JP2010205303A - Information processor and inspection method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect whether a failure occurs in an information processor, and to immediately notify a user of an inspection result. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor includes: a counter connectable to a server on a network to count the number of times that a state of the information processor changes; an inspecting means for inspecting whether a failure occurs in the information processor when the number of times counted by the counter reaches a predetermined number of times; a data transmitting means for transmitting an inspection result obtained by the inspecting means to the server; a data receiving means for receiving failure information transmitted from another information processor, stored in the server and calculated from the inspection result; and an updating means for updating the predetermined number of times so as to reduce the predetermined number of times in accordance with the failure information received by the data receiving means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for predicting a failure time of an information processing apparatus.

  In an information processing apparatus represented by a notebook personal computer, parts are deteriorated by being used by a user, and a failure may occur due to the deterioration. Normally, a maintenance service provider will perform periodic inspections in advance, or if a minor abnormality occurs, the user will contact the maintenance service provider so that no fatal failure will occur. Measures are taken.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method and an apparatus for remotely monitoring hinge maintenance monitoring information provided in a notebook computer, copying machine, printer, or the like. Information such as an abnormal sound of the hinge, the number of times of opening and closing, temperature, torque, and the like as the monitoring information for maintenance of the hinge is transmitted to the maintenance management server through the network, and the state and usage of the hinge are monitored based on the monitoring information. It is intended to eliminate the inefficiency of periodic maintenance and inspection of the hinge, and to prevent the malfunction and failure of the hinge.

International Publication No. 2004/047042

  However, in the case of the above method, although the monitoring information for maintenance is transmitted to the management server, the user cannot immediately know whether a hinge failure or failure actually occurs or is likely to occur in the future. That is, a step is required in which the maintenance service provider obtains and confirms maintenance monitoring information from the management server, and it is not considered until the information processing apparatus itself executes a test for inspection.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and an inspection method for inspecting whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the information processing apparatus and capable of immediately notifying the user of the inspection result. .

  In order to achieve the above object, for example, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus connectable to a server on a network, the counter counting the number of times the state of the information processing apparatus has changed, and the counter When the number of times counted by the check reaches the prescribed number, the inspection means for inspecting whether or not the information processing apparatus has an abnormality, and data for transmitting the inspection result obtained by the inspection means to the server According to the abnormality information received by the data receiving means, the data receiving means for receiving the abnormality information obtained from the inspection result transmitted from another information processing apparatus and accumulated in the server Updating means for updating so as to reduce the prescribed number of times.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus and an inspection method thereof that can inspect whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the information processing apparatus and can immediately notify the user of the inspection result.

1 is an external perspective view showing a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the failure inspection process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows typically the relationship between the usage time of the computer which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the frequency | count of opening and closing of a display housing | casing. The figure which shows typically the connection of the computer and server which concern on embodiment of this invention which concerns on embodiment of this invention simply.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a notebook computer will be described as an example of the information processing apparatus. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The computer 1 includes a main body housing 2, and a display housing 3 is attached to the main body housing 2 through a hinge 4 so as to be opened and closed. The display housing 3 can be opened and closed at an open position where the upper surface 2 a of the main body housing 2 is exposed and a closed position where the upper surface 2 a of the housing 2 is covered. A display device 3 a composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is incorporated in the display housing 3.

  A circuit board 11 on which a plurality of electronic components are mounted is accommodated in the main body housing 2. A touch pad 5 and a keyboard 6 for performing an input operation by a user are attached to the upper surface 2 a of the main body housing 2. A power switch 7 for turning on / off the computer 1 is also provided on the upper surface 2 a of the main body housing 2.

  The computer 1 according to the present embodiment has a configuration for detecting opening / closing of the display housing 3 and counting the number of opening / closing operations. A magnet 8 is provided in the display housing 3, and a Hall IC 9 is provided in the main body housing 2. When the magnet 8 in the display housing 3 approaches the Hall IC 9 in the main body housing 2, it is recognized that the display housing 3 is in a closed state, and conversely, the magnet 8 in the display housing 3 is displayed in the display housing 2. When the display housing 3 is moved away from the inner hall IC 9, it is recognized that the display housing 3 is in an open state, and the opening / closing of the display housing 3 is detected. In addition to providing the Hall IC 9, a mechanism that interlocks opening / closing of the display housing 3 and turning on / off of a mechanical switch may be employed to detect opening / closing of the display housing 3.

