EP0435317A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Personal computer for performing charge and switching control of different types of battery packs
Assignee: Toshiba Corp
•
Filing: 1990-12-28
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2010-12-28
Abstract
Abstract A personal computer of this invention has a battery pack mounting section (31R) for detachably receiving battery packs having different current capacities. The personal computer also includes a switch mechanism (70, 304) for detecting whether a battery pack has a high or low capacity. Battery characteristic values consisting of charge and discharge voltage/current characteristics in units of batteries are prestored in a memory in a power control CPU (PC-CPU) (306). The PC-CPU (306) refers to the memory on the basis of capacity data from the switch mechanism and reads out the corresponding battery characteristic data. A power supply circuit (30) performs optimal charge control on the basis of this characteristic data. Two battery packs are prepared. When the PC-CPU (306) detects that the currently used battery pack is in a low-battery state, it selects the other battery pack to supply the operating power to the personal computer. At the same time the PC-CPU (306) performs optimal charge control of the battery in the low-battery state.
Inventors
- 👤 Masahiko C/O Intel. Property Div. Kasashima
- 👤 Nobuyuki C/O Intel. Property Div. Nanno
- 👤 Kouichirou C/O Intel. Property Div. Takeguchi
- 👤 Kazuo C/O Intel. Property Div. Akashi
- 👤 Yoshiaki C/O Intel. Property Div. Suzuki
- 👤 Makoto C/O Intel. Property Div. Ando
- 👤 Yuji C/O Intel. Property Div. Yamanaka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 09:00
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F1/00; G06F1/16; G06F1/1613; G06F1/1633; G06F1/1684; G06F1/1615; G06F1/1616; G06F1/1635; G06F1/1656; G06F1/20; G06F1/203; G06F1/26; G06F1/28; H; H02; H02J; H02J7/00; H02J7/40; H02J7/443; H02J7/485; H02J7/90; H02J7/96; Y; Y02; Y02B; Y02B40/00; Y10; Y10S; Y10S320/00; Y10S320/18; Y10S320/21
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
88 words
A personal computer having data storage means and data processing means, characterized by comprising: battery pack storage means for storing any of battery packs (31L, 31R) having different current capacities; means (312) for detecting a current capacity of a battery pack stored in said battery pack storage means; means (306, 311) for charging the stored battery pack on the basis of the current capacity detected by said detecting means; and means (315) for generating an operating power from the battery pack stored in said battery pack storage means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
34 words
A computer according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for detecting the current capacity of the battery pack comprises set switch means (304) for setting the current capacities of the battery packs.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
89 words
A computer according to claim 1, characterized in that said charging means comprises: means (306e) for prestoring characteristic data of the battery packs having the different current capacities; means (103) for detecting voltage and current values of the driven battery pack; and charge control means (306, 311) for controlling charging of the battery pack on the basis of the characteristic data corresponding to the current capacity of the battery pack detected by said current capacity detecting means and the voltage and current values detected by said voltage/current detecting means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
41 words
A computer according to claim 1, characterized in that said battery pack storage means comprises: at least two battery pack storage sections for respectively storing at least two battery packs; and means for selecting one of said plurality of battery packs.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
A computer according to claim 4, characterized in that the battery pack stored in at least one of said battery pack storage sections is detachable.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
24 words
A computer according to claim 5, characterized in that the current capacities of said at least two battery packs are equal to each other.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
24 words
A computer according to claim 5, characterized in that the current capacities of said at least two battery packs are different from each other.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
A computer according to claim 7, characterized by further comprising means for setting a current capacity of said at least one battery pack.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
42 words
A computer according to claim 4, characterized in that said selecting means comprises: means for detecting a low-battery sate of any one of the battery packs; and means for replacing the battery pack in the low-battery state with the other battery pack.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
A computer according to claim 4, characterized in that said means for detecting the current capacity of the battery pack comprises set switch means for setting the current capacity of the battery pack.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
89 words
A computer according to claim 4, characterized in that said charging means comprises: means (306e) for prestoring characteristic data of the battery packs having the different current capacities; means (103) for detecting voltage and current values of the driven battery pack; and charge control means (306, 311) for controlling charging of the battery pack on the basis of the characteristic data corresponding to the current capacity of the battery pack detected by said current capacity detecting means and the voltage and current values detected by said voltage/current detecting means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
103 words
A charge control system comprising: a battery mounting section capable of receiving different types of batteries; means for determining types of batteries mounted in said mounting section; storage means for prestoring characteristic values of the different types of batteries; means for detecting voltage and current values when driven by a battery; and charge control means, responsive to the voltage and current values detected by said detecting means, for reading out the battery characteristic values from said storage means on the basis of the batteries determined by said determining means and for performing battery charge control on the basis of the readout characteristic values.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
11 words
A personal computer utilizing the charge control system of claim 12.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.