Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging inventions 02/07

20070035273 - Electronic apparatus with battery unit: A battery device for an electronic apparatus includes a rechargeable secondary battery, a fuel cell, and a run time computing unit receiving, from the secondary battery, data representative of a voltage versus residual-capacity characteristic of the secondary battery, and receiving, from the fuel cell, data representative of a residual capacity... Agent: Staas & Halsey LLP

20070035274 - Method and apparatus for obtaining product use information: A charging apparatus for charging a battery comprising a current source for providing current to the battery, a controller connected to the battery and to the current source for controlling charging of the battery, and a memory connected to the controller for storing information about the battery. The memory may... Agent: The Black & Decker Corporation

20070035275 - Backup battery assembly for electronic device: A backup battery assembly for being assembled to a surface of an electronic device is provided. The backup battery assembly includes a battery body having a first surface and a second surface; a positioning fastener mounted on the first surface of the battery body; a movable fastener mounted on the... Agent: Edwards & Angell, LLP

20070035276 - Charging system for charging accumulator means in an electronic device, and a charging apparatus and an electronic device for the system: A charging system for charging accumulator means (2) in an electronic device (1) is provided, the electronic device (1) being adapted to be connected to a charging apparatus (4b) for charging the accumulator means (2). The charging apparatus (4b) is adapted to send, and the electronic device (1) is adapted... Agent: Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen

20070035277 - Recharging apparatus capable of selectively enabling or interrupting recharging procedure for rechargeable battery in portable electronic device and recharging method thereof: A recharging apparatus applied to a portable electronic device. The recharging apparatus is capable of selectively enabling or interrupting the recharging procedure for a rechargeable battery in the portable electronic device. The recharging apparatus includes an input unit, a recharging circuit, and a control unit. The input unit is applied... Agent: Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP

20070035278 - Battery charger circuit and method therefor: In one embodiment, a battery charger is configured to provide a normal charge current during a first time period and to supply a maintenance current after the first time period expires.... Agent: Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC Bradley J. Botsch

20070035279 - Apparatus and method for controlling battery discharge: An apparatus for and a method of controlling battery discharge. A number of battery switching operations is minimized by detecting a remaining voltage capacity of each of a plurality of batteries supplying a battery-powered electronic device with power. The remaining voltage capacities of an internal battery and an external battery... Agent: Stein, Mcewen & Bui, LLP

20070029964 - Battery charger casing: A battery charger casing for providing increased protection from impact, corrosion and moisture intrusion. The present invention includes a shell that is secured to the casing forming a protective void to house the electrical circuitry. An epoxy material encapsulates the electrical circuitry within the protective void providing increased impact protection,... Agent: Matthew G. Mckinney, Esq.

20070029966 - Battery module: A battery module includes unit cells and a housing for accommodating the unit cells therein, the housing having paths for circulating a cooling medium. The housing includes: a unit cell receptor for receiving the unit cells, the unit cell receptor having an inner space with an inner spatial section area... Agent: Christie, Parker & Hale, LLP

20070029965 - Rechargeable battery circuit and structure for compatibility with a planar inductive charging platform: A battery pack for an electronic device comprises battery cells, a battery charging circuit, and an energy receiving element adapted to receive power from a planar inductive charging system. The energy receiving element has an inductance and a capacitor is connected to the energy receiving element and forms a resonant... Agent: Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti PC

20070029968 - Minimum battery voltage detection and measurement: A method of monitoring a battery energy management system includes discharging a detector circuit to a minimum battery voltage, measuring an elapsed time that the minimum battery voltage is detected, resetting a timer circuit, and sampling the minimum battery voltage and the elapsed time of the minimum battery voltage in... Agent: Siemens Corporation Intellectual Property Department

20070029967 - Voltage measurement apparatus and electrically-driven tool: A voltage measurement apparatus is provided in which: among battery cells which make up a battery-cell group, a sampling switch electrically connects any one or more battery cells targeted for measurement to a capacitor so that the capacitor is charged by these battery cells; a measurement section acquires the voltage... Agent: Mcdermott Will & Emery LLP

20070029969 - Energy saving system and method: An energy saving system used in an electronic device is provided. The energy saving system includes a battery for supplying the electronic device with energy; a energy detector for measuring a energy level of the battery, and transmitting a battery energy saving control signal when the measured energy level is... Agent: North America Intellectual Property Corporation

20070029970 - Method and apparatus for operating a battery to avoid damage and maximize use of battery capacity: A method for terminating battery discharge to avoid battery damage and maximize battery usage includes the steps of: (a) determining battery capacity; (b) storing a capacity result of the capacity determining; (c) determining battery voltage; (d) during a monitored battery operation, integrating battery current flow over a time interval to... Agent: Texas Instruments Incorporated

20070029972 - Control electronics for li-ion batteries: A storage voltage of a battery pack is controlled with control electronics. The storage voltage of a battery pack is sensed, and a discharge mechanism is triggered if the storage voltage is within a predetermined range of voltage, to thereby adjust the storage voltage of the battery pack to below... Agent: Hamilton, Brook, Smith & Reynolds, P.C.

20070029974 - Powertrain battery life predicting and warning apparatuses: A battery life predicting apparatus comprises a data processing unit for obtaining and processing data on a vehicle having a battery used as a power source of the vehicle, the data including battery environment data, power consumption data concerning electrical components, and vehicle running data, a recording unit for recording... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20070029973 - State-of-charge estimating device of secondary battery: A state-of-charge (SOC) estimating device and method for a secondary battery that estimates the SOC of the battery with high precision when variation takes place in the parameters of the battery model, even if the input current is constant. A first SOC estimating part estimates the open-circuit voltage by estimating... Agent: Young & Basile, P.C.

