Patent Publication Number: US-2021173459-A1

Title: Power allocating system, electronic device and adapter thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan applications serial No. 108144366, filed on Dec. 4, 2019. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a power allocating system and an electronic device and an adapter. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     An adapter is used to supply power to an electronic device (such as a notebook computer). When more adapters are available, users are able to choose different adapters and/or different number of the adapters based on various usage conditions. 
     In order to achieve the above purpose, multiple adapters are provided in parallel to meet the electronic device&#39;s different power requirements. However, if the rated power of the adapters connected to the electronic device are different, the electronic device will mainly load the adapter with the highest output voltage, which results no substantial usage with other adapters, and may even cause the adapter with the highest output voltage overloaded. Therefore, if multiple adapters are provided at the same time, the adapters are still limited to use under the same power. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the first aspect of the disclosure, a power allocating system is provided. The power allocating system includes adapters and an electronic device. Each of the adapters includes a processor. The electronic device includes a controller. The controller obtains rated information and current output information from each of the processors to calculate an output utilization rate of each of the adapters. The controller transmits at least one adjusting signal to at least one of the processors according to the output utilization rates to adjust the output utilization rate of the adapters. 
     According to the second aspect of the disclosure, an electronic device electrically connected to a plurality of adapters is provided. The electronic device includes a controller. The controller is configured to operate the following steps: calculating the output utilization rate of each of the adapters based on rated information and current output information obtained from each of the adapters; and outputting at least one adjusting signal to at least one of the adapters according to the output utilization rates. 
     According to the third aspect of the disclosure, an adapter adapted to an electronic device with a controller is provided. The adapter comprises a processor. The processor is configured to transmit rated information and current output information of the adapter to the controller of the electronic device, receive an adjusting signal from the controller of the electronic device, and adjust an output utilization rate of the adapter according to the adjusting signal. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a power allocating system disclosed in some embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a power allocating system disclosed in some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The terms used here have their usual meanings. Further, terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meaning in the context of this specification and the related technical field, and are expressly set forth herein. The use of any of the words discussed here in the specification is only an example, and is not intended to limit the scope and practice of the disclosure. Similarly, this disclosure is not limited to the various embodiments shown in this specification. 
     As used herein, “coupled” or “connected” refers to two or more elements making direct physical or electrical contact with each other, or indirectly physical or electrical contact with each other, or refers to the interoperation or movement of two or more components. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 . In some embodiments, a power allocating system  100  includes an adapter  110 A, an adapter  110 B, and an electronic device  120 . The electronic device  120  is electrically connected to the adapters  110 A,  110 B. The adapter  110 A includes a processor  111 A, the adapter  110 B includes a processor  111 B, and the processor  111 A and the processor  111 B are respectively coupled to a controller  121  in the electronic device  120 . In some embodiments, the electronic device  120  is a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a desktop host or an All-in-One computer. In some embodiments, the processor  111 A or the processor  111 B is a micro controller unit (MCU) or a power delivery (PD) chip, which is not limited herein. The power allocating system  100  includes any number of the adapters. To simplify the description, only two adapters are illustrated in  FIG. 1 , which is not limited herein. 
     The adapter  110 A has a rated power, a rated voltage and a maximum current, which are fixed. In an embodiment, the rated information D 1 A is the maximum current of the adapter  110 A, the current output information D 2 A is the output current in the current state and the current output voltage is calculated according to the power of the adapter  110 A and the output current. Similarly, when the rated information D 1 A is voltage, the maximum current is calculated according to the power of the adapter  110 A and the voltage. Therefore, the information types of the rated information D 1 A and the current output information D 2 A are voltage, current, or power, and those skilled in the art may select an appropriate information type according to actual needs. 
     In an embodiment, the adapter  110 B has a rated power, a rated voltage and a maximum current, which are fixed. In an embodiment, the rated information D 1 B is the highest current of the adapter  110 B, the current output information D 2 B is the output current in the current state, and the current output voltage is calculated according to the power of the adapter  110 B and the output current. Similarly, when the rated information D 1 B is voltage, the maximum current is also calculated according to the power of the adapter  110 B and the voltage. Therefore, the information types of the rated information D 1 B and the current output information D 2 B is voltage, current, or power, and those skilled in the art may select appropriate information types according to actual needs. In one embodiment, when the rated information D 1 A of the adapter  110 A is 10 volts (V) and the rated power of the adapter  110 A is 230 watts (W), the rated current is calculated to be 23 amperes (A). 
