JPH06149173A - Display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prolong a driving time using an incorporated battery in the state that a display character is by selectively putting out a part of light sources at the time of power saving operation. CONSTITUTION:When a power saving mode is set, power saving processing is executed according to a power saving operation program by a main CPU. That is, when a display automatic off function is specified effectively at a setting time, nil operation time is monitored, a control signal M1 turning off the display of a display unit 52 having the light sources of two pieces of FL tubes 66U, 66L is outputted through a display controller when no key input operation is performed within a prescribed time, and all light sources are put out. Further, when the display automatic off function is specified invalidly, the control signal M2 putting out the lower side FL tube 66L of the display unit 52 and reducing power consumption is outputted. At this time, the light source becomes only the FL tube 66U, and the character is readable though the lower part of the display unit 52 becomes dark.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery-operable portable computer equipped with a display device for illuminating a display surface with a plurality of light sources, such as a backlight liquid crystal display device having a plurality of fluorescent tubes (FL tubes). The present invention relates to a display control device suitable for application.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various laptop type portable computers which are easy to carry and can be operated by a battery have been developed. In this kind of portable computer, in order to extend the drive time by the built-in battery, the processing speed is reduced, the HDD motor is automatically turned off,
Various power saving measures such as automatic display off have been taken.

On the other hand, in recent years, colorization of flat panel displays mounted on portable computers has progressed, and at present, portable computers equipped with TFT color liquid crystal display devices are becoming widespread. This type of color liquid crystal display device is provided with a plurality of light sources (for example, two upper and lower FL tubes) serving as backlights or side lights, and a light guide plate, a reflection plate, and the like that guide the irradiation light of the light sources to the entire display surface. To be done.

The conventional display automatic-off function of a portable computer equipped with this type of color liquid crystal display device treats all of the light sources as one control target. To give a specific example, a power-saving mode such as a power-saving mode is set. When the environment is set (long life mode setting), all the light sources are driven to be lit during normal use, and within a certain set time (for example, 5 minutes / 10).
Min / 15 min), all the light sources were controlled to be turned off when there was no key input.

Therefore, conventionally, even in a power-saving operating environment setting state such as a power-saving mode, a large amount of power consumption is required for the display drive during normal use, and the drive time is extended by the built-in battery (long life mode). There was a problem of not contributing.

[0006]

As described above, in the prior art, in a portable computer equipped with a color liquid crystal display device having a plurality of light sources, even when the power saving mode is set, the display is displayed during normal use. However, there is a problem in that a large amount of power consumption is required, and the built-in battery does not contribute to the extension of the driving time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
In a portable computer equipped with a color liquid crystal display device having a plurality of light sources, by selectively turning off some of the light sources during power saving operation, it is possible to contribute to the extension of the drive time by the built-in battery, and An object of the present invention is to provide a display control device capable of extending the driving time by a built-in battery in a state in which display characters and the like can be read.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable computer equipped with a display device for illuminating a display surface with a plurality of light sources, wherein a first light source for driving all the light sources provided in the display device is driven. It is characterized by comprising a display mode, a second display mode for lighting and driving a part of the light source provided in the display device, and a selection means for selecting one of the display modes. As a specific example, as shown in FIG. 2, in the display unit 52 having FL tubes 66U and 66L as light sources above and below the display screen, the power supply circuits of the FL tubes 66U and 66L are respectively connected to the upper and lower sides. The first switch circuit 62 is connected via a first switch circuit 62 for controlling lighting / extinguishing of the FL tubes 66U and 66L and a second switch circuit 63 for controlling lighting / extinction of only the lower FL tube 66L. On / off control is performed by the first control signal (M1) according to the first setting condition (for example, operation determination of the display auto-off function) by the operation environment setting for power saving operation, and the second switch circuit 63 is saved in power. The second control signal (M2) according to the second setting condition (for example, the setting (enable / disable) state of the display auto-off function in the power saving mode) by the operation environment setting for the operation More on / off control.

