TW201915656A - Power management systems and methods - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a power management system, including a battery, an adapter, and an embedded controller. The embedded controller connects to the battery and the adapter, and determines that power is supplied by the battery or the adapter according to remaining battery power and length of time that the adapter is connected. When the remaining battery power of the battery is equal to a first threshold and the length of time that the adapter is connected is less than a predetermined time, the embedded controller determines that the power is supplied by the adapter and controls the adapter to stop charging the battery. When the remaining battery power drops from the first threshold to a second threshold, the embedded controller controls the adapter to supply the power continuously and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery.

Description

 Power management system and method  

The present invention relates to a power management system and a power management method, and more particularly to a power management system and a power management method for managing charge and discharge operations of a battery based on remaining battery power and connection time of an adapter.

For the convenience of the user, the notebook computer exterior design is moving toward a thin and light direction. In order to meet the requirements of being light and easy to carry, the battery of the existing notebook computer is usually not removable. However, when the user connects the adapter to the notebook for a long time, the battery power changes between the preset start charging capacity and the stop charging capacity, so that the user cannot accurately know the remaining battery power. On the other hand, if the battery is maintained in a fully charged state for a long time, it will accelerate the aging rate of the battery and cause the battery to expand. Therefore, how to properly maintain the battery power within a certain range when the adapter is connected to the notebook for a long time is a problem to be solved at present.

To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a power management system including a battery, an adapter, and an embedded controller. The embedded controller is connected to the battery and the adapter to supply power from the battery or adapter depending on the remaining battery power and the connection time of the adapter. When the remaining battery capacity is equal to a first threshold and the adapter connection time is less than a predetermined time, the embedded controller determines to be powered by the adapter and controls the adapter to stop charging the battery. When the remaining battery power drops from the first threshold to a second threshold, the embedded controller controls the adapter to continue to supply power and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a power management method, the method comprising: detecting, by an embedded controller of a power management system, a remaining power of a battery; detecting a connection of an adapter through a timer of the embedded controller Time; and power is supplied by the battery or adapter based on the remaining power and connection time through the embedded controller. When one of the remaining batteries is equal to a first threshold and the connection time is less than a predetermined time, the embedded controller determines to be powered by the adapter and controls the adapter to stop charging the battery. When the remaining battery power drops from the first threshold to a second threshold, the embedded controller controls the adapter to continue to supply power and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery.

100‧‧‧Power Management System

110‧‧‧ embedded controller

120‧‧‧Battery

130‧‧‧Adapter

S201~S216‧‧‧Step procedure

1 is a schematic diagram showing a power management system according to an embodiment of the invention.

2A-2E are flowcharts showing a power management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Other ranges applicable to the apparatus and method of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It is to be understood that the following detailed description, as well as the specific embodiments, are intended to be illustrative of the embodiments of the invention.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a power management system according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the power management system 100 includes at least an embedded controller (EC) 110, a battery 120, and an adapter 130. The embedded controller 110 can be a single chip disposed in an electronic device for connecting to the battery 120 and the adapter 130, and detecting and performing operations related to the battery 120 and the adapter 130, for example, detecting one of the remaining batteries 120. Information such as power and power changes, and/or a time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device via a built-in timer (not shown), and the power supply to the electronic device by the battery 120 or the adapter 130 is determined based on the obtained related information. In addition, the embedded controller 110 further includes a memory for storing the relevant parameters of the battery 120 and the adapter 130 and a plurality of sets of predetermined parameters for the embedded controller 110 to perform the determining action.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when the user connects the adapter 130 to the electronic device, the timer of the embedded controller 110 begins to accumulate the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device, and determines the remaining power of the battery 120 and a first valve. The difference in values is used to determine whether the electronic device is powered by battery 120 or adapter 130. The first threshold value refers to the expected remaining battery power of the system preset or the user's own setting. In general, when the remaining power is maintained at a relatively high value for a long period of time, the expansion rate of the battery 120 is higher, that is, the aging speed of the battery 120 is faster, but after the user removes the adapter, a longer operation time can be provided. On the other hand, when the remaining power is maintained at a low value, although the expansion rate of the battery 120 is low, the user may not be able to provide a long operation time after removing the adapter, which may result in a poor user experience. Therefore, the user can determine the value of the first threshold according to different usage requirements, and the range is preferably between 40% and 80%, and the system preset value is set to 60%. Wherein, when the embedded controller 110 determines that the remaining power of the battery 120 is exactly equal to the first threshold, the adapter 130 charges the electronic device and stops charging the battery 120, that is, the battery 120 will not supply power to the electronic device. It will be charged through the adapter 130. After the battery 120 has not been used for a period of time, the battery 120 will gradually reduce the remaining power due to its own self-discharging characteristics. When the embedded controller 110 determines that the remaining power of the battery 120 decreases from the first threshold to a second threshold (eg, reduces the power by 3%, that is, from 60% to 57%), the embedded controller 110 The adapter 130 is caused to charge the battery 120, and after the power of the battery 120 rises back to the first threshold, the adapter 130 is again stopped to charge the battery 120, so that the battery 120 repeatedly performs self-discharge to the second threshold to move the battery 120. The remaining power is maintained at around 60%.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device, if the embedded controller 110 determines that the remaining power of the battery 120 is greater than the first threshold, the embedded controller 110 disables the adapter 130, only by the battery 120. The electronic device is powered until the remaining charge of the battery 120 is equal to the first threshold. When the embedded controller 110 determines that the remaining power of the battery 120 is equal to the first threshold, the foregoing charging and discharging steps are repeated to maintain the remaining power of the battery 120 at the first threshold.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the embedded controller 110 determines that the remaining battery power is less than the first threshold, the adapter 130 charges the electronic device and simultaneously charges the battery 120 until the remaining power of the battery 120 is equal to the first The threshold is up. Similarly, when the remaining charge of the battery 120 rises to the first threshold, the aforementioned charge and discharge steps are repeated to maintain the remaining charge of the battery 120.

