TW201512828A - Electronic device and power management method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device and a power management method thereof are provided. The electronic device includes a screen, a battery, a storage unit, and a processing unit, where the processing unit is coupled to the screen, the battery, and the storage unit. The storage unit stores a plurality of battery capacity intervals and a plurality of preset brightness values, where each of the battery capacity intervals corresponds to one of the preset brightness values. The processing unit receives a boot signal and detects the battery capacity of the battery. Next, the processing unit compares the detected battery capacity with the battery capacity intervals to determine the battery capacity interval corresponding to the detected battery capacity. Then, the processing unit adjusts the brightness of the screen to the preset brightness corresponding to the determined battery capacity interval and boots the electronic device accordingly.

Description

Electronic device and power management method thereof

The present invention relates to an electronic device and a power management method thereof, and more particularly to an electronic device having a screen and a battery and a power management method thereof.

With the development of technology, a variety of portable electronic devices, such as tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, and smart phones ( Smart phone, etc., has become an indispensable tool for modern people. In addition, these electronic devices are gradually moving toward a light, thin and short trend for the convenience of users.

As far as the existing technology is concerned, in the case of tablets and notebook computers, such electronic devices often exceed 10 watts (watt, W) of power consumption at the moment of booting. When the battery of the electronic device itself is too low and is charged using a more common 10W universal serial bus (USB) power charger adaptor, it may cause temporary power failure. condition. Therefore, many manufacturers of this type of electronic device recommend replacing a 10W USB power charging converter with, for example, a 18W USB power charging converter.

However, if a USB power charging converter of more than 10 W is used, in addition to increasing the size and manufacturing cost of the power charging converter, there is a possibility that the electronic device is overcharged. Therefore, how to effectively manage the power supply of the electronic device under the premise of continuing to use the 10W USB power charging converter, so as to avoid the situation that the electronic device is temporarily unable to be turned on due to the low battery power, it is highly desirable for those skilled in the art. One of the goals achieved.

The invention provides an electronic device and a power management method thereof, which can reduce the power consumption of the electronic device when the device is powered on, so as to solve the problem that the electronic device cannot be turned on temporarily due to the low battery power.

The invention provides a power management method suitable for an electronic device having a screen and a battery. This method first receives the power-on signal and detects the battery's power. Then, the detected power is compared with a preset plurality of power intervals to determine a power interval in which the power is located, wherein each of the power intervals corresponds to a preset brightness. After that, the brightness of the screen is adjusted to be the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power interval, so that the electronic device is turned on.

The present invention provides an electronic device including a screen, a battery, a storage unit, and a processing unit, wherein the processing unit is coupled to the screen, the battery, and the storage unit. The storage unit is configured to store a plurality of power intervals and a plurality of preset brightnesses, wherein each of the The power interval corresponds to one of the preset brightnesses. The processing unit receives the power-on signal, and detects the power of the battery, and compares the detected power with the power interval to determine the power interval in which the power is located. Then, the processing unit adjusts the startup brightness of the screen to the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power interval, so as to turn on the electronic device.

Based on the above, the electronic device of the present invention and its power management method are applicable to various electronic devices having batteries and screens. When the processing unit receives the power-on signal, the processing unit detects the battery power and controls the brightness of the screen according to the battery power. Accordingly, the electronic device can reduce the power consumption of the screen at the same time of starting the power, thereby saving the overall power consumption of the electronic device, so as to avoid the situation that the electronic device cannot be turned on temporarily due to the low battery power.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

10‧‧‧Electronic devices

12‧‧‧ screen

14‧‧‧Battery

16‧‧‧ storage unit

18‧‧‧Processing unit

S201~S207‧‧‧Flow of power management method

EC‧‧‧ embedded controller

SOC‧‧‧ system single chip

PMIC‧‧‧Power Management Integrated Circuit

PWM‧‧‧ pulse width modulation circuit

I ² C‧‧‧Internal integrated circuit

1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1‧‧‧ power range

1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2‧‧‧ Preset brightness

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

2 is a flow chart of a power management method according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a power management method according to an embodiment of the invention.

In the case of portable electronic devices such as tablets or notebook computers, the power consumption of the screen accounts for a large proportion of the total system power consumption. The present invention proposes a mechanism for adjusting the brightness of the screen to reduce the power consumption of the overall system when the electronic device is turned on.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , in the embodiment, the electronic device 10 is a tablet computer. However, the application of the embodiment can also be implemented by using a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a personal digital assistant mobile phone, a notebook computer, or the like. Electronic device 10. The electronic device 10 includes a screen 12, a battery 14, a storage unit 16, and a processing unit 18, the functions of which are described below.

The screen 12 is, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, or the like, for displaying a picture output by the electronic device 10.

The battery 14 is, for example, a rechargeable battery that can be repeatedly charged and discharged, such as a lithium battery or a nickel hydrogen battery.

