JP2842846B2 - How to keep keyboard operation mode - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for holding a keyboard operation mode, and more particularly to a method for holding a keyboard operation mode having two or more operation modes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a portable personal computer or the like, there is a system restart method called a resume function. This means that even if the power is turned off during the work using the battery built into the system, the same state as before is reproduced when the power is turned on next time, and the work can be continued.

[0003] When the resume function is provided, the user does not need to save the created document and terminate the document creation program before the power is turned off. The processes of “starting the document creation program” and “recalling the saved document” become unnecessary.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the prior art. The system restart device shown in FIG.
, The memory 102, the VRAM 114, the window system 115, the control device 103, and the nonvolatile memory 1
04, display device 105, input device 106, system end detecting means 107, system state saving processing means 1
08, a system activation detection unit 109, a system state reproduction processing unit 110, a redisplay request issuing unit 111,
A power switch 112 and a power supply device 113 are included. When the power is turned off, the states of the CPU 101, the memory 102, and the control device 103 are saved in the non-volatile memory 104 by the system state saving processing unit 108.
CPU 101 and memory 10 when power is turned off from non-volatile memory 104 by system state reproduction processing means 110
2 and the state of the control device 103 are read to restore the state of the system.

Next, the operation will be described in detail. When detecting that the power switch 112 has been turned off, the system end detection means 107 outputs an interrupt signal to notify the CPU 101 of the fact. Then, the CPU 101 executes the operation at the time of occurrence of the interrupt, and the system state saving processing means 108 is called.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing of the system state saving processing means 108. [S401] The system status saving processing means 108
The contents of the PSW of the PU 101 are stored in the P
Store in SW field. [S402] The contents of the general-purpose register group of the CPU 101 are stored in the CPU register field of the nonvolatile memory 104. [S403] In the memory 102, all data except the data in the VRAM, such as the text / data in the operating system area, the text / data in the window system area, and the text / data in other application areas, are stored in the memory fields of the nonvolatile memory 104. To be stored. [S404] Of the internal registers of the control device 103,
The contents of the registers necessary for state reproduction are stored in the non-volatile memory 10.
4 is stored in the control device register field. [S405] The restart flag field of the nonvolatile memory 104 is set to 1. [S406] A power-off signal is sent to the power supply unit 113 (the system is turned off in this state).

Next, when the power is turned on again, the power supply 1
13 and power is supplied from the
Inputs a power-on reset signal to the CPU 101, and the system state reproduction processing means 110 is called.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the system state reproduction processing means 110. [S501] The system state reproduction processing unit 110 determines whether the restart flag field of the nonvolatile memory 104 is set to 1. [S510] If it is not set to 1, the same system startup processing as in the past is performed. [S502] If it is set to 1, the control device 103 is initialized. [S503] The content stored in the control device register field of the nonvolatile memory 104 is read out and set in the corresponding register of the control device 103. [S504] The text / data of the operating system area, the text / data of the window system area, and the text / data of the other application area stored in the memory field of the nonvolatile memory 104 are stored.
All data except data in the VRAM, such as data, is read out and stored in the memory 102. [S505] The data of the general-purpose register group of the CPU 101 stored in the CPU register field of the non-volatile memory 104 is read and set in the corresponding register. [S506] The contents of the PSW of the CPU 101 stored in the PSW field of the nonvolatile memory 104 are read and set. (At this point, the state is the same as the state immediately before returning from the above-described interrupt processing except for the data in the VRAM.) [S507] Next, when the interrupt return instruction is executed, the system end detecting unit 107 is executed in the same manner as in the interrupt processing.
Returns to the upper body when an interrupt is input to the CPU 101. (Since the data in the VRAM is not restored, nothing is displayed on the screen of the display device.) [S508] The redisplay request issuing unit 111 is called,
A window redisplay request is issued to the window system 115. [S509] The window system 115 redisplays all programs running in the window environment,
Update the data in the VRAM.

A keyboard having two or more operation modes,
For example, even if the same key is pressed, in a computer having a keyboard that outputs “ffh” in mode 1 and outputs “00h” in mode 2, if the computer is to be resumed, the current operation mode of the keyboard is If information can be easily obtained from a keyboard microcomputer that controls the keyboard operation, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
The technique disclosed in the 62716 publication can be used. But,
Since there is no means for easily obtaining this information, the operating mode of the keyboard or the AP which actually switched the operating mode of the keyboard itself holds the operating mode information of the keyboard, and when the resume is detected, the OS and the The operation mode of the keyboard was reset by the AP itself. Therefore, in order to realize the resume, it was necessary to continuously supply power to the keyboard.

[0010]

The above-mentioned conventional device for holding the keyboard operation mode cannot guarantee the operation mode of the keyboard unless it depends on the OS or the AP. Therefore, even if the power of the computer is turned off, the power is not supplied to the keyboard. Has to be continuously supplied.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for holding a keyboard operation mode, comprising: a microcomputer for controlling a keyboard having a plurality of operation modes; Command is issued by the BIOS when the power is turned on / off, and the operation mode information is held.

