TWI871579B - Electronic apparatus and hybrid power supply method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic apparatus and a hybrid power supply method thereof are provided. The hybrid power supply method adapted for the electronic device including a battery and a power supply includes the following steps. When the power supply is coupled to AC power, whether a discrete graphics processing unit is activated is determined. When the discrete graphics processing unit is activated, whether to enable a hybrid power supply function is determined by comparing a first power threshold with the remaining power of the battery. When the discrete graphics processing unit is not activated, whether to enable the hybrid power supply function is determined by comparing a second power threshold with the remaining power of the battery, wherein the second power threshold is less than the first power threshold. When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery assists the power supply to provide power to the electronic device.

Description

Electronic device and hybrid power supply method thereof

The present invention relates to an electronic device, and in particular to an electronic device and a hybrid power supply method thereof.

Generally speaking, the most basic equipment of a portable electronic device includes a battery, and the battery can be charged through a power supply (Adapter) connected to an AC power source to provide the relevant power for the portable electronic device to operate normally. In addition, as the demand for the operating performance of portable electronic devices increases, the power consumption required by portable electronic devices also increases. For example, as various high-performance requirements become more and more common, the processors of portable electronic devices are more and more frequently operated at high power levels (such as power level PL2 or power level PL4, etc.). According to existing technology, when the peak power of a portable electronic device exceeds the output capacity of the power supply, the battery and the power supply connected to the AC power source can jointly provide power to the portable electronic device. Furthermore, the power stored in the battery can be used to supplement the instantaneous power needs that the power supply cannot handle in time.

It is known that when the hybrid power supply mechanism of the battery and the power supply is turned off, without the battery to assist in power supply, the traditional approach is to reduce system performance to ensure that the overall load power consumption does not exceed the output capacity of the power supply, so as to avoid the power supply activating the over-current protection mechanism or the system being shut down instantly, resulting in data corruption. However, reducing system performance will result in unsatisfactory system operation smoothness, which in turn leads to a bad user experience.

The present invention provides an electronic device and a hybrid power supply method thereof, which can solve the above-mentioned technical problems.

The present invention provides a hybrid power supply method applicable to an electronic device including a battery and a power supply circuit. The method includes the following steps. When coupled to an AC power source via a power supply, it is determined whether the independent display unit is activated; when the independent display unit is activated, the first power threshold value is compared with the remaining power of the battery to determine whether to enable the hybrid power supply function. When the independent display unit is not activated, the second power threshold value is compared with the remaining power of the battery to determine whether to enable the hybrid power supply function, wherein the second power threshold value is less than the first power threshold value. When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery assists the power supply to provide power to the electronic device.

The present invention provides an electronic device, which includes a system load, a power supply, a battery, and a controller. The system load includes an independent display unit. The power supply is coupled to the system load, and the battery is coupled to the system load. The controller is coupled to the battery and the power supply, and is configured to perform the following operations. When the system load is coupled to an AC power source via the power supply, it is determined whether the independent display unit is activated. When the independent display unit is activated, it is determined whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing the first power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery. When the independent display unit is not activated, the second power threshold value is compared with the remaining power of the battery to determine whether to enable the hybrid power supply function, wherein the second power threshold value is less than the first power threshold value. When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery auxiliary power supply provides power to the system load.

Based on the above, in the embodiment of the present invention, different power thresholds are used to determine whether the hybrid power supply function is enabled in response to whether the independent display unit is activated or not. In particular, when the independent display unit is not activated, a smaller second power threshold is used to determine whether the hybrid power supply function is enabled. Therefore, when the electronic device operates in a low-load state, the system performance can be fully released to improve the user experience.

In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the following is a detailed description of the embodiments with the accompanying drawings.

