JP2008140054A - Information processor and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor attaining power saving of the whole system at an appropriate time, and a control method thereof. <P>SOLUTION: When an operating system receives a request of drawing processing while a display 111 is closed, normal end is returned to EC/KBC having requested drawing processing without starting the drawing processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a control method for controlling the operation of the apparatus.

  In recent years, mobile information processing apparatuses such as notebook computers have been desired to save power in order to extend the drive time of a battery.

As a technique for power saving of a notebook computer, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for automatically shifting to a power saving mode of a preset GPU when a display panel of a notebook computer is closed. .
JP-A-11-507748

  However, the technique of Patent Document 1 only performs power saving for only the GPU, and has little effect on power saving.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of performing power saving of the entire system at an appropriate timing, and a control method thereof.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus including an operating system, a display panel that can also be opened / closed as a lid of the information processing apparatus, and opening / closing of the display panel When the operating system receives a request for drawing processing when the detection means determines that the display panel is closed by the detecting means for detecting the drawing processing, the drawing processing is not performed. There is provided an information processing apparatus comprising response means for making a normal end response to a request source.

  According to the present invention, power saving of the entire system can be performed at an appropriate timing.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This information processing apparatus is realized as a battery-driven notebook computer 10.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the computer 10 includes a main body 116 and a display 111. A display device including an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 15 is incorporated in the display 111, and the display screen of the LCD 15 is positioned substantially at the center of the display 111.

  The display 111 is attached to the computer 10 so as to be openable and closable between a release position and a closed position. The main body side of the computer 10 has a thin box-shaped housing. The keyboard (KB) 25 is on the top surface, the touch pad 26 is on the palm rest, the left and right buttons 14a and 14b, and various types of mail. A shortcut button, a power button 24, a speaker 29, and the like are arranged. Further, an optical drive such as a DVD drive 115 is provided on the side surface of the main body 116.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the computer 10.

  As shown, the personal computer 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a north bridge 12, a main memory 13, a graphics controller 14, a display device (LCD) 15, a south bridge 16, a hard disk drive (HDD) 20, a DVD. A drive 115, a BIOS-ROM 21, an embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 22, a power supply controller (PSC) 23, a keyboard (KB) 25, a touch pad 26, and the like are provided.

  Each of the north bridge 12, the graphics controller 14, and the south bridge 16 is a device (component) compliant with the PCI EXPRESS standard. Communication between the north bridge 12 and the graphics controller 14 is executed via a PCI EXPRESS link 21 disposed between the north bridge 12 and the graphics controller 14. Each PCI EXPRESS link is a communication path composed of a serial interface, and includes an upstream lane and a downstream lane.

  The CPU 11 is a processor that controls the operation of the computer, and executes various programs (operating system, various application programs such as a DVD player application program) loaded from the HDD 20 to the main memory 13. The CPU 11 also executes a basic input / output system (BIOS) stored in the BIOS-ROM 21. The BIOS is a program for controlling hardware. The BIOS also has an SMI (System Management Interrupt) routine for dynamically permitting or prohibiting execution of the Active State Power Management (ASPM) function defined by the PCI Express standard according to the operation mode of the computer. ing.

  The north bridge 12 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 11 and the south bridge 16. The north bridge 12 also includes a memory controller that controls access to the main memory 13. The north bridge 12 also has a function of executing communication with the graphics controller 14 via the PCI EXPRESS link 21.

  The graphics controller 14 is a display controller that controls the LCD 15 used as a display monitor of the computer 10. The south bridge 16 has a function of executing communication with a connected PCI Express device (not shown) via the PCI EXPRESS link 21. The south bridge 16 also controls each device on an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus 30.

  The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 22 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard (KB) 25 and the touch pad 26 are integrated. . The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 22 has a function of powering on / off the computer 10 in cooperation with the power controller (PSC) 23 in accordance with the operation of the power button 24 by the user. is doing. Further, the embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 22 also has a function of detecting connection and removal of the AC adapter 28 with respect to the computer. When an event of connection or disconnection of the AC adapter 28 occurs, the embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 22 generates an interrupt signal (INTR) to notify the BIOS of the occurrence of a power management event. In response to the generation of the interrupt signal (INTR), the south bridge 16 generates an interrupt signal (SMI) to the CPU 11. In response to the SMI, the CPU 11 executes a BIOS SMI routine. Note that the SMI may be directly supplied from the EC / KBC 22 to the CPU 11.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The EC / KBC 22 includes a detection unit 22a. When the opening / closing of the display 111 is detected by the detection unit 22a, the opening / closing of the display 111 is transmitted to the operating system 100 via the BIOS-ROM 21. The response unit 100a included in the operating system 100 makes a response to the EC / KBC 22 via the BIOS-ROM 21 as to whether or not the processing has been normally completed.

