JP2010123028A - Information processor and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem wherein a contrivance is desired not to delay a response to a command, when using a Slumber state with the most reduced current consumption, in case of using an HIPM standard being a standard for reducing a current consumption, using an SATA for an interface between an optical disk device (ODD) and a PC. <P>SOLUTION: A partial state of short restoration time is brought after the command of high generation frequency such as a Read/Write command is generated, when transited to a consumed current reduced state, and the current consumption is reduced with priority as the Slumber state, after the command of low generation frequency is generated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of reducing current consumption.

  In an interface (hereinafter abbreviated as IF) system between a control unit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an optical disc device (hereinafter abbreviated as ODD) in a PC (Personal Computer), the processing speed is increased. In order to save space, PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) that sends data in parallel has shifted to SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) that sends data in series.

  Since SATA has a higher transmission speed than PATA, reduction of current consumption is an important issue. This is an important issue particularly when applied to a portable notebook PC using a battery as a power source. For this reason, the logic level is changed from the conventional 5V / 0V to 0.5V / 0V.

  In addition, a method for reducing current consumption without affecting the basic operation has been proposed by devising a circuit control method related to IF. Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a technique for providing a plurality of power save modes to reduce current consumption.

JP 2008-186462 A JP 2006-99665 A

In the SATA standard, there is an option standard called HIPM (Host Initiated Power Management) for reducing the current consumption of circuits related to IF. This is characterized in that communication is interrupted and current consumption is reduced in response to a request from the control unit of the PC. This will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a state of current consumption control in the HIPM standard. There are three current consumption control states called Active, Partial, and Slumber. In FIG. 1, the contents, recovery time, and current consumption are described for each state.

In the active state, a logic circuit that generates a physical logic signal and a PLL (Phase Lock Loop) circuit that generates an operation clock are operating, and data can be transmitted and received. The current consumption is the largest among the three states.
In the partial state, power is supplied to the logic circuit, but at least the logic circuit has stopped operating and data cannot be transmitted / received. The time required to return to Active is as short as 10 microseconds or less. The current consumption is intermediate among the three states.
In the Slumber state, power is supplied to the logic circuit, but the operation of both the logic circuit and the PLL circuit is stopped, and data cannot be transmitted / received. The time required to return to Active is as long as 10 milliseconds or less. Current consumption is the lowest among the three.

  Note that the operation of the circuit in the above-described Partial and Slumber is an example. An essential item in these states is the return time to the active state, and if this is satisfied, the operation of the circuit different from the above may be used.

  Next, an example of the state transition between these three states will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a transition diagram showing an example using the HIPM standard. Of these, FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are examples of state transition diagrams. FIG. 2C is a transition diagram of current consumption corresponding to FIG. 2B. The horizontal axis indicates elapsed time, the vertical axis indicates current consumption, and the white arrow indicates a command from the control unit of the ODD PC. Indicates the timing of receiving.

  FIG. 2A shows a relationship between a command issued by the control unit of the PC and state transition. Steps S21 to S27 correspond to steps S21 to S27 in FIGS. 2B and 2C. In SATA, communication between the control unit of the PC and the ODD is performed using Power Management information for controlling the power supply. Commands include PMREQ_P (transition request to partial) requesting transition from Active to Partial, PMREQ_S (transition request to Slumber) requesting transition from Active to Slumber, COMWAKE to transition from Partial to Slumber to Active (Request for transition to Active). In this way, the current consumption is reduced by creating a partial or slumber state.

  FIG. 2B shows an example of state transition, and FIG. 2C shows the transition of current consumption corresponding to this. In step S21, the control unit and the ODD of the PC are in an active state and perform processing according to commands such as recording and reproduction. After this process is completed, the control unit of the PC issues PMREQ_P to the ODD so as to shift to the partial state in step S22. As a result, the ODD is in a partial state, and current consumption is reduced.

  Next, the control unit of the PC issues COMWAKE so as to shift to the active state in step S23. As a result, the state becomes Active, and then command processing is performed in step S24. After this processing is completed, the control unit of the PC issues PMREQ_S so as to shift to the Slumber state in step S25. As a result, the state becomes Slumber and the current consumption is further reduced.

