JP2001242970A - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable operator to set data maintaining time as he likes since device stops operation. SOLUTION: The information processing device has a backup memory 105 which maintains data by battery and stops operation by a main battery 101 and uses the battery 101 for only maintaining data in the memory 105 when the battery 101 become weak. The information processing device monitors the voltage of the battery 101 and provides a battery voltage detector 103 which detects the rest of capacity of the battery 101, an input device 107 which sets battery voltage to stop operation by battery, and a control section 104. The information processing device enables operator to change battery voltage to stop operation by battery as he like by the device 107. Therefore, operator can extend backup time of the memory 105 at need.

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 having a memory backup function using a battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a device having a volatile storage device driven by a battery, when the battery voltage drops below a certain level, the operation of the device is stopped and the data in the storage device is securely held. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-115504 discloses a “memory pack and electronic device”.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned JP-A-6-115
The invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 504 is configured to stop using the device when the battery voltage falls below the voltage warning threshold voltage Vth. That is, conventionally, the battery voltage for stopping the operation of the device has been fixed to a constant value. Therefore, the time during which the data of the storage device can be retained after the operation of the device is stopped is constant, and the data retention time cannot be set according to the importance of the data or the intention of the user. For this reason, the data required by the user may be lost after the certain period of time has elapsed, and the importance of the data and the flexibility of the backup time according to the intention of the user (operator) are required. Had been.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus which allows an operator to freely set a time for which data can be retained after the apparatus is stopped. It is in.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a volatile storage means for retaining data by a battery power supply, and stops operation by battery driving when the remaining capacity of the battery decreases. An information processing apparatus using a battery only for holding data in the storage means, comprising: means for monitoring battery power and detecting remaining battery capacity; and means for setting a battery voltage for stopping operation by battery driving. Has made it possible to arbitrarily change the set value of the battery voltage by the setting means.

At this time, when the setting is performed by the setting unit, the contents of the setting may be displayed on a display unit.

In addition, when the remaining capacity of the battery is reduced and the operation by the battery drive is stopped, the detected value of the battery voltage at which the operation by the battery drive is stopped is increased by a certain value so that the battery does not return to the operation state again. I do.

In addition, means for setting the driving time of the information processing apparatus by a battery is provided, and when the battery voltage for stopping the operation by the battery driving is set, the driving time of the information processing apparatus by the battery is set instead of the setting. You can also

Further, means for setting the backup time of the volatile storage means is provided, and when setting the battery voltage for stopping the operation by battery driving, the backup time of the volatile storage means is set instead of the setting. You can also.

The display means displays, for example, the relative relationship between the backup time (days) and the main battery drive time. Thus, the relationship between the backup time, the main battery voltage, and the main battery drive time can be visually recognized from the display.

More specifically, a battery voltage detector for detecting the voltage of the volatile main battery is provided, and the battery voltage is monitored by the battery voltage detector. Under this monitoring, the battery voltage gradually decreases according to the operation of the information processing apparatus. At this time, when the battery voltage decreases to the set voltage, an operation stop signal is generated. Thereby, the information processing device stops the operation and shifts the volatile storage device to the backup state.

The battery voltage detecting section has a comparator, and sets the operation stop voltage input from the input device section by the control section, compares the set voltage with the battery voltage by the comparator, and determines whether the monitored battery voltage is high. When the operation stop voltage is reached, the operation of the information processing apparatus is stopped, and the information processing apparatus shifts to the backup state. The operator can arbitrarily set the data retention time by changing the setting of the operation stop voltage in accordance with an input from the input device.

