Charging device and method for commonly charging multiple digital electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9608457-B2
Application number	US-201414571366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2014
Priority date	May 29, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A charging device for commonly charging multiple digital electronic devices has a housing, a charge control unit and multiple outlet strips. The charge control unit is mounted inside the housing and has multiple relays. The outlet strips are electrically connected to the charge control unit with each outlet strip electrically connected to one of the relays. A charging method corresponding to the charging device is performed by the charge control unit without the need of users' configuration during a charge cycle. The charge method automatically determines if the outlet strips can simultaneously supply power to charge during each charge schedule of the charge cycle. At least one outlet strip supplies power to charge during each charge schedule, and each outlet strip supplies power to charge once, thereby achieving optimization for the charging process with automatic determination and enhancing charging efficiency and users' operational convenience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A charging device for commonly charging multiple digital electronic devices, comprising:
a housing;
a charge control unit mounted inside the housing and having multiple relays; and
multiple outlet strips electrically connected to the charge control unit with each outlet strip electrically connected to one of the multiple relays;
wherein the charge control unit activates all of the multiple relays, records a current value of each outlet strip, configures a total outlet current threshold, and generates multiple charge schedules included in a charge cycle with a combination selected from the multiple outlet strips performing charging in each charge schedule of the charge cycle; wherein the multiple charge schedules are identical to the multiple outlet strips in number; wherein the combination of each charge schedule includes at least one of the multiple outlet strips to perform charging during the charge schedule, wherein a total current value of the at least one of the multiple outlet strips in the charge schedule does not exceed the total outlet current threshold, with all of the multiple outlet strips to perform charging in the multiple charge schedules, wherein the charge control unit sequentially reads each combination selected from the multiple outlet strips in each charge schedule of the charge cycle to activate the relay corresponding to the at least one of the multiple outlet strips in the combination for the at least one of the multiple outlet strips to perform charging during the charge schedule; wherein the charge control unit sets up an irregular current value and selects one of the multiple outlet strips whose current value has not been acquired yet when deactivating all of the multiple relays and recording a current value of each outlet strip, activates the relay corresponding to the selected outlet strip, acquires current from the selected outlet strip, determines if the current value is higher than the irregular current value, deactivates all of the multiple relays if the current is higher than the irregular current value, and selects another outlet strip whose current value has not been acquired yet until the current values of all of the multiple outlet strips are recorded if the current value is not higher than the irregular current value.

2. The charging device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the charge control unit further configures a saturated charge current value being less than the irregular current value, selects one of the multiple outlet strips whose current value has not been acquired yet, activates the relay corresponding the selected outlet strip and reads the current value of the selected outlet strip, determines if the current value of the selected outlet strip is located between the irregular current value and the saturated charge current value, and further selects another outlet strip whose current value has not been acquired yet until all the current values of the multiple outlet strips are acquired.

3. The charging device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein when activating all of the multiple relays and recording a current value of each outlet strip, the charge control unit simultaneously activates the relays corresponding to the multiple outlet strips and sequentially reads and records the current value of each outlet strip.

4. The charging device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
the charge control unit generates the combination selected from the multiple outlet strips in each charge schedule by:
setting up initial information for the charge cycle, wherein the initial information has a total outlet current initialized to zero;
sequentially selecting one of the multiple outlet strips as a primary outlet strip with remaining outlet strips taken as secondary outlet strips in the charge schedule sequentially selected from the charge cycle, and reading a current value of the primary outlet strip added to the total outlet current;
sequentially selecting at least one of the secondary outlet strips and reading a current value of each of the at least one secondary outlet strip added to the total outlet current;
arranging the primary outlet strip and the at least one selected outlet strip with the total outlet current not exceeding the total outlet current threshold as a combination of the outlet strips in the selected charge schedule; and
returning to sequentially selecting one of the multiple outlet strips as a primary outlet strip until all of the multiple outlet strips have been selected as the primary outlet strip to generate combinations of the multiple outlet strips in the respective charge schedules.

5. The charging device as claimed in claim 4 , wherein:
the initial information for the charge cycle includes a total outlet current threshold, an outlet-charging set and a total outlet current, wherein the outlet-charging set is a set initialized with no element contained therein and the total outlet current is initialized to zero;
sequentially selecting the at least one of the secondary outlet strip further includes:
determining if all the secondary outlet strips have been selected according to the secondary outlet strips in the outlet-charging set;
sequentially selecting one of the secondary outlet strips, reading a current value of the selected secondary outlet strip, adding the current value to the total outlet current, and adding the selected secondary outlet strip as a new element to the outlet-charging set when all the secondary outlet strips have not been selected;
determining if the total outlet current exceeds the total outlet current threshold, and resuming determining if all the secondary outlet strips have been selected when the total outlet current exceeds the total outlet current threshold;
determining if the current read from the selected secondary outlet strip is higher than that of any other secondary outlet strip when the total outlet current does not exceed the total outlet current threshold;
respectively saving the outlet-charging set and the total outlet current as a temporary outlet-charging set and a temporary total outlet current, removing the selected outlet strip from the outlet-charging set, adding the replacing secondary outlet strip to the outlet-charging set, and calculating the total outlet current of the primary outlet strip and the secondary outlet strips in the outlet-charging set;
determining if the total outlet current is higher than the total outlet current threshold, and resuming determining if all the secondary outlet strips have been selected when the total outlet current is not higher than the total outlet current threshold; and
respectively restoring the outlet-charging set and the total outlet current to the temporary outlet-charging set and the temporary total outlet current and resuming determining if all the secondary outlet strips have been selected when the total outlet current is higher than the total outlet current threshold.

6. The charging device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the charge procedure includes:
determining if the total current read from the relays activated to correspond to the outlet strips for the charge schedule sequentially selected in the charge cycle exceeds the total outlet current threshold, deactivating the relays corresponding to the outlet strips for the selected charge schedule and returning to the test procedure when the total current exceeds the total outlet current threshold, and continuously activating the relays corresponding to the outlet strips for the selected charge schedule when the total current does not exceed the total outlet current threshold; and
determining if all the multiple charge schedules have been selected for charging, deactivating the relays corresponding to the outlet strips for the selected charge schedule and returning to the test proce

Assignees

• Aver Information Inc

Inventors

• Chou Lien-Kai
• Chang Chao-Hung
• Hsu Chi-Fa

Classifications

• H02J7/731

  specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries (H02J7/751 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/947

  in response to integrated charge or discharge current · CPC title

• H02J7/62

  against overcurrent · CPC title

• H02J7/50 Primary

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/0044

  Electricity · mapped topic