Detailed Description
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a power supply system according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 1, a power supply system 10 may be disposed in various electronic devices with computing functions, such as a notebook computer, a desktop computer, an industrial computer, a smart phone, or a tablet computer. The power supply system 10 includes a target device 11, a power supply module 12, and a control circuit 13.
The target device 11 includes any electronic circuits or peripherals that need to be powered in the electronic device provided with the power supply system 10, such as a central processing unit, a display chip, a memory, a screen, various input/output interfaces and/or a network interface card. The target device 11 contains sub-target devices 112. The sub-target device 112 refers to an electronic circuit that can be dynamically disabled or enabled during operation of the electronic device. Here, enabling the sub-target device 112 means allowing the sub-target device 112 to be powered (e.g., to conduct a power supply path connected to the sub-target device 112) and allowing the sub-target device 112 to participate in the operation of the electronic device. Conversely, disabling the sub-target device 112 means that the sub-target device 112 is not allowed to be powered (e.g., the power path to the sub-target device 112 is cut off) and the sub-target device 112 is not allowed to participate in the operation of the electronic device.
In one embodiment, the electronic device includes a plurality of display chips, and the sub-target device 112 is a secondary display chip of the display chips. For example, in some cases, if the power supply of the electronic device is sufficient to support the simultaneous operation of the primary display chip and the at least one secondary display chip of the electronic device, the secondary display chip is enabled (i.e., the secondary display chip can operate simultaneously with the primary display chip for image processing), thereby improving the overall image processing performance of the electronic device. However, in some cases, if the power supply of the electronic device is not sufficient to support the simultaneous operation of the primary display chip and the at least one secondary display chip of the electronic device, the secondary display chip is disabled (i.e., only the primary display chip remains in operation for image processing) to reduce the overall power consumption of the target device 11.
It should be noted that in the following embodiments, the sub-display chip of the electronic device is taken as an example of the sub-target device 112. However, in other embodiments not mentioned, the sub-target device 112 may also refer to any electronic circuit in the electronic device that can be dynamically disabled or enabled in response to the current power supply status. For example, in one embodiment, the sub-target device 112 may also be a hardware core of a central processor or a connection interface of an electronic circuit (e.g., a USB connection interface), and so on.
The power supply module 12 is used for providing power for the electronic device to operate. The power supply module 12 includes a plurality of power supplies. In the present embodiment, a power supply (also referred to as a first power supply) 121 and a power supply (also referred to as a second power supply) 122 are taken as examples of the plurality of power supplies in the power supply module 12. It should be noted that the power supply specification of the power supply 121 may be different from or the same as the power supply specification of the power supply 122.
The control circuit 13 is connected to the target device 11 and the power supply module 12. The control circuit 13 is configured to transmit the power PWR provided by the power supply module 12 to the target device 11. In other words, the power PWR provided by the power supply module 12 is provided to the target device 11 through the control circuit 13 for supplying power.
In the present embodiment, the control circuit 13 determines whether the power supply module 12 meets a predetermined condition. If the power supply module 12 does not meet the predetermined condition, the control circuit 13 disables the sub-target device 112 of the target device 11 in addition to transmitting the power PWR provided by the power supply module 12 to the target device 11. In addition, if the power supply module 12 meets the predetermined condition, the control circuit 13 transmits the power PWR provided by the power supply module 12 to the target device 11 and enables the sub-target device 112.
In the present embodiment, the control circuit 13 determines whether the power supply 121 and the power supply 122 of the power supply module 12 are detected at the same time as a basis for determining whether the power supply module 12 meets the predetermined condition. For example, if the control circuit 13 detects the power supply 121 and the power supply 122 at the same time (i.e., the power supply 121 and the power supply 122 are connected to the electronic device or the power supply system 10), the control circuit 13 determines that the power supply module 12 meets the predetermined condition. On the contrary, if the control circuit 13 does not detect the power supply 121 and the power supply 122 at the same time (i.e. the power supply 121 or the power supply 122 is not connected to the electronic device or the power supply system 10), the control circuit 13 determines that the power supply module 12 does not meet the predetermined condition. In addition, the control circuit 13 provides different power supply paths corresponding to whether the power supply module 12 meets the predetermined condition, so as to transmit the power PWR provided by the power supply module 12 to the target device 11 via the power supply paths.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating power transmission using a first power supply path according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 2, the power supply system 20 includes a target device 21, a power supply module 22 and a control circuit 23. The target device 21 includes a system load 211, a display chip 212, and a display chip 213. For example, the display chip 212 is a primary display chip in the electronic device, the display chip 213 is a secondary display chip in the electronic device for assisting the primary display chip in image processing, and the system load 211 is the rest of the electronic circuits in the electronic device that need to be powered.
