Methods and apparatus for a power supply control circuit
AssigneeJapan Tobacco Inc.
InventorHideo KONDO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments of the present technology comprise a method and apparatus for a power supply control circuit. In various embodiments, the apparatus is adapted to control the power supplied by a battery to a heating element. The apparatus may comprise a memory for storing known data and circuitry configured to control the delivery of power from the battery to the heating element according to measured parameters, calculated parameters, and the known data.
Claims21
(canceled)
An apparatus configured to control power supplied to a heating element, the apparatus comprising:
- a rechargeable battery;
- a control circuit coupled to the rechargeable battery and the heating element, the control circuit comprising:
- a switch configured to selectively connect the rechargeable battery to the heating element;
- a signal generator circuit configured to generate a first control signal to operate the switch;
- and
- a logic circuit coupled to the signal generator circuit and configured to output a second control signal to control operation of the signal generator circuit.
An apparatus comprising:
- a rechargeable battery;
- a field-effect transistor configured to selectively couple the battery to a heating element;
- an oscillator configured to generate a control signal to operate the transistor;
- a microcontroller configured to provide a logic signal to the oscillator;
- a fuel gauge circuit configured to measure battery voltage and determine battery capacity based on a stored profile;
- a memory configured to store a profile correlating a characteristic value of the heating element with time, the characteristic value being based on resistance of the heating element;
- and
- a timer configured to measure elapsed time from a power-on event, wherein the microcontroller is configured to retrieve the characteristic value based on the elapsed time and update the logic signal based on the retrieved characteristic value.
A method of controlling delivery of power from a battery to a heating element, comprising:
- measuring a voltage of the battery;
- determining a battery capacity based on a stored voltage-capacity profile;
- generating a logic signal based on the determined battery capacity;
- generating a first control signal based on the logic signal;
- controlling a switch using the first control signal to selectively connect the battery to the heating element;
- measuring elapsed time from initiation of heating;
- retrieving a resistance value of the heating element based on the elapsed time;
- and
- updating the logic signal based on the retrieved resistance value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.