In the following embodiment, the volatile storage means for holding data by the above-mentioned battery power supply is in the backup memory unit 105, the battery power supply is in the main battery 101,
The means for monitoring the battery power supply and detecting the remaining battery charge corresponds to the battery voltage detecting unit 103, and the means for setting the battery voltage for stopping the operation by battery driving corresponds to the input unit 107 and the control unit 104, respectively.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This information processing device 1
Is a hand-held computer (H / PC), also called a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and includes a main body 11 and a lid 12. The main body 11 has a keyboard 1
3 is provided, and a liquid crystal display device 14 as a display means is provided inside the lid 12. Input information from the keyboard 13 is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 14. In addition, a pointing device 15 is provided on the keyboard 13, and a right button 16 and a left button 17 are provided on the left side in the figure on the front side of the keyboard 13, respectively, so that input can be performed without using a touch panel.
The input operability is improved. Note that a speaker 18 is provided on the right side.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 104 and a main battery 1 that supplies power to the control unit 104.
01 and the sub-battery 102, a battery voltage detection unit 103 for detecting the voltage of the main battery 101, a backup memory unit 105 connected to the control unit 104 via a bus,
It basically includes a nonvolatile memory unit 106, an input device unit 107, a display control unit 108, and a communication control unit 109.

The main battery 101 is a battery for driving the main body. The power supply from the main battery 101 causes the battery voltage detecting unit 103, the control unit 104, and other devices to operate. The sub-battery 102 supplies power for retaining data in the backup memory unit 105 when the battery voltage of the main battery 101 decreases or when the main battery 101 is removed for replacement. The battery voltage detection unit 103 is a unit that detects the voltage of the main battery 101. When the voltage of the main battery 101 decreases, an operation stop signal is generated and transmitted to the control unit 104.

The control unit 104 is a central part of the information processing apparatus 1, and reads / writes from / to the backup memory unit 105 and the non-volatile memory unit 106, controls input from the input device unit 107, controls display on the display processing unit 108, Communication processing unit 109
When the remaining capacity of the main battery 101 is reduced based on the communication control to the main battery 101 and the command from the battery voltage detecting unit 103, the backup memory unit 105 is set in the backup state, and the other device units 106, 107,
Reference numerals 8 and 109 have a function of stopping operation and reducing power consumption.

The backup memory unit 105 is a DRAM
It is a volatile memory such as (dynamic random access memory) and stores work data and the like when the control unit 104 operates. Nonvolatile memory unit 106
Is a non-volatile memory such as a mask ROM,
A program for operating the control unit 104 is stored.
The input device 107 is a keyboard 13 in this embodiment.
, So that the operator can perform a key input to the information processing apparatus. Display unit 108
Is composed of a liquid crystal display device 14 in this embodiment,
The display is performed based on the command of the control unit 104. The communication control unit 109 includes a modem and its input / output control circuit,
Data communication is performed via a public line based on a command of the control unit 104.

The details of the battery voltage section 103 are shown in the block diagram of FIG. In the figure, the battery voltage detection unit 103
It mainly comprises an A / D converter 201, a selector 205, and a comparator 206 which compares the outputs from the A / D converter 201 and the selector 205 and selects one of the outputs. The selector 205 includes the comparison data latch 20
2, the output of the adder 204 that adds the output of the comparison data latch 202 and the output of the increased voltage data 203 are input, and the selector 205 responds to the operation stop signal output from the comparator 206. Select one of the outputs.

More specifically, the A / D converter 2
01 converts an input main battery voltage into an analog-digital signal and outputs digital data. In the comparison data latch 202, the main battery voltage for stopping the operation from the control unit 104 is set as digital data. In other words, the control unit 104 sets data in the comparison data latch 202 according to the main battery voltage setting from the operator via the input device unit 107. Fixed digital data is set in the increase voltage data 203. The adder 204 adds the digital data of the comparison data latch 202 and the digital data of the increased voltage data 203 and outputs the result.
The selector 205 includes the comparison data latch 202 and the adder 2
04 is selected and output.
The selection condition is that the data of the comparison data latch 202 is selected when the operation stop signal output from the comparator 206 is invalid, and the data of the adder 204 is selected when the operation stop signal is valid. The comparator 206 is the A / D converter 2
01 is compared with the data of the selector 205, and A /
If the data of the D converter 201 is larger, the operation stop signal is invalidated, and if the data of the A / D converter 201 is smaller, the operation stop signal is valid.

