JPH10320302A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To return to a state just before power is turned off when the power is on by providing a nonvolatile storage memory and a main storage transfer means and making the main storage transfer means transfer memory contents between main storage memory and the nonvolatile storage memory each time a power off switch and a power on which are pressed down. SOLUTION: When a user depresses a hibernation shift switch 1A with an AP, etc., started after an OS starts after starting through a power switch 3, a data transfer means between main storage flash memories 4 writes a memory image on a main storage to a flash memory 2, makes a hibernation flag 1 and turns off the power. After that, when the switch 3 is depressed, the main storage flash memory inter-data transfer means fetches the memory image from the memory 2 and stores it in the main storage when the hibernation flag is 1. Also, when the hibernation flag is 0, it performs normal start of the OS.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a notebook personal computer which needs to return to a use state immediately before power off when power on.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the performance of computers, especially personal computers (hereinafter, referred to as PCs) has been dramatically improved, and the maximum capacity of the main memory has been increasing year by year due to the decrease in the price of the main memory.

There is a hibernation function of a notebook personal computer as a PC having a mechanism for returning to a use state immediately before the power is turned off when the power is turned on. For example, a notebook PC called an IBM ThinkPad is necessarily provided with this mechanism. Have.

[0004]

However, when the hibernation function is used, a specific area of the HDD is required to store or read out all information of the main memory from or to a secondary storage device such as an HDD. Because the main memory is consumed and the mounting memory capacity is increasing,
The place is getting bigger. In addition, it takes time to transfer information, and in particular, since the HDD is in operation, even if you want to stop using it immediately or make it ready for use, if you carry the notebook PC immediately,
D is dangerous because it gives a shock to D, so that the user is not sufficiently careful in that he waits during that time.

[0005]

Therefore, in the present invention, the HD
In place of a secondary storage device having mechanical parts such as D for driving rotation, a non-volatile memory having no mechanical parts such as a flash memory is used, and a main memory transfer unit is provided. High-speed data transfer is performed to shorten the data transfer period. Also, like main memory, to guarantee high-speed data transfer,
A non-volatile memory mounted on a memory substrate is used.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the above invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the system comprises a hibernation switch SW1, a flash memory 2, a power supply SW3, and a data transfer means between the main memory flash memory 4.

This operation is performed when the hibernation switch SW1A is pressed by the user in the state where the PC is activated by the power supply SW3, the OS is activated, the AP is activated, etc. The four-way data transfer means writes the data to the flash memory 2, sets the hibernation flag to 1, and turns off the power.

Thereafter, when the power switch is pressed, when the hibernation flag is 1, since the main memory image is stored in the flash memory, the main memory flash memory data transfer means transfers the main memory image from the flash memory. Retrieve and store in main memory.

When the hibernation flag is 0, the normal OS is started. The flash memory is fixed on a circuit board on which a CPU, a memory, and the like are mounted. The flash memory is used in a removable form such as a PC card. The main memory and the flash memory are directly connected by a bus, and the main memory flash memory transfer means outputs an address bus and a data bus to perform DMA transfer. It is. Flash memory is the same SIMM and DI as main memory
It is mounted so that it can be added by users such as MM.

[0011]

With the above configuration, it is possible to perform high-speed data transfer between the main memory and the non-volatile memory, and to return to the state immediately before the power is turned off when the power is turned on. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a PC equipped with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a nonvolatile memory in FIG. 1 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1A: Hibernation transition SW, 2: Flash memory, 3: Power switch, 4: Main memory flash memory.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus comprising a main memory, a CPU, a power-off switch, and a power-on switch.
An information processing apparatus including a nonvolatile storage memory and a main storage transfer unit, wherein the main memory transfer unit transfers memory contents between the main storage memory and the nonvolatile storage memory each time a power off switch and a power on switch are pressed. . 2. The nonvolatile storage memory according to claim 1, wherein said nonvolatile storage memory is mounted on a substrate similar to said main storage memory, has the same data bus width as said main storage memory, and is readable and writable directly from main storage transfer means. .