  The counter circuit 10 counts the number of opening and closing of the display housing 3 recognized using the magnet 8 and the Hall IC 9. Either the number of times the display housing 3 is opened or the number of times the display housing 3 is closed may be counted.

  A sub-board 12 is provided on the upper side of the display housing 3 that is farther from the hinge 4 than the main body housing 2. A camera, an antenna, etc. (not shown) are mounted on the sub board 12. The sub board 12 on which the camera and the antenna are mounted and the circuit board 11 provided in the main body housing 2 are connected through a cable 13. This cable 13 is passed through the hinge 4.

  If the display housing 3 is repeatedly opened and closed, the hinge 4 itself may break down or the cable 13 passing through the hinge 4 may break, so it is desirable for the user and the support center to know before the trouble occurs. . A method for predicting the failure time of the apparatus and a method for notifying the user of the prediction result will be described in detail later.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the computer according to the embodiment of the present invention. The computer 1 includes a CPU 20, a north bridge 21, a main memory (RAM) 22, a graphics controller 23, a south bridge 24, a hard disk drive (HDD) 26, a BIOS-ROM 27, an embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 30. And a display device 3a, a touch pad 5, a keyboard 6, a power switch 7, and the like.

  The CPU 20 is a processor that controls the operation of each component of the computer 1. The CPU 20 executes an operating system and various application programs / utility programs loaded from the HDD 26 to the main memory (RAM) 22. The main memory (RAM) 22 is also used for storing various data buffers.

  The CPU 20 also executes a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 27. The BIOS is a program for hardware control. The BIOS includes a group of BIOS drivers, and each BIOS driver includes a plurality of function execution routine groups corresponding to these functions in order to provide a plurality of functions for hardware control to the operating system and application programs. It is out.

  The BIOS 27 also executes processing for expanding the operating system from a storage device such as the HDD 26 to the main memory (RAM) 22 so that the computer 1 can be operated by the user.

  The north bridge 21 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 20 and the south bridge 24. The north bridge 21 also has a function of executing communication with the graphics controller 23 via a PCI Express bus or the like.

  Further, the north bridge 21 includes a memory controller that controls a main memory (RAM) 22.

  The graphics controller 23 is a display controller that controls the display device 3 a used as a display monitor of the computer 10. The graphics controller 23 sends a video signal corresponding to display data written in the video memory (VRAM) 231 by the OS or an application program to the display device 3a.

  The south bridge 24 is connected to a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus and an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus, respectively, and controls PCI devices, LPC devices, and the like. An HDD (Hard Disc Drive) 26 stores an OS, various application programs / utility programs, and data files.

  The embedded controller / keyboard controller (EC / KBC) 30 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the touch pad 5 and the keyboard 6 are integrated. The EC / KBC 30 cooperates with the power supply controller 31 to execute processing for powering on / off the computer 1 in response to the operation of the power switch 7 by the user. The power supply controller 31 supplies power to each component in the computer 1 using power from the battery 32 built in the computer 1 or power supplied from the outside via the AC adapter 33.

  The counter circuit 10 counts the number of times the display housing 3 is opened and closed. Either the number of times the display housing 3 is opened or the number of times the display housing 3 is closed may be counted. The number of times counted by the counter circuit 10 is held in the register 30 a in the EC / KBC 30. The counter circuit 10 may be provided inside the EC / KBC 30.

  The counter circuit 10 may be provided with a register. Even when the operating system is not activated, power is supplied to the EC / KBC 30 so that the EC / KBC 30 operates and the number of times the display housing 3 is opened and closed can be counted even when the operating system is not activated.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of failure inspection processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  When the display housing 3 is opened and closed (step 1-1), the opening and closing of the display housing 3 is detected using the magnet 8 and the Hall IC 9 (step 1-2). When opening / closing of the display housing 3 is detected, the number of opening / closing operations is counted by the counter circuit 10 (step 1-3). As a result of counting the number of opening / closing operations, when the number of opening / closing operations of the display housing 3 reaches a specified number of times (eg, 1,000 times) (Yes in Step 1-4), the EC / KBC 30 determines that the counted number of opening / closing operations is the specified number of times. Is notified to the operating system (step 1-5). When notified that the display casing 3 has been opened and closed a predetermined number of times, the CPU 20 executes an inspection program developed in the main memory 22 to connect the display casing 3 and the main body casing 2 to each other. 4 is checked to see if there is an abnormality (step 1-6).

