KR20080023962A - Computer and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer and a control method thereof are provided to reduce the waste of power consumption by applying power to predetermined devices among a plurality of devices based on an enable/disable value, which is set in a BIOS(Basic Input/Output System) setup menu, of each device. A power supply unit(70) supply power to a plurality of devices(50). A plurality of switches(60) performs switching to apply the power selectively to the devices by connecting to each device. A controller(20) controls a part of the switches to apply the power to the preset devices, which are enabled/disabled in a BIOS setup menu. A power selector(10) receives a user command for supplying the power to the preset devices.

Description

Computer and its control method {COMPUTER AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF}

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a computer according to the present invention,

2 is a control flowchart of a computer according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: power selection unit 20: control unit

30: North Bridge 40: South Bridge

50: a plurality of devices 60: switching unit

70: power supply

The present invention relates to a computer and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a computer that can reduce power consumption and a control method thereof.

Recently, portable computers, such as laptop computers, PDAs, tablet computers, etc., are required for faster data processing speeds due to multimedia functions such as games and video, and maximize battery run time to maximize portability. Shall be.

Portable computers consist of CPU, North Bridge, South Bridge, and other devices, with devices such as Azalia audio codecs and modems connected to the Azalia bus on the South Bridge, and LAN controllers to the PCI bus. Devices such as card bus controllers and wireless LAN modules are connected, and devices such as DMB modules and Bluetooth modules are connected to the USB bus.

The current power supply structure of the computer ensures that power is always supplied to all devices mounted on the main board when the system is used, so that power is supplied to devices not in use. Therefore, there is a problem that power is unnecessarily consumed because power is always applied to a device not used by a user.

In the case of a portable computer, the battery life is roughly determined by the CPU, chipset, memory, and PCI devices. When the power is turned on, all devices are powered, so unnecessary power consumption is required. There is a problem that the time is shortened.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer and a control method thereof in which a power source is applied to only a predetermined device among a plurality of devices to reduce unnecessary power consumption.

The object is a computer, comprising: a plurality of devices; A power supply unit supplying power to the plurality of devices; A plurality of switching units connected to the plurality of devices to switch so that power is selectively applied to the plurality of devices; And a control unit for controlling the switching unit so that power is applied to a preset device among the plurality of switching units connected to the plurality of devices.

The apparatus may further include a power selection unit configured to input a user command to the outside so that power is supplied only to a predetermined device among the plurality of devices.

In addition, the setting may be characterized in that it enables or disables some of the plurality of devices in the BIOS setup menu.

On the other hand, the object of the control method of the computer, comprising: determining the presence or absence of user settings for some of the plurality of devices; If there is the user setting, turning on a switch connected to the set device; It is achieved by a computer control method comprising the step of supplying power to the set device.

The user setting may be enabled or disabled of some of the plurality of devices in the BIOS setup menu.

Hereinafter, a computer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a computer according to the present invention includes a power source selection unit 10, a control unit 20, a north bridge 30, a south bridge 40, a plurality of devices 50, , A switching unit 60, and a power supply unit 70.

The power selector 10 is configured to be external to the system as a button for inputting a user command, and is a power input button in a power saving mode for inputting a separate user command in addition to the general power button. Typically, there is a power button on the outside of the computer that powers the computer. However, in the present invention, in addition to the general power button for operating the computer, a power selector 10 for operating the computer in a power saving mode, which is one of the features of the present invention, is added. In other words, when the power selection unit 10 is turned on by a user operation, only a device preset by the user is turned on and a command is input to turn off the power to the remaining devices.

Here, the user setting is used by the user to enable or disable some of the plurality of devices 50 in the BIOS setup menu when the computer is booted through the general power button or the power selector 10. The device you want to enable is enabled and the rest are disabled.

Briefly explaining the boot operation of the computer to help understand the present invention, the South Bridge, North Bridge, the CPU is initialized in response to the reset signal generated when the computer is powered on, the CPU is initialized, Jump to initial start address, and ROM is mapped to this start address. The ROM contains a BIOS program, which reinitializes the CPU.

In other words, BIOS is often called ROM BIOS because it refers to the code stored in the ROM of a computer. BIOS setup is a program used to change the configuration state of a system in an OS.

That is, when the computer is initialized by pressing the button of the power selector 10, the BIOS reads enable / disable information, which is user setting information about the plurality of devices 50, from the BIOS setup menu.

The north bridge 30 is a chipset such as a memory control hub (MCH) that manages data moving between a CPU (not shown), a RAM (not shown), and a graphics card (not shown).

