Method and apparatus for displaying charging-state of battery of portable terminal

Abstract

A method and apparatus for displaying a battery charging-state is disclosed. The method comprises measuring the charged voltage of a battery unit, determining the charging stage of the measured charged voltage, and sequentially and cyclically displaying icons that indicate a charging stage.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for displaying a battery charging-state of a portable terminal, comprising:
 (a) measuring a charged voltage of a battery unit;   (b)determining a charging stage of the measured charged voltage;   (c) sequentially and cyclically displaying during a charging period a plurality of sequential icons that are sequentially displayed in a unique sequence of icons changing states during each respective level of charge as an indication of both:   (1) a specific stage of a level of charge in said battery unit from a charged state of each respective charging stage to a fully charged state, and (2) that the battery unit is currently undergoing a charging operation;   (d) repeating step (a) to step (c) until the battery unit is fully charged;   wherein each specific stage of the level of charge is displayed according to a pre-stored display sequence for the icons.   
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the steps of measuring, determining, and displaying are repeated until the battery unit is fully charged, wherein a single icon is steadily displayed. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the charging stage is performed by using charging stage display information formed of different values of charging voltages that are matched with icon data associated with each of the charging stages. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the icon data comprises types and display sequence of icons to be displayed sequentially while recharging the battery, according to the charging stages. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of sequentially displaying icons serves to display the icons in sequence based on types and display sequence. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of sequentially displaying icons serves to display icons, distinguishing between a region of the icons indicating that a charging stage has been completed and another region indicating that charging is presently occurring. 
     
     
       7. A portable terminal comprising:
 a storage unit for storing charging stage display information where the charging stage of a voltage is associated with icon data;   a battery unit for accepting a charging voltage supplied from a power source and for converting the charged voltage into a digital signal;   a controller for determining icon data based on the stage of charging of the charged voltage; and   a display unit for displaying said icon data sequentially and repeatedly at each respective charging state during a charging period a plurality of sequential icons that are sequentially displayed in a unique sequence of icons changing states during each respective level of charge as an indication of both:   (1) a specific stage of a level of charge in said battery unit from an initial charged state of each respective charging stage to a fully charged state, and (2) that the battery unit is currently undergoing a charging operation;   wherein each specific stage of the level of charge is displayed according to a pre-stored display sequence for the icons.   
     
     
       8. The terminal of  claim 7 , wherein the controller comprises a charging stage determining unit. 
     
     
       9. The terminal of  claim 7 , wherein the controller displays icons, distinguishing between a region of the icons indicating that a charging stage has been completed and another region indicating that charging is presently occurring. 
     
     
       10. A portable terminal comprising:
 a battery unit receiving a charging voltage,   a charge determining unit measuring a level of voltage charge in said battery unit and determining an icon from a plurality of icons based on said measured level of voltage charge; and   a display unit sequentially displaying each of said plurality of icons beginning from said determined icon, excluding selected ones of said plurality of icons and repeatedly displaying each of said plurality of icons until the battery unit is fully charged;   wherein each specific stage of the level of charge is displayed according to a pre-stored display sequence for the icons that is a unique display sequence of icons changing states during each respective level of charge as an indication of both:   (1) a specific stage of a level of charge in said battery unit from an initial charged state of each respective charging stage to a fully charged state, and (2) that the battery unit is currently undergoing a charging operation.   
     
     
       11. The portable terminal of  claim 10 , wherein the charging determining unit comprises:
 a memory containing a plurality of progressively higher, non-overlapping, voltage ranges and icon information associated with each of said ranges.   
     
     
       12. The portable terminal of  claim 11 , wherein the step of determining an icon comprises:
 selecting one of said plurality of voltages ranges based on said measured voltage level; and   selecting an icon associated with the selected voltage range.   
     
     
       13. The portable terminal of  claim 11 , wherein the step of displaying further comprises the steps of:
 displaying each of said icons in a different color.   
     
     
       14. The portable terminal of  claim 10 , the charge determining unit further comprising:
 an analog-to-digital converter for converting said measured level of voltage to a digital signal.   
     
     
       15. The portable terminal of  claim 10 , wherein said icon display is held steady when a full level of charge is determined. 
     
     
       16. The portable terminal of  claim 11 , wherein said selected excluded icons are icons associated with voltage ranges lower than said measured voltage. 
     
     
       17. The portable terminal of  claim 11 , wherein each of said icons includes a plurality of sub-icons, wherein said sub-icons represent one of said plurality of voltage ranges. 
     
     
       18. A portable terminal comprising:
 a rechargeable battery unit receiving a charging voltage;   a controller for:
 (a)measuring a voltage charge in said battery unit; 
 (b)converting said measured voltage charge into a digital signal; 
 (c) determining an icon sequence based on said digital signal; and 
 (d) repeating step (a) to step (c) until the battery unit is fully charged; 
   a display unit for cyclically displaying said icon sequence corresponding to a pre-stored display sequence for the icons that is a unique display sequence of icons changing states during each respective level of charge as an indication of both:   (1) a specific stage of a level of charge in said battery unit from an initial charged state of each respective charging stage to a fully charged state, and (2) that the battery unit is currently undergoing a charging operation.   
     
