JPH0619587A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an information processor which can be used again even when a misoperation such as the detachment of a battery during an operation occurs. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 1 detects whether or not a power source is interrupted only while an open processing is operated to the file of an outside memory 6 without going through a normal power source-off sequence by considering that an access to the outside memory is not performed when the open processing is not operated to the logical file on the outside memory.

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 driven by a battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the degree of integration of semiconductors has been improved and the price thereof has been reduced, and semiconductor memories are increasingly used as external storage devices. Conventionally, a semiconductor memory is often used as an external storage state even in a small information processing device driven by a battery. In this type of small-sized information processing device, if the battery of the power supply is removed while accessing the external storage device, the magnetic storage medium other than the conventional semiconductor memory cannot perform accurate access. However, in the storage medium using the semiconductor memory, the address having the adverse effect is not specified, and there is a possibility that the contents of other logically distinct areas may be destroyed.

In this case, of course, the program is also stored in the storage medium, and when the destroyed program is loaded and executed, a runaway or the like may occur and further destroy other logical areas. There was a nature. There is also a small information processing device that backs up not only the external storage device but also the memory inside the main unit, and saves data and programs in it to operate, and in the case of such a device,
Destruction of the contents stored in the memory will have a greater impact on the system.

In order to prevent this, conventionally, a flag for detecting a power-off sequence abnormality is set in the power-on process, and a process for clearing this flag is performed when a normal power-off sequence is passed. When the power is turned on, if this flag is checked and it is considered that the power has been turned off in an abnormal sequence, the system is not started and the data stored until then is protected with a minimal effect. The method (conventional example 1) was adopted.

Further, there has been a structure in which the battery cannot be removed mechanically by interlocking with the power switch (conventional example 2).

[0006]

However, in the device using the above-mentioned conventional example, if the battery is accidentally removed, all the files will be protected.
The device has since been disabled.

Further, in recent years, information processing apparatuses have become smaller and cheaper, and have become frequently used by diplomats who frequently use the apparatus while on the go as a business operation. However, as described above, there are many cases where it becomes unusable, which causes problems such as hindering work and increasing the burden on the system administrator. Further, in the device of the above-mentioned conventional example 2, it is necessary to add the above-mentioned mechanical structure, and this mechanical structure not only hinders the downsizing of the device, but also complicates the battery replacement operation.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention can be used again even if there is an erroneous operation such as the removal of the battery during operation, and further, the size can be reduced and the battery can be easily replaced. An object is to provide an information processing device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is an information driven by a power source generated by a battery by a power-on process and reading / writing information from / to a file in a memory. In the processing device, only in an open section for the file, a detection unit that detects whether the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence, and a power-off is performed without going through a normal power-off sequence. And a protection means for protecting the power-on process when the detection means detects the breakage.

A second aspect of the present invention is to read / read information from / to a memory driven by a power source generated by a battery by power-on processing.
In an information processing device in which the drive is turned off by a power-off process of performing writing and shutting off the power supply through a normal power-off sequence, a predetermined value is incremented at the power-on process and at the power-off process. The counting means for decrementing and the storing means for storing the counting result of the counting means are provided.

A third aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus which is driven by a power source generated by a battery by a power-on process and performs key input to read / write information from / in a memory, while waiting for the key input. Except when the detection means detects whether the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence and when the detection means detects that the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence. And a protection means for protecting the power-on process.

[0012]

With the above arrangement, according to the first aspect of the invention, if the logical file on the external memory is not opened,
In consideration of the fact that the external memory is not accessed, the detection means detects whether or not the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence, only while the external memory file is open. Therefore, even if the operator accidentally pulls out the battery during the operation other than this period, the system is started without being protected in the next power-on process. This shortens the period in which the system cannot be started.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the counting means increments the predetermined value during the power-on process and decrements it during the power-off process, so that the normal power-off sequence of the power-off process is not performed during this period. When the power is turned off, the number of times is stored in the storage means because the number is not decremented.

