CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims benefit under 35 USC 1 19(e) of Application Serial Number 62/51 1,527 filed May 26, 2017, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] This Application is related to Application Serial Number 14/552,414, filed November 24, 2014 and Application Serial Number 14,552,249, filed November 24, 2014, the contents of both which applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention relates to wireless power transfer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The proliferation of portable devices, remote sensing and Internet of Things (IoT) continues to increase. Portable devices, remote sensors, and many other devices rely on energy stored in batteries which need regular charging or replacement.

[0005] Electrical energy stored in the batteries come predominantly from wired sources. Conventional wireless power transfer relies on magnetic inductive effect between two coils placed in close proximity of one another. To increase its efficiency, the coil size is selected to be less than the wavelength of the radiated electromagnetic wave. The transferred power diminishes strongly as the distance between the source and the charging device is increased.

[0006] Another technique for wirelessly powering a device is to transmit RF signals from a multitude of RF sources to the device. To improve efficiency, the phases of the RF signals should add constructively at the device. To achieve this, in one conventional system the device to be charged transmits a pilot signal. Each transmitter records the l phase of the received pilot signal and calculates a corresponding conjugated phase which it then uses to transmit an RF signal. The receiver must include circuitry to generate a pilot signal that is frequency matched to that of the transmitter. The transmitter also requires at least one receiver per transmit antenna thus further adding to the complexity of the system. Accordingly, such systems require relatively high complexity in both the transmitter as well as the receiver.

[0007] Another technique in setting the correct phase for each source in the transmitter is described in commonly assigned US Application No. 14/830, 692. In accordance with this technique, the amount of the power received at the device is fed back to the transmitter array to adjust the phase of each RF source in the array so as to maximize the power received at the device.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] A method of determining phases of N transmitting elements of an RF power generating unit where N is an integer greater than one, includes, in part, turning on a first transmitting element during the first time period, turning off the remaining (N-l) transmitting elements during the first time period, transmitting an RF signal from the first transmitting element to a device to be charged during the first time period, detecting a first phase value associated with the RF signal at the device during the first time period, transmitting the detected first phase value from the device to the generating unit during the first time period, and adjusting the phase of the first transmitting element in response to the detected first phase value.

[0009] The method further includes, in part, turning off the first transmitting element, turning on a second transmitting element, different from the first transmitting element, during a second time period, maintaining the remaining transmitting elements off during the second time period, transmitting an RF signal from the second transmitting element to the device during the second time period, detecting at the device a second phase value associated with the RF signal transmitted by the second transmitting element during the second time period, transmitting the detected second phase value from the device to the generating unit during the second time period, and adjusting the phase of the second transmitting element in response to the detected second phase value. [0010] In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected from the RF signal as received by at least one receiving element disposed in the device. In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected from the RF signal as received by a multitude of receiving elements disposed in the device. In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected relative to a phase of an oscillating signal disposed in the device. In one embodiment, the method further includes, in part, converting the RF signal transmitted by the first transmitting element to an in-phase baseband signal; and converting the RF signal transmitted by the first transmitting element to a quadrature baseband signal. In one embodiment, the method further includes, in part, converting the in-phase baseband signal to a first digital signal, and converting the quadrature baseband signal to a second digital signal.

[0011] In one embodiment, the method further includes, in part, detecting the first phase value from the first and second digital signals. In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected relative to a phase of a timing data received by the device from the generating unit. In one embodiment, the timing data is transmitted using a first frequency different from a second frequency used to transmit the first RF signal. In one

embodiment, the method further includes, in part, switching between the transmission of the timing data from at least one of the remaining (N-l) transmitting elements and the transmission of the RF signal from the first transmitting element. In one embodiment, the timing data is transmitted from at least one of the transmitting elements. In one embodiment, the receiving element is positioned along a center of an array of receiving elements disposed in the device.

