DETERMINING A BATTERY CHEMISTRY FOR A BATTERY IN A PERIPHERAL DEVICE

• US 20130151181A1
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bokma, Louis W., Parivar, Nima, Sebastiani, Marco
• Granted Patent: US 9,407,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/63
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/371 with remote indication, e.g. on external chargers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/378 specially adapted for the type of battery or accumulator
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4221 with battery type recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00041 in response to measured battery parameters, e.g. voltage, current or temperature profile
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a system that determines a battery chemistry for a battery in a peripheral device. During operation, the system determines a first voltage of the battery at a first time and a second voltage of the battery at a second time. The first voltage and the second voltage are then compared to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles to determine the battery chemistry.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining a battery chemistry for a battery in a peripheral device, comprising:

determining a first voltage of the battery at a first time;

determining a second voltage of the battery at a second time; and

comparing the first voltage and the second voltage to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles to determine the battery chemistry.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein comparing the first voltage and the second voltage to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles to determine the battery chemistry includes:

communicating the first voltage and the second voltage to a host, wherein the host performs the comparison.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein communicating the first voltage and the second voltage to the host includes communicating using Bluetooth.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the first voltage of the battery at the first time and determining the second voltage of the battery at the second time includes:

periodically determining a voltage of the battery once every predetermined time period.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined time period is four hours.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device includes at least one of:

a mouse, a remote control, a trackpad, a keyboard, and a Bluetooth headset.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the first voltage of the battery at the first time involves measuring a first loaded voltage and a first unloaded voltage;

determining the second voltage of the battery at the second time involves measuring a second loaded voltage and a second unloaded voltage; and

comparing the first voltage and the second voltage to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles involves;

comparing the first unloaded voltage and the second unloaded voltage to one or more predetermined unloaded battery usage profiles; and

comparing the first loaded voltage and the second loaded voltage to one or more predetermined loaded battery usage profiles.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined battery usage profile includes information transmitted to the host using the Internet.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the information transmitted to the host includes information related to one or more voltages of the battery transmitted from a second host.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the information transmitted to the host includes one or more updated battery usage profiles.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined battery usage profile includes information related to one or more historical battery usage profiles for the peripheral device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, including:

determining a peripheral device usage metric, wherein determining the battery chemistry includes using the peripheral device usage metric to determine the battery chemistry.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, including:

determining a remaining battery life of the battery based on information including the battery chemistry and at least one of the first voltage and the second voltage.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,

wherein communicating the first voltage and the second voltage to the host includes communicating information based on the first voltage and the second voltage;

and

wherein comparing the first voltage and the second voltage to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles includes processing the communicated information to retrieve the first voltage and the second voltage.

15. A system for determining a battery chemistry for a battery in a peripheral device, comprising:

a measuring apparatus in the peripheral device configured to take two or more voltage measurements of the battery, wherein each voltage measurement is taken at a different time;

a communicating apparatus in the peripheral device configured to communicate the two or more voltage measurements to a host; and

a comparing apparatus in the host configured to compare the two or more voltage measurements to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles to determine the battery chemistry.

16. The system of claim 15,

wherein the host further includes an Internet network connection mechanism configured to receive information related to the one or more predetermined battery usage profiles;

and

wherein the comparing apparatus is further configured to use the received information to determine the battery chemistry.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the peripheral device includes at least one of:

a mouse, a trackpad, a remote control, a keyboard, and a Bluetooth headset.

18. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for determining a battery chemistry for a battery in a peripheral device, the method comprising:

receiving a first voltage of the battery measured at a first time;

receiving a second voltage of the battery measured at a second time; and

comparing the first voltage and second voltage to one or more predetermined battery usage profiles to determine the battery chemistry.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the predetermined battery usage profile includes one or more updated battery usage profiles transmitted using the Internet.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the method further includes:

determining a peripheral device usage metric, wherein determining the battery chemistry includes using the peripheral device usage metric to determine the battery chemistry.