JP2021163328A - Information processing apparatus and temperature control method - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve accuracy of temperature to be used for controlling temperature suppression of an information processing apparatus.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus includes: a temperature input unit which inputs temperature detected by one or more temperature sensors disposed in predetermined positions of a predetermined device for each of components equipped in the device in the information processing apparatus; a surface temperature calculation unit which calculates a surface temperature for each component on the basis of the temperature input by the temperature input device; and a temperature suppression control unit which executes control on temperature suppression on the basis of the highest surface temperature of the surface temperatures calculated by the surface temperature calculation unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device and a temperature control method.

In an information processing device such as a personal computer, a heat radiating fan is provided and the heat radiating fan is driven to cool the internal device. The heat dissipation fan is driven on and off based on the temperature detected inside the information processing device (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-417939

For example, when controlling the temperature suppression such as turning on / off the operation of the heat radiation fan of the information processing device, it is preferable to obtain as accurate a value as possible about the temperature used for the control.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy of the temperature used for the control of the temperature control of the information processing apparatus.

One aspect of the present invention that solves the above-mentioned problems is to set the temperature detected by one or a plurality of temperature sensors provided at a predetermined position in the device corresponding to each component provided in the predetermined device in the information processing apparatus. The most of the temperature input unit to be input, the surface temperature calculation unit that calculates the surface temperature for each component based on the temperature input by the temperature input unit, and the surface temperature calculated by the surface temperature calculation unit. It is an information processing apparatus including a temperature suppression control unit that executes control related to temperature suppression based on a high surface temperature.

Further, one aspect of the present invention is a temperature input for inputting a temperature detected by one or a plurality of temperature sensors provided at a predetermined position in the device corresponding to each component provided in the predetermined device in the information processing apparatus. To the highest surface temperature among the surface temperature calculation step for calculating the surface temperature for each component based on the step and the temperature input by the temperature input step, and the surface temperature calculated by the surface temperature calculation step. Based on this, it is a temperature control method including a temperature control control step for executing control related to temperature control.

As described above, according to the present invention, when controlling the temperature suppression of the information processing apparatus, the accuracy of the temperature used for the control can be improved.

It is a figure which shows the configuration example of the hardware of the information processing apparatus in this embodiment. In this embodiment, it is a figure schematically showing an example of the positional relationship between the embedded controller arranged on the substrate, the SSD, and the heat radiating fan from the side direction. It is a figure which shows the component configuration example of the device as an SSD in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the functional configuration example of the SSD controller and the embedded controller in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the example of the calculation method of the surface temperature in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the processing procedure which SSD controller and embedded controller in this Embodiment execute in relation to temperature suppression control.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the hardware of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. In the following description, a case where the information processing device 1 of the present embodiment is mainly a notebook PC (Personal Computer) will be given as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The information processing device 1 may be realized in any form such as a desktop PC, a tablet terminal device, and a smartphone.

The information processing device 1 in the figure shows a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a main memory 12, a video subsystem 13, a display 14, a chipset 21, a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) memory 22, and an SSD. It includes a (Solid State Drive) 30, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector 24, an audio system 25, a network card 26, an embedded controller 40, an input interface 27, a heat dissipation fan 28, and a power supply circuit 29.

The CPU 11 executes various arithmetic processes by executing a program stored in the main memory 12, for example, and controls each part of the information processing apparatus 1. The CPU 11 is an example of a processing unit. The main memory 12 includes, for example, a plurality of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips. The main memory 12 functions as a read area for a program executed by the CPU 11. Further, the main memory 12 functions as a work area for writing the processing data of the program executed by the CPU 11. The program executed by the CPU 11 includes, for example, an OS (operating system, operating system), various drivers for operating peripheral devices in hardware, various services / utilities, application programs, and the like.

