TWI865319B - Microprocessor integrated circuit operating with low voltage and method for prolonging time of battery usage - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention relates to a microprocessor integrated circuit operating with low voltage and a method for prolonging time of a battery usage. The microprocessor is operated by a cell battery, wherein the microprocessor IC includes a power pin, a common voltage pin, a voltage rising circuit and a microprocessor circuit. The power pin is coupled to the positive terminal of the cell battery, and the common voltage pin is coupled to the negative terminal of the cell battery. The voltage rising circuit is coupled to the power pin and the common voltage pin for generating an operational voltage according to the voltage between the power pin and the common voltage pin. The power input terminal of the microprocessor circuit is coupled to the output terminal of the voltage rising circuit to receive the operational voltage.

Description

Method for operating microprocessor integrated circuit at low voltage and extending battery life

The present invention relates to a technology for extending the battery life, and in particular to a low-voltage microprocessor system and a method for extending the battery life.

Currently, many products still use disposable batteries. However, the battery capacity is limited, so it is hoped that the products using batteries can save power as much as possible to save the number of times the battery needs to be replaced. Take two 1.5V dry batteries in series as an example. The voltage of the new series battery is 3.1~3.2V. After a period of time, the voltage will drop below 2.8V. At this time, the product will not operate normally due to insufficient voltage. Generally, when debugging in engineering, it is considered that the battery power is insufficient. But in reality, it may be that the power consumption of the product is too high, so the application of products using batteries will be expected to develop in the direction of power saving.

The power consumption of a microprocessor depends not only on the designer to check or use low-power components, but also on process factors. However, power-saving design also needs to consider whether the function can work properly. Therefore, we hope that the product can save power and function normally, and have high reliability. This is a challenge for product developers. Although the current minimum operating voltage of the microprocessor has dropped from 2.5V to 1.8V, taking the commonly used 1.5V dry cell or alkaline battery as an example, two or three batteries must be connected in series to power the microprocessor.

The present invention provides a low-voltage operating microprocessor system and a method for extending battery life, so as to reduce waste and extend battery life.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a low-voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit for operation using a single battery (a cell battery), and the low-voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit includes a power pin, a common voltage pin, a voltage boost circuit and a microprocessor circuit. The power pin is coupled to the positive electrode of the single battery. The common voltage pin is coupled to the negative electrode of the single battery. The voltage boost circuit is coupled to the power pin and the common voltage pin, and includes an output terminal for generating an operating voltage according to a potential difference between the power pin and the common voltage pin, wherein the operating voltage is greater than the potential difference. The microprocessor circuit includes a power input terminal, wherein the power input terminal of the microprocessor circuit is coupled to the output terminal of the voltage boosting circuit to receive the operating voltage.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for extending the battery life, which includes: in a microprocessor integrated circuit, a voltage boosting circuit is provided to receive the voltage difference between the power pin and the common voltage pin to generate an operating voltage; in the microprocessor integrated circuit, a microprocessor circuit is provided, wherein the microprocessor circuit receives the operating voltage to operate; a single battery is used as a power source, coupled between the power pin and the common voltage pin; and the voltage boosting circuit is used to maintain the operation of the microprocessor circuit when the power of the single battery is low, until the power of the single battery is exhausted.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention sets a voltage boosting circuit inside the microprocessor integrated circuit, so that only a single 1.5V battery is required for operation. Since the voltage boosting circuit is the circuit that mainly provides the internal operating voltage, even if the battery voltage has dropped to 1.2V, which is an extremely low power level and generally cannot be operated, in this embodiment, it can still continue to operate until the power is substantially completely consumed. In this way, resource waste can be reduced and the battery life can be extended.

In order to further understand the technology, means and effects of the present invention, you can refer to the following detailed description and drawings, so that you can thoroughly and specifically understand the purpose, features and concepts of the present invention. However, the following detailed description and drawings are only used for reference and explanation of the implementation of the present invention, and are not used to limit the present invention.

