KR20060016417A - Device and method for indicating residual capacity of battery - Google Patents

Abstract

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a power supply remaining capacity display device and a method thereof.

2. The technical problem to be solved by the invention

The present invention compares the residual voltage of a power supply device (for example, a battery) mounted on an electronic device with a preset reference voltage, and turns on a light emitting device provided on the outer surface of the power supply device to correspond to the comparison result. It is an object of the present invention to provide a power remaining capacity display device and a method for displaying the remaining capacity so that the remaining power capacity can be independently confirmed without mounting a power supply device in an electronic device.

3. Summary of Solution to Invention

The present invention provides a power remaining capacity display device comprising: power storage means for storing power; Connecting means for connecting the power storage means and the voltage comparing means according to an external input; The voltage comparing means for comparing each reference voltage with a residual voltage from the power storage means applied through the connection means and outputting a corresponding comparison value; Control means for controlling the display means by receiving the comparison value from the voltage comparing means; And the display means for displaying the remaining power capacity under the control of the control means.

4. Important uses of the invention

Industrial Applicability The present invention is used for a power supply and the like mounted on an electronic device.

Power remaining capacity, residual voltage, reference voltage, connection, voltage comparator, light emitting element, power supply

Description

Device and method for indicating residual capacity of battery             

1A is a configuration diagram of a battery remaining capacity display device in a conventional wireless communication terminal;

1B and 1C are diagrams for describing a method for displaying battery remaining capacity in a conventional wireless communication terminal;

2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a power remaining capacity display device according to the present invention;

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of an embodiment of a power remaining capacity display device according to the present invention;

4A to 4C are three exemplary views showing the outer surface of a battery having a remaining capacity display function according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for displaying power remaining capacity according to the present invention;

6 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a method for displaying power remaining capacity according to the present invention;

7 is a flowchart illustrating still another embodiment of a method for displaying power remaining capacity according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

20: power storage 21: connection

22: voltage comparison unit 221: 4.0V voltage generator (LDO)

222: first comparator 223: 3.5V voltage generator (LDO)

224: second comparator 23: control unit

24: display portion 241: first light emitting element

242: second light emitting element

The present invention relates to a power remaining capacity display device and a method thereof, and more particularly, to compare a residual voltage of a power supply device (for example, a battery) mounted on an electronic device with a preset reference voltage, to correspond to the comparison result. Power remaining capacity display device and its power, which enables the light emitting device provided on the outer surface of the power supply to be turned on to display the remaining capacity of the power supply device, so that the remaining power capacity can be independently checked without attaching the power supply to the electronic device. It is about a method.

In the present invention, the power supply device is a device for supplying power when the power is stored in the electronic device is stored in the electronic device, and means a device that can supply power to the electronic device, in the present invention as an example of the power supply device Let's explain.

Here, the battery refers to a device for storing electricity. When using a portable device such as a PC or a notebook, a mobile phone stores electricity in a storage battery in advance and connects the storage battery to a power source.

On the other hand, the present invention will be described as an example of a wireless communication terminal of the electronic device equipped with a battery.

Herein, the wireless communication terminal is a mobile communication terminal, a personal digital communication terminal (PCS), a personal digital terminal (PDA), a next generation wireless communication terminal (IMT-2000), a wireless LAN terminal, a smartphone, etc. Say possible terminal.

In a wireless communication system, a wireless communication terminal performs a general voice call function by exchanging a wireless communication signal with a base station through a wireless channel, and performs various additional functions such as a short message service and a data service, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), etc. The current state of the wireless communication terminal and various additional information are displayed by using the display unit.

1A is a block diagram of a battery remaining capacity display device in a conventional wireless communication terminal.

As shown in FIG. 1A, in the conventional wireless communication terminal, the battery remaining capacity display device uses a battery 10 and an analog / digital converter (hereinafter, referred to as an ADC) corresponding to a current value output from the battery 10. The multiplexer 11 to be transmitted to the (12), the ADC 12 for converting the analog signal received from the multiplexer 11 into a digital signal, the digital signal from the ADC 12 receives the remaining capacity of the battery And a display unit 14 for receiving and displaying a signal corresponding to the level of the remaining capacity from the control unit 13.

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a screen displayed on the display unit 14 when the wireless communication terminal is in the standby mode. As shown in FIG. 1B, the display unit 14 of the wireless communication terminal has an antenna bar 15 indicating the strength of a received signal. ) And the battery remaining capacity indicator icon 16 are always displayed.