According to the third invention, considering that the memory access does not occur while waiting for the key input from the operator, even if the battery is pulled out and the power is cut off during this time, the detecting means is provided. Does not detect it, so it will not be protected in the next power-on process. This shortens the period in which the system cannot be started.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a battery-powered compact information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU which controls the information processing apparatus. The CPU 1 includes a system ROM 2 in which a system program of the apparatus is stored, and a main memory 3 in which application programs and the like are loaded and executed. , A sub battery 4 for backing up the contents of the main memory 3, an LCD 5 as a display device, an external memory 6 as an external storage device, a sub battery 7 for backing up the contents of the external memory 6, and a keyboard 8 as an input device. A power supply control circuit 9 that controls the power supply of the device, a main battery 10 that is the power supply of the device, and a power switch 11 that instructs on / off of the power supply are connected.

Main battery 10 of the compact information processing apparatus of this embodiment
Is a rechargeable battery and has a structure that can be easily replaced when the battery is exhausted.

The power switch 11 does not actually turn off or connect the power, but instructs the power control circuit 9 to turn on the power or interrupts the CPU 1 to turn off the power. Is a switch for notifying that an instruction has been given.

Next, the abnormality detection processing of the power-off sequence of the small-sized information processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the power-on process of this embodiment. Step S51 of FIG.
Then, immediately after the power is turned on, the output voltage of the battery 10 is unstable, so that it waits for the output voltage to stabilize. After stabilization, it is checked whether or not the output voltage of the battery 10 is output as much as necessary to continue the operation thereafter (step S52). If the required voltage is not output, the process proceeds to step S57, the power supply control circuit 9 is instructed to turn off the power, and the system is powered off.

If the output voltage is judged to be sufficient in the check in step S52, the process is continued, and in step S53, each device is initialized. In a succeeding step S54, it is checked whether or not the previous power-off is performed through a correct sequence, and if it is not correctly performed, the process proceeds to step S55 and an error message is displayed. Then, in step S57, the power of the system is turned off to protect the device so that it cannot be used thereafter. If it is determined in step S54 that the process was performed correctly,
In step S56, the system area is initialized and the application program is activated. Here, the step S
Whether or not the power-off sequence in 54 is correctly performed is provided by providing an off-sequence abnormality flag and clearing the flag at the end of the original power-off process.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the power-off process of the information processing apparatus of this embodiment. First, step S61
To close the system area, and then continue with step S
At 62, termination processing of each device is performed. further,
In step S63, the power off sequence abnormality flag is cleared, and finally the power control circuit 9 is instructed to turn off the power. As a result, when the power is properly turned off through this flow, the power off sequence abnormality flag is cleared, and the application program is started without being protected in the next power on processing.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a process of opening a logical file on the external memory 6. First, search the file specified in step S71,
If the file is not found (step S72),
Set an error code and return. If found, the off-sequence abnormality flag is set in step S73, and then the opened file is registered in the open table in the system area in step S74. Then, thereafter, the open process for enabling the access process is performed (step S75).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the processing for closing the file opened in the flow of FIG.

First, it is searched whether the specified file is registered in the open table (step S81,
S82). If it is not registered in the open table, set an error code and return. If the file is registered, the specified file is deleted from the open table in step S83, and a closing process is performed to make the file inaccessible thereafter (step S8).
4). Then, in step S85, the off-sequence abnormality flag is cleared.

As described above, the power-off sequence abnormality flag is set only while the file on the external memory 6 is open and the external memory 6 can be accessed. When the power of the system is cut off by suddenly pulling out the battery 10 without passing through the processing, the power-off sequence error flag remains without being cleared, and the application is activated by the protection in the power-on processing flow of FIG. Enter a sequence that is not done.

Although all of the above embodiments are implemented by software, a 1-bit counter that is backed up by the sub-battery 4 is provided, and hardware for enabling the external memory I / F is provided in the open processing for the external memory 6. Is accessed, so the above counter is incremented by 1
In addition, since the hardware for disabling the external memory I / F is accessed in the closing process for the external memory 6, the hardware for setting the counter to 0 by the access and the power off instruction to the power control circuit 9 It is possible to obtain exactly the same effect as in the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process at power-on for realizing abnormality detection of the small information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is also applied to this embodiment. Originally, protection is required only for power-off during memory access, and it has been found that the probability of removing the battery during this section is extremely low. In most cases, when the application program waits for a key input, the operator often removes the battery without knowing what operation should be performed next. At this time, the memory access is not performed.
Therefore, it is not necessary to regard the battery as abnormal even if the battery is removed over the entire operating period. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the abnormal power interruption during operation is stopped to detect the abnormal power interruption during operation, and instead to detect the cause when the abnormality occurs in the system. It is designed so that it only remembers whether or not it is.

