Integrated determination of charges remaining via a power bank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11502528-B2
Application number	US-202117198914-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2021
Priority date	Mar 11, 2021
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

A portable power bank and remote server are described, where a rechargeable device includes a rechargeable battery that receives electric charge from the power bank via an electrical connection. Systems and methods facilitate determination of a “number of potential rechargings” of the rechargeable device battery via the power bank, e.g., how many times the power bank can charge the rechargeable device battery to a desired fuel gauge (e.g., 100%) before the power bank is depleted. The number of potential rechargings is determined by the remote server based upon the desired fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, present fuel gauges of the rechargeable device and the power bank, and charging efficiency factors corresponding to the rechargeable device and the power bank, respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, from a power bank device configured to supply electric charge to a battery of a rechargeable device external to the power bank device, a first fuel gauge signal indicative of a present fuel gauge of the power bank, the present fuel gauge of the power bank device corresponding to a percentage of a capacity of a battery of the power bank device;
obtaining, via the rechargeable device, a second fuel gauge signal indicative of a present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, the present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device corresponding to a percentage of a capacity of a battery of the rechargeable device;
determining, via one or more processors, a first charging efficiency factor of the power bank battery, the first charging efficiency factor being determined based upon the first fuel gauge signal;
determining, via the one or more processors, a second charging efficiency factor of the rechargeable device battery, the second charging efficiency factor being determined based upon the second fuel gauge signal;
generating, via the one or more processors, a number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device from the power bank device, each of the potential rechargings corresponding to charging of the rechargeable device battery to a desired fuel gauge, the desired fuel gauge corresponding to a second percentage of the capacity of the rechargeable device battery, and the number of rechargings being determined based at least on the desired fuel gauge, the present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, the present fuel gauge of the power bank device, and the first and second charging efficiency factors; and
providing, to a user interface, an indication of the number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to determining the first charging efficiency factor, accessing, via the one or more processors, a user profile to obtain a charging efficiency factor and a desired fuel gauge for a second rechargeable device battery; and
generating, via the one or more processors, a number of potential rechargings of the second rechargeable device battery from the power bank device, each of the potential rechargings corresponding to charging of the second rechargeable device battery to the desired fuel gauge of the second rechargeable device battery.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein providing the indication of the number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device comprises:
providing, to the user interface, an indication of the number of potential rechargings of the second rechargeable device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:
based on the desired fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, the present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, the present fuel gauge of the power bank device, and the first and second charging efficiency factors, predicting, via the one or more processors, a remaining fuel gauge for the power bank device after a recharging of the rechargeable device to the desired fuel gauge; and
adjusting, via the one or more processors, the number of potential rechargings of the second rechargeable device battery from the power bank device based upon the predicted fuel gauge of the power bank device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein providing the indication of the number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device comprises:
accessing, via the one or more processors, a user profile to obtain an indication of a personal electronic device, wherein the personal electronic device is one of a smart television, a smart home hub, or a mobile computing device; and
providing, via the one or more processors, the number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device to the personal electronic device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the desired fuel gauge is less than 90% of the capacity of the rechargeable device battery.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the power bank device, an interrupt signal when the present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device is substantially equal to the desired fuel gauge of the rechargeable, the interrupt signal configured to cause the power device to interrupt charging of the rechargeable device battery.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein transmitting the interrupt signal to the power bank device comprises:
transmitting, to the rechargeable device, the interrupt signal, wherein the interrupt signal is configured to cause the rechargeable device to relay the interrupt signal to the power bank device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the second fuel gauge signal comprises:
receiving, via a communication link between the rechargeable device and the one or more processors, the second fuel gauge signal.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the second fuel gauge signal comprises:
receiving, via a communication link between the power bank device and the one or more processors, the second fuel gauge signal.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first fuel gauge signal includes an indication of a measured power output efficiency of the power bank.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second fuel gauge signal includes an indication of a measured power input efficiency of the rechargeable device.

13. The computer-implemented of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, a number of times a particular function of the rechargeable device can be activated based on the second fuel gauge signal and/or the number of potential rechargings; and
providing, to the user interface, an indication of the number of times a particular function of the rechargeable device can be activated.

14. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more transceivers configured to exchange communication signals with at least one of a power bank device and a rechargeable device, wherein the power bank device configured to supply electric charge to a battery of the rechargeable device; and
a non-transitory memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed via the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive, via the one or more transceivers, a first fuel gauge signal indicative of a present fuel gauge of the power bank, the present fuel gauge of the power bank device corresponding to a percentage of a capacity of a battery of the power bank device,
obtain, via the one or more transceivers, a second fuel gauge signal indicative of a present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device, the present fuel gauge of the rechargeable device corresponding to a percentage of a capacity of a battery of the rechargeable device,
determine a first charging efficiency factor of the power bank battery, the first charging efficiency factor being determined based upon the first fuel gauge signal,
determine a second charging efficiency factor of the rechargeable device battery, the second charging efficiency factor being determined based upon the second fuel gauge signal,
generate a number of potential rechargings of the rechargeable device from the power bank device, each of the potential rechargings corresponding to charging of the rechargeable device battery to a desired fuel gauge, the desired fuel gauge corresponding to a second percentage of the capacity of the rechargeable device battery, and the number of rechargings being det

Assignees

• Duracell Us Operations Inc

Inventors

• Bourilkov Jordan Todorov
• Coronado Hortal Sergio
• Restrepo Francisco Jose
• Rotondo John

Classifications

• H02J7/933

  the cycle being controlled or terminated in response to electric parameters · CPC title

• H02J7/40

  characterised by the exchange of charge or discharge related data · CPC title

• H02J7/80 Primary

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/342 Primary

  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

• H02J7/00032

  Electricity · mapped topic