Microsoft Patent Details Methods of Enabling Smart Batteries

As rumors abound that Microsoft soon will bow new wearables with super-long battery life, the Patent and Trademark Office has been studying the company’s radical re-think on the way future batteries will be used. For example, US 2014/0129162, filed in November 2012 by Microsoft and a team of 10 American inventors, has the core idea of incorporating sensing, computing and communication capabilities into "the one common component that a vast number of electronic devices employ -- namely batteries." By integrating these capabilities "into disposable and/or rechargeable batteries," said Microsoft, "new functionality and intelligence can be provided to otherwise stand-alone (‘dumb’) devices." According to the patent, it’s not even necessary "that the host electronic device is aware of the presence or capabilities of the electrical battery apparatus." Electronic intelligence can be built into a battery at the factory or added later by using physically smaller cells in a standard-size case with embedded electronics, the patent said. For example, dumb AAA cells can be inserted in an AA-size case, which has built-in smart electronics, it said. The smartened battery case is then used in a dumb device designed for AA cells, it said. Examples cited in the patent of dumb devices given intelligence by their batteries include: (1) A child’s toy with accelerometer in its battery that builds a usage pattern to tell "if the toy is still being played with, or if it is just sitting around and should be discarded or sold"; (2) A TV remote that will beep when a Wi-Fi sensor detects that it has been taken outside the room; (3) An accelerometer in a tablet that detects rough use of its screen and switches off. Multiple stand-alone dumb devices powered by smart batteries can swarm to create their own "vast" network, and provide "an opportunity for these stand-alone devices to operate collectively," the patent said.