JPH041814A - Battery-driven information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically perform a specific information processing operation at a high speed and to suppress the increase of power consumption by outputting a clock of a high frequency to an information processing means for a period when the specific information processing operation is selected and carried out. CONSTITUTION:A clock signal of a low frequency is usually outputted to an information processing means 101 from a clock generation means 100 and therefore the means 101 has a low processing speed. Meanwhile a clock of a high frequency is outputted to the means 101 from the means 100 by a clock switch means 103 for a period when a specific information processing operation is selected by a selection means 102 and carried out by the means 101. Then the data information is outputted to the means 101 and carried out at a high speed. When this execution is over, an original state is reset. As a result, the working speed of the means 101 is increased as necessary and otherwise kept at a low speed. Thus the power consumption is reduced and also the consumption of a power battery is suppressed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a battery-powered information processing device with a built-in microcomputer, and particularly to a battery-powered information processing device that reduces power consumption and increases processing speed. It relates to an information processing device.

[Prior Art] In recent years, portable battery-powered information processing devices, such as electronic notebooks, have been provided that have data storage and arithmetic processing functions.

In this electronic notebook, for example, as shown in Fig. 4, a key manual device 1 for inputting data and instruction commands is connected to a CPU (arithmetic circuit) 3, and data being calculated, calculation result data, etc. are sent to the CPU 3. It is constructed by connecting a memory circuit 5 for storing data and a liquid crystal display device 7 for displaying data, calculation results, etc., and connecting a clock generation circuit 9 to these CPU 3 and display device 7, and a built-in power supply battery 11. It is powered by electricity from the

In such an electronic notebook, it is necessary to extend the usable time of the electronic notebook itself and to retain data stored in the memory circuit 5 backed up by the power battery 11 for a long time, thereby reducing the power consumption of the power battery 11. It is important to keep the power supply battery 11 as small as possible to extend its lifespan.

Therefore, in the electronic notebook, high-speed arithmetic processing is possible if the CPU 3 is operated with a high frequency clock signal from the clock generation circuit 9, but as mentioned above, taking into consideration the power consumption of the power supply battery 11, the frequency is, for example, about 700 KHz. Generally, it is designed to be driven at a low frequency.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, recent electronic notebooks are equipped with a relatively large capacity RAM or ROM, for example 4 MB, as the memory circuit 5, and can perform large amounts of data search processing. There is a tendency to
3 is operated, there is a drawback that data processing takes time.

Therefore, as a result of observing and studying electronic notebooks, the inventor found that while there are processing operations performed in electronic notebooks that require high-speed arithmetic processing, such as data search processing and four-rule combination calculations, the The present invention was completed by focusing on the fact that there are information processing operations that do not need to be processed.

The present invention was made under these circumstances, and is a battery-powered device that can automatically perform high-speed processing of specific information that requires high-speed processing, and can suppress increases in power consumption. The purpose is to provide information processing equipment.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve these problems, the present invention is capable of outputting a plurality of clock signals (L/H) having different frequencies, as shown in FIG. 1, which is a diagram corresponding to claims. a clock generating means 100; an information processing means 101 for performing multiple types of information processing based on the clock signal from the clock generating means 100; and one type of information processing executed by the information processing means 101. a selection means 102 for selecting one information processing; and a selection means 102 for controlling the output of a low frequency clock signal (L) from the clock generation means 100 to the information processing means 101, and selecting a specific information processing set in advance by the selection means 102; information processing means 101
During the period of execution, a high frequency clock signal (H) is sent from the clock generation means 100 to the information processing means 101.
The clock switching means 103 controls the output to the clock.

[Function] In the present invention equipped with such a means, the clock signal (L) with a low frequency is normally generated from the clock generating means 100.
is output-controlled to the information processing means 101, and the information processing means 1
01, the processing operation is slow, while the clock switching means 103 is slow during the period in which the selection means 102 selects a specific information process, for example, the data retrieval process from the storage means 104, and the information processing means 101 executes it. Since the clock generation means 100 outputs a high frequency clock signal (H) to the information processing means 101, the information processing means 1
01 to execute data information processing at high speed, and return to the original state when the execution is completed.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a battery-powered information processing device, such as an electronic notebook, according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, an oscillation circuit 13 oscillates using, for example, a 2MH2 clock signal as an original oscillation signal, and is connected to a frequency divider circuit 15 and a branch control circuit 17, thereby forming a clock generation circuit 19.

The frequency dividing circuit 15 has a function of passing the original oscillation signal as it is and outputting it to the CPU 21 and others as a system clock signal, and also dividing the original oscillation signal by 1/4 and outputting it to the CPU 21 and others as a system clock signal. have.

The frequency division control circuit 17 controls switching between through and frequency division of the original oscillation signal in the frequency division circuit 15 in synchronization with the original oscillation signal, and controls the level of the control signal from the CPU 21 (
L/H).

The CPU 21 is a main part of a conventionally known microcomputer that operates based on the clock signal from the clock generating circuit 19, and operates according to a program stored in a memory circuit 23 connected to the CPU 21 via a bus.

