Patent ID: 11894707
Assignee: SEESCAN, INC.
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A battery pack for use with a portable device utility locator, comprising:
a housing including a mechanical attachment mechanism for removably coupling the battery pack to the portable device utility locator;
a battery cell assembly positioned within the housing;
an electrical power and charging connector assembly for electrically coupling the battery cell terminals to the portable device utility locator and/or to a battery charger;
an electronic circuit operatively coupled to the battery cell assembly, including:
a battery charge state monitoring circuit for receiving a signal associated with a charge state of the battery cell assembly and generating a charge state status output;
a lighting element driver circuit; and
an output display element, including two or more differently colored lighting elements, operatively coupled to the driver circuit such that the lighting elements provide:
when the battery charge state is above a predefined intermediate charge state threshold, a first steady light output signal from a first of the colored lighting elements and a first varying light output signal from a second of the colored lighting elements, wherein the first varying light output signal reflects a decrease from a fully charged state of the battery cell assembly when the battery charge state is above a predefined intermediate charge state threshold; and
when the battery charge state is below the predefined intermediate charge state threshold, a second varying light output signal from the first of the colored lighting elements and a first steady light output signal from the second of the colored lighting elements, wherein the second varying light output signal reflects a decrease from a fully charged state of the battery cell assembly when the battery charge state is below the predefined intermediate charue state threshold; and
wherein the varying light output signals are duty-cycle modulated signals, wherein the duty-cycle is proportionate with a current charge state of the battery pack.