CN101655734B - Computer with power-saving state control and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer with power saving state control and control method thereof, wherein the computer has a plurality of sleep modes for direct switching, the computer comprises: the device comprises a power supply set, a storage module, a power supply management module and a control module. The power pack provides a plurality of power supplies to a plurality of components in the computer. The storage module is used for storing the execution data corresponding to each sleep mode. The power management module is used for setting the number of the corresponding power packs started in each sleep mode. The control module judges the switched sleep mode according to the received trigger event, sends a first switching signal to the storage module, enables the storage module to store execution data, sends a second switching signal to the power management module, enables the power management module to set the number of the power packs, and then directly switches the sleep mode of the computer.

Description

Computer with power-saving state control and its control method

technical field

The invention relates to a computer and a control method, in particular to a computer with power-saving state control and a control method thereof.

Background technique

The power consumption of electronic products is one of the important design factors, and every manufacturer hopes that their electronic products can consume the least power. Especially for portable electronic products, the smaller the power consumption, the longer the service time of the battery without frequent replacement of the battery, which can better meet the needs of users.

Therefore, in order to achieve the power saving effect for the computer system, the computer system has a so-called sleep (power saving) mode (sleeping mode), which allows the computer system to follow the needs of the user or the length of time the user has not acted. And enter a different sleep mode. Wherein, each sleep mode corresponds to a different power supply group, and a specific power supply can be turned on or off in different sleep modes. Compared with the computer system that is always in the normal working mode (working mode), all the power must be turned on, the sleep mode really saves a lot of power consumption.

However, when the computer system enters a certain sleep mode, if it wants to change to other sleep modes, it is necessary to wake up the computer system first, and then enter another sleep mode after returning to the working mode. model.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of sleep mode transition in the known technology. Assume that the current state of the computer system is in the first sleep mode (S1), if you want to enter the deeper second sleep mode (S2) from the first sleep mode (S1), you must turn on all the power supplies, and return to the sleep mode first. To the working mode (S0), and then to enter the second sleep mode (S2). That is to say, sleep modes (S1~S4) cannot be switched directly. No matter which sleep mode you are currently in, as long as you need to switch to a different sleep mode, you must first return to the working mode (S0) before entering Another sleep mode. In this way, not only will the transition time between sleep modes be lengthened, but also because all power supplies must be turned on first to return to the working mode before subsequent actions can be performed (entering another sleep mode), which will cause unnecessary power consumption on the contrary. .

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the object of the present invention is to provide a computer with power-saving state control and a control method to improve the deficiencies of the prior art.

The invention proposes a computer with power-saving state control, which has a plurality of sleep modes to switch directly. The computer includes: a power pack, a storage module, a power management module and a control module. Power packs provide multiple power sources to multiple components within the computer. The storage module is used for storing execution data corresponding to each sleep mode. The power management module is used to set the number of power groups corresponding to each sleep mode. The control module judges the switched sleep mode according to the received trigger event, sends the first switch signal to the storage module, makes the storage module store the execution data, and sends the second switch signal to the power management module, makes the power management module set The number of power packs, and then directly switch the computer from the first sleep mode to the second sleep mode.

The present invention also proposes a control method of a power-saving state, which is applied to a computer with multiple power groups and multiple sleep modes directly switched. The control method includes the following steps: receiving a trigger event, the computer is in the first sleep mode; judging the trigger The event attribute of the event; when the event attribute is a sleep event, first store an execution data corresponding to the first sleep mode, and then set the number of these power supply groups to open; when the event attribute is a wake-up event, First set the number of these power groups to be turned on, and then store the execution data corresponding to the first sleep mode; make the computer perform the above-mentioned first sleep mode and directly switch to the second sleep mode.

The device or method proposed by the present invention can allow the computer system to directly change to other sleep modes without returning to the working mode according to the received event after entering a certain sleep mode. In this way, a more flexible power management method can be provided to increase the service life of the battery, and it can also make the user's use more intuitive.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention and their effects are described as follows in conjunction with the drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of sleep mode conversion in the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of a computer with power-saving state control.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a computer with power-saving state control.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of sleep mode conversion in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a control method of a power saving state.

Detailed ways

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of a computer with power-saving state control. The computer proposed by the present invention has multiple sleep modes for switching, and the computer includes: a storage module 10 , a power management module 20 , a control module 30 and power groups 40 - 49 .

Computers have different power saving states, so they can go into several different sleep modes, and different sleep modes require different numbers of power banks. Wherein, the power groups 40-49 respectively provide power for multiple components in the computer. As the sleep mode is different, the execution data processed will also be different. For example, when entering a deeper sleep mode from a lighter sleep mode, since the power supply group corresponding to the deeper sleep mode has fewer power supplies (better power saving effect), the remaining power supplies will not be able to handle Some execution data originally in the lighter sleep mode, so the execution data in the lighter sleep mode must be stored first. Here, the storage module 10 can be used to store the execution data corresponding to each sleep mode.

