JP2011081465A - Power source controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the power consumption of a system by automatically turning off a power source, and reducing the number of times of start of an input/output device while maintaining a session with a server with respect to an unused input/output device even when the power source control of the input/output device is not performed by a host device in a computer system whose input/output processing quantity changes. <P>SOLUTION: An input/output repeater system having a function for performing the monitoring of input/output processing and the power source control of an input/output device, a function for performing the storage of the interface information of the input/output device and a response to a server by proxy, and a function for storing the interface information when the power source of the input/output device is turned off, and for restoring an operating state when a power source is supplied is mediated between the server and the input/output device. Thus, it is possible to turn off the power source of the input/output device while maintaining a session with the server, and to achieve the reduction of power consumption. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for reducing power consumption by turning off power to an inactive input / output device in a computer system.

  In recent years, the cost of a company's computer system has been reduced, the company's efforts for environmental measures have attracted attention, and environmental measures such as reduction of CO2 emissions due to power consumption reduction have become issues. For this reason, the servers and input / output devices constituting the computer system are required to reduce running costs such as power consumption.

  As a method for reducing the power consumption of the computer system, the power consumption can be reduced by turning off the power to the unused input / output devices. However, depending on the protocol between the server and the input / output device, it operates to maintain the interface information between the server and the input / output device. Some of them explicitly indicate offline and require the interface to be released.

  In such a system, if only the I / O device is turned off and turned on to reduce power consumption, the host device instructs the I / O device to go offline based on the predetermined schedule conditions and performs power control. There is a way to automate operations.

JP 2000-322161

  However, in the above-described method, the power is turned on and off according to a predetermined schedule, and it is difficult to realize efficient reduction of power consumption with respect to daily changes in input / output processing amount. In addition, it is necessary to review each time the computer system configuration and processing contents are changed because the input / output processing amount is predicted and determined at the time of introduction in order to control the power supply.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to maintain a session with a server for an unused input / output device in a computer system in which the amount of input / output processing changes, even if the host device does not control the power supply of the input / output device. Power off automatically.

  In addition, another problem to be solved by the present invention is a device capable of controlling power on the input / output device communication interface and a device having a dedicated interface for power control, and automatically controls power control of both input / output devices. To do.

  Another problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the number of times of power-on in a system having a plurality of input / output devices.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the invention according to claim 1, the input / output relay device that performs relay control of communication between nodes monitors the communication content of the input / output device and changes the interface information of the node. Extract, update, hold, determine whether the node is in a state in which power can be turned off, and instruct the node to turn off power when the determination of the state in which power can be turned off continues for a certain period of time, When the node is in a power-off state and communication from another node occurs, it responds to the other node that it is in the BUSY state instead of the node, and instructs the node to turn on the power. After completion of power-on, the interface information is sent to the node, and the operation state of the node is restored to the state before power-off.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the power-off signal and the power-on signal are transmitted via the communication interface unit or the dedicated power control interface unit depending on the presence or absence of the power control dedicated interface of the input / output device.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the node is in a power-off state and communication from the other node to the node occurs, the alternative node information set in advance is referred to and the node is referred to. When an alternative node is set, communication to the node is transferred to the alternative node instead of sending a power-on signal to the node.

  By configuring as described above, the power supply of the non-operating input / output device is automatically turned off, the number of power-on times of the input / output device is reduced, and the power consumption and processing waiting time are reduced.

Overall configuration diagram in an embodiment of the present invention Power-off flowchart in an embodiment of the present invention Operation flowchart at power-off in the embodiment of the present invention Interface information in an embodiment of the present invention Transfer processing operation flowchart in the embodiment of the present invention

  The provision form of the present invention will be described in the following examples with reference to the drawings.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the input / output relay device according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the overall configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a computer system using an input / output relay device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The computer system using the input / output relay device according to the present embodiment includes servers 100 to 101, an input / output relay device 200, and input / output devices 300 to 304. The input / output relay device 200 includes a communication interface unit 210, a control unit 220, a communication interface unit 230, and a power operation interface unit 240. The control unit 220 includes non-operation determination information 221, interface information 222, and transfer settings. Information 223 is held.

