JPH1165712A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the noise levels according to the ambient environment in a night time band when the noises may bother the periphery by lowering the rotational speed of a cooling fan to lower the CPU operating speed of an information processor for a designated silent mode period. SOLUTION: An input device 1 inputs the silent mode time to reduce the levels of noises caused by a device especially by the revolutions of a cooling fan 4. A control circuit 5 varies the operating clock frequency of a CPU 3 to lower the operating speed of the CPU 3 down to a prescribed level at the silent mode start time that is stored in a memory 2. Then the circuit 5 controls the rotational speed of the fan 4 to lower it down to a prescribed level. At the end time of the silent mode, the circuit 5 resets the rotational speed of the fan 4 at its normal level and then resets the operating speed of the CPU 3 at its normal level.

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 having a silent function for reducing noise caused by a cooling fan.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in personal computers and the like, heat generation has increased due to the increase in performance of CPUs, and problems due to heat have become a problem. Conventionally, in order to solve the problem caused by the heat, the temperature of the CPU is detected, and when the CPU generates a large amount of heat, the operating speed of the CPU is reduced or the rotation speed of the cooling fan is increased. The method is adopted.

[0003] As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-328498, a portable computer has a CPU.
There is also known a method of providing two cooling functions, namely, lowering the operation speed of the motor and rotating the electric fan, and selectively using the two cooling functions according to the setting of the cooling mode by the user.

[0004]

However, in the prior art, since the cooling fan operates at a high speed irrespective of the surrounding environment, noise is generated by the rotation of the cooling fan, especially at night. However, there is a problem that noise is generated even when it is necessary to keep quiet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of reducing noise caused by a cooling fan at a time set according to the surrounding environment.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus having a CPU and a cooling fan for cooling the CPU. Means for setting the time from the start to the end of the silent mode for reducing noise; and, during the set silent mode, reducing the rotation speed of the cooling fan to a predetermined low speed, and reducing the operating speed of the CPU. Control means for lowering the operation speed to a predetermined operation speed.

[0007]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an input device for inputting a time in a silent mode for reducing noise of the device, particularly noise generated by rotation of a cooling fan. The silent mode is an operation mode in which the apparatus is operated in a state where noise caused by the cooling fan is reduced during a time when the apparatus must be quiet, such as at night, for example. The time is to be entered.

[0008] The set time of the input start time and end time of the silent mode is stored in the memory 2. This memory 2 can store a plurality of input set times. Reference numeral 3 denotes a CPU, and reference numeral 4 denotes a cooling fan for cooling the CPU 3. The operation speed of the CPU 3 and the rotation speed of the cooling fan 4 are controlled by the control circuit 5. The temperature sensor 6 detects the temperature of the CPU 3, and the detected temperature is sent to the control circuit 5. The power supply unit 7 supplies power to each unit in the apparatus.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, at the start time of the silent mode stored in the memory 2, the control circuit 5 lowers the operating speed of the CPU 3 to a predetermined operating speed by changing the frequency of the operating clock of the CPU 3 or the like. . Next, the control circuit 5 controls the rotation speed of the cooling fan 4,
The rotation speed of the cooling fan 4 is reduced to a predetermined low speed. As a result, the cooling fan 4 rotates at a low speed, so that the apparatus operates in a silent mode, that is, a state in which noise generated by the cooling fan 4 is reduced, and noise is generated at a time when noise to the surroundings is worrisome, such as at night. It is possible to reduce.

When the end time of the silent mode is reached, the control circuit 5 returns the rotation speed of the cooling fan 4 to the normal high speed, and thereafter returns the operation speed of the CPU 3 to the normal high speed. . As a result, the apparatus enters a normal operation mode, the CPU 3 operates at a high operating speed, and the cooling fan 4 operates at a high rotational speed, thereby cooling the high-speed operating CPU 3. The control circuit 5 controls the CPU 3 to reduce the operating speed and the rotational speed of the cooling fan 4 for all the silent mode setting times stored in the memory 2 as described above.

On the other hand, the control circuit 5 detects C
The temperature detected by the PU 3 is monitored, and as soon as the temperature of the CPU 3 rises to a preset temperature, control for rotating the cooling fan 4 at a high rotation speed is performed. By doing so, the device operates in the silent mode and the cooling fan 4
When the CPU 3 is rotating at a low speed, even if the temperature of the CPU 3 rises excessively, the cooling fan 4 is immediately rotated at a high speed to cool the CPU 3, so that the CPU 3 is not destroyed due to the excessive temperature rise. Can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the start time and the end time of the silent mode are stored in the memory 2 and the operation in the silent mode is performed from the start time to the end time. It is also possible to save only the information and provide a timer function so that the silent mode operation is performed for a desired time from the start time.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the time from the start to the end of the silent mode for reducing the noise caused by the cooling fan is set, and the cooling fan rotates during the set silent mode period. Since the speed is reduced and the operating speed of the CPU is reduced, noise can be reduced according to the surrounding environment, for example, at a time when the noise to the surroundings is worrisome, such as at night.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 2 Memory 3 CPU 4 Cooling fan 5 Control circuit 6 Temperature sensor 7 Power supply part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus having a CPU and a cooling fan for cooling the CPU, means for setting a time from a start to an end of a silent mode for reducing noise caused by the cooling fan, Control means for reducing the rotational speed of the cooling fan to a predetermined low speed and reducing the operating speed of the CPU to a predetermined operating speed during the set silent mode period. apparatus. 2. The control means increases a rotation speed of the cooling fan to a predetermined rotation speed when a detection temperature of a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the CPU becomes higher than a predetermined set temperature. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: