JP2000357028A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To illuminate the inside of the casing of an information processor with suitable lightness in the case of processor operation at all the time. SOLUTION: When a user turns a state changeover switch 2 into first switching state (b), a power unit 5 is operated and power is supplied to a printed wiring board and a control circuit 7. When a detector 8 detects the cover of the information processor is opened, the control circuit 7 selects the output of the power unit 5 and supplies power to illuminators 101-108 and 301-304. The user can watch the inside of the casing of the information processor in the case of processor operation with suitable lightness at all the time in spite of external illumination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus having means for illuminating the inside of an information processing apparatus and means for supplying power to a lighting apparatus suitable for maintenance work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional information processing apparatus, when performing inspection and maintenance, or inserting or removing a card from an I / O slot, the inside of a housing is complicated and dark, so that an operator must use a flashlight or the like. In some cases, people used lighting equipment to work while illuminating the intended location.

In general, in a rack-mount type information processing apparatus, an I / O slot is disposed on a rear surface of a front surface on which an operation surface such as a front panel is disposed. In many cases, the rack is installed near the wall of the room. For this reason, in such an information processing apparatus, indoor lighting does not shine directly on the rear surface of the rack. Also,
In a tower-type housing, there is a case in which a lid (cover) of the housing is arranged on a side surface of the housing due to the structure of the information processing device. Therefore, the upper surface and other side surfaces of the housing shield light from the illumination lamp, and the inside of the housing is shaded.

In recent years, as a part of high availability of a server, a technique of hot-swapping a hard disk or an I / O board has been spreading. For example, PCI which is widely used in servers
There is a PCI hot plug as a technique for making a bus hot-swappable. See the PCI Special Intere
st Group Specification "PCI Hot Plug Specification RE
V 1.0 ", October 6, 1997 and" PCI H by Alan Goodrum
ot-Plug Application & Design ”(Annabooks Publishing ISBN 0
-929392-60-4). Since then, this technology
Described as CI hot plug.

As described above, in a PC server or the like, not only a maintenance worker who is familiar with the structure and technology of the casing but also a general user who is in charge of operating the server at the installation location may perform the work. Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-208761, a means for detecting a place where a jam (paper jam) occurs in a copying machine is provided, and the place where the jam occurs is illuminated with illumination for the convenience of an operator. Also, JP-A-9-24
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4321, a paper jam in a copying machine is detected, and only when a person is in front of the copying machine when the door is opened, the illumination inside the copying machine closest to the location of the paper jam is turned on. There was something.

[0006]

Generally, many components and boards such as a CPU, a memory board, and an I / O board are densely arranged inside an information processing apparatus. For this reason, although it depends on the installation location of the information processing apparatus, it is not possible to sufficiently illuminate the inside of the housing with external room lighting.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 58-208761 and 9-244321 disclose illuminating means for illuminating the inside of the apparatus in order to remove paper jams. However, since the energized portion is not exposed outside the mechanism, while the inside of the information processing apparatus has many exposed energized portions, this technology cannot be used as it is.

In some cases, the information processing apparatus performs maintenance work while the main power supply is turned on, such as when hot-swapping. Also, when specifying the lighting location according to the failure state,
It is necessary to identify a lighting location by hardware and software conditions in cooperation with the operating system of the information processing device.

In view of the above, the present invention provides means for illuminating the inside of an information processing apparatus, which is suitable for maintenance work of the information processing apparatus.
An object is to supply a power supply of a lighting device. And
The present invention enables a user to always see the inside of a housing of an information processing apparatus when a processor is operating at an appropriate brightness regardless of external lighting, and a connector portion is a shadow of another component. It is an object of the present invention to prevent maintenance work such as hot insertion and removal of an I / O card and replace parts. In addition, the present invention is to enable a user to view the inside of a housing of an information processing apparatus with appropriate brightness regardless of external lighting and even when power is not always supplied to a printed wiring board. With the goal.
Still another object of the present invention is to individually illuminate a failed I / O card or the like when the I / O card fails.

[0010]

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a processor, a printed circuit board having an I / O slot, a first power supply, a second power supply, and a controller. , A switching unit, a detecting unit, and a lighting device, and the lighting device is disposed inside a housing of the information processing device.

