Possibly feeling that being proactive in regards to patenting stuff, Apple has decided to file an application for patenting wireless charging. The one that they are specifically filing for is the Wireless Power Utilization in a Local Computing Environment.
To put it simply, this wireless charging system uses Near-Field Magnetic Resonance (NFMR), which creates a field that will recharge any electronic device that has NFMR resonator circuits. Via this method, you can keep the device to be charged within a yard of the power source. This technology is not limited to smartphones, and any battery-powered gadget that uses rechargeable batteries can be charged by this technology.
Apple’s patent application states:
“A method of wirelessly transmitting power can be performed by creating a first coupling mode region of an electromagnetic field within a near field of a power supply transmit antenna, coupling the electromagnetic field and a receiver antenna of a first receiver device within the coupling mode region, creating a second coupling mode region of the electromagnetic field different from the first coupling mode region within a near field of a transmit antenna of the first receiver device, coupling the electromagnetic field to a receive antenna of second receiver device in the near field of the transmit antenna of the first receiver device, wirelessly delivering power from the power supply to the first receiver device by way of the power supply transmit antenna using the first coupling mode region of the electromagnetic field; and wirelessly delivering at least some of the power wirelessly delivered to the first receiver device is wirelessly by re-transmitting the at least some power to the second receiver device by way of the first receiver transmit antenna using the second coupling mode region of the electromagnetic field.”
This method is an improvement over the current technology, which needs you to put the device on a charging mat. With the NFMR technology, that need is negated.
However, one issue does come up. Creating a magnetic field every time could have consequences on other aspects of your life. Any PC or laptop hard drives in the area, for example, could witness data wipeouts. It also holds true for credit cards that use the magnetic strip instead of the chip at the front. Hopefully, Apple will have a solution in place before this technology goes mainstream.
Source: USPTO