Wireless charging base with integrated short range communication

A wireless mobile communication device, comprising:

• a wide area wireless transceiver for wireless communication for the wireless mobile communication device with a public wide area mobile communication network;
• a short range local wireless transceiver for wireless communication with a short range local wireless transceiver of another device;
• a processor for controlling the transceivers;
• a battery for supplying power to the processor and the transceivers;
• a coil for inductive coupling to an external inductive charging base having a previously identified short range local wireless transceiver;
• a charging circuit coupled to the coil and the battery, configured to charge the battery in response to power received inductively via the coil;
• a memory accessible to the processor;
• application programs stored in the memory for execution by the processor to implement features utilizing the wireless communication via the short range local wireless transceiver;
• and
• a control program stored in the memory for execution by the processor, wherein execution of the control program by the processor configures the wireless mobile communication device to perform functions, including functions to:
• identify at least one of the application programs as being pre-selected for execution during inductive charging;
• detect pairing of the short range local wireless transceiver of the wireless mobile communication device with the previously identified short range local wireless transceiver of the inductive charging base;
• responsive to detecting that the wireless mobile communication device is paired with the inductive charging base, determine whether the wireless mobile communication device is inductively coupled to the inductive charging base by detecting power received from the inductive charging base via the coil;
• and
• after both the pairing and the inductive coupling are detected initiate inductive char in of the batter and (1) automatically activate an identified application program for execution by the processor and (2) initiate transfer of data from the wireless mobile communication device under control of the execution of the automatically activated application program via the short range local wireless transceiver of the wireless mobile communication device to the previously identified short range local wireless transceiver of the inductive charging base.

A method of integrating inductive charging and communication of a mobile communication device, the method comprising steps of:

• establishing a short range wireless communication link between an inductive charging base and the wireless mobile communication device;
• responsive to the establishment of the short range communication link between the inductive charging base and the wireless mobile communication device, detecting if inductive coupling exists between the inductive charging base and the wireless mobile communication device;
• and
• after establishing the short range wireless communication link between the inductive charging base and the wireless mobile communication device and detecting inductive coupling, initiating the inductive charging of the mobile communication device and at least one of (1) activating at least one pre-configured application on the wireless mobile communication device or (2) transferring data from the wireless mobile communication device to the inductive charging base via the short range wireless communication link.