JPH06175756A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extend a suspended disk resuming function in order to make the display screen at an optional time point possible to be stored and restored. CONSTITUTION:A system control part 10 is provided to control the display state of a display device 30 together with an external storage 26 which stores the display state of the device 30, a screen saving function actuating switch 12, a screen restoring function actuating switch 14, a suspended disk processing part which saves the display state of the device 30 into the storage 26 in response to push of the switch 12, and a ROM storage part 22 which stores a program and contains a system starting part that restores the display state out of the storage 26 in response to push of the switch 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing device such as an electronic computer having a display device, and more particularly to an information processing device connected to a display device which loses its state when the system is powered off.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing apparatus such as a battery-operable personal computer, a suspend disk / resume function is used as a function used for power saving. For the purpose of power saving, these functions temporarily save the state of a device (hereinafter, referred to as a volatile device) that loses its state when the power supply to the information processing device is cut off, and when the power is turned on, This is a function to restore the state when the power was turned off.

The internal suspend disk function is to save the system state by saving the state of the volatile device in a storage area secured on a non-volatile external storage device, and then power off the system. It is a function. This storage area is hereinafter referred to as an environment storage area.

The resume function is a function to restore the system to the state before the power is turned off by setting the state of the volatile device according to the contents stored in the environment storage area when the power is turned on. Hereinafter, the suspend disk function and the resume function are collectively referred to as the suspend disk / resume function.

A conventional information processing apparatus having a suspend disk / resume function will be described with reference to FIGS. Referring to FIG. 5, such a conventional information processing apparatus includes a system control unit 10 having a function of controlling the entire system, and an external storage device 26 including a hard disk device. The external storage device 26 has a role of storing data necessary for realizing the suspend disk / resume function. Peripheral devices described below, including the external storage device 26, are all connected to the system control unit 10 and managed by the system control unit 10.

The information processing apparatus further includes a keyboard,
It includes an input device 28 such as a mouse, a display device 30 including a display memory (not shown), and other peripheral devices 32 such as a printer and a floppy disk device. The display memory of the display device 30 is generally volatile, which is lost when the power supply to the system is cut off.

The system controller 10 is further provided with a system management RAM (Random Acc) which is a non-volatile readable memory used for recording the operating conditions of the system.
An essMemory) 20, a ROM (read-only memory) storage unit 22 for holding various programs to be described later, and a volatile RAM storage unit 24 are connected. The programs stored in the ROM storage unit 22 include a program for providing basic input / output services, a suspend disk function, a resume function, and processing for system startup including processing of the resume function. It includes a program to be executed (hereinafter referred to as a suspend disk processing unit, a resume processing unit, a system starting unit), and the like.

This information processing apparatus is provided with a suspend disk function operation switch 16 used by the system user to explicitly notify the system that the suspend disk function is to be executed, and further, a so-called laptop. LCD like a computer of the type
In a model in which a display device including a (liquid crystal display device) panel is used as a lid of the main body, a switch 18 for detecting that the lid of the LCD panel is closed is provided.

The factors that activate the suspend disk function are (1) when the system user explicitly notifies the system that the suspend disk function is to be performed by pressing the suspend disk function operating switch 16. , (2) When the user does not perform an operation such as key input for a certain period of time, and (3) LCD
For example, when the system detects that the panel lid is closed by the switch 18. In the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 5, when the system control unit 10 detects the occurrence of these factors, the system control unit 10 interrupts the processing and stores the ROM.
The control is transferred to the suspend disk processing unit of the program stored in the storage unit 22 and operates as follows.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the suspend disk processing unit in the conventional information processing apparatus. Referring to FIG. 7, when the suspend disk processing unit detects the occurrence of any of the above-mentioned factors, the suspend disk processing unit stores in the environment storage area secured on the external storage device 26 shown in FIG.
The state of the volatile device including the display device 30 is saved.
This process is performed in step S021 in FIG.

Then, in step S022, a flag (hereinafter, referred to as "suspended disk function") secured on the system management RAM 20 (see FIG. 5) is shown.
A process of setting a suspend disk status flag) is performed. The suspend disk status flag is
This is for allowing the system activation unit to determine whether the normal system activation should be performed or the resume process should be performed in the next system activation.

Subsequently, in step S023, a process of turning off the power of the system is performed. This completes the suspend disk process.

FIG. 6 shows a storage area 70 of the external storage device 26.
3 is a schematic diagram showing a recording format of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6A, the storage area 70 of an external storage device such as a hard disk device is divided into several partitions 74-1 to 74-n.
It is possible to manage by dividing into ... A disk management table 72 storing data for managing each partition is usually provided at the head of the storage area 70.