20070029971 - Vehicle and method for operating a battery in a vehicle: A method for operating a battery having a plurality of battery cells includes determining when certain end of life criteria for the battery are met. A counter is incremented when the certain end of life criteria are met. The battery is rebalanced when it is determined that the end of... Agent: Brooks Kushman P.C./fgtl

20070029975 - Power manager and power managing method for battery-powered application: A power manager is configured to manage power for a battery-powered application. A power source, a load and a battery are interconnected through a circuit path. Power from the power source is provided to the load and battery by a switching regulator. Various implementations are presented.... Agent: Mcdermott Will & Emery LLP

20070029976 - Method and apparatus for monitoring battery cell temperature: A battery pack (110) having a plurality of cells (103, 105) utilizes a pull up resistor (116) multiplexed between separate voltage supply sources (120, 122) and a single battery contact (106) to monitor individual cell temperatures. A plurality of thermistors (102, 104) are coupled in series between ground potential (108)... Agent: Motorola, Inc Intellectual Property Section

20070024233 - Armature type electrical generators for self powered cell phones: Self powered cell phones are operated with a rotatable crank shaft, the rotary motion of which is translated by cam or slotted slider crank-driven gear trains into pivoting motions of an internal armature, in reciprocal alternating opposite directions, whereby one or more conductive wire coils, supported by the armature, are... Agent: Lucas & Mercanti, LLP

20070024234 - Unmanned underwater vehicle fuel cell powered charging system and method: A charging system for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is disposed within a submerged docking station. The charging system includes a battery, a fuel cell, a fuel source, and a charge controller. The battery supplies electrical power to an electrical distribution bus in the docking station. The charge controller monitors... Agent: Honeywell International Inc.

20070024235 - Method and system for battery authentication for wireless and other devices: A battery pack comprising: a housing; at least one cell within the housing; wherein the housing has inscribed thereon a battery pack date code for identifying a date of manufacture of the battery pack; and, wherein the cell has inscribed thereon a number (e.g., a periodically changing, predetermined random number)... Agent: Ogilvy Renault LLP

20070024237 - Battery charging jobsite lunchbox: A preferred embodiment of portable lunchbox equipment that is particularly useful at construction and other jobsites is disclosed which provides important desirable features and functionality comprising a housing, at least one charger for charging a removable battery pack, an audio unit for producing an audio signal, a heating unit, an... Agent: Greer, Burns & Crain

20070024236 - Portable water resistant multi-function lead-acid battery box: The invention provides a battery box including a body (1) for housing a lead acid battery (2), the body having a base (3) and sides (4) extending from the base to define an open top (5). A lid (6) is applicable to the body to close the top. In use,... Agent: Sheridan Ross PC

20070024238 - Mobile charging: A kit comprising an inductive charger having a first coil and a portable device having an energy store and a second coil coupled to the energy store whereby the energy store can be charged from a varying electrical field applied across the first coil, the charger and the device being... Agent: Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.

20070024239 - Data cable for detecting power source automatically: A data communication cable for automatically recognizing a power-supply source is disclosed. The cable includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port and a data port to perform a data communication between a terminal and a personal computer (PC) and provides the terminal with a charge current, so that a power-supply... Agent: Cha & Reiter, LLC

20070024240 - Voltage detector for an assembled battery: An apparatus and method for detecting total voltage of an assembled battery including a number of serially-connected electric cells. Voltages of the respective cells are detected and added up, correlation between the resulting total voltage and a total voltage obtained by detecting the voltage of the assembled battery directly from... Agent: Young & Basile, P.C.

20070024242 - Battery management system and driving method thereof: A battery management system includes a sensing unit, a controller, an Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) calculator, and a State of Charge (SOC) determination unit. The sensing unit measures a total voltage of the secondary battery. The controller maintains the secondary battery in an open circuit state for a first period... Agent: Robert E. Bushnell

20070024241 - Battery monitoring circuit and method: Devices and methods that monitor batteries used in electronic devices are disclosed herein. An embodiment of a device comprises a sample and hold circuit connected between terminals of the battery, wherien the sample and hold circuit comprising a sample and hold output. A comparator comprising a comparator input connected to... Agent: Hewlett Packard Company

20070024243 - Trickle discharge for battery pack protection: Battery protection circuitry and method are disclosed. A battery is protected from a large current overdrawn condition by setting a discharge switch into a controllable conduction state. After the discharge switch is in the controllable conduction state, a tickle discharge current is gradually generated under control of a switch control... Agent: Carlton Fields, Pa

20070024246 - Battery chargers and methods for extended battery life: A battery charger that includes a relay, a control unit, and a temperature sensor. The relay controls the flow of an electrical charge current from a power supply to one or more batteries. The temperature sensor continuously measures the ambient temperature of the one or more batteries and communicates the... Agent: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

20070024245 - Power supply apparatus and a vehicle having a power supply apparatus: A power supply apparatus for a vehicle is provided. The power supply apparatus comprises a first battery pack and a second battery pack. The power supply apparatus also comprises a first fan proximate to the first battery pack and a second fan proximate to the second battery pack. The power... Agent: Brooks Kushman P.C./fgtl

20070024244 - System and method for thermal management of a vehicle power source: A system and method of controlling temperature of a vehicle power source. The method includes determining a representative temperature of the power source, determining an ambient zone in which the power source is operating, determining a thermal control action based on the representative temperature and the ambient zone, and adjusting... Agent: Brooks Kushman P.C./fgtl