  Next, the control unit of the PC issues COMWAKE so as to shift to the active state in step S26. As a result, the state becomes Active, and then command processing is performed in step S27. Thereafter, the same state transition is performed until all operations are completed, for example, by turning off the power of the apparatus.

  By the way, the current PC does not use Slumber among HIPM standards. As described above, in the Slumber state, there is an advantage that the current consumption can be minimized, but it takes a long time to return to the Active state. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a transition diagram showing an example of transition of current consumption. FIG. 3A shows a case of returning from Partial to Active, and FIG. 3B shows a case of returning from Slumber to Active. In both cases, immediately after the PMREQ_P to PMREQ_S are received and the current consumption is reduced, COMWAKE is issued and the operation of returning to the active state is continued four times. As described above, FIG. 3A corresponds to an example in the current PC, and although the effect of reducing current consumption is not so great, the recovery time from Partial to Active is short (up to 10 microseconds in the standard) and temporarily. There is almost no influence on the processing operation by reducing the current consumption.

  In FIG. 3B, the current consumption is greatly reduced, but it takes a long time to recover from Slumber to Active (maximum of 10 milliseconds in the standard). Takes up to about 40 milliseconds. This often results in performance degradation such that processing cannot catch up when handling large volumes of data that are issued frequently, such as recording or playback (Read / Write) commands. For this reason, the Slumber state is not currently used in the PC.

  However, reduction of current consumption is an important theme for portable notebook PCs and the like, and it will be necessary to develop a method for utilizing the state of Slumber with low current consumption by devising usage in the future.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an optical disc apparatus, an information processing apparatus, and an information processing method capable of reducing current consumption in response to this problem.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a first operation mode for performing information processing, a second operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode, and current consumption in comparison with the second operation mode. An information processing apparatus having an optical disk device having at least three operation modes including a smaller third operation mode, issuing a command for controlling the optical disk device, and starting from the first operation mode When issuing a request to shift to an operation mode in which the current consumption is smaller than that of the first operation mode, a request to shift to the second operation mode by referring to a command issued immediately before the operation mode or the third operation mode It has a control unit that selects and issues one of the requests to be transferred to.

  The present invention also includes a first operation mode that is controlled by a command generated by a control unit outside the apparatus and performs information processing, a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode, An information processing apparatus including an optical disc apparatus having at least three operation modes including a third operation mode in which current consumption is further smaller than that of the second operation mode, wherein the first operation is performed by the external control unit. When a request for instructing a transition from an operation mode to an operation mode with a smaller current consumption than the first operation mode is received, the command received immediately before is referred to, and the second to third operation modes are referred to. It has an optical disk control circuit for selecting which of the operation modes to shift to.

  The present invention also provides a first operation mode controlled by a command and performing information processing, a second operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode, and current consumption in comparison with the second operation mode. Is an information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including a smaller third operation mode, and whether the command received immediately before was an instruction for recording or reproduction When the determination step determines that the command is a command for recording or reproduction, the operation that consumes less current than the first operation mode is performed next from the first operation mode. When a request for instructing the mode transition is received, the mode is shifted to the second operation mode.

  The present invention also provides a first operation mode controlled by a command and performing information processing, a second operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode, and current consumption in comparison with the second operation mode. Is an information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including a smaller third operation mode, and whether the command received immediately before was an instruction for recording or reproduction A determination step that compares the size of data to be processed with the command with a predetermined value when the determination step determines that the command is an instruction to record or reproduce in the determination step, and the comparison step When the data size is smaller than the predetermined value, the current consumption is smaller from the first operation mode than in the first operation mode. Upon receiving a request that instructs a transition to the operation mode it had, is characterized in that the process proceeds to the second operation mode.

  The present invention also provides a first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing, a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode, and a current consumption that is less than the second operation mode. Is an information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including a smaller third operation mode, and whether the command issued immediately before was an instruction for recording or reproduction When the determination step determines that the command is a command for recording or reproduction, the operation that consumes less current than the first operation mode is performed next from the first operation mode. When the request for instructing the mode transition is issued, the mode is shifted to the second operation mode.

