JPH09185436A - Computer system and suspend processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a computer system with which power consumption is reduced by performing minimum backup by performing suspend processings different from each other by every factor of power source interruption when a power source is turned off. SOLUTION: This computer system is provided with a power source controller 7 composed of a power source interruption factor discriminating part 71 for detecting the factor of power source interruption, subordinate battery state detecting part 72 for detecting the state of subordinate battery, and power source control part 73 for monitoring and controlling the power source. In this case, when the cause of the power source interruption causes drop of the voltage of main battery 8 or the main battery 7 is dropped from the computer system (abnormal system power source interruption), the operation information of each device of the computer system is not preserved and further, power is supplied only to a RAM 5 and an RTC 6 or the supply of power to all the devices is stopped based on the state of subordinate battery.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery-operated computer device, and more particularly to a computer device having a resume function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, computer devices that have been actively applied in various fields include battery-operated computer devices such as notebook computers.

Conventionally, in this battery-powered computer device, when the power is turned off, various operation information of the computer immediately before the power is turned off is stored in a memory or the like, and the power is supplied only to the memory. Some have a so-called resume function that can be restored to the state immediately before the power was turned off based on various operation information of the computer that was previously saved in the memory when the power was turned on next time. It was

An example of a battery-powered computer device having this type of resume function is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-118.
No. 94 (hereinafter referred to as Cited Example 1) and JP-A-5-19883 (hereinafter referred to as Cited Example 2).

In the cited example 1, the battery state is detected at the time of transition to the suspend process, and the operator is informed of the available time of the suspend process from the state of the battery. It is designed so that tasks such as charging can be performed accurately.

In the second reference example, a means for monitoring the voltage of the battery is provided, and when the remaining capacity of the battery becomes low, information such as the internal register or memory of each device is stored in a nonvolatile recording medium such as a hard disk. By saving the data in the memory, the resume function can be performed when the power is turned on after the battery is charged or the battery is replaced.

Further, as a computer device having a resume function, there is a computer device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-19881 (hereinafter referred to as Reference 3).

Although the third reference example is not of a battery drive type as shown in FIG. 3, in order to realize the resume function, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, each of a CPU, an interrupt controller, an LCD controller, etc. The operation information of the device is saved in the memory step by step for each device, the power supply is stopped from the operation information that has been saved, and the operation information that has been saved can be saved in the memory. By performing a suspend process for storing the completion, it is possible to return to the original operating state again even if the resume is incomplete.

[0009]

However, none of the above-mentioned conventional examples describes a sub-battery that assists the main battery, and the sub-battery in the case of voltage drop of the main battery or dropout of the main battery. There is also no description of suspend processing with batteries.

For example, the reference 1 only detects the battery capacity of the main battery and prompts the operator to check the battery state, and cannot reduce the power consumption of the computer apparatus itself.

Further, the reference 2 does not disclose any suspend processing in the case where the battery is dropped.

Further, in the above-mentioned reference example 3, since the suspend process is performed by the same procedure regardless of the factor of power-off, when the reference example 3 is applied to a battery-driven computer, for example, the main battery Power disconnection due to falling out, etc.
When the main power cannot be supplied, there is a problem that unnecessary backup is performed and power is consumed even though the resume function cannot be performed at the next power-on.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer device which realizes low power consumption by performing a minimum necessary backup by performing different suspend processes depending on the factors of power-off.

[0014]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a computer apparatus and a suspend processing method as described below.

That is, according to the present invention, a battery-powered computer device having a main battery and a sub-battery, which has a resume function, has a power-off factor determining unit for detecting a power-off factor. By providing a power supply control device including a sub-battery status detection unit that detects the status of the sub-battery and a power supply control unit that monitors and controls the power supply, different suspend processing is performed depending on the cause of power shutdown. A computer device is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in a battery-operated computer device having a main battery and a sub battery, the computer device having a resume function, and a power-off factor determining unit for detecting a power-off factor. A computer device characterized by performing a different suspend process for each factor of power shutdown by including a sub-battery state detection unit that detects the state of the sub-battery and a power supply control device that monitors and controls the power supply. can get.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a suspend processing method for performing a resume function in a battery-powered computer apparatus having a main battery and a sub battery, wherein the cause of power shutdown is normal system power shutdown or abnormal system. If the cause of the power cutoff is the normal system power cutoff, the operation information of each device for performing the resume function is stored, and the real time clock for managing the calendar clock and Powers only the memory,
When the power cutoff is the abnormal power cutoff, the suspend processing method is characterized in that the operation information of each device for performing the resume function is not stored.

Further, according to the present invention, in the suspend processing method, in the suspend processing when the cause of power shutdown is the abnormal system power shutdown, it is determined whether the state of the sub-battery is normal or abnormal. If the state of the sub-battery is normal, the power is supplied only to the real-time clock and the memory, and if the state of the sub-battery is abnormal,
A suspend processing method characterized by stopping power supply to all devices can be obtained.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The computer device according to the embodiment of the present invention has a configuration as shown in FIG.

That is, the computer device according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a CPU 1, an LCD controller 2 for controlling screen display, an interrupt controller 3 for controlling various interrupts, a ROM 4, a RAM 5 and a clock for the computer device. An RTC (real-time clock) 6 that controls a timer, a power supply control device 7 that supplies power to the entire computer device and monitors the battery voltage, a main battery 8 as a power supply source, and a voltage when replacing the main battery 8. Sub-battery 9 serving as an auxiliary power supply source at the time of decrease, and power source SW (switch) 10
It is composed of

Further, the power supply control device 7 includes a power supply cutoff factor determination unit 71 for detecting a power supply cutoff factor, a sub battery state detection unit 72 for detecting a state of the sub battery, and a power supply control unit for monitoring and controlling the power supply. And 73.

