Method and apparatus for displaying battery fault notifications on wireless devices

• US 8,487,587 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2009
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Guthrie, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhang, Jue
• Application Number:
  US12/548,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20090315730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• Field of Search: 320/106, 320/112, 320/132, 320/134, 320/136, 455/572
• US Class Current: 320/136
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/488 Cells or batteries combined with indicating means for external visualization of the condition, e.g. by change of colour or of light density
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A battery pack for a mobile device, a method for processing fault notifications for a mobile device, and a mobile device for processing fault notifications are described. The battery pack comprises a housing, at least one battery cell within the housing, and a memory accessible by an application of the mobile device, the memory having stored thereon identifying information for identifying at least one of the battery pack and battery cell. Notifications are sent to mobile device including fault parameters for identifying at least one battery pack and/or battery cell affected by a fault. If the identifying information is within the fault parameters, displaying a fault notification on the display of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A battery pack for a mobile device, comprising:

a battery cell; and

a memory accessible by an application of the mobile device, and having stored thereon identifying information identifying at least one of the battery pack and the battery cell;

wherein the mobile device is configured to;

receive a notification from a server, comprising fault parameters identifying at least one battery pack and/or battery cell affected by a fault; and

compare the fault parameters in the notification with the identifying information stored in the memory to determine if the identifying information is within the fault parameters, and if so, display a fault notification on a display of the mobile device.

2. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein the identifying information stored in the memory comprises at least one of:

a unique identifier associated with the battery pack;

a battery pack date code for identifying a date of manufacture of the battery pack;

a battery pack lot code for identifying a manufacturing lot of the battery pack; and

a battery pack model code for identifying a model of the battery pack.

3. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein the identifying information stored in the memory comprises at least one of:

a unique identifier associated with the battery cell;

a battery cell date code for identifying a date of manufacture of the battery cell;

a battery cell lot code for identifying a manufacturing lot of the battery cell; and

a battery cell model code for identifying a model of the battery cell.

4. The battery pack of claim 2, wherein the battery pack date code includes a component that represents a manufacturer of the battery pack and a date code component that represents the date of manufacture of the battery pack.

5. The battery pack of claim 3, wherein the battery cell date code includes a component for identifying a manufacturer of the battery cell and a date code component that represents the date of manufacture of the battery cell.

6. The battery pack of claim 1, further comprising a battery interface operatively connected to the at least one battery cell for providing power to the mobile device.

7. The battery pack of claim 6, further comprising a communications interface operatively connected to the memory for connecting the memory to the mobile device to provide communications therebetween.

8. The battery pack of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is further configured to:

send a request from the mobile device to the server to identify any faults affecting one or more of the battery pack and the battery cell, the server being connected to a database containing fault parameters for identifying at least one battery pack and/or battery cell affected by a fault.

9. A battery pack for use with a mobile device, comprising:

a battery cell; and

a memory accessible by an application of the mobile device, and having stored thereon identifying information identifying at least one of the battery pack and the battery cell;

wherein the mobile device is configured to;

send a request to a server to identify any faults affecting the battery pack and/or the battery cell, the server being connected to a database containing fault parameters identifying at least one battery pack and/or battery cell affected by a fault;

receive a notification from the server, comprising the fault parameters identifying the at least one battery pack and/or battery cell affected by the fault; and

compare the fault parameters in the notification with the identifying information stored in the memory to determine if the battery pack and/or the battery cell are affected by the fault, and if so, display a fault notification on the display of the mobile device.

10. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the mobile device is configured to display the fault notification on the display of the mobile device if the identifying information is determined to be within the fault parameters.

11. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the request comprises the identifying information stored in the memory of the battery pack, and further comprising comparing on the server the fault parameters with the identifying information stored in the memory of the battery pack, wherein the fault notification is displayed on the display of the mobile device if the identifying information is within the fault parameters.

12. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the mobile device is further configured to, if it is determined that the battery pack and the battery cell are each not affected by the fault, display a no-fault notification on the display of the mobile device indicating that there are no faults affecting the battery pack or the battery cell.

13. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is further configured to, if the identifying information is determined not to be within the fault parameters, display a no-fault notification on the display of the mobile device indicating that there are no faults affecting the battery pack or the battery cell.

14. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more unique identifiers associated with an affected battery pack for comparison with a unique identifier associated with the battery pack in the identifying information stored in the memory.

15. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more battery pack date codes identifying a date of manufacture of an affected battery pack for comparison with a battery pack date code identifying a date of manufacture of the battery pack in the identifying information in the memory.

16. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more battery pack lot codes identifying a manufacturing lot of an affected battery pack for comparison with a battery pack lot code identifying a manufacturing lot of the battery pack in the identifying information stored in the memory.

17. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more battery pack model codes identifying a model of an affected battery pack for comparison with a battery pack model code identifying a model of the battery pack in the identifying information stored in the memory.

18. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more unique identifiers associated with affected battery cells for comparison with a unique identifier associated with the battery cell of the mobile device stored in the identifying information.

19. The battery pack of claim 9, wherein the fault parameters comprise one or more battery cell date codes identifying a date of manufacture of an affected battery cell for comparison with a battery cell date code identifying a date of manufacture of the battery cell in the identifying information stored in the memory.