Patent ID: 7855530

Claim:
A battery charging system comprising: a housing having an electrical power system therein, the electrical power system including an input interface, and the battery charging system having an operating state in which the input interface is connected with an AC electrical power supply; a plurality of docking stations coupled with the housing, for charging a plurality of batteries, each of the docking stations including a battery charging interface electrically connected with the electrical power system; and a control device coupled with each of the battery charging interfaces, the control device being configured to receive inputs indicative of at least one of, battery identification and charging cycle count, via each of the battery charging interfaces, and to compare charging cycle counts for the plurality of batteries, responsive to the inputs; the control device being further configured to assign a first subset of the plurality of batteries to an unavailable category responsive to a lower charge status of the first subset, and to assign a second subset of the plurality of batteries to an available category responsive to a higher charge status of the second subset; and the control device being further configured to select a battery from the second subset for discharging responsive to a charging cycle count thereof, and output a corresponding battery selection signal, during the operating state of the battery charging system in which the input interface is connected with the AC electrical power supply.