Patent · US Expired

Personal computer for performing charge and switching control of different types of battery packs

US5485073A · kind A · utility

38Cited by
10References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 1, 1993
Grant dateJan 16, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 1, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S320/21
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A personal computer of this invention has a battery pack mounting section for detachably receiving battery packs having different current capacities. The personal computer also includes a switch mechanism 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). The PC-CPU 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 performs optimal charge control on the basis of this characteristic data. Two battery packs are prepared. When the PC-CPU 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 performs optimal charge control of the battery in the low-battery state.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.