  The present invention also provides a first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing, a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode, and a current consumption that is less than the second operation mode. Is an information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including a smaller third operation mode, and whether the command issued immediately before was an instruction for recording or reproduction A determination step that compares the size of data to be processed with the command with a predetermined value when the determination step determines that the command is an instruction to record or reproduce in the determination step, and the comparison step When the data size is smaller than the predetermined value, the current consumption is smaller from the first operation mode than in the first operation mode. Upon issuing a request to instruct the transition to the operation mode, it is characterized in that the process proceeds to the second operation mode.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing method capable of reducing current consumption, and in particular, it is possible to realize an easy-to-use information processing apparatus and information processing method with a long battery life in a portable notebook PC or the like. effective.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. The operation will be described based on this.
In FIG. 4, the control unit 41 of the entire PC includes a CPU, where a command is generated and transmitted to the ODD 42. In the ODD 42, this command is received by the SATA control circuit 421 that performs the power consumption control described above. In accordance with the received command, the SATA control circuit 421 performs state control so that, for example, the IF unit is in one of the above-described Active, Partial, and Slumber states. If the command is Read / Write, the recording / playback unit 422 performs operations such as data recording and playback.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 (a) is an operation flowchart, and FIG. 5 (b) is a transition diagram of current consumption. Based on this, a method for controlling a state related to current consumption will be described.
In this embodiment, a request related to HIPM is generated by the control unit 41 of the PC, and PMREQ_S for transitioning to the Slumber state is not used. Therefore, in order to make a transition to a state where the current consumption is reduced, it is originally only PMREQ_P for making a transition to the partial state. In response to this request, the ODD 42 makes a transition to a partial or slumber state depending on the situation. That is, even if it is PMREQ_P of Partial request | requirement, it changes to Slumber by judgment of ODD42, and it is characterized by the fact that current consumption may be reduced further.

As shown in FIG. 5B, when PMREQ_P is issued after receiving a command that is issued relatively infrequently, the ODD 42 transitions to the Slumber state and greatly reduces the current consumption. When PMREQ_P is issued after receiving a recording or reproducing command (Read / Write), the ODD 42 transitions to the Partial state so as not to adversely affect the processing operation.
The Read / Write command is not shown in FIG. 5B, but the Read / Write command is issued immediately after each COMWAKE.

  Returning to FIG. 5A, the operation flow will be described. The flow is started when the ODD 42 receives a command from the control unit 41 of the PC. In step S51, the SATA control circuit 421 determines whether the received command is a Read / Write command. If it is a Read / Write command (Yes in the figure), in step S52, the SATA control circuit 421 determines to transit to the Partial state when PMREQ_P is next received and ends the flow. If it is not a Read / Write command (No in the figure), the SATA control circuit 421 decides to transition to the Slumber state the next time PMREQ_P is received in Step S53 and ends the flow.

  FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart showing another embodiment of the present invention. Here, it is further characterized in that the state of Partial is selected when it is small, and the state of Slumber is selected when it is large, according to the capacity of data transmitted and received between the control unit 41 and the ODD 42. Since the processing time is short when the data capacity is small, the next command is often generated at short time intervals, but the opposite is often the case when the data capacity is large. It is a thing.

  The flow is started when the ODD 42 receives a command from the control unit 41 of the PC. In step S61, the SATA control circuit 421 determines whether the received command is a Read / Write command. If it is not a Read / Write command (No in the figure), the SATA control circuit 421 decides to transition to the Slumber state next time PMREQ_P is received in Step S62 and ends the flow. If the result of determination in step S61 is a Read / Write command (Yes in the figure), in step S63, the SATA control circuit 421 has a capacity of data to be transmitted and received of, for example, 32 blocks (generally in the case of ODD). 1 block is 2048 bytes) or less. If the data capacity is as small as 32 blocks or less (Yes in the figure), in step S64, the SATA control circuit 421 decides to transition to the Partial state when PMREQ_P is next received and ends the flow. . If the result of determination in step S63 is that the data capacity is as large as 32 blocks or more (No in the figure), the SATA control circuit 421 transitions to the Slumber state the next time PMREQ_P is received in step S65. The flow is finished by making such a determination.