The video subsystem 13 includes, for example, a video controller and video memory.
The video subsystem 13 is a subsystem for realizing a function related to image display. The video controller processes the drawing command output from the CPU 11 and writes the processed drawing information to the video memory. Further, the video controller reads drawing information from the video memory and outputs the read drawing information to the display 14 as drawing data (display data). The display 14 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. The display 14 displays a display screen based on drawing data (display data) output from the video subsystem 13.

The chip set 21 includes controllers such as USB, Serial ATA (AT Attachment), SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) bus, PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus, PCI-Express bus, and LPC (Low Pin Count) bus. A plurality of devices are connected to the chipset 21. In the present embodiment, the BIOS memory 22, the SSD 30, the USB connector 24, the audio system 25, the network card 26, and the embedded controller 40 are connected to the chipset 21 as devices.

The BIOS memory 22 includes, for example, an electrically rewritable non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) or a flash ROM. The BIOS memory 22 stores parameters, BIOS, system firmware for controlling the embedded controller 40, and the like.

The SSD 30 is a storage device. The SSD 30 stores an OS, various drivers, various services / utilities, application programs, and various data.
The USB connector 24 is a connector for connecting peripheral devices using USB to the information processing device 1. The audio system 25 records, reproduces, and inputs / outputs sound data. The network card 26 connects to the network and performs data communication. The network card 26 may be connected to a network via, for example, a wireless LAN.

The embedded controller 40 is a one-chip microcomputer that monitors and controls various devices (peripheral devices, sensors, etc.) regardless of the operation mode of the information processing device 1. In the one-chip microcomputer, the embedded controller 40 includes a CPU, ROM, RAM, a plurality of channels of A / D input terminals, a D / A output terminal, a timer, and a digital input / output terminal (not shown). For example, an input interface 27, a heat dissipation fan 28, and a power supply circuit 29 are connected to the digital input / output terminals of the embedded controller 40.

The embedded controller 40 has a power supply management function for controlling the power supply circuit 29. By controlling the power supply circuit 29, the embedded controller 40 controls, for example, the value of the drive power supplied to the CPU 11.

In the present embodiment, the embedded controller 40 and the SSD 30 are connected by the SMBus 50. The embedded controller 40 acquires the device temperature information stored in the address by the SSD 30 via the side band of the SMBus 50. The interface 50 that connects the embedded controller 40 and the SSD 30 may be other than SMBus.

The input interface 27 is, for example, an input device such as a keyboard, a pointing device, or a touch pad.

The power supply circuit 29 includes, for example, a DC / DC converter, a charge / discharge unit, a battery unit, an AC / DC adapter, and the like. The power supply circuit 29 is an example of a power supply unit. The power supply circuit 29 operates based on the control from the embedded controller 40. The power supply circuit 29 converts the DC voltage supplied from the AC / DC adapter or the battery unit into a voltage for operating the information processing device 1. The power supply circuit 29 supplies electric power of the converted voltage to each part of the information processing apparatus 1.

The heat radiating fan 28 (an example of a heat radiating device) includes a fan, a motor, and the like. The heat dissipation fan 28 is an example of a cooling fan. The heat dissipation fan 28 operates according to the control of the embedded controller 40. The heat radiating fan 28 suppresses the heat generated by the CPU 11 from being transmitted to the surface of the housing of the information processing device 1.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the positional relationship between the embedded controller 40 arranged on the substrate CB1, the SSD 30, and the heat radiating fan 28 from the side direction.
As shown in the figure, the embedded controller 40, the SSD 30, and the heat radiating fan 28 are arranged at predetermined positions on the substrate CB1 with a certain distance from each other. Under such an arrangement, wiring is performed so that the embedded controller 40 and the SSD 30 are connected by the SMBus 50. Further, wiring is provided between the embedded controller 40 and the heat radiating fan 28 so that the embedded controller 40 can control the operation of the heat radiating fan 28.