The suspend process for the resume function in the computer having the above structure will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

Generally, in the computer device having the configuration as shown in FIG. 1, the factors for shutting down the power source of the computer device are the operator pressing the power source SW10 (normal system power source shutdown) and the voltage of the main battery 8. There is a case where the power supply from the main battery 8 cannot be performed (abnormal system power supply cutoff) or the main battery 8 falls off from the computer device.

Here, in the case of the latter abnormal power supply cutoff, that is, when the voltage of the main battery 8 drops, or when the main battery 8 cannot be supplied with electric power, such as when the main battery 8 falls out of the computer device, However, since the backup of the operation information of each device of the computer device at the time of power-off becomes incomplete, the normal resume function is not executed at the next power-on. Therefore, backing up the operation information of each device of the computer device when the power is cut off is wasteful and consumes unnecessary power.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, unnecessary power consumption is suppressed by executing different suspend processes depending on the factors of power shutoff.

First, when the power supply is cut off, the power supply control device 7
Sends an interrupt request to the interrupt controller 3. The interrupt controller 3 that has received the interrupt request causes the CPU 1 to generate a hardware interrupt. Upon receiving the interrupt from the interrupt controller 3, the CPU 1 interrupts the current processing and executes the suspend processing program stored in the ROM 4 as shown in FIG.

That is, when the power shutoff factor determination unit 71 detects the power shutoff factor, and the CPU 1 depresses the power SW 10 by the operator based on the detected power shutoff factor (normal power shutoff)
Alternatively, it is determined whether the voltage of the main battery 8 has dropped or the main battery 8 has fallen out of the computer device and the power cannot be supplied from the main battery 8 (abnormal system power shutdown) (step S1).

In step S1, if the cause of power shutoff is normal system power shutoff, the CPU 1 stores the operation information of each device of the computer in the RAM as in the conventional case.
5, and then supply of power to devices other than the RAM 5 and the RTC 6 is stopped (step S2).

On the other hand, in step S1, if the cause of power shutoff is abnormal power shutoff, the CPU 1 does not store the operation information of each device of the computer device, and the subbattery state detecting section 72 causes the subbattery state to be detected. The state is detected (step S3).

If the result of the detection in step S3 shows that the state of the sub-battery is normal, the CPU 1 supplies power only to the RAM 5 and the RTC 6 and stops the supply of power to other devices (step S4). .

As a result, although the resume function cannot be performed, the data and programs stored in the RAM 5 and the calendar information controlled by the RTC are retained.

On the other hand, in step S3, as a result of the detection, if the state of the sub-battery is abnormal, that is, if the sub-battery has no power or the sub-battery has a low power, it is stored in the RAM 5 until the next power-on. If the stored information cannot be held, the CPU 1 stops the power supply to all the devices of the computer device (step S5).

As described above, according to the present invention, different suspend processes are performed depending on the factors of power cutoff.
It is possible to suppress unnecessary power consumption due to backup of unnecessary information.

In the present embodiment, the suspend processing program described above is stored in the ROM 4 when the power is cut off.
Although it has been described as being executed from the beginning, it is expanded from the ROM 4 to the RAM 5 every time the power is turned on, and R
It may be executed from AM5 and is not limited to the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the power cutoff factor judging section 71 for judging the factor of power cutoff and the subbattery state detecting section 72 for detecting the state of the subbattery are arranged inside the power control device 7. However, a device having the same function may be configured outside the power supply control device 7, and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the cause of power cutoff is determined when the power is cut off, and the minimum necessary backup and suspend processing is performed for each power cutoff factor, so that the power consumption of the battery can be suppressed. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a suspend processing method in the computer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer device of a third reference example.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of suspend processing in the computer device of the third reference example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 LCD controller 3 Interrupt controller 4 ROM 5 RAM 6 RTC 7 Power control device 71 Power shutdown factor determination unit 72 Sub battery status detection unit 73 Power control unit 8 Main battery 9 Sub battery 10 Power SW (switch)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A battery-powered computer device having a main battery and a sub battery, wherein in a computer device having a resume function, a power shutoff factor determination unit for detecting a power shutoff factor and a state of the sub battery are set. A computer device characterized by performing a different suspend process depending on a factor of power cutoff by including a power supply control device including a sub-battery state detection unit for detecting and a power supply control unit for monitoring and controlling the power supply. . 2. A battery-driven computer device having a main battery and a sub battery, wherein in a computer device having a resume function, a power shutoff factor determination unit for detecting a power shutoff factor and a state of the sub battery are set. A computer device comprising: a sub-battery state detection unit for detecting and a power supply control device for monitoring and controlling the power supply, thereby performing different suspend processing depending on factors of power cutoff. 3. A suspending method for performing a resume function in a battery-powered computer device having a main battery and a sub battery, wherein one of the factors of power shutdown is normal system power shutdown or abnormal system power shutdown. If the cause of the power shutdown is the normal system power shutdown, the operation information of each device for performing the resume function is saved, and power is supplied only to the real-time clock and the memory that manages the calendar clock. However, when the cause of power shutdown is the abnormal power shutdown, the operation processing information of each device for performing the resume function is not saved. 4. The suspend processing method according to claim 3, wherein when the cause of power shutdown is the abnormal system power shutdown, it is detected whether the state of the sub-battery is normal or abnormal. However, when the sub-battery status is normal, power is supplied only to the real-time clock and the memory, and when the sub-battery status is abnormal, power supply to all devices is stopped. Suspend processing method.