Heterogeneous Battery Cell Charging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016248266-A1
Application number	US-201514626600-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 19, 2015
Priority date	Feb 19, 2015
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Heterogeneous battery cell charging techniques are described for a device having a battery system with heterogeneous battery cells. A control system is provided that is configured to determine a charging strategy for charging the heterogeneous battery cells based upon an analysis of a plurality of contextual factors. For example, contextual factors may indicate anticipated future load conditions, battery usage preferences established for the battery system, and/or other factors indicative of an overall context in which charging occurs. Different charging strategies that indicate which battery cells to charge and the way in which charging is to be conducted may be mapped to different combinations of the contextual factors such that the charging is dynamically tailored to different contexts. A selected charging strategy is then employed to distribute charging current from a power source among the heterogeneous battery cells in the manner designated by the selected charging strategy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computing device comprising:
a battery system having heterogeneous battery cells; a control system configured to:
select a charging strategy for charging of the heterogeneous battery cells based in part upon anticipated future load conditions and power availability established for the battery system; and
distribute charging current from a power source among the heterogeneous battery cells using the charging strategy that is selected.

2 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the heterogeneous battery cells include at least two cells having different characteristics including differences in at least one of size, capacity, battery technology, chemistry, shape or state of charge (SOC).

3 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the charging strategy indicates an order in which cells of the heterogeneous battery cells are charged by the charging current.

4 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the charging strategy indicates an amount of the charging current to provide for charging each of the heterogeneous battery cells.

5 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein selection of the charging strategy is based upon an assessment of a plurality of contextual factors that influence a charging policy for the battery system.

6 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein selection of the charging strategy is further based upon contextual factors including one or more of: an amount of charging current available, time available for charging, charge states of the heterogeneous battery cells, battery cell charging current requirements, battery cell charging current capabilities, battery cell charging rates, battery cell temperatures, or battery aging constraints.

7 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the control system includes a power manager module implemented as a component of an operating system for the computing and a charge controller including distribution circuitry operable under the influence of the power manager module to distribute the charging current among the heterogeneous battery cells.

8 . The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the control system is further configured to communicate control directives to direct operation of the distribution circuitry to cause distribution of the charging current to the heterogeneous battery cells using the charging strategy that is selected.

9 . The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the control directives are configured to set registers implemented by the charge controller to specify parameters that are employed by charging logic of the charge controller to distribute the charging current according to the charging strategy that is selected.

10 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the anticipated future load conditions are predicted based on information gathered regarding past user activity with the computing device, location data, daily behavior patterns, application usage statistics, and schedule information.

11 . A method implemented by a computing device comprising:
collecting data regarding a plurality of contextual factors that influence a charging policy for a battery system of the computing device having heterogeneous battery cells; selecting a charging strategy for charging of the heterogeneous battery cells based on analysis of the contextual factors; and directing operation of a charge controller to apply the charging strategy that is selected to control distribution of charging current from a power source among the heterogeneous battery cells.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein directing operation of the charge controller to apply the charging strategy causes the charge controller to selectively activate and deactivate cells for charging as specified by the charging strategy.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the charging strategy is configured to designate different charge rates for different cells.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising recognizing a charging context reflected by the contextual factors based on the analysis of the contextual factors, wherein:
different charging strategies supported by the charge controller are defined to match different combinations of contextual factors; the contextual factors include factors indicative of at least current operating conditions, anticipated future operating conditions, and charging preferences for application and users; and selecting of the charging strategy occurs responsive to recognizing the charging context such that the charging strategy that is selected matches the charging context.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein directing operation of the charge controller to apply the charging strategy causes the charge controller to implement an exchange mode in which charge is migrated between cells as specified by the charging strategy.

16 . A charge controller for charging of a battery system having heterogeneous battery cells on a per-cell basis comprising:
distribution circuitry to interconnect the heterogeneous battery cells and route charging current from a power source to heterogeneous battery cells, the distribution circuitry connecting each of the heterogeneous battery cells directly to the charge controller to provide individual current paths to and from each of the heterogeneous battery cells; charging logic to control the distribution circuitry to distribute charging current to the heterogeneous battery cells and migrate charge between cells of the heterogeneous battery cells in accordance with a charging strategy established for the battery system; and registers configurable to specify parameters that are employed by control logic to implement the charging strategy established for the battery system.

17 . A charge controller as recited in claim 16 , wherein the registers are accessible via an application programming interface (API) exposed by an operating system of a device in which the charge controller is utilized to dynamically program the charge controller to implement different charging strategies by setting the parameters to corresponding values.

18 . A charge controller as recited in claim 16 , wherein the registers include registers associated with each battery cell to specify charging constraints on a per-cell basis that specify one or more of: cells that are active and inactive for charging, portions of charging current to direct to each cell during charging, priority of cells to control charging order of the cells, or levels of charge to attain for each cell during charging.

19 . A charge controller as recited in claim 16 , wherein the charging strategy is established at runtime based on a combination of contextual factors including at least current operating conditions and anticipated future operating conditions.

20 . A charge controller as recited in claim 16 , wherein the distribution circuitry includes switching mechanisms to route the charging current via the individual current paths.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Ferrese Anthony John
• Hu Pan
• Hodges Stephen E
• Chandra Ranveer
• Meinershagen Julia L
• Priyantha Nissanka Arachchige Bodhi
• Badam Anirudh
• Moscibroda Thomas
• Dutra Jon

Classifications

• H02J7/50 Primary

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/0003 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/007

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/0021

  Electricity · mapped topic