JPH0612158A - Electric power saving method for data equipment and data equipment saving electric power by the same method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce wasteful electric power consumption by measuring the input speed from an input device or the speed of data transfer and slowing down the operation speed of a processing device when the input speed is less than a set value, and then setting the operation speed to the 1ower-limit speed required for processing being executed by a CPU, etc. CONSTITUTION:The CPU 1 and a display device 5 can be placed in power-saving mode and when the CPU 1 is in the power-saving mode, the amount of data from the input device 7 is measured while the time is clocked with the signal from a timer 9; when the key input speed is lower than the set speed, the operation speed of the CPU 1 is made slow by lowering the frequency of the clock signal from a clock signal generating circuit 4. When the key input speed is faster than the set speed, on the other hand, the frequency of the clock signal is put back to a normal frequency. The number of bits of data which are sent or received is measured by the timer 9 for a specific time and when the mean value is less than the specific number of bits per second, the operation speed of the CPU 1 is made slow.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a data device driven by a battery (dry battery and rechargeable storage battery).
A power saving method for reducing power consumption by reducing unnecessary power consumption by setting the operating speed of a device such as PU and the brightness of a display device to the minimum speed and brightness required for work in progress. The present invention relates to a data device that saves power by a method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A personal computer driven by a battery.
Data devices such as data, word processors, electronic notebooks,
When there is no input from the keyboard for a predetermined time, useless power consumption is reduced by slowing the operating speed of the CPU or stopping power supply.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-237810 discloses a power saving method in which the backlight of the LCD is turned off when there is no key input for a predetermined time and the LED is turned on again when the key is input. However, these conventional techniques are intended to eliminate wasteful power consumption when the user is away from the device for a predetermined time or longer and is not using it at lunch break or during a visitor. If you're careful, you couldn't expect more power-saving effects than you could save yourself.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to set the operating speed of a device such as a CPU and the brightness of a display device to the minimum speed and brightness required for processing in progress. An object of the present invention is to provide a power saving method for reducing wasteful power consumption. Another object of the present invention is to provide a data device which can be used for a long time with a limited capacity of a battery by saving power by the above method.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a device such as a CPU does not always operate at the same speed, but when the processing may be slow, the operating speed is slowed down to a necessary minimum speed. Achieve the task. Further, the display device is not always displayed with the same brightness, but is set to the minimum necessary brightness when the brightness can be reduced to achieve the above object.

The power saving method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a data applying method of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a mobile device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a CPU, 2 is a ROM, 3 is a RAM, and 4
Is a clock signal generation circuit, and 5 is a display device. 6 is an interrupt control circuit, 7 is an input device such as a keyboard, and 8 is an I / O interface (communication interface) for inputting / outputting data to / from an external device. Face) and 9 are built-in timers. The interrupt control circuit 6 includes an input device 7, I /
It serves to arrange interrupts from the O interface 8, timer 9 and the like according to their priority order and transmit them to the CPU.

In the power saving method of the present invention, it is convenient if the user can set which device is set to the power saving mode. FIG. 2 shows the setting screen. In the illustrated example, the CPU 1 and the display device 5 can be set to the power saving mode. By making it possible to set whether or not to use the power saving mode in this way, you can always use full power when using the AC adapter and save power when using the battery. It becomes possible to use it. In the power saving method of the present invention, it is also convenient for the user to be able to select the condition for setting the device set to the power saving mode to the power saving mode. FIG. 3 is a display screen on which the conditions for setting the power saving mode can be selected. In this example, the key input speed and the communication speed can be selected.

4 and 5 are screens for setting a key input speed and a communication speed, respectively. In this example, for the key input speed, the average number of key inputs per minute is set to 20 and the number of times of key input speed measurement for averaging is set to 5. Regarding the communication speed, 1
The average number of times of communication per second is set to 2,400 bits / second, and the number of times of measuring the communication speed for calculating the average is set to 10.

FIG. 6 shows the control of the operating speed of the CPU by the key input speed. First, it is checked whether the CPU is set to the power saving mode. If it is set to save power, measure the key input speed,
Key input speed is set speed (20 times / in this example)
If it is less than or equal to (min), the frequency of the clock signal from the clock signal generation circuit 4 is lowered to slow down the operating speed of the CPU 1. When the key input speed is higher than the set speed, the frequency of the clock signal from the clock signal generation circuit 4 is returned to the normal frequency.

FIG. 7 shows the procedure for measuring the key input speed. When an interrupt occurs, the CPU 1 checks where the interrupt is from, and if it is a key input interrupt, it increments the value of the key input counter in the RAM 3 by one. If it is a timer interrupt, the value of the key input counter at that time is saved in the counter value storage area in the RAM 3 and the key input counter is cleared to zero. When this key input count per minute is performed a set number of times (currently set to 5), the average value of those values is obtained.