While the information processing apparatus 1 is operating, the display unit 1
08 is operating, the current value driven from the battery is large, and the voltage of the main battery 101 is
The voltage drops due to the internal resistance of 1. While the information processing apparatus 1 is operating, the voltage of the main battery 101
When the value becomes equal to or less than the value set to 02, the comparator 206
Makes the operation stop signal valid. In response to the operation stop signal, the control unit 104 puts the backup memory unit 105 into a backup state. The backup state means a self-refresh mode of the DRAM. Further, the control unit 104 stops the operations of the input device unit 107, the display device 108, and the communication control unit 109.

As described above, the information processing apparatus shifts to the low power consumption state, and the power of the main battery 101 is used only for backup of the backup memory 105. At this time, the information processing apparatus shifts from a state where the current consumption is large during operation to a state where the current consumption is small in the backup state, so that the output current also decreases and the voltage of the main battery 101 increases accordingly.

On the other hand, the increased voltage data 203 sets the voltage rise of the main battery 101 after shifting to the operation stop state from the operation stop voltage at the time of operation of the information processing apparatus 1, and the load current becomes lighter. It has a function to prevent a malfunction that returns to an operable state again due to this.

The backup state is released when the main battery 101 is replaced or the main battery 101 is charged by the power supply from the external power supply, and the voltage of the main battery 101 increases to the operation stop voltage. This is when the voltage is restored to a value equal to or higher than the voltage obtained by adding the data.

The relationship between the remaining capacity of the battery and the output voltage of the battery is determined by the type of battery, and the relationship between the output voltage of the main battery 101 and the battery operating time of the information processing apparatus 1 or the The relationship between the output voltage of the information processing device 101 and the backup time of the volatile memory of the information processing device 1 can be easily obtained because the current consumption during operation and the current consumption during backup of the information processing device 1 are known. Therefore, when setting the operation stop voltage of the information processing apparatus 1, the operator can also set the battery drive operation time or the backup time of the information processing apparatus 1. In this case, the control unit 104 performs a process of converting a set value corresponding to the time input from the keyboard 13 of the input device unit 107 into a set value of the voltage.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a display screen for setting the backup time and the battery drive time from the keyboard 13 with reference to the liquid crystal display device 14 of the information processing apparatus 1.
As can be seen from FIG. 4, a backup of at least three days is possible with the sub-battery 102, but if the backup time is set to 33 days as in the screen example 301, the battery drive time will be three hours. Similarly, if the backup time is set to 15 days as in the screen example 302, the battery drive time is 6 hours.

Instead of automatically setting the drive time of the main battery 101 by setting the backup time, the backup time can also be set automatically by setting the drive time of the main battery 101. .

FIG. 5 shows how the backup time setting is converted into the main battery voltage, and the voltage data is compared with the comparison data latch 20.
It is a flowchart which sets to 2. In this process, the backup time is stored in the display screen of the information processing apparatus 1 as shown in FIG.
Is set from the keyboard 13 while watching (Step 401), the control unit 104 of the information processing apparatus 1 converts the backup time into a main battery voltage (Step 402).
Set the voltage data in the comparison data latch (Step 4)
03). The conversion processing in step 402 is for obtaining a voltage value to be set in the comparison data latch from the backup time based on the conversion table shown in FIG. 6, and the backup time is in units of several days. It is also possible to use a daily basis. Although the main battery voltage and the main battery drive time are obtained from the backup time, the main battery voltage and the backup time can be easily obtained from the main battery drive time by using the table in FIG. FIG. 6 can be obtained from the characteristics of the main battery, the current consumption when the main battery is driven, and the backup current, and this relationship can be displayed as in FIG. 4 described above.

In this embodiment, the keyboard 13 is exemplified as an input device, but other known input devices such as a touch panel can be used. Further, a portable display device such as a plasma display can be used in place of the liquid crystal display device 14.

