Portable Battery Pack for Wirelessly Charging and Communicating with Portable Electronic Device Through Clothing
A portable battery pack and portable electronic device communicate by pulsing (turning on/off) their respective battery chargers causing variations in a magnetic field between the battery pack and portable electronic device that can be used to transmit and receive short messages through their respective coils using a magnetic communication protocol. Data or messages can be transferred between portable battery pack and portable electronic device when the portable battery pack and portable electronic device are in a mated configuration. The magnetic communication protocol allows for bi-directional communication of various battery status indicators and other data from the portable battery pack to the portable electronic device and vice-versa. The magnetic communication also allows the portable electronic device to be authenticated by the portable battery pack or vice-versa, such that the absence of any communication between the portable electronic device and portable battery pack renders the portable electronic device fully/partially inoperable.
1 . A portable battery pack, comprising:
a battery cell;
a power amplifier coupled to the battery cell;
a battery charger coupled to the battery cell;
a transmitter coil; and
a switching means coupled to the transmitter coil and the power amplifier, the switching means configured to couple the transmitter coil to the power amplifier in a charging mode of operation, and to couple the transmitter coil to the battery charger in a communication mode of operation.
2 . The portable battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the battery charger is configured to cause variations in a magnetic field transmitted from the transmitter coil to encode data according to a communication protocol.
3 . The portable battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the communication protocol is a pulse-based, magnetic near-field communication protocol.
4 . The portable battery pack of claim 2 , wherein the data includes a battery status indicator.
5 . A magnetic communication system, comprising:
a portable battery pack including:
a battery cell;
a power amplifier coupled to the battery cell;
a battery charger coupled to the battery cell;
a first coil; and
a switching means coupled to the first coil and the power amplifier, the switching means configured to couple the first coil to the power amplifier in a charging mode of operation, and to couple the first coil to the battery charger in a communication mode of operation; and
a portable electronic device magnetically coupled to the portable battery pack and including:
a second coil for receiving charge in the charging mode of operation and for transmitting and receiving data in the communication mode of operation.
6 . The magnetic communication system of claim 5 , wherein the battery charger is configured to cause variations in a magnetic field transmitted from the first coil to encode data according to a communication protocol.
7 . The magnetic communication system of claim 6 , wherein the communication protocol is a pulse-based, magnetic near-field communication protocol.
8 . The magnetic communication system of claim 6 , wherein the data includes a battery status indicator.
9 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a portable battery pack, a request or trigger event for battery status;
generating, by the portable battery pack, magnetic pulses encoded with the battery status;
receiving, by a portable electronic device magnetically coupled to the portable battery pack, the magnetic pulses; and
determining, by the portable electronic device, the battery status from the magnetic pulses.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the magnetic pulses represent an ASCII code.
11 . A method comprising:
generating, by a portable electronic device, a signal indicating that the portable device is mated to a portable battery pack;
determining, based on the signal, that the portable electronic device and the portable battery pack are no longer mated; and
responsive to determining that the portable electronic device and the portable batter pack are no longer mated, rendering the portable electronic device fully or partially inoperable.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising rendering the portable electronic device fully or partially inoperable after a specified time period has elapsed.