JP2002149288A - Power control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To overcome the problems of a prior art such that the limit of power supply capacity is exceeded when an unspecific expansion device is connected to an information processor to which an expansion device can be connected and that user information is sometimes lost in such a case. SOLUTION: This information processor to which the expansion device can be connected has a means capable of reading the power consumption of each connected device and controls the power on/off of each device on the basis of the information on the power consumption. The limit of power supply capacity is prevented from being exceeded by providing each device with a power consumption register and a power supply switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a power control system for an information processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Under the circumstance where the performance of personal computers (hereinafter abbreviated as personal computers) is remarkably improved, the power consumption tends to increase as the performance is improved. For example, a higher operating frequency of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), higher performance of a graphics board,
This is due to an increase in the rotation speed of a DD (HardDiskDrive). Although the rate of increase of these is suppressed by technological innovation in the manufacturing process of the semiconductor element and the reduction of the voltage, it is true that the rate of increase is in the direction of increase.

[0003] On the other hand, the trend in the world is to promote energy saving, and it is not a situation that the power consumed only by the information processing device is allowed to increase.
Under these circumstances, power control methods have been devised from various viewpoints. The ideas are categorized and described below.

[0004] 1. Method for Reducing Power Consumption of Certain Components A typical method is to reduce the total power consumption by stopping unused or low-priority devices. For example, JP-A-2-176921 and JP-A-8-683 have been devised. By taking these measures, it is possible to reduce the power consumption depending on the usage status of the user, even if the devices have the same configuration.

[0005] 2. How to control the power consumption of extension devices Personal computers generally have an extension interface. JP-A-5-15872 discloses a power control method for devices connected to these extended interfaces.

[0006] 3. A method of setting the maximum value of power consumption per unit and operating with less than this power consumption This technology is considered from the viewpoint of office power design. As the name suggests, each personal computer is currently in use. When power exceeding the power design value of the office is used, there is a risk that information being created is lost due to a breaker tripping. Therefore, as a method of defining the maximum power consumption of each personal computer and controlling the operation so as to operate within the power consumption, there is JP-A-9-251134.

[0007]

However, there is a problem that cannot be solved by using the above technique.

As described above, an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer is provided with an extended interface. This is provided for connecting an expansion board or the like having various functions. Generally, a built-in expansion board or the like receives power supply from this expansion interface. Currently, the interface generally used in personal computers is PCI (Peripheral Components Interconnect), but the standard of these boards consumes a maximum of 25 W of power. On the other hand, many tower-type personal computers have a PCI connector of about 5 slots. If a device using a large-capacity power supply is designed so that it operates even if any expansion board is inserted, there is no problem in use.
However, generally existing PCI expansion boards do not consume much power. Generally, it is several watts. In view of these, it is considered that the above-described device is a device having an excessive specification except in rare cases. On the other hand, in consideration of the problem described in the item 3 above, when a device having the excessive power specification is put in each office, it is needless to say that the power equipment also needs to have a correspondingly large capacity. Considered specifically, there are three personal computers in an office, each of which is 1W / h larger than the actual power used.
Equipment that can be used extra W / h must be provided.
This is considered to be a wasteful cost both in terms of cost and environment. Although it is possible to prevent this problem to some extent by using the technology of item 3 described above, when an expansion board or the like that actually uses large power is mounted, the expansion board consumes power when the power is turned on. To begin, it is virtually impossible to reduce the maximum power below the threshold.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a device for holding power consumption information which can be read from a power supply controller in each device, and a central processing unit for controlling a maximum suppliable power of a power supply. Provided is a power control method including a means that can be known and a power control circuit that reads the information and controls the power of each device.

The present invention also provides an apparatus using the above power control method, wherein the power supply is started only with a minimum power when the power is turned on, the power supply has maximum power information readable from a power supply controller, Provided is a power control method having a means capable of issuing a warning to a user.

[0011]

