POWER ADAPTOR DETECTION SYSTEM

• US 20110179291A1
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Lin, Hsien Tsung, Weng, So-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C

Abstract

A power adaptor detection system includes a power adaptor device configured to receive electrical power at a first voltage and to convert the electrical power to a second voltage. The second voltage has a lower value than the first voltage. An identification generating circuit is coupled to the power adaptor device. The identification generating circuit is configured to convert a portion of the electrical power to a substantially constant value electrical current. An identification detection circuit is configured to detect the second voltage. Detecting the second voltage causes the identification circuit to determine the value of a pulse of the electrical current, wherein the value of the electrical current is an identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a power adaptor device configured to receive electrical power at a first voltage and to convert the electrical power to a second voltage, wherein the second voltage has a lower value than the first voltage;

an identification generating circuit coupled to the power adaptor device and configured to convert a portion of the electrical power to a substantially constant value electrical current; and

an identification detection circuit configured to detect the second voltage, wherein detecting the second voltage causes the identification circuit to determine the value of a pulse of the electrical current, wherein the value of the electrical current is an identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first voltage is AC and the second voltage is DC.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the value of the electrical current stays constant to less than a 10% variance.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification detection circuit is configured as a pulse sampling circuit.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the pulse sampling circuit provides the electrical current to an analog-to-digital (A/D) general purpose input/output (GPIO) on a controller device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the controller device queries a look-up table on a basic input/output system (BIOS) to determine the identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the identification attribute of the power adaptor device is used to configure an input power control circuit (IPCC).

8. An Information handling system (IHS) comprising:

a processor;

a memory device coupled to the processor; and

a power adaptor device configured to power the processor and the memory device, the power adaptor device comprising;

a converter circuit configured to receive electrical power at a first voltage and to convert the electrical power to a second voltage, wherein the second voltage has a lower value than the first voltage;

an identification generating circuit coupled to the power adaptor device and configured to convert a portion of the electrical power to a substantially constant value electrical current; and

an identification detection circuit configured to detect the second voltage, wherein detecting the second voltage causes the identification circuit to determine the value of the pulse of the electrical current, wherein the value of the electrical current is an identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

9. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the first voltage is AC and the second voltage is DC.

10. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the value of the electrical current stays constant to less than a 10% variance.

11. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the identification detection circuit is configured as a pulse sampling circuit.

12. The IHS of claim 11, wherein the pulse sampling circuit provides the electrical current to an analog-to-digital (ND) general purpose input/output (GPIO) on a controller device.

13. The IHS of claim 12, wherein the controller device queries a look-up table on a basic input/output system (BIOS) to determine the identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

14. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the identification attribute of the power adaptor device is used to configure an input power control circuit (IPCC).

15. A method comprising:

using a power adaptor device, converting an electrical power to a substantially constant electrical current;

detecting coupling of the power adaptor device to an information handling system (IHS);

in response to detecting coupling of the power adaptor device to the IHS, sampling the electrical current to determine a value of the electrical current; and

determining an identification attribute of the power adaptor device based on the value of a pulse of the electrical current.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a value of the electrical current stays constant to less than a 10% variance.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the sampling the electrical current is performed using a pulse sampling circuit.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing the electrical current to an analog-to-digital (A/D) general purpose input/output (GPIO) on a controller device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

performing a query using a look-up table on a basic input/output system (BIOS) to determine the identification attribute of the power adaptor device.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

configuring an input power control circuit (IPCC) for the IHS in response to the identification attribute of the power adaptor device.