Apple Inc.
Communication Between Devices in a Wireless Charging System

Abstract:

A wireless power system may include devices that transmit and/or receive wireless power. The devices in the wireless power system may exchange packets in order to transfer various types of data. The data may be transmitted using in-band communication. The devices may use locally assigned addresses to communicate with any other device in the wireless power system. During a network discovery process, device lists may be exchanged between the devices until each device has a complete list of all other devices in the network. The list of all other devices in the network may include a respective address for each device that is based on the topology of the network. Even if a first device is not inductively coupled to a second device, the locally assigned addresses may identify an inductive coupling path from the first device to the second device that includes at least one intervening device.