The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 27, 2022
Filed:
Jul. 31, 2020
Ford Global Technologies, Llc, Dearborn, MI (US);
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
This disclosure is generally directed to harvesting electrical energy from RF signals that may be present in a vehicle. The RF signals may include cellular signals and Wi-Fi signals, for example. In an example system, an RF signal strength evaluator may be used to evaluate the RF signals in order to identify a strongest RF signal or a strongest band of RF signals that can be harvested to obtain electrical energy. An RF-to-electrical energy converter converts the RF signals(s) to electrical energy, which can be stored in an energy storage element. The energy storage element can be coupled to a device charger for charging various types of devices in the vehicle. In some instances, the system can be used to generate an ambient RF energy map that may be used by one or more vehicles to identify an optimal spot to park for harvesting RF signals.