Charger

• US 20160285285A1
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FDK Corporation (Fujitsu Limited)
• Original Assignee: FDK Corporation (Fujitsu Limited)
• Inventors: Mizoguchi, Yasunari, Sekiguchi, Kunihisa, Tsuchiya, Katsuki, Foster, Kevin, Teraoka, Hirohito
• Granted Patent: US 10,027,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0048 Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0049 Detection of fully charged condition

Abstract

A charger of the present invention includes a charging circuit that allows a secondary battery to be charged, a state-of-charge detection circuit that detects a state of charge of the secondary battery, a pictogram display unit that displays the state of charge of the secondary battery, and a control device that controls the charging circuit and the pictogram display unit on the basis of the state of charge of the secondary battery. The control device determines a kind of electronic apparatus available by the secondary battery in accordance with the state of charge of the secondary battery, and then displays the kind of electronic apparatus available on the pictogram display unit.

Claims

1. A charger comprising:

a charging circuit that allows a secondary battery to be charged;

a state-of-charge detection circuit that detects a state of charge of the secondary battery;

a display device that displays the state of charge of the secondary battery; and

a control device that controls the charging circuit and the display device on the basis of the state of charge of the secondary battery,

wherein the control device determines a kind of electronic apparatus available by the secondary battery in accordance with the state of charge of the secondary battery, and then displays the kind of electronic apparatus available on the display device.

2. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the display device displays the kind of electronic apparatus available with a pictogram.

3. The charger according to claim 2, wherein the display device includes a light transmission section formed in a shape of the pictogram, and an illuminating section that illuminates the light transmission section from the inside.

4. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the display device includes an image display screen.

5. The charger according to claim 4, wherein the display device displays a level meter in which a state of charge of the secondary battery is indicated by a ratio to full charge, in the image display screen.

6. The charger according to claim 5, wherein the display device displays the kind of electronic apparatus available in the image display screen by superimposing the kind of electronic apparatus on display of the level meter.

7. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the control device determines the kind of electronic apparatus available from the amount of integrated charge of the secondary battery.

8. The charger according to claim 1, wherein the charging circuit is capable of allowing a plurality of secondary batteries to be simultaneously charged, and wherein the state-of-charge detection circuit is capable of detecting a state of charge of the plurality of secondary batteries, and also wherein the control device determines a kind of electronic apparatus available by the plurality of secondary batteries in accordance with the state of charge of the plurality of secondary batteries to display the kind of electronic apparatus available on the display device.