Wireless charging surface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9941719-B2
Application number	US-201615158004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2016
Priority date	May 18, 2016
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

A surface with various layers that provide wireless charging may include at least one of a top surface layer, a second layer, comprising a plurality of lights and a power grid, disposed under the top surface layer, a charging pad disposed on a portion of the power grid, and a third layer, comprising a power supply which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid, disposed under the second layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a top surface layer;
an intermediate layer comprising a plurality of lights and power grid, and which is disposed under the top surface layer;
one or more modular charging pads disposed at one or more portions of the power grid, wherein the power grid is configured to receive the one or more modular charging pads at dynamic locations and supply power to the one or more modular charging pads at the dynamic locations thereby dynamically configuring wireless charging locations of the top surface layer; and
a lower layer comprising a power supply which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid, and which is disposed under the intermediate layer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lower layer is connected to the intermediate layer via at least one conduit which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid via a wired power source.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more modular charging pads comprise a plurality of removable wireless charging pads disposed on sub-sections of a surface area of the intermediate layer.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the lower layer further comprises an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and a computing module configured to control the power supplied to the plurality of removable wireless charging pads.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the computing module is configured to change a color of the lights to indicate at least one of charging, not charging, and error charging.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the color of the lights changes in an area covered by a charging pad.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a fourth layer comprising a plurality of conduits that provide power to the UPS, the power supply and the computing module of the lower layer, the fourth layer being disposed under the lower layer.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lights comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the top surface layer is transparent and permits the light from the plurality of LEDs to be visible.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power grid comprises a plurality of nodes that each provide a fixed amount of voltage to the charging pad.

11. An apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of lights disposed on a power grid;
a plurality of nodes disposed on the power grid that each provide power;
one or more modular wireless charging pads affixed to one or more subsections of the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes are configured to receive the one or more modular charging pads at dynamic locations and supply power to the one or more modular charging pads at the dynamic locations thereby dynamically configuring wireless charging locations;
a power source which provides the power to each of the plurality of nodes; and
an uninterrupted power supply connected to the power source and configured to provide power when the power source loses power.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising at least one conduit which provides power to the plurality of lights and the power grid via a wired power source.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more modular charging pads comprise a plurality of removable wireless charging pads disposed on the power grid.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a computing module configured to control the power supplied to the plurality of removable wireless charging pads.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the computing module is configured to change a color of the plurality of lights to indicate at least one of charging, not charging, and error charging.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the color of the lights changes in an area covered by the charging pad.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a plurality of conduits that provide power to the uninterrupted power supply, the power supply and the computing module of the third layer.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of lights comprise a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , further comprising a transparent surface layer disposed over the power grid that permits the light from the plurality of LEDs to be visible.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the power of each of the plurality of nodes is a fixed amount of voltage.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate layer of the apparatus is movable with respect to the top layer of the apparatus thereby enabling the intermediate layer to be separated from the top surface.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power grid comprises a distributed network of attachment nodes exposed on a top surface of the intermediate layer which enable the one or more modular charging pads to be attached at dynamic locations on the power grid.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a computing module configured to power on at least one light from among the plurality of lights to indicate a wireless charging location of the one or more modular charging pads prior to a charge receiving device being placed on the top surface of the apparatus.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Seo Hyun K
• Urcadez Edouard A

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/865

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/80 Primary

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• A47B2200/008

  Tables or desks having means for applying electronic or electric devices · CPC title

• A47B2021/066

  with power or communication connection interface · CPC title