[0012] A system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, includes, in part, an RF power generating unit and an RF power recovery unit being charged by the RF power generating unit. In one embodiment, the RF power generating unit includes, in part, N transmitting elements where N is an integer greater than one, and a controller configured to: turn on one of the N transmitting elements during a first time period, turn off the remaining (N-l) transmitting elements during the first time period and transmit a first RF signal from the first transmitting element during the first time period. In one embodiment, the recovery unit is configured to detect a first phase value associated with the first RF signal during the first time period, and transmit the detected first phase value to the generating unit during the first time period. The generating unit is further configured to adjust the phase of the first transmitting element in response to the detected first phase value.

[0013] In one embodiment, the controller is further configured to turn off the first transmitting element, turn on a second transmitting element, different from the first transmitting element, during a second time period, maintain the remaining (N-2) transmitting elements off during the second time period, and transmit a second RF signal from the second transmitting element to the recovery unit during the second time period. The recovery unit is further configured to detect a second phase value associated with the second RF signal during the second time period and transmit the detected second phase value to the generating unit during the second time period. The generating unit is further configured to adjust the phase of the second transmitting element in response to the detected second phase value.

[0014] In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected from the first RF signal as received by at least one receiving element disposed in the recovery unit. In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected from the first RF signal as received by a multitude of receiving elements disposed in the recovery unit.

[0015] In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected relative to a phase of an oscillating signal disposed in the recovery unit. In one embodiment, the recovery unit further includes, in part, a first mixer configured to convert the first RF signal to an in- phase baseband signal, and a second mixer configured to convert the first RF signal to a quadrature baseband signal. In one embodiment, the recovery unit further includes, in part, a first analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the in-phase baseband signal to a first digital signal, and a second analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the quadrature baseband signal to a second digital signal. In one embodiment, the recovery unit is further configured to detect the first phase value from the first and second digital signals.

[0016] In one embodiment, the first phase value is detected relative to timing data received by the recovery unit from the generating unit. In one embodiment, the first receiving element is positioned along a center of an array of receiving elements disposed in the recovery unit.

[0017] A method of determining phases of N transmitting elements of an RF power generating unit, where N is an integer greater than one, includes, in part, turning on a first subset of the N transmitting elements during a first time period, turning off the transmitting elements during the first time period, transmitting a first set of RF signals from the first subset to a device to be powered during the first time period, turning off the first subset, turning on a second subset of the N transmitting elements during a second time period wherein the second subset is different than the first subset, transmitting a second set of RF signals from the second subset to the device during the second time period, receiving a first signal value associated with the first set of RF signals at the device, receiving a second signal value associated with the second set of RF signals at the device, and determining a phase of at least one transmitting element common to both the first and second subsets from the first and second signal values.

[0018] A method of determining phases of N transmitting elements of an RF power generating unit, where N is an integer greater than one, includes, in part, turning on a first transmitting element during a first time period, turning off the remaining (N-l) transmitting elements during the first time period, transmitting an RF signal from the first transmitting element to a device to be powered during the first time period, turning on a second transmitting element during a second time period while maintaining the first transmitting elements on, transmitting an RF signal from each of the first and second transmitting elements, detecting a first signal value from the RF signal received during the first time period, detecting a second signal value from the RF signals received during the second time period, and determining a phase value associated with the second transmitting element from the first and second values.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a generating unit adapted to wirelessly power a recovery unit using RF signals, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention

[0020] Figure 2 is a flowchart for adjusting the phases of a multitude of transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. [0021] Figure 3 is a flowchart for adjusting the phases of a multitude of transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 4 is a flowchart for adjusting the phases of a multitude of transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 5 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a coherent receiver disposed in the recovery unit of Figure 1, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 6 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a coherent receiver disposed in the recovery unit of Figure 1, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, an array of transmitting elements transmits a multitude of RF signals to a device to be charged. To improve power transfer efficiency, the RF signals arriving at each receive antenna of the device are substantially in phase. In other words, the phases of the transmitting elements, collectively forming a generating unit, are selected so that they add constructively at the antenna(s) of the device being charged (referred to herein alternatively as recovery unit) while they cancel out due to destructive interference at other locations. Such phase selection results in maximum efficiency of power delivery to the recovery unit since the RF power will be concentrated on the antenna(s) of the recovery unit. In addition, the amplitudes of the transmitting elements can be adjusted to further maximize power delivery or to achieve a particular beam shape such as a minimum width beam, a Guassian beam, a Bessel beam, a Tophat beam or other desirable beam shapes.

