Battery tracking system

Abstract

We provide a battery tracking system that can also accurately determine the location of unused batteries removed from devices. [Solution] The battery tracking system comprises a device connected to the battery, a battery removed from the device, and a server that tracks the location of the battery. The battery includes a wireless access point communication unit that communicates with a wireless access point, a long-range communication unit that communicates with a long-range communication base station, and a first control unit. The first control unit acquires location information of the access point and distance information to the access point based on the communication radio waves of the wireless access point communication unit, determines the location information of the battery based on the acquired communication radio waves and the location information of the access point, and transmits the location information and status information of the battery via the long-range communication unit. The server includes a storage unit and a second control unit. The second control unit acquires the location information and status information of the battery and stores the location information and status information of the battery in the storage unit in association with each other.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a battery tracking system.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a system that acquires the usage history of a battery, estimates the degree of deterioration of the battery performance, and predicts the supply amount of reusable batteries based on the estimation result.

[0003] Patent Document 2 discloses a system that acquires the position information of a battery using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] The systems of Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot acquire battery information when the battery is removed from the device using the battery. Therefore, the systems of Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot acquire information on unused batteries that have never been connected to a device or used batteries that have been used but are not connected to a device and are not being used. In addition, the GNSS of Patent Document 2 cannot be used indoors and underground.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a battery tracking system that can also accurately grasp the position of an unused battery removed from a device.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] The battery tracking system of this invention comprises a device connected to a battery, a battery removed from the device, and a server that tracks the location of the battery. The battery includes a wireless access point communication unit that communicates with a wireless access point, a long-range communication unit that communicates with a long-range communication base station, and a first control unit. The first control unit acquires distance information to the access point based on the communication radio waves of the wireless access point communication unit, acquires location information of the access point, determines the location information of the battery based on the acquired communication radio waves and the location information of the access point, and transmits the battery's location information and status information via the long-range communication unit. The server includes a storage unit and a second control unit. The second control unit acquires the battery's location information and status information, and stores the battery's location information and status information in association with each other in the storage unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to this invention, the location of unused batteries removed from the device can also be determined in detail. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram of a battery tracking system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram of the battery. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart showing the operation of Battery 10. [Figure 4] This is a block diagram of the server. [Figure 5] This is a flowchart showing the operation of server 40. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the battery tracking system 1 of this embodiment. The battery tracking system 1 shown in Figure 1 includes a battery 10, a wireless access point 20, a base station 30, and a server 40.

[0011] Battery 10 is a rechargeable battery used in devices such as electronics, portable game consoles, toys, portable vacuum cleaners, wireless headphones, portable power tools, personal computers, small and large home appliances, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems.

[0012] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the battery 10. The battery 10 includes a CPU 11, RAM 12, flash memory 13, wireless access point (AP) communication unit 14, and long-range communication unit 15. The battery 10 may also include sensors (e.g., temperature sensor, current sensor, voltage sensor, pressure sensor, gas sensor, etc.) not shown in the diagram to detect the state of the battery 10, as described later.

[0013] The CPU 11 functions as the first control unit of the present invention, and reads the operation program stored in the flash memory 13 into the RAM 12 to control the battery 10. The CPU 11 acquires status information of the battery 10 (for example, information indicating the battery's serial number, manufacturing date, voltage, temperature, current, number of charge cycles, and the status of individual cells). When the battery 10 is unused, the number of charge cycles indicated in the status information is 0. The status information of the battery 10 may also be acquired from the sensors mentioned above.

[0014] The wireless AP communication unit 14 transmits and receives beacon signals as wireless communication, in accordance with the control of the CPU 11, conforming to standards such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), NFC (Near-field Communication), Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), or Wi-Fi®.

[0015] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the battery 10. The CPU 11 receives a beacon signal periodically transmitted from the wireless access point 20 (S11). Alternatively, the CPU 11 may periodically transmit a beacon signal and its own device identification information to the wireless access point 20 via the wireless AP communication unit 14, according to instructions from the device connected to the battery 10 or from the wireless access point 20. The identification information is unique information determined uniquely for each device, such as the serial number or MAC address of the battery 10.

[0016] The wireless access point 20 transmits and receives beacon signals as wireless communication, for example, in accordance with RFID, NFC, BLE, or Wi-Fi (registered trademark). The wireless access point 20 transmits information regarding communication radio waves, identification information of the wireless access point 20, and location information of the wireless access point 20 in the beacon signal.

[0017] The CPU 11 of the battery 10 acquires the communication radio wave, the identification information of the wireless access point 20, and the position information of the wireless access point 20 included in the beacon signal received from the wireless access point 20 (S12). Note that the position information of the wireless access point 20 may be acquired from the flash memory 13 of the own device or another database such as a server. The CPU 11 obtains distance information from the wireless access point 20 based on the communication radio wave with the acquired wireless access point 20 (S13). Since the communication radio wave intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, it can be converted into distance information. Further, the CPU 11 obtains the position information of the own device (battery 10) based on the distance information and the position information of the wireless access point 20 (S14). The CPU 11, for example, obtains the distances from three wireless access points 20, and regards the overlapping area of the circles (ideally, the intersection of the three circles) centered on the positions of the respective wireless access points 20 and with the distances as the radii as the position of the battery 10. Alternatively, the CPU 11 regards the weighted centroid of each wireless access point 20 as the position of the battery 10. Further, the CPU 11 may obtain the battery 10 using a Kalman filter with the position information of the battery 10 estimated in the past as an observed value. In the present invention, the position estimation method is not limited to a specific method, and any method standardized by BLE, Wi-Fi (registered trademark), 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project), etc. can be used.

