METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHARGING A BATTERY

• US 20150180244A1
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Components Industries LLC (ON Semiconductor Corporation), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Fairchild Korea Semiconductor Limited (ON Semiconductor Corporation), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JUNG, Ku-Chul, LEE, Kisun, LEE, Kwang-Sub, MAIER, Erik Wilson, FREITAS, Oscar, YUN, Chul-Eun
• Granted Patent: US 10,135,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• 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: H02J 2207/30 Charge provided using DC bus or data bus of a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/40 adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00045 Authentication, i.e. circuits for checking compatibility between one component, e.g. a battery or a battery charger, and another component, e.g. a power source
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A method is provided comprising: detecting a connection between an electronic device and a battery charger; transmitting to the battery charger a first request for at least one of a first voltage level and a first current level; receiving from the battery charger a signal; and charging a battery of the electronic device with the signal.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic device, comprising:

detecting a connection with a battery charger;

transmitting to the battery charger a first request for at least one of a first voltage level and a first current level;

receiving from the battery charger a signal, wherein the signal is either an echo of the first request, a list of supported signal characteristics, or NACK (Not Acknowledge); and

charging a battery of the electronic device in response to the signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is a list of supported signal characteristics identifying at least one of (i) a first plurality of voltage levels that the battery charger is capable of providing and (ii) a second plurality of current levels that the battery charger is capable of providing;

generating, based on the list, a second request for at least one of a second voltage level and a second current level; and

transmitting the second request to the battery charger.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the second request includes retrieving from the list a code corresponding to the second voltage level and inserting the code into the second request.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the second request includes retrieving from the list a code corresponding to the second current level and inserting the code into the second request.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the signal is NACK, further comprising re-transmitting to the battery charger a second request for at least one of a second voltage level and a second current level.

5. A method in a battery charger, comprising:

detecting a connection with an electronic device;

receiving from the electronic device a first request for one of a first voltage level and a first current level;

detecting whether the battery charger is capable of outputting a signal having one of the first voltage level and the first current level; and

in response to detecting that the battery charger is capable of outputting the signal having one of the first voltage level and the first current level, outputting one of the first voltage level and the first current level to the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first request includes a first voltage level further comprising:

extracting, from the first request, a code corresponding to the first voltage level; and

comparing the code against a data structure identifying a plurality of voltage levels that are supported by the battery charger, wherein the data structure is stored in a memory of the battery charger.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising, in response to detecting that the battery charger is not capable of outputting the signal having one of the first voltage level and the first current level, transmitting to the electronic device a list of signal characteristics that are supported by the battery charger.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the list includes a first plurality of signal characteristic identifiers and a second plurality of codes corresponding to the signal characteristic identifiers, wherein each one of the first plurality of signal characteristic identifier is mapped to a different one of the second plurality of codes.

9. An electronic device comprising a processing circuitry configured to:

detect a connection with a battery charger;

transmit to the battery charger a first request for at least one of a first voltage level and a first current level;

receive from the battery charger a signal, wherein the signal is either an echo of the first request, a list of supported signal characteristics, or NACK (Not Acknowledge); and

charge a battery in response to the signal.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

receive the list of supported signal characteristics, the list identifying at least one of (i) a first plurality of voltage levels that the battery charger is capable of providing and (ii) a second plurality of current levels that the battery charger is capable of providing;

generate, based on the list of supported signal characteristics, a second request for at least one of a second voltage level and a second current level; and

transmit the second request to the battery charger.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein generating the second request includes retrieving from the list a code corresponding to the second voltage level and inserting the code into the second request.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein generating the second request includes retrieving from the list a code corresponding to the second current level and inserting the code into the second request.

18. The electronic device of claim 9 wherein the signal is NACK, the processing circuitry is further configured to re-transmitting to the battery charger a second request for at least one of a second voltage level and a second current level.

13. A battery charger comprising processing circuitry configured to:

detect a connection with an electronic device;

receive from the electronic device a first request for a first signal characteristic;

detect whether the battery charger is capable of outputting a signal having the first signal characteristic; and

in response to detecting that the battery charger is capable of outputting the signal having the first signal characteristic, output the signal to the electronic device.

14. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein the first signal characteristic includes a specified voltage level and detecting whether the battery charger is capable of outputting the signal having the first signal characteristic includes:

extracting, from the first request, a code corresponding to the specified voltage level; and

comparing the code against a data structure identifying a plurality of voltage levels that are supported by the battery charger,

wherein the data structure is stored in a memory of the battery charger.

15. The battery charger of claim 13, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to, in response to detecting that the battery charger is not capable of outputting the signal having the first signal characteristic, transmit to the electronic device a list of signal characteristics that are supported by the battery charger.

16. The battery charger of claim 15, wherein the list includes a first plurality of signal characteristic identifiers and a second plurality of codes corresponding to the signal characteristic identifiers, wherein each one of the first plurality of signal characteristic identifier is mapped to a different one of the second plurality of codes.