Requirements for supplying power to a device
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Abstract
Hardware assemblies, either embedded (100) or external (400), which use software (101 or 800) for processes (330 to 356) such as acquiring power-related values (342), principally by the use of a connector (132) that accesses a battery (134), in order for a processor (102) to calculate an optimized power signal (338), and then to configure an output (344) of a power supply (122) to deliver the power signal to a powered device (136).
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Citations
31 Claims
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1-9. -9. (canceled)
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10. A system for determining the power requirements of a powered device adapted to receive power selectably from a battery and a configurable power supply, comprising:
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means for preloading said battery with a resistive load;
means for varying said resistive load on said battery;
means for detecting the extent of voltage sag upon preloading said battery;
means for analyzing said detected voltage sag and determining the anticipated fully charged battery voltage; and
means for supplying the appropriate voltage to the powered device from said configurable power supply in the absence of said battery.
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11. A system for supplying power to a previously unknown battery-powered device based on determining a power requirement thereof, comprising:
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interconnecting means for electrical coupling a battery, the battery-powered device, and a configurable power supply into a user-configured circuit for providing the battery independent and simultaneous access to both said device and said power supply, comprising;
identifying means for distinguishing a specific interconnecting circuit element by its predetermined unique resistive value;
acquiring means for detecting resistive values available to a processor for executing program instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium;
means for providing a memorized sequence of anticipated user-manipulations of each circuit element based on its corresponding resistive value in a look-up table;
instructing means for directing the user to manipulate at least one of one or more circuit elements according to the sequence;
analyzing means for the processor first adjusting in a work space the acquired resistive value by an allowable error factor, then for validating that the user manipulation is either valid or invalid by comparing the adjusted resistive value to values in the look-up table;
determining means for assigning resistive values to variables in the look-up table;
prompting means for indicating a valid or invalid manipulation to the user;
said acquiring, analyzing, determining, and prompting means continuing until the manipulation of elements result in the user-configured circuit;
further acquiring means for the processor capturing a battery-output value upon which at least one computation is performed, based on predetermined formulas, resulting in determining the power requirement of the previously unknown device;
configuring means for varying a power-output signal of the configurable power supply, the signal based on the determined power requirement of the now-known device;
the signal will be delivered from the power supply to the device along the user-configured circuit, and a means for controlling the direction of signal flow in the circuit prevents the signal from flowing to the battery;
whereby power is supplied to said previously unknown battery-powered device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for supplying power to a previously unknown battery-powered device based on a power requirement of the device, comprising:
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interconnecting means for electrically coupling in a circuit a user-adjustable power supply, a battery, and said previously unknown device powered by the battery, said interconnecting means providing the device with both the power supply and the battery as alternate sources of power so that when the power supply is not active, the battery is automatically available;
processing means for executing program instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium, comprising;
acquiring means for capturing power signals;
analyzing means for determining the power requirement of the device as an optimal output power signal of the manually-adjustable power supply by performing at least one of one or more computations based on a voltage value previously acquired;
indicating means for prompting a user to manipulate a selector which varies the output signal of the power supply;
comparing means in a workspace for the processor determining if an acquired value corresponding to the present position of the user-manipulated selector substantially matches the optimal power signal value now stored in a memory;
the indicating means also being altered for notifying the user of a failed outcome of the most recent selector manipulation, and prompting the user to perform a further selector manipulation;
varying means for further altering the indicating means to notify the user of a successful outcome of the most recent selector manipulation, and said user manipulation, then said comparing and indicating means repeating, until a user-selected value substantially matches the optimal power signal value;
whereby the user-adjustable power supply is configured by the successful manipulation of the selector, and the power supply delivers power to said device based on its power requirement. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An apparatus for supplying power to a previously unknown battery-powered device based on a power requirement of the device, comprising:
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interconnecting means for electrically coupling elements into a system, comprising;
a user-configurable power supply;
a battery, and said device;
the coupling resulting in the power supply bypassing the battery as a source of power for the device, while the battery remains available to automatically supply backup power to the device;
processing means of at least a first and second element of the system, of which the power supply is the first element, for executing program instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium, comprising;
acquiring means at the first or second of said elements for capturing information about the power output of the battery, including the battery'"'"'s minimum output voltage;
communicating means for transferring the acquired information between said first and second elements;
analyzing means in a workspace for comparing the acquired information with a value acquired from a user-manipulable selector that varies voltage, said user-accessible selector being located at only one of said first or second elements of the system, and the value being thereafter stored in a memory area;
prompting means at only one user-accessible element of the system for directing the user to manipulate the selector, said prompting further including a means of distinguishably indicating when the user has successfully manipulated the selector to a position that, by the processor performing a comparison, represents a substantial match of a selected voltage value to the acquired information, and controlling means for configuring at least a first output of said power supply according to said substantially matched voltage values;
whereby said user-configurable power supply provides power to said device, based on communicating information about the power requirement of said device between said power supply and another element interconnected thereto. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for supplying power to a previously unknown battery-powered device based on a power requirement of the device, comprising:
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interconnecting means as an interface at said device for electrically coupling elements thereto in a circuit for attaching both a battery and a configurable power supply, so that either is available for supplying power to the device, and the power supply as a first element being coupled to a second element, both of which further comprising;
acquiring means for collecting data about said power requirement of the device;
communicating means for transferring the acquired data between the first and second elements;
processing means for executing program instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium;
analyzing means in a work space for determining an optimized voltage value as at least a first output signal of the power supply, and controlling means for configuring the output signal of the power supply;
whereby the power requirement of the device is based on acquired and communicated data when supplying power to the now-known device. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification