JP4724199B2 - Electronic device with display and motion display device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for reducing power consumption of an electronic device including a display and an operation display device.

A portable electronic device such as a notebook personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a notebook PC) is provided with an LED display device using a light emitting diode (LED) to display the operation state of the device. It has been. As the functions of notebook PCs increase, the number of LEDs constituting the LED display device has also increased, and the power consumption has become a problem. In particular, reduction of power consumption is an important issue for extending the operation time of a notebook PC battery. Patent Document 1 discloses a wireless communication terminal in which a symbol corresponding to a communication line is displayed on a display in order to solve the problem that the power consumption of the LED shortens the operation time of the battery.
JP 2006-270479 A

  Not only when the user actually uses the notebook PC using a display, but also when the notebook PC is in the off state, during the sleep state, or after the power is turned on and before turning on. Even when information cannot be displayed on the display, it is necessary to know the operating state of the notebook PC. Therefore, the notebook PC is conventionally provided with an LED display device that can display the operation state of the notebook PC separately from the display.

  However, in order to further save power of the notebook PC, it is necessary to reduce the amount of power consumed by the LED display device. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce power consumption of an electronic device including a display and an operation display device.

  A portable computer according to the present invention includes a display and an LED display device that displays an operation state of the device. The control means stops the operation of the LED display device in response to the power saving event, and displays a symbol image corresponding to the symbol indicated by the LED display device on the display. As a result, when the display can be used, the amount of power consumed by the LED display device can be saved. The LED display device can be composed of a light emitting diode and a symbol plate on which a symbol for displaying a device is formed by transmitting light from the light emitting diode. Then, by making the symbol image displayed on the display similar to the symbol formed on the symbol plate, the user feels uncomfortable even if the medium for displaying the operation state of the device is changed from the LED display device to the display. Information can be recognized without any problem.

  The control means can resume the operation of the LED display device that has been stopped until when the display shifts to a power saving mode such as a sleep state or an off state. As a result, it is possible to save a larger amount of power than can be saved by stopping the LED display device. The LED display device may include information indicating a wireless LAN operation state, a hard disk drive operation state, a Numlock key pressing state, and a Capslock key pressing state. While the system is accessing the hard disk drive, the control means can prevent the increase in power consumption due to the idle time of the CPU by causing the symbol image to be displayed in an ON state without blinking.

  According to the present invention, power consumption of an electronic device including a display and an operation display device can be reduced.

  FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing the outer shape of a notebook PC 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The notebook PC 10 includes a keyboard 15 in the system housing 11 and a liquid crystal display (LCD) 17 is attached to the display housing 13. The display housing 13 is connected to the system housing 11 by a hinge so that it can be opened and closed. An LED display device 19 is provided on the inner edge of the display housing 13 located below the LCD 17.

  When the user uses the notebook PC 10, the user opens the display housing 13 and uses the LCD 17 and the keyboard 15. At this time, the user can also see the LED display device 19. FIG. 1B is a front view of the LED display device 19. The LED display device 19 includes a symbol plate 30 and a plurality of LEDs attached to a substrate housed in the display housing 13. The symbol plate 30 is formed of a synthetic resin plate having the same color as the surface of the display housing 13, and a plurality of openings are formed at positions corresponding to the positions where the LEDs are arranged. On the symbol plate 30, stickers on which symbols indicating the operating state of the device mounted on the notebook PC 10 and / or the system state of the notebook PC 10 are attached at positions corresponding to the respective openings.

  Each symbol is drawn with a transparent portion and an opaque portion of the seal, and the LED display device 19 displays the operating state or system state of the device corresponding to the symbol by turning on, turning off, or blinking the inner LED. The operation state includes information on the on state and off state of the device, and depending on the device, includes information on the communication state. The system state includes information regarding the power supply of the notebook PC 10. The LED corresponding to the symbol 20 is lit when a wireless local area network (LAN) module 47 is available, and blinks during data transmission. The LED corresponding to the symbol 21 is lit when the Bluetooth module (Bluetooth is a trademark) is available, and blinks during data transmission. The LED corresponding to the symbol 22 is lit when a wireless WAN (Wide Area Network) module 47 is available, and blinks during data transmission.