In the present embodiment, only the power supply 221 of the power supply module 22 is connected to the power supply system 20. Therefore, the control circuit 23 detects the power supply 221 and does not detect the power supply 222 and determines that the power supply module 22 does not meet the predetermined condition. Since the control circuit 23 detects the power supply 221 but does not detect the power supply 222, the control circuit 23 transmits the power (also referred to as the first power) provided by the power supply 221 to the target device 21 via the power supply path (also referred to as the first power supply path) 201. Meanwhile, the control circuit 23 disables the display chip 213.
More specifically, the control circuit 23 includes an enabling unit 231 and a switch module 232. The enabling unit 231 is used for detecting the connected power supplies in the power supply module 22. For example, in the present embodiment, the enabling unit 231 detects the connected power supply 221. The switch module 232 is connected to the power supply module 22 and the target device 21 and forms one or more power supply paths between the power supply module 22 and the target device 21.
In the present embodiment, the power supply module 22 does not meet the predetermined condition, and therefore the switch module 232 is in a predetermined state (also referred to as a first state). The switch module 232 in the first state forms the power supply path 201 and another power supply path (also referred to as a second power supply path). It should be noted that, for the description of the second power supply path, reference is made to the embodiment of fig. 3 below, which is omitted here.
In the present embodiment, the switch module 232 includes a switch unit (also referred to as a first switch unit) 2321, a switch unit (also referred to as a second switch unit) 2322, a switch unit (also referred to as a third switch unit) 2323 and a switch unit (also referred to as a fourth switch unit) 2324, which are connected to each other, and the connection relationship is as shown in fig. 2. In the first state, the switching units 2321 and 2323 are in an off state (i.e., the current may flow through the switching units 2321 and 2323), and the switching units 2322 and 2324 are in an on state (i.e., the current cannot flow through the switching units 2322 and 2324), as shown in fig. 2. Therefore, in the first state, the power provided by the power supply 221 can be transmitted to the target device 21 along the power path 201 to supply power to the system load 211 and the display chip 212. In addition, since the display chip 213 is disabled, the display chip 213 does not consume extra power (or the power consumption of the display chip 213 is small and can be almost ignored).
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the transmission of power using a second power supply path according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 3, in the present embodiment, only the power supply 222 of the power supply module 22 is connected to the power supply system 20. Therefore, the control circuit 23 detects the power supply 222 and does not detect the power supply 221, and determines that the power supply module 22 does not meet the predetermined condition. For example, the enabling unit 231 detects the connected power supply 222. Since the control circuit 23 detects the power supply 222 but does not detect the power supply 221, the control circuit 23 transmits the power (also referred to as a second power) provided by the power supply 222 to the target device 21 via the power supply path 202 (i.e., a second power supply path). At the same time, the control circuit 23 disables the display chip 213.
In the present embodiment, the power supply module 22 does not meet the predetermined condition, and therefore the switch module 232 is also in the first state. The switch module 232 in the first state forms the power supply path 202 and the first power supply path (i.e., the power supply path 201 of fig. 2), as shown in fig. 3. Therefore, in the first state, the power provided by the power supply 222 can be transmitted to the target device 21 along the power path 202 to supply power to the system load 211 and the display chip 212. Similarly, since the display chip 213 is disabled, the display chip 213 does not consume extra power (or the power consumption of the display chip 213 is small and can be ignored).
