Patent ID: 8183822

Claim:
A digital cassette charging apparatus comprising: a charging unit loadable with a plurality of types of digital cassettes each comprising an electrical storage device including a rechargeable battery or a capacitor, the charging unit capable of charging the electrical storage devices of the plurality of types of digital cassettes at the same time; an identification unit for identifying each of the respective types of the plurality of digital cassettes that have been loaded in the charging unit; a storage unit stored with a charging profile for each of the digital cassettes, the charging profile representing the charging characteristics of the electrical storage device; and a control unit for reading out from the storage unit the respective charging profile corresponding to the type of digital cassette identified by the identification unit from the plurality of types of digital cassettes, and for controlling the charging unit based on the respective read-out charging profile; wherein the plurality of types of digital cassettes comprises a first digital cassette and a second digital cassette that are different from one another based on at least one attribute selected from the group consisting of shape, size, maximum voltage value during charging, maximum current value during charging, and capacity during charging; and the charging profile is a profile representing the relationship among charging duration for various voltage values of charging voltage, current values of charging current, and capacities of charging current, for optimizing the charging by the charging unit.