JP2985808B2 - Memory expansion detection circuit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory protection circuit, and more particularly to a memory protection circuit of an information processing device such as a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional memory expansion detection circuit of this kind, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 3-269635 discloses a personal computer which supports a resume mode and has an additional memory as an option. To detect that the additional memory has been removed,
An interrupt generating means 43 for issuing an NMI (non-maskable interrupt) interrupt, an interrupt processing means 41 for receiving the NMI interrupt to save system information in a storage device and output a power signal, and a power signal (power-off command). A power supply unit 44 for shutting down the power by receiving the power, a processing unit 42 for system boot for confirming the saving of the system information by referring to the system saving flag when the power is turned on again, and restoring the system, Storage means 4 for storing flags
And a personal computer that is configured to turn off the power in the resume mode when the additional memory is removed, and to return to a state immediately before the additional memory is removed when the additional memory is inserted and the power is turned on again. Have been.

As another prior art example, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-11042 discloses that when a user expands or replaces an extension memory, the power supply of the extension memory and a refresh signal are automatically cut off. As shown in FIG. 5, a personal computer with improved reliability is provided with a power supply control circuit 54 and an interface control circuit 56 by detecting a user's intention to add or replace the extension memory 51 with a sensor 57 as shown in FIG. Therefore, a configuration has been proposed in which the power supply to be supplied to the memory card and the fresh signal are cut off before the memory card is inserted or removed, thereby preventing the failure of the extended memory interface circuit 55 on the system side or the extended memory itself. I have.

[0004]

However, the above-described prior art has a problem that the memory may be added while the memory is energized, and the memory may be destroyed.

The reason is that there is no means for recognizing the user that the memory is being energized when the memory is added. In addition, there is no circuit for automatically executing power-off when a memory is added.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to notify a computer user that a memory is being powered when a memory is added,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a memory expansion detection circuit that executes power supply to a memory and reliably prevents memory destruction and destruction of a computer main body due to memory expansion while power is supplied.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a memory expansion detecting circuit according to the present invention comprises a computer main body.
Accompanied with opening and closing of the memory expansion Yokatamitai cover provided in the housing
A switch whose on / off control is performed, and the output of the switch.
Power to the memory and the computer
Power supply control circuit that controls on / off of the supply of stem power
Wherein the system power is turned off, and
When the memory power is turned on,
Switch opened the memory expansion case cover
Is detected, a memory expansion operation is detected, and the power
Supply the system power from the
Boot the computer to return to normal operation,
Mori power you a warning to the effect that the ON state to the operator, characterized in that.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to return to the normal operation state.
The post-execution, writable nonvolatile type such as a magnetic storage device Symbol
The memory which is turned off when the memory is added to the storage device
Unit and the register information of the computer are saved, and thereafter, power supplies other than the power supply control circuit are cut off.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. A switch (2 in FIG. 1) that is turned on / off in accordance with opening / closing of a memory expansion housing cover (4 in FIG. 1) provided on the housing of the computer main body, and receives an output of the switch to supply power to the memory. And a power supply control circuit (7 in FIG. 2) for controlling on / off of the supply of the system power supply of the computer main body.
When the memory power is turned on, when it is detected that the switch for memory expansion (4 in FIG. 1) is opened by the switch (2 in FIG. 1), it is detected as a memory expansion operation, and the system power is turned on. Supply, resume and warn.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the memory (14 in FIG. 1) is turned off when a memory is added to a predetermined storage device (18 in FIG. 3) such as a magnetic storage device after executing the resume process. Then, the information of various registers of the computer is saved, and then the memory power is turned off.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the presence or absence of energization of the memory is detected by the operation for expanding the memory, that is, by opening and closing the memory expansion housing cover (4 in FIG. 1). ing.

For this reason, the computer user receives a warning (for example, via the warning LED 6 in FIG. 1) at the time of memory expansion while the memory is energized, so that the computer user can easily determine whether the power is energized. .

Further, by controlling the power supply by opening and closing the memory expansion housing cover (4 in FIG. 1), it is possible to reliably avoid a situation in which power is supplied when the memory is expanded.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1A is a plan view (rear view) showing the structure of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
It is a sectional side view of the XX 'line of (A).

Referring to FIG. 1, in the present embodiment,
The additional memory board 3 is configured to be added on the main board 5 built in the notebook personal computer body 1. When the additional memory board 3 is added, the notebook personal computer 1
Is opened. Switch 2
It turns on and off with the opening and closing of the additional memory case cover 4. A warning LED 6 is provided on the back of the main body.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a switch and a power supply control circuit in this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the memory expansion detection signal 8 changes depending on whether the switch 2 is turned on or off. The memory expansion detection signal 8 is pulled up to the power supply VCC via a pull-up resistor 9 and is input to the power supply control circuit 7. When the switch 2 is turned on, it has a low potential ("L" level), and the switch 2 is turned off. Sometimes, the potential becomes high (“H” level).

A system power supply FET (field effect transistor) 12 supplies power to the entire system, and is turned on / off by a system power supply FET control signal 10 output from a power supply control circuit 7. The memory power FET 13 supplies power to the memory 14 and is turned on / off by a memory power FET control signal 11 output from the power control circuit 7.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The switch 2 includes a housing cover 4 for additional memory.
Is always on when is closed, while it is off when the additional memory housing cover 4 is open.