101: Power pin

102: Common voltage pin

103: Voltage boost circuit

104: Microprocessor circuit

110: Charge pump

P1, P2, P3: Pins for external capacitors

MCU_VDD: The operating voltage required by the microprocessor circuit 104

M1, M2, M3, M4, M5: transistors

C1, C2, C3, C4, C5: capacitors

CLK: clock signal

φ 1: Pulse

φ 2: Inverse phase clock

301: Voltage doubler circuit

302: Rectifier circuit

S401~S406: Process steps of a method for extending battery life in a preferred embodiment of the present invention

The attached figures are provided to enable a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs to further understand the present invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification of the present invention. The attached figures show exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are used together with the specification of the present invention to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG1 shows a circuit block diagram of a low-voltage operating microprocessor integrated circuit of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG2 shows a circuit diagram of a charge pump 110 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG3 shows a circuit diagram of a charge pump 110 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG4 is a flow chart showing a method for extending battery life according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where possible, the same element symbols are used in the accompanying drawings and the specification to refer to the same or similar components. In addition, the exemplary embodiments are only one of the ways to implement the design concept of the present invention, and the following examples are not intended to limit the present invention.

FIG1 is a circuit block diagram of a low voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG1, the low voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit includes a power pin 101, a voltage common pin 102, a voltage boost circuit 103 and a microprocessor circuit 104. Since the present case adopts low voltage operation, a single battery (a cell battery) 100 is also shown in this embodiment. The single battery in this embodiment is, for example, a 1.5V dry cell or a lithium battery. In addition, this low-voltage microprocessor integrated circuit includes pins P1~P3 for external capacitors in addition to the power pin 101 and the common voltage pin 102. This part will be described in detail later.

The power pin 101 is coupled to the positive electrode of the single battery 100. The common voltage pin 102 is coupled to the negative electrode of the single battery 100. The voltage boosting circuit 103 is coupled to the power pin 101 and the common voltage pin 102 to boost the voltage according to the 1.5V potential difference between the power pin 101 and the common voltage pin 102, and further generate the operating voltage MCU_VDD required by the microprocessor circuit 104, and input it to the power input terminal of the microprocessor circuit 104.

Since the current minimum operating voltage of the microprocessor circuit 104 can be reduced to 1.8V with a low-voltage process, a 1.5V battery is still not enough for the microprocessor circuit 104 to operate. Moreover, the power of the single battery 100 mentioned above will decrease with use, and the output voltage will also decrease. Therefore, in this embodiment, the voltage boosting circuit 103 is implemented by, for example, an extremely low voltage bPOR (backup system startup reset circuit), bLDO (backup system low voltage differential linear regulator circuit), bOSC (backup system clock generation circuit) and a charge pump 110.

In addition, since the charge pump 110 is used to supply the operating voltage MCU_VDD required for the microprocessor circuit 104 to operate, it has driving force and voltage regulation requirements. Considering that there will be instantaneous power withdrawal or load changes in the application, the capacitor uses the pins P1~P3 of the external capacitor to couple the capacitor to the outside.

FIG2 is a circuit diagram of a charge pump 110 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG2, in this embodiment, the charge pump 110 includes a first transistor M1, a first capacitor C1, a second transistor M2, and a second capacitor C2. The gate of the first transistor M1 and the first source-drain of the first transistor M1 are coupled to the power pin 101. The gate of the second transistor M2 and the first source-drain of the second transistor M2 are coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor M1, and the second source-drain of the second transistor M2 outputs the operating voltage MCU_VDD required by the microprocessor circuit 104. The first end of the first capacitor C1 is coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor M1, and the second end of the first capacitor C1 receives the clock signal CLK. The first end of the second capacitor C2 is coupled to the second source drain of the second transistor M2, and the second end of the second capacitor C2 is coupled to the common voltage pin 102.

The above embodiment takes a single phase double voltage as an example. As long as the battery power is higher than 1.0V, the above standby system startup reset circuit bPOR enables the standby system low voltage difference linear voltage regulator circuit bLDO, and the standby system low voltage difference linear voltage regulator circuit bLDO then supplies power to the standby system clock generation circuit bOSC, and the standby system clock generation circuit bOSC then provides a clock to the first capacitor C1 of the charge pump 110, so that the battery input voltage (1.0V~1.5V) is raised to 2 times, and then outputs the supply operating voltage MCU_VDD to the microprocessor circuit 104.

