Patent ID: 8483983
Filing Date: 2013-07-09
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. An information processing apparatus configured to be powered by a battery, comprising: a charging circuit configured to charge the battery with power from an external power supply; a charging current measuring module configured to measure a charging current from the charging circuit to the battery; a charging time measuring module configured to measure a time during which the battery is charged by the charging current; and a calculation module configured to calculate a charging capacity from the measured charging current and the measured charging time, to calculate an accumulated capacity reference value indicative of a total chargeable capacity of the battery, which is chargeable until a ratio of a chargeable capacity of the battery to a rating capacity of the battery decreases to a predetermined ratio, based on characteristic information of the battery, and to compare an accumulated charging capacity, which is obtained by cumulatively adding the calculated charging capacity to a previously calculated charging capacity, with the accumulated capacity reference value, in order to detect degradation of the battery, wherein the characteristic information is indicative of the rating capacity of the battery and a chargeable capacity decrease rate of the battery, and wherein the chargeable capacity decrease rate is indicative of a ratio of the chargeable capacity which is decreased when full-charging of the battery is executed a predetermined number of times.