FIG. 8 shows the control of the brightness of the display device by the key input speed. Also in the control of this display device, the key input speed is measured according to the key input speed measurement procedure shown in FIG. 7, and the key input speed is set to the set speed (20 times / minute or less) or less. At this time, the CPU 1 to the display device 5
A control signal is sent to the display device 5 to put the display device 5 into the power saving mode. If the key input speed is higher than the set speed,
The brightness of the display device 5 is set to full power mode.

By the way, when a user who is not accustomed to the JIS layout keyboard inputs Japanese, the input speed is extremely slow, and the user operates while watching only the keyboard. I haven't seen much of the display screen. In such a state, the display of the display device 5 may be darkened as described above. However, after finishing the input, the conversion key
Since the user's line of sight moves to the display screen when is pressed, it is necessary to restore the display brightness to full power at this time. Even if the key input speed is slow, such as when the screen display changes drastically due to scrolling, or when unavoidable information such as a warning message for erroneous operation is displayed, full power mode is set. May need to be returned to.

In the power saving method of the present invention, it is preferable that the condition for returning from the power saving mode to the full power mode can be set separately from other devices depending on the device. In this embodiment, the display device 5 can be returned to full power under the conditions shown in the setting screen of FIG. An example of control for returning the display device 5 to the full power display under conditions other than the key input speed is shown in FIG.

In the above description, the CPU is controlled by the key input speed.
1 and the case where the display device 5 is set to the power saving mode have been described. However, when the communication speed is selected on the setting screen of FIG. 3 and the condition for setting the power saving mode is set on the condition setting screen shown in FIG.
The CPU 1 can be placed in a power saving mode according to the speed of communication in progress. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the number of bits of transmitted or received data is measured for 10 seconds, and the average is 2400.
The operation speed of the CPU 1 is slowed when the bit rate is less than a bit / second. The procedure of controlling the operating speed of the CPU and measuring the communication speed according to the communication speed is as follows. In the control of the operating speed of the CPU according to the key input speed of FIG. 6 and the measurement of the key input speed of FIG. All you have to do is replace it with reception.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, unlike the conventional power saving technology, the operating speed of the device such as the CPU and the brightness of the display device are set to the minimum speed and the brightness required for the ongoing processing. By doing so, wasteful power consumption can be reduced and power consumption can be saved, so that the operating time of data equipment powered by a dry battery having a limited capacity can be further extended. In addition, in a data device that uses a storage battery as a power source, the operation time for each charging becomes long, and the number of times of required charging decreases, so that the life of the storage battery becomes long.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a data device to which a power saving method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a setting screen for selecting a device to be in a power saving mode.

FIG. 3 is a setting screen for setting conditions for setting a device to a power saving mode.

FIG. 4 is a setting screen for setting conditions for setting a device to a power saving mode.

FIG. 5 is a setting screen for setting conditions for setting a device to a power saving mode.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control of the operating speed of the CPU according to the key input speed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for measuring a key input speed.
It is

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control of the brightness of the display device according to the key input speed.

FIG. 9 is a setting screen for setting conditions for returning the display of the display device to the full power display under conditions other than the key input speed.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of control for returning the display device to full power display under conditions other than the key input speed.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU, 2 ROM, 3 RAM, 4 clock signal generation circuit, 5 display device 6 interrupt control circuit, 7 keyboard, 8 I / O interface (communication interface, etc.), 9 Built-in timer.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for saving power of a battery-operated data device, comprising measuring an input speed from an input device or a speed of data transfer to the outside through an input / output interface. When the input speed is less than or equal to a preset value, the operating speed of the processing device is slowed down. 2. A power saving method for a data device driven by a battery, which comprises measuring an input speed from an input device or a speed of data transfer with the outside through an input / output interface. When the input speed is less than or equal to a preset value, a power saving display is displayed on the display device. 3. A battery driven data device including a CPU, a RAM, a clock signal generation circuit, a display device, an interrupt control circuit, an input device, an I / O interface and a timer. The input speed or the data transfer speed is measured by measuring the input data from the input device or the amount of data transferred through the I / O interface while measuring the time with the signal from the timer. When the speed is lower than a preset value, the frequency of the clock signal supplied from the clock generation circuit to the CPU is lowered by the control signal from the CPU, and when the speed is higher than the preset value. Is for returning the frequency of the clock signal supplied from the clock generation circuit to the CPU to a normal frequency in response to a control signal from the CPU. 4. A battery driven data device including a CPU, a RAM, a clock signal generation circuit, a display device, an interrupt control circuit, an input device, an I / O interface, and a timer. The input speed or the data transfer speed is measured by measuring the input data from the input device or the amount of data transferred through the I / O interface while measuring the time with the signal from the timer. When the speed is lower than a preset value, the display signal is saved by the control signal from the CPU, and when the speed is higher than the preset value, the control signal from the CPU is used. A data device characterized by returning the display brightness of a display device to a full power display.