JPH05313794A - Power supply mechanism for computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the power supply from being cut off during the important operation due to the decrease of battery remaining capacity by changing the reference voltage to be used in a voltage monitoring section according to the state of the battery and system operation information and adjusting the power consumption while selecting the operation condition of the system according to the power supply information and the system operation state. CONSTITUTION:A system control section 9 adjusts the operation of a system 7 and the power consumption by receiving operation information of floppy disks and hard disk, etc., grasped by a system operation monitoring section. When the battery reaches the discharge each voltage and it is informed from a voltage monitoring section 5, a power supply control section 6 commands a DC/DC converter 4 to cut off the power supply immediately if there is no problem. In the case of existence of a problem, the power supply disconnection is postponed or the reference voltage used in the voltage monitoring section 5 is changed according to the kinds of operations. The system control section 9 adjusts the system operation and power consumption based on the power supply information from the power supply control section 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery-operated computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A portable computer equipped with a battery is constructed so that when the battery discharges and the voltage drops to a predetermined value, the power is automatically cut off to stop the operation. A schematic block diagram of the configuration is shown in FIG.
The battery 21 is connected to the main body system 23 via the DC / DC converter 22, and the battery voltage monitoring unit 24 operates the battery 2
When the voltage of 1 is detected and it drops to a certain value, DC / DC
The operation of the converter 22 is stopped. This prevents malfunction of the main body system due to insufficient power supply voltage.

[0003]

However, with the above configuration, when the battery voltage drops, the power is cut off regardless of the operating condition of the main body system.
If the power is cut off during an important operation, such as writing data to the hard disk, a very troublesome trouble may occur. The present invention aims to realize a computer without such a problem.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a computer is provided with a power supply control unit and a system control unit, and the power supply control unit is a battery voltage monitoring unit and a D
The C / DC converter is controlled, the system control unit grasps the operating state of the main body system to control the operating condition of the system, and the power supply control unit and the system control unit exchange information with each other to operate. To do.

[0005]

With the above configuration, the power supply control unit changes the reference voltage used in the battery voltage monitoring unit or DC / D according to the battery status and system operation information from the system control unit.
The shutoff timing of the C converter is adjusted, and the system control unit selects the operating condition of the main body system and adjusts the power consumption according to the power supply information from the power supply control unit and the operating state of the system.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an example of a configuration block diagram of a computer system according to the present invention. This embodiment is roughly divided into a power supply unit 1 and a system unit 2.
The power supply unit 1 includes a battery 3, a DC / DC converter 4, a battery voltage monitoring unit 5 including a comparator, and a power supply control unit 6. The power supply control unit 6 sets a discharge end voltage and gives it to the battery voltage monitoring unit 5, and gives an instruction to shut off the power supply to the DC / DC converter 4. On the other hand, the system unit 2 includes a system operation monitoring unit 8 in addition to the computer main body system 7.
And a system control unit 9. System control unit 9
Receives the operation information of the floppy disk, the hard disk, the communication port, etc., which the system operation monitoring unit 8 grasps, and adjusts the operation and power consumption of the main body system. The power supply control unit 6 and the system control unit 9 operate by exchanging information with each other. That is, when the battery voltage monitoring unit 5 notifies the power supply control unit 6 that the battery has reached the end-of-discharge voltage, the power supply control unit 6 immediately notifies the DC / DC converter 4 based on the system information from the system control unit 9. Although a power-off command is issued, if there is a problem, the power-off is temporarily postponed or the reference voltage used in the voltage monitoring unit 5 is changed according to the type of operation of the main body. Further, the system control unit 9 adjusts the system operation and power consumption based on the system information from the system operation monitoring unit 8 and the power supply information from the power supply control unit 6. This is to reduce the frequency of the clock supplied to each part of the system, cut off the power supply to the low priority operation parts, reduce or turn off the illumination of the backlight and other illumination parts of the display part, and shift to the low power mode. Etc.

The power control unit 6 determines the remaining capacity of the battery,
Not only the battery voltage data can be obtained from the battery voltage monitoring unit 5, but also the power consumption can be calculated and determined from the usage time of the battery. Although not shown, the power supply unit 1 is
It is possible to have multiple series of batteries instead of series batteries,
In that case, the power supply unit 1 is provided with a battery switching circuit, and the power supply control unit 6 operates the switching circuit so as to switch between direct and parallel connection of the batteries and to switch the batteries according to the degree of consumption of the batteries.

[0008]

With the computer configuration according to the present invention, it is possible to operate the power supply cutoff time while monitoring the operation status of the system main body or reduce the power consumption, so that the cutoff can occur during important operation. As long as it is avoided, the probability of failure due to power interruption is reduced and the reliability of the computer is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a power supply unit of a conventional computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3, 21 battery 4, 22 DC / DC converter 5, 24 battery voltage monitoring unit 6 power supply control unit 8 system operation monitoring unit 9 system control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A computer operating on a battery is provided with a power supply control unit for monitoring the remaining capacity of the battery and controlling power-off, and a system control unit for grasping the operating status of the main body system and controlling the operating conditions, The power control unit and the system control unit are configured to exchange information about the battery state and the system operation state, and the power control unit shuts off the power when the battery capacity is low, based on the battery state and the system system operation state. A power supply mechanism for a computer, which is characterized by operating a time period. 2. The power supply for a computer according to claim 1, wherein the system control unit selects an operating condition for reducing the power consumption of the main system based on the battery state and the operating status of the main system. mechanism. 3. The power supply unit for a computer according to claim 2, wherein the operating condition for reducing the power consumption of the main body system is a decrease in clock frequency. 4. The power supply unit for a computer according to claim 2, wherein the operating condition for reducing the power consumption of the main body system is a decrease in illuminance of a lighting portion or a turn-off.