The storage unit 16 is, for example, any type of fixed or removable random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory (Flash memory), hard A disc or other similar device or a combination of these devices for storing a plurality of power intervals and a plurality of preset brightnesses for the processing unit 18 to perform power management of the electronic device 10.

The processing unit 18 is coupled to the screen 12, the battery 14 and the storage unit 16 for adjusting the brightness of the screen 12 according to the amount of power of the battery 14. Processing unit 18 such as It is a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor, an embedded controller (EC), or other controller or processor.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 simultaneously. Hereinafter, the components of the electronic device 10 in FIG. 1 are combined with FIG. 2 to describe detailed steps of the power management method of the electronic device 10 of the present embodiment.

First, when the electronic device 10 is powered on, the processing unit 18 receives the power-on signal of the electronic device 10 (step S201). In an embodiment, the processing unit 18 is an embedded controller used in a notebook computer or a tablet computer, and is mainly used to control the startup of the electronic device 10 and to charge and discharge the battery 14 and power management. When the user performs a power-on operation on the electronic device 10, the processing unit 18 receives the power-on signal.

Next, the processing unit 18 detects the amount of power of the battery 14 (step S203). Here, after receiving the power-on signal, the processing unit 18 detects the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 through an inter-integrated circuit (I ² C) interface.

The processing unit 18 compares the detected power with a preset plurality of power intervals to determine a power interval in which the detected power is located, wherein each of the power ranges corresponds to a preset brightness (step S205). In detail, the power range of the battery 14 can be divided into a plurality of power intervals according to the power consumption, and each of the power intervals corresponds to a preset brightness of the screen 12, and is stored in the storage unit 16. When the remaining amount of power of the battery 14 is in the low battery range (for example, less than 5% of the power), the low battery The preset interval corresponding to the volume interval is small (for example, 10% brightness). When the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 is in the high power range (for example, more than 21%), the preset brightness corresponding to the high power interval is large (for example, 50% brightness). In this step, the processing unit 18 compares the detected power with the respective power intervals stored by the storage unit 16, and determines the power interval in which the currently remaining power is located.

Next, the processing unit 18 adjusts the booting brightness of the screen 12 to the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power amount interval, thereby starting the electronic device 10 (step S207). In detail, after the processing unit 18 determines that the current remaining power is located, the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power interval is obtained from the storage unit 16. Next, the processing unit 18 and then using the I ² C interface, this preset brightness transmitted to the system a single wafer (system on a chip, SOC) , the SOC reuse this I ² C interface to a predetermined brightness transmits the power management integrated circuit (power management integrated circuit, PMIC). The PMIC can control the brightness of the screen 12 to the preset brightness through a signal generated by a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit. Then, the processing unit 18 turns on the electronic device 10 with the preset brightness. For example, when the processing unit 18 determines in step S205 that the power is in the low battery interval, the screen 12 is displayed with a brightness of 10% when the electronic device 10 is turned on.

Since the electronic device 10 is turned on, the processing unit 18 controls the brightness of the screen according to the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 instead of the system brightness set by the general electronic device 10. The power management method described above may be in the electronic device. 10 reduce the power consumption of the overall system when starting up, to avoid the power of the electronic device due to the battery 14 Too low to cause a temporary failure to boot. FIG. 3 will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment of a power management method for the electronic device 10.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a power management method according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the electronic device 10 in this embodiment is a notebook computer or a tablet computer, and the processing unit 18 is an embedded controller (EC). When the user turns on the electronic device 10, the EC will receive the power-on signal. Then, the EC can detect the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 through the I ² C interface.

In this embodiment, the battery power range can be divided into four power ranges according to the power consumption: more than 21% of the power (electricity interval 1-1), 15% to 21% of the power (electricity interval 2-1) 5%~15% of electricity (electricity range 3-1) and less than 5% of electricity (electricity range 4-1). Each power interval corresponds to a preset brightness of the screen 12. In this embodiment, the power interval 1-1 corresponds to 50% of the preset brightness (preset brightness 1-2), and the power interval 2-1 corresponds to 30% of the brightness (preset brightness 2-2), the power The interval 3-1 corresponds to 20% brightness (preset brightness 3-2), and the power interval 4-1 corresponds to 10% brightness (preset brightness 4-2). The power intervals 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1 and the preset brightnesses 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, and 4-2 corresponding thereto are stored in the storage unit 16.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the EC detects that the current remaining amount of the battery 14 by the I ² C interface is 18%, and the EC determines that the power is located in the power interval 2-1 and the corresponding preset brightness is the brightness 2- 2. Next, EC by the I ² C interface to a predetermined brightness 2-2 transmits SOC, the SOC further by I ² C interface to transfer the preset brightness 2-2 PMIC. The PMIC controls the brightness of the screen 12 to a brightness of 2-2 through the signal generated by the PWM circuit. That is to say, when the electronic device 10 is turned on, the screen 12 will be displayed with a brightness of 30%.

