Electronic device case

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9774192-B2
Application number	US-201313834268-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Jan 4, 2013
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

A case for an electronic device is provided. The case includes a battery and electrical circuitry. The electrical circuitry is configured to receive electrical power from a power source connected to the case, supply the electrical power to the electronic device, and monitor an amount of current of the electrical power used by the electronic device. The electrical circuitry is also configured to charge the battery using a remaining amount of current of the electrical power where the sum of the amount of current used by the electronic device and the remaining amount of current do not exceed a current limit for the power source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A case for an electronic device, the case comprising:
a rechargeable battery; and
electrical circuitry configured to:
determine a characteristic of an external power source removably connected to the case, wherein the characteristic is determined by detecting one or more voltage levels present on a cable that removably attaches the external power source to the case;
receive electrical power from the external power source through the cable, wherein the electrical circuitry limits a current of the received electrical power to a current limit, the current limit determined based on the determined characteristic of the external power source;
receive an electronic data communication from an electronic device installed in the case, the electronic data communication including charging information, wherein the charging information includes a charge level and a charge rate of a battery of the electronic device;
allocate a first portion of the received electrical power to the electronic device and allocate a second portion of the received electrical power to the rechargeable battery of the case, wherein respective magnitudes of the first portion and the second portion are determined based on the charging information received in the electronic data communication from the electronic device; and
charge the rechargeable battery using the second portion of the electrical power.

2. The case of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuitry is further configured to provide a charging current from the rechargeable battery to the electronic device when the case is not receiving the electrical power from the external power source.

3. The case of claim 1 wherein the electrical circuitry is further configured to:
step down a voltage of the electrical power received from the external power source; and
step up a voltage of the first portion of the electrical power supplied to the electronic device.

4. The case of claim 1 wherein the case receives the electrical power from the external power source through a universal serial bus (USB) connector and the cable comprises a USB cable that electrically interfaces to the USB connector of the case.

5. The case of claim 4 wherein the one or more voltage levels are detected at one or more data lines of the USB connector.

6. The case of claim 1 wherein the current limit for the external power source is less than a maximum specified current for the external power source.

7. The case of claim 1 further comprising:
a hard shell that attaches to the electronic device; and
a cushion layer disposed over the hard shell.

8. The case of claim 1 further comprising a solar cell, wherein the electrical power is received from the solar cell when the external power source is not providing the electrical power.

9. The case of claim 1 wherein the received charging information on which the respective magnitudes of the first portion and the second portion of the electrical power are determined further includes a capacity of the battery of the electronic device.

10. A protective enclosure for a mobile computing device, the protective enclosure comprising:
a shell that protects the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is installed in the shell;
an interface to a battery; and
a computer processor configured to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory computer storage medium to:
receive an electronic data communication from the mobile computing device, the electronic data communication including charging information, wherein the charging information includes a charge level and a charge rate of the mobile computing device;
receive electrical power from an external power source, the received electrical power having a current that is limited to a current limit by the computer processor, the current limit determined based on a detected characteristic of the external power source;
allocate a first portion of the received electrical power to the mobile computing device and allocate a second portion of the received electrical power to the battery, wherein respective magnitudes of the first portion and the second portion are determined based on the charging information received in the electronic data communication; and
transmit the second portion of the electrical power to the interface for charging the battery.

11. The protective enclosure of claim 10 wherein the computer processor further executes the instructions to control charging of the battery using the second portion of the electrical power.

12. The protective enclosure of claim 10 further comprising a connector to receive the electrical power from the external power source.

13. The protective enclosure of claim 12 wherein the connector includes a USB connector.

14. The protective enclosure of claim 10 wherein the battery provides electrical power to the mobile computing device when the protective enclosure is not receiving the electrical power from the external power source.

15. The protective enclosure of claim 10 wherein the computer processor further executes the instructions to determine the current limit further based on an amount of electrical current consumed by the protective enclosure.

16. The protective enclosure of claim 10 wherein the detected characteristic of the external power source comprises a voltage level detected on a cable attaching the external power source to the protective enclosure and detected at the protective enclosure.

17. The protective enclosure of claim 10 wherein the external power source is connected to the case inductively.

18. A method of performing power management in a case for an electronic device, the method comprising:
when the case is receiving power from an external power source:
receiving an electronic data communication from the electronic device that includes information regarding charging characteristics of the electronic device;
limiting the power received from the external power source based on a current limit associated with the external power source;
allocating a first portion of the received power to the electronic device and allocating a second portion of the received power to a rechargeable battery of the case, wherein respective magnitudes of the first portion and the second portion are determined based on the information in the electronic data communication;
distributing the first portion of the received power to the electronic device; and
distributing the second portion of the received power to circuitry for charging the rechargeable battery of the case; and

when the case is not receiving power from the external power source:
distributing supplemental power from the rechargeable battery to the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein distributing power to the electronic device includes increasing a voltage associated with the power to a value that is within a voltage input range of the electronic device.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein receiving power from the external power source includes decreasing a voltage associated with the received power.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein limiting the power received from the external power source based on the current limit includes determining the current limit associated with the external power source based on information received from the external power source.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the magnitude of the second portion is determined further based on the magnitude of the first portion and the current limit.

Assignees

• 1 Oak Tech Llc
• Otter Products Llc

Inventors

• Wojcik James John
• Center Adam Douglas
• Joshi Abhishek
• Benzion Adam

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• H02J7/825

  Detection of fully charged condition · CPC title

• H02J7/731

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

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title