JPH096489A - Information processing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To suppress power consumption and to extend the duration time even in the suspend mode by keeping plural resume trigger signals till a battery residual amount monitor controller finishes the reading of the signals. CONSTITUTION: The processing unit is provided with a battery residual amount monitor controller E18 having the sleep mode, a means transiting the controller E18 from the sleep mode to the usual operating mode, and a timer counting a time interval to transit the controller E18 from the sleep mode to the usual operating mode, operated by the battery E19, has the suspend mode, the battery residual capacity monitor controller E18 detects the trigger signals to set the system to a resume state. The information processing unit has a means storing the plural resume trigger signals till the battery residual capacity monitor controller E18 reads the signals. Thus, independently of the operating mode of the battery residual capacity monitor controller E18, a resume event signal is detected at any time to conduct resume operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery-operable information processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing apparatus that has a controller for monitoring the battery capacity, can be operated by a battery, and has a suspend mode, it is detected when the remaining battery capacity becomes low during battery operation, It was necessary to save the data on a disk or the like and perform processing to safely shut down the system. The suspend mode is a low power consumption mode of the system, retains the setting of the previous full operation mode, and returns (resumes) to the full operation mode environment immediately before entering the suspend mode by a certain trigger signal (hereinafter referred to as a resume event). It is also a mode. In addition, when the remaining battery power becomes insufficient during suspend mode and the data cannot be retained, the user is notified by a sound to prompt the user for processing or the system settings are stored in a safe storage device such as a disk. It is necessary to automatically save and shut down the system. That is, the state where the remaining battery capacity is insufficient during suspending can also be regarded as one of the resume events. Therefore, in order to collectively manage the trigger factors that need to cause the mode transition from the suspend mode, it is convenient to provide the battery capacity monitoring controller with the function of detecting the resume event. For this reason, there is an example of an information processing device configured so that the battery capacity monitoring controller has a function of detecting a resume event.

[0003]

In an information processing apparatus having a controller for monitoring the battery capacity and capable of operating with a battery and having a suspend mode, the battery capacity monitoring controller is operated in the sleep mode for as long as possible, The configuration of transitioning to the normal operation mode when necessary is effective when it is desired to reduce the power consumed by the battery capacity monitoring controller itself.
This is particularly effective when it is desired to extend the suspend mode duration time in the suspend mode in which the power consumption of the entire system is reduced. However, when the battery remaining amount monitoring controller wants to detect a number of resume events that exceeds the number of interrupt detection signals that can be used for the sleep mode operation, if the sleep time becomes too long, there is a drawback that the resume events that occur during that time cannot be detected. As a result, it becomes impossible to detect resume events that require real-timeness to some extent, for example, keystrokes during suspension, mouse clicks, and other events that cause the user to resume. Since the event cannot be detected when the monitoring controller is in the sleep mode, the resume request may not be accepted, or the controller may have to wait until the resume event is detected, which is very inconvenient. For example, in order to detect a resume event from a user in real time to some extent, the battery remaining amount monitoring controller is set to about 8 times per second (8 Hz cycle).
It is necessary to wake it from sleep. This is 100
If it can be extended to about once per second, power consumption cannot be suppressed, but even if the user inputs a resume event, it is almost missed and is not detected.

Incidentally, the sleep mode of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller means that the software incorporated in the controller can stop the operation and detect a limited interrupt signal.
This is a mode in which the controller can return to the full operation mode by the interrupt signal, and the power consumption of the controller itself is smaller than that in the full operation mode.

The full operation mode of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller means that the software built in the controller operates, all the signal terminals equipped in the controller can be used, and the signal from the external hardware or the setting of the software is used. It is an operation mode that can transit to sleep mode.

In the above-mentioned conventional example, since the battery remaining amount monitoring controller cannot detect the resume event during the sleep, the interval for generating the interrupt signal for canceling the sleep is increased to suppress the power consumption of the controller, and the controller operates normally. It can be seen that there is a dilemma that if the total time to enter the mode is reduced, the time when the resume event cannot be detected becomes long, which is rather inconvenient for the user.

A first object of the present invention according to the present application is to allow a controller having a sleep mode to monitor the battery capacity and monitor the battery capacity in a suspend mode, which is a power saving mode of the system, in an information processing apparatus capable of operating with a battery. It is to reduce the power consumption of the controller and provide the user with an information system having a long duration even in the suspend mode.

A second object of the present invention is a resume event which requires a certain amount of real time when the system is resumed from the suspend mode to the normal operation mode, for example, key input during suspension, mouse click, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing device that detects an event caused by a user and, when the user wants to resume the operation, responds at any time without making the user wait and transitions to the full operation mode.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention of the present application is to provide a battery capacity monitoring controller having a sleep mode, and to transition the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode. Means and a timer for counting the time interval for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, operating on a battery, having a suspend mode, the battery capacity monitoring controller detects a trigger signal, and resumes the system. The information processing apparatus capable of performing the operation includes a unit for holding a plurality of resume trigger signals until being read by the battery capacity monitoring controller.