When the user sets the switching means in the first switching state, the first power supply means operates to supply power to the printed wiring board and the control means. When the control unit detects that the cover of the information processing apparatus has been opened by the detection unit, the control unit selects the output of the first power supply unit and supplies power to the lighting device.

When the user sets the switching means to the second switching state, the first power supply means is stopped, and no power is supplied to the printed wiring board. On the other hand, the second power supply means operates to supply power to the control means. When the control unit detects that the cover of the information processing apparatus has been opened by the detection unit, the control unit selects the output of the second power supply unit and supplies power to the lighting device.

Further, components connected by a connector (or a slot) such as an I / O card are arranged on the printed circuit board, and the lighting device is mounted near the connector on the same printed circuit board as the connector. Deploy.

The present invention provides an information processing apparatus having a lighting unit inside a housing.

According to the present invention, there is provided a processor, a first power supply unit for supplying power to the processor, a second power supply unit, a detection unit, a control unit, and a processor. Lighting means, the detection means detects that a part of the housing is in an open state, the control means,
An information processing apparatus is provided, wherein when the detecting means detects an open state of a part of the housing, the second power supply means is selected and the lighting means is turned on.

According to the present invention, there is provided a processor, a first power supply unit for supplying power to the processor, a second power supply unit, a detection unit, a control unit, and a processor. Lighting means, the detection means detects that a part of the housing is in an open state, the control means,
When the first power supply unit is energized, and when the detection unit detects an open state of a part of the housing, the first power supply unit is selected and the lighting unit is turned on. An information processing device is provided.

The present invention provides a processor, a printed wiring board on which the processor is mounted, a first power supply, a second power supply, a detector, a controller, a switcher, And an illuminating unit installed inside the housing, an output of the first power supply unit is connected to the printed wiring board and the control unit, and an output of the second power supply unit is connected to the control unit. The switching means, when in the first switching state, the first power supply means to the operating state,
In the second switching state, the first power supply means is in the stopped state, the second power supply means is in the operating state, and in the third switching state, the first and second power supply means are in the stopped state. The detection means detects that a part of the housing is in an open state, and the control means selects one of the outputs of the first or second power supply means, and the detection means Supplies power to the lighting means when it detects an open state,
An information processing apparatus is provided, wherein when the detecting means detects a closed state, the power supply of the lighting means is shut off.

The present invention provides an I / O card slot and an I / O card slot.
An information processing device having an I / O card and a lighting device,
The illuminating device and the I / O card slot are disposed close to each other on the same printed wiring board, and the illuminating means illuminates the I / O card slot so that a user can use the I / O card. Provided is an information processing apparatus characterized by facilitating the work of inserting and removing a device.

According to the present invention, a processor, a first power supply unit, a detection unit, a control unit, a lighting unit, an I / O
An O card and an I / O slot, wherein an output of the first power supply means is connected to a control means, and the detection means detects that a part of the housing is in an open state; Detects that a failure has occurred in the I / O card connected to the I / O slot, notifies the control unit of the failure, the control unit detects that the detection unit has opened, and An information processing apparatus is provided in which a processor supplies power to a lighting unit from a first power supply unit in response to a failure notification of an I / O card and turns on the lighting unit.

The present invention provides a processor, first power supply means for supplying power to the processor, detection means, second power supply means, control means, switching means, and I / O.
Illumination means for illuminating the card and the expansion slot, and I / O
A card and an I / O slot, an output of the second power supply means is connected to a control means, the detection means detects that a part of the housing is open, and the processor Detecting that a fault has occurred in the I / O card connected to the I / O slot, and notifying the control means of the fault, the control means detecting that the detection means has opened, and An information processing apparatus is provided, wherein a switching unit is controlled by a processor in response to an I / O card failure notification, and the switching unit selects a second power supply unit and turns on the illumination unit. .

[0021]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. The power plug 1 is a power plug connected to an indoor commercial AC power distribution line or a power outlet of an uninterruptible power supply. The state change switch 2 is a switch for changing the state of the information processing apparatus. The state is switched to three types of power supply state (c). The switching of the states (a) to (c) will be described later using an example of a maintenance operation by a user.