[0018] Note that the number of wireless access points 20 to be communicated with may be even larger, or may be one or two. When the number of wireless access points 20 to be communicated with is one, the position information of the battery 10 may be regarded as the area of a circle centered on the wireless access point 20 and with the distance as the radius. When the number of wireless access points 20 to be communicated with is two, the position information of the battery 10 may be regarded as the overlapping area of the circles centered on the centers of the two wireless access points 20 and with the distance as the radius.

[0019] Alternatively, the position information of the battery 10 may be obtained based on the phase difference of the communication radio waves received from two or more wireless access points 20, the position information of the battery 10 may be obtained based on the position information of the wireless access points 20, or the position information of the battery 10 may be obtained based on the radio wave reflection data (CSI: Channel State Information) received from the wireless access points 20.

[0020] The CPU 11 periodically transmits, via the long-distance communication unit 15, or in accordance with an instruction from a device connected to the battery 10 or an instruction from the base station 30, the position information and status information of the battery 10 to the server 40 via the base station 30 (S15).

[0021] The long-distance communication unit 15 transmits and receives radio waves conforming to long-distance wireless communication standards such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), or LPWA (Low Power Wide Area).

[0022] The base station 30 transmits and receives radio waves conforming to long-distance wireless communication standards such as the above LTE, 5G, UWB, or LPWA. The base station 30 receives the position information and status information of the battery 10 from the long-distance communication unit 15. The base station 30 has a router function and transmits the position information and status information of the battery 10 to the designated server 40.

[0023] The server 40 receives the position information and status information of the battery 10. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the server 40. The server 40 includes a display 41 such as an LCD, an operation unit 42 for receiving an operation by an administrator, a CPU 43, a RAM 44, a flash memory 45, a communication unit 46, and a database 47.

[0024] The CPU 43 corresponds to the second control unit of the present invention and controls the server 40 by reading the operation program stored in the flash memory 45 into the RAM 44. The communication unit 46 is connected to the base station 30. However, the communication unit 46 does not need to be directly connected to the base station 30. The server 40 may obtain various information from the base station 30 via the server of the operator using the base station 30.

[0025] Database 47 corresponds to the storage unit of the present invention. Note that database 47 does not necessarily need to be built into server 40; it may be built into another server.

[0026] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server 40. The CPU 43 receives various information from the base station 30 via the communication unit 46 (S21). Specifically, the CPU 43 receives location information and status information of the battery 10 from the base station 30.

[0027] Next, the CPU 43 stores the location and status information of the battery 10 in the database 47 (S22). The location and status information of the battery 10 stored in the database 47 is displayed on the display unit 41 in various user interfaces, such as a list or a heat map, via an application program. The administrator of the battery tracking system 1 operates the application program via the operation unit 42, for example, to display a list of unused batteries (zero charge cycles) on the display unit 41. This allows the administrator of the battery tracking system 1 to know where and how many unused batteries are located (e.g., stores or warehouses). For example, the administrator of the battery tracking system 1 can predict that the demand for batteries will be high in stores or warehouses with few unused batteries.

[0028] As described above, detailed location information of the battery, measured by short-range wireless communication, is stored in the database 47. According to the configuration of the battery tracking system 1 of this embodiment, since the battery 10 is equipped with a wireless AP communication unit 14 and a long-range communication unit 15, it is possible to achieve both high-precision positioning by short-range wireless communication and high tracking capabilities by long-range communication, even when the battery 10 is not connected to a device. Therefore, the battery tracking system 1 can also determine the location of unused batteries in detail.

[0029] In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the battery 10 obtains its own location information. However, the battery 10 may also transmit communication radio waves with the wireless access point 20 and the location information of the wireless access point 20 to the server 40, and the server 40 may obtain the location information of the battery 10. Alternatively, the battery 10 may transmit information regarding communication radio waves with the wireless access point 20 and the location information of the wireless access point 20 to a server for location information calculation, and the server for location information calculation may obtain the location information of the battery 10. In this case, the server 40 acquires and stores the location information of the battery 10 obtained by the server for location information calculation. Alternatively, the battery 10 may transmit information regarding communication radio waves with the wireless access point 20 and identification information of the wireless access point 20 to the server 40, and the server 40 may obtain the location information of the wireless access point 20 from another database and obtain the location information of the battery 10. Alternatively, the battery 10 may transmit information regarding the radio waves used for communication with the wireless access point 20 and identification information of the wireless access point 20 to the location information calculation server, and the location information calculation server may obtain the location information of the wireless access point 20 from another database to determine the location information of the battery 10. In this case as well, the server 40 obtains and stores the location information of the battery 10 obtained by the location information calculation server.

