Multiple heterogeneous energy stores

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11803228-B2
Application number	US-201615566386-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2016
Priority date	Apr 16, 2015
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

There is provided an apparatus comprising a requirement determination unit to determine an energy requirement for a system component. A status determination unit determines status information relating to a plurality of heterogeneous energy stores and actuating system control unit controls an activity of the system component in dependence on the status information relating to the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores and the energy requirement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
requirement determination circuitry to determine an energy requirement for a system component circuitry;
status determination circuitry to determine status information relating to a plurality of heterogeneous energy stores including a capacitor and a further energy store, each configured to provide power to the system component circuitry; and
system control circuitry to control an activity of the system component circuitry in dependence on the status information relating to the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores and the energy requirement by deferring, when the further energy store is charged enough for the activity to take place, at least some of the activity of the system component circuitry until the capacitor is charged enough for the activity to take place.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
request receiving circuitry to receive a request from the system component circuitry; and
the requirement determination circuitry is capable of determining the energy requirement for the system component circuitry based on the request.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the request comprises a desired energy amount.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the system component circuitry is capable of operating at a plurality of modes, at least one mode having greater energy requirement than another; and
the request is indicative of a desired one of the plurality of modes.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the request comprises a desired activity to be performed.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the requirement determination circuitry determines the energy requirement for the system component circuitry based on historical energy consumption of the system component circuitry.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores comprise:
a first energy store; and
a second energy store; and

the first energy store and the second energy store have different energy characteristics.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
for a predetermined current, the first energy store is more efficient than the second energy store.

9. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the first energy store has a higher specific power delivery than the second energy store.

10. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the first energy store has a smaller specific energy storage than the second energy store.

11. An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the first energy store comprises the capacitor; and
the second energy store comprises a battery.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the status determination circuitry determines the status information based on a status report from at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein
the status report comprises at least one of: a charge, a temperature, a drawn current, time since last charge, a charge over time, a temperature over time, a drawn current over time, a maximum charge and a maximum current of at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the status determination circuitry determines the status information based on historical information regarding the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

15. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry is further configured to control a transfer of energy from the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores to the system component circuitry.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry is further configured to control a proportion of energy transferred by each of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores to the system component circuitry.

17. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry by indicating in which of the plurality of modes the system component circuitry is to operate.

18. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry on further dependence on a temperature of the system component circuitry or one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

19. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry such that a current drawn from at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores remains below a first threshold value.

20. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry such that a total energy provided by the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores remains at or above a second threshold value.

21. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry such that an efficiency of at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores remains above a third threshold value.

22. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system control circuitry controls activity of the system component circuitry in dependence on a charge of at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

23. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system component circuitry comprises a first processing device and a second processing device, wherein an energy requirement of the first processing device is greater than an energy requirement of the second processing device, and a processing capability of the first processing device is greater than a processing capability of the second processing device;
the system control circuitry is to select a selected one of the first processing device and the second processing device to execute at least one instruction, and to cause one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores to supply power to the selected one of the first processing device and second processing device based on the plurality of energy stores and the energy requirements of the first processing device and the second processing device and an energy profile of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores.

24. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system component circuitry comprises a plurality of heterogeneous processing circuitry; and
the system control circuitry controls the activity of the system component circuitry by controlling scheduling of tasks to be executed by one or more of the heterogeneous processing circuitry.

25. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the system component circuitry comprises a processing device; and
in response to the processing device indicating that a higher processing speed is desired, the system control circuitry causes energy to be supplied by a one of the plurality of heterogeneous energy stores having a higher specific power delivery than another.

26. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the energy requirement is represented by at least one of: a quantity of energy, a quantity of power, or a quantity of current.

27. A method comprising the steps:
determining an energy requirement for a system component circuitry;
determining status information relating to a plurality of heterogeneous energy stores including a capa

Assignees

• Advanced Risc Mach Ltd

Inventors

• Hansson Andreas
• Crawford Ashley John
• Diestelhorst Stephan
• Myers James Edward

Classifications

• H02J7/975

  in response to temperature · CPC title

• H02J7/96

  in response to battery voltage · CPC title

• H02J7/94

  in response to battery current · CPC title

• G06F1/329 Primary

  by task scheduling · CPC title

• G06F1/263

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title