# US 12,214,694 B2 · Information processing apparatus, method and system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,214,694 B2 - Document ID: US12214694B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/249,344 - Filed: 2021-02-26 - Published: 2021-06-17 - Granted: 2025-02-04 - Earliest claimed: 2019-09-06 - Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba - Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba - Inventors: Takahiro Yamamoto; Kaoru Koiwa; Hisaaki Hatano; Kenichi Fujiwara; Kohei Maruchi; Koji Takazawa; Yoshiyuki Isozaki; Shun Egusa; Tomokazu Morita - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12214694B2 ## CPC - B60L 58/12: responding to state of charge [SoC] - B60L 50/60: using power supplied by batteries (in combination with fuel cells B60L50/75) - B60L 53/62: in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge - B60L 53/66: Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles - G01R 31/392: Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health - H02J 7/82: Control of state of charge [SOC] - H02J 7/84: Control of state of health [SOH] - H02J 7/927: {with introduction of pulses during the charging process} - H02J 7/94: in response to battery current - H02J 7/963: {in response to battery voltage gradient} - H02J 7/977: {of the battery} - B60L 2240/545: Temperature - B60L 2240/547: Voltage - B60L 2240/549: Current - H02J 50/10: using inductive coupling - H02J 2105/37: exchanging power with electric vehicles [EV] or with hybrid electric vehicles [HEV] - Y02E 60/10: Energy storage using batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 90/12: Electric charging stations - Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract There is provided a rechargeable battery evaluation device including: a charging controller configured to switch charging current of a rechargeable battery being charged with first current to second current; and a first state estimator configured to estimate a state of the rechargeable battery based on a feature of change in at least one of a voltage and a charging amount of the rechargeable battery due to switching from the charging current to the second current. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information processing apparatus, comprising: a charging controller configured to switch charging current of a rechargeable battery being charged with first current to second current and perform charging with the second current during a first duration which is one continuous period of time; a first state estimator configured to calculate a first voltage of the rechargeable battery during the first duration, calculate a second voltage which is an average value between a voltage at a time before start of the first duration and a voltage at a time after end of the first duration, calculate a feature of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage, and estimate a state of the rechargeable battery based on the feature; and an estimation result evaluator configured to specify, based on a plurality of pieces of first charging data in each of which a charging amount and a voltage are related with each other for a plurality of states, first charging data corresponding to the state estimated by the first state estimator, and specify a reference charging amount that is a charging amount corresponding to an evaluation target voltage in the specified first charging data, wherein the first state estimator specifies an evaluation target charging amount that is a charging amount of the rechargeable battery corresponding to the evaluation target voltage, and estimates the state of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the reference charging amount and the evaluation target charging amount. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first state estimator calculates a charging-amount change amount that is a difference between a charging amount of the rechargeable battery before charging with the second current and a charging amount of the rechargeable battery after charging with the second current, and calculates a voltage change amount that is a difference between a voltage of the rechargeable battery before charging with the second current and a voltage of the rechargeable battery after charging with the second current, and the feature is based on at least one of the voltage change amount and the charging-amount change amount. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the feature includes a ratio of the voltage change amount and the charging-amount change amount. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to-claim 1, wherein the first state estimator calculates a first temperature based on a measured value of the temperature of the rechargeable battery, the plurality of pieces of first charging data are associated with a plurality of battery temperatures, and the estimation result evaluator specifies the first charging data based on the first temperature and the state. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data acquirer configured to acquire, from the rechargeable battery, information including an initial charging amount that is a charging amount of the rechargeable battery before charging, wherein the state of the rechargeable battery is estimated based on the initial charging amount indicated by the information, the initial charging amount indicated by the information is corrected based on a difference between the reference charging amount and the evaluation target charging amount, and the state of the rechargeable battery is estimated based on the initial charging amount after the correction. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging controller generates the second current by adding third current to the first current. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a charging driver configured to charge the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second current is square-wave current. