Benchmarq Announces a Unique Concept in Battery Capacity Monitoring: The bq2018 Power Minder IC.DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 1997--Benchmarq Microelectronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:BMRQ) today announces the bq2018 Power Minder(TM) IC, a low-cost multifunction charge/discharge counter peripheral that together with an intelligent host controller provides accurate battery capacity information. Using information from the bq2018, the host controller can precisely indicate battery available capacity in friendly, easy-to-understand terms of standby or operating time. For example, a cellular phone with a Li-Ion battery and the bq2018 could accurately indicate that the phone will operate 7 hours and 45 minutes in standby mode A sleep mode in a portable computer that provides an almost immediate resumption of operation when turned back on. In standby mode, the hard disk and display are turned off, and the CPU is throttled down to its lowest-power state. or 1 hour and 15 minutes in talk mode. The availability of this precise information enables business or leisure users of portable equipment to plan their activities without the frustrations resulting from "guessing bars" -- inaccurate bar graphs and LEDs that simply indicate a percentage of battery full. The bq2018 provides state-of-charge information for any type of rechargeable battery A rechargeable battery, also known as a storage battery, is a group of two or more secondary cells. These batteries can be restored to full charge by the application of electrical energy. , including Lithium Ion A rechargeable battery technology introduced in 1991 that provides greater charge per pound than nickel metal hydride. In 1993, Toshiba introduced the first notebook in the U.S. with a Li-ion battery. , NiMH, NiCd, lead acid, and rechargeable re·charge tr.v. re·charged, re·charg·ing, re·charg·es To charge again, especially to reenergize a storage battery. re alkaline. Designed for battery pack integration, the 8-pin bq2018 communicates critical battery information over a single-wire control/data serial interface. Typical bq2018 implementations are less than 1/2 square inch, allowing easy integration within a system's battery pack. The bq2018's internal A-to-D and reference operate from 2.8 to 5.5V, and less than 80uA. Standby mode current is less than 10uA, and data-retention current is less than 50nA, allowing critical information to be stored for more than 10 years with less than 5mAh of battery capacity. The bq2018 features 128 bytes of NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) May refer to dynamic RAM (DRAM) and static RAM (SRAM) chips that are backed up by a battery or to non-volatile chips such as flash memory. See non-volatile memory, dynamic RAM, static RAM and solid state disk. , including 115 bytes of user RAM for storing battery characteristics, charge data, or ID information -- thus eliminating the need for a separate battery ID chip. The bq2018 is designed for battery packs in applications such as: -- Cellular phones -- Personal data assistants -- Personal organizers "The uniqueness of the bq2018 is its ability to acquire critical battery information at a cost, degree of accuracy, and level of power previously unattainable in the industry," said David Heacock, director of marketing. "The bq2018 now brings sophisticated battery management and capacity information to a market segment previously unserviced because of cost and performance limitations." Pricing and Availability The 8-pin, 150-mil bq2018 SOIC (Small Outline IC) A small-dimension, plastic, rectangular, surface mount chip package that uses gull-wing pins extending outward. See gull-wing lead, SOJ and chip package. costs $1.85 in quantities of 10,000. The bq2118 Power Minder mini-board incorporates all of the necessary components for a fully functional implementation for $4.40 in 10K quantities. Samples will be available in November 1997 with production quantities available in the first quarter of 1998. About Benchmarq Benchmarq provides integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. and modules for portable applications and applications sensitive to the loss of system power. Product lines include battery-management ICs and modules, real-time clock A real-time clock (RTC) is a computer clock (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that keeps track of the current time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic ICs and modules, nonvolatile controller ICs and modules, and nonvolatile static RAMs A fast memory technology that requires power to hold its content. Static RAM (SRAM, S-RAM) is used for high-speed registers, caches and relatively small memory banks such as a frame buffer on a display adapter. . Benchmarq's products address the system designers' increasing requirements for high-performance solutions that are easy to use. In North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Benchmarq products are marketed through independent manufacturers' representatives and are distributed by Arrow Electronics Arrow Electronics NYSE: ARW is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Melville, New York. This company specializes in products and services of electronic components and computer products. , Marshall Industries, Wyle Electronics, and Nu Horizons. Distributors market and sell Benchmarq products internationally. The company's World Wide Web address is http://www.benchmarq.com . -0- Note to Editors: Power Minder is a trademark and Benchmarq is a registered trademark of BENCHMARQ Microelectronics, Inc. CONTACT: Benchmarq Microelectronics, Inc., Dallas David Heacock, 972/437-9195 Fax: 972/437-9198 E-mail: benchmarq@benchmarq.com or Patricia H. Smith, 972/437-9195 Ext. 1011 or 800/966-0011 E-mail: Patty_Smith@benchmarq.com Fax: 972/437-0581 |
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