For example, a search process that decodes an instruction command from the key human power device 25 and searches for target data based on data from the key human power device 25 and the memory circuit 23, and numerical data from the key human power device 25 and the memory circuit 23. In addition to executing specific processes that require high-speed processing, such as calculating the four arithmetic combinations of data and writing data to the memory circuit 23, it also performs data input processing from the key human power device 25, clock and calendar display processing, and external It is an information processing means that executes processing that does not require relatively high-speed processing, such as data communication with a computer, and displays the data and calculation results on the liquid crystal display device 27. It is executed by a program that is stored in advance in the storage circuit 23 and classified into specific processing and non-specific processing.

These various processing operations are simultaneously displayed on the liquid crystal display device 27 as a selection menu on the initial screen when the electronic notebook is started, and are controlled by the key manual device 27 under the control of the CPU 21.
The selected menu is selected by operating the key corresponding to each selection menu in step 5, and thereafter the program of the selected menu is executed.

That is, the key human power device 25 together with the CPU 21 forms information processing selection means.

Further, when a selection is made by operating a key corresponding to each selection menu, the CPU 21 detects whether the processing is a specific processing that requires high-speed processing, and if the processing is a specific processing that requires high-speed processing, the CPU 21 detects whether or not the processing is a specific processing that requires high-speed processing. During the processing period, it also has a clock switching function that changes the level of the control signal from L to H, outputs it to the frequency division control circuit 17, and switches and controls the clock frequency from the clock generation circuit 19.

That is, the CPU 21 serves both as an information processing means and a clock switching means.

Each of the circuits described above is driven by at least a power source battery 29.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained with reference to a flowchart.

First, when the apparatus is started and one of a plurality of processing operation menus is selected in step 300, it is determined in step 301 whether the selected processing operation is a specific processing operation, and if YES, step 302 is performed. The control signal H is output from the CPU 21 to the clock generation circuit 19, and the frequency of the clock signal from the clock generation circuit 19 to the CPU 21 is set to 2.
MHz, and in the following step 303, the CPU 21
executes the specific processing operation at high speed and returns to step 300.

On the other hand, if step 301 is NO, step 304
At step 305, the CPU 21 outputs a control signal to the clock generation circuit 19 to change the frequency of the clock signal from the clock generation circuit 19 to 500 KHz, and at step 305, the CPU 21 executes processes other than the specific processing operation at low speed, and the process proceeds to step 300. return.

As described above, in the battery-powered information processing device of the present invention, the CPU 21 operates with a high-speed clock signal during specific processing operations, so high-speed processing operations are ensured, but other than normal processing operations, Sometimes the process is slow.

Therefore, in the present invention, the CPU 21 is not always placed in a low-speed processing operation state, and a high-frequency clock signal is applied to the CPU 21 when high-speed processing is required for a specific processing operation. The power consumption of the power supply battery 29 can be reduced without reducing the operation processing speed.

The clock generation circuit 19 according to the present invention described above has a configuration in which a high original oscillation frequency is divided and a low frequency clock signal is output. The configuration may be such that the frequency is multiplied and output.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to electronic notebooks, but can be widely applied to battery-powered information processing devices that operate on power batteries, especially portable information processing devices that have a built-in microcomputer and process multiple programs; It is not limited to those that operate only on batteries.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention provides a clock generation means that outputs a plurality of clock signals with different frequencies, an information processing means that performs arithmetic processing that processes a plurality of types of information, and a clock signal that normally has a low frequency. data retrieval. If information processing that requires high-speed processing, such as spreadsheets and spreadsheets, is specified as specific information processing, a high-frequency clock signal will be automatically applied to the information processing means during those specific information processing operations, and will be applied to the information processing means during other processing operations. A low frequency clock signal is automatically applied.

Therefore, while the operation processing speed of the information processing means is increased when necessary, the processing operation becomes slow at other times, reducing wasted power consumption and reducing consumption of the power source battery.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a complaint correspondence diagram of a battery-powered information processing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the battery-powered information processing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 explains the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic notebook as an example of a battery-powered information processing device. 1.25......Key human powered device, 3.21.
・・・・・・・・・CPU. 5.23... Memory circuit, 7.27...
・・・・・・Liquid crystal display device, 9.19・・・・・・・・・
・Clock generation circuit, 11.29...Power battery, 13......Oscillation circuit, 15...・・・・・・・・・・・・ Frequency division circuit, 17・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ Frequency division control circuit, 100・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Clock generation means, 101・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
・Information processing means, 102...
- Selection means, 103...Clock switching means, 104...
・Memory means. Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A clock generation means capable of outputting a plurality of clock signals with different frequencies; an information processing means for performing information processing based on the clock signal from the clock generation means; and an information processing means executed by the information processing means. a selection means for selecting one information processing from a plurality of types of information processing; and a selection means for controlling output of a low frequency clock signal from the clock generation means to the information processing means, and selecting a preset specific information processing. A battery-powered information processing device comprising: clock switching means for controlling output of a high-frequency clock signal from the clock generation means to the information processing means during a period selected and executed by the clock generation means.