As mentioned above, the number of power supply groups required for each sleep mode is different. For example: in the working mode (S0), all power supply groups, that is, the first power supply group 40, the second power supply group 41, the third power supply group The power group 42 to the Nth power group 49 all need to be turned on, and the first sleep mode (S1) can turn off one of the power groups, and the second sleep mode (S2) can turn off one of the power groups, and so on. Here, the power management module 20 is used to set the number of corresponding power groups to be turned on in each sleep mode.

The control module 30 receives the trigger event, and judges which sleep mode needs to be switched to according to the trigger event, thereby sending the first switching signal to the storage module 10, causing the storage module 10 to store the execution data, and sending the second switching signal. The signal is sent to the power management module 20, so that the power management module 20 sets the number of corresponding power groups, so that the computer switches between sleep modes and directly enters another sleep mode, which will be described in more detail later. Wherein, the control module can be selected from the group formed by south bridge chip, north bridge chip, embedded controller (embedded controller, EC), keyboard controller (keyboard controller, KBC) and their combinations, that is, the computer system is originally Existing components, so no need to add new components, and thus will not cause additional costs.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a computer with power-saving state control. In the second embodiment, a trigger module 50 is also included. It can be known from the figure that the trigger module 50 can generate two different trigger events, namely sleep event and wake-up event. The two different events will be described below.

When the trigger event generated by the trigger module 50 is a sleep event, it means that the computer will enter a deeper sleep mode from the current state (which may be a working mode or a certain sleep mode). For example, assume that the computer is originally in the first sleep mode ( S1 ), and at this time the first power group 40 , the second power group 41 , the third power group 42 to the N−1th power group are all turned on. When the control module 30 receives the sleep event generated by the trigger module 50, the computer is triggered to enter the third sleep mode by the sleep event (S3). At this time, the control module 30 will first store the execution data in the storage module 10, and then the power management module 20 will control and shut down the corresponding power groups to meet the number of power groups in the third sleep mode (S3). The first power supply group 40 , the second power supply group 41 , the third power supply group 42 to the N-3th power supply group are turned on. In this way, the computer can achieve a more power-saving state, and enter a deeper sleep process. It is not necessary to return to the working mode before switching to another sleep mode as in the prior art. The invention can make the computer's States go directly from one sleep mode to another.

Wherein, the storage module 10 mentioned in the present invention can be a variety of different modules available for storage such as cache memory, register, random access memory (RAM) or hard disk. . For example, due to different sleep modes, the execution data of each sleep mode may be stored in different types of storage modules 10, assuming that the execution data of the first sleep mode (lighter sleep mode) is stored in random access memory , and the execution data of the third sleep mode (deep sleep mode) is stored in the hard disk. Therefore, in the above example where the trigger event is a sleep event, the control module 30 processes the execution data of the storage module 10 by first storing the execution data in the hard disk from the random access memory.

On the other hand, when the trigger event generated by the trigger module 50 is a wake-up event, it means that the computer enters a shallower sleep mode from a certain sleep mode. For example, assume that the computer is originally in the third sleep mode ( S3 ), and at this time the first power group 40 , the second power group 41 , the third power group 42 to the N−3th power group are all turned on. When the control module 30 receives the wake-up event generated by the trigger module 50, the computer is triggered to enter the first sleep mode by the wake-up event (S1). At this time, the control module 30 will first control the power management module 20 to turn on the corresponding power group to meet the number of power groups in the first sleep mode (S1), that is, to turn on the N-2th power group and the N-1th power group , so that the first power group 40 , the second power group 41 , the third power group 42 to the N−1th power group are all turned on. Then store the execution data in the storage module 10 . Here, the execution data can be stored in the random access memory instead of the hard disk. In this way, when the computer is going to enter a relatively shallow sleep mode, it can also directly enter another sleep mode from one sleep mode, without first returning to the work mode to perform subsequent actions.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of sleep mode transition of the present invention. With the device proposed by the present invention, the sleep mode in the computer system can be switched, as shown in FIG. 4 . Comparing Fig. 4 with Fig. 1, it can be clearly found that with the device proposed by the present invention, each sleep mode can be directly switched to the work mode, and any sleep mode can be directly switched to another sleep mode . Compared with the known technology, the step of returning to the working mode before switching to another sleeping mode is omitted. In this way, not only can the conversion efficiency between sleep modes be improved, but also a more flexible power management method can be provided to increase the service life of the battery.

In order to facilitate the user to operate the computer system to enter different sleep modes or working modes, the trigger module 50 mentioned above may include buttons. Users can trigger different events (sleep events or wake-up events) through the buttons set on the computer. The trigger event can be generated by a wired or wireless network device. Or the trigger event is generated by opening and closing of a screen, the power level of a battery, or whether an adapter is plugged in or not.

