c2) United States Patent ‘US00682242382 ll US 6,822,423 B2 (20) Patent No. Yau et al. (4s) Date of Patent: Nov. 23, 2004 6 INTELLIGENT SERIAL nerreRy pee eee om CHARGE an CHARGING BLOCK iy Ciel plier eel ie es (05) tens: Kook Wong Yau ew Tere omnes (HK); Yiu Cheung Li, New Territories: Gist page) {UR Lang Bat Seaten (C9). FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS “ oe oe ae (79) Asin: GPE Inertia Lime = feed eae ee eee reaper oie! Suet oan dicaimee betemathg PE mse: | i Seca eet saree ae a BSC Ts by ode oie ronticarions Appl. No.: 10/383,613 Maxim Integrated Products, “Maxim NiCd/NiMH Battery ee caer ie Mi Ma Prior Publication Data Us 20030160503 AL Aug. 28, 2003 Related U.S. Application Data (63) Continuation in-gr of application No. 0971 593, led on ‘Oct 9, Bint, now Pat. No. 80,289 (60) Foreign Application Priority Data Sep. 3.2001 (HK) oni0610s G) Ine 025 7/00 (52) US. Cl 320122 (58) Field of Seareh 320122 (55) References Cited USS, PATENT DOCUMENTS. 4308877 A 12081 sami Si6 764 A 1219865 aay AooLis? A “9 says A719A0L A 11988. Alemejd sanz Simo. A 31992 Biber et. sain S200635 A 1211993 saya Sis.20 A 7997 v6 575233 A 101997 saves S793 A 41998 saniz0 Primary EsaninerPia Tidbits (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Burns, Doane, Sweeker & Mathis, LLP 6 ‘Abbattry charger including a plurality of battery charging sclions which are connected in series and charging current source, said charging section includes atleast a fist branch fd a second branch which ate connected in parallel, said first parallel branch includes an electronically controllable bypassing switch, said second parallel branet includes ter ‘minals for receiving the positive and negative terminals of » battery and one-way electronic devioe which are connected in series, said bypassing switch has a very low impedance ‘when activated or tened-on and a very high impedance ‘when deactivated or tired-off, wherein said one-way clec- tonic device is characterised by a very low-impedance ‘when current flows from said charging section into seid battery terminals anda high-impedance when said bypassing switch is activated, the ballery ia the charging scction in Which said bypassing switch is activated is substantially isolated electrically from the charging current, the other charging sections and the other batteries by said one-way clecionic deview. ABSTRACT 20 Claims, 6 Drawing SheetsUS 6,822,423 B2 Pine? US. PAIENT DOCUMENTS 62i168 BL 42001 Mm tab soe $22 eee eee eau ee 6,271,646 BL 82001 Evers et al aamy122 imsioo © "amo thee cs Savige | SAAB ML 2001 un ta sme Gites © 2B. Rema. SH A Ske Rinne OTS * oad by examiUS 6,822,423 B2 Sheet 1 of 6 Nov. 23, 2004 U.S. Patent TOW If | jassreara 1nd, aoUNOS WAMOd| ‘oor (aounos INEWINDINVISNOD —F oz