JPH06119087A - Power supply off system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a power supply OFF system which operates a DC power supply to turn ON by a power supply switch which conventionally operates an AC power supply by putting a shutdown circuit between a power supply unit and CPU package and operates the DC power supply to turn OFF by automatically executing the processing of an electric equipment before finish. CONSTITUTION:The system is composed of the power supply unit 3, a power supply switch 1, a control register provided with a processor 2 with an interruption function and a shutdown bit 4, a shutdown circuit 6 turning an internal DC supply switch ON/OFF and sending an interruption signal to a processor and an interruption routine (shutdown program) which executes a power supply disconnection pre-processing and turns the shutdown bit into an OFF state. The reliability and the safety of the electric equipment are improved and the shutdown program is surely executed at the time of the power supply disconnection of the electric equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power-off method for electric equipment, and more particularly to a power-off method using an interrupt.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some types of electric equipment require some processing to terminate their use. Conventionally, when the use of such an electric device is ended, the user sequentially performs a power-off pretreatment in accordance with a manual, and then turns off the power supply for the termination of the process.

In a Unix machine, for example, there is a case where some data to be written to the disk exists only in the memory and has not yet been written to the disk.
In this case, the power must be turned off after the data is forcibly ejected from the memory to the disk by the sync command. Or, if the server and the client are interconnected in the network, when the server terminates,
The host machine must terminate after all the clients connected to it are notified that they are finished and the processing on the client side is finished.

[0004]

Conventionally, since the user has previously performed a process for ending the use of the electric device,
There has been a possibility that a device such as a file system may be damaged due to an erroneous operation by the user or a power-off due to a failure of the pre-processing for power-off.

Further, since the power-off pretreatment is special or complicated, there is a problem that only the administrator can turn off the power.

[0006]

According to the power-off method of the present invention, in an electric device having a power supply unit, a power switch, and a processor having a power interrupt function, a shutdown bit indicating a power on / off state is provided. When the control register that it has and the power switch are operated, an interrupt signal is sent to the processor, and then the internal DC
When the (DC) supply switch is turned on to supply DC power to the entire electric device, and when the shutdown bit of the control register is set to the DC power off state, the DC supply switch is turned off to supply DC power to the entire electric device. And a shutdown circuit for stopping.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a power-off system used in a computer which is an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
The power switch 1 uses the signal line 7 to shut down the circuit 6.
Connected with. Processor 2 with interrupt function
Are connected to the shutdown circuit 6 by the interrupt signal line 8. The power supply unit 3 is a DC power supply cable 1
2 is connected to the shutdown circuit 6 and DC power is supplied to the shutdown circuit 6. The shutdown bit 4 of the control register is connected to the shutdown circuit 6 by the shutdown bit check means 11. The shutdown program 5 is activated when the processor 2 is interrupted by the interrupt signal 8 and has a function of pre-processing the power-off of the computer and a function of changing the shutdown bit 4 to the DC power-off state. The shutdown circuit 6 supplies DC power to the entire computer of the embodiment via the DCOUT line 13. The signal line 7 connects the power switch 1, the interrupt signal line 8 connects the processor 2 having an interrupt function, the shutdown bit check unit 11 connects the shutdown bit of the control register, and the DC power cable 12 connects the power unit. The power switch signal line 7, interrupt signal line 8, and signal 9 indicate that the processor 2 activates the shutdown program 5, and the signal 10 indicates that the shutdown program 5 changes the shutdown bit to the DC power off state. Represents shutdown bit check means. Reference numeral 12 represents a DC power supply line to the shutdown circuit, and 13 represents a DCOUT line which supplies DC power to the computer of the embodiment.

