Variable-frequency sampling of battery voltage to determine fuel gauge power mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016299560-A1
Application number	US-201514684635-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2015
Priority date	Apr 13, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for conserving power in an electronic device, in some embodiments, comprises: a battery to supply power to the electronic device; and a fuel gauge coupled to the battery and capable of operating in any of a plurality of power modes, wherein the fuel gauge selects its own power mode based on a repeated, variable-frequency sampling of a voltage provided by said battery.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for conserving power in an electronic device, comprising:
a battery to supply power to the electronic device; and a fuel gauge coupled to the battery and capable of operating in any of a plurality of power modes, wherein the fuel gauge selects its own power mode based on a repeated, variable-frequency sampling of a voltage provided by said battery.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge repeatedly samples said voltage at a sampling frequency corresponding to a currently-enabled power mode of the fuel gauge.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the power mode is selected from at least two different power modes, and wherein a higher one of said at least two different power modes is associated with more frequent sampling of said voltage by the fuel gauge, and wherein a lower one of said at least two different power modes is associated with less frequent sampling of said voltage by the fuel gauge.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said power mode is selected from the group consisting of: a stand by mode, a relax mode, an operation mode and an active mode.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge switches to a higher power mode than its currently-enabled power mode if said repeated sampling demonstrates a change in said voltage that meets or exceeds a voltage change threshold.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge maintains its currently-enabled power mode if said repeated sampling demonstrates a change in said voltage that fails to meet or exceed a voltage change threshold.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge switches to a lower power mode than its currently-enabled power mode if said repeated sampling demonstrates no change in said voltage.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of: a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, a digital camera, and a handheld game console.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuel gauge selects its power mode based on four consecutive samples of said voltage.

10 . An electronic device, comprising:
a battery that powers at least part of the electronic device; and a fuel gauge, coupled to the battery, that autonomously selects a power mode in which to operate based on a sampling of a voltage provided by said battery, wherein the fuel gauge selects said power mode based on a degree to which said voltage swings between samples and based on how often said voltage changes.

11 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein, while operating within a single fuel gauge power mode, the fuel gauge varies a sampling frequency at which the fuel gauge samples said voltage.

12 . The electronic device of claim 10 , further comprising a programmable register that stores a voltage change threshold against which the fuel gauge compares said degree to which the voltage swings between samples and that stores a rate of change threshold against which the fuel gauge compares how often said voltage changes, and wherein the fuel gauge uses said comparisons to select said power mode.

13 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein a sampling frequency at which the fuel gauge samples said voltage is based on a currently-enabled power mode of the fuel gauge.

14 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein, if the fuel gauge determines that said voltage does not change over a predetermined number of consecutive samples, the fuel gauge switches to a lower power mode than its currently-enabled power mode.

15 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein, if the greatest battery voltage swing over a predetermined number of consecutive voltage samples is less than a voltage change threshold, or if the number of times that the battery voltage changes over said predetermined number of consecutive voltage samples is less than a rate of change threshold, the fuel gauge maintains its currently-enabled power mode.

16 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein, if the greatest battery voltage swing over a predetermined number of consecutive voltage samples is equal to or greater than a voltage change threshold, and if the number of times that the battery voltage changes over said predetermined number of consecutive voltage samples is equal to or greater than a rate of change threshold, the fuel gauge switches to a higher power mode than its currently-enabled power mode.

17 . A method for conserving power, comprising:
repeatedly sampling a voltage provided by a battery housed within an electronic device; and selecting a fuel gauge power mode based on said repeated sampling, wherein said repeated sampling is performed at a variable sampling frequency that depends on a currently-enabled power mode of the fuel gauge, wherein said selecting is performed by the fuel gauge.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said fuel gauge power mode is selected from the group consisting of: a standby mode, a relaxed mode, an operation mode, and an active mode.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the fuel gauge samples said voltage at a first sampling frequency during the relaxed mode, at a second sampling frequency during the operation mode, and at a third sampling frequency during the active mode, and wherein the second sampling frequency is greater than the first sampling frequency but less than the third sampling frequency.

20 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising varying the sampling frequency while operating within a single fuel gauge power mode.

Assignees

• Semiconductor Components Ind Llc

Inventors

• Kondo Hideo

Classifications

• H02J7/585

  Sequential battery discharge in systems with a plurality of batteries · CPC title

• H02J7/963

  in response to battery voltage gradient · CPC title

• H02J7/855

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

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J2105/16

  being internal to power sources or power generation plants · CPC title