Patent ID: 8060322

Claim:
A battery management system for a vehicle, comprising: a main control unit (MCU) configured to set an open circuit voltage (OCV) setting and estimate a state of charge (SOC) therefrom for a plurality of times; and a sensing unit configured to measure a battery current of a battery and a battery voltage of the battery, the battery current and the battery voltage being measured at an expiration of a determining period, and to transmit at least the battery voltage to the MCU, wherein the MCU is further configured to, for each of the plurality of times: set the battery voltage measured at the expiration of the determining period as the OCV setting and estimate the SOC therefrom in response to a length of time of a no-load state period equaling a length of time of the determining period, and the lengths of time of the no-load state period and the determining period are measured with respect to a stop point; and extend the determining period by an increment of time upon the setting of the OCV setting, and wherein the no-load state period is a period in which the battery is not being charged and not being discharged.