Portable electronic device and smart charging method thereof

Abstract

A portable electronic device and a smart charging method thereof are provided. The method is adapted to the portable electronic device including a battery and includes the following steps. A scheduled event within a predefined time period is detected. When the scheduled event within the predefined period is detected, whether remaining battery charge of the battery is less than a charge threshold is determined. If the remaining battery charge is less than the charge threshold, a charging parameter is determined based on event information of the scheduled event. The battery is controlled to perform charging according to the charging parameter.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a portable electronic device and its intelligent charging method. Prior Technology

[0002] With the rapid advancement of technology, portable electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones are becoming increasingly common. Furthermore, to facilitate use in environments without power, portable electronic devices are typically equipped with rechargeable batteries, providing power even in the absence of external power. For example, when a laptop is not connected to an external power source, the user must rely on the battery to maintain its operation. Batteries have a limited lifespan, and each charge shortens its lifespan. The more times the battery is charged, the less its usable lifespan will be. To extend battery life and avoid premature replacement, an effective method is to reduce the amount of charge given each time. However, this may lead to insufficient power or more frequent charging due to less than 100% charge. Therefore, users need to weigh the need to extend battery life against the desired usage time per charge (e.g., how many hours of use). Summary of the Invention

[0003] This disclosure provides a smart charging method applicable to portable electronic devices including a battery, and includes the following steps: Detecting a scheduling event within a preset time period. When a scheduling event within the preset time period is detected, determining whether the remaining battery power is lower than a power threshold. When the remaining battery power is lower than the power threshold, determining a charging parameter based on event information from the scheduling event. Controlling the battery to perform a charging operation based on the charging parameter.

[0004] This disclosure also provides a portable electronic device including a battery, a storage device, and a processor. The storage device records multiple instructions, and the processor, coupled to the battery and the storage device, executes the instructions to perform the following steps: Detecting a scheduled event within a preset time period. When a scheduled event within the preset time period is detected, determining whether the remaining battery power is below a power threshold. When the remaining battery power is below the power threshold, determining a charging parameter based on event information from the scheduled event. Controlling the battery to perform a charging operation based on the charging parameter.

[0005] Based on the above, in this disclosure, when a scheduled event within a preset time period is detected, it can be determined whether the remaining battery power is sufficient for the portable electronic device to complete the scheduled event. Furthermore, if it is determined that the remaining battery power is insufficient for the portable electronic device to complete the scheduled event, charging parameters can be determined based on the event information of the scheduled event, allowing the battery to be charged according to these charging parameters. Therefore, in the embodiments disclosed herein, it can be ensured that the remaining usable time of the battery device meets the target requirements. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0006] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 is a flowchart of a smart charging method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of multiple functional modules in one embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4 is a flowchart of a smart charging method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of determining charging parameters according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of providing power management notification according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Implementation

[0007] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same component reference numerals are used in the drawings and description to denote the same or similar parts. These embodiments are only a part of the invention and do not disclose all possible implementations of the invention. Rather, these embodiments are merely examples of apparatuses and methods within the scope of the patent application of this invention.

[0008] Referring to Figure 1, the portable electronic device 100 is, for example, a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or other electronic device that can be powered by an internal battery; this disclosure is not limited to this. The portable electronic device 100 is adapted to receive DC power required for operation from an external source (e.g., provided by a power adapter) and convert it into a working power supply suitable for powering the internal circuitry and / or for charging the battery 120. The portable electronic device 100 may include a display 110, a battery 120, a controller 130, a storage device 140, and a processor 150, the functions of which are described below.

[0009] The display 110 provides display functionality to display images, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a field emission display (FED), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, or other types of displays, and this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0010] Battery 120 serves as the primary power source for portable electronic device 100 when it is not connected to an external AC power source via a power adapter. When portable electronic device 100 is connected to an external AC power source, battery 120 can be charged. In some embodiments, battery 120 may be a smart battery device with an internal control chip (not shown), which can provide battery information via a data bus (e.g., a system management bus (SMBus)). This battery information may, for example, be data supporting the Smart Battery Data Specification (SBD Specification).

