California Institute of Technology

Guru Wireless, Inc.

Axiom Microdevices, Inc.

Guru, Inc.

Florian Bohn

Seyed Ali Hajimiri

Behrooz Abiri

Scott D Kee

Ichiro Aoki

Frank Carr

Hui Wu

Afshin Mellati

Donald McClymont

Rahul Magoon

Alexandre Rudolph Kral

Farhud Tebbi

Harry A Atwater

Christopher I Walker

Sergio Pellegrino

Austin Fikes

David Elliot Williams

Alexander Kral

Rabul Magoon

Yu-Jiu Wang

Hua Wang

Emily C Warmann

Manan Arya

Jeffrey P Bosco

Dennis Callahan

Nicolas Lee

Melanie Delapierre

Marc-Angelo P Carino

Amirreza Safaripour

Ahmed Akgiray

Donald McGlymont

Raimond Ghazarian

Artsroun Darbinian

Dan Sturm

Seyed-Ali Hajimiri

Alexandre Kral

Donald Mcclymont

A device includes, in part, an antenna adapted to receive an RF signal that includes modulated data, a splitter/coupler adapted to split the received RF signal, a receiver adapted to demodulate the data from a first portion of the RF signal, and a power recovery unit adapted to convert to a DC power a second portion of the RF signal. The splitter/coupler is optionally adjustable to split the RF signal in accordance with a value that may be representative of a number of factors, such as the target data rate, the DC power requirement of the device, and the like. The device optionally includes a switch and/or a power combiner adapted to deliver all the received RF power to the receiver depending on any number of operation conditions of the device or the device's distance from an RF transmitting device.

RF receiver

A roaming and articulating wireless power delivery device includes, in part, an optical assembly adapted to deliver an optical beam, an energy storage unit, a controller, and an electrically driven moving platform. The moving platform may include an inertia measurement, a GPS, bump sensors and proximity sensors. The device may further include a camera, a gradient filter, and a wireless communication link via which the device establishes a two-way communication with a recovery unit being wirelessly powered.

Adaptive roaming and articulating generating unit for wireless power transfer

A phased-array includes, in part, N transceivers each including a receiver and a transmitter, and a controller. The phased array is configured to transmit a first radio signal from a first element of the array during a first time period, receive the first radio signal from a second element of the array, recover a first value associated with the radio signal received by the second element, transmit a second radio signal from the second element of the array during a second time period, receive the second radio signal from the first element of the array, recover a second value associated with the radio signal received by the first element, and determine a first phase of a reference signal received by the second element from the recovered first and second values. The first phase is relative to a second phase of the reference signal received by the first element.

Self-calibrating phased-array transceiver

A wireless service delivery system determines the position of a device requesting the wireless service and delivers a wireless service to the device if the device's position is determined to fall within a predefined region of a space. The wireless service delivery may deliver no service or a lower quality/slower service if the device is determined to fall outside the predefined region of the space. The coordinates of the points along the perimeter of the predefined region are stored in a memory and are optionally established during a setup phase by moving a localization device along the perimeter of the region of the space.

Wireless access authentication based on user location

A recovery unit adapted to receive a mobile device includes a multitude of planar antennas disposed along at least one of bottom or top surfaces of the recovery unit, a rectifying circuit adapted to convert an RF power received by the planar antennas to a DC power, an energy storage unit adapted to store the DC power, and a wireless communication circuit adapted to communicate with a power generating unit generating the RF power. The recovery unit is further adapted to supply the DC power to the mobile device. The recovery unit may further include a multitude of edge antennas disposed along exterior edges of the recovery unit. The recovery unit may further include at least one inductive coil to supply power to the mobile device when an AC power is applied to the inductive coil. The AC power may be generated from the received RF power.

Recovery units for non-proximity wireless power transfer

An object's distance is determined using either two RF transmitters and an RF receiver, or a two RF receivers and an RF transmitter. When using two RF transmitters, the direction of the first transmitter is changed until it reaches a first direction defined by a first angle at which the power of the RF signal—transmitted by the first transmitter—reflected off the object and received by the receiver reaches a maximum value. The direction of the second transmitter is also changed until it reaches a second direction defined by a second angle at which the power of the second RF signal—transmitted by the second transmitter—reflected off the object and received by the receiver reaches a maximum value. The distance between the object and the first transmitter is defined by the distance between the two transmitters, the second angle, and the difference between the first and second angles.