  The LED corresponding to the symbol 23 is lit when the NumLock key of the keyboard 15 is pressed and a specific key of the keyboard 15 can be used as a numeric key. The LED corresponding to the symbol 24 is lit when the Caps Lock key of the keyboard 15 is pressed and the caps lock mode of the keyboard 15 is enabled. The LED corresponding to the symbol 25 blinks when the system is reading from or writing to the hard disk drive (HDD).

  The LED corresponding to the symbol 26 is lit when the power of the notebook PC 10 is on. The LED corresponding to the symbol 27 is composed of two pieces of green and orange. The green LED lights when the battery is fully charged, and the green LED flashes when the battery is currently charged to the extent necessary for operation but not fully charged To do. Furthermore, the orange LED flashes when the battery is discharged to the extent necessary for charging, and the orange LED lights when the battery is currently charged but not charged to the extent necessary for operation. .

  The LED corresponding to the symbol 28 is lit when the AC / DC adapter is connected to the notebook PC 10 and can supply power. The LED corresponding to the symbol 29 is lit when the notebook PC 10 is in a standby state or a suspend state. As described above, the LED display device 19 provides convenient information for using the notebook PC 10 even when the user cannot use the LCD 17, but the problem remains that the power consumption increases as the number of LEDs increases. The physical configuration of the LED display device 19 need not be limited to the configuration illustrated here. For example, the LED display device may have a configuration in which a plurality of LEDs are directly attached to a housing and a device name is drawn in the vicinity of each LED.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of hardware mounted on the notebook PC 10. The CPU 31 is an arithmetic processing unit having a central function of the notebook PC 10 and executes an OS, a BIOS, a device driver, an application program, or the like. The CPU 31 controls each device connected to the chip sets of the north bridge 33 and the south bridge 41 via various buses. The north bridge 33 has a memory controller function for controlling an access operation to the main memory 35, a data buffer function for absorbing a difference in data transfer speed between the CPU 31 and another device, and the like. Including.

  The main memory 35 is a random access memory (RAM) used as a reading area for a program executed by the CPU 31 and a work area for writing processing data. Video controller 39 is connected to north bridge 33 and includes a graphics accelerator and VRAM. The video controller 39 receives a drawing command from the CPU 31, generates an image to be drawn, writes it in the VRAM, and sends the image read from the VRAM to the LCD 17 as drawing data at a predetermined timing.

  The south bridge 41 includes a Bluetooth interface (Bluetooth is a trademark), a serial ATA interface, a PCI Express X1 port, and the like, and the Bluetooth module 43, the HDD 42, and the wireless module 47 are connected to the south bridge 41. The wireless module 47 is a device for connecting the notebook PC 10 to a WAN or a LAN. In addition to known programs such as an operating system (OS), device driver, and application program, the HDD 42 stores a utility manager program according to the present embodiment. The utility manager will be described later.

  Furthermore, the south bridge 41 is connected via the LPC bus 50 to a legacy device conventionally used in the notebook PC 10 or a device that does not require high-speed data transfer. Connected to the LPC bus 50 are an embedded controller (EC) 49, a keyboard controller 65, and a flash ROM 63 storing BIOS. The EC49 is a microcomputer composed of an 8- to 16-bit CPU, ROM, RAM, and the like, and further includes a multi-channel A / D input terminal, a D / A output terminal, a timer, and a digital input / output terminal. Yes.

  A power controller 53 is connected to the EC 49 through an SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) which is a dedicated bus. The power controller 53 is a semiconductor logic circuit called ASIC. An LED display device 19 and a DC / DC converter 55 are connected to the power controller 53. The power controller 53 receives a signal from the EC 49 and controls the operation of the DC / DC converter 55 and controls the operation of the LED display device 19.

