Drive control device, drive control method and drive control program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9438057-B2
Application number	US-201214368414-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2012
Priority date	Dec 28, 2011
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

A drive control device that is capable of ensuring user convenience. The drive control device ( 100 ) is a device that controls the drive of an electronic device driven by means of the power of a battery, and comprises a battery information management section ( 280 ) and a battery state assessment section ( 300 ). Said battery information management section ( 280 ) manages the remaining power of a rechargeable battery, replaceable battery or other type of reserve battery for the electronic device, and/or whether a reserve battery exists. On the basis of the remaining power of the reserve battery and/or whether a reserve battery exists, said battery state assessment section ( 300 ) determines whether to drive the electronic device in a power-saving mode when the remaining power of a battery mounted in the electronic device has decreased to no more than a preset battery capacity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A drive control apparatus that controls driving of an electronic device driven by power of a battery, the apparatus comprising:
a battery information management section that manages at least one of a remaining power level of a reserve battery including a charging battery or a replacement battery for the electronic device, and the presence or absence of the reserve battery; and
a battery state determination section that determines whether or not to drive the electronic device in a power saving mode when the remaining power level of the battery loaded in the electronic device decreases to a level equal to or less than a predetermined battery capacity, based on at least one of the remaining power level of the reserve battery and the presence or absence of the reserve battery, wherein:
the battery information management section acquires the remaining power level of the reserve battery that has been charged and determined to be held by the user; and
the battery state determination section determines to shift the driving of the electronic device from a normal mode to the power saving mode under condition that a total value of the remaining power level of the battery and the remaining power level of the reserve battery is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

2. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the battery information management section estimates whether a user of the electronic device holds the reserve battery that has been charged; and
the battery state determination section determines whether or not to drive the electronic device in the power saving mode when the remaining power level of the battery loaded in the electronic device decreases to a level equal to or less than the predetermined battery capacity, based on an estimation result of whether the user holds the reserve battery that has been charged.

3. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery state linkage control section that controls the driving of the electronic device according to a determination result of the battery state determination section.

4. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the battery information management section acquires information on the remaining power level of the reserve battery directly from the reserve battery or through user input.

5. The drive control apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein, when the charging battery that allows for a plurality of times of full charging of the battery loaded in the electronic device is connected, the battery information management section acquires information indicating how many more times of the full charging is allowed by the charging battery, as information on the remaining power level of the reserve battery.

6. The drive control apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the battery information management section determines to output a message that prompts charging of the charging battery under condition that the remaining power level of the charging battery under management becomes equal to or less than a remaining power level necessary for one time of full charging, at least.

7. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the charging battery includes a charging battery to be connected via a wired connection scheme such as USB or a non-contact scheme such as Qi.

8. A drive control method of controlling driving of an electronic device driven by power of a battery, the method comprising:
managing at least one of a remaining power level of a reserve battery including a charging battery or a replacement battery for the electronic device, and the presence or absence of the reserve battery; and
determining whether or not to drive the electronic device in a power saving mode when the remaining power level of the battery loaded in the electronic device decreases to a level equal to or less than a predetermined battery capacity, based on at least one of the remaining power level of the reserve battery and the presence or absence of the reserve battery, wherein:
the managing acquires the remaining power level of the reserve battery that has been charged and determined to be held by the user; and
the determining determines to shift the driving of the electronic device from a normal mode to the power saving mode under condition that a total value of the remaining power level of the battery and the remaining power level of the reserve battery is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

9. A drive control program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that controls driving of an electronic device driven by power of a battery, the program causing a computer of the electronic device to execute processing comprising:
managing at least one of a remaining power level of a reserve battery including a charging battery or a replacement battery for the electronic device, and the presence or absence of the reserve battery; and
determining whether or not to drive the electronic device in a power saving mode when the remaining power level of the battery loaded in the electronic device decreases to a level equal to or less than a predetermined battery capacity, based on at least one of the remaining power level of the reserve battery and the presence or absence of the reserve battery, wherein:
the managing acquires the remaining power level of the reserve battery that has been charged and determined to be held by the user; and
the determining determines to shift the driving of the electronic device from a normal mode to the power saving mode under condition that a total value of the remaining power level of the battery and the remaining power level of the reserve battery is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Harada Masaaki

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [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

• H04W52/0277

  according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected · CPC title

• H04W52/0296

  switching to a backup power supply · CPC title

• G06F1/263

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