Electronic device with improved power management

• US 10,606,336 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2017
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: de la Cropte de Chanterac, Cyril, Venkatraman, Kartik R., Pelosi, Alessandro, Mangade, Shardul S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fantu, Yalkew
• Application Number:
  US15/699,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20180364786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 320114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/30 Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An electronic device may have a power system with a battery. The power system receives power such as wireless power or wired power and uses a portion of the received power to charge the battery as needed. Control circuitry in the portable electronic device is used to run background processes such as image processing tasks, data synchronization tasks, indexing, and other background processes. In some circumstances, such as when the battery is below a certain state of charge threshold, background processes may be stopped so that the battery is charged as fast as possible. Once above this initial state of charge threshold, background processes may be performed during charging as long as the temperature and state of charge of the battery do not exceed safety temperature and safety state of charge values. Performing background processes in these conditions ensures requisite background processing tasks are completed while preserving battery health.

Claims

1. An electronic device configured to receive power from an external power source, comprising:

a battery configured to be charged;

a battery gauge coupled to the battery that measures a state of charge of the battery;

a charger circuit configured to receive power from the external power source and to charge the battery using power received from the external power source; and

control circuitry coupled to the battery and configured to;

run a plurality of processes;

receive a state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

upon receiving the state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge, disconnect the battery from the charger circuit while the charger circuit receives power from the external power source; and

stop at least one process of the plurality of processes while the battery is disconnected from the charger circuit and the charger circuit is receiving power from the external power source.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

compare the state of charge measurement to a state of charge threshold, wherein stopping the at least one process of the plurality of processes while the battery is disconnected from the charger circuit and the charger circuit is receiving power from the external power source comprises stopping the at least one process of the plurality of processes in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is less than the state of charge threshold.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein disconnecting the battery from the charger circuit while the charger circuit receives power from the external power source comprises disconnecting the battery from the charger circuit in response to determining that the state of charge measurement exceeds the state of charge threshold.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

before receiving the state of charge measurement, receive an additional state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

determine if the additional state of charge measurement is below a state of charge threshold;

determine if the battery is being charged; and

stop at least one process of the plurality of processes in response to determining that the additional state of charge measurement is less than the state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

forgo stopping the at least one process in response to determining that the additional state of charge measurement is greater than the state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the state of charge threshold is a first state of charge threshold and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

determine if the additional state of charge measurement exceeds a second state of charge threshold that is greater than the first state of charge threshold; and

stop at least one process in response to determining that the additional state of charge measurement is greater than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the state of charge threshold is a first state of charge threshold and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

determine if the state of charge measurement exceeds a second state of charge threshold that is greater than the first state of charge threshold; and

forgo stopping the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold and less than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the electronic device further comprises a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature associated with the battery and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

compare the temperature to a temperature threshold; and

stop at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge is greater than the second state of charge threshold, that the temperature is greater than the temperature threshold, and that the battery is being charged.

9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the first state of charge threshold is between 10% and 40% and the second state of charge threshold is between 70% and 90%.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one process comprises indexing files.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one process comprise at least one background process.

12. An electronic device comprising:

a battery configured to be charged;

a battery gauge coupled to the battery that measures a state of charge of the battery; and

control circuitry coupled to the battery and configured to;

receive a state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

determine if the state of charge measurement is below a first state of charge threshold;

determine if the state of charge measurement is below a second state of charge threshold;

determine if the battery is being charged;

run at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold and less than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged; and

stop the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the first state of charge threshold is between 10% and 40% and the second state of charge threshold is between 70% and 90%.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

reduce a processor clock speed in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than a third state of charge threshold, wherein the third state of charge threshold is greater than the second state of charge threshold.

15. An electronic device comprising:

a battery configured to be charged;

a battery gauge coupled to the battery that measures a state of charge of the battery;

a temperature sensor that measures a temperature associated with the battery; and

control circuitry configured to;

run a plurality of processes;

receive a state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

receive a temperature measurement measured using the temperature sensor;

determine if the state of charge measurement exceeds a state of charge threshold;

determine if the temperature measurement exceeds a temperature threshold;

determine if the battery is being charged; and

stop at least one process of the plurality of processes in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the state of charge threshold, that the temperature measurement is greater than the temperature threshold, and that the battery is being charged.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

forgo stopping the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the state of charge threshold, that the temperature measurement is less than the temperature threshold, and that the battery is being charged.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

forgo stopping the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is less than the state of charge threshold, that the temperature measurement is greater than the temperature threshold, and that the battery is being charged.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the state of charge threshold is a first state of charge threshold and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

compare the state of charge measurement to a second state of charge threshold; and

forgo stopping at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is less than the first state of charge threshold and greater than the second state of charge threshold.

19. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the at least one process comprises indexing files.

20. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the state of charge threshold is between 70% and 90% and wherein the temperature threshold is between 33°

C. and 37°

C.