Electronic device with power management

• US 10,782,773 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2020
• Issued: 09/22/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: de la Cropte de Chanterac, Cyril, Venkatraman, Kartik R., Pelosi, Alessandro, Mangade, Shardul S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fantu, Yalkew
• Application Number:
  US16/794,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20200183477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 217 Days
• Field of Search: 320114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• 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 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/30 Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An electronic device may have a power system with a battery. The power system receives power such as wireless power or wired power and uses a portion of the received power to charge the battery as needed. Control circuitry in the portable electronic device is used to run background processes such as image processing tasks, data synchronization tasks, indexing, and other background processes. In some circumstances, such as when the battery is below a certain state of charge threshold, background processes may be stopped so that the battery is charged as fast as possible. Once above this initial state of charge threshold, background processes may be performed during charging as long as the temperature and state of charge of the battery do not exceed safety temperature and safety state of charge values. Performing background processes in these conditions ensures requisite background processing tasks are completed while preserving battery health.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a battery configured to be charged;

a battery gauge coupled to the battery that measures a state of charge of the battery; and

control circuitry coupled to the battery and configured to;

receive a state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

determine if the state of charge measurement is below a first state of charge threshold;

determine if the state of charge measurement is below a second state of charge threshold, wherein the second state of charge threshold is greater than the first state of charge threshold;

determine if the battery is being charged;

stop at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is less than the first state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged; and

run the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold and less than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first state of charge threshold is between 10% and 40%.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

stop the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the battery gauge includes a temperature sensor that is configured to measure a temperature associated with the battery and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

determine if the temperature exceeds a temperature threshold; and

stop the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the second state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged only if the temperature also exceeds the temperature threshold.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the temperature threshold is between 33°

C. and 37°

C.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first state of charge threshold is between 10% and 40% and the second state of charge threshold is between 70% and 90%.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one process comprises indexing files.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one process comprise at least one background process.

9. An electronic device comprising:

a battery configured to be charged;

a battery gauge coupled to the battery that measures a state of charge of the battery; and

control circuitry coupled to the battery and configured to;

receive a state of charge measurement measured using the battery gauge;

determine if the state of charge measurement is greater than a first state of charge threshold;

determine if the battery is being charged; and

run at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the first state of charge threshold is between 10% and 40%.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the at least one process comprises indexing files.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the battery gauge includes a temperature sensor that is configured to measure a temperature associated with the battery and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:

determine if the state of charge measurement is greater than a second state of charge threshold;

determine if the temperature exceeds a temperature threshold; and

stop the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the second state of charge threshold, that the battery is being charged, and that the temperature exceeds the temperature threshold.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the temperature threshold is between 33°

C. and 37°

C.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine if a long charge event is occurring, wherein running the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold and that the battery is being charged comprises running the at least one process in response to determining that the state of charge measurement is greater than the first state of charge threshold, that the battery is being charged, and that the long charge event is occurring.

15. An electronic device comprising:

a battery configured to be charged; and

control circuitry coupled to the battery and configured to;

determine if the battery is being charged;

determine a length of time that the battery has been charging;

determine if the length of time is less than a time threshold; and

stop at least one process in response to determining that the length of time is less than the time threshold and that the battery is being charged.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

run the at least one process once the length of time exceeds the time threshold, wherein the time threshold is between ten minutes and sixty minutes.