Referring to FIG. 6B, the disk management table 72 includes a boot loader area 76 and each partition 7.
A plurality of partition information areas 78 for storing information such as start positions, sizes, and attributes of 4-1 to 74-n ...
-1 to 78-n, etc.

In the information processing apparatus having the above-mentioned suspend disk / resume function, as shown in FIG. 6A, an area for storing the state of the volatile device is divided into one partition, for example, partition 74-n. Secure as. Then, the suspend disk processing section and the resume processing section manage the data stored in the partition 74-n.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the processing performed by the system activation unit of the programs stored in the ROM storage unit 22 when the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 is powered on. Referring to FIG. 8, first, step S04
At 1, the system start-up unit performs initialization processing including checking the connection states of various devices attached to the system and initializing.

Then, in step S042, the contents of the suspended disk status flag are referred to. Then, if the suspend disk status flag is set, the process proceeds to control step S044, and if it is in the reset state, the process proceeds to control step S043.

In step S043, normal starting processing such as processing for loading the operating system is performed. When this process ends, the operation of the system starting unit ends.

On the other hand, if the suspended disk status flag is set in step S042, first, in step S044, the processing for resetting the suspended disk status flag is performed.

Then, in step S045, based on the contents of the environment storage area provided in the nth partition 74-n of FIG.
Sets the state of volatile devices connected to the system. By completing the processing in step S045,
The system state is restored to the state when the suspend disk function was activated. When the process of step S045 is completed, the process of the system activation unit ends.

[0021]

The above-mentioned conventional suspend disk / resume function is a function designed mainly for the power saving function of the information processing apparatus when driven by a battery. For example, consider a case where the remaining battery level becomes low while using an application program on a battery-driven information processing apparatus. At this time, the remaining battery level may be insufficient to store the necessary data file in the external storage device. Therefore, instead of saving the data file in the external storage device, it is possible to use the suspend disk function to temporarily hold the system state at that time. After this, the power is turned off, and when the AC (alternating current power) drive is possible in the future, the power is turned on again. By doing so, the processing of the application program can be continued in the same state as when the power was turned off. The conventional suspend disk / resume function is a function designed assuming such a situation.

In the conventional suspend disk function, the system state at the time when the suspend disk function is activated is temporarily stored in the external storage device, and the power is automatically turned off. Then, at the next power-on, it is possible to restore the state of the system before the suspend function is executed based on the information stored in the external storage device.

On the other hand, it is conceivable that the operation may be continued without turning off the power even after temporarily saving the state of the system at an arbitrary point during system operation. In that case, it would be convenient if there was a function to restore the system to the state saved in the past if necessary. However, such a function has not been provided by the conventional suspend disk / resume function. For example, with the conventional suspend disk / resume function, the saved / restored state is always the entire system. On the other hand, saving / saving the state of only some devices, such as display devices, that are adapted to a specific application
It would be convenient to be able to restore. However, the conventional suspend disk / resume function cannot save / restore the state of only some of these devices. In particular, the display state once saved cannot be saved or restored even after the power is turned off. It would be nice if it could be restored at a point in time.

Therefore, the object of the invention described in claim 1 is
An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device capable of later restoring a display state at a certain point. An object of the invention described in claim 2 is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of later restoring a display state at an arbitrary time point including before power-off.

[0025]

An information processing device according to claim 1 is an information processing device used in an information processing system to which a display device is connected, and holds a system state including a display state of the display device. Then, a system management unit for managing the information processing system based on the held system state, a system state storage unit for storing the system state including a display state, and a system state storage unit separate from the system management unit, Held by the system management means in response to the manually operable signal generating means capable of generating a signal that takes either one of the first and second values and the signal generating means generating the signal of the first value. The display state of the display device being saved is saved in the save means in response to the save means for saving in the system state storage means and the signal generating means generating the signal of the second value. The display state of the display device being, and a restoring means for restoring the system management unit.

An information processing apparatus according to a second aspect is the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the system management means is a volatile one that loses storage of the system state when power supply is terminated. And the system state storage means includes non-volatile storage means.

[0027]

In the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the system management means holds the system state and manages the information processing system based on the held system state. When the user operates the signal generating means to generate the signal of the first value, the saving means responds to this by changing the display state of the display device held in the system managing means to the system state storing means. Evacuate to. Further, when the user operates the signal generating means again after the system has been used to generate the signal of the second value, the restoring means responds to this and is saved from the system state storing means to the system storing means. The display state of the display device which has been used is restored to the system management means.

In the information processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the system management means loses the storage of the system state when the power supply is finished. However, since the system state storage means includes the non-volatile storage means, the contents of the system state storage means once saved are not lost even after the power supply to the information processing device is completed, and the system state storage means after the power supply is restarted The saved display state can be restored at any time.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the information processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described, and then the operation thereof will be described using a flowchart.

