JP2002055741A - Power source managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the crash or application setting abnormality of an operating system from being generated when the off function of a power source is made invalid. SOLUTION: When an application or an operating system is locked, and a keyboard or a mouse is made inoperable in a state that an off function by the operation of a power source switch is made invalid, a thread for monitoring a wait timer is started, and when the on/off event of the power source switch is risen five times until a timer event is risen, an application end request is transmitted to the application, and when the end of the application is confirmed, a shutdown request is transmitted to the operating system, and when a shutdown processing end event is received from the operating system, a power source disconnection request is transmitted to a power source driver after a waiting operation in a fixed time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power supply management apparatus for monitoring a power supply section of an information processing apparatus for executing information processing by operating an application on an operating system by a power supply monitoring means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional power management apparatus, for example, a power management apparatus of a business information processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, an application and an operating system (OS) are locked during business processing, and a keyboard and a mouse are operated. If the application is in a state where the power off function is disabled at this time, even if the power switch is operated, the operation is not accepted at all, so the power remains locked to the on state Had become.

[0003]

Therefore, conventionally, when an application or an operating system (OS) is locked in a state where the application is in a state where the power-off function is disabled,
The power is turned off by a forced termination operation called a forced reset, and there is a problem that an operating system crashes or an application setting error occurs.

[0004] Therefore, the present invention allows an application to perform an end process and an operating system to perform a shutdown process even when the application or the operating system is locked in a state where the power-off function is disabled by the application. Provided is a power management device that can turn off the power supply after that, and can prevent a crash of an operating system and an abnormal application setting from occurring.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a power management device in which a power supply monitoring unit monitors an electric power supply unit of an information processing apparatus that performs information processing by operating an application on an operating system, the power supply monitoring unit is configured to perform the operation when the application disables a power-off function. If there is a preset special operation of the power switch, let the application perform the termination process and let the operating system perform the shutdown process, and then send a power-off request to the power supply unit. To turn off the power.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an information processing apparatus, for example, P
P in OS (Point of Sales) system
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an OS terminal. Reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) constituting a control unit main body; 2, a memory such as a ROM for storing program data and a RAM for storing data; A mouse controller, 5 a keyboard controller for driving and controlling a keyboard 6, 7 a display controller for driving and controlling a display 8, 9 a printer controller for driving and controlling a printer 10, and 11 for exchanging information with a host computer as a host device. Do external interface,
A power supply unit 12 supplies power to each unit.

The CPU 1, the memory 2, the controllers 3, 5, 7 and 9, the external interface 11 and the power supply 12 are electrically connected to each other by a bus line 13.

When the POS terminal inputs a PLU (Price Look Up) code attached to a product by operating the keyboard 6 or the mouse 4, the POS terminal sends a product name based on the PLU code to the host computer via the external interface 11. When a product price or the like is inquired and a product name or a product price based on the PLU code is received from the host computer, registration processing is performed. That is, a process of displaying the product price on the display 8, printing the product name and the product price on the receipt paper by the printer 10, and accumulating the product price in the registration memory provided in the memory 2 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 2, an operating system (OS) 21 and software of an application 22 are stored in the memory 2, and a power supply monitoring task (power supply monitoring means) 23 and a power supply The software of the driver 24 is stored. The power supply driver 24 controls the driving of the power supply unit 12. An on / off signal from a power switch 14 is input to the power supply unit 12.

The power monitoring task 23 notifies the application 22 of an application termination request,
Further, a shutdown processing request is transmitted to the operating system 21 and a shutdown processing end event is received from the operating system 21. The power monitoring task 23 receives a power status event from the power driver 24.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the power supply monitoring task 23. In S1, the application 22 and the operating system 21 are locked and the keyboard 6 and the mouse 4
The application 22 and the operating system 21 are checked to see if they can no longer be operated. If the application 22 and the operating system 21 are not locked, the normal business process in S1 is repeated.

When the application 22 and the operating system 21 are locked, it is checked in S3 whether the first on / off event of the power switch 14 has been received from the power supply driver 24. Then, it is checked whether the off function by turning off the power switch 14 is valid or invalid.

If the power-off function of the power switch 14 is turned off, a thread for monitoring the wait timer is started in S5. Then, in S6, the specified number of times until the timer event
For example, it is checked five times whether an ON / OFF event of the power switch 14 has occurred. If the ON / OFF events of the power switch 14 have not been raised by the specified number,
The process returns to the normal business process of S1.

