JP3884767B2 - Battery pack - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a battery pack that supplies electric power to various small electric devices such as mobile phones and portable information devices.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, this type of battery pack is generally designed for each small electric device to which power is to be supplied and for which the standard is set individually. There has also been proposed a battery pack that is integrally provided with charging / discharging control means so that the current capacity of the battery can be determined by the battery pack alone.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, any of the conventional battery packs has only a function as a subordinate of the small electric device to be connected, and does not exhibit any function apart from the small electric device.
[0004]
On the other hand, as a result of consideration, the present inventors have merely provided the battery pack itself with information storage means and data transfer means, so that the battery pack is regarded as an accessory of the small electric equipment. It has been found that it can be transformed into a main existence that controls various data processing devices such as.
[0005]
The present invention has been made on the basis of such knowledge. The battery pack includes information storage means and data transfer means in the battery pack, and enables data transmission between the battery pack alone and an external device. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery pack that can perform authentication of an individual or a device or an operation for paying a charge apart from the operation time of a small electric device to be connected.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As schematically shown in FIG. 1, the battery pack 36 according to the present invention accommodates the battery 11 in the battery case 18, and the battery case 18 is attached to the main body case 12 of the small electrical device 1. It is possible to regulate the driving timing of the small electric device 1 by supplying power from the internal battery 11 to the connected small electric device 1.
[0007]
The battery case 18 is further integrated with various information storage means 2, an external device 3 provided with data processing means 6, and communication means 4 that enables data transfer between the storage means 2. I have. The power supply from the battery 11 in the battery case 18 to the small electric device 1 is limited or stopped by turning off the main switch of the small electric device 1 or removing the battery pack 36 from the main body case 12. In addition, the battery pack can be used to exchange data by the communication means 4 alone.
[0008]
The information stored in the storage means 2 includes information for identifying the other party of data communication in the external device 3 described above. The identification information includes at least one of data for specifying the battery pack 36, data for specifying the small electric device 1 to which the battery pack 36 is connected, and data for specifying an individual holding the battery pack 36. Is preferred. The data for specifying an individual can include information for specifying a payment state of a fee, such as a prepaid card or a debit card.
[0009]
As the external device 3 that exchanges data with the storage unit 2 described above, the small electric device 1 to which the battery pack 36 supplies driving power is set as the external device 3, and the battery pack 36 is small electric via, for example, the electrodes 35 and 35. Simultaneously with the connection to the device 1, the small electric device 1 can be started, and at the same time, necessary information can be sent from the storage means 2 to enable initialization. In addition, the battery 11 may be a secondary battery, and the battery case 18 may further store the charge / discharge control means 5 that can control charging and discharging of the battery 11.
[0010]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention includes the information storage means 2 and the data communication means 4 in the battery pack 36, and the battery pack 36 is connected by enabling data transmission with the external device 3 even with the battery pack alone. Apart from the operation time of the small electric device 1, it is possible to perform authentication of an individual or a device or a fee payment operation.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Examples of the battery pack 36 according to the present invention implemented in a power source for a mobile phone as illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4 are shown below, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a battery such as a pocket-type personal computer is used as a drive source. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to various portable information terminals in substantially the same manner.
[0012]
As shown in FIG. 2, the cellular phone 10 has a display unit 15 including a display screen 13 and a speaker 14, a keyboard 33, and a microphone on the front side of a flat rectangular box-shaped main body case 12. And an operation unit 17 composed of 34. Further, on the back side, a battery pack 36 incorporating the secondary battery 11 in the battery case 18 is detachably attached via the electrode 35 and is dispersed in the main body case 12 and the battery case 18 to be required for control. The electronic circuit 16 is accommodated.
[0013]
FIG. 3 schematically shows the functions of the electronic circuit 16 built in the mobile phone 10 as hardware. In addition to the transmission / reception unit 19 having a basic transmission / reception function as the mobile phone 10, FIG. Various functions to be described later are realized by control operations using software stored in the control unit 20 and the storage unit 21 provided with a chip microcomputer at the center of control. Since the basic circuit configuration of the mobile phone 10 is substantially the same as that of a conventional multi-function phone, a detailed description is omitted.
