Apple Files Notebook/TV Charging System for Mobile Devices Patent, More
A newly published patent filing from Apple today titled Charging of mobile devices reveals a new power smart notebook system which won’t power down while an iPod or iPhone are connected to it for the purpose of charging up. While the exemplary host device is duly noted as being a notebook, Apple oddly states that “if a television set were to have the appropriate port, it could be used to charge a connected device, such as a music player. The television set could determine that it is being used as a charging source for the music device and not turn off that port.”
Hmm, you have to wonder what television set Apple is dreaming of here because I’m not aware of any available today which offers that feature. The key point here is television set, not set top box or Apple TV – which is certainly not a television set.
Key Patent Excerpts
Apple’s patent FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary notebook computer including the details relating to the power connections for the peripheral device ports.
A system according to the present invention enables battery powered devices such as notebook computers to efficiently charge smaller mobile devices such as music players, cell phones and PDAs using the power signals provided over their data connections.
Apple’s patent addresses a problem which has been determined in existing devices whereby when notebooks go to sleep or powers down, all the peripheral device ports are turned off and the power is disconnected from them. Thus this power disconnection removes the power connection being used simply to charge the small mobile devices.
This detection can be done at any of the levels of software present in the notebook computer. For example, an application can detect the presence of the device and then tell the operating system not to go into a low power state. The detection can be done by the operating system itself and thus detect that it should not itself go into the low-power state. It can be done at a lower firmware level so that even should the operating system try to put the computer into a power-down state, the firmware or BIOS will override such capabilities.
In one embodiment the appropriate recognizing software can then instruct the operating system not to disable the power to the connected mobile device. This can be done in several manners. For example, if it is an application program, such as iTunes from Apple Computer, Inc., the application can detect an attached iPod from Apple Computer, Inc., and inform the operating system at a high level not to perform any power management functions. This state can remain in effect even if the application is terminated.
While this approach is quite satisfactory at performing the desired function of recharging the mobile device, there are further optimized embodiments. For example, the operating system can also detect the presence of the connected mobile device. The operating system can then on its own not enter the power-down state. Alternatively, the operating system can enter a power-down state for all components except for the particular port to which the mobile device is connected.
In the most simplistic embodiments, the port or the computer is not powered down until it is detected that the device has been removed. This may be inefficient in certain cases, such as the mobile device being fully charged and yet the notebook computer will still not be allowed to go into a lower-power state, but it is still an improved manner of charging the mobile device. This embodiment can be optimized by determining the particular type of peripheral or mobile device attached to the notebook computer and determining its power charging characteristics. For example, in certain instances the mobile device is relative simplistic and its recharging time is known. Therefore the controlling function, such as the application software, can inform the operating system not to go into the low-power state for a time greater than the known recharging time of the mobile device.
In a more sophisticated example, the mobile device can report its charging status and therefore the relevant software can periodically query the mobile device and determine its charge state. When the device is fully charged, then the application or other software can instruct the operating system that full power-down can occur.
Mystery Television Set
While a notebook computer has been used as an example host device to provide the charging capabilities, it is understood that desktop computers and numerous other types of electronic devices which also enter power-down states and which can be used to recharge smaller mobile devices can perform in a similar manner. For example, if a television set were to have the appropriate 1394 port, it could be used to charge a 1394 connected device, such as a music player. The television set could determine that it is being used as a charging source for the music device and not turn off that port.
Apple lists Avadis Tevanian as the sole inventor of this patent which was originally filed in mid 2005.
Today’s Other Apple Patent Filings
Today’s other Apple patent filings published include a continuation patent titled unsupervised data-driven pronunciation modeling and a divisional patent application titled Method and apparatus for border node behavior on a full-duplex bus.
NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.
Written and researched by Neo.
