Battery life monitor system and method

Abstract

An apparatus includes a battery, a plurality of circuit components operable independently, and a controller coupled to the battery and the plurality of circuit components and configured to control operation of the plurality of circuit components. The apparatus further includes a power consumption monitor coupled to the controller and configured to calculate a remaining battery life of the battery based on at least one operating time of a corresponding at least one of the plurality of circuit components.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a battery having a remaining battery charge value;   a memory configured to store an energy counter corresponding to the remaining battery charge value;   a plurality of electronic components; and   a controller coupled to the battery, the memory, and the plurality of electronic components, wherein the controller is configured to—
 receive, from a data processing device, a first signal indicative of a request for information related to the remaining battery charge value, and wherein the data processing device is a different type of device from the electronic device; 
 estimate an energy usage of an operation performed by at least one of the plurality of electronic components wherein the energy usage is normalized to create an energy characterization value per unit time of the operation, wherein estimating the energy usage comprises multiplying the an operation time and the energy characterization value per unit time associated with the operation in an energy characterization table; 
 calculate an updated energy counter by subtracting the estimated energy usage from the energy counter; and 
 transmit a second signal indicative of the updated energy counter to the data processing device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a recharge circuit coupled to the battery and to the controller, wherein the recharge circuit is configured to couple the battery to a power source to recharge the battery during a recharge operation, and   wherein the controller is further configured to update the energy counter when the recharge operation ends.   
     
     
         3 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a start time and an end time of each operation performed by one or more of the plurality of electronic components. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic device of  claim 3 , wherein the operation time is determined from an operation table recording the start time and the end time for the operation performed by the at least one of the plurality of electronic components. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein the controller keeps a record of the operating time for each operation performed by at least one of the plurality of electronic components in the operation table and the controller updates the battery charge value based on the record of the operating time for each operation. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a power consumption monitor coupled to the controller and the memory, wherein the power consumption monitor comprises:
 at least one register configured to store the energy characterization table; 
 an address register; and 
 a plurality of digital gates coupled to the address register to set address bits within the address register corresponding to an operation of one or more of the plurality of electronic components wherein the energy characterization value per unit time corresponds to the operation that is stored in the energy characterization table at an address corresponding to the address bits from the address register. 
   
     
     
         7 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the energy characterization table is stored on the memory. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver coupled to the controller and configured to receive the first signal and transmit the second signal. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the data processing device further comprises a user interface configured to output information related to the remaining battery charge value to a user. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , further comprising an alert interface, wherein the alert interface includes at least one of a graphical display, a speaker, a light-emitting diode, or tactile device. 
     
     
         11 . A method of determining a battery charge value of an electronic device, the method comprising:
 recording a first time in a memory on the electronic device, wherein the first time corresponds to a start time of an operation performed by an electronic component on the electronic device;   receiving at the electronic device a request from a data processing device for information related to the battery charge value of the electronic device, wherein the request is received during the operation, wherein the data processing device is a different type of device than the electronic device;   in response to receiving the request at the electronic device—
 determining a duration of time between the first time and when the request is received; 
 calculating an amount of energy used during the duration of time, wherein calculating the amount of energy comprises multiplying the duration of time and an energy usage per unit of time associated with the operation; and 
 determining a difference between the calculated amount of energy used and the battery charge value to determine an updated battery charge value; 
   transmitting a signal indicative of the updated battery charge value to a data processing device communicatively coupled to the electronic device; and   displaying, at the data processing device, information related to the updated battery charge value.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the operation is selected from a plurality of operations, wherein the plurality of operations includes at least one audio signal processing operation for modulating an audio signal to compensate for a hearing deficiency of a user. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising providing a battery life indicator related to the battery charge value. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein providing the battery life indicator comprises activating a visual, audio, or tactile feedback element to provide a user-detectable indicator. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions stored therein for causing a processor to perform:
 storing a start time of an operation performed by an electronic device, wherein the operation is selected from one of a plurality of operations associated with a corresponding energy usage per unit of time in an energy characterization table stored in a memory of the electronic device;   receiving, from a data processing device, a signal indicative of a trigger to provide information related to a battery charge value of the electronic device, wherein the signal is received during the operation, wherein the data processing device is a different type of device from the electronic device;   updating the battery charge value of the electronic device by an amount of energy corresponding to a product of a period of time and the corresponding energy usage per unit time of the operation; and   transmitting a value indicative of the updated battery charge value from the electronic device to the data processing device in response to the signal.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein updating the battery charge value includes subtracting the product of the period of time and the corresponding energy usage per unit time of the operation from the battery charge value. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the operation comprises a recharge operation including monitoring an increase in the battery charge value, and providing the recharge operation information to the electronic device for updating the battery charge value. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein receiving the signal includes receiving the signal from the data processing device in response to user input requesting information related to the battery charge value of the electronic device.