JPH0412285A - Display device for residual electric energy of battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To correctly recognize the consumption state by storing the stored electric energy of a battery in a non-volatile memory and reducing it by the consumed electric energy of each operation at the time of executing various operations and displaying the residual electric energy. CONSTITUTION:When various processings are started, a control part 137 discriminates the classification of the operation. For example, when the transmission operation is started, the operation time is discriminated and when the transmission operation is terminated, the consumed electric energy is calculated by the operation time and a coefficient. The consumed electric energy is subtracted from the stored electric energy stored in an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM) 135, and the calculated stored electric energy is displayed as the residual electric energy on a display device 134. When the reception operation is started, the number of recorded lines is counted and a proportion of black dots to all recorded dots is obtained. The consumed electric energy is calculated in accordance with the number of recorded lines, the proportion of black dots, and a coefficient. Since the stored electric energy is successively displayed at the time or charging a battery 125, the charging state is correctly detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a remaining power amount display device for a battery installed in an electronic device.

[Prior Art] In recent years, small portable facsimile machines that use batteries as an operating power source have been put into practical use.

Generally, devices that use a battery as a power source are equipped with a function to display the dead weight of the battery.

One well-known method for determining the dead weight of a battery is to detect the battery voltage.

By the way, nickel cadmium batteries are often used in such various electronic devices.

Nickel cadmium batteries, for example, have a rated voltage of 1
In the case of 2V, the battery voltage is IO as shown in Figure 7.
There is a discharge characteristic in which when the voltage drops to about V, the voltage drops rapidly thereafter. Therefore, in the case of the above-mentioned method for determining the remaining snow capacity, when the battery voltage drops to, for example, 10.5V or less, a warning is displayed that the remaining snow capacity has decreased.

Incidentally, in the case of a facsimile apparatus that records images with a thermal head, current consumption increases several times when recording an image compared to other states.

For this reason, when the battery is exhausted to a certain extent, a phenomenon occurs in which the voltage drops to less than 10.5 V only during the period of recording the received image line by line, as shown in FIG.

[Problem to be Solved] In this case, since the above-mentioned warning display of the remaining snow capacity is performed after the receiving operation is started, there is an inconvenience that the operator does not know the state of battery consumption until that point.

Furthermore, in this case, conventionally, the warning display has been stopped when the recording operation is completed and the battery voltage recovers to 10.5V or more. Therefore, if the operator does not see the warning display during the recording operation, there is an inconvenience that the operator will not notice that the battery is depleted.

On the other hand, methods that do not rely on battery voltage are known as methods for determining the remaining snow capacity of a battery. In this method, the operating time of the device corresponding to the capacity of the battery is determined in advance, the operating time is accumulated each time the device is activated, and the ratio of the actual operating time to the above operating time is plotted as a bar graph. It is to be displayed.

This method is put into practical use in electric razors and the like whose current consumption is always constant. This has the advantage that the operator can accurately grasp the state of battery consumption.

However, this method cannot be applied to facsimile machines that have large variations in current consumption as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a battery remaining power display device that eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages and allows an operator to accurately and reliably know the state of battery consumption.

[Means for Solving the Problems] For this purpose, the present invention stores the accumulated power amount of the battery in a non-volatile memory when the battery is charged,
When various operations are executed, the power consumption amount is calculated for each operation, the power amount stored in the memory is reduced by the amount of power consumption, and the remaining snow power amount is displayed.

[Since the remaining snow capacity calculated by the action calculation is displayed, the display state will not change due to fluctuations in current consumption. This allows the operator to accurately and reliably know the state of battery consumption.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a jack 11 for connecting to a charging power source is fixed to a box 1 of the facsimile machine, and a power supply section 12 and a main body section 13 are disposed inside the box 1.

A pin P1 of the jack 11 is connected to one end of a capacitor C in the power supply section 12, an input of an input voltage detection circuit 121, and one end of a contact of a switch circuit 122, respectively. The input voltage detection circuit 121 starts the timer circuit 123 when an input voltage is applied.
The output is set to low level for a certain period of time after startup.