10: Electronic devices

110: System load

120: Power supply

130:Battery

140: Controller

20: AC power

P1: Power port

111: Independent display unit

150: Charging circuit

SW1: switch

S202~S206,S402~S416: Steps

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a flow chart of a hybrid power supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a hybrid power supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The component symbols cited in the following description will be regarded as the same or similar components when the same component symbols appear in different drawings. These embodiments are only part of the present invention and do not disclose all possible implementation methods of the present invention. More precisely, these embodiments are only examples of devices and methods within the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 10 is a portable electronic device, such as a laptop or other electronic products. The electronic device 10 includes a system load 110, a power supply 120, a battery 130, and a controller 140.

In the present embodiment, FIG. 1 shows an electronic device 10 directly coupled to an alternating current (AC) power source 20. The AC power source 20 can provide AC power to a power supply 120, and the power supply 120 can provide direct current (DC) power for the electronic device 10. In some embodiments, the power supply 120 is used to connect to the mains and couple to the system load 110. The power supply 120 can provide conventional power to the system load 110. In some embodiments, the power supply 120 can be connected to the system load 110 via a power connection port P1. In more detail, the electronic device 10 can be connected to the external AC power source 20 through the power supply 120. The power supply 120 adjusts the voltage and current of the external AC power source 20 to provide appropriate working power to the electronic device 10. For example, the AC voltage provided by a general socket is about 110 volts or 220 volts, but the power supply 120 can rectify the 110 volts or 220 volts AC voltage into the DC working voltage required by the electronic device 10, so that the electronic device 10 can obtain the required power through a general socket (i.e., the mains). The power supply 120 can also be called an AC/DC adapter. The power supply 120 can store the power received from the AC power source 20 in the battery 130. The power supply 120 can provide the power received from the AC power source 20 to the system load 110. The power supply 120 can be outside or inside the electronic device 10, and is not limited here.

The system load 110 may include any device or component on the electronic device 10 (or coupled to the electronic device 10) that operates based on the power provided by the battery 130 or the power supply 120. For example, the system load 110 may include a display device, a memory, a processor, a controller, an input/output device, etc. For example, the system load 110 may be a system circuit and various electronic components in a laptop computer. In addition, the load state of the central processor in the system load 110 will directly affect the overall power consumption of the system load 110.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the system load 110 may include a discrete graphics processing unit (dGPU) 111. The discrete graphics unit 111 is, for example, a discrete graphics card. In some embodiments, the discrete graphics unit 111 may have a graphics chip and a dedicated display memory, and is connected to other devices in the system load 110 through an expansion slot interface (such as a PCIe interface). Whether the discrete graphics unit 111 is activated or not will directly affect the overall power consumption of the system load 110.

The battery 130 may be, for example, a lithium battery pack. The battery 130 may provide power to the system load 110 and may be charged by receiving power provided by the power supply 120. When the system load 110 is not connected to an AC power source via the power supply 120, the power required for the operation of the system load 110 may be supplied by the battery 130.

The controller 140 may be, for example, a control chip, a microprocessor, a digital processing circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other similar devices or a combination of these devices. In one embodiment, the controller 140 may be implemented as an embedded controller (EC) of a notebook computer. The controller 140 may detect the remaining power of the battery 130.

It should be noted that, generally speaking, when the system load 110 is coupled to the AC power source 20 via the power supply 120, the battery 130 will not provide power to the system load 110. However, the output power of the power supply 120 is limited. Therefore, in an embodiment of the present invention, when the system load 110 requires a higher power, the controller 140 can use the hybrid power supply function to control the power supply 120 and the battery 130 to simultaneously provide power to the electronic device 10. In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 may have a power supply system that applies a hybrid power supply mechanism, and the hybrid power supply mechanism may be a narrow voltage direct current (NVDC) mechanism or a hybrid power boost (HPB) mechanism.

In more detail, based on the power load variation of the system load 110, the system load 110 may draw a varying amount of current to operate. For example, the current used by the system load 110 may sometimes be less than the current provided by the power supply 120. At this time, a portion of the current provided by the power supply 120 may be directed to the battery 130 to charge the battery 130. Furthermore, at other times, when the instantaneous power peak of the system load 110 exceeds the power supply capacity of the power supply 120, in addition to the power supply 120 providing current to the system load 110, the battery 130 may also provide additional current to the system load 110.

