JPH11202963A - Computer loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To designate an operating mode at the time of start through the on/off pattern of a power source switch by changing the mode of device operation together with the on/off of power source output through the operation of a switch by a user. SOLUTION: The user turns off a switch SW connected to a power source unit(PSU) control part 2, and the PSU control part 2 detects such a state change and outputs it to a PC bus 10. Then, a CPU on a miniaturized mother board 4 detects the off of the switch SW and starts cis end processing and after the terminating processing of a task is executed, an instruction for turning on/off the main power source output of a PSU 1 is issued to the PSU control part 2. When this instruction is received, the PSU control part 2 stops a power source control input signal PowOn to the PSU 1, turns on/off the main power source output and changes the required operating mode based on that information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a device such as an office machine to which a personal computer is applied. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of personal computers, office equipment such as facsimile machines, printers, and copiers have been strongly required to have a function of connecting to personal computers. In order to fulfill such a requirement, it is necessary to ensure compatibility between the connected devices from the hardware level to the software level including the application. However, it is not easy to satisfy such requirements between systems having different system architectures.

Therefore, as one countermeasure, a method of making the architecture common between both connected devices, that is, a method of making the architecture of the device connected to the personal computer the same as that of the personal computer is considered. However, in order to adopt this method, it is necessary to incorporate the personal computer itself into an embedded system such as office equipment, which is difficult or disadvantageous in terms of mounting space and cost.

On the other hand, with the development of integration technology and packaging technology for electronic components, the cost and size of personal computers have been remarkably reduced. In general, a personal computer is mainly configured with a board called a motherboard on which a CPU, a memory, an interface control circuit for an I / O device, a system expansion bus, and peripheral control circuits are mounted. In particular, since the motherboard has been improved, it has been realized in a business card size, and has become inexpensive. Therefore, miniaturization and low cost of other element parts constituting a personal computer such as a floppy disk device and a hard disk device have been achieved. Due to the synergistic effect with the realization, it is now possible to introduce an architecture similar to a personal computer into an embedded system. In fact, many types of embedded systems having such a configuration have already been commercialized.

In an embedded system using a small motherboard and an architecture similar to that of a personal computer, it is general that when power is turned off, a certain sequence is required for evacuation processing and the like. is there. The main factor is the timing of writing to the hard disk. The current personal computer employs a memory hierarchical structure composed of a cache memory (primary and secondary), a main memory, and a hard disk in order to improve performance, and under operating system management to realize a wider memory space. Is building a virtual memory system. Therefore, in such a memory system, how to synchronize the contents of the cache memory and the hard disk is a trade-off between performance and safety.

For example, if the contents of the cache are rewritten and immediately written to the corresponding hard disk area, the system may crash even in a multitasking environment (embedded systems are generally multitasking environments). Although the performance is low, the access to the hard disk occurs frequently and the performance is degraded. Conversely, if the contents of the cache become unnecessary and are written out to the hard disk at once, the frequency of access to the hard disk is reduced and the performance is improved, but the possibility of crash is increased. The selection criterion in this case depends on the operating system, but generally, there is a slight time lag between the change of the cache content and the reflection on the hard disk as a result of giving priority to performance improvement. Exists. In this state, if the power is turned off before the writing operation to the hard disk is completed, inconsistency occurs in the system, and in some cases, there is a risk of causing a system crash.

Therefore, when the power is turned off, the power must be turned off after the completion of the end processing including the above-described operation of synchronizing the stored contents. It is relatively easy to manufacture a system that executes a sequence for power-off performed by a user in normal times. That is, the end process is started by having the user communicate the intention of disconnection to the device in some form, and the power supply may be stopped after the end of the process. In this case, a switch similar to a normal power switch is used as a user's intention transmitting means. The state of this switch is constantly monitored by a monitoring circuit that operates on a backed-up power supply, regardless of whether the power is on or off, and a change in the state is reported to an appropriate control unit of the apparatus. In response to this report,
The control unit performs an end process. However, such a process cannot be performed at the time of the AC power failure.

In view of the above, a personal computer has been proposed which supplies energy required for emergency evacuation processing by means of a secondary battery when an AC power supply is interrupted (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7 (1994)).
-160375). In this personal computer, a timer is used to ensure the same operation as usual for a fixed time after a power failure. With this configuration, it is possible to execute the end processing including the above-described operation of synchronizing the stored contents even when the AC power supply is interrupted.