In the above configuration, since the battery capacity monitoring controller holds the event trigger signal generated during the sleep mode in which the resume event cannot be detected, the battery capacity monitoring controller generates during the sleep mode when returning to the normal operation mode. It operates to detect the resume event signal.

In order to achieve the above object, the second invention of the present application is to provide a battery capacity monitoring controller having a sleep mode, means for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and the controller. Information that is provided with a timer that counts a time interval for transitioning from sleep mode to normal operation mode, operates on a battery, has a suspend mode, and detects the trigger signal by the battery capacity monitoring controller, and can resume the system. The processing device is characterized by having a means for integrating a plurality of resume trigger signals and transmitting them to the battery capacity monitoring controller.

In the above-described configuration, a resume event that requires a certain amount of real time is detected in real time, such as a key input during suspension, a mouse click, an opening / closing operation of an LCD display device or a keyboard, which may occur by the user. , When the user wants to resume, it does not make the user wait and always responds and operates so as to transit to the full operation mode.

[0013]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

E11 is a central processing unit (CPU) of the information processing apparatus.

E12 is a memory for storing various data.

A memory controller E13 connects the CPU E11, the memory E12, and peripheral devices.

Reference numeral E14 denotes a peripheral device A connected to the memory controller E13, which is a device whose power cannot be turned off even when the system is suspended.

Reference numeral E15 denotes a peripheral device B connected to the memory controller E13, which is a device whose power is cut off while the system is suspended.

Reference numeral E16 denotes a system mode control unit which controls the system to transit between a normal operation mode and a suspend mode. The system mode control unit E16 is supplied with power even during suspension and performs resume processing and the like.

Reference numeral E17 is a power supply unit, which is a system mode control unit E.
According to the control signal from 16, power is supplied to all devices in the system in the normal operation mode, but power is supplied to necessary devices in the suspend mode. In the case of this figure, the peripheral device BE15 is not supplied with power during the suspend mode. Further, the system mode control unit E16 outputs a Suspend_State signal to the device E14 whose power cannot be turned off during the suspend mode to notify the operation mode state of the system. Furthermore, the system mode control unit has a counter inside, and when the value set in this counter is counted up, a sleep release interrupt signal is generated to the battery level monitor controller, and the controller is set to normal mode from sleep mode. Return to operating mode and detect full battery capacity. S
The device that receives the suspend_State signal operates as set in advance, and shifts to the power saving operation during the suspend mode.

Reference numeral E18 denotes a battery remaining amount monitor controller, which monitors the output voltage of the battery E19 and monitors the remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity affects the system operation, a Low battery notification signal is output to the system for notification. In addition, the battery level monitor controller E
An interrupt 18 is generated by a sleep release interrupt signal from the system mode controller, transitions from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and performs each process. This processing is executed according to a program built in the controller itself. Further, in this example, six types of resume event signals which are triggers for the system to resume from the suspend mode are connected to the battery remaining amount monitoring controller. PWR-ON signal is the system power
A signal indicating that the On switch is turned on, KEY_I
The N signal is a signal indicating that there is a key input from the keyboard, the MOUSE_IN signal is a signal indicating that there is a mouse input, Event-A, Event-B, Eben.
The t-C signal indicates another resume event signal. As described above, many controllers having a sleep mode limit the number of input signal terminals and interrupt input terminals that can be used during the sleep mode in order to suppress power consumption of the controller itself during the sleep mode. In this example, there is only one valid interrupt input terminal during the sleep mode, and a controller that cannot allocate all other resume event signals to the interrupt terminals is used.

In the present invention, when a resume event trigger signal is generated, a trigger signal holding device E20 for latching and holding the resume event trigger signal is newly added. It goes without saying that the trigger signal holding device E20 holds the resume event signal without turning off the power supply even during suspending. When the battery remaining amount monitoring controller E18 is released from sleep and the reading of each terminal is completed, a clear signal is generated and the state held by the trigger signal holding device E20 is cleared.

The trigger signal holding device E20 consumes almost no power in a static state other than the operation of latching or clearing a signal, such as a flip-flop circuit by a CMOS process. It is effective to increase the effect of reducing the power consumption.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart for explaining the operation of this embodiment. By adding the resume event trigger signal holding device E20, in this embodiment, if the respective terminals of the controller to which the resume event signal is connected are read in S14, the trigger signal is held, so that the resume event has occurred. Can be detected, S16
It is possible to request the system to generate a resume signal.

FIG. 2 shows the contents of the interrupt processing that occurs when the battery remaining amount monitoring controller E18 shown in FIG. 1 receives a sleep release interrupt signal from the system mode control unit E16.

