For many years the use of battery chargers and systems to sustain battery life have evolved. We are reminded by the popular motion picture regarding the historic space flight of Apollo 13, that non-volatile memory was not invented until the early 70's with the creation of the a multi-layered capacitor deposited on the dye wafer substrate by sputtering techniques. Much earlier, automobile batteries were first charged by D.C. generators and later on by Alternators. More recently we have evolved solar panels as light driven energy sources, and most recently a group known as Tiny Battery Technologies of Israel has developed “Power Paper”, which is a battery derived from printing utilizing special ink on opposite sides of a sheet of standard paper, to create a paper thin battery.
The advent of the cellular telephone, followed by the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and more recently the Game Boy portable gaming device has helped to promote the rapid development of rechargeable battery sources and more sophisticated battery designs. Rapid miniaturization of PC's and Hand-Held cellular telephones has necessitated the miniaturization of batteries and other power sources as well. Understandably, a portable device must be able to be utilized for extended periods of time without the need for recharging, or the device becomes worthless, or useless, as the utilization period becomes limited.
As mentioned above, earlier devices relied upon solar cells to trickle charge the portable device's internal battery. Now, with ever increasing power needs, such as portable PC's, digital cameras, and cellular phones with color displays, the power consumption of the hardware became a serious concern, in terms of battery life and longevity of usage. These modern device's needs could not be satisfied by mere trickle charging with a solar panel, since the size of the solar panel would be prohibitive in these applications. Many a traveler or tourist has resorted to carrying numerous spare batteries to compensate for limited battery life or the need for protracted portable usage of a device. In remote locations or while traveling in most forms of public transportation, plug-in power points are not readily available, for recharging portable devices. Soon the miniaturization of cell phones, PDA's, PC's and other portable devices will result in wrist worn phones, PDA's and PC's which will require battery power, and will necessitate a solution for charging the unit's internal battery, when no possible way of charging is available. Examples, such as while traveling in an aircraft, a train, a bus, or other form of public transportation vehicle, come to mind. The current invention satisfies this need in a wrist worn battery charger.
Anyone, who has ever owned a portable computer, hand-held cellular phone or PDA, knows the frustration of having the battery give out during an important phone call, presentation or IP session. In fact the invention disclosed herein could also be used as a temporary solution for anyone, who needs that last little bit of power to complete the call, finish the email or retrieve a message. As an after market plug in attachment, the present invention solves the need for temporary emergency power, while the user is away from a plug-in charging source, such as an AC outlet or vehicle cigarette lighter plug or a spare battery.
As an after market device, the present invention could be carried in the user's pocket and either attached by Velcro to the back of the cellular phone and connected through the external charging point, or plugged into the power point of a laptop or PDA. The charger would be activated, by shaking the module described herein, to generate enough trickle charge energy to energize the device's battery for just long enough to complete the call or IP session or the like. The charger described herein could be used to energize any power source or any portable or hand-held device on a short-term basis, including portable gaming devices.
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/640,401, filed Dec. 29, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60640401 | Dec 2004 | US |