Software based thermal charging regulation loop

• US 7,733,064 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2006
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Agere Systems Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lopata, Douglas D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): DIAO, M BAYE
• Application Number:
  US11/511,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20080054853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,379 Days
• Field of Search: 320/106, 320/107, 320/110, 320/112, 320/113, 320/115, 320/134, 320/136, 320/150, 320/152, 320/153, 320/135, 320/151
• US Class Current: 320/150
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00309 Overheat or overtemperature protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007188 the charge cycle being controlled or terminated in response to non-electric parameters

Abstract

The present invention implements a software controlled thermal feedback system for battery charging circuitry in portable devices, specifically in cellular telephones. The charging hardware block is integrated into a mixed-signal analog base-band (ABB) circuit. In addition to standard function controls, integrated within the ABB are silicon temperature sensors used to monitor the temperature of any silicon components integrated on the ABB and detect any temperature change due to thermal heating. The temperature value is passed to the digital base band (DBB) circuit. Here, a microcontroller is programmed to perform power management functions relating to the ABB. Thermal control software, implemented on the DBB microcontroller, monitors the silicon temperature of the ABB and adjusts the power levels on the ABB accordingly to provide a controlled chip temperature.

Claims

1. A method for providing temperature control for integrated circuit components including battery charger circuitry, the method comprising the following steps:

(1) measuring the temperature of said integrated circuit components with one or more temperature sensors;

(2) generating a digital signal corresponding to said measured temperature;

(3) monitoring said digital signal at a software control module; and

(4) adjusting a charging power level at said battery charger circuitry as a function of said measured temperature, wherein steps (1) through (4) are repeated until said measured temperature of said integrated circuit components falls within a predetermined acceptable range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said integrated circuit components and said battery charger circuitry are integrated in an analog base band circuit (ABB) of a cellular telephone.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said temperature sensors are embedded in said ABB to monitor temperatures of silicon components integrated into said ABB.

4. The method of claim 3, where said software control module is integrated in a digital base band circuit (DBB) of a cellular telephone.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said ABB and DBB are operably connected via a serial interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said software control module is integrated into a microcontroller of said cellular telephone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said predetermined acceptable range of temperatures is between 110 and 115 degrees Celsius.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting a charging power level at said battery charger circuitry as a function of said measured temperature comprises adjusting a duty cycle of said battery charger circuitry.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein, when said measured temperature is below a predetermined minimum charging temperature, the charging power level at said battery charger circuitry is increased.

8. A system for monitoring and controlling thermal temperature in integrated circuit components, the system comprising:

one or more temperature sensors for measuring a temperature of said integrated circuit components;

a converter operably connected to said one or more temperature sensors, said converter programmed to convert said measured temperature to a digital signal; and

a software control module operably connected to said converter, said module programmed to monitor said measured temperature and adjust a power level of one or more of said integrated circuit components as a function of said measured temperature, wherein;

said one or more of said integrated circuit components include battery charging circuitry;

said software control module is further programmed to control said battery charging circuitry;

said software control module is further programmed to adjust a charging level said battery charging circuitry is set to, thereby altering the thermal heat production of said battery charging circuitry; and

said integrated circuit components are integrated in an analog base band circuit (ABB) of a cellular telephone.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said temperature sensors are embedded in said ABB to monitor temperatures of silicon components integrated into said ABB.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said software control module is integrated in a digital base band circuit (DBB) of a cellular telephone.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said ABB and said DBB are operably connected via a serial interface.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said software control module is integrated into a microcontroller of said cellular telephone.

21. The system of claim 8, wherein the charging level is adjusted until the temperature of said integrated circuit components falls within a predetermined acceptable range.

24. The system of claim 8, wherein said software control module is programmed to adjust the charging power level at said battery charger circuitry by adjusting a duty cycle of said battery charger circuitry.

25. The system of claim 8, wherein the software control module is programmed to increase the charging power level at said battery charger circuitry, when said measured temperature is below a predetermined minimum charging temperature.

13. A method for providing temperature control for integrated circuit components, the method comprising the following steps:

(1) measuring the temperature of said integrated circuit components with one or more temperature sensors;

(2) generating a digital signal corresponding to said measured temperature;

(3) monitoring said digital signal at a software control module; and

(4) adjusting at least one power level at one or more select integrated circuit components as a function of said measured temperature, wherein said steps (1) through (4) are repeated until said obtained temperature of said integrated circuit components falls within a predetermined acceptable range.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said circuit components and said battery charger are integrated in an analog base band circuit (ABB) of a cellular telephone.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said software control module is integrated in a digital base band circuit (DBB) of a cellular telephone.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said software control module is integrated into a microcontroller of said cellular telephone.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said predetermined acceptable range of temperatures is between 110 and 115 degrees Celsius.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said one or more select integrated circuit components comprise at least one of keypad LED controls, LCD screen controls, speaker controls and microphone controls.

26. The method of claim 13, wherein, when said measured temperature is below a predetermined minimum charging temperature, the at least one power level at said one or more select integrated circuit components is increased.

19. An apparatus for providing temperature control, said apparatus comprising:

means for measuring a temperature of integrated circuit components;

means for monitoring a digital signal corresponding to said measured temperature; and

means for adjusting a charging power and operation of alternate functions of said integrated circuit components as a function of said measured temperature.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said integrated circuit components are integrated into a cellular telephone.