I wonder if IDCC would be interested in acquiring this IPR...
Student makes cellphone battery breakthrough
27 Nov 2008 The Gazette SARAH SCHMIDT CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
IPHONES, BLACKBERRYS Reduces devices’ ‘ power- sucking’
OTTAWA – An Ottawa inventor has pulled off something the titans of innovation behind the iPhone couldn’t – find a way to reduce power consumption of the “power-sucking” device to increase battery life.
Atif Shamim, an electronics Ph.D. student at Carleton University, has built a prototype that extends the battery life of portable gadgets such as the iPhone and BlackBerry, by getting rid of all the wires used to connect the electronic circuits with the antenna.
The wireless hardware expert has designed a new packaging technique to connect the antenna with the circuits. This is done through a wireless connection between a micro-scale antenna embedded within the circuits on the chip, with the efficient antenna on the package.
“This has not been tried before – that the circuits are connected to the antenna wirelessly. They’ve been connected through wires and a bunch of other components. That’s where the power gets lost,” Shamim said in an interview.
He estimates his module consumes 12 times less power than the traditional, wired-transmitter module. It is also much simpler in design, lowering the overall cost of any hand-held device, Shamim added.
The research, to be published in the forthcoming edition of Microwave Journal, already has received international accolades. Last month, the article about the invention, co-authored by Muhammad Arsalan and adviser Langis Roy of Carleton’s department of electronics, was named the best paper at the European Wireless Technology Conference.
The judges lauded Shamim for the “excellent integration of system design, material sciences and electromagnetic antenna design.” They also said the innovation is “highly relevant, with large potential for commercialization.”
He has filed patent applications in the U.S. and in Canada, in the knowledge consumers continue to gripe about the short-life span of the iPhone battery.
“It’s a common problem. There are so many applications in the iPhone, it’s like a powersucking machine,” said Shamim.
In June, 2007, Apple tried to answer critics who had given the iPhone low marks for its short battery life. Five months after unveiling the new product, the company announced the iPhone could now get up to eight hours of talk time, up from the five hours of talk time and 16 hours of audio playback at the launch.
But the move has failed to tone down the commentary. In the Dec. 1 edition of Newsweek, Forbes senior editor Daniel Lyons, writing under his “alter ego” the Fake Steve Jobs, captured the current state of affairs in his latest satirical salvo.
The newsmagazine has “reached the life-altering, mindblowing conclusion that batteries suck. Stop the friggin’ presses! Of course they do, and the imbeciles who make them can’t seem to make them better, which is holding back everything that is good and noble about our brave new electronic world. Example No. 1: the iPhone,” the satirical piece states.
“Frankly, I’m sick to death of the carping about the iPhone’s battery life. Look, the fact is, we warned people about this.”
If an iPhone battery needs repairing, Apple will service it for $89, plus $10.77 for shipping for Canadian customers. All data on the iPhone are lost during the service, which normally takes three business days.
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