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Home > life > Wireless Products News > Wireless, Wireless Everywhere

Wireless, Wireless Everywhere

2017/1/16 14:37:12     Source: SIG     Views:1694     Comments:0

Summary:Wireless

I recently spoke at the Wireless Power Summit in Austin Texas. The conference was fascinating. There were people from all over the wireless power industry—chipmakers, OEMs, manufacturers and automakers—it was a diverse mix of constituents. One of the interesting questions, and most likely the reason I was asked to participate, was around doing something interesting beyond wireless charging.

Several speakers set me up perfectly by talking about data, and how the REAL value provided by wireless charging is what could happen if you had a wireless power device with a data connection.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) recently announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the SIG and the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP). This MOU put into place a formal relationship while also establishing a new consumer electronics device category: the smart wireless charging station. The A4WP’s wireless power technology gives customers spatial freedom, allowing consumers the ability to charge multiple devices simultaneously through surfaces without plugging them in. The A4WP system specification will now utilize Bluetooth® Smart technology for session management and power control.

This means some cool benefits to consumers and developers/OEMs in the wireless power space. Not only will consumers see their devices charging more quickly when in contact with charging surfaces but also improved power controls like prioritizing multiple charging devices. Even cooler is developers can create a new class of applications to leverage the charging stations like mobile payments or location-based services.

I heard an example from one company about a pilot program with a high school where they provided wireless charging stations for students in the school library. It was a nice program but add a Bluetooth data connection and you could tell which student was charging and could make sure their homework assignments were on their phone or tablet.

Taking it further…I am at work and place my phone on the desk. Calls are automatically routed to my desk phone. Since there is intelligence in the solution, a message can be sent to the thermostat to set the perfect temperature (ah, the Holy Grail for all office workers). I open my laptop, which is also charging wirelessly, and since the laptop and phone are in close proximity, the phone unlocks my PC and allows me to get right to work. As I leave at the end of the day, I pick up my phone and not only is it fully charged, but it automatically locks my PC knowing I stepped away.

These are some of the cool solutions enabled when you add data to wireless power—you add even more value for the consumer, and create richer solutions.

As always, I am interested in what you are doing…drop me a line atDevFeedback@bluetooth.com and let me know what you are working on. Check out ourDeveloper Showcase and App of the Month page. If you would like to be featured, emailDevAoM@bluetooth.com and we will explain the process. This will most likely be my last blog of the year, so have a great holiday, and I look forward to talking to you again next year!

(Credit: Steve Hegenderfer)


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