Here, the battery remaining capacity display icon 16 displays the remaining battery capacity according to the number of patterns in the battery remaining capacity display icon 16, as shown in FIG. 1C. That is, the larger the number of patterns in the battery remaining capacity display icon 16 displayed on the display unit 14, the greater the remaining battery capacity.

However, since the battery remaining capacity display device of the conventional wireless communication terminal as described above displays the battery remaining capacity display icon 16 on the display unit 14 together with other information such as time information or an initial screen, the remaining battery capacity is relatively high. Since the capacity display icon 16 is displayed very small, it is inconvenient to check the remaining battery capacity, and thus there is a problem that the remaining battery capacity may be consumed without the user being aware of it.

In addition, in order to check the remaining capacity of the battery in the above manner, since the battery had to be mounted on the wireless communication terminal and the power was turned on to check the number of patterns displayed, the battery if the wireless communication terminal and the battery were separated There was a problem that can not determine how much remaining capacity of.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems, and compares the residual voltage of a power supply (for example, a battery) mounted on an electronic device with a preset reference voltage, and is provided on the outer surface of the power supply to correspond to the comparison result. The present invention provides a power remaining capacity display device and a method for displaying a remaining capacity of a power supply device by turning on a light emitting device so that the remaining power capacity can be independently checked without mounting a power supply device in an electronic device. There is this.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, it will be readily appreciated that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the claims.

An apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object is a power remaining capacity display device, the power storage means for storing power; Connecting means for connecting the power storage means and the voltage comparing means according to an external input; The voltage comparing means for comparing each reference voltage with a residual voltage from the power storage means applied through the connection means and outputting a corresponding comparison value; Control means for controlling the display means by receiving the comparison value from the voltage comparing means; And the display means for displaying the remaining power capacity under the control of the control means.

On the other hand, the method of the present invention, the remaining power capacity display method, the connecting step of connecting the power storage means and the voltage comparing means in accordance with an external input; A comparison / control step of controlling the display means according to the remaining power capacity by comparing the remaining voltage from the power storage means with each reference voltage as the power storage means and the voltage comparing means are connected; And a display step of displaying the power remaining capacity.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. There will be. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a power remaining capacity display device according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the remaining power display device according to the present invention includes a power storage unit (eg, a battery cell) 20, a connection unit (eg, a switch) 21, a voltage comparator 22, and a controller ( 23) and a display unit 24.                     

The power storage unit 20 is also referred to as a battery cell, and stores the power supplied from an external charging device through a charging terminal of a power supply device (eg, a battery). When installed, it serves to supply power to the wireless communication terminal through the internal terminal.

The connection unit 21 connects the power storage unit (battery cell) 20 and the voltage comparator 22 according to an external input, that is, as a touch operation is input from a user who wants to check the remaining power capacity. Play a role.

In this case, the connection unit 21 may be a switch as an example, and when the user of the wireless communication terminal wants to check the remaining power capacity, when the connection unit 21, that is, the switch is turned on, the power storage unit ( The remaining voltage of 20 is applied to the voltage comparator 22.

Then, the voltage comparator 22 receiving the residual voltage compares the residual voltage with each preset reference voltage and outputs corresponding comparison values.

At this time, the voltage comparator 22 includes a plurality of comparators for comparing the residual voltage with each reference voltage and a plurality of voltage generators for generating and applying the respective reference voltages to the comparators (LDO: Low Drop Out voltage regulator). It includes.

Here, the voltage generator LDO is connected to one input terminal of the comparator, and generates a predetermined reference voltage to apply to the comparator.

Meanwhile, the controller 23 receives the comparison value from the voltage comparator 22 and controls the display unit 24 to correspond to the comparison value.                     

Here, the control unit 23 may be, for example, a multiplexer (MUX), and the multiplexer selects any one input signal among signals input from a plurality of circuits and selects a data to carry out a function of loading the output circuit. As a logic circuit, the display unit 24 is controlled by selectively outputting the comparison signals input through the comparator of the voltage comparator 22.

The display unit 24 serves to display a power remaining capacity by using a light emitting device (for example, an LED) that emits light under the control of the controller 23, and includes one or more light emitting devices.

The light emitting device can be used both a seven-color LED (Light Emitting Diode) in which one light emitting device emits light in various colors and a one-color LED emitting light in a single color, and displays the power remaining capacity, According to the number of light emitting elements used in (24), it can be changed and utilized as appropriate, a description thereof will be described later in detail in FIG.