If the number of ON / OFF events of the power switch 14 has increased by the specified number before the timer event increases, an application termination request is transmitted to the application 22 in S7. And S
At 8, the application 22 waits for the termination of the application 22. When the termination of the application 22 is confirmed, a shutdown request is made to the operating system 21 at S9.

In this state, in S10, a shutdown processing end event from the operating system 21 is waited. In S11, when the shutdown processing end event is received, in S12, after waiting for a predetermined time,
In S13, a power-off request is transmitted to the power driver 24.

In such a configuration, when the application disables the power-off function,
When a situation occurs in which the application 22 and the operating system 21 are locked and the keyboard 6 and the mouse 4 cannot be operated during the processing of the normal business, the operator waits for a certain time by the wait timer and waits until the timer event rises. A special operation such as operating the power switch 14 five times is performed.

By performing such a special operation, an application termination request is transmitted from the power monitoring task 23 to the application 22. As a result, the application 22 executes an application termination process. Then, when the application termination processing in the application 22 ends, a shutdown request is transmitted from the power supply monitoring task 23 to the operating system 21 this time.

Thus, the operating system 2
1 executes a shutdown process. When this process ends, the operating system 21 transmits a shutdown process end event to the power monitoring task 23. Upon receiving the shutdown processing end event from the operating system 21, the power monitoring task 23 waits for a certain time and then transmits a power-off request to the power driver 24. Thus, the power supply driver 24 controls the power supply unit 12 to turn off the power.

As described above, in a state where the power-off function is disabled by the application, a situation occurs in which the application 22 and the operating system 21 are locked during normal business processing and the keyboard 6 and the mouse 4 cannot be operated. Even if the operator has the power switch 1
By performing a special operation of operating the device 4 five times within a certain period of time, the application 22 can execute the application termination process, the operating system 21 can execute the shutdown process, and then the power can be turned off. It is possible to prevent a crash or an application setting error from occurring.

In this embodiment, as a special operation of the power switch 14, the case where the power switch 14 is operated five times before the wait timer counts a certain time and the timer event rises has been described. Is, of course, not limited to this.

Further, in this embodiment, as a special operation of the power switch 14, the case where the power switch 14 is operated a predetermined number of times before the wait timer counts a predetermined time and the timer event rises has been described. The present invention is not limited to this, and may be a special operation in which the power switch 14 is continuously turned on for a period of time from when the wait timer measures a certain period of time to when the timer event rises.

That is, as shown in a flow chart of the processing executed by the power supply monitoring task 23 in FIG. 4, after starting a thread for monitoring the wait timer in S5, in S61,
It is checked whether the off event of the power switch 14 has risen before the timer event rises, and if not, a process of transmitting an application termination request to the application 22 in S7 may be performed. Other processes are the same as those of the above-described embodiment.

In this way, in a state where the power-off function is disabled by the application, the application 22 and the operating system 21 are locked during the normal business processing, and the keyboard 6 and the mouse 4 cannot be operated. Even if this occurs, the operator performs a special operation of continuously operating the power switch 14 for a certain period of time or more, causing the application 22 to execute the application termination process and causing the operating system 21 to execute the shutdown process. Power can be turned off. Therefore, even in this case, it is possible to prevent a crash of the operating system and an abnormal application setting from occurring.

[0024]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Even if the application or operating system locks up when the application disables the power off function, the application can perform termination processing and the operating system can perform shutdown processing before turning off the power. In addition, it is possible to prevent the operating system from crashing and application setting errors from occurring.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a POS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main part configuration in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed by a power monitoring task in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing executed by a power supply monitoring task according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Power supply part 14 ... Power switch 21 ... Operating system (OS) 22 ... Application 23 ... Power supply monitoring task 24 ... Power supply driver

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A power management apparatus for monitoring a power supply of an information processing apparatus that performs information processing by operating an application on an operating system, wherein the power supply monitoring means disables a power-off function by the application. In the state where the power switch is turned off, if there is a preset special operation of the power switch, the application performs the termination process and the operating system performs the shutdown process, and then transmits a power-off request to the power supply unit, A power management device which receives a power-off request and turns off the power.