In addition, it can also be implemented by means of internal software of the computer system, and at this time, the trigger module 50 can include a timer (Timer). The user can set the internal timer of the computer system earlier, assuming that a specific time (such as 30 minutes) is set, if the user does not use the computer, it will enter a deeper sleep mode. Therefore, by setting the timer, the sleep event can be automatically triggered after a specific time has elapsed. In a similar situation, if the user wants to switch the computer from the working mode to the deepest sleep mode, the internal timer of the computer system can be set first in the working mode. Suppose, set a specific time, such as one and a half hours, to return from the deepest sleep mode to the lightest sleep mode, if the computer system has four sleep modes, so that the computer system will be in every 30 minutes After that, a wake-up event is automatically generated to make the computer enter a shallower sleep mode. Therefore, the user's needs can be met by the timer, that is, after one and a half hours, it will automatically return to the first sleep mode (the shallowest sleep mode) from the fourth sleep mode (the deepest sleep mode).

Please refer to FIG. 5 , which is a flow chart of a method for controlling the power saving state. The control method is applied to a computer with multiple power groups and multiple sleep modes that can be switched, and the control method includes the following steps.

Step S10: Receive a trigger event. Wherein, the trigger event can be generated by a button or a timer (Timer).

Step S20: Determine the event attribute of the trigger event.

Step S30: As a result of judging in step S20, if the event attribute is a sleep event, first store execution data corresponding to the sleep mode.

Step S32: turn off the corresponding number of power groups.

Step S40: As a result of judging in step S20, if the event attribute is a wake-up event, turn on the corresponding number of power packs first.

Step S42: Restore the execution data corresponding to the sleep mode.

Step S50: Make the computer switch between sleep modes.

Although the technical content of the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications and modifications made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention should be included in the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the claims.

Claims (15)

1. the computer of a tool power down mode control has a plurality of sleep patterns and directly switches, and it is characterized in that above-mentioned computer comprises:

A plurality of power pack provide a plurality of power supplys to a plurality of assemblies in the above-mentioned computer;

Storage module is in order to store the pairing execution data of each above-mentioned sleep pattern;

Power management module, in order to set each above-mentioned sleep pattern the corresponding number of opening above-mentioned these power pack; And

Control module, according to the trigger event that is received, judge the arbitrary above-mentioned sleep pattern of switching, send first switching signal to above-mentioned storage module, make above-mentioned storage module store above-mentioned execution data, and send second switching signal to above-mentioned power management module, and make above-mentioned power management module set the number of opening above-mentioned these power pack, more above-mentioned computer is directly switched second sleep pattern by first sleep pattern.

2. computer as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: above-mentioned trigger event is the sleep incident.

3. computer as claimed in claim 2 is characterized in that: above-mentioned control module stores above-mentioned execution data earlier in above-mentioned storage module, controls the number that above-mentioned power management module is closed the correspondence of above-mentioned these power pack again.

4. computer as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: above-mentioned trigger event is a wake events.

5. computer as claimed in claim 4 is characterized in that: the above-mentioned control module above-mentioned power management module of control is earlier opened the number of corresponding above-mentioned these power pack, stores above-mentioned execution data again in above-mentioned storage module.

6. computer as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: above-mentioned computer also comprises: trigger module, and in order to produce above-mentioned trigger event.

7. computer as claimed in claim 6 is characterized in that: above-mentioned trigger module comprises button.

8. computer as claimed in claim 6 is characterized in that: above-mentioned trigger module comprises timer.

9. computer as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: above-mentioned storage module is selected from high-speed cache, buffer, random access memory, hard disk and group that combination constituted thereof.

10. computer as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: above-mentioned control module is selected from South Bridge chip, north bridge chips, embedded controller, keyboard controller and group that combination constituted thereof.

11. the control method of a power down mode is applied to have the directly computer of switching of a plurality of power pack and a plurality of sleep pattern, it is characterized in that above-mentioned control method comprises the following step:

Receive trigger event, above-mentioned computer is first sleep pattern;

Judge the event attribute of above-mentioned trigger event;

When above-mentioned event attribute is the sleep incident, store execution data earlier corresponding to above-mentioned first sleep pattern, set the number that above-mentioned these power pack are opened again, when above-mentioned event attribute is wake events, set the number that above-mentioned these power pack are opened earlier, store above-mentioned execution data again corresponding to above-mentioned first sleep pattern; And

Make above-mentioned computer carry out above-mentioned first sleep pattern and directly switch second sleep pattern.

12. the control method of power down mode as claimed in claim 11 is characterized in that: wherein receive the step of above-mentioned trigger event, comprise the following step: produce above-mentioned trigger event by button.

13. the control method of power down mode as claimed in claim 11 is characterized in that: wherein receive the step of above-mentioned trigger event, comprise the following step: produce above-mentioned trigger event by timer.

14. the control method of power down mode as claimed in claim 11 is characterized in that: wherein receive the step of above-mentioned trigger event, comprise the following step: produce above-mentioned trigger event by wired or wireless network equipment.

15. the control method of power down mode as claimed in claim 11 is characterized in that: wherein receive the step of above-mentioned trigger event, comprise the following step: electric weight size or having or not of breakout box entire by opening of screen, battery are inserted the above-mentioned trigger event of generation.

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