Patent ID: 7460929

Claim:
A fault monitoring and management system comprising: a portable battery-operated device having a plurality of functional subassemblies that are selectively activated in different operational states of the device that are selected according to user control; a power management device having a plurality of power load functions, each of the plurality of power load functions having at least two states; a fault controller integrated on the power management device; a plurality of input load lines each having a first connection to one of the plurality of power load functions and a second connection to the fault controller for transmitting an input load signal from each of the plurality of power load functions to the fault controller; and, wherein the fault controller is programmed to assess load conditions from changes in the input load signal from said power load functions during one of the operational states, and the fault controller is programmed for switching at least a subset of the power load functions from a first load state to a second load state within said states of the power load functions, thereby switching to another of the operational states upon occurrence of a fault, and wherein switching to said another of the operational states is predetermined according to programming of the fault controller to preserve at least one of the power load functions while protecting the device from the fault.