JP4894114B2 - Information processing apparatus and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a required device and realizing various operations by processing accompanied by software, and an information processing method in such an information processing apparatus. The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method that are effective when processing is performed.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In various information processing devices such as personal computers and portable terminals, networking of information processing has progressed, and in addition to the formation of wired LANs (local area networks) such as ISDN lines, ADSL lines, and optical fibers, Communication has also been considered, and in the case of building a home LAN, on a business trip, or on the move, especially the ability to communicate wirelessly is becoming more important. Also, so-called peripheral devices such as printers and scanners are required to function as a part of the network, and such peripheral devices are each equipped with devices for networking as information processing apparatuses. ing.
[0003]
Various systems for performing wireless communication have been proposed, such as an information processing apparatus that can incorporate an IEEE802.11b device capable of high-speed communication that can be used for a wireless LAN, or can be added as an option. Information processing apparatuses that can be equipped with or can add devices such as so-called Bluetooth (trademark, standard name), which is a short-range wireless standard that employs spread spectrum communication technology, are already on the market.
[0004]
By the way, in the main body of the information processing apparatus, normally, the power of the entire apparatus can be turned off by turning off the power on the software. For example, in the case of a device such as a personal computer, an operating system as software and various applications are incorporated into the hardware of the device and configured to start up as necessary. For example, Microsoft Windows (trade name) In this case, when turning off the power, by clicking the end portion to be expanded from a toolbar or the like on the Windows screen, the procedure for the end is advanced, and the power of the entire apparatus is turned off. The termination operation in this case is a signal that prompts activation so that the personal computer can be activated in response to a command from the mechanical off or other device that is completely stopped as if the power cable has been unplugged from the outlet. ) Is an operation for forming a state such as soft-off. In recent personal computers, even if the power switch on the front of the main unit is turned off, it is actually soft off, and there are often separate mechanical off switches on the side and back of the main unit to completely stop power feeding, Products without such a switch are also known.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
An information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a mobile phone is a source of radio waves, so that it is necessary to suddenly change the wireless device from an on state to an off state depending on the situation. For example, when taking off and landing of an airplane, or when a pacemaker user comes in the facility. One method of suddenly stopping such wireless transmission is to operate a power switch or reset button in the same manner as pulling out a power cable from an outlet. For example, in a device that operates a power switch, In order to distinguish from a normal operation, for example, by pressing and holding for about 4 to 5 seconds, a transition to a soft-off state can be made.
[0006]
However, when the power is turned off by such a forced switch operation, the OS has to stop processing halfway, so the OS itself may hang up or the wireless device May not work properly. When the power is turned on next time, the hard disk may be self-checked because it was not normally turned off last time, and the process becomes unstable.
[0007]
Instead of turning off the power by forcible operation, it is also possible to shift the wireless device to a state in which processing cannot be performed by performing a Disable (unusable or invalidated) process on the OS device driver. For example, in the case of Windows, there is a selection to disable in the property of the target device in the device manager, and if the check box to disable this is checked, Transitions to the unusable state.
[0008]
However, when the logical structure on the software is broken, that is, when an abnormality is found in the system of the target device, it may be difficult to make a transition to the unusable state easily.
[0009]
Therefore, in view of the above technical problems, the present invention ensures that the state transition of the target device or the like does not lose the logical consistency regardless of whether the target system is normal or abnormal. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus that can be performed at once and an information processing method realized by such an information processing apparatus.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention provides: Includes wireless transmission mechanism Control means for detecting an instruction to change the hardware state and changing the hardware state based on the detected instruction. The control means forcibly changes the hardware state before the hardware state is changed. If the software does not notify you that the hardware is operating normally, the hardware state is forcibly changed when the standby time has elapsed, and the software operates normally. When it is notified, the countdown of the waiting time is stopped.
[0011]
When executing an instruction to change the hardware state, the target of the instruction to be changed includes any state about the hardware. As a specific example, the power of the device is turned off or on. If you want to. State transition of the hardware by software can be achieved by various methods, but mainly refers to state transition led by software, for example, control to unusable state by OS or utility. Can do. In the present invention, since the software-initiated state transition precedes the forced state transition control, if the hardware state can be changed during repeated trials, the software-initiated state transition can be performed only by the software-initiated state transition. The state transition is completed, and an abnormal end state of the system can be avoided. Also, software-driven state transitions are repeated trials, so if software-driven state transitions are difficult, hardware-side forced state transitions can be performed to complete the process. it can.
[0012]
Another information processing apparatus of the present invention Targets including wireless transmission mechanism Detect the instruction to change the device state, was detected Based on order Target Includes control means for transitioning device states , The control means Target Before forcing the device to transition, Target If the device-related software attempts to make a state transition and the software does not notify that it is operating normally, it will be forcibly when the standby time has elapsed Target When the state of the device is changed and the software notifies that it is operating normally, the standby time countdown is stopped.
[0013]
In the information processing apparatus of the present invention, Target The device is all or part of the information processing apparatus, and is based on software Target The device state transition is performed before the forced state transition. Thus, for example, on an OS or utility Target Device state transition is performed in advance, but on the OS or utility Target When the device state transition is unsuccessful, the forced state transition is advanced, and the target processing can be completed.
[0014]
The control means has a plurality of operations by a single operation. Target The device state can be changed in parallel.