[0026] Figure 1 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a generating unit 100 adapted to wirelessly power recovery unit 500 using RF signals, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Exemplary embodiment 100 of generating unit 100 is shown as including 28 transmitting elements 200ij forming an array arranged along 7 rows and 4 columns, where i and j are integers. For example, the first row of the array is shown as including RF transmitting elements 200n, 200i2, 200i3 and 200i4. Likewise, the seventh row of the array is shown as including RF transmitting elements 2OO71, 2ΟΟ72, 2ΟΟ73 and 2ΟΟ74. Although generating unit 100 is shown as including 28 transmitting elements disposed along 7 rows and 4 columns, it is understood that a generating unit, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, many have any number N of transmitting elements arranged along one dimension (not shown), two dimensions (as shown in Figure 1 ) or three dimensions (not shown) in any arrangement, such as rectangular, cubic, circular, elliptical, spherical, oblong or otherwise. Generating unit 100 is also shown as including a controller 1 10 and transceiver 120, as described further below.

[0027] Exemplary embodiment 300 of the device being charged (recovery unit) is shown as including 9 receiving elements 300ki forming an array arranged along 3 rows and 3 columns. For example, the first row of the array is shown as including RF receiving elements 500n, 500i2, and 500i3. Likewise, the third row of the array is shown as including RF receiving elements 5OO31, 50032, and 50033. Although recover unit 300 is shown as including 9 receiving elements disposed along 3 rows and 3 columns, it is understood that a recovery unit, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, many have any number M of receiving elements disposed along one dimension (not shown), two dimensions (as shown in Figure 1) or three dimensions (not shown). Recovery unit 300 is also shown as including a wireless transceiver 510 and a coherent receiver 520, as described further below. It is understood that M and N may or may not be equal or may or not may not be arranged in a rectangular fashion.

[0028] In order to set the phase of each transmitting element 200y, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, generating unit 100 turns off all but of one the transmitting elements at any given time and determines the phase of the signal transmitted by that transmitting element at the recovery unit. For example, assume during the first time period Ti only transmitting element 200n is turned on. The RF signal transmitted by transmitting element 200n during Ti is received by one or more of the receiving elements 500ki and delivered to coherent receiver 520, where k and 1 are integers. In response, coherent receiver 520 detects the phase of the signal it receives relative to, for example, the phase of the oscillator disposed therein. For example, assume that the RF signal transmitted by transmitting element 200n during Ti is received by receiving elements 5ΟΟ22— positioned near the center of the array of the recovery unit— and delivered to coherent receiver 520. Coherent receiver 520 detects the phase of the signal received by receiving element 5ΟΟ22 relative to, for example, the phase of the oscillator disposed therein.

[0029] Next, during the second time period T ₂ , transmitting element 200n is turned off and transmitter 2OO12 is turned on to transmit an RF signal. The RF signal transmitted by transmitting element 20012 is received by one or more of the receiving elements 500ki, e.g. receiving element 5ΟΟ22, and delivered to coherent receiver 520, which in response detects the phase of the received signal. The process of turning on (activating) only one transmitting element during any given time period, transmitting an RF signal from the activated transmitting element during that time period, and detecting the phase of the RF signal transmitted by that transmitting element at recovery unit 300 during that time period is repeated until the phase of the RF signal transmitted by each of the transmitting elements is detected at recovery unit 300.

[0030] Once the received phases from all transmitting elements 200y is determined and recorded at recovery unit 300, recovery unit 300 sends the recorded phase information back to the generating unit through a wireless communication link established between transceivers 510 and 120. Controller 1 10 processes the phase information received from recovery unit 300 and, in response, adjusts the phase of each transmitting element 200y so as to ensure that the signals transmitted by individual transmitting elements 200y are substantially in phase when arriving at recovery unit 300. In some embodiments of the present invention, recovery unit 300 includes a controller (not shown). In such embodiments, the processing of the phase information is done by the controller disposed in the recovery unit. Accordingly, in such embodiment, the phase adjustments at any of the transmitting elements is determined by the recovery unit and transmitted to generating unit 100 via the communication link established between the transceivers 120 and 520.