The other end of the contact of the switch circuit 122 is a constant current circuit 124
, and its output is connected to a batch 25 with a rated voltage of 12V and to a DC/DC converter 126 via a diode D□. The DC/DC converter 126 converts the input voltage into power supply voltages of 5V and ±12V, and the power supply voltages are applied to the main body 13.

The output of the timer circuit 123 is connected to the switch circuit 122 and the bases of the transistors Tr.

The collector of the transistor Tr is connected to the base of the transistor Tr, and the emitter of the transistor Tr and the collector of the transistor Tr are connected to one end of a red light emitting diode D2. The collector of the transistor Tr2 is connected to one end of the green light emitting diode D3.

The light emitting diode D2 and the light emitting diode D3 are connected to one line of the output power source of the DC/DC converter 126 via a resistor R and a resistor R2, respectively. Also, the line of pin P3 of jack 11 is connected to one of its output power supplies via resistor R3.

On the other hand, the other end of the pin P21 capacitor C of the jack 11,
The emitters of transistors Tr3 and Tr2, the other end of battery 125, input voltage detection circuit 121. Timer circuit 1
23° constant current circuit 124 and DC/DC converter 1
26 and the like are each connected to ground.

A communication processing section 131 in the main body section 13 executes facsimile communication via a telephone line. Scanner 13
Reference numeral 2 reads the original image, and plotter 133 records the image using a thermal recording method.

The display 134 displays the amount of electric power stored in the battery 125 in a bar graph.
rical-1y Erasable PROM)13
5 stores data indicating the human capacity of the battery 125. The operation section 136 is used by an operator to perform various operations, and the control section 137 is a microcomputer that controls each section within the main body section 13. The control unit 137 is connected to the pin P of the jack 11 and the contact signal line of the timer circuit 123.

With the above configuration, in the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment, only the control section 137 is always operated regardless of whether a power switch (not shown) is turned on or off.

When using this facsimile machine, the operator must:
First, the battery 125 is charged. In this case, the plug 2 at the end of the output cord of a charger (not shown) is inserted into the jack 11.

By the way, before the plug 2 is inserted, the line of pin P3 of the jack 11 is grounded via P2, and a low level signal is input to the control section 137.

Then, when the plug 2 is inserted, its input signal becomes high level. The control unit 137 determines whether the plug 2 is inserted based on the input signal.

That is, when the battery 125 has accumulated power that can be operated, the control unit 137 monitors the insertion of the plug 2 as shown in FIG. 2 (N loop of process 1001). Then, when the jack 11 is inserted (processing 100
1 Y), wait for a certain period of time T, for example 5 minutes (
Processing 1002).

On the other hand, when the jack 11 is inserted, charging power is supplied to the power supply section 12. The input voltage detection circuit 121 detects the voltage and starts the timer circuit 123.

When the timer circuit 123 is activated, it keeps the output signal at a low level for a predetermined period of time, such as eight hours. When the output signal of the timer circuit 123 becomes low level, the switch circuit 122 is closed and charging of the battery 125 is started, while the transistor Tr3 is turned on and the red light emitting diode D2 is turned on. Note that the specified time is for preventing overcharging of the battery 125, and is set as the required charging time in the case where it takes the longest time.

After waiting for a certain time T, the control unit 137 calculates the charging power amount P as P=a−T based on the time T and the coefficient a. This coefficient a is calculated as follows:
This is set in order to calculate the amount of power to be charged in the battery. Note that since the charging current to the battery 125 changes over time, the actual amount of charging power is not proportional to time, but in this embodiment, it is calculated as being proportional (process 1003).

Further, in this embodiment, data on the accumulated power amount PB of the battery 125 is stored in the EEPROM 135. Therefore, in the first step, the upper charging power amount P is added to the stored power amount PB in the EEFROM 135 (processing 100
4).

Next, the added accumulated power amount PR is added to the battery 125.
Check to see if the capacity has been exceeded (process 1.00
5). Then, if the capacity is not exceeded (processing 100
5N), the battery power amount PR is displayed on the display 134. On the display 134, as shown in FIG.
The stored power amount PR at that point in time is displayed in a graph as a percentage with respect to the capacity of the battery 125 (processing 1006).