[0012] In a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the acquired operation mode information is stored in a backup memory of the computer main body during the resume, and is again turned on when the power of the computer main body is turned on. A command for resetting the operation mode of the keyboard is issued based on the operation mode information stored by the BIOS.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for holding a keyboard operation mode, wherein a first step of initializing a keyboard microcomputer and a second step of checking whether a command is issued from the system.
And in the second step, a third step of performing a key scan when there is no command issued from the system, and checking the presence or absence of a pressed key. In the fourth step, and if the pressed key is present in the fourth step,
In a fifth step of outputting a key code, and in the second step, when a command is issued from the system, a sixth step of checking whether a command is issued from the BIOS, and in the sixth step, If no command is issued from the BIOS, a seventh step of executing another command and jumping to the third step;
In the sixth step, if there is a command issued from the BIOS, an eighth step of outputting the current operation mode of the keyboard to the system and jumping to the third step is provided. .

[0014]

Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. The microcomputer 11 that controls the keyboard 12 having a plurality of operation modes is provided with a command for acquiring information on the operation mode of the keyboard and a command for setting the operation mode. When the power supply 17 is turned on / off, the BIOS transmits these commands. And issue the operation mode information.

The method of holding the keyboard operation mode according to the present invention includes: (S1) a first step of initializing a keyboard microcomputer; (S2) a second step of checking whether a command is issued from the system; and (S3). In the second step, if no command is issued from the system, a third step of performing key scan; and (S4) checking for the presence or absence of a pressed key. A fourth step of flying, (S5) a fifth step of outputting a key code if there is a pressed key in the fourth step, and (S6) a second step of outputting a key code from the system in the second step. A sixth step of checking whether a command has been issued from the BIOS if a command has been issued; and (S7) in the sixth step, If no command is issued, a seventh step in which another command is processed and the process jumps to the third step; (S8) In the sixth step, if a command is issued from the BIOS, And an eighth step of outputting the current operation mode of the keyboard to the system and jumping to the third step.

When the power is turned on, the keyboard microcomputer 11 initializes the keyboard microcomputer 11 (S1), then checks for changes in key ON / OFF (key scan) (S3). CP code
It operates by a program such as outputting to U13 (S5). The program receives a command from the CPU 13 for the keyboard 12 through an interrupt process (S2). After receiving the command, the keyboard microcomputer 11 performs the processing corresponding to the command (S7), and repeats the scan (S3) again until the power is turned off. At the same time, a command is received (S2).

A computer 18 having a resume function
Causes the CPU 13 to generate an interrupt when the power is turned off, and the resume BIOS resident in the ROM 14.
Execute The resume BIOS causes the CPU 13 to issue a command to the keyboard microcomputer 11 to acquire information on the current operation mode of the keyboard 12. The keyboard microcomputer 11 receives the above-mentioned command (S6).
The information of the current keyboard operation mode is output to the CPU 13 (S8). The operation mode information obtained by the above-mentioned command is stored in the RAM 15 as a backup memory. The RAM 15 is connected to the computer 1 by the battery 16.
The information is held even while the power of the power supply 8 is turned off.

When the power of the computer 18 is turned on again, an interrupt is generated by the CPU 13 and the ROM 1
4 runs the Resume BIOS resident on it. The resume BIOS issues a command to the keyboard microcomputer 11 having a command for setting the keyboard operation mode based on the information on the keyboard operation mode stored in the RAM 15, and when the keyboard microcomputer 11 receives the command, the keyboard microcomputer 11 Numeral 11 sets a keyboard operation mode. In this way, the computer 18
The operation mode of the keyboard is returned to the state before the power supply 17 is turned off, thereby realizing the resume.

[0020]

According to the method of holding the keyboard operation mode of the present invention, the microcomputer for controlling the keyboard is provided with a command for acquiring information on the operation mode of the keyboard and a command for setting the operation mode. There is an effect that a keyboard having a mode can be resumed without being conscious on the OS and AP sides.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the related art.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of a system state evacuation processing unit shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of a system state reproduction processing means 110 shown in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Keyboard 12 Keyboard microcomputer 13 CPU 15 RAM 16 Battery 17 Power supply 18 Computer

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A microcomputer for controlling a keyboard having a plurality of operation modes is provided with a command for acquiring information on the operation mode of the keyboard and a command for setting the operation mode, and these commands are executed by the BIOS when the power is turned on / off. And holding the operation mode information. 2. During a resume operation, the acquired operation mode information is stored in a backup memory of a computer main body.
When the power of the computer is turned on, the BIOS is restored
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a command for resetting the operation mode of the keyboard is issued based on the operation mode information stored in the keyboard. 3. A first step of initializing a keyboard microcomputer, a second step of checking whether a command is issued from the system, and a key if no command is issued from the system in the second step. A third step of performing a scan; checking for the presence or absence of a pressed key; if not, a fourth step of skipping to the second step; and if there is a pressed key in the fourth step, A fifth step of outputting a key code, a sixth step of checking whether a command has been issued from the BIOS if a command has been issued from the system in the second step, and a sixth step. In the case where no command is issued from the BIOS, a seventh step in which processing of another command is executed and the processing jumps to the third step; In the step (c), when a command is issued from the BIOS, the current operation mode of the keyboard is output to the system side, and the eighth step jumps to the third step. Mode holding method.