JP2000102165A - Method and device for managing turning-on/off of power supply to shared device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately turn-on/off the automatic power supply to a peripheral device in accordance with the turning-on/off of the power supply to a processor, by turning off the automatic power supply only when the power supply to all devices of one or a plurality of device groups related to a device for managing turning-on/off of power supply to shared device is turned off. SOLUTION: A small-sized switch is used as an association setting means 1201 to associate power supply receptacles 111 and 112 for PC with power supply receptacles 113, 114, and 115 for I/O. When the power supply to one of the receptacles 111 and 112 for PC is turned on by turning on the switch, the power supply to the corresponding receptacle for I/O is turned on. When the switch is turned of, on the contrary, the receptacles 113, 114, and 115 are maintained as they are regardless of the power supply to the receptacles 111 and 112. Therefore, the power supply to the receptacles 113, 114, and 115 is turned on even when power supply is made to either one of the corresponding receptacles 111 and 112 for PC and turned off only when the power supply to all receptacles 111 and 112 is turned off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system comprising a plurality of information processing devices and individual or shared peripheral devices of the information processing devices. The present invention relates to a power-on / off management method and apparatus for appropriately performing power control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing system including one information processing device (for example, a personal computer, hereinafter referred to as a PC) and a plurality of peripheral devices (for example, a display device and an auxiliary storage device), only the power supply of the information processing device is used. It is convenient to be able to automatically turn on and off the power supply of peripheral devices when manually turning on and off.

[0003] Some commercially available personal computers are provided with a power outlet for an external device linked to a power switch of the main body. For example, Maci, an Apple PC
Power Macintosh 8100/80 of ntosh series,
F of the FLORA series, a PC of Hitachi, Ltd.
LORA DM2 is an example.

These are provided with a power supply input and a power supply output for peripheral devices in the PC main body, and turn on and off the power of peripheral devices in conjunction with turning on and off the power of the PC main body.

[0005] In addition, in order to realize the same function even for a PC without such a function, an XXXX interlocking tap XXXXXX of XXXX, or XXXXXX, has been devised.

However, the above method or apparatus cannot be applied to the case where one display device is connected to two PCs and used by switching. That is, there is a problem that these techniques can be applied only to one information processing apparatus and a plurality of peripheral devices.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-6485, entitled "Control Device of Power Supply Control Interface", describes a method for appropriately controlling the power supplies of a plurality of processing devices and a shared device. However, in order to apply the present invention, a special power supply control interface is required, and it cannot be applied to a device without such an interface, for example, a combination of a commercially available personal computer and its peripheral device. .

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and comprises a processing device and a peripheral device having no special power supply control interface. One peripheral device is connected to a plurality of processing devices. In such a system, an appropriate automatic power-on / off of peripheral devices is realized according to the power-on / off of the processing device.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a power supply output to a plurality of information processing devices (corresponding to a device group A in the claims) and peripheral devices (a device group B in the claims) are provided. And means for setting the association between each device of the device group B and each device of the device group A are provided and configured as follows.

(1) The power supply of the device of the device group B is turned on if at least one of the devices of the device group A associated with the device is in the power-on state. The power supply is cut off only when all of the devices of the one or more device groups A are in the power cut off state.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a computer system including two PCs, one shared display, and individual peripheral devices connected to each PC. First, the overall configuration and operation will be described, and then the internal configuration and operation of the power-on / off management device 100 will be described.

First, the overall configuration will be described.
4 and 5 power cables (1001, 1002, 100
3, 1004 and 1005) are connected. Power is supplied to the power-on / off management device 100 via a power cable 1000. PC1 and PC2 are peripheral device I / O3
And at the same time each individual peripheral I / O4 and I
/ O5.

That is, the PC 1 and the I / O 3 are connected by the interfaces 13 and 31 and the interface cable 1331.
PC2 and I / O3 are interfaces 23 and 32 and an interface cable 2332, and PC1 and I / O4 are interfaces 14 and 41 and an interface cable 144.
1, the PC 2 and the I / O 5 are connected to the interfaces 25 and 52 and the interface cable 2552, respectively.