Another conventional technique is to set or change a system configuration such as a self-diagnosis operation performed when a failure occurs in an apparatus, or a memory capacity, an interrupt of a CPU peripheral device, or an address assignment. Various programs are also known for the maintenance operation and the like that are performed. Furthermore, the operation system in the field of personal computers has the most proven performance and is a DOS system that can operate stably.
Is widely used. The DOS has utility software and a program development environment attached thereto, and it is convenient to operate the above-mentioned diagnostic / maintenance program on the DOS.

[0010]

As described in the prior art, in an embedded system in which a small motherboard is used and an architecture similar to that of a personal computer is introduced, when power is cut off, evacuation processing and the like are performed. Requires a certain sequence. In personal computers, in order to improve performance,
Cache memory (primary and secondary), main memory,
A memory hierarchical structure composed of a hard disk is employed, and a virtual memory system is constructed under operating system management. In this memory system, in order to prioritize performance improvement, there is a slight time difference between the time when the contents of the cache is changed and the time when it is reflected on the hard disk. If the power is turned off before the writing operation to the hard disk is completed, inconsistency occurs in the system. As a result, there is a problem that the system may crash in some cases.

According to the present invention, in a built-in system in which an architecture similar to that of a personal computer is introduced using a small motherboard, an operation mode at the time of startup can be designated through an on / off pattern of a power switch, thereby improving convenience. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device with an improved level (the invention of claim 1). In addition, a self-diagnosis operation performed when a failure occurs in the apparatus, a maintenance operation for setting or changing the system configuration such as memory capacity, CPU peripheral device interrupts, address assignment, etc. The operation performed by the diagnosis / maintenance program) operates the basic information of the system. If an incorrect operation is performed, the basic function of the apparatus may be impaired. Therefore, the basic function of the apparatus is impaired. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device without fear (the invention of claim 2). It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that can be used quickly by storing an operation system and a program necessary for diagnosis / maintenance in the system (the invention of claim 3).

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-mounted apparatus having a switch and a means for monitoring the state thereof, and a power supply and a control means for the switch.
The power supply output is turned on and off, and at the same time, the device operation mode can be changed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a maintenance / diagnosis mode is included in a device operation mode selected by a user operating a switch.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the operating system is changed by operating a switch by a user.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a computer-mounted device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment The first embodiment corresponds to the invention of claim 1, but also relates to the inventions of claims 2 and 3, and the invention of claim 1 is basically It is an invention. The first embodiment is characterized in that a switch for giving a power on / off instruction is used to designate a mode in which the apparatus is started. As described in the prior art, in order to prevent inconsistency in the system if the power is turned off before the writing operation to the hard disk is completed,
A user's intention transmitting mechanism using a switch similar to a normal power switch is employed. The monitoring of the switch state is performed by a monitoring circuit that operates with a backed-up power supply, regardless of whether the power is on or off. The status change is reported to an appropriate control unit of the apparatus.

In the first embodiment, if the on / off pattern of the switch is used, not only the power on / off control but also the intention of other users can be transmitted to the apparatus. Focusing on this point, the mode of the device operation can be changed. Therefore, in an embedded system that does not normally have a powerful man-machine interface such as a keyboard, even if the power is off and the man-machine interface cannot be used through the operation panel, the desired Operation mode can be set.

First, regarding the computer-mounted device,
The outline will be described. The computer mounted device shown in FIG. 2 is an example in which a built-in system using a small motherboard and having the same architecture as a personal computer is applied to a facsimile device.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a main configuration of a system in which the computer-mounted device of the present invention is applied to a facsimile machine. In the figure, 1 is PSU (power source unit), 2 is P
SU control unit, 3 is an input port, 4 is a small motherboard,
5 is HDD (hard disk drive), 6 is FD
D (Floppy disk drive), 7 is display,
8 is an operation unit, 9 is a facsimile unit, 91 is a bus interface unit, 92 is a scanner, 93 is a plotter,
94 is a CPU, 95 is a memory, 96 is an NCU (network control unit), 97 is a local bus, 10 is a PC bus, and SW
Indicates a switch, and PowOn indicates a power control input signal.

