Systems for enabling modular mobile electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9717045-B2
Application number	US-201414462849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 19, 2014
Priority date	Apr 7, 2014
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

A system for enabling a modular mobile electronic device includes a module communication network enabling data transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device, a module power network enabling power transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device, and a set of module interfaces removably and mechanically coupling modules of the modular mobile electronic device to the modular mobile electronic device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for enabling a modular mobile electronic device, the system comprising:
a module communication network, comprising a network switch, wherein on the module communication network data is directly transferred between a first module and a second module of the modular mobile electronic device simultaneous with direct data transfer between a third module and a fourth module of the modular mobile electronic device;
a module power network, comprising a floating-voltage power bus, wherein the module power network enables power transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device;
a module power network battery electrically coupled to the module power network;
a plurality of module interfaces that removably and electrically couple respective modules of the modular mobile electronic device to the module power network and the module communication network; and
a plurality of power management units, wherein each of the plurality of power management units electrically connects at least one of the plurality of module interfaces to the floating-voltage power bus, wherein each of the plurality of power management units controls and monitors power transfer between the floating-voltage power bus and the respective module interface that such power management unit electrically connects to the floating-voltage power bus.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a voltage of the floating-voltage power bus is determined by an output voltage of a module electrically coupled to the module power network.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the voltage of the floating-voltage power bus is substantially equal to the output voltage of the module electrically coupled to the module power network.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising multiple data lanes connecting each module interface of the modular mobile electronic device to the network switch, each module interface having a scalable bandwidth determined by data lane utilization.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the first module is connected to the network switch by two data lanes, data transfer between the first module and the network switch occurring over only one of the two data lanes, the data transfer having a first maximum available bandwidth.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second module is connected to the network switch by two data lanes, data transfer between the second module and the network switch occurring over both of the two data lanes, the data transfer having a second maximum available bandwidth, wherein the second maximum available bandwidth is substantially twice the first maximum available bandwidth.

7. A system for enabling a modular mobile electronic device, the system comprising:
a plurality of module interfaces that respectively removably couple a plurality of modules of the modular mobile electronic device to the modular mobile electronic device;
a module communication network configured to enable data transfer between the modules through the module communication network when the modules are mechanically coupled to the modular mobile electronic device; and
a module power network configured to enable power transfer between the modules when the modules are electrically coupled to the modular mobile electronic device through the set of module interfaces;
wherein the module power network comprises a plurality of power management units, wherein each of the plurality of power management units electrically connects at least one of the plurality of module interfaces to a power bus of the system, wherein each of the plurality of power management units controls and monitors power transfer between the power bus and the respective module interface that such power management unit electrically connects to the power bus.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the module communication network comprises a network switch; wherein data transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device is mediated by the network switch.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the network switch is a packet switch or a circuit switch.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein data transfer between a first module and a second module on the module communication network is initiated by the first module and completed without using a host or an intermediate module.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein data transfer between a first module and a second module of the modular mobile electronic device and data transfer between a third module and a fourth module of the modular mobile electronic device occur on the module communication network substantially simultaneously.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the power bus has a constant regulated voltage.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the power bus has a floating voltage determined by an output voltage of a power source electrically coupled to the module power network.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the power source is a module power network battery.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the power source is a first power source selected from a set of power sources; wherein a second power source of the set of power sources is electrically isolated from the power bus by one of the plurality of power management units.

16. The system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of power management units respectively individually control power transfer through the respective module interfaces, such that the plurality of module interfaces can be switched on and off individually.

17. The system of claim 7 , wherein the module power network further comprises a module power network battery, wherein the module power network battery provides power to at least one of the module power network and the module communication network when a power source module is not connected to the system to enable a hot-swap of power source modules.

18. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:
a supervisory controller that implements a module communication priority for the module communication network, wherein the module communication priority determines how the module communication network prioritizes communication requests from the plurality of modules.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the supervisory controller implements the module communication priority to give priority to a display module relative to other modules.

20. The system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of module interfaces are identical to allow any compatible module to be removably coupled to the modular electronic device by any of the plurality of module interfaces.

21. A system that removably receives a plurality of modules to form a modular electronic device, the plurality of modules respectively having a plurality of different functionalities, the system comprising:
a plurality of module interfaces that respectively removably couple the plurality of modules of the modular mobile electronic device to the modular mobile electronic device, wherein the plurality of module interfaces are identical to allow any compatible module to be removably coupled to the system by any of the plurality of module interfaces; and
a module power network configured to enable power transfer between the modules when the modules are electrically coupled to the system through the set of module interfaces;
wherein the module power network comprises a plurality of power management units, wherein each of the plurality of power management units electrically connects at least one of the plurality of module interfaces to a power bus of the system, wherein each of the plurality of power manag

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Eremenko Paul
• Fishman David
• Newburg Seth
• Knaian Ara
• Bober Marisa

Classifications

• H04W52/0274

  by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof · CPC title

• H04L49/15

  Interconnection of switching modules · CPC title

• H04L12/40039 Primary

  Details regarding the setting of the power status of a node according to activity on the bus · CPC title

• H04L12/40032

  Details regarding a bus interface enhancer · CPC title

• H02J1/06

  Two-wire DC power distribution systems · CPC title