FIG. 3 shows a component configuration example of the device as the SSD 30. On the upper side of the figure, FIG. 3 (A) is a view of the SSD 30 viewed from the plane direction, and FIG. 3 (B) is a view of the SSD 30 viewed from the side direction.
In the SSD 30 shown in FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B), three components, one SSD controller 31-1 and two memory chips 31-2 and 31-3, are arranged on the substrate CB2. Has been done.

The SSD controller 31-1 executes the control in the SSD 30. For example, the SSD controller 31-1 executes control regarding reading and writing of data to the memory chip. Further, the SSD controller 31-1 detects the device temperature indicating the temperature of the device as the SSD 30 as described later. The package (housing) as the SSD controller 31-1 includes an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 311 which is an integrated circuit and a temperature sensor 312.

Each of the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3 is a component as, for example, a NAND flash memory, and stores data. The number of memory chips provided in the SSD 30 may be, for example, one or three or more.

The temperature sensor may not be built in the package as the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3. Therefore, in order to detect the temperatures of the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3 on the substrate CB2 of the SSD 30, temperature sensors are provided at predetermined positions in the vicinity of the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3, respectively. 32-2 and 32-3 are provided. The temperature sensor 32-2 is provided so as to detect the temperature of the memory chip 31-2. The temperature sensor 32-3 is provided so as to detect the temperature of the memory chip 31-3. The temperature sensors 32-2 and 32-3 may be built in the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3.

Originally, the temperature sensors 312, 32-2, and 32-3 detect the temperature output by a function such as SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) corresponding to the SSD 30, and the SSD 30 causes the temperature to rise. On the other hand, it may be provided for self-protection. As a self-protection function of the SSD 30, for example, in order to prevent the charge from disappearing due to the temperature rise of the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3, the SSD controller 31-1 reads the memory chips 31-2 and 31-3. For example, the speed of the light is reduced.
In this case, the information processing device 1 is configured to share the temperature sensors 312, 32-2, and 32-3 provided corresponding to the SMART function and the self-protection function for the temperature suppression control of the present embodiment. .. This eliminates the need to additionally provide a temperature sensor on the SSD 30 for temperature suppression control.

A functional configuration example of the SSD controller 31-1 and the embedded controller 40 will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the temperature sensors 312, 32-2, 32-3, and the heat dissipation fan 28 are shown together with the SSD controller 31-1 and the embedded controller 40. The function of the SSD controller 31-1 in the figure is realized by, for example, the firmware mounted on the SSD controller 31-1 or by the ASIC311. Further, the function of the SSD controller 31-1 may be realized by the cooperation of the firmware and the ASIC311. Further, the function of the embedded controller 40 is realized, for example, when the hardware as the embedded controller 40 executes a program.

The SSD controller 31-1 in the figure includes a temperature input unit 301, a surface temperature calculation unit 302, and a device temperature control unit 303.
The temperature input unit 301 inputs the temperature detected by each of the temperature sensors 312, 32-2, and 32-3.

As the temperature input by the temperature input unit 301, the temperature input from the temperature sensor 312 is the temperature inside the SSD controller 31-1 and corresponds to the temperature of the ASIC 311 built in the same SSD controller 31-1.
In the present embodiment, for example, as the temperature suppression control of the information processing device 1, the main purpose is to suppress the temperature experienced by the user when using the information processing device 1. In the case of such temperature suppression control, the surface temperature of the component package as the SSD controller 31-1 is more accurate than the temperature detected inside the SSD controller 31-1 as the temperature used for the control. It can be said that there is. Therefore, in the SSD controller 31-1 of the present embodiment, the surface temperature calculation unit 302 calculates the surface temperature of the package as the SSD controller 31-1 by using the temperature input from the temperature sensor 312.

FIG. 5 schematically shows an example of a method for calculating the surface temperature of the package as the SSD controller 31-1 by the surface temperature calculation unit 302. As the surface temperature here, the case where it is the temperature of the upper surface portion of the rectangular parallelepiped package shown in the figure will be taken as an example.

