Power supply device which performs operations while suppressing influence due to updating of firmware

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10303231-B2
Application number	US-201515326868-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2014
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

An input part sets either a charge time zone or a discharge time zone. A first firmware storage part stores first firmware defining all operation contents of a power supply device. An acquiring part acquires second firmware that is firmware for update, and a second firmware storage part stores the second firmware. A controller refers to the charge time zone, the discharge time zone and the like received from the input part to extract a first time zone in which neither the charge time zone nor the discharge time zone is set. The controller preferentially sets timing for updating firmware in the first time zone.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power supply device which includes a secondary battery, charges the secondary battery with electricity supplied from a commercial power supply, and causes the secondary battery to discharge the charged electricity to a load, the power supply device comprising:
an input device for setting a charge time zone for charging the secondary battery with electricity, or a discharge time zone for causing the secondary battery to discharge electricity;
a storage device for storing first firmware defining all operation contents of the power supply device;
an acquiring device for acquiring second firmware for updating the first firmware; and
a controller for executing the first firmware stored in the storage device to control an entirety of the power supply device,
wherein the controller prioritizes a first time zone in which neither the charge time zone nor the discharge time zone is set to update the first firmware stored in the storage device with the second firmware,
wherein the controller determines a first amount of time required for the update;
wherein when the update is to be performed in a window of time included in the charge time zone or the discharge time zone, the controller starts the update by the first amount of time before a finish time of the charge time zone or a finish time of the discharge time zone set through the input device.

2. The power supply device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller calculates a second amount of time required for finishing the charging or the discharging in the charge or discharge time zone, and starts the update in the window of time at or after the second amount of time after a start time of the charge time zone or a start time of the discharge time zone set through the input device.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsuda Takashi

Classifications

• H02J7/63

  against overdischarge · CPC title

• H02J7/61

  against overcharge · CPC title

• H02J7/663

  using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/92

  with prioritisation of loads or sources · CPC title

• G06F8/654

  using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories · CPC title