Patent ID: 8015452

Claim:
A control system for a stacked battery of a plurality of battery packs, each battery pack having a plurality of battery cells coupled in series, the control system being capable of reconfiguring communication among the battery packs in the stacked battery, comprising: a plurality of processors coupled to said battery packs, wherein two adjacent processors of said plurality of processors are able to communicate with each other through a first bus; a plurality of controllers coupled to said battery packs, wherein two adjacent controllers of said plurality of controllers are able to communicate with each other through a second bus, the plurality of processors being capable of communicating with the plurality of controllers through a third bus; a first set of plurality of isolators coupled to said plurality of processors, wherein two adjacent processors of said plurality of processors are able to communicate with each other through one of the plurality of isolators; and a monitoring unit for monitoring communications among the plurality of processors and communications among the plurality of controllers, the monitoring unit being capable of detecting communication problems on the first bus, the monitoring unit further being capable of reconfiguring communication paths among the plurality of processors and communication path among the plurality of controllers, wherein said first set of plurality of isolators are coupled in a star fashion.