[0011] In some embodiments, reading battery information from battery 120 can be handled by controller 130, which is coupled between processor 150 and battery 120. After receiving an instruction from processor 150, controller 130 reads the current battery information (e.g., remaining battery power) from battery 120 and provides it to processor 150. Controller 130 may be, for example, an embedded controller (EC) in portable electronic device 100. Battery 120 can provide battery information to controller 130 via a data bus, allowing controller 130 to perform power management based on the battery information.

[0012] Storage device 140 is used to store data such as files, instructions, code, software modules, etc., and can be, for example, any type of fixed or removable random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk or other similar device, integrated circuit or combination thereof.

[0013] Processor 150 may be, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), or other programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or other similar devices or combinations thereof. Processor 150 can execute code, software modules, instructions, etc., recorded in storage device 140 to implement the smart charging method of this disclosed embodiment. The term "software module" can be broadly interpreted as instructions, instruction sets, code, program, application, software suite, thread, process, function, etc.

[0014] Please refer to Figures 1 and 2. The method of this embodiment is applicable to the portable electronic device 100 in the above embodiments. The following describes the detailed steps of the smart charging method of this embodiment with reference to the various components in the portable electronic device 100.

[0015] In step S210, the processor 150 detects a scheduled event within a preset time period. That is, the processor 150 checks whether there are any scheduled events that need to be performed within the preset time period (e.g., two hours). In some embodiments, the preset time period may be the charging time taken for the battery 120 to charge from a state of 0% remaining power to a fully charged state. In different embodiments, the scheduled event may include a user-scheduled event, a system-scheduled event, or a software-scheduled event.

[0016] In some embodiments, user-scheduled events are, for example, calendar events scheduled by the user, such as meetings or to-do items. In some embodiments, processor 150 may acquire a calendar from portable electronic device 100. Then, based on a current time, processor 150 may detect whether the calendar records user-scheduled events within a preset time period. For example, assuming the current time is 9:00 AM, processor 150 may determine whether the calendar records user-scheduled events between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. If the calendar records a scheduled meeting at 10:00 AM, processor 150 may determine that a scheduled event within the preset time period has been detected.

[0017] In some embodiments, system scheduling events can be events or tasks managed by the scheduler built into the operating system (OS) (such as Windows' Task Scheduler), such as regularly performed system maintenance, data backup, hard drive cleanup, or software update operations, etc.

[0018] In some embodiments, software scheduling events can be scheduled events set by a specific application or software. For example, regular scans by antivirus software, automatic backups by backup software, or scheduled updates of certain software tools, etc.

[0019] In step S220, when the processor 150 detects a scheduled event within a preset time period, the processor 150 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 120 is lower than a power threshold. The remaining power of the battery 120 can be a percentage of the remaining power. For example, assuming the power threshold is 80%, the processor 150 can determine whether the remaining power percentage of the battery 120 is lower than 80%. In some embodiments, the power threshold can be a fixed value, such as 80% or 90%, etc. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the power threshold can be a variable determined based on event information.

[0020] In step S230, when the remaining charge of battery 120 is lower than a charge threshold, processor 150 determines a charging parameter based on event information from a scheduled event. This charging parameter may be, for example, charging speed or charging current. The event information from the scheduled event may include an event occurrence time, an event duration, or an estimated power consumption level. In different embodiments, processor 150 may determine the charging parameter through table lookup or function calculation.

[0021] In some embodiments, the processor 150 may also determine charging parameters based on battery information. For example, the controller 130 may control the battery 120 to report battery information according to instructions specified in the Smart Battery Data Standard. This battery information may include whether the battery 120 is operating in a rechargeable or non-rechargeable state, the current charging speed, remaining charge, current charging current, or current charging voltage, etc. In some embodiments, when the remaining charge of the battery 120 is below a charge threshold, the processor 150 controls the battery 120 to operate in a fast charging mode or a normal charging mode based on event information from a scheduled event and the remaining charge of the battery 120.

[0022] In step S240, the processor 150 controls the battery to perform a charging operation according to the charging parameters. In some embodiments, the processor 150 can control the battery 120 to perform a charging operation according to the charging parameters through the controller 130. For example, the controller 130 can control the charging current of the battery 120 to increase or decrease. Alternatively, the controller 130 can control the battery 120 to switch between fast charging mode and normal charging mode.

[0023] In this disclosed embodiment, when the processor 150 detects a scheduling event and the remaining power of the battery 120 is too low, the processor 150 can dynamically determine the charging parameters and control the battery 120 to charge accordingly. This avoids the portable electronic device 100 running out of power during the execution of a scheduling event without being connected to an external power source.

