JPH11191262A - Power management device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power consumption while suppressing a decrease in a response performance of a disk by controlling stepwise a speed of a spindle motor at the time of idling of a hard disk. SOLUTION: When the device migrates from an active mode to an idle mode, an access monitoring circuit 40 sets an internal timer 30 to a register value, and judges whether or not a hard disk is accessed to for an arbitrary time, if no, it judges the presence or absence of an time-out of the timer 30, and if yes, it reduces a speed of the spindle motor 70 to a set value as 2nd mode. Next, after the monitoring circuit 40 sets the timer 30 again to register contents, it judges the presence or absence of an access to the device, and if yes, the device is moved back to an active mode to return the motor to a normal speed. If no and the timer is time-out, the device moves to a 3rd idle mode to reduce the motor speed further down to a predetermined value. Hereafter, according to an idle mode of an order set similarly, the motor speed is successively lowered.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a power management apparatus and a power management method, and more particularly to a power management apparatus and a power management method for performing power management by controlling rotation of a motor of a hard disk used as an information storage device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers are generally equipped with a hard disk device as an external storage device in accordance with an increase in the scale of applications. Conventional hard disk drives occupy about 20 to 30% of the power consumption of the entire personal computer system.
Particularly, in a personal computer using a battery, the life of the battery is greatly affected. Therefore, the power consumption of the hard disk greatly affects the time during which the personal computer can be used continuously by one charge of the battery.

Conventionally, as a method of reducing the power consumption of a hard disk drive, a spindle motor which consumes the most power of the hard disk drive is controlled, and if there is no access to a recording surface inside the hard disk for a certain period of time, the motor is controlled. The rotation of the motor was stopped to reduce power consumption.

[0004]

In the conventional hard disk drive, as described above, the number of revolutions of the spindle motor that consumes the most power is controlled in two stages of maximum rotation and stop, thereby saving power. Is realized by stopping the motor. However, when the spindle motor is completely stopped, when the next access is performed, it takes about three seconds even for the 2.5-inch type disk to return to the normal rotation, which impairs the response performance of the disk. There was a problem.

At the stage before shifting to the motor stop state, the hard disk is operated in an idle mode (a state in which the disk is rotating but not being accessed) than in an active mode (a state in which a seek or reading / writing is being performed). Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the power consumption in the idle state.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a power management device and a power management method capable of reducing the power consumption of a hard disk generally used as an information recording device. Aim. More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a power management device and a power management method for saving power of a hard disk by controlling the number of rotations of a spindle motor during idling of a hard disk device in several stages each time elapses. I do.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an access monitoring circuit for monitoring access to a hard disk drive, and the hard disk drive is provided in accordance with a monitoring result of the access monitoring circuit. A motor control circuit having a register for setting the number of revolutions of the spindle motor. Further, the present invention is characterized in that the access monitoring circuit includes a register for setting a time until the rotation speed of the spindle motor is changed from a certain rotation speed to a different rotation speed.
Further, the present invention is characterized in that when the hard disk device has not been accessed for a certain period of time by using the above-mentioned device, it is detected, and the number of revolutions of the spindle motor is reduced stepwise with the lapse of the idle time. . Further, the invention is characterized in that the time for decreasing the rotation speed of the spindle motor is variable. Also, the present invention is characterized in that, when the hard disk is accessed during the idle time, the rotation speed of the spindle motor is immediately returned to a normal rotation speed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a power management apparatus and a power management method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a power management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an IDE interface generally used as a hard disk interface in a personal computer. This ID
A data bus D, an address bus A, and a control signal line C are connected to the E interface 10.

A hard disk controller 20 for controlling the operation of the hard disk device is connected to the data bus D, the address bus A, and the control signal line C, similarly to the conventional hard disk device. A motor driver 60 for driving a spindle motor provided in the hard disk drive is provided. The above configuration is the same as the conventional one.

In this embodiment, in addition to the above components, an access monitoring circuit 40 having a register for setting a timer, a spindle motor 7 capable of arbitrarily setting the number of revolutions,
0 and a motor control circuit 50 having a register for setting the number of revolutions.