[0009]

In the above configuration, when the power saving mode is set and the display auto-off function is enabled (enabled) by the setup operation or the setting operation on the pop-up screen, the normal operation is not performed as shown in FIG. Since the key input operation is performed within the set time of the display auto-off function, the first control signal (M1) according to the operation determination of the auto-off function indicates that the auto-off function is stopped, for example, "High.
The control signal (M1 = "High")
h ") causes the first switch circuit 62 to be switched on. Further, at this time, the second control signal (M2) is also in the" High "level state indicating that the display auto-off function is valid. Second by (M2 = "High")
The switch circuit 63 is also in the switch-on state. Therefore, at this time, the inverter transformers 65U,
A high-voltage drive power source is applied via 65L, and the two upper and lower FL tubes 66U and 66L are both driven to light up, and data is displayed with the display surface kept sufficiently bright.

Further, when the key input operation is not performed within the set time of the display auto-off function while the display auto-off function is validly set, the display auto-off process is started,
The first control signal (M1) becomes the "Low" level, and the control signal (M1 = "Low") causes the first switch circuit 62 to switch off, and the FL tubes 66U and 66L above and below the display surface are turned off. Are both turned off.

Further, in the power saving mode, when the display auto-off function is not set (in the disabled state), only the second control signal (M2) is in the "Low" level state, and this control signal (M2 = The "Low") turns off the second switch circuit 63 and turns off the FL tube 66L only on the lower part of the display surface. At this time, the light emitted from the FL tube 66U at the upper part of the display surface is guided to the lower part of the display surface by the light guide plate 67 and the reflecting plate 68, and thus the display surface becomes darker toward the lower part, but even at the lower part of the display surface. Characters can be visually recognized. Further, in the normal use state, the number of characters displayed on the upper portion of the display surface is overwhelmingly larger than that on the lower portion of the display surface. Therefore, in the normal use state, the operation can be performed even when the lighting of the FL tube is halved.

In this way, a part of the light source is selectively turned off during the power saving operation (for example, the FL tubes 66 above and below the display surface).
By selectively extinguishing only the lower FL tube 66L of U and 66L), the drive time by the built-in battery can be extended.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of FIG.

The main CPU 11 controls the entire system. Here, when the power saving mode is set on the setup or pop-up screen, the power saving operation control program stored in the system firmware ROM 12 is followed according to the power saving operation control program shown in FIG. Execute power processing. In this power saving process, when the display auto-off function is enabled (enabled) when the power saving mode is set, the no-operation time is monitored, and if there is no key input operation within the set time, the display controller Through (DISP-CONT) 26, to a display unit 52 having a plurality of light sources (here, two FL tubes in total), one configuration example of which is shown in FIG.
A first control signal (M1 = “Low”) for turning off the display (turning off all of the light sources) is output, and when the display auto-off function is designated as disabled (disabled), the display unit 52 A second control signal (M2 = “Low”) that turns off a part of the light source (here, one of the lower two FL tubes in total) to reduce power consumption for display.
Is output.