On the small motherboard 4 shown in FIG. 2, in addition to a CPU (not shown), a control circuit for peripheral devices integrated in a so-called chipset, a memory controller, a bus interface circuit, a configuration memory, a real-time clock circuit, and a main memory , A cache memory, and the like. The small motherboard 4 includes an HDD (hard disk drive) 5.
And devices such as an FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) 6, a display unit 7, and an operation unit (operation panel) 8.

Each of these units is basically the same as the conventional one, and the display unit 7 is a display composed of a CRT or an LCD, which visually displays various data necessary for operation on a screen. The operation unit 8 is an operation unit including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. Furthermore, various other devices are connected from the small motherboard 4 via a PC bus 10 such as an ISA bus, and a function as an embedded system is realized. In the example of FIG. 2, the facsimile unit 9 is connected. The facsimile unit 9 is connected to the small motherboard 4 via a bus interface 91, and the scanner 9
2, plotter 93, CPU 94, memory 95, NCU
(Network control unit) 96 and the like. The facsimile unit 9 has the same configuration as the conventional one.

Next, the power supply unit will be described. PSU
(Power source unit) 1 generates a DC output from an AC power input and supplies it to each system in FIG. There are two types of outputs, one is a main power supply output that is on / off controlled by the PSU control unit 2, and the other is an auxiliary power supply output that is not on / off controlled. The characteristics of both outputs will be described later in detail. The latter auxiliary power output is connected to the PSU control unit 2. PSU1
Outputs a signal reporting that the AC power supply has been turned off. The CPU on the small motherboard 4 is connected to the PC bus 1
This signal is read through input port 3 on 0.

The PSU 1 is provided with a secondary battery for backup of the termination process at the time of power failure.
An output for monitoring the voltage can also be included in the output. The PSU control unit 2 having such a function is constituted by a one-chip microcomputer or the like. However, the controller of the operation unit 8 can also be used if there is room in function distribution. The PSU control unit 2 is connected to a switch SW for the user to transmit a power on / off instruction and other instructions to the system. It also has a timer function. Here, PSU (power source
The configuration of the unit 1 will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the PSU 1 with respect to the detailed configuration of the computer-mounted device shown in FIG. In the figure, 11 is a rectifier circuit, 12 is a voltage conversion circuit, 13 is a first voltage stabilization circuit, 14 is a second voltage stabilization circuit, 15 is an AC power supply monitoring circuit, 16 is a secondary battery, D1 to D3 Is a diode,
R1 indicates a resistor.

The PSU 1 shown in FIG. 2 includes the units 11 to 16 shown in FIG. A secondary battery 16 is connected to the output of the voltage conversion circuit 12. As the secondary battery 16, for example, a NiCd battery is used. In addition, the two voltage stabilizing circuits at the subsequent stage of the voltage converting circuit 12, that is, the first voltage stabilizing circuit 13 and the second voltage stabilizing circuit 14 receive the output of the voltage converting circuit 12 in a normal state. To generate the required DC voltage and output it to the main power output and auxiliary power output terminals. Therefore, during normal operation, the secondary battery 16 is charged by the voltage conversion circuit 12 through the diode D3 and the resistor R1. The discharge from the secondary battery 16 to the first voltage stabilization circuit 13 and the second voltage stabilization circuit 14 at the subsequent stage is performed by AC
It is only when the power supply is cut off due to a power failure or cord pull-out. It goes without saying that the voltage of the secondary battery 16 is larger than the value required for the voltage conversion circuit 12 to generate the required output.

First voltage stabilizing circuit 13 on the main power output side
Has a function of turning on / off an output, and is controlled by a power control input signal PowOn. However, the second voltage stabilizing circuit 14 on the auxiliary power output side does not have such a function. Therefore, the auxiliary power supply output becomes inactive only when the AC power supply is cut off and the secondary battery 16 cannot supply a sufficient voltage due to discharging. The PSU 1 shown in FIG. 1 has the above configuration.

Next, the operation of the computer-mounted device of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 when the power is turned off will be described. First, the user turns off the switch SW connected to the PSU control unit 2 in FIG. As described above, the switch SW is configured to be operated by a power on / off instruction. The PSU control unit 2 detects this state change and outputs it to the PC bus 10. And
When the CPU on the small motherboard 4 detects this,
The system termination processing is activated, and the terminal termination processing is executed.