[0030] (Variation 1) As mentioned above, the battery status information includes information on the number of charge cycles. Therefore, the CPU 43 of server 40 can obtain information on the inventory of unused batteries.

[0031] The CPU 43 of server 40 retrieves battery inventory information based on the battery location and status information stored in database 47, and outputs demand forecast information based on the inventory information. The CPU 43 retrieves demand forecast information for each store and warehouse based on various statistical models, such as the Weibull growth model. The demand forecast information is displayed on, for example, display unit 41 and referenced by the administrator of battery tracking system 1. Alternatively, the demand forecast information is referenced by users such as battery manufacturers and distributors via application programs on their personal computers or smartphones.

[0032] As a result, the battery tracking system 1 of the modified example 1 can provide demand forecasting information based on inventory information of unused batteries, which was not possible with conventional methods.

[0033] (Modification 2) The battery 10 periodically transmits location and status information to the server 40 via the base station 30, either according to instructions from a device connected to the battery 10 or from the base station 30. The CPU 43 of the server 40 periodically updates the battery's location and status information stored in the database 47 and outputs the battery's current location information. Alternatively, the CPU 43 of the server 40 may send a request for location and status information to the battery 10 via the base station 30 at any time, periodically updating the battery's location and status information stored in the database 47 and outputting the battery's current location information.

[0034] This allows the battery tracking system 1 in modified example 2 to also track and manage the battery 10 in use.

[0035] The battery tracking system 1 in the modified example 2 can predict the quantity of batteries that may be purchased in the near future based on the status information of batteries 10 currently in use, and by combining this with inventory information of unused batteries, it can provide even more accurate demand forecasting information.

[0036] (Variation 3) The CPU 43 of server 40 determines the number of batteries in a specific area based on the location and status information of the batteries stored in the database 47.

[0037] This allows battery manufacturers, distributors, etc., to obtain information about the number of batteries in a specific region.

[0038] Additionally, the CPU 43 of server 40 may calculate the recovery rate, which is the number of recovered batteries relative to the total number of batteries in a specific area.

[0039] This allows battery manufacturers, distributors, etc., to obtain information on battery recovery rates within specific regions.

[0040] Furthermore, the battery 10 may transmit its location information and status information to the server 40 via the base station 30 when the battery's location information moves inside or outside a specific area. Alternatively, the battery 10 may periodically transmit its location information and status information to the server 40, and the server 40 may detect when the battery's location information moves inside or outside a specific area. Alternatively, the battery 10 may continuously or intermittently transmit its location information and status information to the server 40. In this case, the server 40 may determine when the battery 10 has moved inside or outside a specific area.

[0041] This allows battery manufacturers, distributors, etc., to identify batteries entering specific areas or leaving for non-specific areas. In particular, the configuration of the battery tracking system 1 of this embodiment allows for both high-precision positioning using short-range wireless communication and high tracking capabilities using long-range communication, making it possible to understand in detail which batteries are entering specific areas or leaving for non-specific areas.

[0042] The description of this embodiment is illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the claims, rather than by the embodiments described above. Furthermore, the scope of the invention is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0043] 1: Battery tracking system 10: Battery 11: CPU 12: RAM 13: Flash memory 14:Wireless AP Communications Department 15: Long-distance communications department 20: Wireless access point 30:Base station 40: Server 41:Display unit 42:Operation unit 43:CPU 44: RAM 45: Flash memory 46: Communications Department 47: Database

Claims

1. A battery tracking system comprising a device connected to a battery, the battery removed from the device, and a server for tracking the location of the battery, The aforementioned battery is A wireless access point communication unit that communicates with the wireless access point, A long-distance communication unit that communicates with a long-distance communication base station, Based on the communication radio waves of the wireless access point communication unit, distance information to the access point is obtained. The location information of the aforementioned access point is obtained, Based on the acquired communication radio waves and the location information of the access point, the location information of the battery is determined. The location information and status information of the battery are transmitted via the long-range communication unit. A first control unit is provided, The aforementioned server, Memory unit and, The location information and status information of the battery are acquired, The location information and state information of the battery are stored in the storage unit in association with each other. A second control unit is provided, Battery tracking system.

2. The aforementioned status information includes information on the number of charging cycles, The battery tracking system according to claim 1.

3. The second control unit is, Based on the location information and status information of the battery stored in the memory unit, the inventory information of the battery is obtained. Outputs demand forecast information based on the aforementioned inventory information. The battery tracking system according to claim 1 or claim 2.

4. The second control unit is, The location information and state information of the battery stored in the memory unit are updated. Outputs the current location information of the aforementioned battery. The battery tracking system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The second control unit determines the number of batteries in a specific area based on the location information and state information of the batteries stored in the storage unit. The battery tracking system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The second control unit determines the recovery rate, which is the number of recovered batteries relative to the total number of batteries in the specified area. The battery tracking system according to claim 5.

7. The first control unit transmits the location information and status information of the battery via the long-range communication unit when the location information of the battery moves inside the specified area or when the location information of the battery moves outside the specified area. The battery tracking system according to claim 5 or claim 6.

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