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US 8,621,245 B2Granted
Powering devices using RF energy harvesting
AssigneePowercast Corporation
InventorsJohn G. Shearer, Charles E. Greene, Daniel W. Harrist
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is an apparatus for an application including a core device for the application. The apparatus includes a power (preferably RF energy) harvester connected to the core device to power the core device. Also disclosed is a method for an application. The method includes the steps of converting RF energy into usable energy. There is the step of powering the core device with the usable energy.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a power harvester configured to convert energy received via an antenna to a DC voltage;
- a power storage device configured to store a power associated with the DC voltage;
- a power storage charger operatively coupled to the power harvester, the power harvester configured to provide an activation signal to the power storage charger to trigger storage of the power associated with the DC voltage at the power storage device;
- a sensor configured to operate based on the DC voltage, the sensor configured to detect an environmental condition associated with a location of the sensor;
- and
- an integrated circuit configured to operate based on the DC voltage, the integrated circuit configured to perform an application associated with the environmental condition detected by the sensor.
3 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a power harvester configured to convert energy received via an antenna to a DC voltage to produce a power associated with the DC voltage;
- a regulator coupled to the power harvester and configured to regulate the power associated with the DC voltage, the regulator configured to transfer the regulated power to a power storage charger of the apparatus;
- a power storage device configured to store power;
- the power storage charger coupled to the power harvester and the regulator, the power storage charger configured to control the storage of the regulated power associated with the DC voltage to the power storage device;
- and
- an integrated circuit configured to operate based on the power received from the power harvester or from the power storage device,
- the power harvester configured to transfer power associated with the DC voltage to the regulator, the power harvester configured to transfer power associated with the DC voltage to the power storage device, the power harvester configured to transfer power associated with the DC voltage to the integrated circuit.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.