Next, the elapse of the specified time is checked using the output signal of the timer circuit 123 (process 1007), and if the time has not elapsed (N in process 1007), the above process is repeated (proceed to process 1002). As a result, the battery 125
Electricity is gradually accumulated in , and the accumulated electric power amount PB is displayed.
also gradually increases.

Therefore, after a certain amount of time has passed, the process 1004
The stored power amount PR calculated in step 125 exceeds the capacity of battery 125. In this case (Y in process 1005),
Sera 1- with the capacity of the battery 125 as the accumulated power amount PB.
(processing 1008).

Further, the timer circuit 123 returns the output signal to the high level after the specified time has elapsed. This opens the contacts of the switch circuit 122 and stops charging.

Also, the transistor Tr3 is turned off and the light emitting diode D
2 is turned off, the transistor Tr2 is turned on, and the green light emitting diode D3 is turned on.

The control unit 137 controls the timer circuit 1 after the specified time has elapsed.
When the output signal of 23 returns to high level (Y in process 1007), the above charging display operation is ended.

The operator removes the plug 2 when the green light emitting diode D3 lights up. Then, by performing predetermined operations, transmission/reception processing, copying processing, etc. of the original image are arbitrarily performed.

FIG. 4 shows the operation of displaying the weight of the battery 125 during execution of such various processes.

When the control unit 137 starts various processes, it determines the type of the operation (process 2001). For example, if a transmission operation is started ("transmission" in process 2001), the operation time T is measured (process 2002). Then, when the transmission operation is completed, the power consumption P is calculated as P=a1·T using the operation time T and the coefficient 81 (processing 20=1
1-03). Note that this coefficient a1 is determined based on the average current consumption during the transmission operation.

After this, the accumulated power PR stored in the EEPROM 135 is subtracted by the power consumption P (processing 2004).
, the display 13 displays the calculated accumulated power PR as the remaining power.
4, the display is performed in the same manner as above (process 2005).

Next, when the reception operation is started (processing 2001 "
After recording the received image, the number of recorded lines N
While counting (process 2006), the ratio R of black dots to the total number of recorded dots is determined (process 2007).

Since the plotter 133 of this embodiment is of a thermal recording type, most of the power consumption is consumed in the plotter 133 when receiving an image. In addition, the plotter 133
The power consumption is approximately proportional to the number of black dots in the recorded image.

Therefore, next, power consumption P1 is calculated from the number of recording lines N, the ratio R of black dots, and the coefficient 82 as P1=a,·NR (process 2008), and the above process is performed (proceed to process 2004). ).

On the other hand, when copying the original image is started ("copy" in process 2001), the operation time T is measured (
Process 2009), power consumption P is calculated as P□:a□·T using the coefficient a (process 2010).

In addition, the number N of lines recorded in the image is counted (process 20011), and the ratio R of black dots to the total number of dots is calculated (process 2012), and the power consumption P2 is calculated based on the coefficient a1.
Using P2=a2.・Calculate as NR (processing 2
013). Next, the total value of power consumption P is P: P + P
2 and perform the above processing (2014).
to process 2004).

As described above, in this embodiment, since the accumulated power amount is displayed sequentially when charging the battery 125, the operator can accurately know the charging state.

In addition, in this case, when the plug 2 is inserted into the jack 11, it is determined that charging is in progress and the accumulated power amount is displayed, so the operator can switch the device to the charging state when charging. No switching operation is required.

Further, when the LAXIMI device is in operation, the amount of power consumed is calculated, the amount of accumulated power stored in the EEPROM 135 is updated, and the amount of power is displayed on the display 134. As a result, the display state does not change due to fluctuations in current consumption as in the past, so the operator can
To accurately and reliably know the state of battery consumption.

Note that in the above embodiments, charging is stopped under the control of the timer circuit 123 after a certain period of time has elapsed since the start of charging, but the charging may be stopped under program control of the control unit 137.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts.

In the figure, a battery case 3 is detachably formed in a box. A battery 125 and an EEPROM 135 are housed inside the battery case 3, and a jack 11 is attached. EEPROM1 of this embodiment
Reference numeral 35 is a known device that writes/reads data using serial signals, and is a small device with, for example, 8 pins.

