Abstract:
Various embodiments relate to a method, machine-readable medium, and a system for preventing demagnetization of a magnetically sensitive object comprising detecting, by a first identification sensor at a wireless charging transceiver, a foreign object; determining, by a processor using information from the first identification sensor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive; and responsive to a determination that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive, preventing the wireless charging transceiver from operating.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Various exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to demagnetization avoidance in wireless charging. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Wireless charging appears to be a revolutionary way to conveniently charge battery-powered devices. Specifically, handheld and portable electronic devices stand to benefit from the convenience of charging without the needing to connect a hardwire cable directly for charging. An indirect benefit for these devices is the potential removal of a hardware charging port on the exterior of the device, which loosens device design constraints, giving product developers additional creative license in making these handheld devices. There are many wireless charging techniques, but all currently have the ability to interfere with magnetically stored data on devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     A brief summary of various exemplary embodiments is presented below. Some simplifications and omissions may be made in the following summary, which is intended to highlight and introduce some aspects of the various exemplary embodiments, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Detailed descriptions of an exemplary embodiment adequate to allow those of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the inventive concepts will follow in later sections. 
     Various exemplary embodiments relate to method for preventing demagnetization of a magnetically sensitive object, the method including the steps of detecting, by a first identification sensor at a wireless charging transceiver, a foreign object; determining, by a processor using information from the first identification sensor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive; and responsive to a determination that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive, preventing the wireless charging transceiver from operating. 
     Further, various exemplary embodiments relate to non-transitory machine-readable medium capable of storing instructions, wherein said instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps including receiving a detection of a foreign object from a first identification sensor at a wireless charging transceiver; determining, using information from the first identification sensor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive; and responsive to a determination that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive, preventing the wireless charging transceiver from operating. 
     Further, various exemplary embodiments relate to system including a first identification sensor; a wireless charging transceiver; and a processor configured to receive a detection of a foreign object from the first identification sensor at a wireless charging transceiver; determine, using information from the first identification sensor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive; and responsive to a determination that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive, prevent the wireless charging transceiver from operating. 
     Additionally, various exemplary embodiments include further including the step of responsive to a determination that the foreign object is not magnetically sensitive, triggering the wireless charging transceiver to begin operating; further including the steps of determining, by a processor using information from said identification sensor, that the foreign object may be charged, and responsive to a determination that the foreign object may be charged, triggering the wireless charging transceiver to begin operating; wherein the first identification sensor is one of near field communication (NFC) sensor, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor, an ultrasound sensor, a Bluetooth transceiver, an optical sensor, and a tactile sensor; wherein the wireless charging transceiver transfers power using an air-core transformer, resonant coupling, or strongly coupled resonators; and wherein determining, by a processor using information from the first identification sensor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive comprises receiving, by the processor, a first information from the first identification sensor, receiving, by the processor, a second information from a second identification sensor, wherein the second identification sensor is a different type of sensor than the first identification sensor, and determining, by the processor, whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive based on the first information and the second information. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order to better understand various exemplary embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary process for preventing a wireless charging device from interfering with a magnetically sensitive object; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates another exemplary process for preventing a wireless charging device from interfering with a magnetically sensitive object; and 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary environment for performing the disclosed processes, including an exemplary wireless charging device. 
     
    
    
     To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used to designate elements having substantially the same or similar structure and/or substantially the same or similar function. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The description and drawings illustrate the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are included within its scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Additionally, the term, “or,” as used herein, refers to a non-exclusive or (i.e., and/or), unless otherwise indicated (e.g., “or else” or “or in the alternative”). Also, the various embodiments described herein are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some embodiments can be combined with one or more other embodiments to form new embodiments. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates wireless charging device  310  in exemplary environment  300  with bank card  320  and phone  330 . 
