JPH04290109A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To offer the information processor which suppresses its power consumption to a necessary irreducible value by supplying electric power only to functional blocks and external peripheral devices in operation. CONSTITUTION:The information processor has the functional blocks 102 which are divided by functions, a switching circuit 103 which supplies the electric power to the functional blocks 102 individually, and a power controller 104 which controls the switching circuit 103. In this constitution, only necessary functional blocks among the respective functional blocks 102 are supplied with the electric power under the control of a power source controller 104 according to the contents of information processing and the unnecessary power consumption by functional blocks which are not in operation is reducible.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a general information processing device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as computers have improved in functionality, information processing devices have become smaller and more portable using batteries. Therefore, development is underway to reduce power consumption.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional information processing device. A conventional information processing device will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in the figure, there are 3 components.
01 is the information processing device main body, 302 is the information processing device main body 3
01 is a central processing unit that controls the entire system; 303 is a storage unit that stores programs that give commands to the central processing unit 302 and data given from the central processing unit 302;
4 is a functional block for communication control, 305 is a functional block for hard disk drive control, 306 is a functional block for floppy disk drive control, and 307 is a functional block for printer control, each of which is a functional block that operates under the control of the central processing unit 302. be. 308 is a power supply device for the information processing device main body 301; 309 is a power line for supplying power to the entire information processing device main body 301;
Further, 310 is an external peripheral device such as a printer or an external floppy disk drive connected to the information processing device. 311 is a data/address bus for the information processing device main body 301 and external peripheral device 310;

Regarding the information processing device made up of the above-mentioned components, the relationship and operation of the components will be explained below. In the information processing device main body 301, when the power supply device 308 is operated, power is supplied to all functional blocks 304, 305, 306, and 307 inside the information processing device main body 301. However, some of these functional blocks generally do not operate all the time. However, the power line 309 is connected to the functional blocks 304 and 30.
5, 306, and 307, unnecessary power consumption occurs in functional blocks that are not actually operating. Furthermore, the external peripheral device 310 connected to the information processing device must also be powered on at all times, resulting in similar unnecessary power consumption.

[0005]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In the configuration of such a conventional information processing device, it is not possible to individually control the power supply of each functional block or external peripheral device, so unnecessary power is generated in the functional block or external peripheral device that is not operating. It has the disadvantage of consuming

[0006] The present invention solves the above problem, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing device that minimizes power consumption to a necessary minimum.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a switching circuit for individually supplying power to each functional block and external peripheral device;
By providing a power supply control device for controlling the switching circuit, the present invention has control means for supplying power only to each functional block and external peripheral devices that require power to operate.

[0008]

[Operation] In the information processing apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, power is supplied to each functional block as well as to the functional block to which the operational command is issued. In other words, the switching circuit allows the power supply from the power supply device to be freely started, continued, and stopped for each functional block, so when the central processing unit or other control means performs the intended operation of the information processing device. The control means issues an operation command to the functional block to be operated, and the power supply control device controls the switch circuit, supplying power only to the functional block to which the operation command has been issued, and completing the intended process. be.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the first information processing device of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention. As shown in the figure, the constituent elements 101 are the information processing device main body, 102 is a functional block group that organizes the information processing device main body 101 by function, and 103 is a functional block group that is independent of the functional block group 102 for each functional block. 104 is a power control device for the switching circuit 103;
105 is a power supply device for the information processing device main body 101; 106 is a power supply line for individually supplying power to the functional block group 102; 107 is a power supply circuit for supplying power from the power supply device 105 to the switching circuit 103; 108 is a power supply control signal for controlling the switching circuit 103 from the power supply control device 104. 109 is the information processing device main body 1
01 data/address bus.

Now, the relationship and operation of the functional elements of the information processing apparatus will be explained below. First, the power supply control device 1 determines which functional block among the functional block group 102 is to be supplied with power based on the content of the command being executed by a control means such as a central processing unit (not shown).
04. And the switching circuit 10
3, under the control of the power supply control device 104, power is supplied only to the functional blocks that require operation among the functional block group 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a personal computer. As shown in the figure, its components include an information processing device main body 201, a central processing unit 202 that controls the entire information processing device main body 201, and a program 203 that provides instructions to the central processing unit 202 and a central processing unit 202. 204 is a communication control function block, 205 is a hard disk drive control function block, 206 is a floppy disk drive control function block, 207 is a printer control function block, Each of these is a functional block that operates under the control of the central processing unit 202. 208 are functional blocks 204 and 205
, 206 and 207, a switching circuit for independently supplying power to each functional block, 209 a power supply control device for controlling the switching circuit 208, 210 a power supply device for the information processing device main body 201, 211
212 is a power line for individually supplying power to the functional blocks 204, 205, 206, and 207; 212 is a power line for supplying power to central processing unit 202 and storage unit 203; 213 is from power supply device 210; switching circuit 20
This is a power line that supplies power to 8. Further, 214 is an external peripheral device connected to the information processing apparatus main body 201, such as a printer or an external floppy disk drive. Further, 215 is an address/data bus for the information processing device main body 201 and the external peripheral device 214, and 216 is a power control signal for controlling the power of the switching circuit 208 or the external peripheral device 214 from the power control device 209.

The relationship and operation of the mechanical elements of the information processing apparatus will be explained below. First, the central processing unit 20
The power control device 209 determines which functional block among the functional blocks 204, 205, 206, and 207 is to be supplied with power based on the content of the instruction being executed by the power control device 209.
Determined by The switching circuit 208 controls the functional block 20 under the control of the power supply control device 209.
Power is supplied only to the functional blocks 4, 205, 206, and 207 that require operation. For example, if you want to perform communication, power is supplied to the communication control function block 204 along with a communication command, and if you want to access the hard disk, power is supplied to the hard disk drive control function block 205 along with the access command. In this way, power is supplied to the functional blocks to be operated to perform processing as an information processing device. floppy disk drive control functional block 206;
Printer control functional block 207, external peripheral device 21
The same applies to 4. In this embodiment, the functional blocks are classified into communication, hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, printer, and external floppy disk drive, but other blocks may be used. It is also free to decide which functional block the power supply control is to be performed on.

[0013]

As described above, the present invention provides a power supply control device that controls the power supply to each functional block, and provides a control means for supplying power only to the functional block to which an operation command has been issued, thereby improving information processing. Power can be supplied to the necessary locations only when necessary, depending on the content of the information, and a reduction in power consumption of about 10% can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information processing device that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a personal computer according to a second embodiment of the present invention and external peripheral devices connected thereto.

[Figure 3] Block diagram of a conventional information processing device

[Explanation of symbols]

102 Functional block group 103 Switching circuit 104 Power control device 106 Power line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A power supply device that supplies power to each functional block; a switching circuit that distributes the output of the power supply device to supply power to each of the functional blocks and switches the output; and a switching circuit that supplies power to each functional block. An information processing device comprising: a power supply control device for controlling the information processing device; and control means for issuing an operation command to each of the functional blocks and for causing the power supply control device to supply power only to the functional block to which the operation command has been issued. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the functional block is an external peripheral device.