[0015]
According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, it can be used, for example, when a plurality of devices for which a single operation operates exclusively, in which case one device among the plurality of devices is used. The process of enabling and disabling other devices can proceed smoothly.
[0017]
In addition, the information processing method of the present invention includes: Targets including wireless transmission mechanism Based on the detection procedure that detects the command to change the device state and the command detected by the processing of the detection procedure Target Including a control procedure for transitioning the device state, Target Before forcing the device to transition, Target If the device-related software attempts to make a state transition and the software does not notify that it is operating normally, it will be forcibly when the standby time has elapsed Target When the state of the device is changed and the software notifies that it is operating normally, the standby time countdown is stopped.
[0018]
In the information processing method of the present invention, software is used. Target Since the device state transition is performed before the forced state transition, for example on the OS or utility Target Device state transition is performed in advance, but on the OS or utility Target When the device state transition is unsuccessful, the forced state transition is advanced, and the target processing can be completed.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is an example of a personal computer, and in particular is a personal computer capable of performing spread spectrum near field communication such as a so-called Bluetooth system and wireless LAN communication as a wireless device.
[0020]
FIG. 1 shows a software / hardware configuration diagram of the main part of the present embodiment. First, as a hardware configuration, a slide switch 14 that is opened and closed according to control related to the state of the hardware is connected to the control device 11, and target devices 12 and 13 that operate in response to a signal from the control device 11 are provided. Is provided. These target devices 12 and 13 may be any devices. In particular, when these target devices 12 and 13 are a spread spectrum short-range communication module and a wireless LAN module as described later, good radio wave control is realized. Is done. Other examples of the target devices 12 and 13 include a modem, keyboard, camera, flexible disk, hard disk, scanner, printer, FAX, CD-ROM reader, removable media device, sound controller, video controller, game controller, display, Various devices that can be mounted or built in such as mouse, USB port, network card, PCMCIA card, other I / O devices, ports, infrared ports, batteries, etc. are applicable.
[0021]
Corresponding to such a hardware configuration, there is a software configuration. The main configuration on the software side is that each device driver 16, 17, 15 is provided so as to correspond to each of the target devices 12, 13 and the control device 11, and these device drivers 16, 17, 15 are the utilities 18. Controlled by the program. The utility 18 operates on the CPU when it is activated.
[0022]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure of software and hardware. An OS exists on the hardware, and a layer composed of a combination of an application and middleware is formed on the OS. In the present invention, a utility corresponds to an application, and a part of the device driver and the utility corresponds to a middleware layer. The device driver is configured so that it can be disabled from the GUI such as a device manager. In this embodiment, the device driver receives an instruction from the utility via the OS and proceeds with the device invalidation (stop) process. Can do.
[0023]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main part configuration of the hardware, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram corresponding to a chip set for the main part configuration. In FIG. 2, a bus line is formed between a CPU 21 that handles software and an embedded controller 22, and the embedded controller 22 operates in response to a signal from the CPU 21 and sends a signal to the CPU 21. It is configured to be sent. The slide switch 23 is configured to directly send a signal to the embedding control device 22, and a spread spectrum near field communication module 24 and a wireless LAN module 25 are connected as target devices controlled by the embedding control device 22. .
[0024]
With this configuration, when the slide switch 23 is operated, a signal indicating that the slide switch 23 has been operated is sent to the embedded control device 22, and software-driven processing is advanced from the embedded control device 22 to the CPU 21. When the software-driven process is unsuccessful, a signal for forcibly disabling the spread spectrum short-range communication module 24 and the wireless LAN module 25 is sent from the embedded control device 22. As an example of the signal to be forcibly disabled, a signal for controlling the power supplied to each device to be turned off, a signal for turning off the amplifier of the output stage, and the like can be cited, but other methods and means are used. It is also possible.
[0025]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware of the configuration of FIG. 2 including a chipset and the like. In FIG. 3, the hardware is configured to control on / off of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36. Yes.
[0026]
A south bridge 32 is connected to the CPU 31 and the north bridge set 31 via a bus 33, and the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 are turned on and off to the south bridge 32 that handles control of peripheral devices. An embedded control device 34 that controls the above is connected via a bus.
[0027]
The spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 is a module that performs signal processing for spread spectrum short-range communication. As an example, the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 includes a chip set including a combination of an RF LSI and a baseband LSI. It is not limited. An external antenna 39 is connected to the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35, and communication using, for example, a 2.4 GHz band is possible. The spread spectrum short-distance communication module 35 may be built in a personal computer, or may be a card, a stick, a device, or the like mounted as an option. A power switch 37 is connected to the power supply side of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35, and the power switch 37 is controlled to be opened and closed by a signal from the embedded control device 34. The above-described south bridge 32 is connected to the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 via the bus 41 and transfers data to be communicated.
[0028]
A wireless LAN module 36 is provided together with the spread spectrum short-distance communication module 35, and mainly handles IEEE802.11b and standards-compliant communications. The wireless LAN module 36 is configured to be connected to the antenna 40 via a radio amplifier (ie, RF output switch) 38, and is configured to be connected to the north bridge or the south bridge 32 via a bus 42. ing. The wireless amplifier 38 is a switch that controls on / off of the output to the antenna 40 and is controlled to be opened and closed by a signal from the embedded control device 34. Note that the wireless LAN module 36 is a device connected via, for example, a card bus, and a required procedure is required when the power is turned off unlike the case of USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. The
[0029]
The embedded control device 34 is a controller that controls on / off of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36. In particular, the control of the power spread switch 37 is controlled to control the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35. Thus, the operation / non-operation of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 is controlled. When the wireless LAN module 36 is controlled, on / off of the wireless amplifier 38 on the output side is controlled. Strictly speaking, the control of the wireless LAN module 36 is not the power supply control of the wireless LAN module 36 itself, but only a part of the on / off control, but the same effect can be obtained in terms of suppressing radio waves. Therefore, the system can be stabilized as compared with the case where the entire wireless LAN module 36 is controlled.