Next, the operation of the overall configuration will be described. In the above configuration, the power switches 11 and 12 of the PCs 1 and 2 (corresponding to each device of the device group A in the claims) are manually operated or the power on / off management device 100 is operated. It shall be shut off using another means not involved. I / O 3, 4 and 5
The power switches 301, 401, and 501 (corresponding to each device of the device group B in the claims) are always turned on, and the power supply is controlled by the power on / off management device 100. For example, it is assumed that both the PCs 1 and 2 are initially in the power-off state. Here, the power switch 11 of the PC 1
Is turned on, the power-on / off management device 100 supplies power to the power supply connectors 113 and 115.

Thus, the power cables 1003, 10
The power of the I / Os 3 and 4 is turned on via the terminal 04. Thereafter, when the power switch 21 of the PC 2 is turned on, the power-on / off management device 100 also supplies power to the power supply connector 114. Thus, the power of the I / O 5 is also turned on via the power cable 1005.

Next, when the power switch 11 of the PC 1 is turned off, the power of the power supply connector 115 is turned off, but the states of the other power supply connectors do not change. This allows
The power supply of I / O4, which is an individual peripheral device of PC1, is cut off, but the power supply of I / O3, which is a shared device of PC1 and 2, is
It is not shut off as long as the power of C2 is turned on. Thereafter, when the power switch 21 of the PC 2 is turned off, the I / O 4
And the power supply of the I / O 3 is also cut off.

The internal configuration of the power-on / off management device 100 will be described.

The power-on / off management device 100 includes PCs 1 and 2
Power supply connectors 111 and 112 for peripheral devices, power supply connectors 113, 114 and 115 for peripheral devices, PC
Association setting means 1201 for setting the association of power supply connectors with peripheral devices 1 and 2; power-on / off circuits 133, 134 and 135 for peripheral devices; current monitoring circuit 14 for monitoring the current of power supply connectors 111 and 112
1, 142, a power on / off control circuit 120, and a power cable 1000 for receiving power supply from outside.

The operation of the power-on / off management apparatus 100 will be described.

Power supply connector 11 for PCs 1 and 2
The power received from the power cable 1000 is supplied as it is to 1 and 112, and the current flowing from these connectors is monitored by the current monitoring circuits 141 and 142. If the power switch of PC1 and / or PC2 is turned on, the current supplied from connectors 111 and / or 112 increases. The current monitoring circuits 141 and 142 transmit the current detection value signals 121 and 122 to the power-on / off control circuit 120.

When the detected current value is larger than a preset current value, the power-on / off control circuit 120 turns on the peripheral device power supply connector (113, 114, 115) associated with the power supply connector that has detected the current. (Any or all) power-on / off circuit (133, 1
34, 135) is transmitted via signal lines 123, 124, 125. Upon receiving the power-on command, the power-on / off circuit supplies power to the peripheral device power supply connector.

A method for setting the association between the device group A and the device group B will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows a power-on / off management apparatus 100.
Is developed and shown on a plane in the form of a development view. A small switch is used as the association setting unit 1201, and the association between the PC power outlets 111 and 112 and the I / O power outlets 113, 114 and 115 is set.

In this example, when the switch is set to ○, when the power of the PC power outlet is turned on, the power of the corresponding I / O outlet is turned on. Conversely, when the switch is set to x, I / O
The power outlet for the PC keeps the current status regardless of whether the power of the power outlet for the PC is turned on or off. Therefore, the I / O outlet is turned on when at least one of the power supplies of the corresponding PC power outlets is turned on, and is turned off only when the power supplies of all the PC power outlets are turned off.

The operation principle of the power-on / off management apparatus 100 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the power-on / off management apparatus 100. The configuration and operation will be described below.

Power supply connector 11 for PCs 1 and 2
1 and 112, power supply connector 11 for peripheral devices
3, 114 and 115 have 3P AC outlets,
Power-on / off circuits 133, 134 and 135 for peripheral devices
Is a solid state relay, and a current monitoring circuit 141, 1
Reference numeral 42 denotes a current transformer.