  Specifically, for example, a lighting signal is sent to the display device 3a of the display housing 3, and current consumption is checked to check whether there is an abnormality. That is, if the current consumption does not increase even when the backlight of the display device 3a is turned on, it can be determined that the cable 13 may be disconnected.

  A cable 13 used as a communication line for a camera and an antenna mounted on a sub board 12 provided in the display housing 3 is provided so as to pass through the hinge 4. In addition, as a function of the inspection program, a test is performed to determine whether shooting with a camera or wireless communication with an antenna is possible. As a result of the test, when a situation such as camera photography or wireless communication is not possible, the cable 13 passing through the hinge 4 between the display housing 3 and the main body housing 2 may be disconnected. Conceivable. This inspection program is executed in the background where the operating system is operating.

  When the inspection program is executed, the inspection result is notified to the user (step 1-7). As a method of notifying the inspection result, for example, there is a method of popping up the inspection result on the screen of the display device 3a. When the cable 13 is disconnected and the screen is not displayed on the display device 3a, the user can be notified by voice that the cable 13 is disconnected as a result of the inspection.

  When the user is notified of the inspection result obtained by executing the inspection program, the inspection data is transmitted to the server via the network. In this case, the inspection data is data obtained by executing the inspection program. For example, the current consumption value when the lighting signal is sent to the display device 3a, whether the camera operates normally, A change in the output value of a wireless signal, a current consumption value, etc. when wireless communication is performed by an antenna.

  In addition, since the substrate can be repeatedly distorted by opening and closing the hinge, the hardware mounted on the substrate may be inspected when the number of opening and closing reaches a specified number. For example, let the CPU repeatedly execute a specific calculation, or run a program to check whether the memory read / write is executed correctly, and check whether there is an abnormality in these hardware Can do.

  After executing the inspection program, the processing order of inspection result notification (step 1-6) and inspection data transmission (step 1-7) may be appropriately changed. Note that when the number of opening / closing of the display housing 3 has not reached the specified number (No in step 1-4), no special processing is performed.

  Note that the following method may be used to store the number of times the display housing 3 is opened and closed. That is, the number of counts counted by the EC / KBC 30 and held in the register 30a is read by a utility on the operating system. The timing for reading may be periodic or when a specific operation such as power activation is performed. When the utility reads the count count of the register 30a, it adds to the open / close count counted so far and stores it in the HDD 26 or the like. At this time, the count of the register 30a is cleared.

  The utility periodically checks the cumulative number of counts, and detects whether the number of opening / closing of the display housing 3 has reached a specified number.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, when the number of opening and closing of the display housing 3 reaches a specified number, the inspection program is executed on the client computer to inspect whether the computer has an abnormality, It becomes possible to immediately notify the user of the inspection result.

  Further, before the user as a customer contacts the support center, the maintenance service provider can know the cause of the failure in advance by acquiring the inspection data through the network.

  Therefore, the maintenance service provider who has acquired the inspection data can promptly present an estimate or arrange for repair to the user.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between the usage time of the computer and the number of times the display housing is opened and closed according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a connection between a computer and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  When the number of times the display housing 3 is opened and closed reaches a first specified number (for example, 1,000 times), the inspection program is executed as described above. Here, it is assumed that the second specified number of times the inspection program is executed for the second time is set to 3,000, for example.

  Inspection data obtained by executing the inspection program is transmitted to the server 500 from another computer 100 different from the computer 1 or the computer 200. From the inspection data transmitted to the server, the computer 100 or the computer 200 has an abnormality in the hinge when the display housing is opened and closed 2,400 to 2,600 times, or the cable in the hinge is partially broken. Suppose that the fact that it was seen becomes clear. In this case, it is highly likely that it will be too late to execute the second inspection program when the number of times of opening and closing the display housing reaches the second specified number of 3,000 times. In addition, for example, executing the second inspection program when the number of times of opening and closing reaches 2,000 is significant in terms of preventing the failure of the device and detecting the failure of the device in advance.

