System and method for portable power source management

摘要

A battery monitoring apparatus that senses battery conditions such as low battery charge, end of battery capacity, and end of battery life, and responds by taking actions such as sending messages to a remote site and/or powering down. A rechargeable battery is coupled to one or more power-consuming electrical components, including battery monitoring equipment. The battery monitoring equipment senses battery charge. In response to a low-battery-charge condition, the battery monitoring equipment transmits a battery status message to a remote site and powers-down some of the electrical components. Whenever the battery nears the end of its capacity, the monitoring equipment powers down all electronic components and awaits the application of external power. The invention also tracks the time required for the battery charge to deplete. Charge duration decreases over time, and whenever it reaches a predetermined minimum, the battery monitoring equipment transmits a representative status message to the remote site.

主权项

1. A host system comprising:
a power source configured to provide power to the host system and a first auxiliary device; and a host power manager configured to:
monitor an available power level of the power source and a power usage level of a plurality of components of the first auxiliary device; detect a change in status of the available power level; perform a power usage control action, wherein the power usage control action comprises reducing power to one or more of the plurality of components of the first auxiliary device based upon the available power level and a priority of the one or more of the plurality of components of the first auxiliary device, wherein the priority is determined based on avoiding data loss with reduced power to the one or more of the plurality of components, and wherein after performing the power usage control action, the power usage level of the first auxiliary device remains greater than zero.