It should be noted that, in an embodiment, when the processing unit 18 detects that the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 is a very low power of less than 5%, the processing unit 18 can also control the screen 12 through the signal generated by the PWM circuit. The brightness is zero, and the electronic device 10 is turned on with a brightness of 0%. At this time, the user can still view the content displayed on the screen 12 through the brightness of the surrounding environment such as sunlight or fluorescent lamps. The processing unit 18 adjusts the brightness of the screen 12 back to the electronic device 10 during the startup of the electronic device 10 or after the power-on is completed, that is, when the power consumption at the instant of power-on is reduced to, for example, less than 10 W. The preset system brightness. For example, when the electronic device 10 is coupled to a 10 W power charging converter, the system brightness preset by the electronic device 10 is 100%; when the electronic device 10 is not coupled to any power charging converter, the electronic device 10 The preset system brightness is 50%. In this way, it is possible to prevent the electronic device 10 from being temporarily turned on due to the low battery level.

In an embodiment, when the processing unit 18 detects that the current amount of power remaining in the battery 14 is, for example, a high power level higher than 21%, since the battery 14 has sufficient power, the electronic device 10 will not be temporarily turned on. The processing unit 18 can directly control the brightness of the screen 12 to the system brightness preset by the electronic device 10 through the signal generated by the PWM circuit, and turn on the electronic device 10 by using the system brightness. Similarly, when the electronic device 10 is coupled to a 10 W power charging converter, the system brightness is 100%; when the electronic device 10 is not coupled to any power charging converter, the system brightness is 50%.

With the power management method, the processing unit can adjust the power-on brightness of the screen 12 according to the amount of power remaining in the battery 14 detected when the electronic device 10 is turned on, so as to reduce the power consumption of the electronic device 10 at the moment of power-on.

In summary, the electronic device and the power management method thereof of the present invention are applicable to various electronic devices having a battery and a screen. When the processing unit receives the power-on signal, the processing unit detects the battery power and controls the brightness of the screen according to the battery power. Accordingly, the electronic device can reduce the power consumption of the screen while the power is turned on, thereby saving the power consumption of the entire electronic device. In this way, the power management method of the present invention can avoid the situation that the power cannot be turned on temporarily without using a higher power power charging converter. While increasing the volume and manufacturing cost of the power charging converter, the power consumption of the electronic device can be appropriately reduced to further extend the service life of the battery.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

S201~S207‧‧‧Flow of power management method

Claims (10)

A power management method is applicable to an electronic device having a screen and a battery, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a power-on signal; detecting a power of the battery; and detecting the detected power with a preset plurality of Comparing the power intervals to determine the power interval in which the power is located, wherein each of the power ranges corresponds to a preset brightness; and adjusting a boot brightness of the screen to the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power interval, Turn on the electronic device. The power management method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined brightness corresponding to the power interval having the higher power is higher. The power management method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the detected power with the preset power interval to determine the power interval in which the power is located further comprises: determining the power Whether it is higher than a maximum value of the power in the power interval; and when the power is higher than the maximum value of the power, directly adjusting the boot brightness of the screen to a system brightness, thereby starting the electronic device. The power management method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the detected power with the preset power interval to determine the power interval in which the power is located further comprises: determining the power Whether it is lower than a minimum value of the electricity range; and When the power is lower than the minimum value of the battery, the brightness of the startup of the screen is directly adjusted to zero, thereby starting the electronic device. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of adjusting the brightness of the screen is zero, and the step of starting the electronic device further comprises: adjusting the screen during the booting process or after the booting is completed. A current brightness to a system brightness. An electronic device includes: a screen; a battery; a storage unit, storing a preset plurality of power intervals and a plurality of preset brightnesses, wherein each of the power intervals corresponds to one of the preset brightness; And the battery is coupled to the screen, the storage unit, and the battery, wherein the processing unit receives a power-on signal, detects a power of the battery, and compares the detected power with the power interval to determine the The power interval in which the power is located, and adjusting a booting brightness of the screen to the preset brightness corresponding to the determined power interval, according to which the electronic device is powered on. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the predetermined brightness corresponding to the power interval having the higher power amount is higher. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the processing device further determines whether the electric quantity is higher than a maximum value of the electric quantity in the electric quantity interval, and when the electric quantity is higher than the electric quantity maximum value, the processing unit directly adjusts The boot brightness of the screen is a system brightness, according to which the electronic device is turned on. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the processing device further determines whether the electric quantity is lower than a minimum value of the electric quantity in the electric quantity interval, and when the electric quantity is lower than the electric quantity minimum value, the processing unit directly adjusts The boot brightness of the screen is zero, so that the electronic device is turned on. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processing unit adjusts a current brightness of the screen to a system brightness during the booting process or after the booting is completed.