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first state estimator estimates the state of the rechargeable battery based on measurement data of the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state of the rechargeable battery is a degradation state of the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) An information processing system, comprising: an electric vehicle including a rechargeable battery; and the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, the information processing apparatus being configured to evaluate the state of the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 12 An information processing apparatus comprising: a charging controller configured to switch charging current of a rechargeable battery being charged with first current to second current and perform charging with the second current during a first duration which is one continuous period of time; a first state estimator configured to calculate a first voltage of the rechargeable battery during the first duration, calculate a second voltage which is an average value between a voltage at a time before start of the first duration and a voltage at a time after end of the first duration, calculate a feature of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage, and estimate a state of the rechargeable battery based on the feature; an estimation result evaluator configured to specify, based on a plurality of pieces of second charging data in each of which a charging amount and a voltage are related with each other for a plurality of states, second charging data corresponding to the estimated state; a data acquirer configured to acquire information indicating the initial state of the rechargeable battery; and a second state estimator configured to estimate an internal state of the rechargeable battery based on the information and the second charging data. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the first state estimator calculates a first temperature based on a measured value of the temperature of the rechargeable battery, the plurality of pieces of second charging data are associated with a plurality of battery temperatures, and the estimation result evaluator specifies the second charging data based on the first temperature and the state. ### Claim 14 An information processing method, comprising: switching charging current of a rechargeable battery being charged with first current to second current and charging with the second current is performed during a first duration which is one continuous period of time; calculating a first voltage of the rechargeable battery during the first duration; calculating a second voltage which is an average value between a voltage at a time before start of the first duration and a voltage at a time after end of the first duration; calculating a feature of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage; estimating a state of the rechargeable battery based on the feature of the rechargeable battery; specifying first charging data corresponding to the state estimated based on a plurality of pieces of first charging data in each of which a charging amount and a voltage are related with each other for a plurality of states; specifying a reference charging amount that is a charging amount corresponding to an evaluation target voltage in the specified first charging data; and estimating an evaluation target charging amount that is a charging amount of the rechargeable battery corresponding to the evaluation target voltage and estimating a state of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the reference charging amount and the evaluation target charging amount. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, comprising: calculating a charging-amount change amount that is a difference between a charging amount of the rechargeable battery before charging with the second current and a charging amount of the rechargeable battery after charging with the second current, calculating a voltage change amount that is a difference between a voltage of the rechargeable battery before charging with the second current and a voltage of the rechargeable battery after charging with the second current, and the feature is based on at least one of the voltage change amount and the charging-amount change amount. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the feature includes a ratio between the voltage change amount and the charging-amount change amount. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to-claim 14, comprising: calculating a first temperature based on a measured value of the temperature of the rechargeable battery, the plurality of pieces of first charging data being associated with a plurality of battery temperatures, and the method comprising specifying the first charging data based on the first temperature and the state. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The information processing method according to-claim 16, comprising: acquiring information including an initial charging amount that is a charging amount of the rechargeable battery before charging is acquired from the rechargeable battery, estimating a state of the rechargeable battery based on the initial charging amount indicated by the information, correcting the initial charging amount indicated by the information based on a difference between the reference charging amount and the evaluation target charging amount, and estimating the state of the rechargeable battery based on the initial charging amount after the correction. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, comprising generating the second current by adding third current on the first current. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the second current is square-wave current. ### Claim 21 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, comprising estimating the state of the rechargeable battery based on measurement data of the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 22 (depends on 14) The information processing method according to claim 14, wherein the state of the rechargeable battery is a degradation state of the rechargeable battery. ### Claim 23 An information processing method, comprising: switching charging current of a rechargeable battery being charged with first current to second current and charging with the second current is performed during a first duration which is one continuous period of time; calculating a first voltage of the rechargeable battery during the first duration; calculating a second voltage which is an average value between a voltage at a time before start of the first duration and a voltage at a time after end of the first duration; calculating a feature of the rechargeable battery based on a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage; estimating a state of the rechargeable battery based on the feature of the rechargeable battery: specifying second charging data corresponding to the estimated state based on a plurality of pieces of second charging data in each of which a charging amount and a voltage are related with each other for a plurality of states, acquiring information indicating the initial state of the rechargeable battery, and estimating the internal state of the rechargeable battery based on the information and the second charging data. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The information processing method according to claim 23, comprising: calculating a first temperature based on a measured value of the temperature of the rechargeable battery, the plurality of pieces of second charging data being associated with a plurality of battery temperatures, and specifying the second charging data based on the first temperature and the state.