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US 8,541,976 B2Granted
Vehicle mounted personal device battery charging station and operating methods to avoid interference
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsHideaki Arai, Jason David DiSalvo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are presented for inductive charging of battery operated devices in a motor vehicle, in which a passive vehicle entry and/or starting system selectively disables or reduces provision of power to a primary coil of an inductive charging station while the passive system communicates with an external user device such as a key fob controller to avoid or mitigate electromagnetic interference.
Claims20
A motor vehicle, comprising:
- a passive vehicle system operative to communicate wirelessly with at least one external user device and to selectively actuate or control at least one of a vehicle entry locking system and an engine starter of the vehicle according to communications received from the at least one external user device;
- and
- an inductive charging station comprising:
- at least one primary coil operative when energized to form a transformer with a secondary coil of at least one battery powered device proximate the at least one primary coil,
- a power supply with an output coupled to the at least one primary coil, the power supply operative to selectively provide AC electrical output power to the at least one primary coil to inductively charge the at least one battery powered device proximate the at least one primary coil, and to selectively discontinue or reduce provision of the AC electrical output power to the at least one primary coil based on an enable/disable signal or command, and
- an input for receiving the enable/disable signal or command from the passive vehicle system;
- the passive vehicle system being operative to selectively provide the enable/disable signal or command to the inductive charging station to cause the power supply to discontinue or reduce provision of the AC electrical output power to the at least one primary coil during at least a portion of a time period when the passive vehicle system communicates wirelessly with the at least one external user device.
4 more elements
A method for operating an inductive charging station in a motor vehicle, the method comprising:
- selectively providing AC electrical output power to at least one primary coil of an inductive charging station located in or proximate an interior of a motor vehicle for inductive charging of at least one battery-powered device positioned near the at least one primary coil;
- determining that a passive vehicle system is or will be wirelessly communicating with at least one external user device;
- and
- automatically discontinuing or reducing provision of the AC electrical output power to the at least one primary coil during at least a portion of a time period when the passive vehicle system is or will be wirelessly communicating with the at least one external user device.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.