Patent ID: 7206944

Claim:
An electrical apparatus comprising: a plurality of subsystems; a power adapter operable to power each of the plurality of subsystems with power received from a commercial power source; a battery operable to power each of the plurality of subsystems; a plurality of switches operable to switch a power supply to each of the plurality of subsystems between the power adapter and the battery; and a controller operable to control the plurality of switches, wherein the controller is further operable to control the plurality of switches to switch the power supply to each of the plurality of subsystems to the battery at a start of a peak power reduction time zone so that each of the plurality of subsystems is powered by the battery at the start of the peak power reduction time zone, determine whether the battery will be able to power each of the plurality of subsystems until an end of the peak power reduction time zone, and change at least one of the plurality of switches to switch the power supply to at least one of the plurality of subsystems from the battery to the power adapter responsive to a determination that the battery will not be able to power each of the plurality of subsystems until the end of the peak power reduction time zone so that the at least one subsystem is powered by the power adapter while one or more other subsystems are concurrently powered by the battery, wherein the peak power reduction time zone is a period of time during a day associated with high power consumption.