Battery charge leakage monitor

• US 10,705,585 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2018
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Chandra, Sachin Ramesh, Chan, Gung Moon, Chakravarthy, Vinod, Hahn, Brian D., Hu, Da Hai, Muzzey, Brett A., Tornquist, Gary Alan, Venkatachalam, Rajagopal K., Wilhelmi, Ceceli
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Terrell S
• Application Number:
  US15/942,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20190302863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/36 Arrangements for testing, measuring or monitoring the electrical condition of accumulators or electric batteries, e.g. capacity or state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3648 comprising digital calculation means, e.g. for performing an algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/392 Determining battery ageing or deterioration, e.g. state of health
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/52 Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/305 in the event of power-supply fluctuations
• 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 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0047 with monitoring or indicating devices or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system for battery current monitoring includes a system power throttle stored in memory and executable by the one or more processors to place a battery of an electronic device into a state of expected zero-drain throughout a time interval while the electronic device remains active, and a battery leakage monitor stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to detect a battery charge leak based on a series of time-separated parameter measurements for the battery collected during the time interval.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

memory;

one or more processors;

a system power throttle stored in memory and executable by the one or more processors to;

initiate a battery leakage test by taking one or more actions to place a battery within an electronic device into a state of expected zero-drain, the one or more actions including transmitting one or more control signals effective to controllably reduce a maximum load transient of system electronics to at or below a defined threshold throughout a time interval while the electronic device remains active; and

a battery leakage monitor stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to detect a battery charge leak based on a series of time-separated parameter measurements for the battery collected during the time interval without impacting a use session of the electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions further include disabling a battery charge path of the electronic device during the time interval, the maximum system load transient being small enough to permit independent support of the electronic device by an external power supply.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the system power throttle is further configured to limit the maximum system load transient during a power mode transition sequence of the electronic device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system power throttle places the battery into the state of expected zero-drain without disconnecting a battery discharge path from system load electronics.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a battery gauge coupled to the battery and configured to collect the series of time-separated parameter measurements and to transmit the series of time-separated parameter measurements to the battery leakage monitor.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the battery leakage monitor is further executable to implement a remedial action responsive to detection of the battery charge leak.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the remedial action includes limiting current flow to and from the battery to a reduced level.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the remedial action includes notifying a user of a potential battery problem.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the remedial action includes disabling the electronic device.

10. A method comprising:

initiating a battery leakage test by taking one or more actions to place a battery within an electronic device into a state of expected zero-drain, the one or more actions including transmitting one or more control signals effective to controllably reduce a maximum load transient of system electronics to at or below a defined threshold throughout a time interval while the electronic device remains active; and

detecting a battery charge leak based on a series of time-separated parameter measurements for the battery collected during the time interval.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the one or more control signals includes transmitting a control signal to disable a battery charge path of the electronic device during the time interval, the maximum system load transient being small enough to permit independent support of the electronic device by an external power supply.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the time interval is during a power mode transition sequence of the electronic device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the battery remains connected to system load electronics while in the state of expected zero-drain.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

implementing a remedial action responsive to detection of the battery charge leak.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the remedial action includes disabling the electronic device.

16. One or more tangible computer-readable storage media of a tangible article of manufacture encoding computer-executable instructions for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

initiating a battery leakage test by taking one or more actions to place a battery within an electronic device into a state of expected zero-drain, the one or more actions including transmitting one or more control signals effective to controllably reduce a maximum load transient of system electronics to at or below a defined threshold throughout a time interval while the electronic device remains active; and

detecting a battery charge leak based on a series of time-separated parameter measurements for the battery collected during the time interval.

17. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein transmitting the one or more control signals includes transmitting a control signal to disable a battery charge path of the electronic device during the time interval, the maximum system load transient being small enough to permit independent support of the electronic device by an external power supply.

18. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the time interval is during a power mode transition sequence of the electronic device.

19. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the battery remains connected to system load electronics while in the state of expected zero-drain.

20. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the computer process further comprises:

implementing a remedial action responsive to detection of the battery charge leak.