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US 10,095,297 B2Granted
Variable-frequency sampling of battery voltage to determine fuel gauge power mode
AssigneeSemiconductor Components Industries, LLC
InventorHideo Kondo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims20
A fuel gauge comprising:
- a voltage detection logic circuit coupled with a fluctuation level register memory;
- a mode control logic circuit coupled with the voltage detection logic circuit;
- and
- a sampling timer coupled with the voltage detection logic circuit;
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to repeatedly sample a voltage from a battery using the sampling timer to measure a voltage swing and a rate of change of the voltage and generate data values that correspond with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage;
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to use the data values corresponding with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage to send a signal to the mode control logic circuit to increase a power mode of the fuel gauge if
- the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are greater than a voltage swing threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory and
- the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are greater than a rate of change threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory;
- and
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to use the data values corresponding with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage to send a signal to the mode control logic circuit to decrease the power mode of the fuel gauge if
- the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are less than a voltage swing threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory and
- the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are less than a rate of change threshold from the fluctuation level register memory.
9 more elements
A fuel gauge, comprising:
- a voltage detection logic circuit coupled with a fluctuation level register memory;
- a mode control logic circuit coupled with the voltage detection logic circuit;
- and
- a sampling timer coupled with the voltage detection logic circuit;
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to repeatedly sample a voltage from a battery using the sampling timer and measure a voltage swing and a rate of change of the voltage and generate data values that correspond with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage;
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to use the data values corresponding with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage to send a signal to the mode control logic circuit to increase a power mode of the fuel gauge if the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are greater than a voltage swing threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory and the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are greater than a rate of change threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory;
- and
- wherein the voltage detection logic circuit is configured to use the data values corresponding with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage to send a signal to the mode control logic circuit to decrease the power mode of the fuel gauge if the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are less than a voltage swing threshold value from the fluctuation level register memory and the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are less than a rate of change threshold.
5 more elements
A method for conserving power, comprising:
- repeatedly sampling a voltage using a voltage detection logic circuit coupled with a sampling timer;
- measuring a voltage swing and a rate of change of the voltage using the voltage detection logic circuit;
- generating data values that correspond with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage;
- using the data values that correspond with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage, sending a signal using the voltage detection logic circuit to a mode control logic circuit to increase a power mode of the fuel gauge if
- the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are greater than a voltage swing threshold value stored in a fluctuation level register memory coupled to the voltage detection logic circuit and
- the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are greater than a rate of change threshold value stored in the fluctuation level register memory;
- and
- using the data values corresponding with the voltage swing and the rate of change of the voltage, sending a signal using the voltage detection logic circuit to the mode control logic circuit to decrease the power mode of the fuel gauge if
- the data values corresponding with the voltage swing are less than the voltage swing threshold value stored in the fluctuation level register memory and
- the data values corresponding with the rate of change of the voltage are less than the rate of change threshold.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.