Power supply controller and method for controlling power supply

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9831696-B2
Application number	US-201514983475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2015
Priority date	Mar 30, 2015
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A power supply controller includes: a processor configured to control a power supply of an information processing apparatus having a plurality of batteries, wherein the processor determines residual capacities of the plurality of batteries and preferentially charges a first battery of the plurality of batteries, the first battery having a residual capacity which is equal to or below a transition-allowable residual capacity that allows a transition of the information processing apparatus from a first mode to a second mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power supply controller to control a power supply of an information processing apparatus having a plurality of batteries, the power supply controller comprising:
a processor configured to determine residual capacities of the plurality of batteries,
preferentially charge a first battery of the plurality of batteries when the first battery having a residual capacity which is equal to or below a transition-allowable residual capacity that allows a transition of the information processing apparatus from a first mode to a second mode,
when the plurality of batteries include an internal battery built in the information processing apparatus during a manufacturing process and an additional battery added to the information processing apparatus after the manufacturing process, charge the internal battery in preference to the additional battery,
compare an average of residual capacities of the plurality of batteries with a threshold value when the residual capacity of the additional battery is equal to the transition-allowable residual capacity, and
discharge the internal battery when the average is larger than the threshold value.

2. The power supply controller according to claim 1 , wherein the first mode indicates a state where only a power supply of a main memory of the information processing apparatus is turned ON, and the second mode indicates a state where all power supplies of the information processing apparatus is turned OFF.

3. The power supply controller according to claim 1 , wherein, if there does not exist the first battery whose residual capacity is equal to or below the transition-allowable residual capacity, an internal battery which is included in the plurality of batteries and is built in the information processing apparatus during a manufacturing process is charged in preference to an additional battery which is included in the plurality of batteries and is added to the information processing apparatus after the manufacturing process.

4. The power supply controller according to claim 1 , wherein the processor preferentially discharges a second battery whose residual capacity is above the transition-allowable residual capacity.

5. A power supply controller to control a power supply of an information processing apparatus having a plurality of batteries, comprising:
a processor configured to determine residual capacities of the plurality of batteries,
preferentially discharging a first battery of the plurality of batteries when the first battery having a residual capacity which is equal to or above a transition-allowable residual capacity that allows a transition of the information processing apparatus from a first mode to a second mode,
when the plurality of batteries include an internal battery built in the information processing apparatus during a manufacturing process and an additional battery added to the information processing apparatus after the manufacturing process, discharging the additional battery preferentially,
discharging the internal battery when the residual capacity of the additional battery is equal to or below the transition-allowable residual capacity,
comparing an average of residual capacities of the plurality of batteries with a threshold value when the residual capacity of the additional battery is equal to the transition-allowable residual capacity, and
changing the mode of the information processing apparatus if the average is smaller than the threshold value.

6. The power supply controller according to claim 5 , wherein the first mode indicates a state where only a power supply of a main memory of the information processing apparatus is turned ON, and the second mode indicates a state where all power supplies of the information processing apparatus is turned OFF.

7. A method for controlling a power supply, the method comprising:
determining residual capacities of a plurality of batteries included in the information processing apparatus; and
performing, by a computer, a charging control process or a discharging control process for the information processing apparatus based on a result of the determination,
wherein the charging control process includes preferentially charging a first battery of the plurality of batteries when the first battery has a residual capacity which is equal to or below a transition-allowable residual capacity that allows a transition of the information processing apparatus from a first mode to a second mode, and
wherein the discharging control process includes preferentially discharging a second battery of the plurality of batteries when the second battery has the residual capacity which is equal to or above the transition-allowable residual capacity.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
determining whether the information processing apparatus is in a serial discharging mode or in a parallel discharging mode; and
performing the discharging control process if the information processing apparatus is in the serial discharging mode.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of batteries includes an internal battery built in the information processing apparatus during a manufacturing process and an additional battery added to the information processing apparatus after the manufacturing process.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
comparing an average of residual capacities of the plurality of batteries with a threshold value when the residual capacity of the additional battery is equal to the transition-allowable residual capacity; and
discharging the internal battery if the average is larger than the threshold value.

11. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
comparing an average of residual capacities of the plurality of batteries with a threshold value when the residual capacity of the second battery is equal to the transition-allowable residual capacity; and
changing a mode of the information processing apparatus if the average is smaller than the threshold value.

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Iida Satoshi

Classifications

• H02J7/585

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

• H02J7/933

  the cycle being controlled or terminated in response to electric parameters · CPC title

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/50 Primary

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/342

  The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging (with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/68) · CPC title