[0031] Figure 2 is a flowchart 600 for adj usting the phases of the transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. At 602 the phase adjustment starts. Next, at 604 and 606 all transmitting elements (also referred to as source) elements but one are turned off, and the activated transmitting element transmits an RF signal. The phase of the RF signal is detected at the recovery unit (RU) at 608 after which at 610 the transmitting element transmitting the RF signal is deactivated. Next, if at 612 it is determined that the transmitting element deactivated at 610 is the last transmitting element, the phases of the signals detected and recorded by the recovery element are transmitted to the generating unit at 616. At 618 the phases so received by the generating element are processed in order to adjust the phase of each of the transmitting element to maximize the efficiency of power delivery. At 620 all transmitting elements are turned on with their phases adjusted as described in 618. If at 612 it is determined that the transmitting element deactivated at 610 is not the last transmitting element, the next transmitting element in the array is turned on at 614 after which the process is repeated at 608.

[0032] Referring to Figure 1 , in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, in order to set the phase of each transmitting element 200y, a first subset of the transmitting elements are turned on during a first time period. The effective or combined phase (and amplitude) of the signals transmitted by the first subset, as received by one or more of the receiving elements 500ki, is then determined. Next, during a second time period, a second subset of the transmitting elements are turned on to transmit RF signals. The effective or combined phase ( and amplitude) of the signals transmitted by the second subset as received by one or more of the receiving elements 500ki is then determined. The process of turning on different subsets of the transmitting elements during any given cycle, and receiving the RF signals transmitted by such subset to determine the phase of the subset' s combined signals continues until the aggregate phases from different subsets so determined include sufficient diversity to enable the determination of the phases of individual transmitting elements. Different subsets may include, in part, the same transmitting element(s). Mathematically, each transmit antenna contributes to an element of an input vector in a state-space representation, and the signal received from that element contributes to an element of the output vector. By turning on and off different combinations of the transmit antennas, the output vector is determined from which the phases/amplitudes of individual transmit elements are determined.

[0033] In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, no transmitting element 200ij is turned off during the phase adjustment of the transmitting elements. In such embodiments, during each successive cycle, one or more of the transmitting elements are activated without turning off all of the previously activated transmitting elements. For example, assume during cycle 1 transmitting element 200n is activated and the transmitted RF signal is received by recovery unit 300. Next, for example, during cycle 2, while maintaining transmitting element 200n activated, transmitting element 20012 is activated and the transmitted RF signals are received by recovery unit 300. Next, for example, during cycle 3, while maintaining transmitting elements 200n and 2OO12 activated, transmitting element 2OO13 is activated and the transmitted RF signals are received by recovery unit 300. The successive activation of the transmitting elements while maintaining one or more of the previously activated transmitting elements continue until each transmitting element has been activated and transmitted an RF signal.

[0034] Next, the phase of, for example, one of the transmitting elements, such as that associated with transmitting element 200n is determined. Because the signal received by the recovery unit during the second cycle includes the effect of both transmitting elements 200n and 2OO12, in this example, the phase (and amplitude) of the signal received during the second cycle is adjusted to compensate (such as subtract) for the phase (and amplitude) of transmitting elements 200n, as determined during the first cycle, to enable the computation of the phase associated with elements 2OO12. Similarly, because the signal received by the recovery unit during the third cycle, in this example, is assumed to include the effect of transmitting elements 200n, 2OO12, and 20i3, the phase (and amplitude) of the signal received during the third cycle is adjusted to compensate for the phases (and amplitudes) of transmitting elements 200n and 2OO12, to enable the computation of the phase associated with elements 2OO13. This process continues until the phases for all transmitting elements are determined. Accordingly, in accordance with such embodiments, during any given cycle, one, multiple or all transmitting elements may be on to enable the determination of their respective phases.