  Next, a control method to which the information processing apparatus of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The CPU 11 loads the DVD player application program from the HDD 20 to the main memory 13 (step S101). The data read from the DVD drive 115 is sent as a drawing process request to a streaming playback driver such as DirectShow (registered trademark) of the operating system via the DVD player application program (step S102). At this time, the EC / KBC 22 determines whether or not the display 111 is open (step S103). If the EC / KBC 22 determines that the display 111 is closed (NO in step S103), the operating system returns a normal end response to the streaming playback driver and does not execute the drawing processing request. Thereby, when the display 111 is closed, the CPU 11 does not make a drawing process request as a burden, and power saving of the entire system can be achieved.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S103 that the display 111 is open by the EC / KBC 22 as the detection means (YES in step S103), the operating system executes a rendering process request by the CPU 11 and performs video decoding processing. (Step S104), and returns a normal end response to the streaming playback driver (response means). The decoded video data is subjected to drawing processing by a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) via the graphics controller 14 (step S105).

  That is, during DVD playback, video data flows from the DVD drive 115 via the DVD application program. The DVD application program passes video data to the operating system. This video data passes through DirectShow (registered trademark) of the operating system. If the display 111 is open, the operating system passes the data passing through DirectShow (registered trademark) as it is. If the display 111 is closed, the video data is not passed and a normal end status is returned to the DVD application program. As a result, when the display 111 is closed, video data is not sent to the video encoder, and processing using the CPU 11 is not performed. Therefore, power saving can be performed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the data read from the DVD drive is played back by the DVD player application program has been described. However, the data stored in the HDD 20 may be used instead of the data read from the DVD drive. It is not limited. Further, it may be played back by an application program other than the DVD player application program. For example, the same effect can be obtained when playing game software or the like.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

The perspective view showing the information processor concerning one embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which showed the function structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 6 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a procedure of control processing executed by the information processing apparatus of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  11 ... CPU, 14 ... graphics controller, 15 ... LCD, 16 ... south bridge, 20 ... hard disk, 21 ... BIOS-ROM, 22 ... EC / KBC, 115 ... DVD drive

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus equipped with an operating system,
A display panel that can also be opened and closed as a lid of the information processing apparatus;
Detecting means for detecting opening and closing of the display panel;
When the operating system receives a drawing processing request, the operating system comprises response means for performing an end response to the drawing processing request source after performing the drawing processing,
When the detection means determines that the display panel is closed and the operating system receives the drawing processing request when the display panel is closed, the response means performs the drawing processing. An information processing apparatus that performs the end response to a request source of the drawing processing without performing the processing. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
An information processing apparatus that transmits a request for the drawing process to the operating system is a moving image reproduction application. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the detection unit includes firmware, and the firmware notifies the operating system of opening / closing of the display panel via a BIOS. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
When the display means detects the open state of the display panel and the display on the display panel is off, the same processing as when the display panel is closed is performed. Information processing device. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus including an operating system,
The information processing device includes a display panel that can also be opened and closed that also serves as a lid of the information processing device, a detection unit that detects opening and closing of the display panel, and the operating system when the operating system receives a drawing processing request, Response means for performing an end response to the drawing process request source after performing the processing,
When the detection means determines that the display panel is closed and the operating system receives the drawing processing request when the display panel is closed, the response means performs the drawing processing. A control method characterized in that the end response is made to the request source of the drawing process without performing it. The control method according to claim 5, wherein
The control method, wherein the detection means includes firmware, and the firmware notifies the operating system of opening and closing of the display panel via a BIOS. The control method according to claim 5, wherein
When the display means detects the open state of the display panel and the display on the display panel is off, the same processing as when the display panel is closed is performed. Control method.

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