TWI379191B - Power management system and power management method thereof - Google Patents

Description

1379191

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TW3934PA IX. Description of the Invention: [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a power management system, and more particularly to a power supply system for use in a portable computer. [Prior Art] In today's fast-changing technology era, portable computers with small size and good convenience have become more and more popular. In general, a portable computer includes a body and an upper cover, and the body and the upper cover are connected to each other, for example, via a pivot. The main body is provided with a keyboard and a power switch, and the upper cover is provided with a display screen. When the portable computer is not in use, the upper cover is, for example, in a closed position (the upper cover covers the body). When the portable computer is used, the upper cover is pivoted to form an angle with the body to the open position. Generally, the user moves the portable computer when the upper cover is in the closed position, and the portable computer is mostly turned off during the moving process. However, when the portable computer is moved, if the upper cover accidentally touches the power switch ® located on the main body, the portable computer will be turned off by mistake. As a result, the power consumption of the portable computer will increase and the battery life of the portable computer will decrease. How to avoid accidentally touching the power switch when the cover is in the closed position is one of the directions in the industry. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a power management system for preventing a portable computer from being powered on due to a power switch being accidentally touched to reduce power consumption 1379191

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' TW3934PA volume and improve battery performance. According to the present invention, a power management system is provided for use in a portable computer. The portable computer includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion pivoting relative to the second portion. The power management system includes a trigger component, a capacitive touch sensor, and an embedded controller. The triggering element is arranged in the first part. The capacitive touch sensor is configured to sense that the first portion is in an open position or a closed position relative to the second portion, and the capacitive touch sensor comprises a first sensing single element and a sensing integrated circuit (Integrated Circuit '1C). The first sensing unit is disposed in the second portion to sense whether the triggering element is close to the first sensing unit and correspondingly trigger the first event. The sense integrated circuit provides a control signal in response to the first event. The embedded controller responds to the control signal to disable the power switch of the portable computer. According to the present invention, a power management method is proposed for use in a portable computer. The portable computer includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being rotated relative to the second portion. The power management method includes the following steps: First, by using a capacitive touch sensor, the first portion is sensed to be in an open position or a closed position relative to the second portion according to the position of the trigger member. The triggering component is disposed in the first portion; then, when the first portion is in the closed position relative to the second portion, the capacitive touch sensor outputs a control signal; and thereafter, in response to the control signal, the non-enabled portable computer switch. In order to make the above-mentioned contents of the present invention more comprehensible, a preferred embodiment will be described below, and in conjunction with the drawings, a detailed description is as follows: 7 1379191

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TW3934PA. [Embodiment] The power management system of the embodiment of the present invention applies a capacitive touch sensor (Capacitive-touch Sensor), so that when the upper cover and the body of the portable computer are in a closed state, the disable can be disabled. The switch function of the power switch of the portable computer. In this way, the portable computer can be prevented from being turned on due to the power switch being accidentally touched. First Embodiment Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams of a portable computer to which the power management system of the present embodiment is applied. In this embodiment, the power management system 100 is used in the portable computer 10. The portable computer 10 is, for example, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or a low-cost notebook computer. The portable computer 10 includes a first portion and a second portion, the first and second portions being interconnected, for example, via a boring shaft 16. For example, the first and second portions are, for example, a portable computer 1 and an upper cover 12 and a body 14. A screen module 12a is disposed on the surface A of the upper cover 12, and a keyboard 14& and a touch panel (Ding〇11〇111^(1)1413 are disposed on the surface 3 of the body η. Please refer to FIG. 2, A block diagram showing a power management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. For the description of FIG. 2, please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B together. In FIG. 2, the power management system 1 includes a trigger. The component 120, the capacitive touch sensor 14A, the controller, and the power control circuit 200. The controller is, for example, an embedded controller 160. The embedded controller 160 and the power control circuit 200 are electrically connected. 1379191