As an example, the surface temperature calculation unit 302 _{can obtain the surface temperature T sf} of the package as the SSD controller 31-1 by the following equation 1. In Equation 1, T _J is the temperature of the ASIC 311 detected by the temperature sensor 312, θ is the thermal resistance of the silicon package of the SSD controller 31-1 and P is the power consumption of the SSD controller 31-1.
Further, θ is expressed by the following equation 2. In Equation 2, ksi is the thermal conductivity of silicon, w is the length of the upper surface of the package in the longitudinal direction, d is the length of the upper surface of the package in the lateral direction, and l is the temperature sensor 312 to the upper surface of the package. Distance to.

Depending on the arrangement of the package as the SSD controller 31-1 in the information processing device 1, the surface to be calculated for the surface temperature in the package as the SSD controller 31-1 may be, for example, a specific side surface or bottom surface. It may be changed as appropriate.

The surface temperature calculation unit 302 calculates the surface temperature of the package of the memory chip 31-2 based on the temperature input from the temperature sensor 32-2. In this case as well, taking the case where the temperature of the upper surface of the package is used as the surface temperature, the surface temperature calculation unit 302 uses the temperature input from the temperature sensor 32-2, the thermal resistance of the silicon package of the memory chip 31-2, and the like. Power consumption in memory chip 31-2, thermal conductivity of silicon, longitudinal and lateral lengths of the top surface of the package, distance from the temperature sensor 312 to the top surface of the package, temperature sensor 312 to memory chip 31- The surface temperature may be calculated using the spatial thermal conductivity up to 2.
Similarly, the surface temperature calculation unit 302 calculates the surface temperature of the memory chip 31-3 based on the temperature input from the temperature sensor 32-3.

The device temperature control unit 303 manages the device temperature. The device temperature is the temperature of the device as SSD30.
As a device temperature control, the device temperature control unit 303 has the highest surface temperature among the surface temperatures of each component (SSD controller 31-1, memory chips 31-2, 31-3) calculated by the surface temperature calculation unit 302. Determine the temperature as the device temperature. The device temperature control unit 303 stores the device temperature determined in this way in the sideband address of the SSD controller 31-1.

Next, a functional configuration example of the embedded controller 40 will be described. The embedded controller 40 in the figure includes a temperature suppression control unit 401. The temperature suppression control unit 401 executes control related to temperature suppression based on the device temperature.
Specifically, the temperature suppression control unit 401 acquires the device temperature stored in the sideband address of the SSD controller 31-1 via the SMBus50. The temperature suppression control unit 401 compares the acquired device temperature with a predetermined threshold value. The temperature suppression control unit 401 rotates the heat dissipation fan if the device temperature is equal to or higher than the threshold value. The temperature suppression control unit 401 causes the rotation of the heat dissipation fan to be stopped if the device temperature is less than the threshold value.

An example of a processing procedure executed by the SSD controller 31-1 and the embedded controller 40 of the present embodiment in relation to the temperature suppression control will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, an example of the processing procedure of the SSD controller 31-1 will be described.
Step S101: In the SSD controller 31-1, the temperature input unit 301 inputs the temperature detected by each of the temperature sensors 312, 32-1 and 32-2 at regular time intervals.

Step S102: The surface temperature calculation unit 302 calculates the surface temperature by using each of the temperatures input in step S101. As a result, in step S102, the surface temperature of each package of the SSD controller 31-1, the memory chips 31-2, and 31-3 in the SSD 30 can be obtained.

Step S103: The device temperature control unit 303 identifies the highest surface temperature among the surface temperatures of the SSD controller 31-1, the memory chips 31-2, and 31-3 calculated in step S102. The device temperature control unit 303 stores the specified highest surface temperature as the device temperature in the sideband address. The device temperature stored in the sideband address is updated according to the processing of steps S101 to S103 being executed at regular intervals.