Three-dimensional and four-dimensional mapping of space using microwave and MM-wave parallax

An antenna, includes in part, a metal piece formed on a surface of a substrate and configure to radiate electromagnetic waves, a metal feed formed in the substrate and configure to supply electrical signal to the metal piece, and a multitude of metallic walls formed in the substrate and enclosing the metal piece. The antenna may be a patch antenna, a monopole antenna, or a dipole antenna. Each metallic wall may include a via that is fully or partially filled by a metal, or an electroplated tub formed in the substrate. The antenna further includes, in part, a metallic trace formed on the surface of the substrate and enclosing the antenna. The substrate may be a printed circuit board.

Method and apparatus for reducing surface waves in printed antennas

An RF signal generator wirelessly transferring power to a wireless device includes, in part, a multitude of generating elements generating a multitude of RF signals transmitted by a multitude of antennas, a wireless signal receiver, and a control unit controlling the phases and/or amplitudes of the RF signals in accordance with a signal received by the receiver. The signal received by the receiver includes, in part, information representative of the amount of RF power the first wireless device receives. The RF signal generator further includes, in part, a detector detecting an RF signal caused by scattering or reflection of the RF signal transmitted by the antennas. The control unit further controls the phase and/or amplitude of the RF signals in accordance with the signal detected by the detector.

Generator unit for wireless power transfer

An RF power detector adapted to detect an RF power of an RF signal, includes, in part, an antenna adapted to receive the RF signal, a narrow-band RF power converter adapted to convert the RF signal to a DC signal, an accelerometer, and a magnetometer. The accelerometer and magnetometer are adapted to determine the orientation and location of the power detector. The power detector optionally includes a gyroscope. The narrow-band RF power converter may be a rectifier tuned to the frequency of the RF signal. The power detector optionally includes an indicator adapted to provide information representative of the amount of the DC power of the DC signal, as well as position and orientation of the power detector. The power detector may be adapted to be inserted into a mobile device so as to provide the information about the amount of DC power, orientation and position to the mobile device.

In-situ low-cost small size sensing and measurement for wireless power transfer systems

Wireless power transfer systems and methods for focusing wireless power transfer arrays are disclosed. One embodiment includes a wireless power generating unit (GU) including a processing system configured to focus the RF power sources by: sending control signals to the control circuitry to perform a plurality of sweeps using each of a plurality of different basis masks; receiving a message from a RU containing a report based upon received power measurements made by the RU; and sending control signals to focus the RF power sources based on the received message from the RU. Furthermore, each sweep includes performing a phase sweep across a phase sweep range at a plurality of phase step increments with respect to a first group of RF power sources identified in a basis mask, where the first group of RF power sources comprises a plurality of RF power sources.

Dynamic focusing and tracking for wireless power transfer arrays

A method of determining the orientation of a device having disposed therein, in part, an inertia measurement unit, a phased array receiver, and a controller, includes, in part, detecting the difference between phases of an RF signal received by at least a pair of receive elements of the phased array receiver, determining the angle of incidence of the RF signal from the phase difference, using the angle of incidence to determine the projection of a vector on a plane of an array of transmitters transmitting the RF signal, and determining the yaw of the device from the projection of the vector. The vector is a three-dimensional vector representative of the orientation of the plane of the phased array receivers relative to the plane of the array of transmitters transmitting the RF signal.

Inertial and RF sensor fusion

An RF power system, includes, in part, a power generating and a controller. The power generating unit, includes, in part, a first power detector adapted to detect a first amount of RF power radiated by the RF power generating unit and reflected off a living organism. The controller is adapted to reduce the radiated RF power if the first amount of RF power reflected by the living organism is detected as being greater than a predefined amount. The power generating unit may further include a Doppler radar to detect the living organism. The RF power system may further include a power recovery unit that, in turn, includes a second power detector adapted to detect a second amount of RF power radiated by the RF power generating unit and reflected off the living organism.

Wireless power transfer for consumer applications

A power bank includes, in part, a rechargeable battery, a wireless power recovery unit adapted to receive power wirelessly, a battery charging circuit adapted to deliver the power recovered by the power recovery unit to the rechargeable battery, an output interface, and a voltage reconditioning circuit adapted to supply power from the rechargeable battery to the output interface for delivery to an external device. The wireless power recovery unit may include one or more of a multitude of photodiodes adapted to convert a coherent optical signal to electrical power, an acoustic transducer adapted to convert acoustic waves to an electrical power, an inductive coupling circuit adapted to convert time varying magnetic flux to electrical power, and an RF power recovery unit adapted to convert an RF signal to electrical power.

Wirelessly chargeable portable power bank

Growing community of inventors

Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Florian Bohn