[0024] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of multiple functional modules in one embodiment of this disclosure. The portable electronic device 100 may include multiple functional modules, namely a scheduling management module 310, a battery management module 320, an event power consumption estimation module 330, a notification module 340, a charging control module 350, and a system control module 360. In some embodiments, the smart charging method of this embodiment can be implemented by the processor 150 executing the above-mentioned functional modules recorded in the storage device 140. That is, the above-mentioned functional modules can be implemented as multiple software / firmware modules.

[0025] The scheduling management module 310 can detect scheduling events. The scheduling management module 310 can access calendar data via the application programming interface (API) provided by the calendar C1, enabling it to read event information of user-scheduled events in the calendar. Furthermore, the scheduling management module 310 can also obtain event information of system scheduling events and software scheduling events through the APIs of other applications or system event schedulers.

[0026] The battery management module 320 can request the battery 120 or the controller 130 to report battery information B1 of the battery 120.

[0027] The event power consumption estimation module 330 can determine whether a scheduled event occurs within a preset time period. Furthermore, the event power consumption estimation module 330 can detect scheduled events within the preset time period based on the event information of the scheduled events provided by the scheduling management module 310. In addition, the event power consumption estimation module 330 can determine the charging strategy for the battery 120 based on the event information of the scheduled events and battery information B1. The event power consumption estimation module 330 can determine to enable energy-saving operations based on the event information of the scheduled events and battery information B1. The event power consumption estimation module 330 can determine whether to provide a power management notification N11 to the user based on the battery information B1. The power management notification N11 can be used to inform the user about measures to ensure the completion of scheduled events. The power management notification N11 can remind the user to charge the portable electronic device 100, remind the user to save power, suggest that the user shorten the duration of the scheduled event, or provide a power estimate after the scheduled event ends, but is not limited to the above.

[0028] The notification module 340 can issue a power management notification N11 to the user based on the notification from the event power consumption estimation module 330. For example, the notification module 340 can control the display 110 to display the power management notification N11. Alternatively, the notification module 340 can control the light-emitting device to illuminate to provide the power management notification N11. The charging control module 350 can control the battery 120 to charge according to the charging strategy determined by the event power consumption estimation module 330. The system control module 360 ​​can execute an energy-saving operation S1 based on the notification from the event power consumption estimation module 330.

[0029] Please refer to Figures 1 and 4. The method of this embodiment is applicable to the portable electronic device 100 in the above embodiments. The following describes the detailed steps of the smart charging method of this embodiment with reference to the various components in the portable electronic device 100.

[0030] In step S410, the processor 150 detects a scheduling event within a preset time period. In step S420, when a scheduling event within the preset time period is detected, the processor 150 determines a power threshold value based on the event information of the scheduling event. That is, in some embodiments, the power threshold value can be dynamically determined based on the event information of the scheduling event.

[0031] In some embodiments, processor 150 may determine a power threshold value based on an estimated power consumption level of a scheduled event and an event duration. The power threshold value is directly correlated with the event duration. That is, the longer the event duration, the higher the power threshold value. This is because a longer event duration means more power is required to support the operation of the scheduled event. Event duration can be, for example, the length of a meeting, the estimated time for a software update, or the estimated time for a data backup. Furthermore, the power threshold value is directly correlated with the estimated power consumption level. That is, the higher the estimated power consumption level, the higher the power threshold value. This is because a higher estimated power consumption level means more power is required to support the operation of the scheduled event. Processor 150 may identify the estimated power consumption level of a scheduled event according to predefined rules. For example, processor 150 may obtain the estimated power consumption level of a scheduled event as n watt-hours (Wh) by looking up a table. Then, through table lookup or function calculation, processor 150 may determine the power threshold value based on an estimated power consumption level of the scheduled event and an event duration.

[0032] In some embodiments, the estimated power consumption of a scheduled event can be the power consumption per unit time of an application. The power consumption per unit time of different applications can be obtained through experiments or big data analysis. The power threshold can be calculated according to the following equations (1) and (2). Expected power consumption of the event = Power consumption per unit time x Event duration (Equation 1) Power threshold = Expected power consumption of the event + β (Equation 2) Where β is an adjustment value greater than or equal to 0.