FIG3 is a circuit diagram of a charge pump 110 of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG3 , in this embodiment, the charge pump 110 is implemented as a five-fold voltage circuit. The charge pump 110 includes transistors M1 to M5 and capacitors C1 to C5. According to the circuit function, it can be divided into a voltage doubler circuit 301 and a rectifier circuit 302. In this embodiment, each transistor M1 to M5 is also connected in series in a diode manner, and each transistor M1 to M5 mainly constitutes a unidirectional conduction circuit. In addition, one end of the capacitors C1 and C3 receives the clock pulse φ ₁ , and one end of the capacitors C2 and C4 receives the inverted clock pulse φ ₂ of the clock pulse φ ₁ . In addition, transistor M5 and capacitor C5 serve as a rectifier circuit 302 .

In the past, in addition to the need to stack two single batteries for operation, the battery must be replaced when the remaining power of the dry battery is 10% to 20%, which is not environmentally friendly and wastes energy. Through the above embodiment, the microprocessor integrated circuit can be applied to a lower voltage, and the remaining power of the battery (about 10% to 20%) can be extracted and used, thereby achieving the effect of saving power and extending the battery life of the product. In addition, since the charge pump 110 is integrated into the microprocessor integrated circuit, the cost is saved, and the actual working voltage of the microprocessor integrated circuit can be reduced, making it more widely used.

Although the microprocessor integrated circuit design has POR (power on reset)/BOD (brown out detection)/LVR (low voltage release) as power-off protection, it is sometimes turned off or enters power saving mode to save power. Microprocessor integrated circuits generally have built-in flash memory, because flash memory must work above a specific voltage to ensure correct reading. If the voltage is lower than the operating voltage, if POR/BOD/LVR are all turned off or enter power saving mode, it will not be possible to send a reset signal in time, making the flash memory unable to continue working. It is possible that the microprocessor circuit will fetch an erroneous code, resulting in unexpected situations.

In this embodiment, the voltage region where the flash memory cannot work can be avoided, even if POR/BOD/LVR is turned off or in power saving mode, because the charge pump 110 can raise the working voltage MCU_VDD voltage, that is, the flash memory can work above a specific voltage, and will not cause the microprocessor circuit to fetch an erroneous code, resulting in unexpected situations. The above embodiment proposes a charge pump 110 circuit with a double voltage and a five-fold voltage. Those with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field should be able to infer and adopt other voltage-doubling circuits according to different applications, which will not be elaborated here.

The above embodiments can be summarized into a method for extending the battery life. FIG4 is a flow chart of a method for extending the battery life of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG4, the method for extending the battery life includes the following steps:

Step S401: Start.

Step S402: In the microprocessor integrated circuit, a voltage boost circuit is set to receive the voltage difference between the power pin and the common voltage pin to generate an operating voltage. The operating voltage MCU_VDD is generated in the manner of the above-mentioned embodiment.

Step S403: In the microprocessor integrated circuit, a microprocessor circuit is set, wherein the microprocessor circuit receives an operating voltage to operate.

Step S404: Use a single battery as a power source, coupled between the power pin and the common voltage pin.

Step S405: Utilize the voltage boost circuit to maintain the operation of the microprocessor circuit when the power of the single battery is low, until the power of the single battery is exhausted.

Step S406: End.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention sets a voltage boosting circuit inside the microprocessor integrated circuit, so that only a single 1.5V battery is required for operation. Since the voltage boosting circuit is the circuit that mainly provides the internal operating voltage, even if the battery voltage has dropped to 0.9V, which is an extremely low power level and generally cannot be operated, in this embodiment, it can continue to operate until the power is substantially completely consumed. In this way, resource waste can be reduced and the battery life can be extended.

It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only, and that various modifications or changes thereto will be suggested to those skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and scope of the present application and the scope of the appended claims.

S401~S406: Process steps of a method for extending battery life in a preferred embodiment of the present invention

Claims (7)