[0030]
Here, the control by the embedded control device 34 in the present embodiment will be enumerated. First, when the state of the slide switch 43 changes, there is a control for notifying the utility of the state of the slide switch 43, and secondly, the device. That is, power on / off of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36, or permission / non-permission of transmission of radio waves to the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 or related peripheral devices by hardware. There is control to perform permission processing. As the third control, there is a control that allows the utility to change permission / non-permission of turning on / off the device power and transmitting radio waves when the state of the slide switch 43 is on. Fourth, if the slide switch 43 changes from the on state to the off state and there is no response from the utility for a certain period of time (abnormality of the utility, OS, driver, etc.), the device power is turned off and the radio wave is transmitted in hardware. There is a control that performs a process of disabling the transmission of this, which corresponds to a mechanism that provides a pending state when the slide switch 43 transitions from an on state to an off state. As a fifth control, there is a control that enables the utility to change the counter value even when the pending time measurement counter is operating in the pending state (the third control described above). In the case of a device / operation that does not need to consider logical contradictions such as the OS and driver as the control 6, there is a control for permitting / not permitting the transmission of radio waves in synchronization with the on / off of the slide switch. The counter for measuring the pending time is called a pending counter, and has a function of decreasing the counter value preset to a certain value and terminating the pending operation when the counter value becomes, for example, zero. Each control listed here is only an example, and can be changed as appropriate according to factors such as the number and type of target devices.
[0031]
The embedded control device 34 that performs such a control operation performs control in cooperation with a utility that is software. In particular, in this embodiment, the utility performs the following control in relation to the target device. The first control is to request the embedding control device 34 to process the state change notification of the slide switch 43 from the embedding control device 34.
[0032]
When the slide switch 43 changes from the on state to the off state as processing for the embedding control device 34, first, a pending counter update command is issued in order to suspend the forced off processing by the embedding control device 34. Next, invalidation (stop) processing of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 is performed on the target device, here, the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 via the OS. If the remaining time of the pending time of the embedded control device 34 is reduced during the invalidation processing, a pending counter update command is issued to the embedded control device 34 again. In such a case, it means that invalidation processing is progressing without failure of logic, and forced off processing can be minimized by preceding the processing of the utility that is software. The occurrence of logical contradictions can be prevented. If the invalidation process is unsuccessful, a command to turn off the power of the target device is issued to the embedded control device 34. When the above-described spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 are target devices, the on / off of the power switch 37 is controlled to control the operation / non-operation of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35. When the wireless LAN module 36 is controlled, on / off of the wireless amplifier 38 on the output side is controlled. The power switch 37 and the wireless amplifier 38 are controlled by a signal from the utility to the embedded control device 34.
[0033]
As processing for the embedded control device 34, when the slide switch 43 changes from the off state to the on state, first, a command to turn on the power of the target device is issued to the embedded control device 34. Here, the reason why the pending state is not applied when the slide switch 43 changes from the off state to the on state is that it is known in advance that a logical mismatch occurs when the on / off is repeated continuously in a short time. On the other hand, it is known that the problem of logical inconsistency does not occur especially when the pending mechanism is inserted when the state changes from the on state to the off state. In the case of a configuration in which a problem occurs when transitioning to the on state, a pending mechanism can be inserted when transitioning to the on state.
[0034]
In addition to the processing for the embedded control device 34 as described above, the utility function also functions as a management system for a plurality of devices using a single slide switch 43. As an example that can be configured as such a management system for a plurality of devices, the aforementioned spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and wireless LAN module 36 can be exemplified. Since these spread spectrum short-distance communication module 35 and wireless LAN module 36 use the same frequency band, if they are used at the same time, the quality of communication will be degraded, and communication will be cut off, making it impossible to demonstrate the original performance. Or Therefore, by operating exclusively, it is possible to prevent deterioration in communication quality. In this embodiment, control from such a utility is performed with provision of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to the user. This part will be described later.
[0035]
Next, processing of the entire system will be described with reference to FIG. The flow of FIG. 5 shows an outline of the operation of the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, and the flowchart of FIG. 7 described later includes the detailed procedure. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the periodic processing of the device by the embedded control.
[0036]
First, the personal computer, which is the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, is initially in the monitoring state of the slide switch as shown by the state S11 in FIG. 5, and always detects that the state of the slide switch transitions from on to off. ing. When the slide switch changes from on to off (r11), the change signal is transferred from the slide switch to the embedded control device. 34 The change is notified to the utility (System). Then, the information processing apparatus transitions to a trial state (state S12), and tries to invalidate the software method there. At this time, if invalidation by a software technique is possible in a form that maintains logical consistency, it is possible to add control for extending the processing time.
