Low-power battery pack with hall-effect sensor

1. A method, comprising:

storing electrical energy in a direct current power source within a computing platform;

outputting a current on an electrical transmission line within the computing platform;

detecting the current on the electrical transmission line using a hall-effect sensor disposed near the electrical transmission line;

adjusting an effective range of the hall-effect sensor; and

matching the effective range of the hall-effect sensor to a platform power status of the computing platform.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising converting an analog sensor signal from the hall-effect sensor to a digital sensor signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an effective resolution of the digital sensor signal.

4. An apparatus, comprising:

means for storing electrical energy within a computing platform;

means for transmitting the electrical energy to an electrical load within the computing platform;

means for measuring a current flow of the computing platform using indirect electromagnetic coupling;

means for adjusting an effective measurement range of the analog sensor signal;

means for adjusting a resolution of the digital sensor signal; and

means for predicting an operating time of the computing platform based on the current flow.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:

means for generating an analog sensor signal based on the current draw; and

means for converting the analog sensor signal to a digital sensor signal.

6. A system, comprising:

a computing platform;

a direct current power source coupled to the computing platform to store electrical charge and to provide electrical power to the computing platform via an electrical transmission line;

a hall-effect sensor disposed near the electrical transmission line to detect an amount of current flowing through the electrical transmission line; and

a power source management unit coupled to the hall-effect sensor, the power source management unit including:

a current measurement module having an analog-to-digital converter,

wherein the analog-to-digital converter is configured to convert an analog sensor signal from the hall-effect sensor to a digital sensor signal,

an analog front end coupled to a charge transistor to drive the charge transistor to charge the direct current power source, and the analog front end coupled to a discharge transistor to drive the discharge transistor to facilitate operation of the computing platform,

a power gauging module to determine how much electrical energy is stored in the direct current power source,

a protection module to protect the direct current power source from a potential failure event, and

an interface to interface with a system processor of the computing platform.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the computing platform comprises a mobile computing platform.

8. A system, comprising:

a computing platform;

a direct current power source coupled to the computing platform to store electrical charge and to provide electrical power to the computing platform via an electrical transmission line; and

a hall-effect sensor disposed near the electrical transmission line to detect an amount of current flowing through the electrical transmission line, wherein an effective range of the hall-effect sensor is adjusted to a platform power status of the computing platform.