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of a power remaining capacity display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the voltage comparison unit 22 and the display unit 24 are described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 3, the voltage comparator 22 includes a 4.0V voltage generator (LDO) 221 for generating a 4.0V reference voltage and a 3.5V voltage generator (LDO) 223 for generating a 3.5V reference voltage. ), And compares the 4.0V reference voltage applied from the 4.0V voltage generator (LDO) 221 with the residual voltage from the power storage unit (battery cell) 20 applied through the connection unit 21 and the corresponding voltage. A first comparator 222 that outputs a value, and a 3.5V reference voltage applied from the 3.5V voltage generator (LDO) 223 and a residual voltage from the power storage 20 applied through the connection unit 21. And a second comparator 224 for comparing and outputting a corresponding comparison value.

In the present invention, a voltage of a battery capable of driving a wireless communication terminal is 3.5V to 4.2V, and a 4.0V voltage generator (LDO) 221 and a 3.5V voltage generator (LDO) 223 are used. In the case of using a battery different from (e.g., when the voltage of the battery capable of driving the wireless communication terminal is 3.3V to 4.2V), a different voltage generator is used to suit the situation, or two voltages used in the present invention. In addition to the generator, another voltage generator (LDO) may be added and used.

For example, if the battery has a driving voltage level of 3.3V to 4.2V, a corresponding reference voltage may be applied to each comparator using a 4.0V voltage generator 221 and a 3.3V voltage generator (not shown). The 3.3V voltage generator may be further added to the 4.0V voltage generator 221 and the 3.5V voltage generator 223 to apply any of 4.0V, 3.5V, and 3.3V reference voltages to the comparator.

In this case, since the number of comparators is the same as the number of voltage generators, as described above, if the number of voltage generators varies according to the voltage characteristics of the battery, the number of comparators also varies.

On the other hand, the display unit 24 lights the first light emitting device 241 which is lit green when the residual voltage is higher than the 4.0V reference voltage, and yellow when the residual voltage is higher than the 3.5V reference voltage and lower than the 4.0V reference voltage. And a second light emitting element 242.                     

In this case, the color of the light emitting device is arbitrarily set, and the color of the light emitting device may be changed to any other color in the design of the power display device.

Therefore, in the present invention, by checking the color of the light emitting device to be turned on, it is possible to confirm the remaining power capacity.

In addition, if the residual voltage is less than the 3.5V reference voltage, the light emitting device does not turn on, and the battery user determines that there is no power remaining capacity.

Here, the method of checking the remaining capacity of the power source through the display unit 24 is a method of displaying the remaining capacity of the battery as a light emitting device that emits light of different colors according to the remaining voltage using light emitting devices of different colors, but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the remaining capacity is determined by using the number of light emitting devices that are lit using the light emitting devices having the same color, or by using one light emitting device (for example, seven color LEDs) to be lit in different colors according to the remaining voltage. It can also be used to determine the remaining capacity.

4A to 4C are three exemplary views showing the outer surface of a battery having a remaining capacity display function according to the present invention.

4A illustrates a case in which two different color (green and yellow) LEDs are provided on an outer surface of a battery having a remaining capacity display function according to the present invention, and FIG. 4B illustrates a case in which two LEDs of the same color are provided. Shows a case having one seven color LED.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the display unit 24 includes LEDs having two different colors (green and yellow), one LED is turned on to light up the color of the LEDs depending on the remaining capacity level of the battery. In other words, the remaining capacity is determined by checking whether the green LED is turned on or the yellow LED is turned on, and as shown in FIG. 4B, when the display unit 24 is composed of two LEDs having the same color, the colors of the LEDs are the same. Therefore, by looking at the number of LEDs that are lit, that is, whether one LED is lit or two LEDs are lit to determine the remaining capacity, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the display unit 24 is composed of one seven color LEDs. In this case, look at the light emitting elements emitting different colors according to the level of the remaining capacity, that is, whether the color of the seven color LED is green or yellow. Confirmed the following: the capacity to Identify remaining.

In addition, when the voltage comparison unit 22 compares the residual voltage in more detail, the number of LEDs increases in proportion to those of FIGS. 4A and 4B.

For example, when the voltage comparator 22 compares the residual voltage by using three comparators in three ranges, the number of LEDs must also be three.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the display unit 24 is provided horizontally, as shown in FIG. 4, but is not limited thereto. The display unit 24 may be provided in the form of a vertical line, an oblique line, or a curved line. have.

In addition, it turns out that it can be modified according to variables in battery design, aesthetics of the wireless communication terminal, and preferences of users.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for displaying the remaining power capacity according to the present invention, which starts from a process in which a battery user turns on the connection part 21 to check the remaining power capacity.