FIG2 is a flow chart of a hybrid power supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method proposed in this embodiment can be implemented by the electronic device 10 of FIG1 . The following is a detailed description of the method in conjunction with the various components of FIG1 . Please refer to FIG1 and FIG2 .

In step S202, when the system load 110 is coupled to the AC power source 20 via the power supply 120, the controller 140 determines whether the independent display unit 111 is activated. Specifically, the controller 140 determines whether the independent display unit 111 is in operation. In some embodiments, the controller 140 can make the determination through the power supply pin, the work enable pin or other pins of the independent display unit 111.

If the judgment in step S202 is yes, in step S204, when the independent display unit 111 is activated, the controller 140 determines whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing the first power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery 130. If the judgment in step S202 is no, in step S206, when the independent display unit 111 is not activated, the controller 140 determines whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing the second power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery 130.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the independent display unit 111 is activated, if the remaining power of the battery 130 is not greater than the first power threshold, the controller 140 will not enable the hybrid power supply function. When the independent display unit 111 is not activated, if the remaining power of the battery 130 is not greater than the second power threshold, the controller 140 will not enable the hybrid power supply function. In other words, the controller 140 needs to determine whether the hybrid power supply function is enabled based on the remaining power of the battery 130.

It should be noted that the second power threshold is less than the first power threshold. For example, the first power threshold may be 40% and the second power threshold may be 10%, but it is not limited thereto. More specifically, when the independent display unit 111 is not activated, the time when the system power consumption exceeds the output capacity of the power supply 120 is relatively short. Therefore, when the independent display unit 111 is not activated, the lower second power threshold may be used to determine whether to enable the hybrid power supply function. In this way, the system performance of the electronic device 10 operating in a light load state can be avoided from being clamped, and the battery 130 will not be over-consumed. For example, when the independent display unit 111 is not activated, if the remaining power of the battery 130 is greater than the second power threshold, the controller 140 will enable the hybrid power supply function to prevent the operating frequency of the central processor from being reduced.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 10 is a portable electronic device, such as a laptop or other electronic products. In this embodiment, the electronic device 10 includes a system load 110, a power supply 120, a battery 130, a controller 140, a charging circuit 150 and a switch SW1. The system load 110, the power supply 120, the battery 130 and the controller 140 have been described in the above embodiments and will not be described in detail here.

It should be particularly noted that in this embodiment, the electronic device 10 further includes a charging circuit 150 and a switch SW1. The charging circuit 150 is coupled to the controller 140 and the switch SW1. The switch SW1 is coupled between the system load 110 and the battery 130. The charging circuit 150 can control the switch SW1 to be turned on or off.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the switch SW1 may be a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) or other components with similar functions. For an N-type transistor, the switch is turned on when the potential of the control terminal is high and is turned off when the potential of the control terminal is low; for a P-type transistor, the switch is turned on when the potential of the control terminal is low and is turned off when the potential of the control terminal is high. However, the type of switch SW1 does not limit the scope of the present invention.

The charging circuit 150 may be, for example, a control chip, a microprocessor, a digital processing circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other similar devices or a combination of these devices. In one embodiment, the charging circuit 150 may be implemented as a charger IC for a laptop computer. In some embodiments, the charging circuit 150 may be a HPB charger or a NVDC charger.

In some embodiments, when the hybrid power supply function is enabled, while the power supply 120 supplies power to the electronic device 10, the controller 140 can control the charging circuit 150 to control the switch SW1 based on the control conditions to drive the battery 130 to perform a discharge operation. Specifically, when the hybrid power supply function is enabled, while the power supply 120 supplies power to the electronic device 10, the charging circuit 150 can determine whether to turn on SW1 based on the comparison result of the sensed voltage value or sensed current value provided to the system load 110 and the preset value. When the switch SW1 is turned on, the battery 130 can perform a discharge operation to provide power to the system load 110.

