Patent ID: 7782014

Claim:
A system for managing a plurality of batteries, the system comprising: a plurality of monitor modules, each monitor module coupled to at least one of the plurality of batteries and configured to monitor the voltage and temperature of the at least one of the plurality of batteries; a fiber optic network coupling the plurality of monitor modules; a master controller coupled to the fiber optic network and configured to: command the transmission of battery temperature information and battery voltage information from the plurality of battery monitors over the fiber optic network; receive battery temperature information and battery voltage information from the plurality of battery monitors over the fiber optic network; and perform calculations based on the received battery temperature information and battery voltage information to determine if any of the plurality of batteries require balancing measures, and based thereon, command the corresponding monitor modules to implement balancing measures over the fiber optic network, wherein the fiber optic network is configured in a ring topology so as to couple the master controller with each of the monitor modules in a daisy chain fashion, and wherein the master controller is configured so that it can command a plurality of the monitor modules to transmit battery temperature information and battery voltage information so that in response to the command the responsive transmission in the aggregate indicates the battery temperature information and battery voltage information as well as an identity of each corresponding monitor module based upon its temporal position in a received information stream.