     
       19. The terminal of  claim 18 , wherein said icon sequence is determined based on said measured signal is within one of a plurality of non-overlapping, progressive higher voltage ranges. 
     
     
       20. The terminal of  claim 19 , wherein the determination of an icon sequence is performed by comparing said digital signal value to a plurality of range values. 
     
     
       21. An electronic device comprising:
 a battery unit;   a display unit;   a memory configured to store a plurality of icons, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of charging stages of the battery unit; and   at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: (a) identify a charging state of the battery unit, (b) determine a charging stage among the charging stages based on the charging state of the battery unit, (c) control to sequentially display, at the determined charging stage, a subset of the plurality of icons in a predetermined sequence ranging from the determined charging stage to a fully charged stage on the display unit while undergoing a charging operation, and (d) repeat step (a) to step (c) until the battery unit is fully charged.   
     
     
       22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor comprises a charging stage determining unit for determining the charging stage of the electronic device. 
     
     
       23. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor controls to display an icon corresponding to the fully charged stage on the display unit when the battery unit is fully charged. 
     
     
       24. A method for displaying a charging status for a battery unit of an electronic device, comprising:
 (a) identifying, by at least one processor, a charging state of the battery unit;   (b) determining a charging stage among charging stages based on the charging state of the battery unit;   (c) displaying sequentially, at the determined charging stage, a subset of a plurality of icons in a predetermined sequence ranging from the determined charging stage to a fully charged stage on a display unit of the electronic device while undergoing a charging operation; and   (d) repeating step (a) to step (c) until the battery unit is fully charged,   wherein the plurality of icons is stored in a memory of the electronic device, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of the charging stages of the battery unit.   
     
     
       25. The method of claim 24, wherein an icon corresponding to the fully charged stage is displayed when the battery unit is fully charged. 
     
     
       26. An electronic device comprising:
 a battery unit;   a display unit;   a memory storing a plurality of icons, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of charging stages of the battery unit; and   at least one processor configured to:
 measure a charge state of the battery unit corresponding to a charging stage, 
 control to sequentially display icons corresponding to a first charging stage, a second charging stage and a fully charged stage individually in a sequence on the display unit while undergoing a charging operation when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the first charging stage, 
 control to sequentially display icons corresponding to the second charging stage and the fully charged stage individually in a sequence on the display unit while undergoing the charging operation when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the second charging stage, and 
 control to display an icon corresponding to the fully charged stage when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the fully charged stage. 
   
     
     
       27. A method for displaying a charging status for a battery unit of an electronic device, comprising:
 measuring, by at least one processor of the electronic device, a charge state of the battery unit corresponding to a charging stage;   displaying sequentially icons corresponding to a first charging stage, a second charging stage and a fully charged stage individually in a predetermined sequence on a display unit of the electronic device while undergoing a charging operation when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the first charging stage;   displaying sequentially icons corresponding to the second charging stage and the fully charged stage individually in a predetermined sequence on the display unit while undergoing the charging operation when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the second charging stage; and   displaying an icon corresponding to the fully charged stage when the charge state measured by the at least one processor corresponds to the fully charged stage,   wherein a plurality of icons is stored in a memory of the electronic device, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of charging stages of the battery unit.   
     
     
       28. An electronic device comprising:
 a battery unit;   a display unit;   a memory storing a plurality of icons, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of charging stages of the battery unit; and   at least one processor configured to:   determine a charging stage of the electronic device based on a charging state of the battery unit,   control to display sequentially, at the charging stage, a first subset of the plurality of icons from an icon corresponding to the charging stage to an icon corresponding to a fully charged stage on the display unit while undergoing a charging operation, and   if the charging stage is changed during the charging operation from a first charging stage to a second charging stage, control to display sequentially, at the second charging stage, a second subset of the plurality of icons from an icon corresponding to the second charging stage to the icon corresponding to the fully charged stage on the display unit while undergoing the charging operation.   
     
     
       29. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor comprises a charging stage determining unit for determining the charging stage of the electronic device. 
     
     
       30. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the second subset of the plurality of icons are a subset of the first subset of the plurality of icons. 
     
     
       31. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor controls to display the icon corresponding to the fully charged stage on the display unit when the battery unit is fully charged. 
     
     
       32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by at least one processor configured to cause an electronic device to perform:
 measure a charge state of a battery unit corresponding to a charging stage;   display sequentially icons corresponding to a first charging stage, a second charging stage and a fully charged stage individually in a predetermined sequence on a display unit of the electronic device while undergoing a charging operation when the charge state corresponds to the first charging stage;   display sequentially icons corresponding to the second charging stage and the fully charged stage individually in a predetermined sequence on the display unit while undergoing the charging operation when the charge state corresponds to the second charging stage; and   display an icon corresponding to the fully charged stage when the charge state corresponds to the fully charged stage,   wherein a plurality of icons is stored in a memory of the electronic device, each of the plurality of icons corresponding to each of charging stages of the battery unit.