As described above, when the switch 2 is on, the memory expansion detection signal 8 is at "L" level, and when the switch 2 is off, the memory expansion detection signal 8 is at "H" level.

In the suspend state, the power FET 13 for the memory is turned on, the power is supplied to the memory 14, and the power FET 12 for the system is turned off, so that the system is in the power-off state.

The power supply control circuit 7 has a memory extension detection signal 8
When it is detected that the "H" level (the switch 2 is off; the additional memory case cover 4 is in the open state) continues for a certain period of time or longer, the system power supply FET 12 is turned on (conducting state). Along with this, the system power is supplied, the computer system boots, and the software starts the resume processing. The reason that the system power supply FET 12 is turned on when the memory expansion detection signal 8 is at the “H” level for a certain period of time is to avoid the influence of noise and the like and to reliably detect the open state of the cover 4. .

As described above, in this embodiment, since the resume process is performed by opening and closing the additional memory case cover 4 by the computer user, it is possible to give a warning to the computer user. Become.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the switch 2, the pull-up resistor 9, the power supply control circuit 7, the system power supply FET control signal 10, the memory power supply FET control signal 11, the system power supply FET 12, Power supply F
The ET 13 is connected in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

The system power supply FET 12 is connected to the CPU 1
6, peripheral control unit 17 and magnetic storage device 18 are connected to system power supply plane 15 as a system power supply.

The CPU 16 controls the magnetic storage device 18 and the memory 14 through the peripheral control unit 17.

As in the above embodiment, the computer user opens and closes the additional memory housing cover 4 to perform the resume process.

In the resume processing, the software determines whether or not the opening / closing of the additional memory casing cover 4 is a factor, and if the opening / closing of the additional memory casing cover 4 is a factor, the CPU 16 and the peripheral control unit Through 17, the contents of the memory 14 are transferred to the magnetic storage device 18.

Thereafter, the power supply control circuit 7 cuts off the power supply to the system power supply plane 15 and the memory 14.

In this embodiment, as described above, when the computer user opens and closes the additional memory housing cover 4, the contents of the memory 14 are automatically saved to the magnetic storage device, and the power of the system memory 14 is turned on. This makes it possible for the computer user to expand the memory without special measures. It is needless to say that a writable nonvolatile memory may be used instead of the magnetic storage device 18.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The following effects are obtained.

A first effect of the present invention is that a computer user can recognize a memory energized state when a memory is added. As a result, it is possible to prevent memory expansion while the memory is energized, and it is impossible to artificially expand the memory while the memory is energized.

The reason for this is that, in the present invention, when an attempt is made to add a memory when the memory is energized, a resume is performed to warn that the memory is energized.

A second effect of the present invention is that the power is turned off even if the computer user is energizing the memory when the computer is expanded, so that the memory can be expanded at any time.

The reason is that, in the present invention, the contents of the memory are transferred to another storage device by opening the memory expansion case cover, and the power of the memory is cut off.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of a memory expansion detection circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of another embodiment of the memory expansion detection circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional technique.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Notebook PC main body 2 Switch 3 Additional memory board 4 Additional memory case cover 5 Main board 6 Warning LED 7 Power control circuit 8 Memory expansion detection signal 9 Pull apple resistor 10 System power FET control signal 11 Memory power FET control signal 12 Power FET for System 13 Power FET for Memory 14 Memory 15 System Power Plane 16 CPU 17 Peripheral Control Unit 18 Magnetic Storage

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 1/26 G06F 1/32 G06F 12/16 G06F 12/16 340

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] And 1. A switch which is turned on / off control with the opening and closing of the computer memory expansion housing cover provided on the housing, receiving the output of said switch, the memory power source and the con <br/> A power supply control circuit for controlling on / off of a system power supply of the computer main body, wherein when the system power supply is turned off and the memory power supply is turned on, the memory is controlled by the switch. When it is detected that the expansion case cover is opened, it is detected that the memory expansion operation is performed, and the system power is supplied from the power supply control circuit to boot the computer.
To return to the normal operating state by preparative, memory power warning to the effect that the ON state to the operator, memory expansion detection circuit, characterized in that. 2. After executing the return to the normal operation state, the memory section and the register information of the computer which are turned off when a memory is added are evacuated to a nonvolatile writable storage device such as a magnetic storage device. After that, the power supply
To interrupt the power supply of the non-control circuit, characterized in that claim 1
The memory expansion detection circuit according to the above description. 3. A memory section, a main body system section, and a writing section.
Information processing device having a non-volatile storage device capable of
Te, a memory expansion opening provided in the device housing, the supply of a cover covering the opening, a detecting means for detecting that the cover has been opened, the power to the memory unit and the system unit and
Comprising a power control circuit for controlling the stop, the power supply to the memory unit is supplied, and the system unit
When the power supply to the
The circuit detects that the cover has been opened from the detection means.
When notified of the detection, power is supplied to the system unit.
Feeding, and the system unit, are stored in the memory unit
Information stored in the non-volatile storage device,
The control circuit stops the power supply of the memory unit and the system unit.
An information processing apparatus, which stops .