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a central control device such as a CPU, 2 is a power supply device, 3 is suppliable power information prepared in a power supply, and 4 is a bus for the central control device 1 to read a suppliable power information register 3 from the power supply device 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a device 1 and 6 connected to the central controller 1. Reference numeral 5 denotes a power ON / OF of the device 5.
F, a power control register for holding power information of the device 5, 9 a central control unit 1
The device 10 is connected to the power supply of the device 9 /
A power control register for controlling OFF, 11 is a device 9
A power information register for holding power information of the power supply;
A bus 12 for / OFF control, and a power information read bus 12 for connecting the device 5 and the device 9 to the central controller 1.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. When the power is turned on by the user,
First, the central controller 1 reads the power information that can be supplied by the power supply device 2 from the suppliable power information register 3 through the bus 4. At this point, the devices 5 and 9 are in the power-off state. However, the power control register 6, the power information register 7, the power control register 10, and the power information register 11 are in a readable and writable state. The central controller 1 reads the power consumption information of the device 15 from the power information register 7 through the power information reading bus 12. Thereafter, the central controller 1 reads out the power consumption information of the device 9 from the power information register 11 through the power information reading bus 12. After reading the power information up to the last device, the central controller 1 compares the power that can be supplied by the power supply 2 with the sum of the power consumed by the central controller 1, the device 5, and the power control register 6, and Determine if there are any issues with the configuration. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the total power consumption does not exceed the power that can be supplied by the power supply device 2. If it is determined that the power is not exceeded, the central controller 1 writes information for turning on the power of the device 5 to the power control register 6 through the power on / off control bus 8. After that, the central controller 1 turns on / off the power.
Information for turning on the power is written to the power control register 10 through the FF control bus 8. Thereafter, a normal startup sequence starts. On the other hand, when the sum of the power consumption exceeds the suppliable power of the power supply device 2, the central control device 1 notifies the user that the sum of the power consumption of each device exceeds the suppliable power of the power supply device 2. Give a warning. Stop after displaying the warning. The warning may be transmitted by any means such as a beep sound, a screen display, and an LED. In addition, the operation after transmitting the warning may be any procedure. In this example, the operation is stopped after the warning is displayed, but the power of each device is turned on.
You can start it without it. Further, a device within the limit of the power supply capacity may be turned on. Further, in the present embodiment, the suppliable power information of the power supply is read from the power supply, but the central control device 1 may have the information without reading it from the power supply. Regarding the power consumption of each device, if a device that does not meet the specifications of this embodiment is connected,
The power consumption information may be stored in the central control device 1 in advance and used. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the power of each device is turned on at the beginning of the start-up of the device.
nSystem) uses the power supply separately when using the device.
N / OFF control may be performed.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention showing the configuration of the device. 13 is a device, 14 is a 12V power line, 15 is a 5V power line, 16 is a 3.3V power line, 17 is a system bus for connecting the central controller 1 to each device, 18 is another device, Reference numeral 20 denotes a bus I / F block of the device 13; 19, a bus connecting the system bus 17 to the bus I / F block 20;
Is a functional block that performs the main function of the device 13, and 24 is a functional block 23 with a 12V power supply line 14 to 3.3V.
A power switch for controlling whether or not the power line of the power line 16 is connected to the functional block 23; a power switch control signal 22 for controlling the device power switch 24;
This is a bus that transfers data coming via the F block 20 to the function block 23.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The system bus 17 includes a signal line and a power supply line. In the figure, the power supply lines are shown as being divided into a 12V power supply line 14, a 5V power supply line 15, a 3.3V power supply line 16, and a signal line being divided into a bus 19. Power supply lines such as the 12V power supply line 14 are connected to the bus I /
Although it is directly supplied to the F block 20, it is connected to the functional block 23 via the device power switch 24. Therefore, when the power to the system device is turned on, the power supplied from the system bus 17 is supplied only to the bus I / F block 20 in the device 13. As described in the first embodiment, the central controller 1 initially reads the power consumption information of the device 13 from the power information register 11 through the system bus 17 and the bus 19. If it is determined that there is no problem with turning on the power, the power control register 10 is written to the power control register 10 through the system bus 17 and the bus 19, and information of power ON is written. Bus I /
The F block 20 turns on the device power switch 24 through the power switch control signal 22 based on the information written in the power control register 10. With this operation, the functional block 23 is supplied with electric power and starts operating.
Thereafter, similarly, the device 18 and other devices start operating, and the apparatus starts up.

In this embodiment, the power supply line is set to 5 V / 12 V
/3.3 V, but there may be more or less types.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. 2
Reference numeral 5 denotes a display device required when the system starts, 26 denotes an HDD (HardDiskDrive) which is a device required when the system starts, 27 denotes an expansion device that is not particularly required for starting the device, and 28 denotes a device. Is an extension device that is not particularly required for activation of the device, and 29 is an extension device that is not particularly required for activation of the apparatus.

Hereinafter, a specific operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The central controller 1 knows that its own power consumption is 45 W at the maximum. We also know that power can be supplied up to 1W. Under this condition, the power consumption from the display device 25 to the extension device 29 is read to be 65 W in total.
In this case, the central control device 1 can take the following operations according to the user settings.

Case 1: The power is turned on until the power can be turned on in accordance with the priority order. The priority order of the devices is set as display device 25> HDD 26> expansion device 27> expansion device 28> expansion device 29. The power of the display device 25 is turned on (75 W in total). The power of HDD 26 is turned on (90 W in total). The power of the extension device 27 is turned on (95 W in total). The power of the extension device 28 is turned on (100 W in total). After notifying the user as a warning message that the device is not running, start the device.

Case 2: A warning message is issued and the device is stopped without turning on the power of the expansion device. The display device 25 is turned on (total 75 W). The HDD 26 is turned on (total 90 W). Thereafter, the user is notified that the maximum power exceeds the power capability and the device is stopped.

Case 3: The expansion device is started up without turning on the power. Turn on the power of the display device 25 (75 W in total) Turn on the power of the HDD 26 (90 W in total) Notify the user that the power to the extension device has not been turned on, and start the device. Subsequent processing is left to the OS. The OS controls the power ON / OFF of the extension device in real time while grasping the total power consumption, and controls the power so as not to exceed the maximum power supply of the power supply.

[0021]

According to the present invention, when various devices are incorporated in an information processing apparatus in a user-unspecified combination, the user is notified that the maximum power supply of the power supply has been exceeded, thereby preventing loss of information. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Central control device, 2: Power supply device, 3: Suppliable power information register, 4: Bus, 5: Device, 6: Power control register, 7: Power information register, 8: Power ON / OFF
Control bus, 9: device, 10: power control register, 11: power information register, 12: power information read bus, 13: device, 14: 12V power line, 15: 5V power line, 16: 3.3 V power line, 17: system bus, 18: device, 19: bus, 20: bus I / F block, 21: bus, 22: power switch control signal, 23: functional block, 24: device power switch 25: display device, 26: HDD, 2
7: expansion device, 28: expansion device, 29: expansion device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] An information processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of devices; a central processing unit; and a power supply controller that controls power supply to the central processing unit and the plurality of devices. A power control method comprising: means for holding readable power consumption information; and a power control circuit for reading the power consumption information and performing power control of each device based on the maximum suppliable power of a power supply. 2. The power control method according to claim 1, wherein the operation is started only with a minimum power when the power is turned on, the power is provided with maximum power information readable from the power controller, and a warning is issued to the user. A power control method having a means for emitting.