Next, an example of the processing procedure of the embedded controller 40 will be described.
Step S201: First, the temperature suppression control unit 401 in the embedded controller 40 sets the threshold value K. The temperature suppression control unit 401 may set a predetermined constant value as the threshold value K, or set it to predetermined conditions such as the ambient temperature and the current operating state of the information processing device 1 (for example, the number of running applications). You may set the corresponding value.

Step S202: The temperature suppression control unit 401 reads the device temperature stored in the sideband address of the SSD controller 31-1 via the sideband of the SMBus50, for example, by polling at regular time intervals.

Step S203: The temperature suppression control unit 401 determines whether or not the device temperature read in step S202 is equal to or higher than the threshold value K.

Step S204: When it is determined that the device temperature is equal to or higher than the threshold value K, the temperature suppression control unit 401 determines whether or not the operation of the heat dissipation fan 28 is currently stopped.
When the heat dissipation fan 28 is currently rotating the fan, the temperature suppression control unit 401 determines in step S204 that the operation of the heat dissipation fan 28 is not in a stopped state. In this case, the process is returned to step S202.

Step S205: When the operation of the heat radiating fan 28 is stopped, the temperature suppression control unit 401 instructs the heat radiating fan 28 to start the operation, and causes the heat radiating fan 28 to start the operation. As a result, the heat dissipation fan 28 starts the rotation of the fan. After the process of step S205, the process is returned to step S202.

Step S206: When it is determined in step S203 that the device temperature is less than the threshold value, the temperature suppression control unit 401 determines whether or not the heat dissipation fan 28 is currently operating. If it is determined that the heat dissipation fan 28 is currently stopped, the process is returned to step S202.

Step S207: When it is determined in step S206 that the heat dissipation fan 28 is in operation, the temperature suppression control unit 401 instructs the heat dissipation fan 28 to stop the operation. As a result, the heat dissipation fan 28 stops the rotation of the fan. After the processing in step S207, the processing is returned to step S202.

For example, a temperature sensor (device temperature detection temperature sensor) for detecting the device temperature of the SSD 30 can be provided separately on the substrate or the like with respect to the SSD 30. However, when the device temperature detection temperature sensor is provided on the substrate, it takes a certain amount of time for the temperature of the SSD 30 to be transmitted through the substrate and detected by the device temperature detection temperature sensor, so that the device temperature detection temperature sensor detects the temperature. There is a time lag (delay) in the temperature.
Further, due to the arrangement of the device on the substrate, it may not be possible to provide the device temperature detection temperature sensor in the vicinity of the SSD 30. Specifically, when the SSD 30 is arranged on the motherboard, there may be no room for providing a temperature sensor for device temperature detection on the motherboard in the vicinity of the SSD 30 depending on the arrangement of the devices on the motherboard. Further, when the SSD 30 is not arranged on the motherboard, it may be difficult to provide a temperature sensor for device temperature detection in the vicinity of the SSD 30. In such a situation, even if the device temperature detection temperature sensor is provided at a position where it can be arranged, an error occurs in the detected temperature because the distance from the SSD 30 is long.
As described above, when the device temperature detection temperature sensor is separately provided for the SSD 30, it is difficult to obtain an accurate device temperature. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 1 can perform temperature suppression control using the temperature sensors (312, 32-1, 32-2) provided in the SSD 30, and thus the device temperature. The exact value can be obtained as.

Further, under the SMART function, for example, the firmware of the SSD controller 31-1 was obtained by performing calculations such as averaging the temperatures input from the temperature sensors (312, 32-1, 32-2). Temperature information is output. The temperature obtained in this way lacks accuracy when used as the device temperature. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the device temperature is set to have the highest temperature among the surface temperatures of the components in the SSD 30, so that an accurate value can be obtained as the device temperature.