In the present embodiment, the main battery 101
A / D converter was adopted as the voltage detector of
Those skilled in the art can easily perform D / A conversion of the comparison data and compare the data as analog data by a comparator.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the battery voltage value for stopping the use of the device is made variable, and the input device 1
07, for example, by setting the battery voltage value from the keyboard 13, the operator can freely set the time during which data can be retained after the device is stopped using. Thereby, loss of data can be prevented. That is, when the operator holds important data due to the importance of the data backed up due to the consumption of the battery, the use time of the information processing apparatus 1 is reduced and the battery capacity used for the backup is increased. Can be set according to the operator's intention, and usability can be improved.

Further, since the information processing device 1 consumes a very small amount of current in the backup state as compared with the current consumed during operation, if the operation stop voltage is variable as described above, the operating time by battery driving is reduced. By slightly shortening, the backup time can be greatly extended.

Further, in this embodiment, since the battery voltage can be set not by the setting of the battery voltage which is difficult for the operator to understand, but by the operation time by the battery driving or the backup time of the data, the usability is very good. I have.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operator can arbitrarily change the set value of the battery voltage that disables the operation, so that the length of the backup time can be arbitrarily determined by the remaining battery capacity. Can be set. This allows the operator to freely set the time during which the data can be retained after the information processing apparatus becomes unusable, thereby improving the usability of this type of apparatus.

Further, according to the present invention, when setting the time during which data can be retained, the set contents can easily be set by the operator in relation to the backup time, the main battery voltage, and the main battery drive time. You can figure out.

Further, according to the present invention, when the remaining capacity of the battery is reduced and the operation by the battery drive is stopped, the detected value of the battery voltage for stopping the operation by the battery drive is increased by a certain value. Is not released, and the data can be reliably retained.

Further, according to the present invention, the driving time of the information processing apparatus by the battery is set by the means for setting the driving time of the information processing apparatus by the battery instead of the setting of the battery voltage at which the operation by the battery driving is stopped. Therefore, the setting contents can be grasped specifically for the operator, and the usability can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the backup time of the volatile storage means can be set by the means for setting the backup time of the volatile storage means instead of the setting of the battery voltage for stopping the operation by the battery drive. Therefore, the setting contents can be specifically grasped for the operator, and the usability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating details of a battery voltage detection unit of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen for setting a backup time and a battery driving time from a display screen of the information processing apparatus 1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for converting a setting of a backup time into a main battery voltage and setting voltage data in a comparison data latch.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship among a backup time, a main battery voltage, and a main battery drive time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 information processing device 13 keyboard 14 liquid crystal display device 101 main battery 102 sub battery 103 battery voltage detection unit 104 control unit 105 backup memory unit 106 nonvolatile memory unit 107 input device unit 108 display device unit 109 communication control unit 201 A / D conversion Unit 202 comparison data latch 203 increased voltage data 204 adder 205 selector 206 comparator

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus, comprising: volatile storage means for holding data by a battery power supply; when the remaining capacity of the battery is reduced, operation by battery driving is stopped, and the battery is used only for holding data in the storage means. A battery for monitoring battery power and detecting remaining battery capacity; and for setting a battery voltage to stop operation by battery driving, wherein an operator stops the operation by battery driving by the setting means. An information processing apparatus wherein a set value of a voltage can be arbitrarily changed. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content of the setting is displayed on a display when the setting is performed by the setting unit. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the remaining capacity of the battery is reduced and the operation by battery driving is stopped,
An information processing apparatus, wherein a detected value of a battery voltage for stopping operation by battery driving is increased by a certain value. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for setting a driving time of the information processing apparatus using a battery, wherein when setting a battery voltage for stopping operation by battery driving, a battery is used instead of the setting. An information processing apparatus characterized by setting a drive time of the information processing apparatus according to (1). 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when a driving time is set in the information processing apparatus, a relationship between a backup time and a main battery driving time is displayed on a display device. Processing equipment. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for setting a backup time of the volatile storage means, wherein when setting a battery voltage for stopping operation by battery driving, volatile storage is used instead of the setting. An information processing apparatus, wherein a backup time of a means is set. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a backup time is set in the information processing apparatus.
An information processing apparatus for displaying a relationship between a backup time and a main battery driving time on a display device.