The system firmware ROM 12 accessed by the main CPU 11 stores an initialization program, a setup program, a pop-up program, etc. in addition to the power-saving operation control program of the processing procedure shown in FIG. The description of the processing procedure of the programs other than the power operation control program is omitted. In the process according to the above initialization program,
Information indicating various system environment setting states including a power saving mode and system configuration information including a memory configuration, which are stored in the backup RAM (or RTC memory) 18, are read out, and initialization processing is executed according to the information. To be done. In addition, for processing according to the setup program and pop-up program, in addition to resume on / off setting, etc., setting and changing of various operating environments for power saving operations such as display auto off, sleep, HDD motor off, and cache prohibition Is included.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a system bus for interfacing system components with each other, 13 is a RAM constituting a main memory for storing programs and data to be processed, and 14 is a direct memory access control. DMA controller (DMA
C: Direct Memory Access Controller), 15 is an interrupt controller (PIC;
Programmable InterruptController), 16 is an interval timer (PIT; Pr) that can be set by a program
ogrammable Interval Timer), 17 is a clock module (RTC; Real-Time Clock) with its own battery for operation
) And 18 are backup RAMs serving as data storage areas for realizing the resume function. 20 is an expansion bus connector for function expansion, 22 is a floppy disk controller (FDC), 23 is a printer controller (PRT-CONT), 24 is an input / output interface (UART; Univer) to which RS-232c devices are connected.
sal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter), 25 a keyboard controller (KBC), 26 a display controller (DISP-CONT), 27 a video RAM (V
RAM), 28 is a kanji ROM that obtains kanji character patterns from kanji character codes, 29 is a dictionary ROM that realizes a kana / kanji conversion dictionary, and 30 is a power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 for the main CPU 11 via the system bus 11. Power control processor (PC-CPU) 44
Is a parallel-serial interface (PS-IF) for interface connection of the. Reference numeral 40 denotes a power supply adapter (AC adapter) that rectifies and smoothes a commercial AC power supply (AC) to obtain a DC power supply of a predetermined potential. 41
Is a power supply device (intelligent power supply) equipped with a power supply control processor (PC-CPU) 44, and generates various operation power supplies including a backup power supply (VBK) and a display drive power supply (VD) and supplies them to each component. Here, here, the connection state of the AC adapter 40,
It has the function of monitoring the system power supply including battery check. Regarding the monitoring processing function of these system power supplies, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-166205 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2-16
6206, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-166207, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-166
208, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-166209, etc., and detailed description thereof is omitted here. 42 is a power switch for turning on / off the system power, 43M and 43s are AC
It is a rechargeable battery that serves as an operating power source when the adapter 40 is not used. Reference numeral 50 is an HDD pack optionally mounted in an HDD pack connector on the apparatus body, and 51 is a keyboard unit (KB) used for inputting various data, commands and the like.

Reference numeral 52 denotes a TFT liquid crystal (Thin Film Transistor Liquid) that is standardly mounted on the computer main body.
The LCD is a color display unit using a backlight LCD in which one FL tube is provided above and one below the LCD display surface.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 52 having the backlight LCD structure is provided with FL tubes 66U (upper side) and 66L (lower side) above and below the transmissive color LCD display surface, respectively. LCD panel section 64 provided with a light guide plate 67 and a reflection plate 68 on the back side
And an inverter circuit 61 including inverter transformers 65U and 65L for obtaining a high voltage power source for lighting and driving the FL tubes 66U and 66L of the LCD panel section 64,
FL tubes 66U, 6 according to the second control signal (M1, M2)
First and second switch circuits 6 for controlling lighting / turning off of 6L
2, 63.

The first of the switch circuits 62, 63
The switch circuit 62 of the first control signal (M1) supplied from the display controller (DISP-CONT) 26.
In response to this, on / off control is performed, and when the control signal (M1 = “High”) of “High” level is received, the switch is turned on and the control signal of “Low” level (M1 =
When "Low") is received, the switch is turned off. This first
When the switch circuit 62 of is in the ON state, the display drive power source (VD) output from the power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 is supplied to the primary side of the inverter transformers 65U and 65L of the inverter circuit 61, The high voltage drive power output from the secondary side of 65U, 65L is the FL tubes 66U, 66 above and below the display surface.
By being applied to L, both FL tubes 66U and 66L are driven to light. When the first switch circuit 62 is in the off state, the display drive power source (VD) is not supplied to the inverter circuit 61, so that the FL tubes 66U and 66L are both turned off.

The second switch circuit 63 is turned on / off by receiving the second control signal (M2) supplied from the display controller (DISP-CONT) 26, and has a "High" level. Control signal (M1 = "High"
h "), the switch is turned on to control the lighting of the FL tube 66L, and a" Low "level control signal (M2 =
When it receives "Low"), it is switched off and the FL tube 66
Turns off only L.

FIG. 3 shows the illuminance (brightness) characteristics of the LCD display surface due to the lighting of the respective FL tubes 66U and 66L and the actions of the light guide plate 67 and the reflecting plate 68 at this time. In FIG. 3, U is the illuminance of the LCD display surface due to lighting of the FL tube 66U, and L is F.
The illuminance of the LCD display surface accompanying the lighting of the L tube 66L is shown.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a power-saving operation processing procedure executed when the power saving mode is set.
It is realized by executing the power saving operation control program stored in M12. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

When the power saving mode is set in the system environment setting according to the saved information in the initialization process, or when the power saving mode is set by the setup operation or the setting operation on the pop-up screen, the main CPU 11 operates as shown in FIG. Power-saving operation processing is executed according to the processing procedure shown in.