A low-voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit is used to operate using a single battery (a cell battery). The low-voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit includes: a power pin coupled to the positive electrode of the single battery; a common voltage pin coupled to the negative electrode of the single battery; a voltage boost circuit coupled to the power pin and the common voltage pin, including an output terminal for generating an operating voltage according to a potential difference between the power pin and the common voltage pin, wherein the operating voltage is greater than the potential difference; and a microprocessor circuit including a voltage boost circuit. A power input terminal, wherein the power input terminal of the microprocessor circuit is coupled to the output terminal of the voltage boosting circuit to receive the operating voltage; wherein the voltage boosting circuit includes: a clock generating circuit for outputting a clock signal; and a charge pump, including an input terminal, a clock input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the input terminal of the charge pump receives the potential difference, the clock input terminal of the charge pump receives the clock signal, and the output terminal of the charge pump outputs the operating voltage. According to the low voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit described in claim 1, the charge pump includes: a first transistor, including a gate, a first source-drain and a second source-drain, wherein the gate of the first transistor and the first source-drain of the first transistor are coupled to the power pin; a first capacitor, including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the first capacitor is coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor, and the second end of the first capacitor receives the clock signal; A second transistor, including a gate, a first source-drain and a second source-drain, wherein the gate of the second transistor and the first source-drain of the second transistor are coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor, and the second source-drain of the second transistor is coupled to the output end of the charge pump; and a second capacitor, including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the second capacitor is coupled to the second source-drain of the second transistor, and the second end of the second capacitor is coupled to the common voltage pin. According to the low voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit described in claim 1, the charge pump includes: N unidirectional conductive circuits, including a first end and a second end, wherein the second end of the Kth unidirectional conductive circuit is coupled to the first end of the K+1th unidirectional conductive circuit, and the first end of the first unidirectional conductive circuit is coupled to the power pin; N capacitors, including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the Kth capacitor is coupled to the K+1th The second end of the unidirectional conductive circuit, the second end of the 2Q+1 capacitor receives the clock signal, and the second end of the 2Q+2 capacitor receives an inverted signal of the clock signal; and a rectifier circuit, including an input end and an output end, wherein the input end of the rectifier circuit is coupled to the second end of the Nth unidirectional conductive circuit, and the output end of the rectifier circuit outputs the operating voltage, wherein N, K, and Q are natural numbers, wherein 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<K<N, 0<

Q<N/2. According to the low voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit described in claim 3, each of the unidirectional conduction circuits includes: a transistor including a gate, a first source drain and a second source drain, wherein the gate of the transistor and the first source drain of the transistor are the first end of each of the unidirectional conduction circuits, and the second source drain of the transistor is the second end of each of the unidirectional conduction circuits. According to the low-voltage operation microprocessor integrated circuit described in claim 3, the rectifier circuit includes: a rectifier transistor including a gate, a first source-drain and a second source-drain, wherein the gate of the rectifier transistor and the first source-drain of the rectifier transistor are coupled to the second end of the Nth unidirectional conduction circuit, and the second source-drain of the rectifier transistor is coupled to the output end of the charge pump; and a rectifier capacitor including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the rectifier capacitor is coupled to the second source-drain of the rectifier transistor, and the second end of the rectifier capacitor is coupled to the common voltage pin. A method for extending battery life includes: In a microprocessor integrated circuit, a voltage boost circuit is provided to receive a voltage difference between a power pin and a common voltage pin to generate an operating voltage; in the microprocessor integrated circuit, a microprocessor circuit is provided, wherein the microprocessor circuit receives the operating voltage to operate; a single battery is used as a power source, coupled between the power pin and the common voltage pin; and the voltage boost circuit is used to generate an operating voltage. The circuit maintains the operation of the microprocessor circuit when the power of the single battery is low until the power of the single battery is exhausted; wherein the voltage boosting circuit includes: a clock generating circuit for outputting a clock signal; and a charge pump including an input terminal, a clock input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the input terminal of the charge pump receives the potential difference, the clock input terminal of the charge pump receives the clock signal, and the output terminal of the charge pump outputs the operating voltage. According to the method for extending the battery life described in claim 6, the charge pump comprises: a first transistor, comprising a gate, a first source-drain and a second source-drain, wherein the gate of the first transistor and the first source-drain of the first transistor are coupled to the power pin; a first capacitor, comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the first capacitor is coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor, and the second end of the first capacitor receives the clock signal; A second transistor, including a gate, a first source-drain and a second source-drain, wherein the gate of the second transistor and the first source-drain of the second transistor are coupled to the second source-drain of the first transistor, and the second source-drain of the second transistor is coupled to the output end of the charge pump; and a second capacitor, including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the second capacitor is coupled to the second source-drain of the second transistor, and the second end of the second capacitor is coupled to the common voltage pin.

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