South Bridge 40 is a chipset such as, for example, an I / O Control Hub (ICH) that manages data moving between I / O controllers, BIOS and CMOS RAM, and largely includes Azalia buses, PCI buses, and USB buses. Devices such as Azalia audio codec and modem are connected to Azalia bus, devices such as LAN controller, card bus controller and wireless LAN module are connected to PCI bus, and devices such as DMB module and Bluetooth module are connected to USB bus. . That is, a plurality of devices 50 such as an audio codec, a modem, a LAN controller, a card bus controller, a wireless LAN controller, a DMB module, and a Bluetooth module are connected to the south bridge 40.

The switching unit 60 is connected to the plurality of devices 50, and a switch such as an FET is connected to each of the plurality of devices 50.

That is, when the system is turned on by the power selector 10 button, the BIOS reads the enable / disable information of the PCI devices, the Azalia devices, and the USB devices, which are the plurality of devices 50, in the BIOS setup. The controller 20 controls the FET switching unit 60 connected to each device power supply terminal.

At this time, the control unit 20 turns off a part of the switching unit 60 composed of a plurality of FETs so that power supply is cut off to a device set to be disabled in the BIOS setup menu, or conversely, the switching unit is configured to supply power to the enabled device. A part of the 60 is turned off to control the switching unit 60 to selectively supply power. In addition, the switching unit 60 is controlled by a general purpose input / output pin (GPIO) signal of the south bridge 40.

That is, the power supply 70 supplies power only to the device enabled in the BIOS setup menu.

On the other hand, the power supply unit 70 is the power selection unit 10 of the power button of the power saving mode, which is a feature of the present invention, the system is not turned on, and when the system is turned on by the general power button, each of the devices set in the BIOS setup menu The enable / disable information is ignored and power is applied to the plurality of devices 50 in a conventional manner.

Referring to the operation of the computer according to the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, the user turns on the power selector 10 configured outside the computer according to the present invention. Then, the computer is initialized by the ON signal of the power selector 10 and the BIOS reads the enable / disable information of the plurality of devices 50.

Subsequently, the controller 20 controls the plurality of switches of the switching unit 60 connected to each device power terminal by the GPIO signal to turn on the switches connected to the enabled devices during the post process. Thereafter, the power supply unit 70 supplies power to the device connected to the switched on switch.

For example, assuming that the user has enabled the audio codec and the wireless LAN among the plurality of devices 50 through the BIOS setup menu and set the rest to disable, the system is turned on by the power selector 10. The BIOS reads enable / disable information of the plurality of devices 50 from the BIOS setup menu. It also controls the enabled audio codec and the switch connected to the wireless LAN during the BIOS post process. That is, the switching unit 60 is controlled to cut off the power supply to the device set to disable in the BIOS setup menu and to supply power to the enabled audio codec and the wireless LAN.

The computer according to the present invention adds a power selector 10 button for inputting a command to operate in a power saving mode, and when the system is turned on by the power selector 10, enable / disable each device in the BIOS setup menu. The sable setting can be used to prevent power to itself when not in use.

2 is a control flowchart of a computer according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, it is determined whether user enable / disable is set for some of the plurality of devices 50 (S10).

Here, the user setting is set in the BIOS setup menu, and among the plurality of devices connected to the south bridge 40, the device that the user wants to use is enabled and the rest is set to disable.

However, before determining whether the user is set (S10), the user presses the power selector 10 to turn on the computer (S10).

Subsequently, when the determination result (S10), if there is a user setting, by turning on the switch for reading the enable / disable information to switch the power of the enabled device during the BIOS post progress (S20).

Thereafter, power is supplied to the set device (S30).

As mentioned above, the present invention has been described in detail through preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto and may be variously implemented within the scope of the claims.

As described above, the computer according to the present invention uses the enable / disable setting values of the devices in the BIOS setup menu to reduce unnecessary power consumption by not applying power to devices not in use.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the use time is determined according to the life of the battery, there is an effect of maximizing the usage of the battery.

Claims (5)

In the computer, A plurality of devices; A power supply unit supplying power to the plurality of devices; A plurality of switching units connected to the plurality of devices to switch so that power is selectively applied to the plurality of devices; And a control unit controlling the switching unit so that power is applied to a preset device among the plurality of switching units connected to the plurality of devices. The method of claim 1, And a power selector configured to input a user command to the outside so that power is supplied only to a predetermined device among the plurality of devices. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Wherein said setting enables or disables some of the plurality of devices in a BIOS setup menu. In the computer control method, Determining the presence or absence of user setting for some of the plurality of devices; If there is the user setting, turning on a switch connected to the set device; And supplying power to the set device. The method of claim 4, wherein Wherein the user setting enables or disables some of the plurality of devices in a BIOS setup menu.

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