Apparatus, method, and system for dynamically controlling current and/or voltage profiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10447052-B2
Application number	US-201715467874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Oct 15, 2019
Grant date	Oct 15, 2019

Abstract

An apparatus system is provided which comprises: a first input/output (I/O) port; a second I/O port; circuitry to generate (i) a first signal at a first voltage level and (ii) a second signal at a second voltage level; and switching circuitry to selectively supply any one of the first signal or the second signal to any one of the first I/O port or the second I/O port.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a first input/output (I/O) port;
a second I/O port;
circuitry to generate a first power supply signal at a first voltage level and a second power supply signal at a second voltage level; and
switch circuitry to selectively supply any one of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal to any one of the first I/O port or the second I/O port.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller to control the switch circuitry such that the first I/O port is to:
receive the first power supply signal at a first time-period,
receive the second power supply signal at a second time-period, and
not receive either of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal at a third time-period.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a battery; and
a controller to receive charge information associated with the battery,
wherein the controller is to control the switch circuitry based at least in part on the charge information associated with the battery.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller to control the switch circuitry such that the first I/O port is to:
receive the first power supply signal in response to a first external device being attached to the first I/O port,
receive the second power supply signal in response to a second external device being attached to the first I/O port, and
not receive either of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal in response to no external devices being attached to the first I/O port.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a battery; and
a controller to configure the switch circuitry such that the first I/O port is to:
receive the first power supply signal with the first voltage level in response to a charge level of the battery being higher than a first threshold value,
receive the second power supply signal with the second voltage level in response to a charge level of the battery being between a first threshold value and a second threshold value, and
not receive either of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal in response to the charge level of the battery being lower than the second threshold value.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the switch circuitry comprises a plurality of switches.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the I/O port comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) type-C port.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a first circuitry to generate a first power supply signal at a first voltage level, and a second power supply signal at a second voltage level; and
a second circuitry to selectively supply any one of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal to any one of a first input/output (I/O) port or a second I/O port.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
a third circuitry to supply the first power supply signal to the first I/O port at a first time-period;
a fourth circuitry to supply the second power supply signal to the first I/O port at a second time-period; and
a fifth circuitry to refrain from supplying either of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal to the first I/O port at a third time-period.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
a sixth circuitry to selectively supply any one of the first power supply signal or the second power supply signal to any one of the first I/O port or the second I/O port based at least in part on one or more of:
configuration of a first external device attached to the first I/O port,
configuration of a second external device attached to the second I/O port, or
a charge level of a battery that is to supply power to the first I/O port and the second I/O port.

11. A system comprising:
a battery to selectively supply power to the system;
a first input/output (I/O) port, wherein an external device is to be selectively attached to the first I/O port;
a second I/O port;
circuitry to supply a first power supply signal, and a second power supply signal;
a switch to selectively supply one of the first or second power supply signals to one of the first or second I/O ports; and
a controller to:
receive information associated with the battery, and
dynamically limit a current associated with the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second I/O ports, based at least in part on the information associated with the battery.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the information associated with the battery comprises one or both of a remaining charge of the battery, or an estimated time remaining before the charge of the battery is exhausted.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller is to:
set a first maximum value of the current of the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second I/O port in response to a first percentage of charge remaining in the battery; and
set a second maximum value of the current of the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second I/O port in response to a second percentage of charge remaining in the battery,
wherein the first percentage of charge is higher than the second percentage of charge, and
wherein the first maximum value of the current is higher than the second maximum value of the current.

14. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a monitor circuitry to estimate the current associated with the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second IO port,
wherein the controller is to dynamically limit the current associated with the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second IO port, based at least in part on the estimate associated with the current of the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second IO port.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the circuitry is to receive, via the first or second I/O port, configuration information of the external device; and
the controller is to dynamically limit the current of the first or second power supply signals supplied to the first or second IO port, based at least in part on the configuration information of the external device.

16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
wherein the controller is to control an on state and an off state of the switch, based at least in part on the information associated with the battery.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the output port comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) type-C port.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry comprises a voltage regulator.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry comprises a current limiter.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry comprises a register to store a value to control a maximum current.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Pawar Sagar C
• Narayanan Anantha
• Babu Ravindra A
• Tuljapurkar Aneesh A

Classifications

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/865 Primary

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title