When this process is completed, the CPU on the small motherboard 4 issues an instruction to the PSU control unit 2 to stop the output of the main power of the PSU 1. PSU
When receiving this instruction, the control unit 2 stops the power control input signal PowOn to the PSU 1 (switches the H level to the L level: sets the power control input signal PowOff) and stops the main power output. In this case, since the operating power supply of the PSU control unit 2 is not stopped, this control is performed stably.

Next, when a power failure occurs in the AC power supply, first, the AC power supply monitoring circuit 15 in the PSU 1 in FIG. 1 detects the power failure, and sends a detection signal to the CPU on the small motherboard 4 in FIG. Send out. In this case, as a notification method to the CPU, either a simple read port or an interrupt is possible. Then, when the CPU detects this, an emergency evacuation process is executed. Subsequent operations are the same as when the power was turned off.

In the PSU 1, since the AC power supply is shut off, the electric power necessary for the system save processing is supplied from the built-in secondary battery 16. If the power outage continues for a long time and the secondary battery 16 is discharged until the power output cannot be maintained, both the main power output and the auxiliary power output are stopped. However, the main power supply output is shut off immediately after the time required for the evacuation process has elapsed, and the subsequent discharge load of the secondary battery 16 is only on the auxiliary power supply output side. There is no danger of the 16 being discharged.

By the way, the CPU on the small motherboard 4
May run out for any reason, the main power supply output cutoff instruction may not be issued to the PSU control unit 2. To avoid such inconvenience, PS
The U control unit 2 is provided with a timer function, and the PSU control unit 2 autonomously issues a cutoff signal after a certain time has elapsed since the power switch SW is turned off or the AC power off signal is received. The set time in this case may be set to a value sufficient for the CPU on the small motherboard 4 to execute the save processing or the end processing.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the operation of the power switch allows the power supply output to be turned on / off and the mode of the apparatus operation to be changed.
Therefore, no special input means such as a keyboard is required to activate the special operation mode.

Second Embodiment This second embodiment corresponds to the second aspect of the present invention. According to the computer-mounted device described in the first embodiment, it is possible to specify the operation mode at the time of startup through the on / off pattern of the power switch.
The second embodiment is characterized in that a maintenance / diagnosis mode is added as an operation mode at the time of startup. As described above, since the operation in the maintenance / diagnosis mode operates the basic information of the system, there is a risk that the erroneous operation may impair the basic functions of the apparatus. The second embodiment focuses on the point that the maintenance / diagnosis mode is activated through an interface different from a normal man-machine interface, and there is no risk of impairing the basic functions of the apparatus. The operation mode at the time of startup described in the first embodiment includes a maintenance / diagnosis mode. The hardware configuration is shown in Fig. 1
And FIG.

Next, an operation for activating an operation mode unique to the apparatus such as maintenance / diagnosis will be described. In the state where the AC power is off, the user turns on / off, on / off,... The switch SW in an appropriate sequence pattern, and finally turns on the system, thereby starting the system in this unique operation mode. Let it. The ON, OFF,..., ON pattern of the switch SW may be any pattern as long as it does not appear in a normal simple power-on / off instruction operation.

It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of activation modes are selected according to this pattern. For example, a specified number of on / off repetitions (for example, 2
Times) or more, and the mode can be designated by the number of repetitions. However, in this case, it is necessary to remove chattering to detect a change in the state of the switch SW. Since the switch SW is connected to the PSU control unit 2 composed of a one-chip microcomputer or the like, the above number can be easily realized by a known method. Then, it is determined that the switch SW has been operated in such a pattern that requires such a special activation mode.
When the PSU control unit 2 detects, the power supply control input signal PowOn is output to the PSU 1 and the PC bus 10
To inform the CPU of this. The CPU activates the required mode based on the information.

The procedure is specifically as follows. When the output of the PSU 1 is turned on, the BIOS mounted on the small motherboard 4 is started. The BIOS initializes and checks the peripheral devices. The BIOS detects the connected hard disk and determines a boot hard disk. Usually, only one hard disk is connected. MBR (Master) on the activated hard disk
Boot Record) is loaded into the memory, and the control is transferred to the master boot program therein.