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating power transmission by using a third power supply path and a fourth power supply path according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 4, in the present embodiment, the power supply 221 and the power supply 222 of the power supply module 22 are both connected to the power supply system 20. Therefore, the control circuit 23 detects the power supply 221 and the power supply 222 at the same time and determines that the power supply module 22 meets the predetermined condition. Since the power supply module 22 meets the predetermined condition, the control circuit 23 transmits the power (i.e., the first power) provided by the power supply 221 to the target device 21 via the power supply path (also referred to as the third power supply path) 203, and transmits the power (i.e., the second power) provided by the power supply 222 to the target device 21 via the power supply path (also referred to as the fourth power supply path) 204. Meanwhile, since the power supply module 22 meets the predetermined condition, the control circuit 23 enables the display chip 213.
More specifically, in the present embodiment, the enabling unit 231 detects the connected power supplies 221 and 222 and generates the enabling signal. The enable signal is used to enable the display chip 213. For example, when the display chip 213 receives the enable signal, the display chip 213 is switched from the disable state to the standby state (or the operating state). Alternatively, the enable signal may be transmitted to a central processing unit of the electronic device, which may be used to enable or disable the display chip 213, and the device may enable the display chip 213 according to the enable signal.
It should be noted that, although the enabling unit 231 is an AND gate (AND gate) in the embodiment, in other embodiments, the enabling unit 231 may be implemented by other types of circuit elements as long as it can be used for detecting the connection between the power supply 221 AND the power supply 222 AND generating the corresponding enabling signal.
In the present embodiment, the switch module 232 also receives the enable signal generated by the enable unit 231. In response to the enable signal, the switch module 232 switches from the first state to another state (also referred to as a second state). The switch module 232 in the second state forms the power supply path 203 and the power supply path 204, as shown in fig. 4. For example, in response to the enable signal, the switches 2321 and 2323 are switched from the original off state to the on state, and the switches 2322 and 2324 are switched from the original on state to the off state. That is, in the second state, the current cannot flow through the switching units 2321 and 2323, but can flow through the switching units 2322 and 2324. Therefore, in the second state, the power provided by the power supply 221 is transmitted to the target device 21 along the power path 203, and the power provided by the power supply 222 is transmitted to the target device 21 along the power path 204, so that the power supply 221 and the power supply 222 jointly supply power to the system load 211, the display chip 212 and the display chip 213 in the target device 21.
It should be noted that the embodiments of fig. 2 to 4 clearly illustrate the connection relationship of the switch units 2321 to 2324 in the switch module 232 in the power supply system 20. However, in other embodiments not mentioned, the connection relationship of the switch units 2321-2324 in the power supply system 20 may also be changed, and is not limited to the connection relationship of fig. 2-4. In an embodiment, each of the switch units 2321-2324 may comprise one or more electronic elements with a switching function, such as transistors. In addition, more electronic circuit components such as switch units may be added to the power supply system 20 as long as the path plan for transmitting power in the power supply system 20 meets the above condition.
In addition, in an embodiment in which the sub-target device that can be disabled is a secondary display chip, the electronic device provided with the power supply system 10 (or 20) typically has a screen as a display interface for displaying image data processed by the chip.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a power supply method according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 5, in step S501, it is determined whether the power supply module meets a predetermined condition. If the power supply module does not meet the preset condition, in step S502, the power supply provided by the power supply module is transmitted to the target device and the sub-target devices in the target device are disabled. In addition, if the power supply module meets the preset condition, in step S503, the power provided by the power supply module is transmitted to the target device and the sub-target device is enabled.
However, the steps in fig. 5 have been described in detail above, and are not described again here. It is to be noted that, the steps in fig. 5 can be implemented as a plurality of program codes or circuits, and the invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the method of fig. 5 can be used with the above exemplary embodiments, or can be used alone, and the invention is not limited thereto.
In summary, the power supply system and the power supply method of the present invention can adaptively adjust the power supply path and determine whether to enable a specific sub-target device of the target devices according to whether the power supply module meets the predetermined condition. For example, the sub-target device may be an electronic circuit or any other predetermined electronic circuit in the target device that consumes more power than a predetermined value. Therefore, under the condition of low power supply (for example, only one power supply is connected), the invention can avoid the problem that the electronic device cannot normally operate due to insufficient power supply. Alternatively, the invention can also improve the operation efficiency of the electronic device under the condition that the power supply is sufficient (for example, more than two power supplies are connected simultaneously). Therefore, the invention can balance the power supply and the performance of the electronic device.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.