  The DC / DC converter 55 converts the DC power supplied from the AC / DC adapter 61 or the battery pack 57 into a plurality of voltages necessary for operating the notebook PC 10, and is defined according to the power state. Based on the power supply classification, power is supplied to the device mounted on the notebook PC 10. The battery pack 57 conforms to the standard of the smart battery system (SBS), and the MPU housed therein manages the remaining capacity of the battery. The EC 49 periodically receives the remaining battery capacity from the battery pack 57 via the SM bus. The AC / DC adapter 61 supplies DC power to a charger 59 that charges the battery pack 57 and a DC / DC converter 55.

  A keyboard 15 and a mouse (not shown) are connected to the keyboard controller 65. A specific Fn key of the keyboard 15 is assigned a function of stopping the LED display device 19 and shifting to the power saving mode. The flash ROM 63 is a non-volatile memory in which stored contents can be electrically rewritten, a system BIOS that is a basic program used to start the system, various utilities that are software for managing the power supply, the temperature in the housing, and the like, Stores POST (Power-On Self Test), which is software that performs hardware testing and initialization when the notebook PC 10 is started up.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of software according to the present embodiment. These software are executed by the CPU 31. In addition, the element enclosed with the dotted line has shown the hardware. The utility manager 101 is software for displaying an interface screen on the LCD 17 and allowing the user to make general settings regarding power saving of the notebook PC 10. The interface screen includes setting items for shifting the entire system and a specific device such as the LCD 17 to a sleep state or an off state when there is no access to the notebook PC 10 for a predetermined time.

  The utility manager 101 further generates a power saving event for stopping the operation of the LED display device 19 and shifting to the power saving mode. The utility manager 101 generates a power saving event when acquiring information indicating that the remaining capacity of the battery pack 57 has decreased from the EC 49 through the power management (PM) driver 115. The utility manager 101 generates a power saving event when the user instructs an operation item in the power saving mode through the interface screen. The utility manager 101 generates a power saving event when detecting that a specific Fn key on the keyboard 15 is pressed. The power saving event is notified to the EC 49 through the PM driver 115. When generating the power saving event, the utility manager 101 displays information indicated by the LED display device 19 on the LCD 17 using the function of the OS 103. Information indicating the operation state of the device and the system state displayed on the LCD 17 is referred to as a software LED.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a state in which the software LED 150 is displayed at a position adjacent to the task bar 151 displayed at the lower end of the desktop screen of the LCD 17. The software LED 150 includes a symbol image that is the same as or similar to the symbol formed on the symbol plate 30. The color of the symbol image of the software LED 150 corresponds to the state of the LED of the LED display device 19 and displays the on state and the off state of the device in different colors. Further, when the device or system blinks the LED, the color of the corresponding symbol image changes alternately. The software LED 150 may be arranged so that each symbol image is vertical at the right end of the desktop screen. It is desirable that the software LED 150 is set so as to be displayed at the front whenever it overlaps with another window.

  The EC 49 stores information on the operation state of the device for controlling the operation of the LED display device 19 as described below in an internal RAM or register. The EC 49 acquires information indicating an on state or an off state of each device and information indicating that data communication is being performed through the PM driver 115 from the Bluetooth driver 107, the wireless driver 109, and the HDD driver 113. For example, the EC 49 obtains information on the data rate from the HDD driver 113 when the system reads / writes data from / to the HDD 42, and the wireless module 47 performs data communication with the network. Information about the data rate is obtained from the wireless driver 109. The EC 49 acquires information indicating a state where the NumLock key is pressed and a state where the CapsLock key is pressed through the keyboard driver 111 and the PM driver 115. The EC 49 further holds information regarding the system state of the notebook PC 10 displayed by the LED display device 19.

  The OS 103 is a well-known operating system such as Windows (registered trademark), Linux (trademark), and Mac_OS (trademark). The video driver 105, the Bluetooth driver 107, the wireless driver 109, the keyboard driver 111, and the HDD driver 113 are the operations of the video controller 49, the Bluetooth interface 41a, the wireless module 47, the keyboard controller 65, and the serial ATA interface 41b, respectively. It is a device driver that controls The PM driver 115 realizes general functions related to power management of the notebook PC 10 in cooperation with other device drivers and EC49.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an LED control circuit constituting the LED display device 19. As shown in FIG. 4A, the LEDs 20 a to 29 a are connected to a substrate inside the display housing 13 corresponding to the symbols 20 to 29. The anodes of the LEDs 20 a to 29 a are connected to the DC / DC converter 55, and the cathodes are connected to the power controller 53. The power controller 53 is provided with AND gates and FETs corresponding to the respective LEDs as described with reference to the LEDs 20a in FIG. 4B.