[0037]
When the invalidation by the software technique is successful (r12), the monitoring state of the original slide switch (state S11) is returned to wait for the next slide switch change. Conversely, when the invalidation by the software method fails (r13), the power of the target device is forcibly changed to off (state S13). In this case, various power management methods can be used, for example, a method of forcibly turning off the power supply of the entire module of the target device, or forcibly inactivating only the part related to some output stages. A technique such as making it into a state is used. The state transition process is completed through the state S13 (r14), the original slide switch monitoring state (state S11) is returned, and the slide switch change standby mode is entered again.
[0038]
Next, periodic processing of the embedded control device corresponding to the flow of FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIG. When the slide switch is changed from the on state to the off state, the embedded control device functions to proceed with a software-driven invalidation process first. When the software-driven invalidation process fails, a reliable hardware power-off operation is performed.
[0039]
Specifically, the embedded control device is configured to execute a periodic timer interrupt, and its interrupt routine is shown in FIG. First, in step S21, the embedded control device detects whether or not the state of the slide switch has changed. If NO, the process proceeds to step S25 to determine the state of the slide switch. If the slide switch is in the OFF state, a process for turning off the power is performed in step S26. Conversely, if the slide switch is in the ON state, the interrupt process is terminated. That is, if the software-driven power-off process is performed in advance by performing the process of turning off the power when the slide switch is in the OFF state, and this software-driven process fails Then, control for forcibly turning off the power is performed by hardware.
[0040]
If the result of detecting whether or not the state of the slide switch has changed in step S21 is YES, the process proceeds to step S22 to determine the state of the slide switch. If the slide switch is ON, the process proceeds to step S23 to notify the utility (System) that the slide switch is ON. On the contrary, if the slide switch is in the OFF state, the process proceeds to step S24 to notify the utility that the slide switch is in the OFF state. The content of the slide switch notified here is used when issuing an instruction from the utility as to whether or not to use the pending mechanism.
[0041]
When the embedded control device performs the above-described processing in the form of an interrupt, when the state of the slide switch changes, the software-led power-off control can proceed in a form preceding the forced power-off.
[0042]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the detailed procedure of the operation of the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, and more specifically shows the state transition diagram of FIG. The operation of this information processing apparatus is a state transition diagram when the personal computer is turned off. In FIG. 7, the device corresponds to, for example, the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 34 shown in FIG.
[0043]
First, states that can be taken by the personal computer that is the information processing apparatus include NOTIFY state (S31), pending state (S32), force-off state (S33), and all ready-off state (S33). There are four states (ALREADY OFF) (S34), and the personal computer operates by transitioning between these four states, and the power is turned off while avoiding logical contradiction and OS hang-up. be able to.
[0044]
More specifically, in the notify state (S31), a pending counter that is executed as a utility on the CPU 31 is set and a slide switch state is notified. This is because whether or not to perform software-driven processing is determined according to the state of the slide switch.
[0045]
When the target device is off from the notify state (r35), the state transits to the all ready off state (S34). This all ready-off state (S34) indicates a state where the power is already turned off regardless of the state of the slide switch. In this case, the counter is not used. Set to zero. When the slide switch is turned off in the all ready off state (S34) (r36), the state returns to the notify state (S31) for notifying the utility of the state of the slide switch.
[0046]
If the target device is on from the notify state (r31), the personal computer enters the pending state (S42). The pending state is a state in which processing proceeds while subtracting the above-mentioned pending counter. When performing software-driven power-off control, the software-driven power-off control is performed during the period until it reaches zero while subtracting the pending counter. (R34) is processed prior to the forced power-off control on the hardware. Specifically, the process (r32) while subtracting the pending counter functions in the same way as the time waiting process. When the system is normal, the counter value is updated and the pending time is extended.
[0047]
If the system is not normal, the pending counter reaches zero (r33) and transitions to the force-off state (S33). In the force-off state (S33), control of the power-off state is forcibly performed. For example, when the target device has the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the on / off of the power switch 37 is controlled to control the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35, and the wireless amplifier 38 is controlled to control the wireless LAN module 36. On / off is controlled and executed. Note that the power control for such devices is only an example, and it is sufficient to control each device with the least burden on the device and system, and allow for the degree of software hang-up and system margin. It is also possible to change the control over the hardware. A transition is made from the force-off state (S33) to the all-ready-off state (S34).
[0048]
As an example of the above-mentioned software-led power-off control (r34), when the OS is Windows, the property of each device in the device manager is invalidated (additional use). Such control is difficult when an OS hangs up or when there is an abnormality such as a logical contradiction, but it can be processed while maintaining logical consistency even if it takes time during normal operation. Can be completed.
[0049]
As described above, when control to turn off the power is performed as a state transition in the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the processing is advanced by cooperative execution of the embedded control device (Embedded Controller) and the utility (Utility). . Processing when the slide switch is controlled from off to on, processing when the slide switch is controlled from on to off (normal), and when the slide switch is controlled from on to off (abnormal) These processes will be described in the order of the processes.
[0050]
When the slide switch is controlled from OFF to ON, the embedded control device first detects that the slide switch has changed from the OFF state to the ON state by a signal from the connected slide switch, and the system side ( CPU) is notified that the slide switch has changed from the off state to the on state. Upon receiving this notification, the utility sends a signal to the embedded control device to control the device power supply to the on state. Upon receiving this signal, the embedded control device switches and controls the power supply of the corresponding device to be in the on state.