The power-on / off control circuit 120 includes power-on command signals 123 and 12 from the current monitoring circuits 141 and 142.
4, 125 is transmitted to the association setting means 1201, and the result is transmitted to the power-on / off circuit (any or all of 133, 134, 135).

In this example, since a commercial AC power supply is used as the main power supply, a current transformer is used for the current monitoring circuits 141 and 142. As a result, signals 121,
Since the signal 122 also becomes AC, the signals 121 and 122 are rectified by a diode, a resistor, and a capacitor. This signal is selected by the association setting means 1201 and the power-on / off circuit 1
33, 134, and 135.

Another embodiment will be described below.

Although the above embodiment is a typical example of the present invention, there are various other embodiments as described below. For example, power-on / off circuits 133, 13
It is easy to configure the switching element 4 with a switching element such as a mechanical relay, a MOS transistor, or an insulated gate bipolar transistor instead of a solid state relay, which is an application example of a thyristor or a triac.

The power supply connectors 111, 112,
113, 114 and 115 can be omitted in some cases.
That is, when the PC and the peripheral device are integrally configured, they may be directly connected to the power supply cable without using the connector.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a small switch is used for the association setting means 1201, but there is also an example realized by a combination of a microprocessor, a nonvolatile memory and a switching element. In this case, since the setting of the association can be changed from a remote place through the communication means, the application range is further expanded. For example, even when the power of the large-capacity auxiliary storage is normally shut off for energy saving and the power is turned on only when necessary, an environment that can be controlled from a remote place can be realized.

[0033]

According to the present invention, even in a system in which one peripheral device is connected to a plurality of processing devices, the power on / off of the peripheral device can be appropriately and automatically turned on / off in response to the power on / off of the processing device. realizable.

Further, for example, three processing units A, B, C
In the case where two display devices and one printer are peripheral devices shared by all, and one auxiliary storage is a shared device only for the processing devices A and B, the power supply of the processing device A is turned off. When inserted, two display devices, 1
The power of one printer and one auxiliary memory is turned on,
When the power of the processing apparatus C is turned on, the detailed power-on / off management can be appropriately performed such that the power of two display devices and one printer is turned on, but the power of one auxiliary memory is not turned on. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a development view of a power-on / off management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a developed view showing an outer shape of the power-on / off management device 100;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing details of a power-on / off management device 100;

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2,... PC (devices of device group A), 3, 4, 5,.
(Apparatus of the apparatus group B), 100 ... Power on / off management apparatus,
120: power on / off control circuit; 141, 142: current monitoring circuit; 1201: association setting means.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Nobuo Fukaya 5-2-1 Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Omika Plant, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Koji Yoshimura 5-chome Omikacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1 F term in Hitachi Ltd.'s Omika factory (reference) 5B011 DA01 DB11 DB22 EA02 FF02 MA13 MB01 5G065 AA03 DA00 EA06 FA00 FA01 GA04 GA06 JA02 KA00 KA02 KA05 LA02 MA10

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device group A comprising a plurality of electric devices and a device group B comprising one or a plurality of devices used in connection with one or a plurality of devices of the device group A. The power supply of each device of A is manually turned on or off by another means. (2) The power supply of the device of the device group B is the power supply of at least one of the devices of one or more device groups A connected to the device. (3) The shared device is characterized in that the power is turned off only when all of the devices of one or a plurality of device groups A connected to the device are in the power-off state. Power on / off management method. 2. One or more power supplies in a device group A consisting of a plurality of electric devices and a device group B consisting of one or more devices used in connection with one or more devices of the device group A. Having an input and two or more power supply outputs for device group A and one or more power supply outputs for device group B;
The following power on / off management is performed. (1) The power supply of each device of the device group A is manually turned on or off by another means. (2) The power supply of the device of the device group B is connected to one or more devices of the device group A connected to the device. If at least one of the devices is in the power-on state, the power is turned on. (3) The power-off state is set only when all of the devices of one or more device groups A connected to the device are in the power-off state. A power-on / off management device for the shared device.