The power supply unit 5 is a device for supplying power to the main board 10 and the I / O board 20 of the information processing device. The power switch 3 is a switch for starting the power supply unit 5. The main board 10 includes the CPU 3
0, power supply module (VoltageRegulate Module: VRM)
31; a memory / I / O controller 32; and a memory 33. The I / O board 20 includes I / O slots 200-2.
03. The power supply of the power switch 3
Depending on N / OFF, the state change switch 2 (a) to
The state switching of (c) can be controlled.

Next, a mechanism for illuminating the inside of the information processing apparatus will be described. For the maintenance work to be described later, in the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the illumination power supply unit 6 is provided as a separate system from the power supply unit 5. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be used together. Further, the lighting power supply unit 6 may include a battery. The detection device 8 is a device that detects whether the cover of the information processing device housing is open or closed. Control circuit 7
Selects the output of the power supply unit 5 or the illumination power supply unit 6 when the detection device 8 indicates that the cover is "open", and connects the output to the illumination power supply lines 40a and 40b. When the detection device 8 indicates the cover “closed”, the control circuit 7 sets the illumination power supply lines 40a and 40b to the cutoff state.

The illumination power supply lines 40a and 40b supply the power selected from the control circuit 7 to the illumination devices 101 to 108 and 3
This is a power supply line for supplying power to the power supply lines 01 to 304. Lighting device 30
Lights 1 to 304 are mounted on the information processing apparatus housing and illuminate the entire inside of the housing. Lighting devices 101 to 10
8 is mounted on a printed circuit board, and I
This is an illumination for illuminating the / O slots 200 to 203, the I / O card, and the like. Also, the lighting power supply lines 40a, 40
b denotes the individual lighting devices 101 to 108 and 301 to 30
4, the lighting devices 101 to 101
Each of the lamps 108, 301 to 304 can be turned on individually, or can be turned on as a group or a group.

The state switch 2 and the control circuit 7
Are lighting devices 101 to 108, 301 as the same circuit.
The lighting of .about.304 can also be controlled. Further, the control circuit 7 selects the power supply unit 5 or the illumination power supply unit 6 by controlling the state changeover switch 2 according to the I / O card failure notification from the processor, and switches the lighting devices 101 to 108 or 301 to 304. It can also be lit.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. This diagram shows, as an example, the arrangement of components in the information processing apparatus of the present invention when the side cover of the housing is removed for maintenance work. The connection between the components shown in FIG. 1 is partially omitted.

The arrangement of the illumination devices 301 to 304 illuminates the entire interior of the information processing apparatus housing to make it easier to see, but it may be arranged in the vicinity of a place where replacement of parts is required. In FIG. 2, the lighting device 301 includes, for example, the hard disk device 60, the power supply unit 5, and the cooling fan 7.
By illuminating 0, etc., work such as connecting a cable to a hard disk, adding a hard disk, replacing a cooling fan, replacing a power supply fuse, etc., becomes easy.

The illuminating device 302 is arranged near the I / O board 10, and facilitates setting of the dip switch 80 on the I / O board, mounting of the I / O card to be inserted into the slots 200 to 203 with screws, and the like. The lighting device 303 is arranged near the main board, and facilitates setting of the dip switch 80 on the main board, replacement of the CPU 30 and the VRM 31, and the like. The illuminating device 304 illuminates the illumination power supply unit 6 and the bottom inside the housing, and also when the user accidentally drops the screw while removing the screw inside the information processing device housing. By installing this lighting device 304, it becomes easy to search. Here, the lighting device 3
With only 01 to 304, there are some places where a sufficient amount of light cannot be obtained, such as an I / O card inserted into the slots 200 to 203 or other components. Therefore, as a solution to the case where a sufficient amount of light cannot be obtained, the present information processing apparatus uses the lighting devices 101 to 108.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the I / O slot in FIG. By mounting the lighting devices 101 to 104 beside the I / O slots 200 and 201 in this manner, the I / O
In addition to facilitating the insertion and removal of the slot and I / O card, the user can visually check the mating portion between the card edge and the slot, thus preventing diagonal insertion of the I / O card and incomplete connection. can do. here,
Although an I / O slot is shown as an example, the same maintenance work can be facilitated by mounting a lighting device beside other connectors and the like.