  An FET 73a is connected between the cathode of the LED 20a and the ground. The output terminal of the AND circuit 71a is connected to the gate of the FET 73a. The EC 49 inputs a predetermined logical value according to the operating state of the wireless LAN module 47 to the first input terminal 75a of the AND gate 71a. The logical value is positive when the wireless LAN module 47 is in the on state, negative when the wireless LAN module 47 is in the off state, and positive and negative when the wireless LAN module 47 is in the communication state. The EC 49 inputs a positive logic value to the second input terminal 77a of the AND gate 71a when a power saving event is not generated, and inputs a negative logic value when a power saving event is generated. When a negative logical value is input to the second input terminal 77a, the logical value input to the first input terminal 75a is masked and the LED 20a is turned off. The other LEDs 21a to 29a are also controlled with the same circuit configuration.

  Next, based on the configuration of the notebook PC 10 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the operation of the LED display device 19 and the display method of the software LED 150 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 6, the state in which the LED display device 19 stops operating and the software LED 150 is displayed is referred to as a power saving mode, and the state in which the LED display device 19 operates and the software LED 150 is not displayed is referred to as a normal mode. To. The notebook PC 10 defines a system power state that is a power state of the entire system recognized by the OS 103 and a device power state that is a power state of each device. In block 201, the system power state of the notebook PC 10 has been turned on, and the software shown in FIG. The utility manager 101 recognizes the system power state and device power state of the notebook PC 10 through the PM driver 115.

  In block 203, the utility manager 101 determines the device power state of the LCD 17. Even if the system power state of the notebook PC 10 is on, the LCD 17 cannot be used when the device power state of the LCD 17 is in the sleep state or the off state. In this case, the utility manager 101 may receive information indicating that the remaining capacity of the battery pack 57 has decreased below a predetermined value, or may receive information indicating that a predetermined Fn key of the keyboard 66 has been pressed. Does not generate power saving events.

  Therefore, since a positive logic value is input to the second input terminal of each AND gate of the power controller 53 by the EC 49, the LED display device 19 is operated by switching to the normal mode in block 213, and the software LED is Do not show. When the LED display device 19 is operated, the LEDs 20 a to 29 a are turned on, turned off, or blinked according to the state of the device or system based on a signal instructed from the EC 49 through the power controller 53. At this time, the EC 49 can control the power controller 53 so as to change the blinking period in accordance with the data rate in the HDD 42 and the wireless module 47.

  When the utility manager 101 determines in block 203 that the device power state of the LCD 17 is on and can be used normally, the process proceeds to block 205. The utility manager 101 receives information indicating that the remaining capacity of the battery pack 57 has decreased below a predetermined value from the EC 49, receives information that a predetermined Fn key of the keyboard 15 is pressed, or displays an interface screen When the mouse input event for the operation item in the power saving mode is received, a power saving event is generated and the process proceeds to block 207. The power saving event is sent to the EC 49 through the OS 103 and the PM driver 115.

  In block 207, the EC 49 receiving the power saving event inputs a negative logic value to the second input terminal of all AND gates included in the power controller 53 to mask the value of the first input terminal. The operation of the display device 19 is stopped. Further, the utility manager 101 displays the software LED 150 on the LCD 17 through the OS 103 to operate the notebook PC 10 in the power saving mode. The utility manager 101 selects and displays the color of each symbol image of the software LED 150 based on information indicating the device and system status received from the EC 49. For example, an on-state device is displayed in green, and an off-state device is displayed in gray. When the information for blinking the LED is acquired as in the case of communication, the symbol image is alternately displayed in green and gray.