[0051]
Next, when the slide switch is controlled from on to off (when normal), the embedded control device detects that the slide switch has changed from the on state to the off state by a signal from the connected slide switch. Then, the utility on the system side (CPU) is notified that the slide switch has changed from the on state to the off state. The utility receives a notification that the slide switch has changed from the on state to the off state. At this stage, the embedded control device enters a pending state, and first, initializes the value of the pending counter and sets it to a predetermined value. The set counter value is subtracted by a predetermined number and counted down until the counter is turned off or zero. At the end of the countdown, if the device invalidation process is not yet completed via the OS, the pending time is extended by updating the pending counter value. Such a time-flexible process can invalidate the target device and maintain logical consistency. After invalidating the device, the utility issues an instruction to the embedded control device to control the power supply to the device to be turned off, and the embedded control device turns off the device power according to the instruction. To control. Thus, the target device is turned off, and the process of turning off the power ends.
[0052]
Next, when the slide switch is controlled from on to off (in an abnormal state), the embedded control device first confirms that the slide switch has changed from the on state to the off state by a signal from the connected slide switch. Detect and notify the utility on the system side (CPU) that the slide switch has changed from the on state to the off state. Similarly, the embedded control device enters the pending state, first initializes the value of the pending counter and sets it to a predetermined value, and the set counter value is decremented by a predetermined number and becomes zero until the counter is turned off. Will be counted down. At this time, when the utility, that is, the system is in an abnormal state, there is a problem that the notification itself cannot be received, a problem that the embedded control device cannot be instructed, or the system itself becomes abnormal during processing of the device. If it occurs, the pending counter value will end without being updated even after it is counted down to zero. As a result, the embedded control device forcibly controls the target device to turn off and turns off the power. With this control, the power can be reliably turned off even when an abnormality occurs in the device.
[0053]
Next, an information processing apparatus according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing apparatus in FIG. 8 is to notify the embedded control device that the utility (System) is operating normally. Specifically, this notification is configured to return an acknowledgment to the embedded control device. The hardware configuration is the same as that of the previous embodiment, and the description will be made on the assumption that the configuration is as shown in FIG.
[0054]
First, in the control by the embedded control device in the present embodiment, assuming that the hardware configuration is the configuration of FIG. 3, first, when the state of the slide switch 43 changes, the state of the slide switch 43 is changed to the utility. Secondly, the power of the devices, that is, the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36, is turned on or off, or the hardware for the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 or their related peripheral devices. There is a control that performs permission / non-permission processing of radio wave transmission in terms of wear. As the third control, there is a control that allows the utility to change on / off of the device power supply and permission / non-permission of radio wave transmission when the state of the slide switch 43 is on. Fourth, if the slide switch 43 changes from the on state to the off state and there is no response from the utility for a certain period of time (abnormality of the utility, OS, driver, etc.), the device power is turned off and the radio wave is transmitted in hardware. There is a control that performs a process of disabling the transmission of this, which corresponds to a mechanism that provides a pending state when the slide switch 43 transitions from an on state to an off state. As the fifth control, when an acknowledgement is notified in the pending state (the above-mentioned third control), control to update the counter value to a constant value, or from the pending state to the wait state If the device / operation does not need to consider logical contradictions such as the OS and driver as the sixth control, permission / non-permission of radio wave transmission is synchronized with the on / off of the slide switch. Control that performs permission is listed. Each control listed here is only an example, and can be changed as appropriate according to factors such as the number and type of target devices.
[0055]
The embedded control device 34 that performs such a control operation performs control in cooperation with a utility that is software. In particular, in this embodiment, the utility performs the following control in relation to the target device. One of them is to request the embedded control device 34 to process the state change notification of the slide switch 43 from the embedded control device 34.
[0056]
As processing for the embedding control device 34, when the slide switch 43 changes from the on state to the off state, first, the compulsory off process by the embedding control device 34 is suspended. Issue. Next, invalidation (stop) processing of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 is performed on the target device, here, the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 via the OS. If the remaining pending time of the embedded control device 34 is reduced during the invalidation process, an acknowledgment is issued to the embedded control device 34 again, the system is normal, and the utility is being invalidated. Notify that there is. In such a case, it means that invalidation processing is progressing without failure of logic, and forced off processing can be minimized by preceding the processing of the utility that is software. The occurrence of logical contradictions can be prevented. If the invalidation process is unsuccessful, a command to turn off the power of the target device is issued to the embedded control device 34. When the above-described spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 36 are target devices, the on / off of the power switch 37 is controlled to control the operation / non-operation of the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35. When the wireless LAN module 36 is controlled, on / off of the wireless amplifier 38 on the output side is controlled. The power switch 37 and the wireless amplifier 38 are controlled by a signal from the utility to the embedded control device 34.
[0057]
As processing for the embedded control device 34, when the slide switch 43 changes from the off state to the on state, first, a command to turn on the power of the target device is issued to the embedded control device 34. Here, the reason why the pending state is not applied when the slide switch 43 changes from the off state to the on state is the same as in the above-described embodiment. In the case of a configuration in which a problem occurs when transitioning to the on state, a pending mechanism can be inserted when transitioning to the on state.
[0058]
The information processing apparatus of this embodiment having such a configuration basically has a configuration that operates in the form of the state transition of FIG. 5, and the embedded control device performs the periodic timer interrupt shown in FIG. Is configured to run.
