New patent hints at future induction-based charging that uses audio and haptic components as receiver coils

Oct 8, 2015 09:55 GMT  ·  By

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has just granted Apple the "Inductive Power Transfer Using Acoustic or Haptic Devices" patent which describes a method of charging any device using its speakers or haptic components as charging coils.

Apple's newly granted patent presents "methods for inductive power transmission," in which electronic devices could be charged using induction and "a first coil that may be a component of an acoustic device (such as a microphone or speaker), a haptic device, and/or other device."

Moreover, an energy storage device using a transmission coil could be used to inductively transmit power to another device's audio components that act as energy receiving coils or, if it has no speaker or microphone, the device can be charged wirelessly via induction if it uses haptic components.

Given that Apple already uses inductive charging in the Apple Watch, redesigning the $45 Apple Watch magnetic charging cable to work using the technology described in the patent would make for a very cheap solution to charge all existing Apple devices without the need for extra hardware such as inductive charging adapters.

Apple might already be working on a new device capable of wireless charging via audio and haptic components

However, even if Apple will not choose to implement this technology in the next few years, the fact that smartphone and tablet manufacturers are beginning to add support for native wireless charging in their own devices will force Apple to release their own version of wireless charging technology.

This makes the "Inductive Power Transfer Using Acoustic or Haptic Devices" patent the base of such future endeavors, seeing that it would make sense developing a wireless charging tech compatible with all of Apple's products that come with at least a built-in speaker or a microphone.

"Inductive Power Transfer Using Acoustic or Haptic Devices" patent (5 Images)

The Apple Watch
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