Wireless Power System With Battery Charge Indicators

Abstract

A wireless power system includes a wireless power transmitting device such as a wireless charging mat for charging devices such as a cellular telephone and an earbuds battery case. The earbuds battery case receives earbuds and charges the earbuds from a battery. The wireless charging mat supports bidirectional in-band communications between the cellular telephone and the earbuds battery case. The earbuds battery case provides the cellular telephone with information on the battery charge level associated with the battery in the earbuds battery case and a battery charge level associated with each earbud in the earbuds battery case. The cellular telephone receives battery charge level information through the wireless charging mat and displays corresponding indicators. The earbuds battery case has a visual output device such as a light-emitting diode that is illuminated to indicate that the earbuds battery case is being charged.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system operable with a wireless power transmitting device, comprising:
 a first wireless power receiving device configured to receive wireless power from the wireless power transmitting device;   a wired power receiving device configured to receive power from the first wireless power receiving device and to transmit an identifier to the first wireless power receiving device; and   a second wireless power receiving device configured to receive wireless power from the wireless power transmitting device and to receive the identifier from the first wireless power receiving device.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first wireless power receiving device further comprises:
 a visual output device; and   control circuitry configured to compare the identifier to a previously received identifier and to display a visual output on the visual output device in response to determining that the identifier does not match the previously received identifier.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the visual output device comprises a light-emitting diode. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second wireless power receiving device further comprises:
 a visual output device;   control circuitry configured to compare the identifier to a previously received identifier and to display a visual output on the visual output device in response to determining that the identifier does not match the previously received identifier.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the visual output device comprises a display with a touchscreen. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the display to display a battery charge level indicator corresponding to a level of battery charge on a battery in the wired power receiving device in response to determining that the identifier matches the previously received identifier. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wired power receiving device comprises wireless communications circuitry configured to transmit wireless signals directly to the second wireless power receiving device. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the wired power receiving device is configured to operate in a first state while the first wireless power receiving device receives wireless power and a second state while the first wireless power receiving device is not receiving wireless power and wherein the wireless communications circuitry is configured to transmit the wireless signals when the wired power receiving device is in the first state. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the second state comprises a low-power sleep state. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first wireless power receiving device is configured to transmit real time power level adjustment requests to the wireless power transmitting device. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 an earbuds battery case;   an earbud configured to receive power from the earbuds battery case and to transmit an identifier to the earbuds battery case; and   a cellular telephone configured to receive the identifier from the earbud for pairing the earbud with the cellular telephone.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the earbuds battery case comprises:
 a light-emitting diode configured to display a visual output when the identifier does not match a previously received identifier.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the cellular telephone comprises:
 a display configured to display a battery charge level corresponding to a level of battery charge on a battery in the earbud when it has been determined that the earbud was previously paired with the cellular telephone.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the display does not display the battery charge level of the battery in the earbud when it has been determined that the earbud is not paired with the cellular telephone. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the cellular telephone is further configured to transmit a countdown timer value to the earbuds battery case when it has been determined that the earbud was previously paired with the cellular telephone, and wherein the earbuds battery case starts a countdown timer in response to receiving the countdown timer value. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the light-emitting diode of the earbuds battery case displays another visual output at the same time that the display displays the battery charge level of the battery in the earbud when the countdown timer expires. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the earbud is configured to operate in an active state when the earbuds battery case receives wireless power and in a quiescent state when the earbuds battery case is not receiving wireless power. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the earbuds battery case is configured to retain one or more identifiers associated with one or more earbuds previously received within the earbuds battery case. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the earbuds battery case is further configured to compare the identifier transmitted from the earbud to the one or more retained identifiers. 
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 wirelessly charging an earbuds battery case;   charging a pair of earbuds in the earbuds battery case;   transmitting an identifier from the pair of earbuds to the earbuds battery case;   comparing the identifier to one or more previously retained identifiers in the earbuds battery case; and   outputting an alert based on the comparison of the identifier to the one or more previously retained identifiers.