     Wireless charging device  310  is depicted having identification sensor  1   312  and identification sensor n  313 . This depiction is meant to represent that wireless charging device may have any number of identification sensors, either a single identification sensor or a plurality of identification sensors. These identification sensors may be any one of a NFC sensor, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor, an ultrasound sensor, a Bluetooth transceiver, an optical sensor, and a tactile sensor. These sensors collect data to allow processor  314  to make the disclosed determinations. In an exemplary embodiment, the identification sensor is a NFC sensor which uses data from objects&#39; NFC chips, which allow processor  314  to identify objects. However, data from other types of sensors may be used to identify foreign objects. Any sensor may be used that does not produce significant magnetic interference such that operation of the sensor would demagnetize the magnetic strip of a bank card. 
     Processor  314  has access to memory  315 . This allows processor  314  to locally store necessary data for making determinations. Further, memory  315  may store requisite or optional instructions to perform various method steps. Memory  315  may be used to stored relevant identification data or store other data to allow for machine learning in the identification process. 
     Memory  315  may be volatile or non-volatile. In particular embodiments, memory  315  is random access memory (RAM), a hard drive disc, or a solid state drive. Other types of memory are known and used in the art and may be substituted to achieve the objects of this disclosure. 
     Wireless charging device  310 , while depicted as a single entity, may be developed as a system which may have distinct portions, which may or may not be collocated. For example, identification sensor  1   312  and identification sensor n  313  may be networked devices which communicate with a remote processor to perform the described functions. The disclosure may be implemented as a standalone device. Alternatively, particular embodiments act as devices to connect to existing wireless charging units in order to perform the disclosed processes. Additionally, wireless charging device may utilize the disclosed identification sensor to perform additional functions. For example, wireless charging device  210  may have a NFC sensor which acts as a identification badge reader, in addition to performing the disclosed processes. 
     Further, wireless charging device  310  may interact with an open or closed network though I/O port  316 . This may allow a network to remotely operate wireless charging device  310 . A network connection would also allow wireless charging device  310  to utilize network data storage for determinations and remotely log resultant data. 
     Bank card  320  is depicted as a part of exemplary environment  300  having magnetic strip  321 . Bank card  320  is an exemplary magnetically sensitive object. In some embodiments bank card  320  may have NFC chip  322 . This allows bank card  320  to be identified as a magnetically sensitive object by a NFC sensor. This represents many credit and banking cards throughout the world. In the United States, most credit cards do not have NFC chips, which is why the disclosed processes do not rely solely on this feature. However, to reiterate, cards having a magnetic strip are not the only magnetically sensitive objects that may be identified. Certain kinds of electronic storage media and other device may be magnetically sensitive. 
     Phone  330  is depicted as part of exemplary environment  300 . Phone  330  has wireless charging transceiver  331  to perform wireless charging. Phone  330  also optionally includes NFC sensor  332 , as many smart phones currently do in the market. NFC sensor  332  would allow wireless charging device  310  to identify phone  330  as a device that is compatible with wireless charging. In alternative embodiments Phone  330  utilizes alternative sensors to convey the same information. For example, phone  330  may include a Bluetooth or wireless USB transceiver. Other short range communication technologies are known in the art and may be substituted to perform the same functions. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary process for preventing a wireless charging device from interfering with a magnetically sensitive object. The exemplary embodiment of process  100  includes step  101 . 
     At step  101 , a foreign object is detected at wireless charging device  310 . This detection step may use various sensors (for example, identification sensor  1   312  or identification sensor n  313 ), individually or in combination. Particularly, any sensor used in the detection step may not interfere with information stored on magnetically sensitive devices. 
     At step  102  the sensors, alone or in combination, forward data to processor  314 , which in turn determines whether the foreign object is magnetically sensitive. In an exemplary embodiment, bank card  320  with a magnetically sensitive magnetic strip  321  and a near field communications (NFC) chip  322  is detected. A NFC sensor on the wireless charging device  310  reads data from NFC chip  322  of bank card  320  and forwards it to processor  314 . Processor  314  then determines that the data from NFC chip  322  corresponds to a bank card, which is magnetically sensitive. 
     After a determination that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive, at step  104 , wireless charging transceiver  311  is prevented from being used. This advantageously prevents the powerful electromagnetic signals from wireless charging transceiver  311  from interfering with or erasing the data stored on magnetic strip  321  of bank card  320 . In other embodiments with other magnetically sensitive objects, damage will be prevented on the corresponding sensitive parts. 
