Smart battery charger

• US 7,888,913 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2010
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Bidwell, Dean Jeffrey, Marty, William A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Muralidar; Richard V
• Application Number:
  US12/872,877
• Publication Number:
  US 20110057603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 168 Days
• Field of Search: 320/106, 320/115, 320/132
• US Class Current: 320/132
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4257 Smart batteries, e.g. electronic circuits inside the housing of the cells or batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0069 Charging or discharging for charge maintenance, battery initiation or rejuvenation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A smart battery charger is provided that includes one or more sensors to identify a particular battery, generate a usage profile for the battery over time, and develop a charging strategy that maximizes the useful life of the battery. The useful life of the battery may be maximized by minimizing the charge on the battery over the course of the battery'"'"'s life. The charge may be minimized by delayed charging and undercharging.

Claims

1. A method of charging a battery comprising:

retrieving a usage history for the battery;

determining from the usage history an optimal time to initiate a charge cycle on the battery, wherein the optimal time is a time when the battery is likely to be next used minus a period of time required to complete the charge cycle;

determining from the usage history an optimal charge on the battery, wherein the optimal charge is a minimum charge plus an amount of energy historically used during a single use cycle; and

initiating the charge cycle for the battery at the optimal time to the optimal charge.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises generating an updated usage history based on said charging.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises uploading the updated usage history to computer-readable media on the battery, and wherein the usage history is retrieved from the computer-readable media on the battery.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes receiving a request to display information associated with the battery.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information includes one or more of the usage history and an updated usage history that is the usage history updated based on said charging.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage history includes charge times, charge amounts, a start of a use period, and a conclusion of the use period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the usage history indicates the battery has never been charged, retrieving a first charge amount, and charging the battery to the first charge amount.

8. A smart battery charger comprising:

a body defining one or more battery charging ports shaped to receive and hold a battery in place;

a communications plug located within at least one of the one or more battery charging ports to communicatively couple with a communications port on the battery, thereby allowing the smart battery charger to read from and write to computer-readable memory in the battery;

a charging plug located within the at least one of the one or more battery charging ports to conductively couple with a charging port on the battery through which an electrical current is passed to the battery; and

a controller coupled to the communications port and the charging port, the controller executing a program that initiates a charge cycle on the battery at an optimal time to minimize a total charge on the battery over a life of the battery.

9. The smart battery charger of claim 8, further comprising a display that is communicatively coupled to the controller.

10. The smart battery charger of claim 9, further comprising a button located on the body near the one or more battery charging ports, wherein pushing the button causes information related to the battery to be displayed on the display.

11. The smart battery charger of claim 8, wherein the body defines an interior compartment sized to store one or more packages sized to ship the battery.

12. The smart battery charger of claim 8, further comprising a timing mechanism that determines a current time, wherein the timing mechanism is coupled to the controller.

13. The smart battery charger of claim 8, wherein the one or more battery charging ports are sized to receive and hold the battery that is inside a shipping box in place, and wherein the shipping box defines openings for the communications plug to couple with the communications port and the charging plug to couple with the charging port.

14. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a battery charger performs a method of scheduling charge cycles for a battery in order to minimize an average charge on the battery over a life of the battery, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that the battery is coupled to the battery charger;

retrieving a usage history for the battery;

determining from the usage history an optimal time to initiate a charge cycle on the battery, wherein the optimal time is a time when the battery is likely to be next used minus a period of time required to complete the charge cycle for the battery; and

initiating the charge cycle for the battery at the optimal time.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, further comprising:

determining when the battery is likely to be next used by analyzing the usage history for the battery with a machine-learning algorithm.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, further comprising determining from the usage history an optimal charge on the battery, wherein the optimal charge is a minimum charge plus an amount of energy historically used during a single use cycle, wherein the charge cycle is terminated when the battery reaches the optimal charge.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the battery is one of a plurality of interchangeable batteries managed by the battery charger, wherein the battery charger keeps at least one of the plurality of interchangeable batteries at full charge, thereby creating a hot battery that is available for use when usage needs deviate from historical patterns.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the battery is one of a plurality of interchangeable batteries managed by the battery charger, and wherein the method further comprises managing use of each of the plurality of interchangeable batteries to equalize usage between batteries.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises displaying on a display coupled to the battery charger one or more of the time when the battery is likely to be next used, a time remaining to complete the charge cycle for the battery, an estimated number of charge cycles remaining in the life of the battery, the total energy delivered to the battery, and the anticipated energy delivery remaining in the battery.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the method further includes receiving a request to display information associated with the battery.