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. 24, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 30, 1998
Andrew Gong, San Mateo, CA (US);
Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
Improved techniques for charging batteries within portable computing devices are disclosed. The improved techniques operate to charge a battery at dynamically determined power levels. The power levels for charging the battery are dynamically determined by monitoring the power consumption of the portable computing device. When subsystems of the portable computing device are determining to be consuming less power than has been allocated thereto, higher levels of power from a power source are made available for charging the battery. As a result, the battery is able to be charged at a rate that is significantly faster than previously performed. Also, by dynamically monitoring the power consumption of the portable computing device, the improved techniques also ensure that the portable computing device will not be starved for power during its operation even as its subsystem's switch between normal (active) modes and low power modes.