First, the battery user turns on the connector 21 to connect the power storage unit (battery cell) 20 and the voltage comparator 22 (510).

Thereafter, the voltage comparator 22 receives the residual voltage from the power storage 20 and each reference voltage from the voltage generator (520).

Thereafter, the voltage comparison unit 22 compares whether the residual voltage is greater than or equal to the 4.0V reference voltage (530).

As a result of the comparison 530, as the residual voltage is 4.0 V or more, the controller 23 controls the display unit 24 to light up the green light emitting device (LED) (531).

But. As a result of the comparison 530, as the residual voltage is less than 4.0V, the voltage comparison unit 22 compares whether the residual voltage is greater than or equal to the 3.5V reference voltage (540).

As a result of the comparison 540, as the residual voltage is 3.5V or more, the controller 23 controls the display unit 24 to light up the yellow light emitting device (LED) (541).

However, as a result of the comparison 540, as the residual voltage is less than 3.5V, the controller 23 controls the display unit 24 to turn off the light emitting device LED (550). That is, no light emitting element is turned on.

Accordingly, the battery user can check the remaining capacity of the battery by looking at the color at which the light emitting device provided on the outer surface of the battery is turned on.

Here, when the residual voltage is 4.0V or more, the green light emitting device is turned on, and when the residual voltage is 4.0V or more, the green light emitting device is turned on. In the case of ˜4.0V, a method of lighting one light emitting element may be used.

In addition, a method of turning on a different color according to each residual voltage level using only seven color LEDs without using two light emitting devices as described above may be used.

On the other hand, if the battery has a voltage range of 3.3V to 4.2V, the residual voltage comparison range is divided into three ranges of less than 3.3V, more than 3.3V and less than 4.0V, more than 4.0V, or less than 3.3V and less than 3.3V. The remaining power capacity can be checked by dividing into four ranges of more than 3.5V, less than 3.5V, less than 4.0V, and more than 4.0V.

As described above, the process of dividing the residual voltage comparison range into three ranges of less than 3.3 V, more than 3.3 V and less than 4.0 V, and more than 4.0 V is performed using a 3.3 V reference voltage instead of 3.5 V as shown in FIG. 6. The process differs from the process of comparing the residual voltage of 3.5V or more (540) instead of the process of comparing the residual voltage of 3.3V (640) except that all processes are the same.

In addition, when dividing the residual voltage comparison range into four ranges of less than 3.3V, 3.3V or more and less than 3.5V, 3.5V or more and less than 4.0V, and 4.0V or more, it is determined whether the residual voltage is 3.3V or more. In operation 750, the method may further include a process 751 of emitting red (or other colors except green and yellow) light emitting devices as the voltage is 3.3V or more and less than 3.5V.                     

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is not limited by the drawings.

As described above, the present invention has the effect that a power supply capacity display device may be provided in a power supply device (for example, a battery) itself, and thus, the hassle of installing a battery in an electronic device in order to check the remaining power supply capacity. There is an effect that can be eliminated.

In addition, the present invention has the effect that the remaining capacity of the battery can be confirmed only if the battery user wants by applying the residual voltage of the power storage unit to the power display using a connection (eg, a switch).

Claims (5)

In the power remaining capacity display device, Power storage means for storing power; Connecting means for connecting the power storage means and the voltage comparing means according to an external input; The voltage comparison means for comparing each reference voltage with a residual voltage from the power storage means applied through the connection means and outputting a corresponding comparison value; Control means for controlling the display means according to the comparison value received from the voltage comparing means; And The display means for displaying the remaining power capacity under control of the control means; Power remaining capacity display device comprising a. The method of claim 1, The voltage comparison means, A low drop out voltage regulator (LDO) for generating a reference voltage; And A comparator for receiving a residual voltage from the connection means through one input terminal and a reference voltage from the voltage generator through another input terminal to compare each other. Power remaining capacity display device comprising a. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The display means, And a light emitting device that emits light corresponding to the remaining power capacity under the control of the control means. In the power remaining capacity display method, Connecting the power storage means and the voltage comparing means in accordance with an external input; A comparison step of comparing the remaining voltage from the power storage means with each reference voltage as the power storage means and the voltage comparing means are connected; A control step of controlling the display means according to the remaining power capacity according to the comparison result; And A display step of displaying the remaining power capacity Power remaining capacity display method comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein The display step, And the light emitting device emits light in accordance with the remaining power capacity under the control of the control means.

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