Single-Wire Battery Monitoring via Multiplexer Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern portable electronic devices face increased cost, complexity, and power consumption due to the need for separate signal lines to convey battery pack characteristics and temperature, which occupy valuable space and resources.
Innovation Solution
A power-management unit that utilizes a single-wire interface or multiplexer to selectively couple a signal line between a battery-monitoring mechanism and a temperature-monitoring circuit, allowing for communication of temperature state and data on a common signal line, reducing the number of required signal lines and enabling periodic temperature monitoring for safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate signal lines are used to convey battery pack characteristics and temperature, then reliability of monitoring is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines temperature monitoring and battery characteristic communication into a single signal line. The multiplexer merges the temperature signal path and the I2C communication path, allowing both functions to share the same physical wire. This reduces the number of signal lines from two separate lines to one shared line, directly addressing the contradiction by maintaining monitoring reliability while reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic temperature monitoring by having the multiplexer switch between temperature monitoring mode and I2C communication mode at regular intervals. The temperature is monitored periodically when the multiplexer connects the signal line to the temperature monitoring circuit, while I2C communication occurs during other time slots. This periodic action allows reliable monitoring of both temperature and battery characteristics using a single shared signal line.
2Measurement precision
If separate signal lines are used to convey battery pack characteristics and temperature, then measurement precision is improved, but area consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the temperature signal line and the I2C communication line into a single shared signal line using a multiplexer. This consolidation reduces the total area occupied by signal lines in the portable electronic device, directly addressing the area consumption issue while maintaining the precision of both temperature and battery characteristic measurements through proper signal conditioning and timing.
3Reliability
If separate signal lines are used to convey battery pack characteristics and temperature, then reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines temperature monitoring and I2C communication into a single signal line, which reduces the total power consumption associated with maintaining multiple separate signal lines. The multiplexer efficiently switches between the two functions, ensuring that power is only consumed when necessary for either temperature monitoring or data communication, thereby reducing overall power consumption while maintaining monitoring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses periodic temperature monitoring instead of continuous monitoring, which reduces power consumption. The multiplexer switches to temperature monitoring mode only at scheduled intervals, allowing the system to save power during periods when I2C communication is not active and vice versa, thus reducing overall power consumption while maintaining reliable monitoring capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A power-management unit is described. This power-management unit allows a common signal line to communicate data between an integrated circuit (which may be external to the power-management unit) and a battery-monitoring mechanism in a battery pack, and to convey a signal that represents a temperature state of the battery pack to a temperature-monitoring circuit or mechanism that monitors the temperature state of the battery pack. In particular, the power-management unit may include a single-wire interface or a multiplexer that, at a given time, selectively couples the signal line from the battery pack either to the integrated circuit or the temperature-monitoring circuit based on a control signal provided by the integrated circuit (for example, via an I2C bus or interface). In this way, the power-management unit may reduce the number of signal lines needed to communicate with the battery-monitoring mechanism and to convey the signal.