[0059]
When the embedding control device is temporarily kept in standby using the acknowledgement, that is, when the wait operation is performed, the state transition shown in FIG. 8 is taken. The operation of this information processing apparatus is a state transition diagram when the personal computer is turned off. In FIG. 8, the device corresponds to the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35 and the wireless LAN module 34 shown in FIG. 3, for example, as in the previous embodiment.
[0060]
First, as a state that a personal computer as an information processing apparatus can take, a NOTIFY state (S41), a pending (PENDING) state (S42), a FORCE OFF state (S43), and an all ready off (ALREADY) state. There are five states, an OFF state (S44) and a wait state (WAIT) state (S45), and the personal computer operates by transitioning between these five states, avoiding logical contradictions and OS hang-ups. However, the power supply can be turned off.
[0061]
Specifically, in the notify state (S41), a pending counter that is executed as a utility on the CPU 31 is set and a slide switch state is notified. This is because whether or not to perform software-driven processing is determined according to the state of the slide switch.
[0062]
When the target device is off from the notify state (r47), the state transits to the all ready off state (S44). This all ready-off state (S44) shows a state where the power is already turned off regardless of the state of the slide switch. In this case, the counter is not used. Set to zero. When the slide switch is turned off in the all ready off state (S44) (r46), the state returns to the notify state (S41) for notifying the utility of the state of the slide switch.
[0063]
If the target device is on from the notify state (r41), the personal computer enters the pending state (S42). The pending state is a state in which processing proceeds while subtracting the above-mentioned pending counter. When performing software-led power-off control, an acknowledgment notification is sent from the system side during the period during which the pending counter is subtracted. In response to this acknowledgment notification, the normal state of the system is also transmitted to the embedded control device, and a wait state (S45) in which the countdown of the pending counter is stopped is entered. As a result, the software-driven power-off control (r45) is processed prior to the forced power-off control on the hardware.
[0064]
When there is no notification of acknowledgment, the pending counter reaches zero (r43) and transitions to the force-off state (S43). In the force-off state (S43), control of the power-off state is forcibly performed. For example, when the target device has the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the on / off of the power switch 37 is controlled to control the spread spectrum short-range communication module 35, and the wireless amplifier 38 is controlled to control the wireless LAN module 36. On / off is controlled and executed. Note that the power control for such devices is only an example, and it is sufficient to control each device with the least burden on the device and system, and allow for the degree of software hang-up and system margin. It is also possible to change the control over the hardware. A transition is made from the force-off state (S43) to the all-ready-off state (S44).
[0065]
As an example of the above-mentioned software-led power-off control (r44), in the case where the OS is Windows, the property of each device in the device manager is invalidated (additional use). Such control is difficult when an OS hangs up or when there is an abnormality such as a logical contradiction, but it can be processed while maintaining logical consistency even if it takes time during normal operation. Can be completed.
[0066]
Next, an example in which a vehicle brake device is targeted as an example of the information processing device will be described with reference to FIG. In the above-described embodiment, an application example to a device in which the power needs to be turned off will be described, and a pending mechanism is provided for the operation of transition from the on state to the off state of the slide switch. This embodiment is an application example to a device that needs to be turned on by changing its viewpoint, and this can be applied to a system that must work, such as a brake device of a vehicle.
[0067]
Hereinafter, the state transition of the entire system when the switch, that is, the brake pedal changes from the off state to the on state, is shown in FIG. 9 as follows. As shown in FIG. 9, the vehicle brake device, which is the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, is initially in the monitoring state of the brake pedal as shown by the state S <b> 51 in FIG. 9, and always detects that the brake pedal is depressed. ing. Here, when the brake pedal is depressed (r51), a signal of the change is sent from the brake pedal to the control device, and the change is notified to the utility or software. Then, the information processing apparatus transitions to the trial state (state S52), and attempts braking using the intelligent brake system there. When braking using the intelligent brake system is successful (r52), the monitoring state of the original brake pedal (state S51) is returned to wait for the next brake pedal change. Conversely, when braking using the intelligent brake system fails, that is, when deceleration cannot be performed due to a failure or the like (r53), a conventional braking method (NON-Intelligent) is forcibly attempted (state S53). After such state S53, the state transition process is completed (r54), the state returns to the original brake pedal monitoring state (state S51), and the brake pedal change standby mode is entered again.
[0068]
Next, an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a power source of a personal computer main body will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. Normally, a personal computer that complies with ACPI (Advanced Configuration Power management Interface) can be forced to turn off the personal computer by pressing the power button for 4 seconds. . As an operation when the power button is pressed, for example, power off can be selected. At this time, when the power button is pressed once, the power is turned off.
[0069]
By the way, if the application performs an illegal process when the power is on or the installed driver itself is bad, the process of turning off the power may fail. It may hang up before it turns off. From the user's point of view, it is expected that the power supply is surely turned off at the end, so that the present embodiment can be effectively used.
[0070]
In this embodiment, the configuration of the apparatus has the structure shown in FIG. 1, and as shown in the table of FIG. 10, the control device shown in FIG. 1 is an embedded controller, and the target device is a power source and utility of the personal computer. It can be applied by replacing each with OS.
[0071]
FIG. 11 is a state transition diagram of this embodiment. First, in the monitoring state S61, the pressing of the power button is monitored and the power button is pressed. The If it is (r61), the process proceeds to the monitoring state 2 (S62). In monitoring state 2, the power button is pressed Is continue Et Is determined. Power button The When the pressing is stopped (r62), the process proceeds to the notification state S63. In this notification state S63, it is notified that the counter is set and the power button is pressed down.
