Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-26
2003-06-10
Vo, Nguyen T. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S090300, C320S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06577883
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of detecting the connection of a battery pack to a portable or mobile electronic device such as mobile phones and a mobile electronic device using the method. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of detecting whether or not a specific battery pack is connected to the body of a mobile electronic device that makes it possible to recognize the connection and type of the battery pack without providing discrimination-dedicated terminals, and a mobile electronic device capable of connection of battery packs having different characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various portable or mobile electronic equipment such as mobile or cellular phones, personal handyphone systems (PHSs), notebook computers, and digital cameras, have been developed and extensively used. The mobile electronic equipment, which may be termed “mobile electronic devices” later, require high-level transportability and therefore, they need to be compact and light-weight and operable with a battery pack as its power supply.
Typically, the battery pack applicable to portable electronic equipment comprises at least one chargeable battery cell in its inside. Several types of chargeable battery cells have been already developed and commercially produced and sold for this purpose. They are different in battery characteristics such as capacity, discharge characteristic, and necessary charging period from each other. According to the types of chargeable battery cells, several types of battery packs have been already commercially produced and sold so far.
To make it possible to apply different types of battery packs to mobile electronic devices of this sort, mobile electronic devices need to discriminate the type of sort of battery packs connected or installed and to switch their operating condition according to the current type/sort of battery packs. Also, with mobile electronic devices chargeable without separating battery packs, the charging voltage to battery packs is required to be controlled or adjusted in the devices according to the current type/sort of battery packs.
To meet the above-described requirement, conventionally, prior-art mobile electronic devices capable of using different types of battery packs comprises dedicated terminals for discriminating the type of battery packs connected. The discrimination-dedicated terminals are provided in both battery packs and the body of devices.
As an example of mobile electronic devices of this sort, a conventional mobile phase capable of the alternative use of two different types of battery packs is explained below with reference to
FIGS. 1
to
3
.
FIGS. 1 and 2
are schematic, partial circuit diagrams of two different-type battery packs for a conventional mobile phone, respectively.
FIG. 3
is a schematic, partial circuit diagram of the body of the same phone.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, a first battery pack
40
comprises a switch (SW)
41
, a protection circuit
42
, a lithium (Li)-ion battery cell
43
, a thermistor
44
, a resistor
45
, a power supply terminal (i.e., +V terminal)
401
, a discrimination terminal (i.e., SEL terminal)
402
, a temperature detection terminal (i.e., TH terminal)
403
, and a ground terminal (i.e., GND terminal)
404
. The switch
41
, the protection circuit
42
, the cell
43
, the thermistor
44
, and the resistor
45
are provided in the enclosure or casing (not shown) of the first battery pack
40
. The power-supply terminal
401
, the discrimination terminal
402
, the temperature detection terminal
403
, and the ground terminal
404
are exposed to the outside from the enclosure.
The positive terminal of the battery cell
43
is connected to the power-supply terminal
401
by way of the switch
41
. The negative terminal of the battery cell
43
is directly connected to the ground terminal
401
. The battery voltage V
BAT1
, which is generated between the positive and negative terminals of the cell
43
, is outputted from the power supply and ground terminals
401
and
404
.
The protection circuit
42
is supplied with the battery voltage V
BAT1
from the cell
43
. The circuit
42
generates the switch control signal V
SW1
on the basis of the voltage V
BAT1
and then, supplies the signal V
SW1
thus generated to the switch
41
. The ground terminal of the circuit
42
is connected to the ground terminal
404
.
The switch
41
serves to connect the positive terminal of the battery cell
43
to the power supply terminal
401
or disconnects the same from the terminal
401
according to the switch control signal V
S1
from the protection circuit
42
.
The resistor
45
is connected across the discrimination terminal
402
and the ground terminal
404
.
The thermistor
44
is connected across the temperature detection terminal
403
and the ground terminal
404
. To facilitate detection of the temperature of the cell
43
, the thermistor
44
is located in the vicinity of the battery cell
43
in the battery enclosure.
With the first battery pack
40
having the above-described configuration, the switch
41
is turned on or off by the control signal V
SW1
from the protection circuit
42
, thereby controlling the output of the battery voltage V
BAT1
from the power-supply and ground terminals
401
and
404
. Specifically, in the normal operation state where the voltage V
BAT1
is equal to or higher than a specific value, the switch
41
is turned on by the control signal V
SW1
, outputting the voltage V
BAT1
from the terminals
401
and
404
. On the other hand, in the abnormal operation state where the voltage V
BAT1
is less than the specific value, the switch
41
is turned off by the control signal V
SW1
, stopping the output of the voltage V
BAT1
from the terminals
401
and
404
.
The resistance R
TH1
of the thermistor
44
varies according to the temperature of the battery cell
43
. Thus, when a proper circuit that generates a voltage corresponding to the resistance R
TH1
is connected to the temperature detection terminal
403
, the temperature of the cell
43
can be detected on the basis of the voltage thus generated.
When a specific circuit is connected to the discrimination terminal
403
, the type or sort of the first battery pack
40
can be discriminated.
Next, a second battery pack
50
is explained below.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the second battery pack
50
has approximately the same configuration as the first battery pack
40
except that a resistor
55
corresponding to the resistor
45
is connected across a power supply terminal
501
and a discrimination terminal
502
.
Specifically, the second battery pack
50
comprises a switch
51
, a protection circuit
52
, a Li-ion battery cell
53
, a thermistor
54
, a resistor
55
, a power-supply terminal
501
, a discrimination terminal
502
, a temperature detection terminal
503
, and a ground terminal
504
. The switch
51
, the protection circuit
52
, the cell
53
, the thermistor
54
, and the resistor
55
are provided in the enclosure (not shown) of the pack
50
. The power-supply terminal
501
, the discrimination terminal
502
, the temperature detection terminal
503
, and the ground terminal
504
are exposed to the outside from the enclosure. The battery cell
53
is different in characteristic from the battery cell
43
.
The positive terminal of the cell
53
is connected to the power-supply terminal
501
by way of the switch
51
. The negative terminal of the cell
53
is directly connected to the ground terminal
504
. The battery voltage V
BAT2
, which is generated between the positive and negative terminals of the cell
53
, is outputted from the power-supply and ground terminals
501
and
504
.
The protection circuit
52
is supplied with the battery voltage V
BAT2
from the cell
53
. The circuit
52
generates the switch control signal V
SW2
on the basis of the voltage B
BAT2
and then, supplies the signal V
SW2
thus generated to the switch
51
. The ground terminal of the circuit
52
is connec
Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP.
NEC Corporation
Orgad Edan
Vo Nguyen T.
LandOfFree
Method of detecting battery pack type and mobile electronic... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of detecting battery pack type and mobile electronic..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of detecting battery pack type and mobile electronic... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3145882