JP2011091940A - Battery voltage monitoring method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable apparatus changing a measuring cycle of battery voltage in accordance with battery voltage. <P>SOLUTION: The portable apparatus driven by a battery includes a battery driving the portable apparatus, a detecting part detecting the voltage of the battery, a storing part holding a voltage value detected by the detecting part, a comparing part comparing the voltage value stored in the storing part with a previous voltage value, a measuring cycle deciding part inputting a comparison result of the comparing part and setting a value in a timer, the timer setting the measuring cycle and a control part changing the measuring cycle of the timer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a portable device driven by a battery, and more particularly, to a technique for changing a battery voltage detection period when battery voltage variation during discharge is large.

Batteries are often used as the power source used in portable devices, and various measures are taken to use them for a long time with a limited battery capacity. For example, the backlight of the display device is turned off when no operation is performed for a certain period of time.

However, even if the backlight of the display device is turned off when no operation is performed for a certain period of time, the battery voltage detection interval is always constant.

In addition, a technique has been proposed in which a battery remaining amount is calculated and compared with a preset threshold value (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-061393 A

However, the conventional example described above has the following problems.

That is, conventionally, in order to compare the remaining battery levels, it is necessary to detect the battery voltage at a constant cycle.

In such a means, since the detection unit is activated at a constant period in order to detect the battery voltage, it is considered that the remaining amount of the battery is affected.

An object of the present invention is to reduce battery consumption since the number of activations of the detection unit is reduced if the detection cycle of the detection unit is lengthened when there is no change in the difference in battery voltage.

In order to solve the above problems, a voltage monitoring method according to the present invention is an electronic device driven by a battery, the battery driving the electronic device, a detection unit for detecting the voltage of the battery, A storage unit that holds a voltage fluctuation allowable value and a voltage value detected by the detection unit, a comparison unit that compares the voltage value stored in the storage unit with a previous voltage value, a timer that sets a measurement cycle, a measurement period determining unit configured to input a comparison result of a previous period comparison unit as an input and set one of the n values as a detection interval in the timer when n is an integer of 2 or more; .

In the voltage monitoring method according to the present invention, the comparison unit is set in the storage unit as a result of comparing the previous voltage value of the battery stored in the storage unit with the current voltage value of the battery. When the voltage fluctuation allowable value of the battery is larger, the measurement cycle is shortened by setting the timer to a value not more than the currently set value among the n values.

In the voltage monitoring method according to the present invention, the comparison unit is set in the storage unit as a result of comparing the previous voltage value of the battery stored in the storage unit with the current voltage value of the battery. When the value is smaller than the battery voltage fluctuation allowable value, the timer is set to a value equal to or larger than the currently set value among the n values, thereby extending the measurement cycle.

In the present invention, the battery voltage value detected immediately before is compared with the battery voltage value detected this time, and when the difference between the detected values is small, the battery voltage detection cycle is lengthened so that battery consumption can be suppressed. became.

Block diagram for checking the remaining battery level and changing the detection cycle Flow chart for checking the remaining battery level and changing the detection cycle

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described using a portable device.

As shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of the present invention includes a secondary battery 22, a detection unit 24 that detects a battery voltage of the secondary battery 22, an ADC 12, a storage unit 14, a comparison unit 16, a timer 18, a measurement cycle. A control unit 1 including a determination unit 20, an ADC 12, a storage unit 14 that stores detection values, a comparison unit 16 that compares detection values, a timer 18 that sets a detection cycle, and a measurement cycle determination unit 20. Yes.

The control unit 1 includes the ADC 12, the storage unit 14, the comparison unit 16, the timer 18, and the measurement cycle determination unit 20, but it goes without saying that there are other components besides the detection unit 24.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart from the start of battery voltage detection until the detection cycle is set. It is confirmed that the power is turned on (S201). The previous detection value is cleared and the timer 18 is set to 1 second (S202). The battery voltage is confirmed and held in the storage unit 14 (S203). The present detection value and the previous detection value are compared by the comparison unit 16 (S204). If the detected value difference is greater than ± 0.1V, the process proceeds to S206, and if the detected value difference is greater than ± 0.1V, the process proceeds to S207 (S205). If the difference between the detected values is greater than ± 0.1 V, the timer 18 is set to 1 second (S206). If the difference between the detected values is within ± 0.1 V, the timer 18 is set to 10 seconds (S207). If the current detection value is copied to the previous detection value (S208), the process proceeds to S203.

Note that the detection cycle timer is set to 10 seconds when the difference between detection values is smaller than ± 0.1 V, and 1 second when the difference between detection values is ± 0.1 V or more, but is not limited to this value. . Further, although the battery voltage difference is set to ± 0.1 V, it is not limited to this value.

In addition, although the present embodiment shows a binary example as the detection interval, for example, according to the difference between the detection values, a plurality of detection interval values are set such that the larger the comparison result is, the smaller the detection interval is. It is possible that

In this embodiment, the type of battery is a secondary battery, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

1 Control unit 12 ADC
14 Storage Unit 16 Comparison Unit 18 Timer 20 Measurement Period Determination Unit 22 Secondary Battery 24 Detection Unit

Claims (3)

An electronic device powered by a battery,
A battery for driving the electronic device;
A detector for detecting the voltage of the battery;
A storage unit for holding a voltage fluctuation allowable value of the battery and a voltage value detected by the detection unit;
A comparison unit that compares the voltage value stored in the storage unit with the previous voltage value;
A timer to set the measurement interval;
When n is an integer of 2 or more,
A measurement period determining unit that inputs the comparison result of the previous period comparison unit and sets any one of the n values as a detection interval in the timer;
The voltage monitoring method characterized by having. As a result of comparing the previous voltage value of the battery stored in the storage unit with the current voltage value of the battery, the comparison unit is more than the allowable voltage fluctuation value of the battery set in the storage unit. 2. The battery voltage monitoring method according to claim 1, wherein when the time is larger, the measurement cycle is shortened by setting a value equal to or less than a currently set value among the n values in the timer. As a result of comparing the previous voltage value of the battery stored in the storage unit with the current voltage value of the battery, the comparison unit is more than the allowable voltage fluctuation value of the battery set in the storage unit. 2. The battery voltage monitoring method according to claim 1, wherein when the time is smaller, the measurement period is lengthened by setting a value equal to or greater than a currently set value among the n values in the timer.