[0014]
In this embodiment, the battery case 18 is further provided with a secondary battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 so that the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 11 can be grasped in real time.
[0015]
Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram mainly showing a configuration relating to charging / discharging of the secondary battery 11 in the battery case 18 in order to clarify the configuration of the battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 in FIG. 3. The output voltage from the secondary battery 11 is applied to each of the above parts via the discharge circuit 24 whose operation is controlled by the control circuit 23, so that the electronic circuit 16 normally uses the secondary battery 11 as a driving power supply. Operate.
[0016]
Further, the commercial AC voltage of 100 to 200 V output from the commercial AC power supply 25 is converted into a low-voltage DC voltage by the AC-DC converter 26 and then passed through the detachable connector 27 provided on the lower surface of the main body case 12. Applied to the electronic circuit 16 in the main body case 12.
[0017]
The DC voltage sent from the outside of the main body case 12 can supply driving power to each part of the electronic circuit 16 instead of the secondary battery 11, and at the same time, the charging voltage and the charging by the charging circuit 28 controlled by the control circuit 23. By applying current to the secondary battery 11 while controlling the current, the secondary battery 11 is charged to a predetermined charging rate while grasping the accurate remaining battery capacity in the secondary battery 11 in conjunction with the discharge circuit 24 described above. Make it possible.
[0018]
The battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 includes a charging current sensor 29 capable of detecting the magnitude of the charging current in the charging circuit 28 and a discharging current sensor 30 capable of detecting the magnitude of the discharging current in the discharging circuit 24, respectively. The control circuit 23 that controls the entire battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 is provided, and the charge / discharge amount for the secondary battery 11 is controlled based on the detection values of the sensors 29 and 30, and at the same time, for example, the detected charge / discharge current is integrated. By doing so, the current remaining battery capacity can be calculated in real time.
[0019]
In the present invention, the storage circuit 31 and the data communication unit 37 are integrally incorporated in the battery case 18, and various ID information stored in the storage circuit 31 is transferred to the outside of the battery pack 36 through the data communication unit 37. It is characterized in that it can be exchanged with various data processing devices provided.
[0020]
Here, the storage circuit 31 includes a rewritable storage element such as a flash memory or a RAM backed up by a battery, and enables writing and reading of data to and from the storage element by a battery pack alone and requires power consumption. The circuit configuration is minimized.
[0021]
The ID information stored in the storage circuit 31 includes battery pack information that enables the battery pack itself to be identified, electrical device information that identifies the mobile phone 10 that is connected to and driven by the battery pack 36, and And personal information for identifying an individual holding the mobile phone 10. The ID information is written or updated in the storage circuit 31 prior to or during use of the battery pack 36, while any data can be taken out of the battery pack 36 as needed. Yes.
[0022]
Here, as the battery pack information, in addition to basic data such as the manufacturing number, manufacturing date or rated value of the battery pack 36, the load characteristics, temperature characteristics or deterioration characteristics of the unit cells constituting the built-in secondary battery 11 are included. After the battery case 18 is detached from the main body case 12 as well as during charging / discharging, such as the battery characteristic data necessary to calculate the amount of charging / discharging, the remaining battery level during charging / discharging, and the time at that time. In addition, various data necessary for estimating the change in the remaining capacity of the battery are included.
[0023]
Next, the electrical device information includes basic data such as the types of devices that can be connected to the battery pack 36, the ID number that uniquely identifies the currently connected small electrical device, function, power consumption, and the like. Various data that can identify the device are included.
[0024]
Personal information includes bibliographic information that identifies individuals such as name and date of birth, as well as ID numbers for entering buildings and rooms or operating specific devices, automatic ticket gate systems and vending machines. Data for paying a fee for a prepaid device such as is included.