In step S91, the output voltage of the battery is unstable immediately after the power is turned on, a process of waiting for this stabilization is performed, and after stabilization, the output voltage of the battery is checked (step S9).
2) After that, if the output is not sufficient to continue the processing, the process proceeds to step S93, and the power supply control circuit 9
Instructs to power off the system and ends. If the output is sufficient, initialization processing of each device is performed in step S94,
The system area is initialized in step S95, and the power-off sequence abnormality counter is incremented by 1 in step S96. This counter is protected so that only the system administrator can view and change it. When handing the device to the operator, the system administrator sets this counter to 0 before handing it.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the power-off processing for realizing the abnormality detection according to this embodiment. This power-off process is activated when the application program instructs the power-off or when the power switch 11 off interrupt occurs. Step S101
In step S102, the system area is closed, and in step S102, each device is terminated. Then, the power-off sequence abnormality counter is set to -1 (step S103), and the power control circuit 9 is instructed to turn off the system power (step S104).

In this embodiment, the power-off sequence abnormality counter is incremented by 1 in step S96 of FIG. 6 when the power is turned on, and the power-off sequence abnormality counter is decremented by -1 in step S103 of FIG. 7 when the power is turned off. If the power is turned on / off repeatedly in the correct sequence, the power-off sequence abnormality counter remains 0. However, when the power is turned off without passing through the normal power-off sequence of FIG. 7 in an abnormal sequence such as the operator pulling out the battery during operation, the process of decrementing the counter by 1 is not executed. The power is turned on again, the power-on process of FIG. 6 is started, the counter is incremented by 1, and the contents of this counter are incremented by 1.

In this embodiment, all operations are performed by software. However, a hardware counter of about 8 bits is provided in the power control circuit 9, and when the power switch 11 instructs the power on, the counter is incremented by one. , When the power off is instructed from the system program, the content of the counter is decremented by one. The counter is backed up by the sub-battery 4, and the same effect can be obtained with hardware configured to be cleared and referenced at any time by the operation of the system administrator.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the main part showing the processing when the power of the small-sized information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention is turned on. This processing is executed according to the system program, and the configuration of FIG. 1 is applied in this embodiment.

In step S111, the process starts when the power is turned on, and the process waits until the output of the battery 10 stabilizes. In the subsequent step S112, the output voltage of the battery 10 is checked, and if there is not enough voltage for operation, the process proceeds to step S119, and the power supply control circuit 9
To turn off the power. If the output voltage is sufficient, the process goes to step S114 to initialize the device control circuits such as the LCD 5 and the keyboard 8.

In step S115, it is determined whether or not the previous power-off was turned off through the correct sequence by checking the off-sequence abnormality flag. If the off sequence is correct, the process proceeds to step S116, the system area is initialized, the off sequence abnormality flag is set (step S117), and the application program is started. If the off sequence is not correct, step S
Go to 118 and display the error message, then go to step S
At 119, the power control circuit 9 is instructed to turn off the power.

FIG. 9 is a main part flowchart showing the power-off processing of this embodiment. This processing is executed by the system program, and is a normal off sequence that is activated when the application program instructs the power to be turned off or when the power off switch is pressed to generate an interrupt.

In step S121, the system area is closed, such as releasing each table, and step S122.
Terminates each device. In a succeeding step S123, the off-sequence abnormality flag is cleared and a power-off instruction is issued to the power supply control circuit 9 (step S124).

As described above, in this embodiment, when the power is turned off by the power-off processing, the off-sequence abnormality flag set in step S117 when the power is turned on is cleared in step S123. In the process, it is determined in step S115 that the correct off sequence has passed, and the application is normally started.