     In some embodiments, the processors  111 A,  111 B of each of the adapters  110 A,  110 B transmits the rated information and the current output information of each of the adapters to the controller  121 . The controller calculates an output utilization rate of each the adapter based on the rated information and a current output information received from each of the adapters. In some embodiments, when the types of the current output information and the rated information of each of the adapters  111 A and  111 B are different, the current output information and the rated information need to be converted to the same type. In one embodiment, the rated information D 1 A of the adapter  110 A is 20 volts (V) and the current output information D 2 A is 2 amperes (A) and the power is a fixed value, when it is known that the rated power of the adapter  110 A is 200 watts (W), the rated current is calculated to be 10 amperes (A). Moreover, the current output information D 2 A is divided by the converted rated information D 1 A to calculate the output utilization rate to be 2 amps (A)/10 amps (A)=1/5. In other words, the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 A is now 20%. 
     Similarly, in the case that the rated information D 1 B of the adapter  110 B is 20 amperes (A), and the current output information D 2 B is 20 volts (V) and the power is a fixed value, when it is known that the rated power of the adapter  110 B is 400 watts (W), the current output current is calculated to be 20 amps (A). Further, the converted current output information D 2 B is divided by the rated information D 1 B to calculate the output utilization rate to be 20 amps (A)/20 amps (A)=1. In other words, the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 B is now 100%. 
     In this case, the controller  121  sends at least one adjusting signal (such as the adjusting signal SA or the adjusting signal SB) to at least one of the processor  111 A of the adapter  110 A or the processor  111 B of the adapter  110 B according to the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 A is 20% and the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 B is 100%, to adjust the output utilization rate of the adapters. In one embodiment, the adjusting signals received by the adapter  110 A and the adapter  110 B is configured to adjust the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 A and that of the adapter  110 B, respectively, to be substantially equal or exactly equal. In some embodiments, since the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 B is greater than that of the adapter  110 A, the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 B is reduced. In one embodiment, the controller  121  of the electronic device  120  transmits an adjusted signal SB to the adapter  110 B to decrease the current of the corresponding current output information D 2 B, or to increase the voltage of the corresponding current output information D 2 B to make the current decrease accordingly. In some embodiments, an adjusted signal SA is sent to the adapter  110 A with smaller output utilization rate to increase the current corresponding to the current output information D 2 A, or to reduce the voltage of the corresponding current output information D 2 A to increase the current accordingly. In some embodiments, two adjusting signals SA and SB are transmitted at the same time, the adjusting signal SB with a decreasing command is sent to the adapter  110 B, and the adjusting signal SA with an increasing command is sent to the adapter  110 A, and the adapter  110 B and the adapter  110 A simultaneously receive the corresponding adjusting signals to simultaneously reduce the current of the current output information D 2 B (or increase its voltage) and increase the current of the current output information D 2 A (or reduce its voltage). The step is repeated until the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 A and that of the adapter  110 B are substantially equal or completely equal (for example: the output utilization rate of each adapter is 20%). 
     In some embodiments, the controller  121  calculates the target output information of the adapters  111 A,  111 B based on the demand information of the electronic device  120  and the rated information of the adapters  110 A,  110 B, and transmits the target output information to each of the adapters  111 A,  111 B, and then the current output information of each of the adapters  111 A,  111 B is adjusted through the processor of each of the adapters  111 A,  111 B respectively. In other words, the rated information of each adapter is a fixed value, and the current output information is adjusted according to the needs of the electronic device. In an embodiment, when the demand information (such as demand current) of the electronic device  120  is 12 amperes (A), the rated information D 1 A of the adapter  110 A is 10 amperes (A), and the rated information D 1 B of the adapter  110 B is 20 amps (A), the controller  121 , calculates that the target output information of the adapter  110 A is 12*1/(2+1)=4 amps (A), and the target output information of the adapter  110 B is 12*2/(2+1)=8 amps (A) based on the relationship of the rated information ratio 10:20=1:2 of the adapters  110 A and the adapter  110 B. Then, the controller  121  transmits the adjusting signal SA to the processor  111 A of the adapter  110 A, to adjust the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 A to 4/10=40%. The controller  121  also transmits the adjusting signal SB to the processor  111 B of the adapter  110 B, to adjust the output utilization rate of the adapter  110 B to 8/20=40%. The sum of the target output information 4 amps (A) of the adapter  110 A and the target output information 8 amps (A) of the adapter  110 B is equal to the demand information 12 amps (A) of the electronic device  120 . Next, the target output information 4 amperes (A) of the adapter  110 A is used as the current output information of the adapter  110 A and the target output information 8 amps (A) of the adapter  110 B is used as the current output information of the adapter  110 B. 
