Bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling in wireless devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12316402-B2
Application number	US-202217586338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2022
Priority date	Jan 27, 2022
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

A system and method for bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling is achieved with capacitive plates within the environment of a wireless power transfer system. Data is transferred using capacitance over a separate path from the transfer of electrical power in the wireless power transfer system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system of bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling in an inductive wireless charging device, comprising:
a wireless power transfer (WPT) system including a first transceiver with a transmitting capability and a second transceiver with a receiving capability for electrical power and data communication;
the WPT system including a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate positioned between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, wherein a distance exists between a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate of the pair of capacitive plates; and
the first transceiver configured to transmit an electrical signal to the first capacitive plate causing the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate to have a capacitive coupling, and wherein the electrical signal is received at the second transceiver from the second capacitive plate,
wherein a data transfer from the first transceiver through the first capacitive plate and from the second capacitive plate to the second transceiver occurs over a separate path from a transfer of the electrical power from the first transceiver to the second transceiver, and
wherein the first transceiver and the first capacitive plate are located in the inductive wireless charging device that holds a barcode reader, and the second transceiver and the second capacitive plate are located in the barcode reader.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the inductive wireless charging device is a cradle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first capacitive plate and the corresponding second capacitive plate are configured for capacitive half-duplex communication.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first capacitive plate is configured to capacitively couple with the corresponding second capacitive plate to perform short-range data communication therebetween to achieve full-duplex communication.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data transfer is performed independent of the transfer of electrical power.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the data transfer over a communication channel includes providing software updates to the barcode reader.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the data transfer over a communication channel is used for pairing.

8. A system of bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling in an inductive wireless charging device, comprising:
a wireless power transfer (WPT) system including a first transceiver with a transmitting capability and a second transceiver with a receiving capability for electrical power and data communication;
the WPT system including a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate positioned between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, wherein a distance exists between a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate of the pair of capacitive plates; and
the first transceiver configured to transmit an electrical signal to the first capacitive plate causing the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate to have a capacitive coupling, and wherein the electrical signal is received at the second transceiver from the second capacitive plate,
wherein a data transfer from the first transceiver through the first capacitive plate and from the second capacitive plate to the second transceiver occurs over a separate path from a transfer of the electrical power from the first transceiver to the second transceiver, and
wherein each of the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate have an active plate side and a ground plate side, and wherein the active plate side of the first capacitive plate and the active plate side of the second capacitive plate are faced toward each other to form a differential capacitive coupling.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the each of the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate include one or more metal plates disposed on a support formed from a composite material.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the metal plates include two active plates on the active plate side, and a single ground plate on the ground plate side for each of the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the two active plates are driven in differential mode to create an alternate electric field for each pair of facing plates.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first transceiver includes both the transmitting capability and the receiving capability for data communication through the first and second capacitive plates, and the second transceiver includes both the receiving capability and the transmitting capability for data communication through the first and second capacitive plates.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein a bi-directional communication occurs with data transferring from the first transceiver through the first capacitive plate to the second capacitive plate and from the second capacitive plate to the second transceiver in one direction and the data transferring from the second transceiver through the second capacitive plate to the first capacitive plate and from the first capacitive plate to the first transceiver in another direction.

14. A system of bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling in an inductive wireless charging device, comprising:
a wireless power transfer (WPT) system including a first transceiver with a transmitting capability and a second transceiver with a receiving capability for electrical power and data communication;
the WPT system including a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate positioned between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, wherein a distance exists between a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate of the pair of capacitive plates; and
the first transceiver configured to transmit an electrical signal to the first capacitive plate causing the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate to have a capacitive coupling, and wherein the electrical signal is received at the second transceiver from the second capacitive plate,
wherein a data transfer from the first transceiver through the first capacitive plate and from the second capacitive plate to the second transceiver occurs over a separate path from a transfer of the electrical power from the first transceiver to the second transceiver,
wherein the first capacitive plate and the corresponding second capacitive plate each have a bipolar configuration.

15. A method for bi-directional communication through capacitive coupling in a wireless charging device, comprising:
operating a wireless power transfer (WPT) system that includes a first transceiver with a transmitting capability and a second transceiver with a receiving capability for electrical power and data communication;
positioning a pair of capacitive plates between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, wherein a distance exits between a first capacitive plate and a second capacitive plate of the pair of capacitive plates;
transmitting an electrical signal from the first transceiver to the first capacitive plate, wherein transmitting the electrical signal comprises creating a capacitance between the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate; and
receiving the electrical signal at the second transceiver from the second capacitive plate, wherein the electrical signal transmitted to the first capacitive plate transfers from the first capacitive plate to the second capacitive plate from the capacitance between the first capacitive plate and the second capacitive plate,
wherein transferring the electrical signal fro

Assignees

• Datalogic IP Tech Srl

Inventors

• Pugliese Francesco
• Pifferi Marco

Classifications

• H04B5/24

  Inductive coupling · CPC title

• H04B5/22 Primary

  Capacitive coupling · CPC title

• H04L5/16

  Half-duplex systems; Simplex/duplex switching; Transmission of break signals {non-automatically inverting the direction of transmission} · CPC title

• G06K7/1413

  1D bar codes · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title