[0072]
The trial state (S64) is a state in which processing proceeds while subtracting the counter described above. When performing software-driven power-off control, the OS-driven power-off control is performed during the period until the counter reaches zero while subtracting the counter. (R64) is processed prior to the forced power-off control on the hardware, leading to a power-off process (S66), where the power of the personal computer main body is controlled to be turned off.
[0073]
If the system is not normal, the counter reaches zero (r65) and transitions to the forced processing state (S65). When the power button is pressed down continuously for 4 seconds (r66), the process proceeds to the forced processing state (S65). In the forced processing state (S65), a signal for resetting IDE is issued. Thereafter, power off processing (S66) is reached, where the power of the personal computer main body is controlled to be off (S67). Note that the OS may send a counter update command to the embedded control device at each end process when controlling the power supply from on to off.
[0074]
By applying as described above, when the termination process hangs up, the counter update command is not notified, so the counter keeps decrementing, and when the counter reaches zero, the power supply will always be terminated. become. At the time of forced termination (S65), for hardware devices such as hard disks that are likely to fail, take hardware warranty measures before the forced termination. Preferably it is done.
[0075]
Next, with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13, a mechanism for selectively selecting a device when a plurality of devices undergo state transition in parallel will be described. Such mechanisms include wireless devices that use the same frequency band. For example, a wireless LAN and Bluetooth (trademark, standard name) are wireless devices that use the same frequency band. If they are used at the same time, communication quality deteriorates, communication is disconnected, and original performance cannot be exhibited. Therefore, exclusive control is required. Therefore, a mechanism / procedure for mounting devices that cause harmful effects when used at the same time and switching between them is necessary. In such processing, it is user-friendly to provide an effective GUI to the user, and it is preferable to display the windows shown in FIGS. In FIG. 12, the screen 51 includes an S-diffusion short-range communication button 52, a wireless LAN button 53, and a dual-purpose button 54, and the wireless device that can be activated when the wireless switch is turned on It can be selected on the screen 51. The graphic portion 55 indicates that the wireless switch is on. When the check box 56 in FIG. 12 is checked, this screen 51 (dialog) is displayed when the wireless switch is turned on. Become. At the bottom of the screen 51, an OK button 57, a cancel button 58, and an apply button 59 for this dialog can be selected and arranged.
[0076]
FIG. 13 shows a more simplified selection screen 81, in which an S-diffusion short-range communication check box and a wireless LAN check box are prepared and can be selected.
[0077]
It is effective by proceeding with processing for saving the device selected on the selection screen as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 in the storage mechanism of the target system and processing for enabling the selected device and disabling other devices. The device selection process proceeds. For the process of invalidating other devices, a process that does not cause a logical contradiction as described above is used.
[0078]
Next, a countermeasure when the power button is continuously opened and closed during utility processing will be described with reference to FIG. First, an information processing apparatus that requires such countermeasures will be described. The information processing apparatus includes a target device that cannot immediately change the power state and the valid / invalid state, and a slide switch as a user interface for controlling the state. This corresponds to an information processing apparatus. In such an information processing device, a user may frequently switch between an on state and an off state of a slide switch, and at this time, the valid / invalid state cannot be changed immediately. There is a possibility that a valid (on) request for processing is generated during processing. In general, performing an activation process during the deactivation process, deactivating during the activation process, or turning off the target device during the deactivation process will cause the system to become unstable (hang up). Etc.). Therefore, in the information processing apparatus as described above, an exclusive processing mechanism for preventing other processing from being performed during a certain process is necessary, and the processing request of the user is synchronized with the state of the slide switch. There is a need.
[0079]
The information processing apparatus of the present invention can cope with such a problem, and may be configured to include an exclusive control unit and a power supply control unit. The power supply control unit indicates that processing is in progress before and after time-consuming processing such as software trial (validation / invalidation processing) and device driver validation / invalidation processing according to instructions from the exclusive control unit A process of setting / clearing the “flag” and a process of instructing the control device to turn on / off the power are performed. In addition, the exclusive control unit receives the on / off instruction from the control device and notifies the power control unit of the validity / invalidity, and while the flag by the power control unit is set, The process of notifying notification of enable / disable, the process of polling (periodically monitoring) until the flag is cleared when it is confirmed that the flag is set, and the current The power supply (valid / invalid) state of the target device is compared with the state of the slide switch. If there is a conflict, the power supply control unit is notified again and polling is terminated. The power supply control unit itself corresponds to the information processing apparatus according to each of the embodiments described above.
[0080]
By adopting such a configuration, while the flag is set, the power control unit is not instructed to change the state. For example, during the invalidation process, an instruction collision such as a request for an activation process occurs. Exclusive control can be performed. In addition, when the state change is completed, it is possible to detect a contradiction to the user's intention by checking the power state.