  As a result, when a power saving event is generated, all the LEDs 20a to 29a of the LED display device 19 are turned off, and information that was scheduled to be displayed on the LED display device 19 is displayed on the LCD 17 as a software LED 150. The power consumption of the LED display device 19 can be reduced while maintaining the amount of information provided to the user. While the software LED 150 is displayed, the PM driver 115 may detect the power saving condition set on the interface screen and shift the LCD 17 to the sleep state or the off state. As a condition for power saving, there is a case where the user does not perform an input operation from the keyboard 15 or the mouse for a predetermined time. In block 209, the PM driver 115 notifies the utility manager 101 that the power saving condition is satisfied and the LCD 17 has shifted to the power saving mode.

  Since the reduction amount of the power amount of the LCD 17 due to the shift to the power saving mode is larger than the power amount consumed by the LED display device 19, in this case, the PM driver moves to block 215 to prioritize the power saving condition. 115 sends a signal to the EC 49 to shift the LCD 17 to the power saving mode, causing the LCD 17 to shift to the sleep state or the off state. At this time, the EC 49 inputs a positive logical value to the second input terminal of the AND gate of the power controller 53 and resumes the operation of the LED display device 19 instead of the display of the software LED 150.

  Based on an instruction from the EC 49, the power controller 53 turns on / off the FET and blinks the LED 25a at a blinking cycle corresponding to the data rate when the system is accessing the HDD 42 for reading and writing. When the symbol image of the software LED corresponding to the LED 25a is blinked in the same manner, the CPU 31 needs to periodically access the EC 49 to obtain the data rate information. At this time, since there is a large difference in the clock cycle between the CPU 31 and the EC 49, the CPU 31 spends idle time before obtaining information and consumes wasted power.

  Therefore, it is desirable that the software LED 150 display only the on state or the off state without blinking the display of the operation state of the HDD 42. In this case, when the system is accessing the HDD 42, the symbol image is drawn in the on state regardless of the data rate, and when there is no access, the symbol image is drawn in the off state. Alternatively, the symbol image blinks while suppressing an increase in power consumption of the CPU 31 by periodically obtaining information on the communication state of the HDD 42 from an object indicating the operation status of the HDD as provided by the activity monitor of the MAC_OS. It is also possible to adopt a display method.

  Although the present invention has been described with the specific embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and is known so far as long as the effects of the present invention are achieved. It goes without saying that any configuration can be adopted.

It is the perspective view which shows the external shape of the notebook PC concerning embodiment of this invention, and the front view of a LED display apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the hardware mounted in notebook PC. It is a block diagram which shows the software structure concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the control circuit of LED which comprises a LED display apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure of software LED. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of software LED and an LED display apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

19 ... LED display device 30 ... Symbol plate 150 ... Software LED

Claims (6)

A portable computer,
A processor;
Display,
An LED display device disposed in the vicinity of the display and displaying an operation state of a device constituting the portable computer;
In response to a power saving event, the operation of the LED display device is stopped to display a symbol image corresponding to the symbol indicated by the LED display device on the display, and when the display shifts to a sleep state or an off state, the LED A portable computer having control means for resuming the operation of the display device .   The portable computer according to claim 1, wherein the LED display device includes a light emitting diode and a symbol plate on which a symbol for transmitting the light of the light emitting diode to display the device is formed. The portable computer according to claim 2 , wherein the symbol image is similar to a symbol formed on the symbol plate. The portable type according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the LED display device includes information indicating a wireless LAN operating state, a hard disk drive operating state, a NumLock key pressed state, and a CapsLock key pressed state. Computer. 5. The portable computer according to claim 4 , wherein the control means displays the symbol image in an on state while the system accesses the hard disk drive. A control method for a computer system comprising an LED display device for displaying an operating state of a display and a device, comprising:
The LED display device displaying an operating state of the device;
The computer system generating a power saving event;
In response to the power saving event, the computer system stops the LED display device and displays a symbol image corresponding to a symbol indicated by the LED display device on the display;
Transitioning the display to a sleep or off state;
A control method comprising: causing the computer system to operate the LED display device while the display is in a sleep state or an off state .

Images