S10 is the start of interrupt processing.

Step S11 is a battery remaining amount detecting process. In this example, the remaining battery charge is calculated from the voltage value output by the battery, but if the battery has a function of communicating its own capacity, the remaining battery charge may be acquired by communication.

In step S12, it is determined whether the remaining battery capacity is sufficient for the operation of the system. If it does not reach the preset value, the process proceeds to S19. Otherwise,
Proceed to S13.

In step S13, it is determined whether the system is currently suspended. It can be determined by the state of the Suspend_State signal. S if the system is suspended
If it is not suspended, it is not necessary to check the resume event. Therefore, skip this processing and S1.
Proceed to 7.

In step S14, the terminals to which the resume event signal is connected are sequentially read from the trigger signal holding device E20. As a result, the resume event that has occurred can be detected while the controller E18 is sleeping.

In step S15, it is determined whether or not a resume event has occurred, based on the values of the terminals read in step S14. If no resume event has occurred, the process proceeds to S17. If the resume event has occurred, the process proceeds to S16.

In step S16, a resume request signal is output to the system mode control section E16 in the processing when it is detected that a resume event has occurred.

In step S17, the sleep mode is entered in order to suppress the power consumption of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller. Here, it is assumed that the controller can transition to the sleep mode by its own instruction (software).

In S19, as a result of detecting the remaining battery amount in S12, it is determined that the remaining battery amount is insufficient, so a Low battery signal is output to the system to notify it.
Upon receiving this signal, the system starts preset processing.

S18 is the end of this interrupt process.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, E31 is a central processing unit (CPU) of the information processing apparatus.

E32 is a memory for storing various data.

E33 is a memory controller for connecting the CPU E31, the memory E32, and peripheral devices.

Reference numeral E34 denotes a peripheral device A connected to the memory controller E33, which is a device whose power cannot be turned off even when the system is suspended.

Reference numeral E35 denotes a peripheral device B connected to the memory controller E33, which is a device whose power is cut off while the system is suspended.

A system mode control unit E36 controls the system to transit between the normal operation mode and the suspend mode. The system mode control unit E36 is supplied with power even during suspension and performs resume processing and the like.

Reference numeral E37 is a power supply section, which is a system mode control section E.
According to the control signal from 36, power is supplied to all devices in the system in the normal operation mode, but power is supplied to necessary devices in the suspend mode. In the case of this figure, the peripheral device BE35 is not supplied with power during the suspend mode. Further, the system mode control unit E36 outputs a Suspend_State signal to the device E34 whose power cannot be turned off during the suspend mode to notify the operation mode state of the system. Furthermore, the system mode control unit has a counter inside, and when the value set in this counter is counted up, a sleep release interrupt signal is generated to the battery level monitor controller, and the controller is set to normal mode from sleep mode. Return to operating mode and detect full battery capacity. S
The device that receives the suspend_State signal operates as set in advance, and shifts to the power saving operation during the suspend mode.

Reference numeral E38 denotes a battery remaining amount monitoring controller, which monitors the output voltage of the battery E39 and monitors the remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity affects the system operation, a Low battery notification signal is output to the system for notification. In addition, the battery level monitor controller E
38, an interrupt is generated by a sleep release interrupt signal from the system mode control unit E36, transitions from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and performs each process. This processing is executed according to a program built in the controller itself. Further, in this example, six types of resume event signals which are triggers for the system to resume from the suspend mode are connected to the battery remaining amount monitoring controller. The PWR-ON signal is the system power
signal indicating that the er On switch is turned on, KE
The Y_IN signal is a signal indicating that there is a key input from the keyboard, and the MOUSE_IN signal is a signal indicating that there is a mouse input. Event-A, Event-B, E
The Vent-C signal indicates another resume event signal. As described above, many controllers having a sleep mode limit the number of input signal terminals and interrupt input terminals that can be used during the sleep mode in order to suppress power consumption of the controller itself during the sleep mode. In this example, the valid interrupt input pin during sleep mode is 1.
I am using a controller that cannot allocate all other resume event signals to interrupt terminals.

Reference numeral E38 denotes a battery remaining amount monitoring controller, which is premised on a controller having one or more interrupt inputs which can be used in the sleep mode other than the sleep release interrupt. However, if the number of interrupts that can be used during the sleep mode is less than the number of all resume events, the solution of this embodiment is required. Also,
In the case of the present embodiment, the battery remaining amount monitoring controller does not need to monitor the suspended state of the system, so Sus
The pend_State signal is not connected.

E40 is a resume event trigger signal integrating means, which takes the OR of each resume event signal and connects the output signal thereof to another interrupt input terminal of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller. The present embodiment has a configuration in which both the resume event signal and the interrupt input signal of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller are of negative logic, which is realized by NOR. Needless to say, the power source of the resume event trigger signal integrating means cannot be turned off even in the suspend mode.