Shutdown circuit 6 in one embodiment of the present invention performs the following two operations. First, when a signal that the switch 1 of the power supply is operated is sent from the signal line 7, the shutdown circuit 6 interrupts the processor through the interrupt signal 8 and then turns on the DC supply switch inside the shutdown circuit 6 to turn on the DC OU.
Power is supplied to the entire computer by the T line 13. next,
When the shutdown bit check means 11 recognizes that the shutdown bit 4 of the control register has been changed to the DC power off state, the shutdown circuit 6 turns off the internal DC supply switch to stop the power supply to the computer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, when the DC switch inside the shutdown circuit 6 is off, that is, when the computer is off, the power switch 1
Is operated, the DC supply from the DC OUT line 13 is not supplied to the entire computer, and the interrupt signal on the signal line 8 is ignored. Then, the DC supply switch inside the shutdown circuit 6 is turned on, power is supplied to the computer, and the computer starts up.

Next, when the power switch 1 is operated while the DC supply switch inside the shutdown circuit 6 is on, the shutdown circuit 6 sends an interrupt signal by the processor 2 through the signal line 8, and the processor 2 performs interrupt processing. start. Further, the shutdown circuit 6 turns on the internal DC supply switch, but since it was originally on, there is no change in the DC supply switch. Interrupt signal 8
Thus, when the processor 2 is interrupted, the processor 2 executes the shutdown program 5 which is an interrupt program. This program 5 changes the shutdown bit 4 of the control register to the off state after performing the power-off preprocessing.

In this embodiment, when the value of the shutdown bit 4 is "1", it is defined as the DC power off state. The computer shall set this shutdown bit to '0' at boot time.

In the Unix machine, the shutdown program 5 in one embodiment of the present invention performs the following operations.

As the computer pre-termination processing, (1) the contents of the system buffer of the memory, which is a part of the saving place of the data to be written to the disk, are flushed to the disk. (2) Notify the current user of the computer that the system will be stopped. (3) Forcefully terminate all processes. (4) Finally, change the shutdown bit to "1".

In the case of the present embodiment, since this is a pre-processing for turning off the power of the computer, such processing is necessary in order to maintain the reliability and safety of the data.

The shutdown program 5 sequentially performs the above processing, and finally changes the shutdown bit 4 of the control register to "1" which is the DC power off state. On the other hand, the shutdown circuit 6 always checks the shutdown bit 4 by the shutdown bit check means 11. When the shutdown bit is changed to '1' by the shutdown program 5, the shutdown circuit 6 turns off the internal DC power supply switch, and the DC power supply to the entire computer by the DC OUT line 13 is stopped.

That is, when the user operates the switch 1 while the computer is in the power-on state, the shutdown program surely executes the proper pre-power-off processing, and the power of the computer is turned off.

Although this embodiment has shown an example in which it is used as a power supply system for a computer, this power supply system is possible and effective for all electric equipment having pre-termination processing as in this example.

[0019]

According to the present invention, in terms of hardware, with a minimum modification of including a shutdown circuit in the DC OUT portion of the power supply unit, only by operating the power switch,
It is possible to perform pre-processing for ending the electric device and power off, avoid troubles due to erroneous operations such as failure of the user's power-off pre-processing, and improve the reliability and safety of the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

[Explanation of symbols]

1 power switch 2 processor 3 power unit 4 shutdown bit of control register 5 interrupt routine 6 shutdown circuit 7 power switch signal line 8 interrupt signal line 9 signal indicating that the shutdown program 5 is started by the processor 10 shutdown program 5 Signal indicating changing the shutdown bit 11 Shutdown bit check means 12 DC power cable of power supply unit 13 DC OUT line of shutdown circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electric device having a power supply unit, a power switch, and a processor having an interrupt function, a control register having a shutdown bit indicating a power on / off state and a power switch are operated, Send an interrupt signal to the processor, then turn on the internal DC (direct current) supply switch to supply DC power to the entire electrical equipment, and supply the DC power when the shutdown bit of the control register is set to the DC power off state. A shutdown circuit for turning off the switch and stopping the DC electric power supply to the entire electric device, and being activated by an interrupt signal sent from the shutdown circuit to the processor, executing a power-off preprocessing and a shutdown bit The power-off method is characterized in that the power is turned off.