Communicating device data prior to establishing wireless power connection

A power transmitting device, comprising:

• at least one processor circuit coupled to a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium and configured to:
• receive messages from power receiving devices, wherein each of the messages comprises a first field indicating a message format type and a second field containing device specific wireless power transfer data formatted based on the message format type and pertaining to each of the power receiving devices the device specific wireless power transfer data comprising an identifier of a manufacturer of each of the power receiving devices;
• select one of the power receiving devices that transmitted one of the messages that indicates that wireless power transfer has not been initiated for the one of the power receiving devices and that includes the identifier of the manufacturer that indicates a compatibility for connection with the power transmitting device;
• and
• initiate a connection for the wireless power transfer to the selected one of the power receiving devices.

A computer program product comprising instructions stored in a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform operations, the instructions comprising:

• instructions for formatting an unsolicited advertising message;
• instructions for determining an additional data format for the unsolicited advertising message;
• instructions for setting a first field of the unsolicited advertising message to a version value associated with the determined additional data format;
• instructions for inserting additional data into a second field of the unsolicited advertising message, the additional data comprising device specific wireless power transfer data formatted according to the determined additional data format, wherein the device specific wireless power transfer data indicates a charging state;
• and
• instructions for transmitting the unsolicited advertising message.