     After a determination that the foreign object is not magnetically sensitive, at step  103 , wireless charging transceiver  311  is engaged to operate. Depending upon the type of wireless charging used, this typically involves a pairing identification procedure prior to charging. However, the pairing procedure itself uses strong electromagnetic signals which interfere with magnetically sensitive objects. Thus, it is important to prevent both the pairing procedure and the charging process from occurring in the presence of a magnetically sensitive object, such as bank card  320 . 
     In the event that a positive determination of magnetic sensitivity is not possible, the wireless charging transceiver may be engaged in order to efficiently charge devices that cannot assert their lack or magnetic sensitivity. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, process  100  occurs when wireless charging transceiver  311  is inactive (i.e., wireless charging is not currently happening). However, in alternative embodiments, process  100  may occur during charging to ensure that no foreign objects enter the field of interference created by wireless charging transceiver  311 . In those cases, step  104  would deactivate an active wireless charging transceiver. This process may occur periodically, such as every five seconds, every 30 seconds, or every minute. Alternatively, it may happen at random intervals or on a continuous basis. In the instance of a continuous basis, identification sensors constantly search to detect the presence of any foreign objects not being actively charged. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates another exemplary process for preventing a wireless charging device from interfering with a magnetically sensitive object. 
     Process  200  begins with step  201 . Step  201  is performed similarly to step  101  of process  100  in  FIG. 1 . Next, at step  202 , identification sensors forward data to processor  314 . Processor  314  then determines if the foreign object is an object capable of being wirelessly charged. In an exemplary embodiment, phone  330  includes NFC sensor  332  and wireless charging transceiver  331 . An NFC sensor of wireless charging device  310  reads data from NFC sensor  332  of phone  320 . Processor  314  then uses the information to determine that the foreign object is a phone with a wireless charging transceiver. In the event that the affirmative identification of a wireless charging object, wireless charging commences at step  205 . 
     However, if step  202  results in no determination that the foreign object can be charged, at step  203 , the process  200  attempts to identify that the foreign object is magnetically sensitive. Step  203  is performed similarly to step  102  of process  100  in  FIG. 1 . Step  203  may be performed in addition to  202 , because there are wireless charging objects that may not be able to be positively identified using the identification sensors of wireless charging device  310 . 
     In the event that step  203  results in the identification of a magnetically sensitive object, wireless charging transceiver  311  is prevented from operating at step  204 . Otherwise, if step  203  determines that the foreign object is not magnetically sensitive, or if the determination is inconclusive, wireless charging transceiver  311  is engaged at step  205 . 
     The step  202  and step  203  may be performed in any order, depending upon design priorities. For example, step  203 , contrary to the depiction of  FIG. 2 , may be performed prior to step  202 . This order would allow the affirmative identification of a magnetically sensitive object as quickly as possible. 
     The descriptions of process  100  and process  200  may include indications that specific actions are taken when steps  102 ,  202 , and  203  are inconclusive. However, the processes may be performed such that either action may be used as the default action in the event of an inconclusive determination. Depending upon application priorities, the steps may be structured to conservatively assume that the device is magnetically sensitive. In other scenarios it may be advantageous to commence charging as quickly and efficiently as possible, which may result in an assumption that the foreign object is not magnetically sensitive when steps result in inconclusive determinations. Further, inclusive results may result in the repetition of individual steps or entire processes for a finite amount of time or repetitions. In the most conservative cases, the steps are performed in repetition until a definitive determination is made. 
     It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations to the structure may be made to achieve the same functional results as the cooling components described. Mounting points, component shapes and sizes, and materials used may be altered to adapt the assembly to specific circumstances. 
     Although the various exemplary embodiments have been described in detail with particular reference to certain exemplary aspects thereof, it should be understood that the invention is capable of other embodiments and its details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects. As is readily apparent to those skilled in the art, variations and modifications can be effected while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure, description, and figures are for illustrative purposes only and do not in any way limit the invention, which is defined only by the claims.