[0025]
The above description of the ID information is an example, and the data content is not limited, such as storing only a part of the ID information or storing other related data.
[0026]
When the battery pack 36 having the above configuration is attached to the mobile phone 10, the remaining battery amount monitoring unit 22 or the main body case 12 is obtained using the electrical device information and the battery pack information stored in the storage circuit 31 in the battery pack 36. By initializing the control unit 20 on the side, the detection of full charge of the secondary battery 11 and the integration operation of the charge / discharge amount are performed in correspondence with the mobile phone 10 and the secondary battery 11 that are actually used. .
[0027]
Further, the calculated remaining battery capacity and its time are constantly stored in the storage circuit 31. For example, when the battery case 18 is once detached from the main body case 12 and reattached, the elapsed time during removal and The self-discharge amount is estimated from the discharge characteristics, and the current capacity is corrected by subtracting the self-discharge amount from the remaining battery capacity before removal of the battery case 18.
[0028]
Further, the ID information stored in the storage circuit 31 of the battery pack 36 can be sent to the external device 3 via the data communication unit 37. Here, the data communication unit 37 is a general-purpose device that enables data communication in a short-distance wireless state using radio waves, infrared rays, ultrasonic waves, or the like, as well as “Bluetooth”, or data transfer by wire via the electrodes 35. The data communication unit 37 is provided in both the battery pack 36 and the external device 3 so that data can be exchanged between them.
[0029]
It is possible to perform predetermined data processing by passing ID information such as devices requiring prepaid functions such as automatic ticket gates and vending machines, and personal authentication systems when entering a building or room. If it is a thing, the kind of the external apparatus 3 or the kind of ID information delivered will not be limited.
[0030]
Further, instead of providing the battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 in the battery case 18, the battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 may be housed and deployed in the main body case 12 of the small electrical device 1. In this case, the battery remaining amount monitoring unit 22 in the main body case 12 reads necessary data from the battery case 18 into the main body case 12 and performs a predetermined control operation. Of course, data other than the charge / discharge information can be read from the battery pack 36 side and used for other controls.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a basic configuration of the configuration of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example in which the present invention is implemented in a mobile phone.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of an electronic circuit.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a battery remaining amount monitoring unit.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Small electric equipment 2 Memory | storage means 3 External equipment 4 Communication means 5 Charge / discharge control means 6 Data processing means 10 Mobile phone 11 Secondary battery 12 Main body case 13 Display screen 14 Speaker 15 Display part 16 Electronic circuit 17 Operation part 18 Battery case 19 Transmission / reception unit 20 Control unit 21 Storage unit 22 Battery remaining amount monitoring unit 23 Control circuit 24 Discharge circuit 25 Commercial AC power supply 26 AC-DC converter 27 Connector 28 Charging circuit 29 Charging current sensor 30 Discharging current sensor 31 Storage circuit 33 Keyboard 34 Microphone 35 Electrode 36 Battery pack 37 Data communication unit

Claims (2)

A battery case containing the battery detachably connected to the main body case of small electric appliances, power is supplied from the battery for the connected small electric appliances, it can regulate the driving timing of the small electrical appliances Te battery pack smell was,
In the battery case,
Charge / discharge control means capable of controlling charging and discharging of the battery;
Storage means for various information;
A communication means that enables data to be exchanged wirelessly between an external device including a data processing means and the storage means,
In the storage means,
Including at least one of data for specifying the battery pack, data for specifying the small electric device to which the battery pack is connected, and data for specifying an individual holding the battery pack,
Wherein in a state in which limit or stop the power supply to the small electric appliance, the battery pack, characterized in that allowed the transfer of data by the communication means between the external device. A control unit is provided in the main body case of the small electrical device,
At the same time that the battery case is connected to the small electric device, the small electric device is started, and necessary information is sent from the storage means to initialize the control unit. Item 6. The battery pack according to Item 1 .

Images