Adapter power for mobile devices

Abstract

Method and apparatus for efficiently utilizing adapter power. By utilizing a control line in the system, the system is able to condition the battery while an external adapter is being used as the source of the system power.

1 . A method comprising:
 comparing power output from system and adapter module;   determining battery state of charge; and   charging battery.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining adapter power capacity and determining system power demand. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining if battery needs charging. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising determining if the battery temperature is safe to charge. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising determining if the state of charge is safe for the battery. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the charging of battery is performed quickly. 
     
     
         7 . A method comprising:
 determining if battery is fully discharged;   determining if battery is charging; and   modify adapter output voltage.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising detecting adapter power and current. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising determining if battery is charging. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein if battery is not charging, turning off battery switch. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  raising the adapter output voltage until limit is reached. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the limit is an upper limit. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising lowering adapter output voltage if battery not discharging. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus comprising:
 a power monitor module to modify an output power of a power adapter in accordance with a power consumption of a computing device.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the power monitor module is implemented in the computing device. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the power adapter is external to the computing device. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the power monitor module controls the output power of the power adapter. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the computing device comprises a battery pack capable of being charged by the power adapter. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the computing device is selected from a group comprising a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a desktop computing device, and a rack-mounted computing device. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the power adapter is an alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) power adapter.