A Self-charging cell phone

I know plenty of iPhone users out there that constantly run out of juice… and by juice, I mean battery life.  But what if Apple didn’t come out with a patent for a “self-charging” phone or “mobile device”?  What if Nokia did this first?

From the past few weeks of lawsuits surrounding generic patents from Apple vs. HTC, the first company to have this patent approved is going to revolutionize portable electronics as we know it.  It is like those wind-up flashlights in your car’s glove compartment or was it the shaking flashlight.  In the end, it is almost the same technology, only smaller.

From the patent: A battery for an electronic device is contained within a first frame that is coupled to a second frame by one or more piezoelectric elements. The second frame is coupled to a device chassis by one or more additional piezoelectric elements. In response to translation and/or rotation of the electronic device, portions of forces induced by the battery mass are transferred to the piezoelectric elements. Electrical energy output by these piezoelectric elements is received in a power controller and can be applied to the battery. Additional device components can also be contained within the first frame so as to increase the total mass that induces forces applied to the piezoelectric elements.

[TreeHugger via Digg, and New Scientist]