CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Phase Patent Application of International Patent Application Number PCT/KR2018/008334, filed on Jul. 24, 2018, which claims priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0143985, filed Oct. 31, 2017, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

An exemplary embodiment relates to a method for displaying a charge amount, and a battery pack and an electronic device that perform the same.

BACKGROUND ART

A secondary cell refers to a cell that can alternately repeat charging and discharging. The secondary cell may carry out discharge by converting chemical energy to electrical energy, and when charging electrical energy in a discharged state, the secondary cell may store the charged electrical energy in the form of chemical energy.

The secondary cell is combined with a charging/discharging circuit and thus forms a battery pack, and is charged by an external power source and discharged to an external load through a pack terminal provided in the battery pack.

Many of the products that use battery packs composed of secondary cells also display the remaining charge amount of the battery in the range of 0%-100% in 1% units. Typically, when the state of charge of the battery satisfies a predetermined condition, such a product blocks charging to prevent overcharge and displays the remaining charge amount of the battery as 100%. Then, when the charge amount of the battery pack falls below a certain level (e.g., 96%), charging is resumed. Therefore, when the product is used for a long time while a charger is connected with the battery, due to the self-discharge characteristic of the secondary cell and current consumption of a protective circuit built into the battery pack while charging is stopped due to full-charge, the charge amount is reduced, and thus the reduced charge amount is displayed until the charge is resumed.

Thus, a user experiences that the battery charge amount is gradually reduced and is not charged to 100% even when the charger is connected to the battery, and thus the user may consider a malfunction of the charger or product.

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

A technical problem to be solved according to exemplary embodiments is to resolve a situation where a user suspects a malfunction of a charger or product due to a charge stop period of charging after full-charge, and to provide a battery charge amount display method that improves charging speed felt by a user and a battery pack and an electronic device for performing the same.

Technical Solution

In order to solve the above-stated problem, a battery pack according to an exemplary embodiment may include: a battery; and a battery management system that detects a charge amount of the battery, sets an indicated charge amount as the charge amount when the charge amount of the battery is lower than a first threshold value, and sets the indicated charge amount as given in Equation 1 when the charge amount of the battery is higher than the first threshold value:
Indicated charge amount=Actual charge amount×correction rate=actual charge amount×(1+((100/second threshold value)−1)/(second threshold value−first threshold value)×(actual charge amount−first threshold value)))  [Equation 1]

wherein, in Equation 1, the actual charge amount is a charge amount of the battery.

The battery management system may set the indicated charge amount as a full-charge state when the charge amount is higher than the second threshold value, and the second threshold value may be higher than the first threshold value.

The battery management system may determine that the battery satisfies a full-charge condition when the charge amount is higher than a third threshold value and stops charging of the battery, and the third threshold value may be higher than the second threshold value.

The battery management system may stop charging of the battery until the charge amount reaches the second threshold value, and may resume charging of the battery when the charge amount reaches the second threshold value.

The correction rate may be increased as the charge amount is increased.

The battery management system may adjust the first threshold value or the second threshold value according to a deterioration state of the battery.

The battery management system may control the first threshold value or the second threshold value to be decreased as the deterioration of the battery is increased.

The battery management system may adjust the first threshold value or the second threshold value according to a temperature of the battery.

The battery management system may adjust the first threshold value or the second threshold value as the temperature is increased.

The battery management system may transmit the indicated charge amount to a controller of the electronic device such that a battery charge state may be displayed corresponding to the indicated charge amount in the electronic device.

An electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment includes: a display: and a controller that receives a charge amount of a battery in a battery pack built in the electronic device, sets an indicated charge amount as the charge amount when the charge amount of the battery is lower than a first threshold value, sets the indicated charge amount as given in Equation 1 when the charge amount of the battery is higher than the first threshold value, and displays a battery charge state in the display corresponding to the indicated charge amount.

The controller may set the indicated charge amount as a full-charge state when the charge amount is higher than the second threshold value, and when the charge amount is higher than a third threshold value, the controller may determine that the battery satisfies a full-charge condition and thus stops charging of the battery, and the second threshold may be is greater than the first threshold value and the third threshold value may be greater than the second threshold value.

Charging of the battery pack may be stopped until the charge amount reaches the second threshold value, and charging of the battery pack may be resumed when the charge amount reaches the second threshold value.

The controller may control the first threshold value or the second threshold value based on at least one of a deterioration state of the battery and a temperature of the battery.

In addition, according to an exemplary embodiment, a method for displaying a battery charge amount of an electronic device is provided. The method includes: detecting a charge amount of a battery built in the electronic device; setting an indicated charge amount as the charge amount when the charge amount of the battery is lower than a first threshold value; setting the indicated battery amount as given in Equation 1 when the charge amount of the battery is higher than the first threshold value; and displaying a charging state of the battery on a screen corresponding to the indicated charge amount.

The method for displaying the battery charge amount of the electronic device may further include setting the indicated charge amount as a full-charge state when the charge amount is higher than the second threshold value, wherein the second threshold value may be higher than the first threshold value.

The method for displaying the battery charge amount of the electronic device may further include: determining that the battery satisfies a full-charge condition when the charge amount is higher than a third threshold value and stopping charging of the battery until the charge amount reaches the second threshold value; and when the charge amount gradually reduces and thus reaches the second threshold value, resuming charging of the battery, wherein the third threshold value may be higher than the second threshold value.

The method for displaying the battery charge amount of the electronic device may further include adjusting the first threshold value or the second threshold value based on at least one of a deterioration state and a temperature of the battery.

The adjusting may include reducing the first threshold value or the second threshold value as the deterioration of the battery is increased or the temperature of the battery is increased.

Advantageous Effects

According to the exemplary embodiments, a situation in which a user suspects a malfunction of a charger or a product due to a charging stop period after a full-charge of the battery can be solved, and the charging speed felt by the user of can be improved.

