OperaHouse;
That chip looks very familiar! I was given a broken "PowerBar" purchased from a local store here.
Nifty little thing is was, came with the bar and a dual use USB cable that had the standard USB on one end and Micro USB on the other.
Plug it into a regular USB port and it charges once you plug the USB micro into the powerbar, has two of the smallest LEDs I've ever seen , RED is on for charging Blue comes on when it is finished.
Being that I too get "Spent" Laptop batteries, I decided to make use of the chip on the inside once its battery began loosing power pretty quick. I also happen to have one of those fold-able Panels 6Vdc out types.
I was able to rescue 4 of the batteries, using some soldering skills, I now have this setup (including solar panel) that gives me 3.7Vdc at about 10,000mAh.
Sure it takes it a week of full sun to recharge them , but so what
Thanks for the post!