That is, the main CPU 11 enables (enables) the display auto-off function under the power saving mode setting.
, The non-operation state is monitored, and if there is a key input operation within the set time of the display auto-off function, a command indicating stop of the display auto-off function is sent to the display controller 26 every time the key-input operation is performed. Auto-off processing other than display auto-off is executed (step S1 (Yes), S in FIG. 4).
3 (Yes), S4 (No), S6).

In accordance with the above command, the display controller 26 causes the "High" level first and second control signals (M1,
M2 = “High”) is continuously output and supplied to the display unit 52.

In the display unit 52, this "H
high "level first and second control signals (M1, M2 =
"High"), both the first and second switch circuits 62 and 63 are switched on, and the display drive power source (VD) output from the power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 is converted to the inverter circuit 61. The high voltage drive power supplied to the primary side of the transformers 65U and 65L and output from the secondary side of the inverter transformers 65U and 65L is applied to each of the FL tubes 66U and 66L above and below the display surface, and the FL tubes 66U and 66L are applied. Both are driven to light. As a result, the display unit 52 is driven for display with the display surface kept sufficiently bright.

If no key input operation is performed within the set time of the display auto-off function while the display auto-off function is enabled, a command for executing the display auto-off function is sent to the display controller 26. After that, an auto-off process other than the above display auto-off is executed (steps S1 (Yes), S3 (Yes), S4 (Yes), S5, and S6 in FIG. 4).
).

In accordance with the above command, the display controller 26 changes the first and second control signals (M1, M2) to "High".
The display is supplied to the display unit 52 by switching from the “h” level to the “Low” level.

In the display unit 52, this "L
ow "level first and second control signals (M1, M2 =
"Low"), the first and second switch circuits 6
The display drive power supply (VD
2) to the inverter circuit 61 to cut off the generation of high-voltage drive power for the inverter transformers 65U and 65L. As a result, the FL tubes 66U, 66 above and below the display surface are
Both L are turned off.

As described above, when the display auto-off function is set to be valid, the set time (for example, 5 minutes / 10 minutes /
When there is no key input operation within 15 minutes), all the FL tubes 66U and 66L of the display unit 52 are turned off to enter the power saving mode. The power saving mode by turning off the FL tubes 66U and 66L is canceled by operating any key of the keyboard 51.

When the display auto-off function is not set (in the disabled state), the display controller 2
After sending a command to turn off a part of the light source (FL tube) to 6, the processing is finished (step S1 (No), S in FIG. 4).
2).

The display controller 26 follows the above command and outputs the first and second control signals (M1, M2 = "High").
h ”), the second control signal (M2) is switched to the“ Low ”level and supplied to the display unit 52.

In the display unit 52, this "H
high level first control signal (M1 = "High")
h ”) and a second control signal (M2 =“ Low ”level)
When receiving "Low"), only the second switch circuit 63 is switched off, the supply path of the display drive power source (VD) to the inverter transformer 65L is cut off, and the high voltage drive power source generation of the inverter transformer 65L is cut off.

As a result, the FL tubes 66U above and below the display surface
, 66L, the lower FL tube 66L is turned off, and the lighting power consumption for display is halved. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the light emitted from the FL tube 66U at the upper part of the display surface is guided to the lower part of the display surface by the light guide plate 67 and the reflecting plate 68,
Therefore, the display surface becomes darker toward the lower part, but characters can be visually recognized even at the lower part of the display surface. Further, in the normal use state, the number of characters displayed on the upper portion of the display surface is overwhelmingly larger than that on the lower portion of the display surface. Therefore, in the normal use state, the operation can be performed even when the lighting of the FL tube is halved.

As described above, in the power saving operation, the lower FL tube 66 among the FL tubes 66U and 66L above and below the display surface is used.
By selectively turning off only L, the battery drive time by the built-in batteries 43M and 43S without using the AC adapter 40 can be extended. In particular, the lighting drive of the FL tube occupies a large proportion of the power consumption of the entire system, and the lighting time of the FL tube is halved, which can greatly contribute to the extension of the driving time by the built-in battery.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, when the display auto-off function is not set in the power saving mode (in the disabled state), a part of the light source (FL tube) is controlled to be turned off, but the invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, it may be configured to selectively turn off a part of the light source (FL tube) by detecting another state or by manual operation.