Referring to FIG. 1, this information processing apparatus is different from the conventional information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 in that a screen save function operating switch 12 and a screen restoring function operating switch 1 are used.
4 is newly included, and the recording format of the external storage device 26 (FIG. 2) is different from the recording format of the external storage device 26 of the conventional information processing apparatus shown in FIG. Among the stored programs, the processing content of the suspend disk processing unit is different from that of the conventional technique as described later.

The screen save function operating switch 12 and the screen restore function operating switch 14 are actually operated by simultaneously pressing different specific keys and the suspend disk function operating switch 16 respectively. It is possible to prevent an increase in the number of keys on the input device 28.

The following three cases can be considered as factors that activate the suspend disk function, as in the conventional case.

(1) When the system user presses the suspend disk function operation switch 16. However, in this case, when pressed simultaneously with the key for functioning as the screen save function operation switch 12 or the screen restore function operation switch 14, the state of the display device is saved or restored, respectively.

(2) When the user does not perform an operation such as key input for a certain period of time.

(3) When the system detects that the cover of the LCD panel constituting the display device 30 is closed by the LCD panel cover close detection switch 18.

FIG. 2 shows the recording format of the storage area of the external storage device 26 (see FIG. 1). Referring to FIG. 2A, the storage area 40 includes a disk management table 42,
It is partitioned into a plurality of partitions 44-1 to 44-n. Each section has a size of S1 to Sn ... Starting from addresses L1 to Ln.

For example, when the nth partition is used as the environment storage area, the nth partition 44-n includes the environment storage area management table 48, the first environment storage area 50 and the second storage area.
And the environment storage area 52.

The environment storage area management table 48 starts from the address Ln. The first environment storage area 50 starts from the address m1. The second environment storage area 52 similarly starts from the address m2. As described above, the recording format of the information processing apparatus according to this embodiment has two environment storage areas 5
It differs from the recording format of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 6 in that it has 0 and 52 and includes an environment storage area management table 48 for managing these two environment storage areas. The contents of the environment storage area management table 48 will be described later.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the disk management table 42 includes a boot loader area 54 and partitions 44-.
Partition information areas 56-1 to 56 for 1 to 44-n ...
-N ... Each section information area 56-1
56-n ..., the start position, size, attribute, etc. of the section are recorded.

FIG. 3 (b) is shown in FIG. 2 (a) and FIG.
It is a more detailed format of the environment storage area management table 48 shown in (a). Referring to FIG. 3B, the environment storage area management table 48 is divided into a first environment storage area information area 60 and a second environment storage area information area 62. In each area 60, 62, information about each environment storage area such as the start position and attribute of each environment storage area 50, 52 is recorded. Of these, the start position information is information indicating in which position in the external storage device the environment storage areas 50 and 52 are physically stored. The attribute information is stored in each environment storage area 5
Information indicating whether or not valid information is stored in 0 and 52, whether the information stored in the environment storage areas 50 and 52 is information of only the display device or information of the entire system, and the like. The system uses the information stored in these areas 60 and 62 to set the respective environmental storage areas 50 and 52.
Manage.

In the present invention, according to the recording formats shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, information regarding two display screens, that is, the display screen saved by the user and the display screen at the time of switching to the saved display screen is saved. , Managed.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing of the suspended disk control unit expanded as described above. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 includes steps S001, S
It is different from the conventional suspend disk processing unit shown in FIG. 7 in that processing steps 005 to S012 are added.

The system control unit interrupts the processing when the above-mentioned three factors that cause the suspend disk function to operate occur, and activates the suspend disk processing unit shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the suspend disk processing section, first, in step S001, a determination is made as to which factor caused the suspend disk processing section to be excited. When it is determined that the suspend disk function operation switch is pressed in combination with each specific key in order to operate either the screen save function operation switch 12 or the screen restoration function operation switch 14 as described above. The process proceeds to step S005, and if it is determined that the suspend disk processing unit is excited by another method, the process proceeds to step S002. The processes from step S002 onward are processes for the suspend disk function, which are similar to steps S021 to S023 shown in FIG. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated here.

The processing in and after step S005 is processing for saving or restoring the display screen according to an explicit instruction from the user. First, in step S005, it is determined by which key the suspend disk function operation switch has been pressed and whether the display screen has been designated to be saved or restored. If it is determined that the save is designated, the process proceeds to step S012, and if it is determined that the restore is designated, the process proceeds to step S006.