The access monitoring circuit 40 is connected to the address bus A, the data bus D, and the control signal line C. The access monitoring circuit 40 monitors whether or not the hard disk device has been accessed. The set timeout time is set to the internal timer 30.
Set to.

When the set time has elapsed, the internal timer 30 notifies the access monitoring circuit 40 of a timeout, and the access monitoring circuit 40 notifies the motor control circuit 50 of a change in the number of revolutions of the spindle motor 70, and resets the internal timer 30. If the hard disk device is accessed within the set time, the access monitoring circuit 40 detects this, clears the value set in the internal timer 30, and
When detecting that the access has been lost, the setting is performed again.

The motor control circuit 50 includes the access monitoring circuit 4
When receiving the notification of the change in the number of revolutions from 0, it notifies the motor driver 60 to decrease the number of revolutions of the spindle motor 70 to the motor revolution number previously set in the internal register. Furthermore, if there is no access to the hard disk device for a predetermined period of time, the rotation speed of the spindle motor 70 is further reduced by the same processing as described above.
Also, when the number of rotations is reduced, the access monitoring circuit 4
When 0 detects an access to the hard disk device, it notifies the motor control circuit 50, returns the rotation speed to a normal rotation at which reading and writing can be performed, and clears the internal timer 30.

Next, the relationship between the state transition of the hard disk and the rotation speed of the spindle motor will be specifically described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the relationship between the state transition of the hard disk and the rotation speed of the spindle motor. In FIG. 2, a flow labeled PR indicates a processing flow in a conventional device, and a flow labeled TI is a processing flow in the present embodiment.
In the drawings, the portion denoted by reference symbol T indicates the passage of time, and the portion denoted by reference symbol R indicates the number of revolutions of the spindle motor.

First, the flow of the conventional processing will be described.
As shown in the flow indicated by PR in the figure, after an arbitrary set time has elapsed from the idle state (step S20), the processing shifts to the standby state (step S110), and the spindle motor of the hard disk drive is turned off. Only two stages of motor control are performed.

That is, conventionally, after a predetermined time has elapsed from the idle mode (step S20), it is determined whether or not the hard disk device has been accessed (step S62). If the determination result in step S62 is “yes”
s ", the active mode (step S1
The process proceeds to 0), and if the determination result is “no”, the process proceeds to step S72.

In step S72, it is determined whether a preset time has elapsed and a timeout has occurred.
If the result of this determination is "no", the process returns to step S62, and if "yes", the process moves to the standby mode (step S110). Upon transition to the standby mode, the spindle motor stops. Therefore, as described above, conventionally, only two-stage control has been performed on the spindle motor.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in the flow of the portion denoted by the symbol TI in FIG. 2, the rotation speed of the motor is reduced stepwise during idling. In the present embodiment, the motor rotation speed and the timeout time can be set in several stages by setting an internal register provided in the motor control circuit 50 and an internal register provided in the access monitoring circuit 40. Here, a description will be given of an example of a system in which the steady-state rotation speed is set to 5000 rotations, the motor control in the idle mode is set to four stages of 5000, 3000, 2000, and 0 rotations, and the timeout time is set to 1 minute.

First, after the hard disk device shifts from the active mode (step S10) to the idle mode (step S20), the access monitoring circuit 40 sets the value of the internal register in the internal timer 30. After this setting, in step S30, it is determined whether or not the hard disk device has been accessed for an arbitrary set time (here, 1 minute). The result of this determination is "yes
s ", that is, when it is determined that the hard disk device has been accessed, the mode shifts to the active mode (step S10). The number of rotations of the spindle motor 70 in the case of shifting to the active mode is a normal 5000 rotation.

On the other hand, the judgment in step S30 is "n
If "o", the process proceeds to step S40. In step S40, it is determined whether a timeout has occurred. This determination is made based on whether the access monitoring circuit 40 has received a timeout notification from the internal timer 30. If the determination is "no", the process returns to step S30. If the determination is "yes", the process shifts to the secondary idle mode (step S50).

