a behavior that is the equivalent to a reactance element, such as a combination of series capacitors and shunt inductors. Various configurations, shapes, designs and dimensions are used to implement specific designs and meet specific constraints. In some examples, the number of dimensional degrees of freedom determines the characteristics, wherein a cell having a number of edges and discontinuities may model a specific-type of electrical circuit and behave in a given manner. In this way, an MTM cell radiates according to its configuration. Changes to the reactance parameters of the MTM cell result in changes to its radiation pattern. Where the radiation pattern is changed to achieve a phase change or phase shift, the resultant structure is a powerful antenna, as small changes to the MTM cell can result in large changes to the beamform. The array of cells 502 is configured so as to form a composite beamform. This may involve subarrays of the cells or the entire array.
The MTM cells 502 may include a variety of conductive structures and patterns, such that a received transmission signal is radiated therefrom. In some examples, each MTM cell may have unique properties. These properties may include a negative permittivity and permeability resulting in a negative refractive index; these structures are commonly referred to as left-handed materials (“LHM”). The use of LHM enables behavior not achieved in classical structures and materials, including interesting effects that may be observed in the propagation of electromagnetic waves, or transmission signals. Metamaterials can be used for several interesting devices in microwave and terahertz engineering such as antennas, sensors, matching networks, and reflectors, such as in telecommunications, automotive and vehicular, robotic, biomedical, satellite and other applications. For antennas, metamaterials may be built at scales much smaller than the wavelengths of transmission signals radiated by the metamaterial. Metamaterial properties come from the engineered and designed structures rather than from the base material forming the structures. Precise shape, dimensions, geometry, size, orientation, arrangement and so forth result in the smart properties capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves by blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves.
In some examples, at least one of the MTM cells is coupled to a reactance control mechanism, such as a varactor to change the capacitance and/or other parameters of the MTM cell. By changing a parameter of the MTM cell, the resonant frequency is changed, and therefore, the array 502 may be configured and controlled to respond to multiple frequency bands. An example of such a cell is illustrated as MTM cell 504. MTM cell 504 has a conductive outer portion or loop 506 surrounding a conductive area 508 with a space in between. Each MTM cell 504 may be configured on a dielectric layer, with the conductive areas and loops provided around and between different MTM cells. A voltage controlled variable reactance device 510, e.g., a varactor, provides a controlled reactance between the conductive area 506 and the conductive loop 508. The controlled reactance is controlled by an applied voltage, such as an applied reverse bias voltage in the case of a varactor. The change in reactance changes the behavior of the MTM cell 504, enabling the array 502 to receive beams at a high directivity and gain.
It is appreciated that additional circuits, modules and layers may be integrated with the array 502 in metastructure antenna 500. Metastructure antenna 500 may include a power division or feed layer with reactance control RFICs, and a radiating/antenna layer coupled to the array 502.
This directivity may be used to improve the capability of a WCU to charge a device, wherein the transmission hub, base station, access point, and so forth, are able to direct wireless signals to a specific mobile device in response to a charge request. In some examples, the charging may operate in coordination with communication to the mobile device, such as illustrated in
It is appreciated that the previous description of the disclosed examples is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to these examples will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/586,647, filed on Nov. 15, 2017, and incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62586647 | Nov 2017 | US |