In addition, since the microprocessor (MCU) in the battery 120 does not perform the corrective action for a long time, it may cause the remaining power of the battery 120 to indicate an error (ie, the value of the remaining power displayed and the actual state of charge in the battery 120 are not meets the). Therefore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, when the embedded controller 110 determines that the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device for more than a predetermined time (for example, the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device for up to 15 days), the battery 120 will be re-powered by the adapter 130. The battery is charged to a fully charged state to perform a microprocessor calibration. At the same time, the embedded controller 110 will reset the timer for the next correction process.

However, in some special cases, the user may only temporarily remove the adapter 130 for some special reason and immediately reconnect it to the electronic device instead of powering the electronic device through the battery 120 for a long time, which will result in timing. The device reaccumulates the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device, thereby elongating the time during which the corrective action of the microprocessor in the battery 120 is performed, thereby causing an error in the representation of the remaining power. In order to solve the above problem, if the user removes the adapter 130 when the timer is not 0, the embedded controller 110 removes the remaining power of the current battery 120 from the record, and when detecting that the adapter 130 is reconnected, It is determined whether the change in the amount of electricity of the battery 120 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value (for example, 10%) to decide whether to reset the timer. For example, when the adapter 130 is removed, the remaining power of the battery 120 is 58%. If the adapter 130 is reconnected to the electronic device, the current remaining battery power of the battery 120 is 45%, that is, the battery 120 has a larger power change (13%) than the established battery. The value, the embedded controller 110 resets the timer. On the other hand, if the current remaining capacity of the battery 120 is 53%, that is, the battery power change (5%) is less than a predetermined value, the timer continues to accumulate the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device without resetting the timer, thus avoiding The corrective action of the microprocessor in battery 120 has not been performed for a long time.

2A-2E are flowcharts showing a power management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, in step S201, the user sets a first threshold value corresponding to the preset power amount of the health mode of the battery 120. The first threshold is stored in the memory of the embedded controller 110. In step S202, the embedded controller 110 determines whether the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device. When the embedded controller 110 determines that the adapter 130 has been connected to the electronic device, the process proceeds to step S203, and the timer of the embedded controller 110 starts accumulating the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device. In step S204, the embedded controller 110 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 120 is equal to the first threshold. When the remaining power of the battery 120 is equal to the first threshold, the process proceeds to step S205, and the embedded controller 110 determines whether the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device is greater than or equal to a predetermined time. When the connection time is not greater than or equal to the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S206, the embedded controller 110 determines that the electronic device is powered by the adapter 130, and controls the adapter 130 to stop charging the battery 120, so that the battery 120 consumes its own power. In step S207, the embedded controller 110 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 120 has decreased from the first threshold to the second threshold. When the remaining capacity of the battery 120 falls to the second threshold, the process proceeds to step S208, and the embedded controller 110 controls the adapter 130 to continue to supply power to the electronic device, and at the same time, the control adapter 130 charges the battery 120 until the remaining power of the battery 120 is restored to The first threshold is up. Next, returning to step S202, the embedded controller 110 re-determines whether the adapter 130 continues to be connected to the electronic device. On the other hand, when the remaining power of the battery 120 is still higher than the second threshold, the process returns to step S206, and the electronic device continues to be powered by the adapter 130, so that the battery 120 continues to consume power by itself.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the embedded controller 110 determines that the adapter 130 is not connected to the electronic device, the process proceeds to step S209, and the embedded controller 110 determines whether the timer is 0. When the timer is 0, the process goes to step S210, the electronic device is powered by the battery 120, and the process returns to step S202, and the embedded controller 110 re-determines whether the adapter 130 continues to be connected to the electronic device. On the other hand, when the timer is not 0, the process proceeds to step S211. When the embedded controller 110 detects that the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device, it determines whether the change in the amount of power of the battery 120 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. When the change in the amount of electricity of the battery 120 is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S212, the embedded controller 110 resets the timer, and returns to step S202. On the other hand, when the change in the amount of power of the battery 120 is less than the predetermined value, the process returns to step S203, and the timer continues to accumulate the time when the adapter 130 is connected to the electronic device.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the remaining power of the battery 120 is not equal to the first threshold, the process proceeds to step S213, and the embedded controller 110 further determines whether the remaining power of the battery 120 is greater than the first threshold. When the remaining amount of the battery 120 is greater than the first threshold, the process proceeds to step S214, the embedded controller 110 determines to supply power from the battery 120, and disables the adapter 130. On the other hand, when the remaining amount of the battery 120 is less than the first threshold, the process proceeds to step S215, and the embedded controller 110 determines to supply power from the adapter 130 and simultaneously charges the battery 120.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the connection time is greater than or equal to the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S216, and the embedded controller 110 resets the timer and is powered by the adapter 130 while the control adapter 130 charges the battery 120 until it is fully charged. . Next, returning to step S202, the embedded controller 110 determines whether the adapter 130 continues to be connected to the electronic device.

