value the logic includes a timer delta_timer that determines the time between the readouts of the charge value following the readout and clearing of the register 109 the delta_timer is reset so that it will next timeout after a predetermined time interval herein denoted measurement_time step 209 next the process waits the predetermined amount of time measurement_time step 211 to facilitate a description of this embodiment this step is illustrated as a u201c waiting u201d step the measurement_time value represents the time resolution for the power consumption measurement however in practical embodiments the routine can exit to permit the mobile unit to do other things the occurrence of the timer interrupt causes the routine to resume processing at step 213 at the end of the waiting period the accumulated charge value is read from the fuel gauge block 105 and stored as the charge_value parameter step 213 the present value of the delta_timer is then read to obtain a value delta_time step 215 after this reading the delta_timer is reset and restarted step 217 measurement_time represents the requested measurement period whereas delta_time represents the actual period of time that elapsed since the previous measurement these two values may differ from one another because of the inability to strictly control the timing of an interrupt driven routine an average power consumption measurement is then obtained by dividing the charge_value by the delta_time value just obtained step 219 the delta_time value represents the time between readouts tracked with the delta_timer the average power consumption measurement is also printed out step 221 this printout may for example be a separate printout supplied by the mobile terminal 100 or it may alternatively be merged with the printouts from other software debug applications as used herein.