The master boot program uses P
It accesses the SU control unit 2 to read the boot mode information specified by the user, and from the partition table loaded into the memory, reads the partition boot program of the partition in which the operating system corresponding to the boot mode information is stored. Load to memory and transfer control. The partition boot program loads the OS kernel in the partition into the memory and transfers control. The OS kernel reads the necessary files in order,
Execute the application program. As described above, the mode corresponding to the special on / off pattern of the power switch SW is activated. The above operation is shown in a flowchart.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of main processing when a special operation mode is started in the computer-mounted apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, #
1 to # 8 indicate steps.

In step # 1, the output of PSU1 is turned on. In step # 2, BIO of small motherboard 4
S is started. In step # 3, the BIOS initializes and checks the peripheral devices. Step #
At 4, the connected hard disk is detected and the hard disk to be started is determined.

At step # 5, the MBR on the activated hard disk is loaded into the memory, and the control is transferred to the master boot program therein. In step # 6, the master boot program accesses the PSU control unit 2 and reads the start mode information specified by the user,
A partition boot program of the partition storing the operating system corresponding to the boot mode information is loaded from the partition table loaded in the memory into the memory, and the control is transferred. In step # 7, the partition boot program
The OS kernel in the partition is loaded into the memory and the control is transferred.

In step # 8, the OS kernel reads necessary files in order and executes the application program. By the processing of steps # 1 to # 8, the second
The processing at the time of mode startup according to the embodiment is executed.
As described above, according to the second embodiment, since the activation is performed through an interface different from a normal man-machine interface, there is no possibility that the basic functions of the apparatus are impaired. Therefore, inconvenience caused by erroneous operation of the device function is avoided, and the safety of the system is ensured.

Third Embodiment This third embodiment corresponds to the third aspect of the present invention. In a system targeted by the computer-mounted device of the present invention, that is, an embedded system in which an architecture similar to a personal computer is introduced using a small motherboard, an operating system adopted to realize an original target function is not necessarily used. DO, the most proven operating system in the personal computer field and capable of stable operation
Not necessarily S. In such a case, the usual method is to provide an FDD (floppy disk drive) in the apparatus, include a DOS and a maintenance / diagnosis program, and set the FD (floppy disk) to be bootable.
This is a method of starting the system from.

However, this method cannot be used in a system without FDD or in a situation where FDD does not function due to a failure or the like. It is necessary to prepare a special FD for that purpose. In the third embodiment, an operation system and programs required for maintenance / diagnosis and the like are stored in advance in an HD (hard disk) or the like existing in the system, and can be called up as needed. It has features. In this case, similarly to the function described in the second embodiment, the operation system built in this system is configured to be activated through an interface different from a normal man-machine interface. The basic functions of the device are not impaired when the device is started. The hardware configuration is the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the flowchart is the same as in FIG.

[0043]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-mounted device.
A switch for giving a power on / off instruction is used to designate a mode in which the apparatus is started. Therefore, to activate a special mode of operation,
No keyboard or other special input means is required.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the maintenance or diagnosis mode is activated by using the activation mode designating means added to the first aspect of the invention. Therefore, in addition to the effect of the computer-mounted device according to the first aspect, the means for shifting to the mode in which there is a risk of changing the basic configuration information of the device can be of a type different from the normal operation. In addition, inconvenience caused by an erroneous operation of the device function is avoided, and the safety of the system is secured.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the operating system is switched by using the start mode designating means added to the first aspect of the present invention. Therefore, in addition to the effect of the computer-mounted device according to the first aspect, an operating system on which a maintenance and diagnosis program, which is a program different from the program for executing the original function, can be freely selected. Development or acquisition of these programs becomes easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a PSU 1 for a detailed configuration of a computer-mounted device shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a main configuration of a system in which the computer-mounted apparatus of the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of main processing when a special operation mode is started in the computer-mounted apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 PSU 2 PSU control unit 3 Input port 4 Small motherboard 5 HDD 6 F
DD, 7 display unit, 8 operation unit, 9 facsimile unit, 11 rectifier circuit, 12 voltage conversion circuit, 13 first voltage stabilization circuit, 14 second device Voltage stabilization circuit, 15: AC power supply monitoring circuit, 16: Secondary battery

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A computer-mounted device having a switch and a means for monitoring its state, and a power supply and a control means thereof, wherein a user operates the switch to turn on / off a power output and change a mode of operation of the device. A computer-mounted device characterized by the following. 2. The computer-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the device operation mode selected by a user operating a switch includes a maintenance / diagnosis mode. 3. The computer-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the operating system is changed by a user operating a switch.