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AssigneeNorand Corporation
InventorSteven E. Koenck
Estimating the term…
In an exemplary embodiment, a battery conditioning system monitors battery conditioning and includes a memory for storing data based thereon; for example, data may be stored representative of available battery capacity as measured during a deep discharge cycle. With a microprocessor monitoring battery operation of a portable unit, a measure of remaining battery capacity can be calculated and displayed. Where the microprocessor and battery conditioning system memory are permanently secured to the battery so as to receive operating power therefrom during storage and handling, the performance of a given battery in actual use can be accurately judged since the battery system can itself maintain a count of accumulated hours of use and other relevant parameters. In the case of a nonportable conditioning system, two-way communication may be established with a memory associated with the portable unit so that the portable unit can transmit to the conditioning system information concerning battery parameters (e.g. rated battery capacity) and/or battery usage (e.g. numbers of shallow discharge and recharge cycles), and after a conditioning operation, the conditioning system can transmit to the portable unit a measured value of battery capacity, for example.
In a battery conditioning system,
In a hand-held device,
In a battery conditioning system,
A portable battery powered system comprising
The method of conditioning a portable utilization device containing rechargeable battery means and computer operating means, which comprises generating data which is a function of said battery means with the use of said computer operating means, coupling said portable utilization device with a conditioning circuit for supplying charging current to the rechargeable battery means during a conditioning operation, and controlling the rate of charging of the battery means during a conditioning operation in accordance with the data generated by said computer operating means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.