Battery tester having printed electronic components
First Claim
1. A battery tester circuit comprising:
- a substrate;
a display printed on said substrate for displaying an indication of the level of discharge of a battery in response to an electrical display signal;
a display driver circuit electrically coupled to said display and to the battery for receiving power from the battery to drive said display; and
a voltage discriminating circuit electrically coupled to said display and to the battery for sensing a discharge level of the battery and for supplying an electrical display signal representing the sensed discharge level to said display,wherein at least one of said circuits is printed on said substrate at a location spaced apart from said display and is coupled to said display by a conductor.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The battery testing circuit of the present invention preferably includes a substrate, a display printed on the substrate for displaying a level of discharge of a battery, a display driver circuit coupled to the display and to the battery for receiving power from the battery to drive the display, and a battery discharge level sensing circuit coupled to the display and to the battery for sensing a discharge level of the battery and for supplying a display signal representing the sensed discharge level to the display. At least one of the circuits is printed on the substrate using processable conductive polymer materials as ink layers. Preferably, the battery discharge level sensing circuit component continuously senses the discharge level and the display continuously displays the discharge level. The display is preferably a field-responsive liquid crystal display made of either polymer liquid crystal or polymer dispersed liquid crystal material. The display may be formed of one or more layers of active liquid crystal material. The display driver circuit is preferably an oscillator that may also be printed on the substrate.
92 Citations
42 Claims
-
1. A battery tester circuit comprising:
-
a substrate; a display printed on said substrate for displaying an indication of the level of discharge of a battery in response to an electrical display signal; a display driver circuit electrically coupled to said display and to the battery for receiving power from the battery to drive said display; and a voltage discriminating circuit electrically coupled to said display and to the battery for sensing a discharge level of the battery and for supplying an electrical display signal representing the sensed discharge level to said display, wherein at least one of said circuits is printed on said substrate at a location spaced apart from said display and is coupled to said display by a conductor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 34, 35, 41, 42)
-
-
10. A battery testing circuit comprising:
-
a liquid crystal display component for displaying a level of discharge of a battery; and an oscillator circuit component coupled to said liquid crystal display component and to the battery for receiving power therefrom to drive said liquid crystal display component, wherein both of said components are printed on a substrate. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 36, 37)
-
-
14. A battery label comprising:
-
a label substrate for covering an outer portion of a battery; and a printed electric field-responsive bipolar liquid crystal display printed on an outer surface of said label substrate for displaying information pertaining to the battery; and a display driver circuit printed on said label substrate and coupled to said liquid crystal display and to the battery for receiving power from the battery to drive said liquid crystal display. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A battery label comprising:
-
a label substrate for covering an outer portion of a battery; a printed electric field-responsive liquid crystal display printed on an outer surface of said label substrate for displaying information pertaining to the battery, wherein said liquid crystal display includes a plurality of display segments printed on said label substrate; and a display driver circuit printed on said label substrate and coupled to said display segments for separately applying an electric field across each of said display segments. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39)
-
-
40. A battery label comprising:
-
a label substrate for covering an outer portion of a battery; and a printed electric field-responsive birefringent liquid crystal display printed on an outer surface of said label substrate for displaying information pertaining to the battery; and a display driver circuit printed on said label substrate and coupled to said liquid crystal display and to the battery for receiving power from the battery to drive said liquid crystal display.
-
Specification