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US 5,861,812 AGranted
Battery pack wakeup
AssigneeCompaq Computer Corporation
InventorsNathan Austin Mitchell, Joseph F. Freiman, Steven Kent McConkey
Life of this patent
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AssigneeCompaq Computer Corporation
InventorsNathan Austin Mitchell, Joseph F. Freiman, Steven Kent McConkey
Estimating the term…
A removable battery pack for powering a pen-based or portable computer system in which the battery pack blocks its terminals when inserted into an unknown system. The known system includes a power supply microcontroller which passes battery charge data back and forth between a memory located in the battery pack and the power supply microcontroller. A battery microcontroller, located in the battery pack, eavesdrops drops on the communication between the power supply microcontroller and the memory, and when it validates a known signature of this communication, the battery microcontroller then enables the terminals of the battery pack. A trickle discharge current flows from the battery pack whenever the battery pack is out of the known system to allow the power supply microcontroller to power up in the case of a dead auxiliary battery.
A method for use by a controller of a removable battery pack used in a system, the removable battery pack including a battery and a first switch for controlling any charge entering or leaving the battery, the system providing a data signal with predetermined battery data when the system is a known system, the steps comprising:
A method for use by a controller of a removable battery pack used in a system, the removable battery pack including a battery, a monitoring circuit for providing a signal to the controller indicative of the current and voltage of the battery, a first switch for controlling any charge entering the battery, a second switch for controlling any charge leaving the battery, and a third switch for controlling a trickle discharge current provided to power up a power supply microcontroller in a known system, the system providing a data signal with predetermined battery data when the system is the known system, the steps comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.