Abstract: Heterogeneous battery cell switching techniques are described for a device having a battery system with heterogeneous battery cells. A control system is provided that is configured to implement a policy for switching a load for the device between the heterogeneous battery cells. The switching may involve selecting between multiple different modes supported by the device based on an assessment of an operational context for the device. Modes available for a heterogeneous battery cell system may include but are not limited to different modes to connect one of the multiple heterogeneous battery cell at a time to service the load, rapidly switch among the multiple heterogeneous battery cells to service the load by drawing a percentage of the overall load from each cell, and/or draw a set amount of current from each of the multiple heterogeneous battery cells to service the load.

Abstract: Heterogeneous battery cell charging techniques are described for a device having a battery system with heterogeneous battery cells. A control system is provided that is configured to determine a charging strategy for charging the heterogeneous battery cells based upon an analysis of a plurality of contextual factors. For example, contextual factors may indicate anticipated future load conditions, battery usage preferences established for the battery system, and/or other factors indicative of an overall context in which charging occurs. Different charging strategies that indicate which battery cells to charge and the way in which charging is to be conducted may be mapped to different combinations of the contextual factors such that the charging is dynamically tailored to different contexts. A selected charging strategy is then employed to distribute charging current from a power source among the heterogeneous battery cells in the manner designated by the selected charging strategy.