In summary, according to the power management system and the power management method of the embodiment of the present invention, when the client inserts the adapter into the electronic device for a long time, the battery can be repeatedly charged and discharged by the foregoing battery. The remaining power is maintained at a lower preset value to avoid battery expansion caused by the battery being in a high temperature and fully charged state for a long time. In addition, through the timing of the timer, when the battery is maintained in a low state for a predetermined number of days, the battery can be recharged to a fully charged state for the microcontroller (MCU) in the battery. Correction to avoid errors in the representation of the remaining battery power.

The features of many embodiments are described above to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to clearly understand the form of the specification. Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the objectives of the above-described embodiments and/or advantages consistent with the above-described embodiments can be accomplished by designing or modifying other processes and structures based on the present disclosure. It is also to be understood by those skilled in the art that <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt;

Claims (10)

 A power management system includes: a battery; an adapter; and an embedded controller connected to the battery and the adapter, and is powered by the battery or the adapter according to a remaining power of the battery and a connection time of the adapter Wherein, when the remaining power of the battery is equal to a first threshold and the connection time of the adapter is less than a predetermined time, the embedded controller determines to supply power from the adapter, and controls the adapter to stop charging the battery; And wherein, when the remaining power of the battery decreases from the first threshold to a second threshold, the embedded controller controls the adapter to continue to supply power, and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery.    The power management system of claim 2, wherein when the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first threshold, the embedded controller determines to supply power from the battery and disables the adapter.    The power management system of claim 2, wherein when the remaining power of the battery is less than the first threshold, the embedded controller determines to supply power from the adapter, and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery .    The power management system of claim 2, wherein the embedded controller resets the timer when one of the batteries is equal to the first threshold and the connection time is greater than or equal to the predetermined time. And decide to supply power from the above adapter, and control the above adapter to charge the battery until it is fully charged.    The power management system of claim 2, wherein when the embedded controller does not detect the adapter, and the timer is non-zero, and one of the batteries has a power change greater than a predetermined value, The embedded controller resets the above timer.    A power management method includes: detecting, by an embedded controller of a power management system, a remaining power of a battery; detecting a connection time of an adapter through a timer of the embedded controller; The controller determines to supply power from the battery or the adapter according to the remaining power and the connection time; wherein, when the remaining power of one of the batteries is equal to a first threshold and the connection time is less than a predetermined time, the embedded controller determines Powering by the adapter, and controlling the adapter to stop charging the battery; and wherein the embedded controller controls the adapter to continue to supply power when the remaining power of the battery decreases from the first threshold to a second threshold And simultaneously control the above adapter to charge the above battery.    The power management method according to claim 6, wherein when the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first threshold, the embedded controller determines to supply power from the battery and disable the adapter.    The power management method according to claim 6, wherein when the remaining power of the battery is less than the first threshold, the embedded controller determines to supply power from the adapter, and simultaneously controls the adapter to charge the battery .    The power management method according to claim 6, wherein the embedded controller resets the timer when one of the batteries is equal to the first threshold and the connection time is greater than or equal to the predetermined time. And decide to supply power from the above adapter, and control the above adapter to charge the battery until it is fully charged.    The power management method of claim 6, wherein when the embedded controller does not detect the adapter, and the timer is non-zero, and one of the batteries has a power change greater than a predetermined value, The embedded controller resets the above timer.