FIG4 is a flow chart of a hybrid power supply method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method proposed in this embodiment can be implemented by the electronic device 10 of FIG3. The following is a detailed description of the method in conjunction with the components of FIG1. Please refer to FIG1 and FIG3.

In step S402, the system load 110 is connected to the AC power source 20 via the power supply 120. In step S404, when the system load 110 is coupled to the AC power source 20 via the power supply 120, the controller 140 can determine whether the independent display unit 111 is activated.

If the determination in step S404 is yes, in step S406, when the independent display unit 111 is activated, the controller 140 can determine whether the remaining power of the battery 130 is greater than the first power threshold. If the determination in step S406 is yes, in step S408, when the remaining power of the battery 130 is greater than the first power threshold, the controller 140 enables the hybrid power supply function. It should be noted that when the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery 130 can be charged according to the power provided by the power supply 120 under the condition that the system power consumption does not exceed the output capacity of the power supply 120. On the contrary, if the judgment in step S406 is negative, in step S414, when the remaining power of the battery 130 is not greater than the first power threshold value, the controller 140 disables the hybrid power supply function.

In some embodiments, the controller 140 may send a control instruction to the charging circuit 150 to enable or disable the hybrid power supply function of the charging circuit 150. When the hybrid power supply function is disabled, even if the system power consumption exceeds the output power of the power supply 120, the battery 130 still controls the switch SW1 to remain in the off state so that the battery 130 does not provide power to the system load 110. When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, when the system power consumption exceeds the output power of the power supply 120, the battery 130 can control the switch SW1 to be turned on so that the battery 130 and the power supply 120 jointly provide power to the system load 110.

After enabling the hybrid power supply function according to the first power threshold value, in step S410, the controller 140 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 130 is less than the third power threshold value. The third power threshold value is less than the first power threshold value. When the first power threshold value is, for example, 40%, the third power threshold value may be, for example, 30%.

If step S410 is judged as yes, in step S414, in response to the remaining power of the battery 130 being less than the third power threshold, the controller 140 disables the hybrid power supply function. Specifically, after the hybrid power supply function is enabled according to the first power threshold, the remaining power of the battery 130 may continue to decrease. In this embodiment, when the remaining power of the battery 130 decreases from above the first power threshold to less than the third power threshold, the controller 140 will disable the hybrid power supply function to prevent the remaining power of the battery 130 from being exhausted. If step S410 is judged as no, return to step S404.

On the other hand, in step S412, when the independent display unit 111 is not activated, the controller 140 determines whether the remaining power of the battery 130 is greater than the second power threshold value. If the judgment in step S412 is yes, in step S414, when the remaining power of the battery 130 is greater than the second power threshold value, the controller 140 enables the hybrid power supply function. If the judgment in step S412 is no, in step S416, when the remaining power of the battery 130 is not greater than the second power threshold value, the controller 140 disables the hybrid power supply function. The controller 140 can send a control instruction to the charging circuit 150 to enable or disable the hybrid power supply function of the charging circuit 150.

It should be noted that in some embodiments, when the electronic device 10 is not connected to the AC power source 20 for a long time, the electronic device 10 will continue to use the power provided by the battery 130, causing the remaining power of the battery 130 to continue to decrease. When the remaining power of the battery 130 drops to a certain level, for example, the remaining power is less than 5%, the electronic device 10 will enter the S4 mode. Afterwards, the electronic device 10 can execute the process shown in Figure 4 to disable or enable the hybrid power supply function. In addition, after the electronic device 10 is connected to the AC power source 20, the battery 130 can be charged to increase the remaining power. Therefore, when the independent display unit 111 is not enabled, when the remaining power of the battery 130 rises to exceed the second power threshold, the controller 140 can enable the hybrid power supply function. When the independent display unit 111 is enabled, when the remaining power of the battery 130 needs to rise to exceed the first power threshold, the controller 140 can enable the hybrid power supply function.