In addition, the resume event trigger signal integrating means has a large effect of reducing the power consumption when it is configured to consume almost no power when the input signal is stable, like a CMOS process circuit. In order to do, it is effective.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows that the remaining battery level monitor controller E38 shown in FIG. 3 receives a sleep release interrupt signal from the system mode control unit E36 or receives a resume event trigger signal integrating means E40 and receives a resume event interrupt signal, and then performs interrupt processing. Shows the contents of the interrupt processing when the occurrence of.

S30 is the start of interrupt processing.

S31 detects which of the two systems of interrupts has occurred. If it is a sleep mode release interrupt, the process proceeds to S32. If not, a resume event has occurred, so the process proceeds to S37, and a resume request output is generated to the system.

Step S32 is a battery remaining amount detecting process. In this example, the remaining battery capacity is calculated from the voltage value output by the battery, but if the battery has a function of communicating its own capacity, the remaining capacity may be acquired by communication.

In step S33, it is determined whether the remaining battery charge is sufficient for the system operation. If it is less than the preset value, the process proceeds to S34. Otherwise,
Proceed to S35.

In S34, as a result of detecting the remaining battery amount in S33, it is determined that the remaining battery amount is insufficient. Therefore, a Low battery signal is output to the system for notification.
Upon receiving this signal, the system starts preset processing.

In step S37, the sleep mode is entered in order to suppress the power consumption of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller.

Here, it is assumed that the controller can change to the sleep mode by its own instruction (software).

S36 is the end of this interrupt process.

[0058]

As described above, the first embodiment according to the present application is described.
According to the invention, a battery capacity monitoring controller having a sleep mode, means for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and a timer for counting a time interval for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode. In an information processing device capable of operating on a battery, having a suspend mode, detecting the trigger signal by the battery capacity monitoring controller, and restarting the system, a plurality of resume series until the battery capacity monitoring controller reads The battery capacity monitoring controller returns to the normal operation mode because it holds the event trigger signal generated during the sleep mode in which the battery capacity monitoring controller cannot detect the resume event. At this time, because it operates so as to detect the resume event signal that occurred during the sleep mode, it is possible to detect the resume event signal and perform the resume operation at any time regardless of the operation mode of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller. There is an effect. As a result, even if the time interval for generating the interrupt signal that releases the battery level monitor controller from sleep mode is lengthened, it is possible to reliably react and perform resume processing without dropping the resume event caused by the user. At the same time, it is possible to reduce the power consumed by the battery remaining amount monitoring controller itself in the suspend mode.

According to the second invention of the present application,
A battery capacity monitoring controller having a sleep mode, means for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and a timer for counting a time interval for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode In the information processing device having the suspend mode, the battery capacity monitoring controller detecting the trigger signal, and capable of resuming the system, a plurality of resume siliga signals are integrated and transmitted to the battery capacity monitoring controller. In addition, a resume event that requires a certain amount of real time is detected in real time, such as a key input during suspension, a mouse click, an opening / closing operation of an LCD display device or a keyboard, which may occur by the user. Without having to wait for the user when the user wants to resume, at any time response, it operates to transition to full operating mode. Therefore, there is an effect that the resume event signal can be detected and the resume operation can be performed at any time regardless of the operation mode of the battery remaining amount monitoring controller.

In the present embodiment, some processes in the prior art and the first embodiment, a process for determining whether or not the system is suspended (S13, S63), a process for reading each terminal (S1).
4, S64) and the process of determining the presence / absence of a resume event (S15, S65) are unnecessary, and the processing content can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 E11 CPU E12 memory E13 memory controller E14 peripheral device A E15 peripheral device B E16 system mode control unit E17 power supply unit E18 battery remaining amount monitoring controller E19 battery E20 trigger signal holding device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A battery capacity monitoring controller having a power saving mode (hereinafter referred to as a sleep mode), a means for transitioning the controller from a sleep mode to a normal operation mode, and a transition for the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode. It is equipped with a timer that counts time intervals, operates on a battery, has a power saving mode as a system (hereinafter referred to as suspend mode), and the battery capacity monitoring controller detects a certain type of signal (hereinafter referred to as trigger signal). However, in an information processing device capable of returning the system to a normal operation mode (hereinafter referred to as “resume”), there is provided means for holding a plurality of resume trigger signals until the battery capacity monitoring controller reads the information. Processing equipment. 2. A battery capacity monitoring controller having a sleep mode, means for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode, and a timer for counting a time interval for transitioning the controller from the sleep mode to the normal operation mode. In an information processing device capable of operating on a battery, having a suspend mode, detecting a certain type of signal by the battery capacity monitoring controller, and restarting the system, by integrating a plurality of resume trigger signals, An information processing apparatus comprising means for transmitting the battery capacity monitoring controller.