1-11. (canceled)
12. A device for a charging cable having a plug to be inserted in an electric vehicle or in a charging station, comprising:
an automatic reeling mechanism to automatically reel the charging cable such that the charging cable can be drawn out of the automatic reeling mechanism by overcoming a retraction force which acts on the plug of the charging cable via the charging cable; and
a control unit to:
detect whether the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by an operator, and
at least reduce the retraction force as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by the operator.
13. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the control unit has a signal input for a tactile detector, which is fitted on the plug, or
the control unit has a signal input for a plug-type connection detector, which is fitted to the plug and generates a signal when the plug is inserted.
14. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the automatic reeling mechanism has a spring, which causes the retraction force and automatically reels the charging cable, and
the device further comprises a clamping apparatus which is driven by the control unit to lock the charging cable and therefore decouple the retraction force from the plug.
15. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the automatic reeling mechanism has an electric motor, which is driven by the control unit.
16. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the control unit decouples the automatic reeling mechanism from the plug to eliminate the retraction as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted into the vehicle or is no longer being touched by the operator.
17. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the control unit detects whether the plug of the charging cable is inserted and detects whether the plug of the charging cable is no longer being touched by an operator, and
the control unit at least reduces the retraction force as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted and the plug of the charging cable is no longer being touched by the operator.
18. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the control unit detects whether the plug of the charging cable is inserted, and
the control unit at least reduces the retraction force as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted.
19. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein
the control unit detects whether the plug of the charging cable is no longer being touched by an operator, and
the control unit at least reduces the retraction force as soon as the plug of the charging cable is no longer being touched by the operator.
20. A charging station, which has the device as claimed in claim 12.
21. An electric vehicle, which has the device as claimed in claim 12.
22. A charging cable apparatus comprising:
a charging cable having a plug to be inserted in an electric vehicle or in a charging station;
an automatic reeling mechanism to automatically reel the charging cable such that the charging cable can be drawn out of the automatic reeling mechanism by overcoming a retraction force which acts on the plug of the charging cable via the charging cable; and
a control unit to:
detect whether the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by an operator, and
at least reduce the retraction force as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by the operator.
23. The charging cable apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein
a tactile detector is fitted on the plug, and
the control unit has a signal input for the tactile detector.
24. The charging cable apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein
the tactile detector is a pushbutton tactile sensor, a dynamometer tactile sensor, an inductive tactile sensor or a capacitive tactile sensor.
25. The charging cable apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein
a plug-type connection detector is fitted to the plug,
the plug-type connection detector generates a signal when the plug is inserted, and
the control unit has a signal input for the signal generated by the plug-type connection detector when the plug is inserted.
26. The charging cable apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein
the plug-type connection detector is a mechanical contact.
27. A method for a charging cable having a plug to be inserted in an electric vehicle or in a charging station, comprising:
automatically reeling the charging cable such that an operator draws the charging cable out of an automatic reeling mechanism by overcoming a retraction force, the retraction force acting on the plug of the charging cable via the charging cable;
using a control unit to detect that the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by the operator; and
using the control unit to at least reduce the retraction force when the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by the operator.
28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein
the control unit detects when the plug of the charging cable is no longer inserted or detects that the plug of the charging cable is being touched again by the operator, and
the control unit increases the retraction force when the plug of the charging cable is no longer inserted or the plug of the charging cable is being touched again by the operator.
29. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein
the control unit detects that the plug of the charging cable is inserted based on an internal resistance measurement between conductors of the charging cable, based on a current measurement or based on a data signal which is transmitted via the charging cable.
30. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein
the control unit unreels the charging cable by a predefined length as soon as the plug of the charging cable is inserted or is no longer being touched by the operator.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of determining andor sharing spectrum availability, the method comprising automatically sensing and analyzing a spectrum to identify used andor unused portions of the spectrum, and automatically communicating the used andor unused portions of the spectrum to a spectrum owner or a spectrum user.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically identifying current spectrum users and automatically reporting the current spectrum users to a spectrum owner.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
automatically determining signals and holes within the spectrum;
automatically ranking the holes as a function of available bandwidth andor incumbent duty cycles; and
automatically modeling spectrum that us infrequently used for incumbent transmissions.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing comprises automatically and repeatedly measuring the spectrum at a predetermined time interval.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sensing is performed by a spectrum power sensor connected to an antenna.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
ranked unused portions of the spectrum;
prioritizing potential users for the spectrum; and
automatically matching the ranked unused portions of the spectrum to the potential users as a function of the prioritizing.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
automatically modeling measured spectrum data in a two-dimensional matrix, wherein each value within the matrix is a power measurement, and
plotting the matrix via a spectrogram.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
automatically estimating a noise floor for the spectrum, wherein the noise floor is estimated band by band across the spectrum;
extracting clusters of each of detected signals and spectrum holes within the matrix;
identifying the signals and spectrum holes in the spectrum by extracting start and stop frequencies and bandwidths for each of the signals and spectrum holes; and associating each start frequency with a corresponding stop frequency for the each of the signals and spectrum holes.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
extracting all signals and spectrum holes from spectrum measurement data;
quantifying a spectrum opportunity for at least one of the spectrum holes;
identifying a center frequency for the at least one of the spectrum holes; and
communicating the center frequency in a machine-readable form to a spectrum user.
10. A method of determining andor sharing spectrum availability, the method comprising:
automatically scanning a spectrum to identify unused portions of the spectrum; and
automatically communicating the unused portions of the spectrum to potential users for the spectrum.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving spectrum requests from the potential users and automatically allocating the unused portions to at least one of the potential users as a function of the spectrum requests.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising subdividing the unused portions of the spectrum into a plurality of sub-channels each for one of the potential users.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein any unused portion is identified as a hole in the spectrum, and further comprising:
automatically analyzing the spectrum to identify hole information; and
automatically communicating the hole information to at least one of the potential users.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising automatically communicating the unused portions of the spectrum to a network of smart radios, wherein the smart radios select channel transmission parameters from the hole information.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the hole information comprises a hole center frequency, a hole bandwidth, a vector of average power spectrum densities across frequency points in the hole, a vector containing a histogram of average power spectrum densities observed in the hole over time, a vector storing a calculated spectrum opportunity fraction versus secondary user bandwidth for the hole, or combinations thereof.
16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
automatically ranking the unused portions of the spectrum;
prioritizing the potential users for the spectrum; and
automatically matching the ranked unused portions of the spectrum to the potential users as a function of the prioritizing.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising prioritizing the potential users in an N-tiered hierarchical ranking.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising assigning a portion of the spectrum being used by a lower priority spectrum user to a higher priority spectrum user.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a different portion of the spectrum for the lower priority spectrum user and moving the lower priority user to the different portion.
20. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically communicating the unused portions of the spectrum to a transmission controller of a selected user of the prioritized potential users.