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'TW3934PA to capacitive touch sensor 140. The embedded controller 160 is configured to selectively disable the switching function of the power switch of the portable computer. The power control circuit 200 is used to selectively turn off the power of the screen module 12a. In this embodiment, the triggering component 120 is a conductive material, such as a metal pad, which is disposed, for example, at a position P1 at the lower right of the screen module 12a of the upper cover 12, and the capacitive touch sensor 140 The embedded controller 160 is disposed, for example, on the body 14. The capacitive touch sensor 140 is configured to detect the top of the portable computer 10. The cover 12 and the body 14 are in a closed position (the upper cover 12 covers the body 14'), or are in an open position (the upper cover 12 and the body 14). There is an angle between them). When the first portion is in a closed position relative to the second portion, the capacitive touch sensor outputs a control signal Sd. The capacitive touch sensor 140 includes a sensing unit 142 and a sensing integrated circuit 144. The sensing unit 142 is disposed at a position P2 on the upper right of the keyboard 14a in the body 14. The positions P1 and P2 at which the triggering element 120 and the sensing unit 142 are located correspond to each other. When the cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the closed position, the position P1 is located above the position P2. Thus, when the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the closed position, the triggering member 120 is relatively close to the sensing unit 142. When the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the open position, the triggering member 120 is away from the sensing unit 142. For example, the sensing unit 142 is, for example, a capacitive switch, and the event is used to indicate the state when the capacitance of the sensing unit 142 is changed when the triggering component 120 approaches the sensing unit 142. 9 1379191 » »

TW3934PA Please refer to Fig. 3, which is a schematic diagram showing an example of the sensing unit 142 of the capacitive switch shown in Fig. 2. The capacitive switch includes metal plates M1 and M2. When there are no other conductors above the metal plates M1 and M2, the capacitance value of the capacitive switch is close to the parasitic capacitance Ci between the metal plates M1 and M2. When the triggering element 120 approaches the metal plates M1 and M2, the triggering element 120 forms a parasitic capacitance Co with the metal plate M1, and the triggering element 120 forms a parasitic capacitance Co' with the metal plate M2. Thus, the capacitive switch of the triggering element 120 close to the metal plates M1 and M2 has a higher capacitance value than the capacitance value of the corresponding capacitive switch when the triggering element 120 is not close to the metal plates M1 and M2. The sensing integrated circuit 144 determines whether the triggering element 120 is close to the metal plates M1 and M2 based on the magnitude of the capacitance value of the capacitive switch. When it is determined that the triggering element 120 is close to the metal plates M1 and M2, the control signal Sd is generated. The embedded controller 160 is configured to determine whether the switching function of the power switch 180 of the portable computer 10 is disabled according to the control signal Sd. When the switching function of the power switch 180 is disabled, the power state of the portable computer 10 is not changed regardless of whether the power switch 180 is pressed or not. That is, when the switching function of the power switch 180 is disabled, if the portable computer 10 is in the power-off state, even if the power switch 180 is pressed, the portable computer 10 will continue to be powered off. Status without being activated. When the control signal Sd is generated, it indicates that the event ΕΓ is generated, and the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the closed position. At this time, the embedded controller 160 responds to the control signal Sd to disable the power switch 180 1379191, t

'Switch function of TW3934PA. Thus, even if the power switch 180 of the portable computer (e.g., in a shutdown state) is accidentally touched, the portable computer 10 can remain in the off state. When the control signal Sd is not generated, it indicates that the event is not generated, and the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the open position. At this time, the embedded controller 160 enables the power switch 180. Thus, the user can turn on the portable computer 10 via the trigger power switch 180. The sensing integrated circuit 144 and the embedded controller 160 both receive an On On power supply in the portable computer 10 to perform the foregoing operations when the portable computer 10 is turned off. The constant starting power source is, for example, a battery module of the portable computer 10 or an external AC power source. The power control circuit 200 is configured to receive the power source Pw and provide a power source Pw' required to drive the screen module 12a. The power control circuit 200 is further configured to respond to the control signal Sd to determine whether to provide the power Pw' to the screen module 12a. When the control signal Sd is generated, it indicates that the event ΕΓ is generated, and the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the closed position. At this time, the power supply control circuit 200 stops the supply of the power supply Pw' in response to the control signal Sd to close the screen module 12a. When the control signal Sd is not generated, it indicates that the event E1' is not generated, and the upper cover 12 and the body 14 of the portable computer 10 are in the open position. At this time, the power supply control circuit 200 normally supplies the power source Pw' to the screen module 12a to cause the screen module Ha to operate normally. In the embodiment, only the triggering component 120 and the sensing unit 142 are respectively disposed at the position P1 in the upper cover 12 of the portable computer 10 and the position P2 in the body 14 as an example. However, the triggering component 120 and The positions P1 and P2 of the sensing unit 142 can also be set in the portable computer 10 11 1379191 t «

