Imagine an iMac or a new Apple display with a base that provides inductive power charging for an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or AirPods. In other words, a Mac desktop with a built-in AirPower. Of course, the long-promised wireless charging pad has yet to see the light of day, but still….
In the patent filing, Apple notes that induction may be utilized to wirelessly transmit power between electronic devices. Such wireless power transmission may be performed for the purposes of powering one or more devices, charging one or more batteries, an/or other such purposes.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “A first electronic device includes a first coil that is operative in at least two modes. In a first mode, the first coil may be utilized to moves a membrane to produce one or more sound waves, register movement of a membrane to detect one or more sound waves, or generates one or more haptic outputs. In the second mode, the first coil may be used to inductively transmit power to and/or inductively receive power from a second coil included in a second electronic device. In various cases, the second coil may be a dedicated inductive power transmission coil. In other cases, the second coil may be capable of multimode operation similar to the first coil.”
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