These lighting devices 101 to 108 and 30
As the light sources 1 to 304, a cold cathode tube such as an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp, an LED, or the like can be used. In addition, the lighting device 1
The light sources 01 to 108 and 301 to 304 can be protected with acrylic or the like so as not to accidentally break these lighting devices during contact with the I / O card or other work.

Next, the operation of the state changeover switch 2, the control circuit 7, and the like will be described by taking a maintenance work by a user as an example.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an information processing apparatus housing. As shown in FIG. 4, the state change switch 2 and the power switch 3
Is provided. The maintenance is performed by switching the state switch 2 according to the maintenance work of the information processing apparatus. The maintenance state has the following two cases, which can be selected by the user. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIGS.

The first state is when the maintenance worker checks the operation state while the information processing apparatus is energized. When the user sets the state switch 2 to the state (b),
Power is supplied from the power plug 1 to the power supply unit 5. When the power switch 3 is turned on, the power supply unit 5 operates, and the main board 10 and the I
Power is supplied to the / O board 20, and the information processing apparatus operates. When the user removes the information processing device housing side cover 90 for maintenance work, the detection device 8 detects that the cover 90 has been removed, and the control circuit 7
Selects the output of the power supply unit 6,
a, lighting devices 301 to 304, 10 connected to 40b
1 to 108 light up. This state is a work state corresponding to, for example, checking the rotation of the cooling fan 70, checking the temperature of the LSI components, and checking the voltage of the power supply 5 and the circuit.

In the second state, the main board 10 and the I / O
This is the case where the power supply to the O board 20 is shut off, or the case where a failure occurs in the power supply unit 5 and the failure is investigated. When the user sets the state changeover switch 2 to the state (c), power is supplied from the power plug 1 to the illumination power supply unit 6. In this case, since the power supply from the power plug 1 to the power supply unit 5 is not performed, the information processing device does not operate. When the user removes the information processing device housing side cover 90 for maintenance work, the detection device 8 detects that the cover has been removed, and the control circuit P0122 clear path 7 outputs the output of the illumination power supply unit 6. Illumination device 301 connected to illumination power supply lines 40a, 40b
304 to 101 to 108 are turned on.

When the state changeover switch 2 is set to the state (a), the power supply unit 5 and the illumination power supply unit 6 are not connected to each other, so that the state is cut off. In particular,
If the lighting is turned on only when a general user in charge of the server operation at the installation location operates instead of a maintenance worker who is familiar with the structure and technology of the chassis, such as hot insertion and removal of a PCI bus expansion card, The power supply unit 6 may be a detachable option. When the illumination power supply unit 6 is not mounted, in the first state, the detection device 8 detects that the cover has been removed by the user removing the information processing device housing side cover 90 for maintenance work. Then, the control circuit 7 selects the output of the power supply unit 5, and the lighting device 301 connected to the lighting power supply lines 40a and 40b.
304 to 101 to 108 are turned on. On the other hand, in the second state, the lighting devices 301 to 304 and 101 to 108 are not turned on.

Next, an information processing apparatus compatible with the PCI hot plug technology will be described with reference to FIG. The control circuit 7 is connected to the I / O bus of the information processing device by a control signal 50. Also, slots 200 to 203
It is assumed that the device supports the CI hot plug technology.

The information processing apparatus uses a PCII /
When the O-card is hot-swapped, the information processing device housing side cover 9
By opening 0, the lighting devices 301-304, 101-1
08 is turned on. The function and operation of each unit are the same as the first state (maintenance operation state) of the above-described embodiment.