As an example of this configuration, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the main CPU 11 is a power supply control processor (PC-C) of a power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41.
PU) 44 obtains information as to whether AC drive is performed by using the AC adapter 40 or battery drive is performed by using the built-in batteries 43M, 43S, and one of the FL tubes 66U, 66L is extinguished during battery drive. It may be configured to control.

At this time, the power supply control processor (PC-CPU) 44 of the power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 causes the first and second control signals (M1, M).
2) may be generated to selectively turn off one of the FL tubes 66U and 66L.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the main CPU 11
When the battery remaining amount (remaining capacity) information is obtained from the power supply control processor (PC-CPU) 44 of the power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 and it is recognized that the battery remaining amount has decreased to a certain set value, FL tube 66U,
It may be configured such that one of the 66L is turned off.

In this case also, instead of the main CPU 11, the power supply control processor (PC-CPU) 44 of the power supply device (intelligent power supply) 41 generates the first and second control signals (M1, M2), FL tube 66U, 6
It may be configured to selectively turn off one of the 6L.
FL tube 66U when this battery is low
, 66L selectively turns off the light, it also has a function of notifying the operator of the discharge state of the built-in battery.

In addition to the above, prior to the display auto-off, for example, one of the FL tubes 66U and 66L is controlled to be turned off,
It is possible to easily realize a configuration in which both the FL tubes 66U and 66L are controlled to be turned off after a certain time has passed, or a configuration in which one of the FL tubes 66U and 66L is controlled to be turned off by a specific combination key input. is there.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, 1 is provided above and below the display surface.
Although the LCD provided with two FL tubes (66U, 66L) is taken as an example, the present invention can be applied to other display devices having a plurality of light sources.

[0043]

As described above in detail, according to the display control device of the present invention, in a portable computer equipped with a color liquid crystal display device having a plurality of light sources, a part of the light sources is operated during power saving operation. By providing a circuit for selectively turning off the light, it is possible to contribute to the extension of the driving time by the built-in battery, and it is possible to extend the driving time by the built-in battery while the displayed characters can be read.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the display unit shown in FIG.

3 is a FL tube 66 of the display unit shown in FIG.
The figure which shows the illuminance characteristic accompanying lighting of U and 66L.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a power saving mode in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... System bus, 11 ... Main CPU, 12 ... System firmware ROM, 13 ... RAM, 18 ... Backup RAM, 26 ... Display controller (DISP-CONT), 30 ... Power supply control interface (PS-IF), 41 ... Power supply device (Intelligent power supply), 43M, 43S ... Built-in battery, 44 ... Power control processor (PC-CPU), 52 ... Display unit 52, 61 ... Inverter circuit, 62 ... First switch circuit, 63 ... Second switch circuit , 64 ... LCD
Panel, 65U, 65L ... Inverter transformer, 66
U, 66L ... FL tube, 67 ... Light guide plate, 68 ... Reflector plate, M
1 ... 1st control signal, M2 ... 2nd control signal.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A portable computer equipped with a display device for illuminating a display surface with a plurality of light sources, comprising: a first display mode for turning on and driving all of the light sources provided in the display device; A display control device comprising: a second display mode for driving a part of the provided light source for lighting; and a selection means for selecting one of the display modes. 2. In a battery-operable portable computer equipped with a display device that illuminates a display surface with a plurality of light sources, operating environment setting means for setting an operating environment for power saving operation, and this operating environment setting. According to a first setting condition according to the first display control means for turning off all the light sources of the display device, and a second control condition for turning off a part of the light source of the display device according to the second setting condition by the operating environment setting. 2. A display control device comprising: 2 display control means. 3. The second setting condition includes any of an AC adapter not connected, a low battery level, a display auto-off function non-setting, a transition process to the first setting condition, an operation instruction, and a program instruction. The display control device according to claim 1.