Vehicle Battery Capacity Testing With Tamper-Proof Certification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for assessing battery condition in vehicles are unreliable and susceptible to falsification, as users can only rely on vehicle operating parameters and stored data that can be easily manipulated.

Innovation Solution

A method involving a standardized discharge and recharge process to determine battery capacity, creating a signed digital certificate stored in a secure cloud storage, which can be verified using cryptographic methods, ensuring authenticity and integrity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If a battery condition assessment method is implemented using operational parameters, then users can obtain information about battery state, but the information can be easily falsified and manipulated

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebattery state information reliabilityVSAvoidinformation authenticity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs the battery capacity determination before the user needs the information, storing the result in advance. A standardized charging process is executed to determine total capacity, and the result is stored in a certificate that cannot be easily manipulated. This preliminary action ensures the information is available and trustworthy when needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a certificate as an intermediary between the battery and the user. The certificate contains the determined capacity information and is stored in a protected manner (e.g., in memory or on a secure server). This intermediary structure prevents direct manipulation of battery parameters while providing verified information to the user.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If a standardized charging process is implemented to determine total capacity, then measurement precision is improved, but the time required for testing increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebattery capacity determination accuracyVSAvoidtesting duration
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs the complete charging process and capacity determination in advance, before the user needs the information. The result is stored and can be retrieved immediately without repeating the time-consuming charging process. This eliminates the time loss while maintaining measurement precision.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates a digital copy of the battery capacity information in the form of a certificate. Instead of requiring the user to undergo the time-consuming charging process, the system creates and stores a copy of the measurement result that can be instantly provided to the user, maintaining accuracy while eliminating time loss.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

3Loss of information

If battery state information is stored in memory, then information availability is improved, but the data can be easily overwritten or manipulated

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessibilityVSAvoiddata integrity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent determines and stores the battery capacity information in advance in a protected manner. The certificate is created with the determined capacity and stored securely, preventing later manipulation while ensuring availability when needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses a certificate as an intermediary structure that mediates between the raw battery data and the user. The certificate is stored in a protected location (memory or secure server) and cannot be easily manipulated. This intermediary structure ensures both accessibility and integrity of the information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP3912852B1Method and system for testing a state of a battery in a vehicle
Publication Date: 2026.05.06 VOLKSWAGEN AG
  • EP3912852B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2

AI summary

The presented invention relates to a method (100) for checking the condition of a battery in a vehicle. The method (100) comprises a discharge step (101) for discharging the battery to a predetermined state of charge, a charging step (103) for charging the battery with a predetermined charging current until the battery is fully charged, a determination step (105) for determining the total capacity of the battery based on a charging time and the charging current, a certification step (107) for creating a signed certificate describing the total capacity, a backup step (109) for saving the certificate in a memory, and an output step (111) for printing the certificate on an output unit. The presented invention further relates to a testing system.