Portable electronic device with accessible-charge indicator

• US 10,044,075 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2016
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Chaturvedi, Nalin, Sterz, Stephen D., Manthiri, Soundararajan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): LITTLEJOHN JR, MANCIL H
• Application Number:
  US15/263,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20180076492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 3406361
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/486 for measuring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/488 Cells or batteries combined with indicating means for external visualization of the condition, e.g. by change of colour or of light density
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4278 Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/30 Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop

Abstract

An electronic device that displays a battery status is described. In particular, based on the occurrence or presence of an environmental condition (such as an extrinsic environmental factor and/or a current electronic-device usage factor), the electronic device may determine an inaccessible-charge condition of a battery in the electronic device. For example, the environmental condition may include: a temperature of the battery less than the temperature threshold value; and/or a discharge rate of the battery greater than the discharge threshold value. In response to the inaccessible-charge condition, the electronic device may display indications of two or more battery-charge parameters, including: an accessible battery charge, an inaccessible battery charge that is currently unavailable for use because of the environmental condition, and/or a total battery charge.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a battery status, the method comprising:

at an electronic device;

determining an amount of accessible charge and an amount of inaccessible charge of the battery, wherein the amount of the inaccessible charge is based on at least one of an extrinsic environmental factor comprising an external ambient temperature and a current electronic-device usage factor;

displaying an icon representing the extrinsic environmental factor, when an external ambient temperature is affecting the inaccessible charge; and

displaying a first indication representing the amount of the accessible charge and a second indication representing the amount of the inaccessible charge.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery has a temperature-dependent cell impedance that results in the inaccessible charge.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an icon representing the electronic-device current usage factor when the current usage factor is affecting the inaccessible charge.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that an external ambient temperature reading, obtained using a temperature sensor of the electronic device, is less than a temperature threshold value, displaying a first icon; and

in accordance with a determination that the current electronic-device usage factor contributing to the inaccessible charge corresponds to a battery discharge rate greater than a discharge threshold value, displaying a second icon,

wherein the first icon is different than the second icon.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises measuring the ambient temperature using a temperature sensor of the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a first numerical value of the accessible charge along with the first indication and a second numerical value of the inaccessible charge along with the second indication.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing a second numerical value of the inaccessible charge and a first numerical value of the accessible charge, wherein the second indication of the inaccessible charge is displayed based on the comparison.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input representing a request for additional information about the second indication representing the inaccessible charge; and

in response to the user input, displaying one or more applications executing on the electronic device and numerical values of associated inaccessible charges, wherein the inaccessible charge associated with an application is based on current usage of electronic-device resources by the application.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a battery configured to power the electronic device;

a display configured to display information;

memory, coupled to the battery, configured to store a temperature threshold value and a discharge threshold value; and

a processor, coupled to the battery, the display and the memory, configured to;

determine an inaccessible-charge condition of the battery based on a presence of an environmental condition, the environmental condition including one of;

an external ambient temperature less than the temperature threshold value;

a discharge rate of the battery greater than the discharge threshold value; and

the external ambient temperature less than the temperature threshold value and the discharge rate of the battery greater than the discharge threshold value; and

in response to the inaccessible-charge condition, display, on the display, a first indication of an accessible battery charge, and a second indication of an inaccessible battery charge that is currently unavailable for use because of the environmental condition.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to display, on the display, one of a set of icons that represents the environmental condition.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein, when the external ambient temperature is less than the temperature threshold value, a first icon is displayed and, when the discharge rate of the battery greater than the discharge threshold value, a second icon is displayed;

and

wherein the first icon is different than the second icon.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to display, on the display, a first numerical value of the accessible battery charge along with the first indication and a second numerical value of the inaccessible battery charge along with the second indication.

13. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to compare a second numerical value of the inaccessible charge and a first numerical value of the accessible charge, wherein the second indication of the inaccessible charge is displayed based on the comparison.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a user input representing a request for additional information about the second indication representing the inaccessible charge; and

in response to the user input, displaying one or more applications executing on the electronic device and numerical values of associated inaccessible charges, wherein the inaccessible charge associated with an application is based on current usage of electronic-device resources by the application.

15. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the battery has a temperature-dependent cell impedance that results in the inaccessible charge.

16. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the electronic device further comprises a temperature sensor coupled to the processor;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to measure the temperature of the battery using the temperature sensor.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to display representations of accessible and inaccessible battery charge, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for:

determining an inaccessible-charge condition of the battery based on a presence of an environmental condition, the environmental condition including one of;

an external ambient temperature less than a temperature threshold value;

a discharge rate of the battery greater than a discharge threshold value; and

the external ambient temperature less than the temperature threshold value and the discharge rate of the battery greater than the discharge threshold value; and

displaying, on the display, in response to the inaccessible-charge condition, a first indication of a total battery charge, and a second indication of an inaccessible battery charge that is currently unavailable for use because of the environmental condition.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further include measuring the external ambient temperature using a temperature sensor.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further include displaying, on the display, one of a set of icons that represents the environmental condition.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein, when the external ambient temperature is less than the temperature threshold value, a first icon is displayed and, when the discharge rate of the battery is greater than the discharge threshold value, a second icon is displayed;

and wherein the first icon is different than the second icon.