Terminal and device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11056896-B2
Application number	US-201715691961-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2017
Priority date	Oct 12, 2016
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A terminal and a device are provided. The terminal includes a charging interface and a first charging circuit. The first charging circuit is coupled with the charging interface, and is configured to receive an output voltage from the adapter via the charging interface and apply the output voltage to both ends of multiple cells connected in series in the terminal to charge the multiple cells.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A terminal, comprising:
a charging interface;
a first charging circuit, coupled with the charging interface, and configured to receive an output voltage from an adapter and apply the output voltage directly to both ends of multiple cells connected in series in the terminal to charge the multiple cells without voltage converting;
a second charging circuit comprising a step-up circuit, the step-up circuit having a first end coupled with the charging interface and a second end coupled with the multiple cells,
wherein the step-up circuit is configured to receive the output voltage of the adapter via the charging interface, step up the output voltage of the adapter to a second voltage, and apply the second voltage to both ends of the multiple cells for charging;
wherein the output voltage of the adapter is received by the second charging circuit being less than an overall voltage of the multiple cells, the second voltage being greater than the overall voltage of the multiple cells; and
wherein the first charging circuit is operable in a quick charging mode, the second charging circuit is operable in a normal charging mode, and a charging speed of the terminal in the quick, charging mode is higher than the charging speed of the terminal in the normal charging mode;

an equalization circuit coupled with the multiple cells, the equalization circuit is configured to equalize voltages among each cell of the multiple cells, wherein the multiple cells comprises a main cell and at least one secondary cell, the equalization circuit comprises at least one load each connected at both ends of each of at least one secondary cell to consume the power of the secondary cell, such that the power of the secondary cell is consistent with the main cell; and
a control unit configured to:
perform two-way communication with the adapter to determine a charging mode; and
switch between the first charging circuit to charge the multiple cells through the first charging circuit upon determining that the terminal will be charged with the quick charging mode and the second charging circuit to charge the multiple cells through the second charging circuit upon determining that terminal will be charged with the normal charging mode.

2. The terminal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a step-down circuit, having input ends and an output end, the input ends being coupled with both ends of the multiple cells and configured to convert an overall voltage of the multiple cells into a first voltage V 1 , wherein a≤V 1 ≤b, a represents the minimum operating voltage of the terminal, and b represents the maximum operating voltage of the terminal; and
a power supply circuit, coupled to the output end of the step-down circuit and configured to supply power to system components of the terminal based on the first voltage.

3. The terminal of claim 2 , wherein the step-down circuit comprises a charge pump, and the first voltage is 1/N of the overall voltage of the multiple cells, and wherein N represents the number of cells included in the multiple cells.

4. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the first charging circuit is further configured to receive an output current from the adapter, and wherein the output current is one of a pulsating direct current and an alternating current.

5. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the first charging circuit is operable in a charging mode of constant-current mode.

6. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the output voltage of the adapter received by the second charging circuit is 5V.

7. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the charging interface comprises a data line, and the control unit is configured to perform two-way communication with the adapter via the data line.

8. The terminal of claim 7 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication is further configured to:
perform the two-way communication with the adapter to determine a charging voltage of the quick charging mode.

9. The terminal of claim 8 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication to determine the charging voltage of the quick charging mode is further configured to:
receive a second instruction from the adapter, the second instruction being configured to inquire whether the output voltage of the adapter is suitable as the charging voltage of the quick charging mode; and
send a reply instruction responsive to the second instruction to the adapter, the reply instruction responsive to the second instruction being configured to indicate that the output voltage is one of appropriate, high, and low.

10. The terminal of claim 7 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication is further configured to:
perform the two-way communication with the adapter to determine a charging current of the quick charging mode.

11. The terminal of claim 10 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication with the adapter to determine the charging current of the quick charging mode is further configured to:
receive a third instruction from the adapter, the third instruction being configured to inquire the maximum charging current currently supported by the terminal; and
send a reply instruction responsive to the third instruction to the adapter, the reply instruction responsive to the third instruction being configured to indicate the maximum charging current currently supported by the terminal, wherein the adapter determines the charging current of the quick charging mode according to the maximum charging current currently supported by the terminal.

12. The terminal of claim 7 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication with the adapter via the data line to control the charging of the multiple cells is further configured to:
perform the two-way communication with the adapter during charging with the quick charging mode to adjust an output current of the adapter.

13. The terminal of claim 12 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication with the adapter to adjust the output current of the adapter is further configured to:
receive a fourth instruction from the adapter, the fourth instruction being configured to inquire a current voltage of the multiple cells; and
send a reply instruction responsive to the fourth instruction to the adapter, the reply instruction responsive to the fourth instruction being configured to indicate the current voltage of the multiple cells, wherein the adapter adjusts the output current of the adapter according to the current voltage of the multiple cells.

14. The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the control unit configured to perform the two-way communication with the adapter is further configured to:
receive a first instruction from the adapter, the first instruction being configured to inquire the terminal whether to enable the first charging mode; and
send a reply instruction responsive to the first instruction to the adapter, the reply instruction responsive to the first instruction being configured to indicate that the terminal determines to enable the quick charging mode.

15. The terminal of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power supply circuit, having input ends coupled with both ends of a single cell of the multiple cells and supply power to devices inside the terminal based on a voltage of the single cell coupled with the power supply circuit.

16. A device, comprising:
a charging interface;
a cell unit comprising multiple cells connected in series;
a first charging circuit, coupled with the charging interface and configured to re

Assignees

• Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Jialiang
• Wan Shiming
• Li Jiada
• Zhang Jun
• Tian Chen
• Chen Shebiao

Classifications

• H02J7/825

  Detection of fully charged condition · CPC title

• H02J7/54

  Passive balancing, e.g. using resistors or parallel MOSFETs · CPC title

• H02J7/927

  with introduction of pulses during the charging process · CPC title

• H02J7/855

  with circuits adapted for supplying loads from the battery · CPC title

• H02J7/731

  specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries (H02J7/751 takes precedence) · CPC title