Portable Battery Pack for Wirelessly Charging and Communicating with Portable Electronic Device Through Clothing

Abstract

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.

What is claimed is: 
     
         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.