SMART ADVICE TO CHARGE NOTIFICATION

• US 20160357654A1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Published: 12/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: de la CROPTE de CHANT?RAC, Cyril, Stanley-Marbell, Phillip, VENKATRAMAN, Kartik, Kapoor, Gaurav
• Granted Patent: US 10,083,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• 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 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for advising a user when an energy storage device in a computing system needs charging. State of charge data of the energy storage device can be measured and stored at regular intervals. The historic state of charge data can be queried over a plurality of intervals and a state of charge curve generated that is representative of a user'"'"'s charging habits over time. The state of charge curve can be used to generate a rate of charge histogram and an acceleration of charge histogram. These can be used to predict when a user will charge next, and whether the energy storage device will have an amount of energy below a predetermined threshold amount before the next predicted charging time. A first device can determine when a second device typically charges and whether the energy storage device in the second device will have an amount of energy below the predetermined threshold amount before the next predicted charge time for the second device. The first device can generate an advice to charge notification to the user on either, or both, devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

generating a representation of a state of charge curve for an energy storage device in an electronic device, over a plurality of intervals of time, using state of charge data of the energy storage device that was accumulated over the plurality of the intervals of time;

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which an energy storage device for the electronic device is forecast to begin charging; and

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below a predetermined threshold amount, unless the energy storage device is charged; and

taking an action in response to determining that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below the predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of intervals of time comprise at least a 24 hour period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of intervals comprise one of:

a particular weekday of a first week and the particular weekday of a second week, or a first weekday and a second weekday of a week.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein state of charge data comprises energy consumption data and energy storage device charging data and wherein the action is taken without using the predetermined battery charge state as a metric to decide whether to take the action.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises notifying a user of the electronic device that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below a predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the state of charge data of the electronic device is accumulated for each of a plurality of sub-intervals for each of the plurality of intervals.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein an interval comprises an hour and a predetermined sub-interval is 15 minutes, and state of charge data is accumulated and stored for the 15 minute sub-interval.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a rate of charge histogram from the state of charge curve, wherein the rate of charge histogram comprises a probability density function for a plurality of sub-intervals within the predetermined interval.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium programmed with instructions that, when executed by a processing system, perform a method, the method comprising:

generating a representation of a state of charge curve for an energy storage device in an electronic device, over a plurality of intervals of time, using state of charge data of the energy storage device that was accumulated over the plurality of the intervals of time;

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which an energy storage device for the electronic device is forecast to begin charging; and

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below a predetermined threshold amount, unless the energy storage device is charged; and

taking an action in response to determining that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy less than the predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

10. The medium of claim 9, wherein the plurality of intervals of time comprise at least a 24 hour period.

11. The medium of claim 9, wherein the plurality of intervals comprise one of:

a particular weekday of a first week and the particular weekday of a second week, or a first weekday and a second weekday of a week.

12. The medium of claim 9, wherein state of charge data comprises energy consumption data and energy storage device charging data and wherein the action is taken without using a predetermined battery charge state as a metric to decide whether to take the action.

13. The medium of claim 9, wherein the action comprises notifying a user of the electronic device that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below the predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

14. The medium of claim 9, wherein the state of charge data of the electronic device is accumulated for each of a plurality of sub-intervals for each of the plurality of intervals.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein an interval comprises an hour and a predetermined sub-interval is 15 minutes, and state of charge data is accumulated and stored for the 15 minute sub-interval.

16. The medium of claim 9, further comprising generating a rate of charge histogram from the state of charge curve, wherein the rate of charge histogram comprises a probability density function for a plurality of sub-intervals within the predetermined interval.

17. A processing system comprising:

one or more processors coupled to a memory programmed with executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a method comprising;

generating a representation of a state of charge curve for an energy storage device in an electronic device, over a plurality of intervals of time, using state of charge data of the energy storage device that was accumulated over the plurality of the intervals of time;

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which an energy storage device for the electronic device is forecast to begin charging; and

determining, using the state of charge curve, a time at which the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below a predetermined threshold amount, unless the energy storage device is charged; and

taking an action in response to determining that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below the predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein state of charge data comprises energy consumption data and energy storage device charging data and wherein the action is taken without using a predetermined battery charge state as a metric to decide whether to take the action.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the action comprises notifying a user of the electronic device that the energy storage device is forecast to have an amount of energy below the predetermined threshold amount before the energy storage device is forecast to begin charging.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the state of charge data of the electronic device is accumulated for each of a plurality of sub-intervals for each of the plurality of intervals.