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:
Feb. 03, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 08, 2001
Gregory J. Smith, Tucson, AZ (US);
Yinming Chen, Tucson, AZ (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention is directed towards a charging circuit for charging a cell that may be deeply discharged. A primary charging circuit charges the cell when the cell is not deeply discharged. A deeply discharged charging circuit charges the cell when the cell is deeply discharged. Determining when the cell is deeply discharged includes determining when the voltage of the cell is above, below, or equal to a predetermined threshold. According to one embodiment of the invention, the predetermined threshold is 2V. When the cell voltage is below a predetermined threshold voltage, which according to one embodiment is 0.5V, a low-voltage charging path is used to charge the cell.