Electronic device and method for monitoring battery module of the same

• US 9,632,795 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2014
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Getac Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Getac Technology Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Chun-Chi
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Fahmida
• Application Number:
  US14/556,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20150268305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• 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 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An electronic device including a control unit, an embedded controller and a battery module is provided. During a booting procedure of the electronic device, the embedded controller reads a reported battery capacity and a battery temperature of the battery module. The embedded controller determines whether the reported battery capacity is lower than a minimum capacity, and further determines whether the battery temperature is lower than a minimum temperature when the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity. When the reported capacity is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is also lower than the minimum temperature, the embedded controller generates a fake battery capacity, according to which an operating system of the electronic device performs various operations. In this application, the battery module of the electronic device remains working even when the electronic device is in a low-temperature and low-battery activation environment.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a battery module, the battery module applied to an electronic device, the method comprising:

reading a reported battery capacity and a battery temperature of the battery module;

determining whether the reported battery capacity is smaller than a minimum capacity required for device operations;

when the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity, determining whether the battery temperature is lower than a minimum temperature;

in response to determining that the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature and the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity, generating, by a controller, a fake battery capacity and operating the electronic device according to the fake battery capacity, wherein the fake battery capacity is higher than the minimum capacity; and

when the reported battery capacity is higher than the minimum capacity or the battery temperature is higher than the minimum temperature, operating the electronic device according to the reported battery capacity.

2. The method according to claim 1, before the step of reading the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature of the electronic device, further comprises:

the electronic device being powered on and activated.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the electronic device is powered on, the following steps are performed:

reading an initial reported battery capacity and an initial battery temperature of the battery module;

determining whether the initial reported battery capacity is smaller than the minimum capacity;

when the initial reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity, determining whether the initial battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature;

when the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature, generating an initial fake battery capacity;

performing, by the electronic device, a booting procedure according to the initial fake battery capacity.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the step of the electronic device performing the booting procedure is performed by an operating system of the electronic device, and the operating system operates according to the fake battery capacity.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of operating the electronic device according to the reported battery capacity comprises:

receiving a battery capacity inquiry from an operating system of the electronic device, and

when the reported battery capacity is higher than the minimum capacity or the battery temperature is higher than the minimum temperature, providing the reported battery capacity to the operating system, wherein the operating system operates according to the reported battery capacity.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of operating the electronic device according to the fake battery capacity comprises:

receiving a battery capacity inquiry from an operating system of the electronic device, and

when it is determined the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature, providing the fake battery capacity to the operating system, wherein the operating system operates according to the fake battery capacity.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

when the temperature is higher that than the minimum temperature and the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity, controlling the electronic device to shut down or to enter a sleep mode.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the following steps performed before the step of reading the reported battery and the battery temperature of the battery module:

reading a supply voltage of the battery module;

determining whether the supply voltage is lower than a minimum voltage;

controlling the electronic device to shut down when the supply voltage is lower than the minimum voltage; and

reading the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature of the battery module when the supply voltage is higher than the minimum voltage.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the battery module comprises a gauge integrated circuit (IC);

the electronic device detects the supply voltage, the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature of the battery module via the gauge IC, and stores the supply voltage, the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the electronic device comprises an embedded controller, and reads the supply voltage, the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature of the battery module by the embedded controller from the gauge IC.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

a battery module, configured to power the electronic device;

an embedded controller, electrically connected to the battery module, configured to read a reported battery capacity and a battery temperature of the battery module to determine whether the reported battery capacity is smaller than a minimum capacity required for device operations and the battery temperature is lower than a minimum temperature, and to generate a fake battery capacity in response to a determination that the battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature;

a control unit, electrically connected to the embedded controller, configured to operate according to the fake battery capacity when the battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature, and to operate according to the reported battery capacity when the reported battery capacity is higher than the minimum capacity or the battery temperature is higher than the minimum temperature.

12. The electronic device according to claim 11, wherein the battery module comprises a gauge IC, which is configured to detect and store a supply voltage, the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature of the battery module for the embedded controller to read from.

13. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the embedded controller controls the electronic device to shut down when determining that the supply voltage of the battery module is lower than a minimum voltage, and reads the reported battery capacity and the battery temperature when determining that supply voltage is higher than the minimum voltage.

14. The electronic device according to claim 11, further comprising:

a storage module, electrically connected to the control unit, configured to store an operating system;

wherein, the control unit executes the operating system, and the operating system operates according to the fake battery capacity when the battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is lower than the minimum temperature.

15. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein:

the embedded controller receives a battery capacity inquiry from the operating system; and

when determining that the reported battery capacity is higher than the minimum capacity, the embedded controller further replies the reported battery capacity to the operating system to make the operating system operate according to the reported battery capacity.

16. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein:

the embedded controller receives a battery capacity inquiry from the operating system; and

when determining that the reported battery capacity of the battery module is lower than the minimum capacity and the battery temperature is higher than the minimum temperature, the embedded controller further replies to the operating system of the reported battery capacity to make the operating system operate according to the reported battery capacity.

17. The electronic device according to claim 16, wherein:

the storage module stores a driver; and

when determining that the reported battery capacity is lower than the minimum capacity, the operating system controls the electronic device to shut down or to enter a sleep mode via the driver.