Granted Patent B2

US 12,306,285 · App. 17/538,962 · Granted May 20, 2025

Inventors: Cesar Johnston (Sunnyvale, CA); Alister Hoss (Phoenix, AZ); Erik Heinke (San Jose, CA); Deepak Jain (San Ramon, CA); William M. Wiese, Jr. (San Jose, CA); Fay Yew (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: ENERGOUS CORPORATION

G01S13/04G01V3/02H01Q3/28H02J50/20H02J50/40H02J50/60H03F3/20H03F2200/451

Abstract

Claims (52)

1. A wireless-power transmission system, comprising:

at least two sensors of at least two different types;

one or more antennas;

a power amplifier configured to amplify a radio frequency (RF) signal that is provided to the one or more antennas, wherein the one or more antennas, upon receiving the amplified RF signal, are configured to radiate RF energy within a transmission field of a wireless-power transmission system; and

one or more integrated circuits configured to:

receive, from a first sensor of the at least two sensors, first sensor data indicating presence of an object within a keep-out zone of the transmission field of the wireless-power transmission system;

in response to the receiving:

cause a second sensor, distinct from the first sensor, to capture second sensor data, and

classify, using the second sensor data from the second sensor, the object as a sensitive object, wherein the sensitive object is an object that is sensitive to RF energy and the sensitive object includes a human hand or other portion of a human body;

while continuing to detect presence of the sensitive object within the keep-out zone, forgo providing an instruction to the power amplifier to amplify the RF signal;

in accordance with a first determination that the sensitive object is no longer within the keep-out zone, determine whether an electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field; and

in accordance with a second determination that the electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field, instruct the power amplifier to amplify the RF signal to cause the one or more antennas to radiate RF energy focused near the electronic device that requires charging.

2. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more integrated circuits are further configured to:

while radiating the RF energy focused near the electronic device, receive, from the first sensor of the at least two sensors, third sensor data indicating presence of another object within the keep-out zone of the transmission field of the wireless-power transmission system;

in response to the receiving, classify using fourth sensor data from the second sensor the other object as a second classified object; and

in accordance with a third determination that the second classified object is another sensitive object, instruct the power amplifier to cease amplifying the RF signal while the presence of the other sensitive object is detected within the keep-out zone.

3. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 2 , wherein the sensitive object is a human hand and the other sensitive object is also a human hand.

4. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 2 , wherein the instruction to the power amplifier to cease amplifying the RF signal is provided within a predetermined amount of time of detecting the second classified object.

5. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is less than 150 milliseconds.

6. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is less than 100 milliseconds.

7. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined amount of time is less than 50 milliseconds.

8. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein while continuing to detect presence of the sensitive object within the keep-out zone, the electronic device that requires charging is also present within the transmission field.

9. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission field includes an area of three-dimensional space that is greater than an area of three-dimensional space that is included in the keep-out zone.

10. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a ranging sensor configured to detect objects within the keep-out zone.

11. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 10 , wherein the first sensor is an ultrasonic sensor, an optical sensor, or an infrared sensor.

12. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 10 , wherein the second sensor is a classification sensor configured to detect data used to classify objects as sensitive objects, and the second sensor is not able to perform accurate ranging within the keep-out zone.

13. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the second sensor is a capacitive sensor or a sensor configured to detect impedance changes at the wireless-power transmission system.

14. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein:

the first sensor data indicates presence of at least two objects within the keep-out zone of the transmission field of the wireless-power transmission system; and

the one or more integrated circuits are configured to determine a number of objects within the keep-out zone based on the first sensor data.

15. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 14 , wherein the one or more integrated circuits are further configured to:

classify using the second sensor data from the second sensor distinct from the first sensor, each object within the keep-out zone; and

in accordance with a fifth determination that at least one object detected based on the second sensor data is a sensitive object, instruct the power amplifier to cease amplifying the RF signal while the presence of the at least one sensitive object is detected within the keep-out zone.

16. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is configured to detect one or more objects at least 20 cm away from an exterior housing of the wireless-power transmission system.

17. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 16 , wherein the transmission field of the wireless-power transmission system extends from the exterior housing of the wireless-power transmission system to a distance that is at least 1 m away from the exterior housing of the wireless-power transmission system.

18. The wireless-power transmission system of claim 1 , wherein the first determination is made while the sensitive object is no longer within the keep-out zone but is still within the transmission field.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a first sensor of at least two sensors, first sensor data indicating presence of an object within a keep-out zone of a transmission field of a wireless-power transmission system;

in response to the receiving:

causing a second sensor, distinct from the first sensor, to capture second sensor data, and

classifying, using the second sensor data from the second sensor, the object as a sensitive object, wherein the sensitive object is an object that is sensitive to RF energy and the sensitive object includes a human hand or other portion of a human body;

while continuing to detect presence of the sensitive object within the keep-out zone, forgoing providing an instruction to a power amplifier of the wireless-power transmission system to amplify an RF signal;

in accordance with a first determination that the sensitive object is no longer within the keep-out zone, determining whether an electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field; and

in accordance with a second determination that the electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field, instructing the power amplifier to amplify the RF signal to cause one or more antennas of the wireless-power transmission system to radiate RF energy focused near the electronic device that requires charging.

20. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor in a computer, cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first sensor of at least two sensors, first sensor data indicating presence of an object within a keep-out zone of a transmission field of a wireless-power transmission system;

in response to the receiving:

causing a second sensor, distinct from the first sensor, to capture second sensor data, and

classifying, using the second sensor data from the second sensor, the object as a sensitive object, wherein the sensitive object is an object that is sensitive to RF energy and the sensitive object includes a human hand or other portion of a human body;

while continuing to detect presence of the sensitive object within the keep-out zone, forgoing providing an instruction to a power amplifier of the wireless-power transmission system to amplify an RF signal;

in accordance with a first determination that the sensitive object is no longer within the keep-out zone, determining whether an electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field; and

in accordance with a second determination that the electronic device that requires charging is within the transmission field, instructing the power amplifier to amplify the RF signal to cause one or more antennas of the wireless-power transmission system to radiate RF energy focused near the electronic device that requires charging.

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)