# US 10,873,949 B1 · Battery watchdog system and methodology

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- Number: US 10,873,949 B1
- Document ID: US10873949B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 16/659,601
- Filed: 2019-10-22
- Granted: 2020-12-22
- Earliest claimed: 2019-10-22
- Assignees: Link Labs, Inc.
- Applicants: Link Labs Inc.
- Inventors: Patrick Li; Ryan Zanski
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10873949B1

## CPC

- G06F 1/3212: Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
- H04W 72/51: based on terminal or device properties
- G01R 31/367: Software therefor, e.g. for battery testing using modelling or look-up tables
- G01R 31/396: Acquisition or processing of data for testing or for monitoring individual cells or groups of cells within a battery
- G06F 1/28: Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
- H04W 52/0212: {managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is leader and terminal is follower}
- G09G 2330/021: Power management, e.g. power saving
- Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12)
- G09G: ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION (arrangements for transferring data between digital computers and displays G06F3/14; static indicating arrangements comprising an association of a number of separate sources or light control cells G09F9/00; static indicating arrangements comprising integral associations of a number of light sources H01J, H01K, H10H, H05B33/12; scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission, details thereof H04N1/00)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A system incorporating a watchdog and power throttling capability which is implemented to ensure that network devices do not consume their entire battery capacity prior to the minimum expected battery life associated with the battery/device. The system includes capabilities for monitoring predicted remaining battery life in each associated device as well as the ability to control various functionalities within the device and the timing of events so as to guarantee minimum operating life for the device. This watchdog/throttling capability is implemented in such a way as to minimize the impact to device behavior and system operating parameters as much as possible while still enforcing minimum device/battery lifetime.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A battery watchdog control system for enforcing battery power consumption constraints, the battery watchdog control system comprising:
a battery for powering operations on a device;
storage comprising a plurality of pre-calculated and pre-stored estimated battery usage values each respectively corresponding to said operations;
a remaining battery capacity determination module, said remaining battery capacity determination module operating to determine, for each determination thereof, an estimate of remaining power capacity associated with said battery, based on a difference between (a) a current battery capacity and (b) solely one or more of said pre-calculated and pre-stored estimated battery usage values respectively corresponding to one or more of said operations, wherein said estimate differs from an actual level of remaining power capacity associated with said battery and defines a determined level of prospectively remaining power capacity;
a throttled state determination module configured to communicate with said remaining battery capacity determination module, said throttled state determination module operating to selectively place said device in either a throttled state or a non-throttled state, based on a comparison of said estimate of remaining power capacity associated with said battery and a predetermined threshold for said remaining power capacity;
an event control module configured to communicate with said remaining battery capacity determination module and said throttled state determination module, said event control module operating to selectively permit or prevent said operations on said device from being carried out;
wherein said event control module selectively prevents at least one type of operation from being carried out when said device is in said throttled state and wherein the carrying out of an operation of said at least one operation type would cause battery usage in excess of said predetermined threshold.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein said selective prevention of at least one type of operation from being carried out is dependent upon whether or not the carrying out of an operation of said at least one operation type would cause battery usage in excess of a predetermined value of battery usage during a time window of defined duration.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2 wherein said defined duration of said time window is set via an administrative subsystem.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2 wherein at least one type of operation is permitted to be carried out during a current time window regardless of whether said device is in said throttled state provided that a predetermined value for battery usage associated with at least one subsequent time window following said current time window is reduced to a value below a predetermined value for battery usage associated with said current time window.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2 wherein if an aggregate value for battery usage during a current time window is less than a predetermined value for battery usage associated with said current time window, then a predetermined value for battery usage associated with at least one subsequent time window following said current window is increased to a value above the predetermined value for battery usage associated with said current time window.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein said remaining battery capacity determination module is resident on said device.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 further comprising an administrative subsystem accessed by an administrator and in communication with said device, said administrative subsystem receiving instructions from said administrator which are implemented as one or more parameters associated with battery power consumption constraints.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 wherein said remaining battery capacity determination module is resident on said administrative subsystem.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein said throttled state determination module selectively places said device in said throttled state once said estimate of remaining power capacity associated with said battery falls below said predetermined threshold.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein at least one type of operation is permitted to be carried out regardless of whether said device is in said throttled state.

### Claim 11

A computer-implemented method of enforcing battery power consumption constraints in a device, the method being implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the method comprising the steps of:
storing at least one pre-calculated, estimated battery usage value associated with an event type, such that the pre-calculated, estimated battery usage value is pre-stored;
receiving an indication that an event associated with said event type is planned for execution;
determining, for a current time window, an estimated remaining battery capacity defined by a difference between (a) a predetermined aggregate battery usage value and (b) solely said pre-calculated and pre-stored estimated battery usage value, wherein said estimated remaining battery capacity differs from an actual level of battery usage associated with said battery and defines a determined level of prospectively usable power capacity;
determining, based upon said battery usage value associated with said event, whether said execution of said event will exceed said predetermined aggregate battery usage value associated with said current time window; and
preventing said event from being executed in the event that said execution of said event will exceed any of said estimated remaining battery capacity and said predetermined aggregate battery usage value associated with said current time window.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein any further events planned for execution during said current time window are prevented from being executed in the event that a previous planned event exceeded said predetermined aggregate battery usage value associated with said current time window.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12 wherein said device comprises an accelerometer for awakening said device from a sleep mode in which no events are planned for execution.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein further non-critical events planned for execution during said current time window are prevented from being executed in the event that a previous planned event exceeded said predetermined aggregate battery usage value associated with said current time window and wherein critical events planned for execution during said current time window are not prevented from being executed even in the event that a previous planned event exceeded said predetermined aggregate battery usage value associated with said current time window.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein when aggregate battery usage during a current time window is less than said predetermined aggregate battery usage value, said predetermined aggregate battery usage value is increased for at least one time window subsequent to said current time window.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein said device comprises a low energy Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein said event type comprises one or more categories of radio frequency transmissions.

### Claim 18 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 wherein said event type comprises one or more categories of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) location scans.