     More specifically, in one embodiment, each adjustment of the controller  121  is set to 0.2 volts (V), therefore, each time the controller  121  transmits the adjusting signal to each processor, the current output voltage of the adapter corresponding to each processor is increased or decreased by 0.2 volts (V). In one embodiment, assuming that the rated power of the adapter  110 A (that is, the rated information) is 20 watts (W) and the current output information is 2 amperes (A), if the target output information is going to be adjusted to 2.1 amps (A), the relationship of that power=voltage*current is used to calculate the current output voltage to 10 volts (V) and the target output voltage to about 9.523 volts (V). At this time, the processor  111 A successively decreases the current output voltage of the adapter  110 A (for example: the voltage is 9.8 volts (V) and the current is about 2.04 amps (A) after the first adjustment, and so on). After two adjustments with 0.2 volts (V) each time, the original current output voltage of 10 volts (V) is adjusted to 10−2*0.2=9.6 volts (V), and the current is adjusted to 20 watts (W)/9.6 volts (V)=2.083 amps accordingly, which is close the target output information of the adapter  110 A is 2.1 amps (A). 
     Similarly, in some embodiments, the current output information of the adapter  110 B is adjusted down in the same way, and the current output information of the adapter  110 B is adjusted to be equal to the target output information by the processor  111 B. It should be noted that, as mentioned above, in some embodiments, the adjusting signals sent to different adapters are transmitted simultaneously or in any order. In some embodiments, each voltage change range is adjustable according to different needs, which is not limited herein. In some embodiments, when n adapters are used simultaneously, but the controller of the electronic device calculates that only n−1 the adapters need to be adjusted according to the above method, only n−1 adjusting signals are sent to the processors of n−1 adapters that need to adjust the current output information. In each subsequent adjustment process, when a part of the adapters&#39; current output information value has been adjusted to the target output information, the controller of the electronic device no longer sends the adjusting signal to the adapter that has been adjusted to the target output information. Therefore, the number of the adjusting signals changes in different stages, the number of the adjusting signals is the same as or different to the number of the adapter, and the number of the adjusting signals is not a fixed value. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 . The difference between the power allocating system  200  in  FIG. 2  and the power allocating system  100  in  FIG. 1  is that the controller  221  further includes a calculating circuit  2211 . In other embodiments, the controller  221  further includes a control circuit  2212 . In an embodiment, the calculating circuit  2211  calculates the rated information and the current output information transmitted by the electronic device  220  from each of the adapters to adjust the current output information of each of the adapters, so that the output utilization rates of the adapters are substantially equal or completely equal. In an embodiment, when the controller  221  is different from the processor  211 A of the adapter  210 A or the processor  211 B of the adapter  210 B, it means that the data format that the controller  221  can process might also different from the data formats that the processor  211 A and the processor  211 B can process. Therefore, in one embodiment, the control circuit  2212  in the controller  221  converts the data format into a proper data format for the processor  211 A, the processor  211 B and the controller  221 . In an embodiment, when the calculating circuit  2211  in the controller  221  is used to read or process the first format data, the control circuit  2212  converts the second format data from the adapter  210 A or the adapter  210 B into the first format data. In one embodiment, the processor  211 A in the adapter  210 A or the processor  211 B in the adapter  210 B for reading or processing the second format data converts the first format data from the controller  221  to the second format data before the processor  211 A or the processor  211 B reads or processes the second format data. 
     Please continue referring to  FIG. 2 . The difference between the power allocating system  200  in  FIG. 2  and the power allocating system  100  in  FIG. 1  is that the electronic device  220  in  FIG. 2  includes a memory  222 . The memory  222  is electrically connected to the controller  221 , and the memory  222  stores at least one algorithm  2221  for executing commands in any one of the foregoing embodiments, so that the controller  221  of the electronic device  220  uses at least one algorithm  2221  to implement any of the foregoing embodiments. 
     Besides the above-mentioned components, the rest of the components in  FIG. 2  that are similar to the component numbers of  FIG. 1  have similar connection and operation methods (for example: the adapter  110 A is similar to the adapter  210 A, the electronic device  120  and the electronic device  220 , and so on). For the concise purpose, components with similar connection and operation processes in  FIG. 2  will not be repeated here. 
     In summary, the adapter and the power allocating system and method formed by using the adapter provided by the disclosure, allow the electronic device to choose and use the corresponding number of the adapters with different powers in different demand states, and further to make the use of the adapter is more flexible. 
     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above.