On the other hand, during operation of the application, the battery 10
9 is pulled out, the power is forcibly turned off without passing through the flow of FIG. 9, so that the off sequence abnormality flag clearing process in step S123 is not executed and the off sequence abnormality flag remains. When the power is turned on in this state, it is determined in step S115 in the power-on process of FIG. 8 that the correct off sequence has not been passed, and the application is not started and an error message is displayed (step S118). Then, in step S119, the power is immediately turned off, the system is protected, and the application cannot be started.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the key input processing in this embodiment.

Basically, when a key input is made by the operator, the CPU 1 sees a lot of time waiting for the operation,
During this time, memory access should not be performed. Therefore, even if the battery is pulled out during this period, the memory 3 is not affected, and even if the off sequence abnormality flag is cleared during this period, no problem should occur.

Therefore, when the key input is instructed by the application, the off sequence abnormality flag is cleared in step S131. In step S132, a standby state waiting for a key input interrupt is entered. Since the standby state is released by the occurrence of some kind of interrupt, it is determined in step S133 whether or not the interrupt is generated by the key input. If it is not the key input, the process goes to step S132 again to enter the standby state. If there is a key input, step S13
The off sequence abnormality flag is set in step 4, and step S1
The key code input at 35 is taken out and passed to the application program.

Since the off-sequence abnormality flag is cleared while the system is operating by this key input process and while waiting for key input, even if the battery is pulled out at this time, the step S115 in FIG. 8 in the next power-on process will be performed. When confirming the off sequence, it is determined that the off sequence is correct and the application is normally started.

Although all of the above embodiments are realized by software, a 1-bit counter backed up by the sub-battery 10 is provided, and when the key input standby state is entered and the power supply control circuit 8 is instructed to turn off the power supply. Even if the counter is set to 0, the key input standby state is released, and the instruction from software is set to 1, and the contents are referred to in the power-on process of FIG. The same effect as the embodiment can be obtained.

[0044]

As described above, according to the first invention,
Even if you make a mistake such as removing the battery suddenly during operation, protection is limited only to the section where the logical file on the external memory is open, and the application program will be protected by the next power-on process. The probability of being activated increases. This allows the device to be reused. Further, a mechanical structure interlocking with the power switch is not required, the operation of replacing the battery is facilitated, and the cost can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even when an information processing apparatus is required for the convenience of the operator without having the function of power-off detection by abnormal operation and the function of system protection, when an abnormality occurs in the system. By checking the contents of the storage means,
Whether or not the power is turned off due to an abnormal operation can be determined, which is a great help in pursuing the cause of the system abnormality.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is not detected whether the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence in the key input waiting section in which the memory access does not occur but in all the sections in which the system is operating. The section in which the system cannot be restarted due to the removal of the battery due to an erroneous operation is reduced, and the unusable state due to an erroneous operation can be reduced. Further, the burden on the system administrator for recovering the unusable state is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a power-on process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of power-off processing of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of opening a file on an external memory according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of closing a file on an external memory in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a power-on process in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a power-off process in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a power-on process in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a power-off process in the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a key input process in the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 3 Main memory 6 External memory 8 Key

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus for reading / writing information from / to a file in an external memory, which is driven by a power source generated by a battery in a power-on process, and is normally powered off during an open section of the file. Detecting means for detecting whether or not the power supply is cut off without going through a sequence, and protection of the power-on processing when the detecting means detects that the power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence An information processing apparatus, comprising: 2. Reading / writing information from / to a memory driven by a power source generated by a battery by power-on processing,
In an information processing device in which the drive is turned off by a power-off process that shuts off the power via a normal power-off sequence, a count that increments a predetermined value during the power-on process and decrements during the power-off process. An information processing apparatus comprising: a means and a storage means for storing the counting result of the counting means. 3. An information processing apparatus, which is driven by a power source generated by a battery by a power-on process and performs a key input to read / write information from / to a memory, is normally operated except when the key input is on standby. Detection means for detecting whether or not the power supply is cut off without going through a power-off sequence, and power-on processing when the detection means detects that power supply is cut off without going through a normal power-off sequence An information processing apparatus comprising: a protection unit that protects the information processing device.