In the secondary idle mode (step S50), the number of revolutions of the spindle motor 70 is reduced to 3000 revolutions. Therefore, power consumption of the spindle motor 70 is reduced. When the mode shifts to the secondary idle mode (step S50), the access monitoring circuit 40 sets the content of the internal register in the internal timer 30 again (here, 1).
Minutes).

After making this setting, in step S60, it is determined whether or not the hard disk device has been accessed for an arbitrary set time (here, one minute). If the result of this determination is "yes", that is, if it is determined that the hard disk device has been accessed, the mode shifts to the active mode (step S10). When the mode shifts to the active mode, the rotation speed of the spindle motor 70 becomes
This is a normal 5000 rotation.

On the other hand, the judgment in step S60 is "n
If "o", the process proceeds to step S70. In step S70, it is determined whether a timeout has occurred. This determination is made based on whether the access monitoring circuit 40 has received a timeout notification from the internal timer 30. If the result of this determination is "no", the process returns to step S60, and if "yes", the process moves to the tertiary idle mode (step S80). In the third idle mode (step S80), the spindle motor 70
Is reduced to 2000 revolutions. Therefore, power consumption of the spindle motor 70 is further reduced.

When the mode shifts to the tertiary idle mode (step S80), the access monitoring circuit 40 sets the contents of the internal register in the internal timer 30 again (here, 1).
Minutes). After making this setting, in step S90,
It is determined whether or not the hard disk device has been accessed for an arbitrary set time (here, one minute). If the result of this determination is "yes", that is, if it is determined that the hard disk device has been accessed, the mode shifts to the active mode (step S10). When the mode shifts to the active mode, the number of rotations of the spindle motor 70 becomes a normal 5000 rotations.

On the other hand, the judgment in step S90 is "n
If "o", the process proceeds to step S100.
In step S70, it is determined whether a timeout has occurred. This determination is made based on whether the access monitoring circuit 40 has received a timeout notification from the internal timer 30. If the result of this determination is “no”, the process returns to step S90, and if “yes”, the process transitions to the standby mode (step S80). In the standby mode (step S110), the spindle motor 70
Stops the rotation. Therefore, the power consumption of the spindle motor 70 is practically zero, and the power consumption of the hard disk drive is further reduced.

As described above, when an access is made in the secondary or tertiary idle mode, the motor is returned to the normal rotation,
Return to active mode immediately. At this time, the rotation speed of the motor is 2000 or 3000 rotations, and since the motor is not stopped, the motor can return to a steady rotation (here, 5000 rotations) faster than in the standby mode. The power consumption at the time of spin-up can be reduced.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of revolutions of the spindle motor in the idle mode is gradually reduced, so that power saving in the idle mode can be realized. There is. Further, since the number of rotations of the motor and the timeout time can be set by the register, there is an effect that fine power management can be realized. Further, when the hard disk is accessed at the time of idling, the rotation speed of the spindle motor is immediately returned to the normal rotation speed, so that the response performance of the disk is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a power management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a relationship between a state transition of a hard disk and a rotation speed of a spindle motor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 30 internal timer 40 access monitoring circuit 50 motor control circuit 70 spindle motor

Claims (5)

[Claims] An access monitoring circuit that monitors access to the hard disk device; and a motor control circuit that includes a register that sets a rotation speed of a spindle motor provided in the hard disk device in accordance with a monitoring result of the access monitoring circuit. A power management device, comprising: 2. The power management device according to claim 1, wherein the access monitoring circuit includes a register for setting a time until the rotation speed of the spindle motor is changed from a certain rotation speed to a different rotation speed. . 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the hard disk drive has not been accessed for a certain period of time, this is detected and the number of revolutions of the spindle motor is reduced stepwise with the lapse of idle time. Characteristic power management method. 4. The power management method according to claim 3, wherein the time for reducing the rotation speed of the spindle motor is variable. 5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the rotation speed of the spindle motor is immediately returned to a normal rotation speed when the hard disk is accessed during the idle time. Power management method.