  However, the power operation interface unit 240 is a circuit required when the input / output device is configured with the communication interface and the power operation interface independently. For example, the communication interface unit 230 uses TCP / IP. When the data communication and the transmission of the power control signal are both performed on the communication interface 230 in a network or the like, the power control signal from the control unit 220 is not the power control interface unit 240 but a part of the data communication. And transmitted via the communication interface unit 230. When the input / output device does not have a power operation interface, the power operation interface unit 240 is unnecessary. Control is also possible when the input / output device has a plurality of power supply operation interfaces.

  The servers 100 to 101 are computers that attempt to perform input and output communication with the input / output devices 300 to 304.

  The input / output devices 300 to 304 are input / output devices that operate in response to input and output instructions from a server, and are represented by a magnetic disk device, a magnetic tape device, a printer device, a file server, an HTTP server, and the like.

  The input / output devices 300 to 302 are input / output devices capable of operating a power supply from a communication interface, and the input / output devices 303 to 304 are input / output devices that require an interface for power supply operation in addition to the communication interface.

  The communication interface unit 210 is an interface that performs data communication with the servers 100 and 101 using an optical signal, an electrical signal, or the like.

  The communication interface unit 230 is an interface that performs data communication with the input / output devices 300 to 304 using optical signals, electrical signals, and the like.

  The power operation interface unit 240 is a power operation interface that performs power control of the input / output devices 303 and 304 in accordance with instructions from the control unit 220.

  The control unit 220 relays and monitors the communication between the servers 100 to 101 and the input / output devices 300 to 304 via the communication interface unit 210 and the communication interface unit 230, and controls the power supply of the input / output devices 300 to 304 according to conditions. Circuit. Note that for each input / output device, the user is given a waiting time until the power-off process is executed in advance.

  Next, the power control operation of the control unit 220 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of the operation, taking as an example the case where the control unit 220 turns off the power of the input / output device 300 from the on state.

  In step S10, the control unit 220 determines that communication with the input / output device 300 has not been performed for a certain period of time. If the non-communication state does not satisfy the certain time, the determination is repeated until the certain time is exceeded. The predetermined time here is given in advance by the user for each input / output device.

  In step S11, the control unit 220 compares the held non-operation determination information 221 with the previous operation command and response state, and determines whether the power supply can be cut off in the non-communication state. Here, the main reason for comparing with the non-operation determination information 221 is to exclude the state of waiting for human intervention such as a paper out condition such as out of paper in the case of a printer, for example, in the case of a printer. The non-operation determination information 221 should be determined individually for each mismatched device type and model. For example, in the case of a printer, page output such as CLEAR PRINTER that completes data in a page and discharges paper. There is a command to complete the process, and the previous command can be conditional on the normal termination of this CLEAR PRINTER.

  In step S12, the control unit 220 instructs the input / output device 300 to be turned off via the communication interface unit 230, assuming that the input / output device 300 can be turned off. The input / output devices 301 and 302 turn off the power in the same procedure, and the input / output devices 303 and 304 in step S12, the control unit 220 instructs the power-off via the power operation interface unit 240.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of the operation of the control unit 220 when the server 100 attempts to perform input / output with respect to the input / output device 300 in the power-off state.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the interface information 222 when the input / output device is a printer device.

  In step S <b> 20, the control unit 220 responds to the server 100 on behalf of the server such as BUSY instead of the input / output device 300 so that the server waits for processing. Here, the reason why the response such as BUSY is performed as a proxy is to prevent the server input / output from time-out and abnormal termination due to the time required to turn on the input / output device 300.

  In step S <b> 21, the control unit 220 instructs the input / output device 300 to turn on the power via the power operation interface unit 240.

  In step S <b> 22, the control unit 220 determines whether or not the input / output device 300 has been turned on, and if not completed, repeats the processing.