As described above, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 shows an example in which the ODD 42 selects which state is to be changed to Partial or Slumber.
In the next embodiment, it is also the control unit 41 of the PC that generates a request related to the HIPM, and uses both the requests for transitioning to the Partial and Slumber states (PMREQ_P and PMREQ_S). In accordance with these requests, the ODD 42 makes a transition to the Partial or Slumber state. It is characterized in that the control unit 41 of the PC determines which of the partial and slumber requests is generated according to the situation.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 (a) is an operation flow diagram, and FIG. 7 (b) is a transition diagram of current consumption. Based on this, a method for controlling a state related to current consumption will be described.
As shown in FIG. 7B, when a request for reducing the current consumption of the ODD 42 is issued after the PC control unit 41 transmits a command that is issued relatively infrequently, a PMREQ_S for making a transition to the Slumber is issued. To do. In response to this, the ODD 42 transits to the Slumber state, and the current consumption is greatly reduced. PMREQ_P is issued when a request to reduce the current consumption of the ODD 42 is generated after sending a recording or reproducing command (Read / Write). In response to this, the ODD 42 transits to the Partial state so as not to adversely affect the processing operation.

  Since the control unit 41 of the PC itself issues a command, whether or not it is the last read / write command even when the read / write command continues (the time until the next read / write command is issued) Can be judged. Therefore, even after the Read / Write command is transmitted, if it is the last Read / Write command, PMREQ_S is issued. In response to this, the ODD 42 transits to the Slumber state, and the current consumption is greatly reduced.

  Returning to FIG. 7A, the operation flow will be described. The flow is started when the control unit 41 of the PC transmits a command to the ODD 42. In step S71, the control unit 41 of the PC determines whether the transmitted command is a Read / Write command. If it is a Read / Write command (Yes in the figure), the control unit 41 of the PC determines in step S72 whether this is the last Read / Write command as described above. If it is not the last read / write command (No in the figure), the control unit 41 of the PC transmits PMREQ_P for making a transition to the partial state when transmitting a request for reducing the current consumption next time in step S73. The flow is finished by making such a determination. If the result of determination in step S71 is not a Read / Write command (No in the figure) and if the result of determination in step S72 is the last Read / Write command (Yes in the figure), step S74 Then, when the control unit 41 of the PC next transmits a request for reducing the current consumption, the control unit 41 determines to transmit PMREQ_S for transition to the Slumber state, and ends the flow.

  FIG. 8 is an operation flow chart showing still another embodiment of the present invention. Here, as in FIG. 6, according to the capacity of data transmitted and received between the control unit 41 and the ODD 42, it is characterized in that the state of Partial is selected when it is small and the state of Slumber is selected when it is large. Since the processing time is short when the data capacity is small, the next command is often generated at short time intervals, but the opposite is often the case when the data capacity is large. It is a thing.

  The flow is started when the control unit 41 of the PC transmits a command to the ODD 42. In step S81, the control unit 41 of the PC determines whether the transmitted command is a Read / Write command. If it is not a Read / Write command (No in the figure), in step S82, the PC control unit 41 decides to transmit PMREQ_S that transitions to the Slumber state when the next request for current consumption reduction is transmitted. To end the flow. If the result of determination in step S81 is a Read / Write command (Yes in the figure), in step S83, the control unit 41 of the PC determines whether the capacity of data to be transmitted / received is, for example, 32 blocks or less. To do. If the data capacity is as small as 32 blocks or less (Yes in the figure), the PC control unit 41 next transmits PMREQ_P that transitions to the Partial state when sending a request for current consumption reduction in Step S84. It decides to transmit and ends the flow. As a result of the determination in step S83, if the data capacity is as large as 32 blocks or more (No in the figure), the control unit 41 of the PC in step S85 next transmits a request for current consumption reduction. Decide to send PMREQ_S to transition to the Slumber state and end the flow.

  The commands other than Read / Write that are issued relatively rarely referred to here are, for example, commands for checking whether or not a recording medium is mounted and its change, and are usually called Get Event / Status Notification commands. Corresponds to this.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but this is an example and does not limit the present invention. The transition of the state of the device and the current consumption is not limited to the example shown here, and the example of 32 blocks per data size is shown, but the value is not limited to this. In addition to the HIPM standard described in this embodiment, various modifications and other standards can be considered as a method for reducing the current consumption so as not to affect the operation. It is in.