Further, the SMART function requires a device driver or application running on the OS because the host reads the temperature information obtained by the SMART function via the device driver. Therefore, if the device driver or application is not installed for some reason, the temperature suppression control using the SMART function cannot be performed.
With the configuration of the present embodiment, since the surface temperature of the component package is output as the device temperature, an accurate temperature can be obtained according to the temperature suppression control. Further, in the configuration of the present embodiment, since the embedded controller 40 reads the device temperature from the SSD controller 31-1 via the side band of the SMBus 50, no device driver or application on the OS is required. Further, in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to separately provide a temperature sensor (device temperature detection temperature sensor) for detecting the device temperature of the SSD 30 at a location other than the SSD 30.

Further, in the present embodiment, the embedded controller 40 reads the temperature of one device stored in the SSD controller 31-1 and compares the read device temperature with the threshold value to perform temperature suppression control. That is, the embedded controller 40 of the present embodiment can execute common control of reading one device temperature from the SSD 30 and performing temperature suppression control regardless of the model of the SSD 30. For example, when the method of detecting and calculating the temperature to be output differs for each model of the SSD 30, the embedded controller 40 requires a plurality of tables for managing the read temperature for each model. On the other hand, in the case of the present embodiment, the embedded controller 40 only needs to have one table corresponding to a common device temperature.

The path for the embedded controller 40 to read the system temperature from the SSD controller 31-1 may be other than the SMBus 50.

The embedded controller 40 inputs the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 312, 32-2, and 32-3 from the SSD controller 31-1 and calculates the corresponding surface temperature. The highest surface temperature may be acquired as the device temperature.

The temperature suppression control of the present embodiment is not limited to, for example, control of starting and stopping the operation of the heat dissipation fan 28. For example, the temperature suppression control may be a control for changing the charging speed (that is, the amount of charging current) of the battery.

The device for controlling the temperature of the present embodiment may be a device other than the SSD, such as a video card or a network card.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to the above embodiments, and includes designs and the like within a range that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention. The configurations described in the above embodiments can be arbitrarily combined as long as they do not conflict with each other.

1 Information processing device, 11 CPU, 12 main memory, 13 video subsystem, 14 display, 21 chipset, 22 BIOS memory, 24 USB connector, 25 audio system, 26 network card, 27 input interface, 28 heat dissipation fan, 29 power supply Circuit, 31-1 SSD controller, 31-2 memory chip, 31-3 memory chip, 32-1, 32-2, 32-3 temperature sensor, 40 embedded controller, 301 temperature input unit, 302 surface temperature calculation unit, 303 Device temperature control unit, 311 BIOS, 312 temperature sensor, 401 temperature control unit

Claims (8)

A temperature input unit for inputting a temperature detected by one or a plurality of temperature sensors provided at a predetermined position in the device corresponding to each component provided in the predetermined device in the information processing device.
A surface temperature calculation unit that calculates the surface temperature of each component based on the temperature input by the temperature input unit, and a surface temperature calculation unit.
An information processing device including a temperature suppression control unit that executes control related to temperature suppression based on the highest surface temperature among the surface temperatures calculated by the surface temperature calculation unit. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the temperature suppression control unit causes a heat radiating device provided in the information processing device to perform a heat radiating operation when the highest surface temperature is equal to or higher than a threshold value. It is provided with a storage unit that stores the highest surface temperature among the surface temperatures calculated by the surface temperature calculation unit as temperature information used for control related to temperature suppression.
The information processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature suppression control unit executes control related to temperature suppression based on temperature information stored in the storage unit. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the plurality of temperature sensors is provided in a component as a controller provided in the device. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of temperature sensors is provided corresponding to a component as a memory chip provided in the device. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the temperature suppression control unit acquires the surface temperature from the device via a path by a side band of a predetermined bus. The plurality of temperature sensors include a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature on which the temperature information that can be output via the device driver is based, or a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature monitored by the component for self-protection. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which is shared. A step of inputting a temperature detected by one or a plurality of temperature sensors provided at a predetermined position in the device corresponding to each component provided in the predetermined device in the information processing device.
A step of calculating the surface temperature for each component based on the input temperature, and
A temperature control method including a step of performing control related to temperature suppression based on the highest surface temperature of the calculated surface temperatures.

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