Skip to main content

Microsoft patent filing hints at wireless charging for future Surface PCs

Surface Plus
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Microsoft may be exploring fast wireless charging with a smart battery as a possible solution to address battery life on its Surface products — which include laptops, tablets, convertibles, and a desktop currently. Microsoft had filed for a patent for its battery charging solution with the United States Patent and Trademark Office early last year, and the filing was published on August 23, 2018.

“Users have access to an ever-increasing variety of portable computing devices with which the users interact on any given day,” Microsoft said, highlighting that there is a need for an easy solution to recharge all those devices. “A common goal for many of these computing devices is to wirelessly charge the battery [at a] faster rate.”

Recommended Videos

In its patent filing, first noticed by the Windows Latest blog, Microsoft described a device that has a smart battery with multiple battery modules, with each module connected to a power controller. The battery management controller will be able to determine the charging configuration signal to send to one or more of the battery modules inside the smart battery, and each module can rely on wireless charging.

Microsoft details that each battery module inside the smart battery will have its own set of charging coils, with each coil partially overlapping with nearby charging coils. All of these coils can receive power via wireless charging simultaneously, and the battery management controller can dynamically adjust the charging parameters to each battery module based on various conditions of the specific module, including wear level, capacity, and charging threshold.

By using multiple coils, Microsoft will be able to take advantage of more rapid wireless charging times for its devices, if the patent is implemented on a future Surface Go, Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, or Surface Book. “Conventional solutions for wireless charging smart batteries do not utilize more than one charging coil per battery and did not take into consideration the physical configuration of the charging coils of the smart battery,” Microsoft said. “Moreover, conventional solutions did not manage each battery module differently and independently from other battery modules of the smart battery system, thereby decreasing the functionality and flexibility of the smart battery.”

By using multiple charging coils and a battery management controller, Microsoft is able to optimize charging for each battery module inside its batteries, which will lead to improved charging times. Microsoft’s charging technique could be used on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or in devices such as health devices, wearables, fitness accessories, and other Internet-of-Things applications, the patent filing said.

It’s unclear if and when Microsoft intends on commercializing its invention. Hopefully though, Surface owners will one day be able to wirelessly recharge their PCs without having to plug in a physical cable.

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Microsoft finally adds missing Copilot+ AI tools to Intel and AMD PCs
Copilot+ PCs being announced from the stage.

If you bought into the promise of a new AI-charged Copilot+ PC with the latest-gen Intel or AMD processor, and found a few tricks missing, the long wait is over. A handful of those Copilot+ features are finally expanding beyond machines with a Snapdragon X series processor inside. 

It’s roughly been a year since Microsoft introduced the Copilot+ PC label, a new breed of computing machines that put AI performance at the forefront. For months, Qualcomm was the sole silicon supplier for such machines. 

Read more
Microsoft will soon use AI to help you find your photos and files on Copilot+ PCs
The Surface Laptop shown in front of a Copilot+ sign.

In a Windows Insider blog post, Microsoft announced an AI upgrade to Windows Search to make finding photos, documents, and settings easier. However, the enhanced feature is restricted to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon processors; AMD and Intel support is coming soon.

The update has all the same fixes and improvements from build 26100.3613; nonetheless, some of the best Copilot+ PCs will be left out simply because they use  AMD or Intel processors. Microsoft will release the update gradually, and you can also take advantage of both semantic and lexical indexing to search for your photos and documents more efficiently. Because of this improvement, you don't have to remember the exact file name you're looking for, which is a huge time-saver.

Read more
Microsoft 365 apps help keep your files safe with OneDrive backup
Microsoft OneDrive files can sync between a PC and a phone.

Microsoft 365 apps will encourage users to back up their files to OneDrive, as announced in a new Message Center entry, to improve data security. Microsoft will display a prompt across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in the following months to prevent data loss and ensure users can access their important files seamlessly.

Microsoft will begin showing these prompts in mid-March 2025, encouraging users to sign up for the OneDrive Known Folder Move (KFM). The public preview will last until early April 2025 but will generally be available by May 2025. What is KFM? It's a feature in OneDrive that lets you sync and back up your important local folders, such as Desktop or Documents. Afterward, you can easily access your files across various devices.

Read more