  In step S23, the control unit 220 restores the operation state of the input / output device 300. Here, the reason why the operation state is restored is that the input / output device 300 is operating with the operation state designated by the server 100, but since the power is turned off and then turned on again, the previous operation information is lost. This is because it is necessary to return the state accurately to the state immediately before the power is turned off in order to operate correctly even after being turned on again. In order to restore the operation state, the control unit 220 issues commands and data to the input / output device 300 in accordance with the information stored in the held interface information 222.

  Here, the interface information 222 is a setting information group for the input / output device 300 instructed from the server 100, and items are determined in advance for each model of the input / output device 300. For example, in the case of a printer, the operation information includes operation modes (half-width mode and full-width mode), data error suppression (suppression and permission), FCB information (FORMS CONTROL BUFFER: number of print lines in the page and paper size. Etc.) and character pattern information. The control unit 220 normally monitors the communication between the server 100 and the input / output device 300, and when the command defined in the interface information 222 is issued, the interface is based on the data content that is subsequently transmitted. Information 222 is updated. In this way, the control unit 220 operates so that the interface information 222 and the state of the input / output device 300 always match.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a description will be given of a procedure in which the control unit 220 transfers input / output generated to the input / output device 301 in the power-off state to the same type of input / output device 302 in the power-on state.

  In step S <b> 30, the control unit 220 refers to the transfer setting information 223 for the input / output device 301 and confirms that the transfer destination is the input / output device 302.

  In step S31, the control unit 220 confirms the non-operation determination information 221 of the same type of input / output device 302 as the transfer destination, and determines that the transfer process is possible if the non-operation determination information matches. If they do not match, it is determined that there is a transfer load, and the process ends.

  In step S <b> 32, the control unit 220 saves the interface information of the input / output device 302 based on the interface information 222.

  In step S <b> 33, the control unit 220 restores the interface information of the input / output device 301 to the input / output device 302 based on the interface information 222.

  In step S <b> 34, the control unit 220 executes input / output processing in the input / output device 302.

  In step S <b> 35, the control unit 220 restores the operation state of the input / output device 302 based on the interface information 222.

  According to the above procedure, the input / output processing originally executed by the input / output device 301 is transferred to the non-operating input / output device 302, thereby reducing the number of times the input / output device 301 is turned on and reducing power consumption. Reduce.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Server 200 ... Input-output relay apparatus 210 ... Communication interface part 220 ... Control part 221 ... Non-operation determination information 222 ... Interface information 223 ... Transfer setting information 230 ...・ Communication interface 240: Power operation interface 300: I / O device

Claims (3)

  In a communication system to which various input / output devices and various computer nodes are connected, the communication relay device includes an interface unit to which the node is connected and a control unit that performs relay control of communication between the nodes. Monitoring means for monitoring communication contents of the input / output device, extracting changes in the interface information and non-operation determination information of the node, updating and holding the interface information and non-operation determination information, and the non-operation determination information Based on the determination means for determining whether or not the node is in a power-off state, and the determination of the state in which the node is in a power-on state and the power can be turned off by the determination means for a predetermined time. Subsequently, a power-off signal is sent to the node through the interface unit, and the node is in a power-off state and When communication from the node to the node occurs, it responds to the other node that it is in the BUSY state instead of the node, and sends a power-on signal to the node via the interface unit. An input / output relay apparatus comprising: power control means for sending the interface information to the node after completion of power-on and restoring the operation state of the node before power-off.   2. The power control method and apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power control means includes a dedicated power control interface unit to the node, and sends a power-off signal and a power-on signal through the interface unit. Instead, the input / output relay device is configured to instruct power-on and power-on of the node through the dedicated power control interface unit.   The power control method and apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the alternative node is predetermined when the node is in a power-off state and communication from the other node to the node occurs. Referring to the information, when an alternative node is set for the node, communication to the node is performed instead of sending a power-on signal to the node via the interface unit or a dedicated power control interface unit. An input / output relay device that transfers to the alternative node.

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