JP2672873B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, and more particularly to a disk drive device as an external storage device and an information processing device having a display unit that is opened and closed.

[Prior Art] Information processing devices such as personal computers and word processors, which are so-called laptop type devices, are provided rotatably with respect to the device main body so that a thin display unit such as a liquid crystal display is opened and closed. The adopted configuration is adopted. In this case, the display unit itself is a lid, but there is also a configuration in which the display unit is opened and closed by another lid member.

In such an information processing device, which has a communication function and is required to be constantly operated 24 hours a day, when the display unit is a liquid crystal display, the display unit is opened or closed, that is, whether or not the display unit is used. A configuration in which the backlight is turned on and off depending on whether or not is generally adopted. This is for power saving or the like. Specifically, the opening / closing of the display unit is detected by a switch, and the switch is used as a power switch of the backlight to control the turning on / off.

Further, in this type of device, a device having a disk drive device such as an HDD (hard disk device) or FDD (floppy disk device) is generally used as an external storage device. In the disk drive device, the time from turning on the disk drive motor that rotationally drives the disk of the recording medium until the motor reaches a steady rotation speed and becomes accessible,
So-called warm-up time is required. Waiting for the warm-up time must be eliminated for fast access. Therefore, as a drive control method of the disk drive motor of the disk drive device, a method of always rotating the disk drive motor may be adopted.

As a drive control method contrary to this, there is also a case where a method of turning off the motor is adopted if the disk drive is not used again after a single use of the disk drive, that is, within a fixed time after the access is completed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, if a method of constantly rotating a disk drive motor is adopted, a problem arises in service life, especially in a device that is required to operate continuously for 24 hours a day. Further, there is a problem of heat generation including the power supply circuit and the cooling fan has to be constantly rotated, which causes a problem of noise, especially at night, and also increases power consumption.

On the other hand, if the method of turning off the motor is adopted if re-access is not performed within the above-mentioned fixed time, the above problem can be avoided, but if the disk drive is not frequently accessed, the disk drive motor is Since the operation is stopped, there is a problem that the warm-up time is waited for when the access is performed after the stop, and the access cannot be performed at high speed immediately.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible, in this type of information processing apparatus, to eliminate both unnecessary drive of the disk drive device and elimination of waiting for the warm-up time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, in an information processing apparatus having a disk drive device and a display unit that is opened and closed, a detection unit that detects an open / closed state of the display unit. When the display unit is in the open state by the detection of the detection means, the disk drive device is driven in the first mode which is always driven, and when the display unit is in the closed state, the disk drive device is used. And a control means that is driven in a second mode when driven.

[Operation] With such a configuration, when the display unit is in the open state, that is, when the user is considered to be directly using the information processing device, the disk drive device is constantly driven in the first mode. To be done. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the waiting for the warm-up time when the user uses the disk drive device.

Further, when the display unit is in the closed state, that is, when the user is considered not to be directly using the information processing device, the disk drive device is driven when used in the second mode. Therefore, the disk drive device is not wastefully driven when not in use.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that the device of this embodiment has an openable and closable display and is required to be constantly operated 24 hours a day.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a CPU (central processing unit) which is a main body for controlling the entire apparatus and performing information processing. The following members are connected to the CPU 1 by buses.

The display unit 2 for displaying and outputting information is composed of a liquid crystal display or the like, and is provided in an openable and closable manner with respect to the entire apparatus as described above. An open / close detection switch 9 that is operated by opening / closing the display unit 2 to detect the open / close state of the display unit 2 is provided, and the open / close state data of the detection result is held in the detection switch register 5. CPU1 has the same register 5
The open / closed state of the display unit 2 can be recognized by reading the data of.

On the other hand, the ROM 3 stores information necessary for control such as the control program of the CPU 1. The RAM 4 is used as a working area of the control program and a memory area for loading and executing an application program.

Further, the HDD 6 as an external storage device stores application programs and data. The HDD 6 is installed in the main body of the information processing device.

Further, a fan 7 for cooling the inside of the information processing apparatus main body is provided. Since a large amount of heat in the apparatus body is generated especially from the disk drive motor of the HDD 6, the fan 7 is driven in response to the drive of the disk drive motor, as described later.

Further, a keyboard 8 is connected to the CPU 1 as an input means.

Based on the above configuration, the CPU 1 controls the whole according to the control program. In that case, especially the disk drive motor of HDD6 (hereinafter simply referred to as motor) and cooling fan 7
Regarding the control of, the drive control mode is switched according to the open / closed state of the display unit 2 detected by the open / close detection switch 9, and the drive control mode is switched to the drive mode only when the HDD 6 is used or the continuous drive mode. The details of the processing are the second
The procedure shown in the figure is performed as follows. The routine of the following processing is performed at an appropriate timing such as waiting for a key input from the keyboard 8.