Pins P1 and P2 of jack 11 are connected to both ends of battery 125. When the battery case 3 is attached to the box 1, a pair of connectors 4 fixed to both are connected. At this time, the + side of the battery 125 is connected to the voltage detection circuit 127 and the DC/DC converter 1.
26. Also, one side of batch January 25 and E
The ground terminal of the EPROM 135 is connected to the ground on the box 1 side, and the other terminals of the EEPROM 135 are connected to the ground of the control unit 1.
It is designed to be connected to 37.

When charging the battery 125 with the above configuration, the operator removes the battery case 3 from the box 1 and connects a charger (not shown) to the jack 11. When charging for a predetermined period of time is completed, the battery case 3 is attached to the box body 1.

The battery 125 has a rated voltage of 12V, but at the time of completion of charging, the battery voltage will be 13°2V to 1V.
It rises to 3.8V.

The voltage detection circuit 127 determines whether the input voltage is L(,2V or more).The control unit 137 monitors the increase in the input voltage based on the detection result of the voltage detection circuit 127, as shown in FIG. (N loop of process 3001).

Then, when the input voltage rises to 13.2V or higher (Y in process 3001), batch 1 is stored in the EEPROM 135.
The stored power amount PR corresponding to the capacity of month 25 is stored (processing 3002).

The operator then optionally uses the facsimile machine. The facsimile machine performs a large power amount display operation in the same way as in the case of FIG. 4 during various operations.

In this way, in this embodiment, the EEPROM 135 is arranged in the battery case 3 together with the battery 125. As a result, when a plurality of battery cases 3 are provided and used by replacing them, each battery 1
It becomes possible to correctly display the accumulated power amount every 25 seconds.

In each of the above embodiments, the EEF ROM is used to store the amount of power stored in the battery, but it goes without saying that other non-volatile memories can be used in the same way.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when a battery is charged, the accumulated power of the battery is stored in a nonvolatile memory, and when various operations are performed, the power consumption is reduced. The amount of power stored in the memory is updated and the remaining power is displayed, so the display state does not change due to fluctuations in current consumption, so the operator can easily monitor battery consumption. You will be able to accurately and reliably know the status.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of displaying the accumulated power amount during charging, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the method of displaying the accumulated power amount. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of large power amount display operation during various operations, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a facsimile machine in the second embodiment, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of stored power amount storage operation in the second embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the discharge characteristics of a nickel cadmium battery, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of fluctuations in battery voltage. 1...Box body, 2...Plug, 3...Battery case, 4...Connector, 11...Jack, 12...
Power supply unit, 13... Main unit, 121... Input voltage detection circuit, 122... Switch circuit, 123... Timer circuit, 124... Constant current circuit, 125... Battery, 126... DC:/DC converter, 127...Voltage detection circuit, 131...Communication processing unit, 132...Scanner, 133...Plotter, 134...Display device, 1
35...EEPROM, 136...Operation unit, 1
37. Control unit. Agent Patent Attorney Crest 1) Makoto Figure 10.5 Figure Time (T) - Figure

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Non-volatile memory that does not lose stored data due to the presence or absence of power supply voltage in battery remaining power display devices installed in electronic devices that use rechargeable batteries as an operating power source and have different power consumption for each type of operation. and an accumulated power storage means for storing the accumulated power of the battery in the memory when the battery is charged, a power consumption calculation means for calculating the power consumption when various operations are executed, and the memory. A battery comprising: a remaining power amount calculation means for reducing the stored power amount stored in the battery by the above-mentioned power consumption amount; and a remaining power amount display means for displaying the reduced stored power amount. Remaining power amount display device. (2) If the battery is fixed in the electronic device, a connector for connecting a charging power source to the battery, a determining means for determining whether charging is in progress based on the mechanical connection state of the connector, and 2. The remaining power amount display device for a battery according to claim 1, further comprising display means for sequentially displaying the amount of power stored in said battery when it is determined. (3) The battery remaining power amount display device according to claim 1, wherein when the battery is detachable from the electronic device, the memory is fixed to the battery side.