Method for reading battery status by operation system of portable computer

• US 6,892,146 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2003
• Issued: 05/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitac Technology Corporation (MiTAC Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Mitac Technology Corporation (MiTAC Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Tung, Yu-Chih
• Primary Examiner(s): ASSOUAD, PATRICK J
• Application Number:
  US10/390,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20040093176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 702/60, 702/61, 702/62, 702/63, 702/64, 702/65, 713/320, 713/321, 713/340, 720/134, 720/136
• US Class Current: 702/63
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3096 wherein the means or processing minimize the use of computing system or of computing system component resources, e.g. non-intrusive monitoring which minimizes the probe effect: sniffing, intercepting, indirectly deriving the monitored data from other directly available data

Abstract

A method for reading battery status by the operation system of a portable computer is disclosed. The portable computer is powered by a battery and has an operation system which reads the status of the battery by means of a keyboard controller in accordance with a preset time reference. The operation system reads the current system time first. The current system time is then compared with the time value when the operation system previously reads the battery status and a time difference between the current system time and the previous time of reading is obtained. The time difference is compared with the time reference. If the time difference is greater than or equal to the time reference, the operation system actually reads the battery status by means of the keyboard controller and stores the battery status in a memory of the keyboard controller. The battery status so read is fed back to the operation system. If the time difference is smaller than the time reference, the operation system simply accesses the memory and retrieves the battery status stored in the memory and feeds the battery status retrieved from the memory back to the operation system thereby saving time of actually reading the status from the battery.

Claims

1. A method for reading a battery status of a battery coupled to a portable computer operating under an operation system which reads the battery status in accordance with a preset time reference, the method comprising the following steps:

a) reading a current system time of the portable computer by the operation system;

b) comparing the current system time with a time value when the operation system previously reads the battery status of the battery, so as to obtain a time difference between the current system time and the time value;

c) comparing the time difference with the preset time reference;

d) if the time difference is greater than or equal to the preset time reference, the operation system reading the battery status of the battery and storing the battery status in a memory and feeding the read battery status back to the operation system; and

e) if the time difference is smaller than the preset time reference, the operation system directly accessing the memory to retrieve the battery status stored in the memory and feeding the battery status back to the operation system.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (d), the operation system reads the battery status of the battery by means of a keyboard controller of the portable computer, the memory being incorporated in the keyboard controller.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in step (d), the operation system further stores the current system time for comparison in next reading of the battery status of the battery.