[0033] For example, assuming a scheduled event uses a first application, processor 150 can obtain the expected power consumption of the scheduled event based on the power consumption per unit time of the first application and the event duration. Assuming a scheduled event uses both the first and second applications, processor 150 can first calculate the sum of the power consumption per unit time of the first and second applications, and then multiply this sum by the event duration to obtain the expected power consumption of the scheduled event. Afterward, processor 150 can determine a power threshold value as the expected power consumption of the event. Alternatively, processor 150 can determine a power threshold value as the expected power consumption of the event plus an adjustment value β.

[0034] In step S430, when a scheduled event within a preset time period is detected, the processor 150 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 120 is lower than a power threshold. In step S440 (if determined to be yes in step S430), when the remaining power of the battery 120 is lower than the power threshold, the processor 150 determines whether the battery 120 is operating in a rechargeable state. That is, when the remaining power of the battery 120 is lower than the power threshold, the processor 150 determines whether the battery 120 is connected to an external power source (e.g., an external AC power source or an external DC power source) and operates in a rechargeable state. When the battery 120 is connected to an external power source, the battery 120 operates in a rechargeable state. When the battery 120 is not connected to an external power source, the battery 120 operates in a non-rechargeable state.

[0035] In step S450 (if determined in step S440), when the remaining power of battery 120 is lower than the power threshold and battery 120 is in a rechargeable state, processor 150 determines a charging parameter based on the event information of the scheduled event.

[0036] In some embodiments, the processor 150 may determine a charging speed based on the time interval between a current point in time and the occurrence time of a scheduled event. If the time interval between the current point in time and the occurrence time of a scheduled event is less than a charging time threshold, the processor 150 may determine a first charging speed. If the time interval between the current point in time and the occurrence time of a scheduled event is not less than a charging time threshold, the processor 150 may determine a second charging speed. The first value is greater than the second value. That is, if the time interval between the current point in time and the occurrence time of a scheduled event is too short, the processor 150 may increase the charging speed so that the battery 120 can store as much charge as possible before the event occurs.

[0037] Please refer to Figure 5, which is a schematic diagram of determining charging parameters according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The processor 150 detects whether any scheduled events occur within a preset time period ΔT at the current time tc. That is, the processor 150 determines whether any scheduled events will occur within the preset time period ΔT between the current time tc and the termination time te. In this example, the processor 150 can detect scheduled event A within the preset time period ΔT. The processor 150 can determine a power threshold value based on the event duration ΔET of scheduled event A. When the remaining power of the battery 120 is lower than the power threshold value, the processor 150 can determine the charging speed based on the time interval ΔRT between the current time point tc and the event occurrence time ta of scheduled event A, and control the battery 120 to charge according to the aforementioned charging speed.

[0038] In step S460, the processor 150 controls the battery 120 to perform a charging operation according to the charging parameters. In step S470, when the remaining charge of the battery 120 increases to equal the charge threshold value, the processor 150 controls the battery 120 to stop charging, so as to maintain the remaining charge of the battery 120 at the charge threshold value. That is, the processor 150 can prevent the battery 120 from being charged to a fully charged state, and instead control the remaining charge of the battery 120 to be maintained at the charge threshold value. In this way, the battery 120 can be prevented from being kept in a fully charged state, which would accelerate the aging of the battery. In other words, compared to restoring the battery 120 to a fully charged state every time, by maintaining the remaining charge of the battery 120 within a specific charge range, the disclosed embodiment can reduce the number of charging operations and delay the aging of the battery 120.

[0039] Therefore, even if the processor 150 controls the remaining power of the battery 120 to maintain at the power threshold, the processor 150 can still determine the charging strategy of the battery 120 based on the detection of scheduled events, thus avoiding the predicament of insufficient power to complete the scheduled events due to the removal of external power.

[0040] In step S480 (if step S440 determines otherwise), when the battery 120 is not in a rechargeable state, the processor 150 provides a power management notification. Please refer to Figure 6, which is a schematic diagram of providing a power management notification according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The processor 150 can display the power management notification N11 via a pop-up window on the display 110. The power management notification N11 may include the event occurrence time of a scheduled event and is used to notify the user to connect the portable electronic device 100 to an external power source for charging.

