Sony has come up with a new idea to let you charge your phone wirelessly - but it might test your generous side.
The Japanese technology company has patented technology that will enable phone users to 'steal' battery power from nearby devices.
Phones could hunt down power using a system similar to Wi-Fi hot-spotting and top up their phone's battery wirelessly with charge from another person's device.
The futuristic technique could enable mobile phones to take power from a range of electric devices, including other smartphones and computers, as well as washing machines, fridges and TVs.
The patent says the technology will use a chip equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC), a technique that allows data transfer over short distances.
NFC lets devices within 1.6 inches (four centimetres) of each other to 'communicate'.
The technology is commonly used in contactless payment systems and also for wirelessly sharing contacts, photos and videos between mobile devices.
'The method comprises identifying a plurality of antenna systems including at least a first antenna system and a second antenna system,' inventors wrote in a United States Patent Application.
'At least the first antenna system is cooperated with a first CE device and the second antenna system is cooperated with a separate second CE device.'
The patent goes on to describe how any device fitted with an NFC chip will be able to search for other electronics fitted with the same system.
Two devices will then be able to connect to exchange power, in the same way that a device can search for Wi-Fi hot spots.
The patent doesn't say whether it is just smartphones that will be targeted by the technology, instead referring to 'portable consumer electronic devices'.
In February, Disney announced that is also working on technology similar to Wi-Fi that can power up to 320 mobile devices without the need for wires.
The technology, called quasistatic cavity resonance (QSCR), uses magnetic fields to transmit power to mobile devices, and is being developed by scientists at Disney's research lab in Pittsburgh.
Alanson Sample, lab director and principal research scientist at Disney Research, said: 'This new innovative method will make it possible for electrical power to become as ubiquitous as WiFi.
'This in turn could enable new applications for robots and other small mobile devices by eliminating the need to replace batteries and wires for charging.'
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