BATTERY CAPACITY CALIBRATION

摘要

Method and apparatus for calibrating a rechargeable battery (28) for mobile telephones (10) and other electronic devices. Calibration is accomplished during a process of completely charging (105) the battery (28) by determining (120) the total amount of charge accepted by the battery (28) during the charging process, and providing (130) a value of total charge capacity of the battery (28) based, at least in part, on the total amount of charge accepted by the battery (28). The total charge capacity of the battery (28) is used to calculate remaining battery (28) capacity and to predict the remaining operational time of the device. Alternative calibration procedures are provided (125, 160) if the battery (28) is not completely discharged before charging or if the battery (28) is not fully charged by the charging process. The calibration procedures of the invention require no interaction from a user (other than his initiating the normal charging process), and typically permits a calibration to be carried out notwithstanding varying usage habits of different users.