In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, different power thresholds are used to determine whether the hybrid power supply function is enabled in response to whether the independent display unit is activated or not. In particular, when the independent display unit is not activated, a smaller second power threshold is used to determine whether the hybrid power supply function is enabled. Therefore, when the electronic device operates in a low-load state, the system performance can be fully released to enhance the user experience and avoid unexpected system shutdowns as much as possible.

Although the present invention has been disclosed as above by the embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to the scope of the attached patent application.

S202~S206: Steps

Claims (10)

A hybrid power supply method is applicable to an electronic device including a battery and a power supply, the method comprising: When the power supply is coupled to an AC power source, determining whether an independent display unit is activated; When the independent display unit is activated, determining whether to enable a hybrid power supply function by comparing a first power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery; and When the independent display unit is not activated, determining whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing a second power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery, wherein the second power threshold value is less than the first power threshold value, Wherein, when the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery assists the power supply to provide power to the electronic device. In the hybrid power supply method as described in claim 1, when the independent display unit is activated, the step of determining whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing the first power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery includes: When the independent display unit is activated, determining whether the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold value; When the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold value, enabling the hybrid power supply function; and When the remaining power of the battery is not greater than the first power threshold value, disabling the hybrid power supply function. The hybrid power supply method as described in claim 2, wherein after the step of enabling the hybrid power supply function when the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold, the method further includes: Determining whether the remaining power of the battery is less than a third power threshold; and Disabling the hybrid power supply function in response to the remaining power of the battery being less than the third power threshold. In the hybrid power supply method as described in claim 1, when the independent display unit is not activated, the step of determining whether to enable the hybrid power supply function by comparing the second power threshold value with the remaining power of the battery includes: When the independent display unit is not activated, determining whether the remaining power of the battery is greater than the second power threshold value; When the remaining power of the battery is greater than the second power threshold value, enabling the hybrid power supply function; and When the remaining power of the battery is not greater than the second power threshold value, disabling the hybrid power supply function. The hybrid power supply method as described in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, while the power supply supplies power to the electronic device, a switch is controlled based on a control condition to drive the battery to perform a discharge operation. An electronic device, comprising: a system load, including an independent display unit; a power supply, coupled to the system load; a battery, coupled to the system load; and a controller, coupled to the battery and the power supply, configured to: when the system load is coupled to an AC power source via the power supply, determine whether the independent display unit is activated; when the independent display unit is activated, determine whether to enable a hybrid power supply function by comparing a first power threshold with the remaining power of the battery; and When the independent display unit is not activated, a second power threshold value is compared with the remaining power of the battery to determine whether to enable the hybrid power supply function, wherein the second power threshold value is less than the first power threshold value. Wherein, when the hybrid power supply function is enabled, the battery assists the power supply to provide power to the system load. An electronic device as described in claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to: When the independent display unit is activated, determine whether the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold value; When the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold value, enable the hybrid power supply function; and When the remaining power of the battery is not greater than the first power threshold value, disable the hybrid power supply function. An electronic device as described in claim 7, wherein after the hybrid power supply function is enabled when the remaining power of the battery is greater than the first power threshold, the controller is configured to: determine whether the remaining power of the battery is less than a third power threshold; and disable the hybrid power supply function in response to the remaining power of the battery being less than the third power threshold. An electronic device as described in claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to: When the independent display unit is not activated, determine whether the remaining power of the battery is greater than the second power threshold value; When the remaining power of the battery is greater than the second power threshold value, enable the hybrid power supply function; and When the remaining power of the battery is not greater than the second power threshold value, disable the hybrid power supply function. The electronic device as described in claim 6 further includes a charging circuit and a switch, the charging circuit is coupled to the switch and the controller, and the controller is configured to: When the hybrid power supply function is enabled, while the power supply supplies power to the electronic device, control a charging circuit to control a switch based on a control condition to drive the battery to perform a discharge operation.

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