Claims
- 1. An apparatus comprising:
a battery discharge rate indicator constructed and arranged so that it can be connected to a battery so as to provide an indication of a battery's present discharge rate; a battery voltage indicator constructed and arranged so that it can be connected to a battery to provide an indication of a battery's present voltage; and a battery monitor controller configured to compare the battery voltage indicated by the battery voltage indicator and the discharge rate indicated by the battery discharge rate indicator to one or more predetermined voltage/discharge-rate indices indicative of one or more battery capacities of interest and to determine that a battery index condition is met whenever the battery voltage and discharge rate are respectively of values indicated by one of said indices.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said one or more battery capacities of interest is the useful battery capacity at the discharge rate required for a corresponding operation of interest.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the battery monitor controller is further configured to provide an indication that the index condition is met.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a battery temperature indicator constructed and arranged so that it can be connected to detect the battery temperature, the battery monitor controller configured to compare the battery temperature, battery voltage, and battery discharge-rate to one or more predetermined voltage/discharge-rate/temperature indices corresponding to one or more battery capacities of interest.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a port configured to receive battery capacity of interest index values.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a storage medium configured to store battery capacity of interest index values.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein each battery capacity of interest is related to one type of battery.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein pluralities of battery capacities of interest are related to a plurality of battery types.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the battery capacity of interest is the capacity required to perform a shutdown operation in an electronic device.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the capacity required to perform a shutdown operation includes the capacity for a save to disk operation.
- 11. A battery-operated electronic device comprising:
a battery; a battery discharge rate indicator connected to measure the battery discharge rate; a battery voltage indicator connected to measure the battery voltage; and a battery monitor controller configured to compare the battery voltage indicated by the battery voltage indicator and the discharge rate indicated by the discharge rate indicator to one or more predetermined voltage/discharge-rate indices indicative of one or more battery capacities of interest and to determine that a battery index condition is met whenever the battery voltage and discharge rate are respectively of values indicated by an index.
- 12. The battery-operated electronic device of claim 11 wherein said one or more battery capacities of interest is the useful battery capacity at the discharge rate required for a corresponding operation of interest.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a battery temperature indicator, the battery monitor controller configured to compare the battery temperature, battery voltage, and battery discharge-rate to one or more predetermined voltage/discharge-rate/temperature indices corresponding to one or more battery capacities of interest.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising a storage medium configured to store battery capacity of interest index values.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the battery capacity of interest is the capacity required to perform a shutdown operation in an electronic device.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the capacity required to perform a shutdown operation includes the capacity for a save-to-disk operation.
- 17. A method for monitoring battery conditions, comprising the steps of:
(A) indexing battery voltages and discharge rates to one or more battery capacities of interest, wherein the one or more battery capacities of interest is the useful battery capacity at the battery discharge rate required for an operation of interest; (B) determining the current voltage and discharge rate of the battery; (C) comparing the voltage and discharge rate of the battery determined in step B to one or more indices; and (D) activating an indicator whenever the comparison of step C indicates that said capacity of interest has been reached.
- 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of:
(E) indexing battery temperatures to one or more battery capacities of interest; (F) determining the current temperature of the battery; (G) comparing the current temperature, voltage, and discharge rate determined in steps B and F to one or more indices; and (H) activating an indicator whenever the comparison of step G indicates that said capacity of interest has been reached.
- 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:
(I) performing a shutdown operation in an electronics device in response to the setting of an indicator in step (H).
- 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of:
(J) downloading voltage, discharge rate, and temperature indices related to one or more battery capacities of interest to a battery monitor.
- 21. A method in a battery-operated electronic device comprising the steps of:
(A) indexing battery voltages, temperatures and discharge rates to one or more battery capacities of interest, wherein the one or more battery capacities of interest are the useful battery capacities at the battery discharge rates required for one or more corresponding operations of interest in the battery-operated electronic device; (B) determining the current voltage, temperature, and discharge rates of the battery; (C) comparing the voltage, temperature and discharge rate of the battery determined in step (B) to one or more indexes of step (A); and (D) activating an indicator whenever the comparison of step (C) indicates that a capacity of interest has been reached.
- 22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of:
(E) performing a shutdown operation in an electronics device in response to the setting of an indicator in step (D).
- 23. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of:
(F) downloading voltage, discharge rate, and temperature indices related to one or more battery capacities of interest to a battery monitor used in the electronic device.
- 24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of:
(G) storing the indices of step (F) in the battery monitor.
- 25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of:
(H) the battery operated electronic device performing a shutdown operation in response to the setting of an indicator in step (D).
- 26. The method of claim 25 wherein the step (H) of performing a shutdown operation includes a save-to-disk operation.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/335,218, filed Oct. 19, 2001, Docket No. 56363-149 (PSIK-019PR), entitled END OF DISCHARGE INDICATOR BASED ON PC SAVE-TO-DISK REQUIREMENT, invented by Richard J. DelRossi, Gary V. Zanders, Mark P. Enochson, and Jimmie C. Vernon, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60335218 |
Oct 2001 |
US |