Patent ID: 7696725

Claim:
A monitoring circuit for accurately monitoring a voltage level from each of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack, said monitoring circuit comprising: an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to accept an analog voltage signal from each of said plurality of battery cells and convert each said analog voltage signal to a digital signal representative of a voltage level of each said battery cell; and a processor configured to receive each said digital signal and to provide a safety alert signal based on at least one of said digital signals, said processor further configured to instruct at least one of a bleeding network circuit or a charge shuttling circuit to balance the voltage level from each of the plurality of battery cells, the bleeding network circuit and the charge shuttling circuit being operatively connected via a switch network, wherein said processor is further configured to generate a signal representing a desired resolution level of said ADC, wherein said signal from said processor is configured to increase said resolution of said ADC upon detection of an open circuit voltage condition and decrease said resolution of said ADC upon detection of an under-voltage condition.