Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Oh, patents! Ambient backscatter

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Oh, patents! Ambient backscatter

Inventive steps are supposed to wow you! So, how about electronic communication without power? Off the grid and batteryless! Ambient backscatter might be another instance of the SXSW ‘SciFi no more” innovation category, only this time it is the brainchild of a MIT-selected group of “Innovators under the age of 35”.

Indeed the backscatter chip has the capacity to pick up and reflect power from ambient broadcasted radio and TV signals, or wifi devices, so that the backscatter-enabled device charges itself without batteries.

Recipients of a National Science Foundation award, applications are being developed by Jeeva Wireless. Applications, for example, include the development of a backscatter chip enabling emergency calls on a dead cell phone.

Here is how the inventors demonstrate the phenomenon of ambient backscatter:

This invention is disclosed in the following series of patents:

WO2017132400 (A1) ― 2017-08-03 - Backscatter devices including examples of single sideband operation
US2017208597 (A1) ― 2017-07-20 - Power transmission using wireless communication signals
EP3189580 (A1) ― 2017-07-12 - Power transmission using wireless communication signals
WO2016037100 (A1) ― 2016-03-10 - Power transmission using wireless communication signals
US2017180075 (A1) ― 2017-06-22 - Wireless networking communication methods, systems, and devices operable using harvested power
WO2015123341 (A1) ― 2015-08-20 - Wireless networking communication methods, systems, and devices operable using harvested power
WO2017027847 (A1) ― 2017-02-16 - Backscatter devices and network systems incorporating backscatter devices
US2016259421 (A1) ― 2016-09-08 - Devices, systems, and methods for controlling devices using gesture
WO2015054419 (A1) ― 2015-04-16 - Devices, systems, and methods for controlling devices using gestures