The TW3934PA has a position relative to the body to selectively disable the switching function of the power switch of the portable computer 30. Similarly, the portable computer of the power management system of the present embodiment has the advantages of low power consumption and high endurance. In addition, the power management system of the present embodiment can share the sensing integrated circuit with other input/output interface modules as compared with the power management system of the first embodiment. As such, the present embodiment has the advantage of lower cost. In view of the above, the present invention has been disclosed in a preferred embodiment, and is not intended to limit the present invention. A person skilled in the art having the knowledge of the present invention can make various changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

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'TW3934PA' BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a portable computer to which the power management system of the present embodiment is applied. Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a power management system in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the sensing unit 142 of FIG. 2 . Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a portable computer to which the power management system of the embodiment is applied. [Main component symbol description] 10, 30: Portable computer 12: Upper cover 12a, 460: Screen module 14: Main body 14a: Keyboard 16: Pivot • A, B: Surface PI, P2: Position 100, 400: Power supply Management system 120, 410: triggering element 140: capacitive touch sensor 302a, 302b, 420: sensing unit 304: sensing integrated circuit 160, 480: embedded controller 15 1379191 *

' TW3934PA 180, 500 : Power switch 200, 440 : Power control circuit Ml, M2 : Metal plate 300 : Mouse module 306 : SiS chipset

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Claims (1)

1379191 _ 101 years. October 16th, according to the replacement page 2012/l (V16_lst Shen Fu & Amendment 10, the scope of application for patent: 1. A power management system, applied in a portable computer, the portable computer The first part and the second part are rotated relative to the second part. The power management system includes: 'a trigger element disposed on the first part; a capacitive touch sensor for Positioning the triggering component to sense that the first portion is in an open position or a closed position relative to the second portion, and the capacitive portion is in a closed position relative to the second portion The touch sensor outputs a control signal; and a controller for responding to the control signal to disable the switching function of the power switch of the portable computer; wherein the capacitive touch sensor comprises: a first sensing unit is disposed in the second portion; a second sensing unit is configured to trigger a second event in response to an operation; and a sensing integrated circuit is responsive to the second event The power management system of claim 1, wherein the first sensing unit is configured to sense whether the position of the trigger component is close to the position of the first sensing unit. If yes, a first event is triggered correspondingly, and the sensing integrated circuit provides the control signal in response to the first event. 3. The power management system according to claim 1, further comprising: The power control circuit is used to respond to the control signal to turn off the portable 0971013516 1:013395140-0 17 1379191 ιοί年. October 16th nuclear replacement page 2012/10/16_lsl Shen Fu & one of the modified computers 4. The power management system of claim 2, wherein the triggering component and the first sensing unit are respectively located in a first position and a second portion of the first portion a second position, when the first portion is in the closed position relative to the second portion, the first position is above the second position, and the triggering element is opposite to the first sensing unit. The power management system of the first aspect of the patent, wherein the first and the second part are respectively an upper cover and a body of the portable computer. 〇 6. As described in claim 1 The power management system, wherein the first and the second part are respectively a body of the portable computer and an upper cover. 7. The power management system according to claim 1, wherein the operation is a mouse In operation, the sensing integrated circuit responds to the second event to provide a corresponding mouse control signal to a system chip of the portable computer 0 097101356 1013395140-0. · -: 18