Power management circuit and methodology for battery-powered systems

A power management system for a battery powered application, the system providing power to a load and a battery, comprising:

• charge current programming circuitry configured for generating a battery-charging control current with a magnitude variable in accordance with an input current and a load current;
• battery charging circuitry configured for supplying a charging current to the battery for a charging period determined by a timer duration to charge the battery from a discharged state to a charged state, the charging current being controlled in accordance with the magnitude of the battery-charging control current;
• and
• timer circuitry configured for generating a clock signal with a frequency variable in accordance with the magnitude of the battery-charging control current, and counting the timer duration based on the clock signal, wherein the timer duration is variable in accordance with the frequency of the clock signal being variable in accordance with the magnitude of the battery-charging control current,
• wherein the timer circuitry is configured for generating a capacitor-charging current to charge and discharge a capacitor so as to generate the clock signal,
• the magnitude of the capacitor-charging current is determined in accordance with the magnitude of battery-charging control current, and
• the frequency of the clock signal is determined in accordance with a frequency of the charge and discharge of the capacitor.