It is explanatory drawing of the state of the consumption current control in a HIPM standard. It is a transition diagram showing an example using the HIPM standard. It is a transition diagram showing an example of transition of current consumption. It is a block diagram which shows one Example of this invention. It is an operation | movement flowchart which shows one Example of this invention, and a transition diagram of consumption current. It is an operation | movement flowchart which shows another one Example of this invention. It is the operation | movement flowchart which shows another one Example of this invention, and a transition diagram of consumption current. It is an operation | movement flowchart which shows another one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

41: Control unit 42: ODD
421... SATA control circuit 422.

Claims (10)

A first operation mode for performing information processing, a second operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode, and a third operation mode in which current consumption is further smaller than that in the second operation mode. An information processing apparatus having an optical disc apparatus having at least three operation modes including:
When issuing a command for controlling the optical disc device and issuing a request for shifting from the first operation mode to an operation mode with a smaller current consumption than the first operation mode, the command issued immediately before is issued. An information processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that selects and issues either a request for shifting to the second operation mode or a request for shifting to the third operation mode.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit issues a request to shift to the second operation mode when the command issued immediately before is a command instructing recording or reproduction. If the command is any other command, the information processing apparatus issues a request for shifting to the third operation mode.   2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is a command for instructing recording or reproduction, and a size of data to be processed with the command is smaller than a predetermined value. In the information processing apparatus, a request for shifting to the second operation mode is issued, and in other cases, a request for shifting to the third operation mode is issued. A first operation mode that is controlled by a command generated by a control unit outside the apparatus and performs information processing, a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode, and the second operation mode An information processing apparatus including an optical disc apparatus having at least three operation modes including a third operation mode in which current consumption is further smaller,
When a request for instructing a transition from the first operation mode to an operation mode with a smaller current consumption than the first operation mode is received from the external control unit, refer to the command received immediately before And an optical disc control circuit for selecting which of the second operation mode to the third operation mode to shift to.   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the optical disc control circuit controls the operation so as to shift to the second operation mode when the command received immediately before is a command instructing recording or reproduction. An information processing apparatus characterized by:   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the optical disc control circuit is a command instructed to record or reproduce the command received immediately before, and a size of data to be processed with the command is smaller than a predetermined value. In this case, the information processing apparatus controls the operation so as to shift to the second operation mode. A first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing; a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode; and a third operation that consumes less current than the second operation mode. An information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including:
A determination step for determining whether the command received immediately before was a command for recording or reproduction;
If it is determined in the determination step that the command is an instruction to record or reproduce, then a transition from the first operation mode to an operation mode having a smaller current consumption than the first operation mode is instructed. An information processing method characterized by transitioning to the second operation mode when a request is received. A first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing; a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode; and a third operation that consumes less current than the second operation mode. An information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including:
A determination step for determining whether the command received immediately before was a command for recording or reproduction;
If it is determined in the determination step that the command is an instruction for recording or reproduction, a comparison step for comparing the size of data to be processed with the command with a predetermined value;
When the comparison step determines that the data size is smaller than a predetermined value, a request for instructing a transition from the first operation mode to an operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode. When the information is received, the information processing method shifts to the second operation mode. A first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing; a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode; and a third operation that consumes less current than the second operation mode. An information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including:
A determination step for determining whether the command issued immediately before was a command for recording or reproduction;
If it is determined in the determination step that the command is an instruction to record or reproduce, then a transition from the first operation mode to an operation mode having a smaller current consumption than the first operation mode is instructed. An information processing method characterized by transitioning to the second operation mode when a request is issued. A first operation mode that is controlled by a command and performs information processing; a second operation mode that consumes less current than the first operation mode; and a third operation that consumes less current than the second operation mode. An information processing method for recording or reproducing information having at least three operation modes including:
A determination step for determining whether the command issued immediately before was a command for recording or reproduction;
If it is determined in the determination step that the command is an instruction for recording or reproduction, a comparison step for comparing the size of data to be processed with the command with a predetermined value;
When the comparison step determines that the data size is smaller than a predetermined value, a request for instructing a transition from the first operation mode to an operation mode in which current consumption is smaller than that in the first operation mode. When the information is issued, the information processing method shifts to the second operation mode.

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