EXTENDING BATTERY LIFE IN ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

摘要

An electronic apparatus such as a digital wide area pager has a receiver IC (10) capable of operating directly from a single cell battery (24) for as long as the terminal voltage (VBAT) is above a specified minimum voltage. Other ICs (14, 16) of the pager operate at a higher voltage supplied by a multiplier (26) connected to the battery (24). The multiplier (26) is able to operate at values of VBAT below the specified minimum voltage. A control circuit (34) determines when the terminal voltage (VBAT) decays below the specified minimum voltage and supplies the receiver IC (10) with a stepped-down voltage from the multiplier (26) to ensure its sensitivity remains acceptable.