Enabling system boot-up in low temperature environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11815970-B2
Application number	US-202217702541-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2022
Priority date	Mar 23, 2022
Publication date	Nov 14, 2023
Grant date	Nov 14, 2023

Abstract

System boot-up can be enabled in low temperature environments. A laptop or other battery-powered computing device can include multiple batteries and a battery architecture that allows the multiple batteries to simultaneously discharge to thereby provide adequate power to boot the system in low temperature environments. The battery architecture may also allow a battery with a higher relative state of charge to charge another battery with a lower relative state of charge to thereby equalize the batteries' relative states of charge.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A battery architecture comprising:
a first battery control circuit by which a first battery and a second battery are selectively coupled to an output of a charger and system power;
a second battery control circuit by which the first battery and the second battery are selectively coupled to an input of the charger; and
an embedded controller that is coupled to the first battery control circuit and the second battery control circuit.

2. The battery architecture of claim 1 , wherein the embedded controller is configured to cause the first battery control circuit to simultaneously connect the first battery and the second battery to the system power.

3. The battery architecture of claim 2 , wherein the embedded controller causes the first battery control circuit to simultaneously connect the first battery and the second battery to the system power when a battery temperature is below a threshold or to support enhanced performance of the system.

4. The battery architecture of claim 3 , wherein the embedded controller is configured to cause the second battery control circuit to connect one of the first battery or the second battery to the input of the charger and to cause the first battery control circuit to connect the other of the first battery or the second battery to the output of the charger.

5. The battery architecture of claim 4 , wherein the embedded controller causes the second battery control circuit to connect one of the first battery or the second battery to the input of the charger and to cause the first battery control circuit to connect the other of the first battery or the second battery to the output of the charger when a charge of the first battery does not match a charge of the second battery.

6. The battery architecture of claim 2 , wherein the embedded controller causes the first battery control circuit to simultaneously connect the first battery and the second battery to the system power when the charge of the first battery matches the charge of the second battery.

7. A method for enabling system boot-up in low temperature environments, the method comprising:
detecting, in a battery architecture, that a charge of a first battery is higher than a charge of a second battery;
configuring the battery architecture to connect the first battery to an input of a charger and to connect the second battery to an output of the charger to thereby cause the first battery to charge the second battery;
subsequently detecting, in the battery architecture, that a battery temperature is below a threshold; and
in response to detecting that the battery temperature is below the threshold, configuring the battery architecture to simultaneously use the first battery and the second battery to provide power for booting a system.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein configuring the battery architecture to simultaneously use the first battery and the second battery to provide power for booting the system comprises generating control signals to cause a first battery control circuit to connect the first battery and the second battery to system power.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein detecting that the charge of the first battery is higher than the charge of the second battery comprises determining that the first battery has a higher relative state of charge.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein configuring the battery architecture to connect the first battery to the input of the charger and to connect the second battery to the output of the charger comprises generating control signals to cause a second battery control circuit to connect the first battery to the input of the charger and to cause a first battery control circuit to connect the second battery to the output of the charger.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
detecting that the charge of the first battery matches the charge of the second battery;
wherein the battery architecture is configured to simultaneously use the first battery and the second battery to provide power for booting the system after detecting that the charge of the first battery matches the charge of the second battery.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the charge of the first battery matches the charge of the second battery when the respective charges are within a defined threshold from one another.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein detecting that the battery temperature is below the threshold comprises reading a battery fuel gauge.

14. A computing device comprising:
a battery architecture comprising:
a first battery control circuit by which a first battery and a second battery are selectively coupled to an output of a charger and system power;
a second battery control circuit by which the first battery and the second battery are selectively coupled to an input of the charger; and
an embedded controller that configures the first battery control circuit and the second battery control circuit to implement a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation;
wherein, in the first mode of operation, one of the first battery or the second battery charges the other of the first battery or the second battery; and
wherein, in the second mode of operation, the first battery and the second battery simultaneously provide power to the system.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the computing device is a laptop.

16. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein, in the first mode of operation, one of the first battery or the second battery is connected via the second battery control circuit to an input of a charger and the other of the first battery or the second battery is connected via the first battery control circuit to an output of the charger.

17. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein, in the second mode of operation, the first battery and the second battery are simultaneously connected via the first battery control circuit to the system power.

18. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the first mode of operation is implemented when a charge of the first battery does not match a charge of the second battery.

19. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the second mode of operation is implemented when the computing device is in a low temperature environment or to support enhanced performance of the system.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Yeh Yi-Hao
• Charles Gary
• Lerma John Robert
• Yang Cheng-Hung
• Chang Wei-Che

Classifications

• H02J7/56

  Active balancing, e.g. using capacitor-based, inductor-based or DC-DC converters · CPC title

• G06F1/263 Primary

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

• G01R31/371

  with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers · CPC title

• G01R31/382

  Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC · CPC title

• G06F1/3212

  Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level · CPC title