[0035] Figure 3 is a flowchart 400 for adjusting the phases of the transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. At 402 the phase adjustment starts. Next, at 604 all transmitting elements (also referred to as source) are turned off. At 406 a set of one or more transmitting elements are activated. Next at 408 one or more phase values associated with the RF signals transmitted by the set is determined and/or recorded at the recovery unit (RU). Next, if at 410 it is determined that the set of transmitting element at 406 is the last set of transmitting elements, the phases of the signals detected and/or recorded by the recovery element are transmitted to the generating unit at 414. At 416 the phases so received by the generating element are processed in order to adjust the phase of each of the transmitting element to maximize the efficiency of power delivery. At 418 all transmitting elements are turned on with their phases adjusted as described in 416. If at 410 it is determined that the set of transmitting elements at 406 is not the last

transmitting element, the next set of transmitting elements in the array are turned on at 414 after which the process is repeated at 408.

[0036] Figure 4 is a flowchart 700 for adjusting the phases of the transmitting elements of a wireless power delivery system, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. At 702 the phase adjustment starts. Next, at 704 all transmitting elements (also referred to as source) are turned off. At 706 a set of transmitting elements are activated to transmit RF signal. Next at 708 a phase value associated with the RF signals transmitted by the set is determined and/or recorded at the recovery unit (RU). Next, at 710 the set of transmitting elements which transmitted the RF signal is deactivated. Next, if at 712 it is determined that the set of transmitting element deactivated at 710 is the last transmitting element, the phases of the signals detected and/or recorded by the recovery element are transmitted to the generating unit at 716. At 718 the phases so received by the generating element are processed in order to adjust the phase of each of the transmitting element to maximize the efficiency of power delivery. At 720 all transmitting elements are turned on with their phases adjusted as set in 718. If at 712 it is determined that the set of transmitting element deactivated at 710 is not the last set of transmitting element, the next set of transmitting elements in the array is turned on at 714 after which the process is repeated at 708.

[0037] Figure 5 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a coherent receiver 520 disposed in recovery unit 300 of Figure 1 , in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Mixers 524 and 534 are configured to convert the frequency of the RF signal received by any of the receiving element 500ki to a baseband signal in accordance with the in-phase signal I and quadrature signal Q generated by phase locked-loop 560. The baseband signal generated by mixer 524 signal is filtered using low-pass filter 526 and converted to a digital signal using analog-tol l digital converter 528 to generate signal IA. Likewise, the baseband signal generated by mixer 534 is filtered using low-pass filter 536 and converted to a digital signal using analog-to-digital converter 538 to generate signal QA. Amplitude and phase detector 540 receives signals IA and QA and in response generates signals A and P representative of phase and amplitude of the RF signal received by the recovery unit. The detected phase P is determined relative to the phase of the oscillating signal generated by crystal oscillator 522.

[0038] Figure 6 is a simplified high-level schematic block diagram of a coherent receiver 520 disposed in recovery unit 300 of Figure 1 , in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The coherent receiver of Figure 4 is similar to the coherent receiver shown in Figure 3 except that the coherent receiver of Figure 4 receives, in addition to the transmitted RF signal, data representative of the clock timing used to generate the transmitted RF signal. In other words, the timing used to generate the phase of the transmitted RF signal is also received by the coherent receiver of Figure 4. Timing receiver and recovery block 550 shown in Figure 4 recovers the timing data used to generate the phases of the transmitted signals and applies the recovered timing data to phase locked-loop 560. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 4, the phases detected by phase and amplitude detector 540 are computed relative to the phase of the clock signal used by the transmitter to generate the phases of the RF signals.

[0039] The above embodiments of the present invention are illustrative and not limitative. The embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the number of transmitting elements or receiving elements. The above embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the wavelength of the RF signal used to power a device. The above embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the type of circuitry used to detect the phase of a received RF signal. The above embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the number of semiconductor substrates that may be used to form a generating unit, or receiving unit. Other modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art and are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.