[0041] In step S490 (if step S440 determines otherwise), when the battery 120 is not in a rechargeable state, the processor 150 executes a power-saving operation. In some embodiments, the power-saving operation may include closing at least one idle application, reducing the display brightness of the display 110, reducing the speaker volume, disabling communication functions, or removing external storage devices, etc., to save power consumption. The power-saving operation may also include reducing the operating frequency of the central processing unit or graphics processor, or reducing the charging current supplied to the external device (USB external storage device). By executing the power-saving operation, the rate at which the battery 120 depletes its power can be reduced.

[0042] In summary, in this disclosed embodiment, when a scheduled event is detected within a preset time period, it can be determined whether the remaining battery power is sufficient for the portable electronic device to complete the scheduled event. Furthermore, if it is determined that the remaining battery power is insufficient for the portable electronic device to complete the scheduled event, charging parameters can be determined based on the event information of the scheduled event, allowing the battery to be charged until the remaining power equals a power threshold. By maintaining the remaining battery power within a specific range, the aging rate of the battery can be slowed down. Furthermore, it can be ensured that the remaining usable battery time meets the target requirements.

[0043] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and not to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some or all of the technical features; and these modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0044] 100: Portable electronic devices 110: Monitor 120: Battery 130: Controller 140: Storage device 150: Processor 310: Scheduling Management Module 320: Battery Management Module 330: Event Power Consumption Estimation Module 340: Notification Module 350: Charging control module 360: System Control Module B1: Battery Information C1: Calendar N11: Electricity Management Notice S1: Energy-saving operation S210~S240, S410~S490: Steps

Claims

1. A smart charging method applicable to a portable electronic device including a battery, the method comprising: Detect a scheduled event within a preset time period; When a scheduled event within the preset time period is detected, a power threshold value is determined based on the event information of the scheduled event, and it is determined whether the remaining power of the battery is lower than the power threshold value, wherein the power threshold value is calculated according to the following formulas (1) and (2): Expected power consumption of the event = power consumption per unit time x event duration (1) Power threshold value = expected power consumption of the event + β (2) Where β is an adjustment value greater than or equal to 0; When the remaining power of the battery is lower than the power threshold value, a charging parameter is determined based on the event information of the scheduled event; and the battery is controlled to perform a charging operation according to the charging parameter.

2. The smart charging method as described in claim 1, wherein after the step of controlling the battery to perform the charging operation according to the charging parameters, the method further includes: When the remaining charge of the battery increases to equal the charge threshold, the battery is controlled to stop charging in order to maintain the remaining charge of the battery at the charge threshold.

3. The smart charging method as described in claim 1, wherein the step of determining a charging parameter based on event information of the scheduling event when the remaining charge of the battery is lower than the charge threshold includes: A charging speed is determined based on the time interval between a current point in time and the occurrence time of an event in the scheduled event.

4. The smart charging method as described in claim 1, wherein the scheduling event includes a system scheduling event or a software scheduling event.

5. The smart charging method as described in claim 1, wherein the scheduling event includes a user scheduling event, and the step of detecting the scheduling event within the preset time period includes: Obtain a calendar from the portable electronic device; And based on a current time point, detect whether the calendar records the user's scheduled events within the preset time period.

6. The smart charging method as described in claim 1, further comprising: When the remaining power of the battery is lower than the power threshold, it is determined whether the battery is in a rechargeable state. And when the battery is not in the rechargeable state, a power management notification is provided.

7. The smart charging method as described in claim 7, further comprising: When the battery is not in the rechargeable state, an energy-saving operation is performed.

8. A portable electronic device, comprising: One battery; A storage device that records multiple instructions; A processor, coupled to the battery and the storage device, executes the instructions and is configured to: detect a scheduled event within a preset time period; When a scheduled event within the preset time period is detected, a power threshold value is determined based on the event information of the scheduled event, and it is determined whether the remaining power of the battery is lower than the power threshold value, wherein the power threshold value is calculated according to the following formulas (1) and (2): Expected power consumption of the event = power consumption per unit time x event duration (1) Power threshold value = expected power consumption of the event + β (2) Where β is an adjustment value greater than or equal to 0; When the remaining power of the battery is lower than the power threshold value, a charging parameter is determined based on the event information of the scheduled event; and the battery is controlled to perform a charging operation according to the charging parameter.

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