| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20100173183 | Systems and Methods of Battery Cell Anomaly Detection - Systems and methods for cell anomaly detection are provided. The disclosed systems and methods of cell anomaly detection may use a single circuit to detect both cell-open and imbalance conditions. Disclosed embodiments may incorporate a continuous or a sampled time system (i.e. cell anomaly detection is performed when an enable signal is active). An example embodiment includes receiving voltages of a plurality of cells of a battery pack; converting the received voltages to currents; determining a maximum current of the currents; determining whether at least one of the currents is anomalous; and reporting the at least one anomalous current as indicative of a bad cell. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100225300 | Systems and Methods of Overvoltage and Undervoltage Detection - Systems and methods for overvoltage and undervoltage detection are provided. The disclosed systems and methods of overvoltage and undervoltage detection may be implemented with a fully differential circuit that includes a coarse comparator and a band gap based fine comparator. The coarse comparator may determine if the battery is closer to an OV condition or an UV condition. Based on the output of the coarse comparator, the trip point of the fine comparator is adjusted. The outputs of both comparators are pull-up circuits whose output is decoded to determine if an OV or a UV condition has occurred. The disclosed systems and methods of overvoltage and undervoltage detection accomplish valid circuit outputs even when the voltage across the battery reduces to zero volts. This may be achieved by using an active low signal for the UV condition and an active high signal for the OV condition. Thus, when the battery voltage goes to zero, the circuit evaluates to the correct output. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100289497 | Multi-Cell Power System Controller - Various apparatuses and methods for detecting cell connection status of a multi-cell battery are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments provide an apparatus for detecting cell connection status of a multi-cell battery. The apparatus includes a battery cell input for each cell, a cell connection status detector for each cell, and at least one comparator. Each of the cell connection status detectors is connected to a battery cell input and has a current-based status indicator output. The at least one comparator is connected to the current-based status indicator outputs. Each of the plurality of cell connection status detectors floats in a different supply voltage range. The at least one comparator is referenced to a lower voltage potential than at least one of the plurality of cell connection status detectors. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20110012605 | CURRENT BASED OVERVOLTAGE AND UNDERVOLTAGE DETECTOR - With batteries or cells, particularly lithium ion cells, it is important to determine when one or more cells have entered a fault condition (i.e., overvoltage or undervoltage). Conventional circuits employ measuring circuits that use multiple bandgap circuits and high voltage components. These conventional circuits, however, consume a great deal of area because of the use of these multiple bandgap circuits and the high voltage components. Here, a circuit is provided that reduces the number of bandgap circuits and reduces the number of high voltage components, reducing the area consumed and reducing the overall cost of production compared to conventional circuits. | 01-20-2011 |
| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20100175078 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH TARGETED ADVERTISING - An interactive television program guide system is provided in which targeted advertisements may be presented to a user and targeted actions taken in the program guide based on the user's interests. The program guide monitors the user's interactions with the program guide to determine the user's interests. Interactions that may be monitored include interactions that indicate the categories of programming that interest the user (e.g., movies, sports, children's programming, etc.), setting a reminder for a program, purchasing a program, requesting information on a program, browsing program listings for a particular time or channel, etc. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100205634 | Interactive program guide system and method - An interactive television program guide system and method is provided. Time separators are displayed within lists of program listings to allow users to more easily view the program listings. On-screen arrows have their display characteristics changed according to user actions. Similar program listings are displayed only once when using search program listings. Users are provided with an opportunity to view channel information before setting channels as favorites. Information from local information services is provided in program guide display screens that are configurable by a main facility. Users are provided with an opportunity to centrally lock and unlock programs, and to bypass locks when desired. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100310227 | PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDER SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an interactive television system for recording television programming. The interactive television system may include components for providing personal video recorder (PVR) functionality, such as an interactive television program guide (IPG), PVR extensions, PVR application programming interfaces (APIs), a PVR device, any suitable hardware or software, or a combination thereof. These components may be implemented in, for example, an arrangement having an integrated PVR-compliant device with a PVR device, or in an arrangement having a PVR-compliant device (e.g., a set-top box) coupled to PVR equipment (e.g., a remote PVR server or a PVR sidecar) with a PVR device. The PVR-compliant device may include software and hardware configured to implement the IPG. The PVR APIs may be a library of intelligent vendor-specific and vendor-independent APIs able to determine the type of PVR device being used. The PVR extensions and PVR APIs may be configured to provide a seamless integration of functionality associated with the PVR-compliant device and the PVR device. A full port of the IPG may be implemented in both the PVR-compliant device and the PVR device. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100319013 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH TARGETED ADVERTISING - An interactive television program guide system is provided in which targeted advertisements may be presented to a user and targeted actions taken in the program guide based on the user's interests. The program guide monitors the user's interactions with the program guide to determine the user's interests. Interactions that may be monitored include interactions that indicate the categories of programming that interest the user (e.g., movies, sports, children's programming, etc.), setting a reminder for a program, purchasing a program, requesting information on a program, browsing program listings for a particular time or channel, etc. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20110167446 | PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH ADVERTISEMENTS - An interactive television program guide is provided in which advertisements may be displayed on program guide screens. Banner advertisements may be displayed above and below program listings. Panel advertisements may be provided adjacent to program listings. The advertisements may contain video. The advertisements may be used to promote television programs and conventional goods and services. When a user selects an advertisement, the program guide provides the user with an opportunity to order products or services, request information, set reminders for upcoming programs, view program descriptions, record programs, or take other such actions. Embedded advertisements may be provided within the program listings region and may be automatically displayed immediately adjacent to related program listings. | 07-07-2011 |