In the process shown in FIG. 2, first, the CPU 1 determines whether or not the display unit 2 is closed based on the data of the detection switch register 5 in step S1. If the display unit 2 is closed, it is checked in step S2 whether the motor of the HDD 6 is stopped. If it is not stopped, it is checked in step S3 whether the HDD 6 is being used for communication processing, spool printing, etc., and if it is being used, the main routine is returned, but if not being used, the motor of the HDD 6 is turned on in step S4. Return to the main routine after stopping.

When the motor of the HDD 6 is stopped in step S2, the process branches to step S5, and the elapsed time t from the last access of the HDD 6 to the present is compared with a predetermined fan stop time tf, If the time t or the time tf is exceeded, the fan 7 is stopped in step S6 to return to the main routine.
If it does not exceed the limit, the process directly returns to the main routine. The fan stop time tf is preset by a predetermined setting program or a DIP switch.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that the display unit 2 is opened, the process branches to step S7 to check whether the motor of the HDD 6 is stopped. If not stopped, the main routine is directly returned. If stopped, step S8
Then, the motor of the HDD 6 is turned on, and the fan 7 is turned on in step S9, after which the process returns to the main routine.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the drive control mode of the motor of the HDD 6 and the fan 7 is considered to be when the display unit 2 is closed, that is, the user is not directly using the information processing device. In this state, the mode is set to stop when the HDD 6 is not in use. Further, when the display unit 2 is opened and it is considered that the user is directly using the information processing device, the mode is set to always drive.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the user from waiting for the warm-up time, and not to wastefully drive the motor and fan 7 when the HDD 6 is not used,
The service life of HDD6 can be extended. Further, it is possible to realize a quiet use environment without wastefully driving the motor or the fan 7 at night, and to reduce power consumption.

The above control processing may be performed at the timing of spool printing in which printing is performed in the background or during communication. A processing procedure in the case of performing printing during spool printing is shown in FIG.

The process of FIG. 3 is almost the same as the process of FIG. 2, and the difference is that steps S10 and S11 are added. That is, in this case, when the display unit 2 is opened, after performing the processing of steps S7 to S9 in the same manner as described above, in step S10, it is determined whether or not an error such as paper empty or jam occurs during spool printing. If there is no error, the process directly returns to the main routine. If there is an error, the error is displayed on the display unit 2 in step S11, and then the process returns to the main routine.

Further, FIG. 4 shows the processing when it is performed during communication. In this case, steps S10 'and S11' are inserted in place of steps S10 and S11 in FIG. That is, in this case, it is checked whether or not there is an error during communication, and if there is an error, the error is displayed in step S11 ', and then the process returns to the main routine.

In short, when the above-mentioned control processing is performed during spool printing or during communication, if the display unit 2 is in the open state in which it can be used, an error is displayed according to the occurrence of an error.

[Effects of the Invention] As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a disk drive device and an information processing device having a display unit that is opened and closed, a detection unit that detects an open / closed state of the display unit, When the display unit is in the open state by the detection of the detection means, the disk drive device is driven in the first mode which is always driven, and when the display unit is in the closed state, the disk drive device is used. Since the configuration including the control means for driving in the second mode for driving the disk drive device is adopted, it is possible to eliminate the waiting time for the warm-up time when the user uses the disk drive device and to waste the disk drive device when not in use. It is possible to obtain excellent effects such as improvement in durability, noise reduction, and reduction in power consumption without being driven to a high temperature.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a procedure of drive control of an HDD motor and a fan according to opening / closing of a display unit by the CPU of FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the above control during spool printing, and FIG.
The figure is a flow chart when the above control is performed during communication. 1 ... CPU, 2 ... Display section 3 ... ROM, 4 ... RAM 5 ... Detection switch register 6 ... HDD, 7 ... Fan 8 ... Keyboard, 9 ... Open / close detection switch

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A disk drive device and an information processing device having an openable / closable display unit, a detection unit for detecting an open / closed state of the display unit, and the display unit being in an open state by the detection of the detection unit. In this case, control means for driving the disk drive device in a first mode in which the disk drive device is always driven, and for driving the disk drive device in a second mode in which the disk drive device is driven when the display part is in a closed state. An information processing apparatus having: 2. A storage unit for storing the open / closed state of the display unit detected by the detecting unit, wherein the control unit controls according to the open / closed state stored in the storage unit. The information processing device according to claim 1. 3. A fan for cooling the inside of an information processing apparatus main body, and a fan control for driving the fan according to the drive of a disk drive motor of the disk drive apparatus and stopping the motor after a predetermined time has elapsed from the stop of the motor. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: