The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 09, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 09, 1993
David M DeMuro, Cary, IL (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
In summary, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for determining an external power supply type and modifying the charging of the internal battery (14) based upon the external power supply type and battery information. The device has an external power adapter (12) used to provide power to the device (10), as well as charging current for the battery which is regulated by the internal battery charger. A microcontroller (20) in the device (10) regulates the charging current to the battery (14). The microcontroller (20) preferably contains an A/D converter (21) which is connected to a pull-up resistor (32) internal to the device, and to a pull-down resistor (34) in the external power adapter (12). The voltage generated by the resistor divider network including the pull-up resistor (32) and the pull-down resistor (34) in the external power adapter is used to identify the external power adapter type. By changing the value of the pull-down resistor (34) in the external power supply to identify the external power supply, the microcontroller ( 20) in the apparatus may determine the optimum charging profile to use for the battery based upon the charger type and other information relating to the battery.