If it is determined in step S005 that the display screen is to be saved, the process of saving the state of the display device in the second environment storage area 52 (see FIG. 2A) is executed in step S012. Then, the process of the suspend disk processing unit is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S005 that the display screen restoration is instructed, the state of the display device to be restored is already in the second environment storage area 5 in step S006.
2 (FIG. 2 (a)) is determined. If it is not saved, there is no data to be restored, so the process ends.

If it is saved, step S007
Proceed to the following processing. First, in step S007, the current display state of the display device is stored in the first environment storage area 50 (see FIG.
A process of storing the data in (a) is performed.

Then, in step S008, the state of the display device is set according to the information stored in the second environment storage area 52 (FIG. 2A). As a result, the state of the display device previously saved in the second environment storage area 52 in the process of step S012 can be restored on the current display device.

The process further proceeds to step S009, and after the display screen is restored, the key input waiting state is set. Step S
At 010, it is determined whether or not there is a key input. If not, the process returns to step S009 and the processes of steps S009 and S010 are repeated until a key is input.

If there is any key input, the process proceeds to step S011. In step S011, FIG.
The state of the display device is set according to the contents stored in the first environment storage area 50 shown in (a). As a result, the display state saved in the first environment storage area in step S007 is restored on the display device again. After the processing of step S011, the processing of the suspend disk processing unit ends. After the processing of step S011 or S012 is completed, the system control unit shifts the control to the processing suspended due to the occurrence of the factor that the suspend disk processing unit operates.

By performing the above-described processing in the suspend disk processing section, the display screen is temporarily stored in the second environment storage area, the processing is continued, and it is once stored at an arbitrary time later. The display state can be restored on the screen. In the case of this embodiment, by referring to the screen thus restored and pressing any key, it is possible to return to the screen before the restoration and continue the processing in progress based on the referred information. . Further, since the environment storage area is provided in the hard disk of the external storage device, the display state of the display device can be restored to the screen at any time even after the power is turned off. As a result, the display screen can be saved and restored without depending on a specific application program or operating system. Also, in addition to the conventional suspend disk / resume function, saving / restoring such a display screen according to an explicit instruction from the user does not impair the conventional suspend disk / resume function implementation method and its operability. Therefore, the usable aspect of the information processing apparatus can be further expanded.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a screen that is expected to be frequently referred to is displayed during execution of an application program, the display screen can be temporarily saved. Thereafter, the processing is continued, and thereafter, the saved screen can be displayed as needed at any time. As a result, it becomes possible to smoothly proceed with the work using the application program or the like. Further, since this function can be realized without depending on the operating system or the application program, there is no need to take any special measures on the application program side, and the above-mentioned effects can be obtained by using any application program that has been conventionally used. Can be obtained.

[0054]

As described above, in the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the display information of the display device can be saved in the system information storage means at any time. Further, after the evacuation, even when the system is continuously used as it is, the signal having the second value is generated by the signal generating means to restore the display information from the system information storing means to the system managing means at any time, and display at the start. Can be restored and referenced. Since the function of saving and restoring the display information can be performed without depending on the operating system or application, it is possible to freely save / restore the screen without the need to incorporate special processing into the application program.

In the information processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the system management means loses the storage of the system information when the power supply is completed. However, if the display information of the display device is saved in the system information storage means prior to the end of the power supply, the stored contents of the system state storage means will not be lost even when the power supply is completed. After the power supply is restarted, the signal generating means is operated to generate a signal having the second value, so that the display state previously saved from the system state storing means is restored to the system managing means. Therefore, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of restoring the display screen before power-off even after power-off.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a recording format of a storage area of the external storage device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing details of a format of an environment storage area management table.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a suspend disk processing unit of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a conventional information processing device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a recording format of an external storage device of a conventional information processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a suspend disk processing unit of a conventional information processing device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a system activation processing unit of a conventional information processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 system control unit 12 screen save function operation switch 14 screen restore function operation switch 16 suspend disk function operation switch 18 LCD panel lid close detection switch 20 system management RAM 22 ROM storage unit 24 RAM storage unit 26 external storage device 28 input device 30 Display device 32 Other peripheral devices

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device used in an information processing system to which a display device is connected, which holds a system state including a display state of the display device,
A system management means for managing the information processing system based on the held system status; a system status storage means for storing a system status including a display status, the system status storage means being separate from the system management means; And a manually operable signal generating means capable of generating a signal having one of a second value, and the system managing means in response to the signal generating means generating the signal having the first value. Saving means for saving the display status of the display device held in the system status storing means, and the saving means in response to the signal generating means generating the signal of the second value. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a restoring unit for restoring the display state of the display device held in the unit to the system managing unit. 2. The system management means is a volatile one that loses storage of the system state when power supply is terminated, and the system state storage means includes non-volatile storage means.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.