Further, according to the slot position of the maintenance work,
A method of lighting the lighting devices 101 to 108 may be used. PC
I Hot Plug Specification "PCI Hot Plug Specification REV
According to 1.0 ", October 6, 1997, Page 14, the user is
When an O card is inserted or removed, a target card is specified by an application on the OS or a mechanical switch. Main board 1
A control signal 50 from 0 through an I / O bus connected to the control circuit 7 may illuminate a slot unit for insertion / removal or an illumination device for a part where work is performed. For example, when a user inserts or removes a card from the slot 200 by hot-plugging, the mechanical switch provided for each slot is opened, whereby the CPU performs I / O by the control signal 50.
Issues an I / O command to a control circuit connected to the bus,
The lighting devices 101 and 102 near the slot are turned on. O
S and the I / O of the control means
The command creates table data in advance,
It may be registered in a memory accessible from 0.

When a failure occurs in the card inserted into the slots 200 to 203, the illumination device near the failed I / O card may be turned on by opening the information processing device housing side cover 90. . The failure status of the I / O card is collected and detected by the OS of the information processing device. For example, when a failure occurs in the I / O card inserted in the slot 200, the CPU 30 detects this.
At this time, the user operates the housing side cover 90 of the information processing apparatus.
Is released, the CPU 30 controls the I / O by the control signal 50.
An I / O command is issued to the control circuit 7 connected to the bus, and the lighting devices 101 and 102 near the slot corresponding to the failed I / O card are turned on. In this case, the lighting power supply circuits 40a and 40b
8 are individually (or grouped), and the control circuit 7 performs lighting control individually (or grouped). The identification number of the slot managed by the OS and the I / O command of the control circuit 7 are:
Table data may be created in advance and registered in a memory accessible from the CPU 30. In addition, the control circuit 7 selects the power supply unit 5 or the illumination power supply unit 6 by controlling the state changeover switch 2 in response to a failure notification of the I / O card from the processor to select the lighting device 1.
01 to 108 or 301 to 304 can also be turned on.

In the present invention, when the processor detects that a failure has occurred in an I / O card connected to the I / O card slot, the processor notifies the control unit of the failure, and the control unit When the detecting means detects an open state and the processor notifies the I / O card of a failure, the first power supply means can light the lighting means.

In the present invention, when the processor detects that a failure has occurred in the I / O card connected to the I / O card slot, the processor notifies the control means of the failure, and Means for controlling the switching means when the detection means detects the open state and notification of a failure of the I / O card from the processor, and the switching means is provided by the second power supply means. The lighting means can be turned on.

[0042]

According to the present invention, a means for illuminating the inside of an information processing apparatus is provided, which is suitable for maintenance work of the information processing apparatus.
The power of the lighting device can be supplied. According to the present invention, the user can always view the inside of the housing of the information processing apparatus at the time of processor operation at an appropriate brightness regardless of external lighting, and the connector portion is shaded by other components. The maintenance work such as hot-swap of the I / O card and the replacement of parts can be facilitated. Further, according to the present invention, the user can view the inside of the housing of the information processing apparatus with appropriate brightness regardless of external lighting and even when power is not always supplied to the printed wiring board. Further, according to the present invention, I /
When an O card fails, the I / O card or the like that failed can be individually illuminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view around an I / O slot in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an information processing apparatus housing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 power plug 2 state switch 3 power switch 5 power supply unit 6 lighting power supply unit 7 control circuit 8 detection circuit 10 main board 20 I / O board 30 CPU 31 VRM 32 memory / I / O controller 33 memory 40a, 40b lighting power supply line Reference Signs List 50 control signal 60 hard disk device 70 cooling fan 80 dip switch 90 information processing device housing side cover 101-108, 301-304 lighting device 200-203 I / O slot

Claims (3)

[Claims] A processor configured to execute various information processing; an illuminator provided in a housing; a controller for controlling lighting of the illuminator; and a first power supply for supplying power to the processor and the controller. Power supply means; second power supply means for supplying power to the control means; and detection means for detecting that a part of the housing is in an open state. When detecting that the unit is in an open state, when the processor is energized by the first power supply means, the control means turns on the lighting means by the first power supply means, An information processing apparatus, wherein when the processor is not energized, the control unit turns on the illumination unit by the second power supply unit. 2. The first power supply means is in an operating state in the first switching state, the first power supply means is in the stop state in the second switching state, and the second power supply means is in the operating state. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit that stops the first and second power supply units when the third switching state is set. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an I / O card slot arranged close to said lighting device and illuminated by said lighting means. apparatus.