  In this way, it is also possible to dynamically update the number of times of opening / closing (threshold) serving as a reference for executing the inspection program based on data obtained from another computer and stored in the server.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, an information processing apparatus capable of inspecting whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the information processing apparatus and notifying the user of the inspection result immediately. Can be provided.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as long as it does not depart from the gist of the present invention, and various modifications are possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Computer, 2 ... Main body housing, 3 ... Display housing, 5 ... Touch pad, 6 ... Keyboard, 7 ... Power switch, 8 ... Magnet, 9 ... Hall IC, 10 ... Counter circuit, 11 ... Circuit board, 12 ... Sub-board, 13 ... Cable, 20 ... CPU, 21 ... North bridge, 22 ... Main memory, 23 ... Graphics controller, 24 ... South bridge, 26 ... HDD, 27 ... BIOS-ROM, 30 ... EC / KBC, 31 ... Power controller, 32 ... battery, 33 ... AC adapter.

Claims (8)

An information processing apparatus that can be connected to a server on a network,
A counter for counting the number of times the state of the information processing device has changed;
An inspection means for inspecting whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the information processing device when the number of times counted by the counter reaches a predetermined number;
Data transmission means for transmitting the inspection result obtained by the inspection means to the server;
Data receiving means for receiving abnormality information obtained from the inspection result transmitted from another information processing apparatus and stored in the server;
Updating means for updating to reduce the specified number of times according to the abnormality information received by the data receiving means;
An information processing apparatus comprising: An information processing apparatus that can be connected to a server on a network,
The main body housing,
A display housing rotatably connected to the body housing via a hinge so as to be able to take a closed first state and an open second state;
A counter for counting the number of times the display housing is opened and closed;
An inspection means for inspecting whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the hinge when the number of times of opening and closing counted by the counter reaches a specified number of times;
Data transmission means for transmitting the inspection result obtained by the inspection means to the server;
Data receiving means for receiving abnormality information obtained from the inspection result transmitted from another information processing apparatus and stored in the server;
Updating means for updating to reduce the specified number of times according to the abnormality information received by the data receiving means;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   A cable for connecting between a circuit board provided in the main body casing and a display panel provided in the display casing is provided so as to pass through the hinge, and the inspection means is a cable disconnection in the hinge. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an inspection is also performed to determine whether or not an error has occurred.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data transmission unit transmits inspection data when the cable disconnection is detected when it is detected that a cable disconnection occurs in the hinge. An information processing apparatus inspection method for inspecting an information processing apparatus connectable to a server on a network,
A counter that counts the number of times the state of the information processing device has changed;
When the number of times counted by the counter reaches a specified number of times, an inspection unit inspects whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the information processing apparatus;
Transmitting the inspection result obtained by the inspection means to the server;
Receiving abnormal information obtained from the inspection result transmitted from another information processing apparatus and accumulated in the server;
Updating to reduce the specified number of times according to the received abnormality information;
An inspection method for an information processing apparatus, comprising: An information processing apparatus inspection method for inspecting an information processing apparatus connectable to a server on a network,
A counter that counts the number of opening and closing of the display housing that is pivotally connected to the main body housing of the information processing apparatus via a hinge and can take a closed first state and an open second state; ,
When the number of opening and closing times counted by the counter reaches a specified number of times, the inspection means inspects whether or not there is an abnormality in the hinge;
Transmitting the inspection result obtained by the inspection means to the server;
Receiving abnormal information obtained from the inspection result transmitted from another information processing apparatus and accumulated in the server;
Updating to reduce the specified number of times according to the received abnormality information;
An inspection method for an information processing apparatus, comprising: A cable that connects between a circuit board provided in the main body casing and a display panel provided in the display casing is provided so as to pass through the hinge,
7. The information processing apparatus inspection method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of inspecting by the inspection means, it is also inspected whether or not a cable disconnection in the hinge has occurred.   8. The step of transmitting the inspection result to the server transmits inspection data when the cable disconnection is detected when it is detected that a cable disconnection in the hinge has occurred. Inspection method for information processing apparatus.

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