[0081]
FIG. 14 shows the flow of processing in an information processing apparatus having an exclusive control unit and a power supply control unit. First, before starting processing (processing that cannot respond to power on / off such as device search or service search) in the wireless communication application, G Set. When the exclusive control unit is notified of the opening / closing operation from the slide switch that is the power button, the exclusive control unit checks the registry to determine whether the wireless communication application is currently being processed. When the wireless communication application is processing, the exclusive control unit starts polling at regular time intervals. During polling, all the events from the slide switch are received by the exclusive control unit, and the last notified power state is held. For this reason, it is possible to perform exclusive control that does not cause a collision of instructions such as requesting the validation process during the invalidation process. When the processing is completed, the wireless communication application resets the registry flag. If the exclusive control unit polls the registry and determines that the processing of the wireless communication application has been completed, it compares the power state when the polling is started with the current power state. Notify the application. When receiving the notification, the wireless communication application starts processing for power on / off. As described above, in the present embodiment, when the processing of the communication application is completed, the power state is confirmed, so that the user's intention can be surely grasped.
[0082]
In the above-described embodiment, the switch that starts the state transition of the target device has been described as a slide switch. However, other switches may be used. For example, a switch that can hold position information or a button with a lock mechanism A switch can be used without any problem, and a push button switch with an indicator (indicating on / off) can also be used.
[0083]
【Effect of the invention】
According to the present invention described above, regardless of whether the target system is normal or abnormal, state transition of the target device or the like can be reliably performed without losing logic consistency. Further, according to the information processing apparatus and the information processing method of the present invention, it is possible to share the operation (on / off control of the wireless device) with a small number of parts (the number of slide switches and the like). Further, since the execution of the “operation” by the coexistence of the “operation” by the software and the forced “operation” by the hardware is guaranteed, the operation by the hardware is possible even in an unexpected situation. Furthermore, when the system or utility is normal, it is possible to perform logical operations and execute “operations”, and to suppress the occurrence of logical inconsistencies due to forced “operations”. In addition, even if the system or utility is abnormal, execution of “operation” is guaranteed by forced operation.
[0084]
From the above, as an example, when it is desired to reliably stop the transmission of radio waves such as in an airplane or train, the transmission of radio waves can be reliably stopped regardless of the state of the system by turning off the slide switch. A plurality of devices can be operated by operating a physical switch such as a slide switch, and the transition of the state of the target device or the like can be reliably performed without losing the logic consistency.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a software / hardware configuration diagram of the main part of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of hardware of an embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram corresponding to a chip set regarding a hardware configuration of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a hierarchical diagram showing a hierarchical structure of software and hardware.
FIG. 5 is a state transition diagram showing processing of the entire system when the power supply of one embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention is controlled to be turned off.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an interrupt routine in the embedded control device of the embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram illustrating a specific example of a process in which the power of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is controlled to be turned off.
FIG. 8 is a state transition diagram illustrating a modified example of processing in which the power of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is controlled to be turned off.
FIG. 9 is a state transition diagram showing a specific example of processing of an embodiment of a vehicle brake device according to the present invention.
10 is a table showing the relationship between items and elements in FIG. 1 in the case of processing for turning off the main body power supply of the information processing apparatus of the present invention as a personal computer.
FIG. 11 is a state transition diagram in the case of a process of turning off the main body power supply of the information processing apparatus of the present invention as a personal computer.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display when a device is selected when the state of a plurality of devices according to the information processing apparatus of the present invention is changed in parallel.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of a screen display when a device is selected when a plurality of devices according to the information processing apparatus of the present invention undergo state transition in parallel.
FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a polling process when a plurality of devices according to the information processing apparatus of the present invention perform state transition in parallel.
[Explanation of symbols]
11 Control device
12, 13 Target device
15, 16, 17 Driver
18 Utilities
21 CPU
22 Embedded Controller
23 Slide switch
24, 35 Spread spectrum near field communication module
25, 36 Wireless LAN module
31 sets
32 South Bridge
34 Embedded control devices
37 Power switch
38 Wireless amplifier
43 Slide switch

Claims (11)

Control means for detecting an instruction to change the state of hardware including a wireless transmission mechanism, and to change the state of the hardware based on the detected instruction;
The control means tries to change the hardware state by software before forcibly changing the hardware state, and if the software does not notify that the hardware is operating normally, the control unit waits for When the time elapses, the hardware state is forcibly changed, and when it is notified from the software that the hardware is operating normally, the wait time countdown is stopped. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the command causes the hardware to transition to an inoperative state. The instruction information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is an inoperative the whole or part of the hardware. Detecting an instruction to transition the state of the target device that includes a wireless transmitting mechanism, a control means for shifting the state of the target device based on the detected instruction,
Wherein, prior to forcibly state transition of the target device, the associated target device attempts to state transition by software, if it is working properly from said software is not reported, the standby An information processing apparatus that forcibly changes the state of the target device when time elapses and stops counting down the waiting time when notified by the software that the device is operating normally. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit invalidates the target device by a state transition by the software. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the software includes an OS and a device driver. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit changes the states of the plurality of target devices in parallel by a single operation. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of target devices are devices that operate exclusively. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the single operation is one in which a user operates a switch. A detection procedure for detecting a command to change the state of the target device including the wireless transmission mechanism ;
A control procedure for transitioning the state of the target device based on the command detected by the processing of the detection procedure,
Processing of the control procedure, before forcibly state transition of the target device, the attempts to state transition by software associated with the target device, wherein when the can from the software operates normally not reported When the standby time has elapsed, the state of the target device is forcibly changed, and when it is notified from the software that the device is operating normally, the countdown of the standby time is stopped. The information processing method according to claim 10 , wherein the process of the control procedure causes the target device to transition to an inoperative state by a state transition by the software.

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