JPH113152A - Computer device with network-based power saving function - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To externally store an external storage device in a computer having a power saving function that consumes no power except for a non-volatile memory that requires a built-in clock and power backup by completely stopping functions other than a built-in clock. There is no need to hold it. In addition, the system can be restarted faster than when the internal state is stored in the external storage device. An internal state of an interrupted computer is collected by an internal state collecting unit of the interrupted computer by using a highest priority interrupt in a running computer. After saving the collected internal state in the storage device of another computer via the communication means, the function of the interrupted computer is stopped.
At the time of restart, the internal state stored in the storage device of another computer is restored via the communication means by the internal state restoring means, and the computer is restarted. In addition, a semiconductor memory is used as a storage device of another computer for storing an internal state using a high-speed communication means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system having a power saving function of a plurality of computers connected via communication means.

In particular, an external storage device or an external storage device of another computer via a communication means without having a high-speed calculation processing capability can be used for distributed processing with another computer via a communication means. The present invention relates to a portable terminal, a network computer, and a power saving function of a client terminal of a client / server system, which have improved economy, maintainability, and portability.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional portable computers, such as notebook PCs and personal digital assistants, have batteries for use when going out, and save energy so that they can be used for a long time only by supplying power from the batteries. It has a power function. This power-saving function partially stops functions such as HDD motor drive and display display when not necessary, and reduces power consumption by a standby mode, and stops more peripheral devices to reduce power consumption. There is a suspend mode that greatly reduces. Other than the non-volatile memory that completely stops functions other than the built-in clock and requires a built-in clock and power backup, there is also a type that has a 0 V suspend mode that consumes no power.

In order to save energy, terminals and personal computers used in offices and homes are also required.
Many of those having the above-mentioned power saving function as a standard are increasing.

To shift to 0V suspend, the internal state of the computer immediately before the shift must be saved, and the saved internal state must be restored when the computer is restarted. For storing the internal state, an external storage device such as a hard disk, which does not lose stored contents even when the supply of power is stopped, is used.

In recent years, an external storage device or an external storage device of another computer via communication means without having high-speed calculation processing capability, or a distributed processing with another computer via communication means has been used. By doing so, computer systems with improved economy, maintainability, and portability are being put to practical use.

In recent years, the cost per bit of a semiconductor memory device used as an internal memory has been decreasing. In the future, it is expected that the bit unit price of a hard disk used as an external storage device will be lower. A semiconductor memory does not require a complicated mechanical mechanism as compared with an external storage device such as a hard disk, so that maintenance is easy and writing / reading speed is high. When returning from the 0 V suspend mode, a time required for initializing the external storage device, for example, a time until the magnetic disk of the hard disk starts rotating and becomes stable is essential.

Further, the speed of communication means such as Ethernet is increasing year by year.

[0009]

In an electronic computer having no external storage device as described above, since there is no external storage device for storing the internal state, 0 V suspend cannot be realized.

[0010] Even if an external storage device is provided, 0V
When returning from the suspend mode, there is a limit to shortening the time required for the return because of the time required for initializing the external storage device.

A first object of the present invention is to provide an external storage device,
Rather than having high-speed calculation processing capability, by using an external storage device of another computer via communication means or performing distributed processing with other computers via communication means, economical efficiency, maintainability, Even in computer systems with improved portability, functions other than the built-in clock are completely stopped, and the built-in clock
An object of the present invention is to provide means for realizing a power saving mode that does not consume power, except for a nonvolatile memory that requires power backup.

A second object of the present invention is to completely stop functions other than the built-in clock as compared with the case where an external storage device is used, and to consume no power except for a non-volatile memory which requires a built-in clock and power backup. An object is to provide means for returning from a power saving mode at high speed.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a plurality of computers having the highest priority interrupt, an internal state collecting means for collecting the internal state of the computer, and transferring the collected internal state to another computer. Communication means for storing the internal state, a storage device of another computer for storing the internal state, and internal state restoring means for restoring the internal state transferred back to the original computer via the communication means. You.

Using the highest priority interrupt, the internal state of the interrupted computer is collected by the internal state collecting means of the computer in use. After saving the collected internal state in the storage device of another computer via the communication means, the function of the interrupted computer is stopped.
At the time of restart, the internal state stored in the storage device of another computer is restored via the communication means by the internal state restoring means, and the computer is restarted.

This eliminates the necessity of having an external storage device in the computer to be stopped.

Also, by using a high-speed communication means and using a semiconductor memory for the storage device of another computer for storing the internal state, the computer can be restarted faster than when the internal state is stored in the external storage device. I can do it.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A specific example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Configuration of Electronic Computer System) A functional configuration of hardware which is a premise of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. A plurality of computers 100, 110, 120 are connected via a communication means 150. Each computer can use an external storage device of another computer via the communication unit 150 or perform distributed processing with another computer via the communication unit 150.

The computer 100 having no external storage device can use an external storage device of another computer via communication means. Mobile terminals, network computers, client terminals of client-server systems, and the like have improved economy, maintainability, and portability by adopting such a system form.

Further, the present system is capable of storing internal state collecting means 101, 111, and 12 in individual computers or some computers.
1 and internal state restoring means 102, 112, 122. The internal state collection units 101, 111, and 121 collect the internal state of each computer, triggered by the highest priority interrupt, and store the internal state in the storage device of another operating computer connected via the communication unit 150. Then, some or all of the functions of the computer whose internal state has been collected can be stopped.
Further, when the computer that collects the internal state stores the internal state of another stopped computer, this internal state can be stored in the storage device of the other running computer in the same manner.

Internal state restoring means 102, 112, 122
When the computer that has saved the internal state in another computer and stopped functioning is restarted, the other computer that stores the internal state of the same computer is specified via the communication unit 150, It can be started after restoring the internal state to the computer.

(Premise of individual computer hardware,
Block diagram) An electronic computer having a power saving function usually has a power saving function using the highest priority interrupt supported by hardware. As a means for realizing this power saving function, the highest priority interrupt such as SMI (System Management Interrupt) is used, and an interrupt handler that operates by the interrupt is called an SMI handler. A power operation is performed. As power saving functions, a local standby function for dynamically turning off the power of unused IO devices, a suspend function for turning off the IO devices and stopping the clock of the CPU while retaining the contents of the memory, Information and CPU of all IO devices
There is a 0V suspend function that saves the status and contents of the memory in an external device such as a hard disk and turns off all the power of the computer. FIG. 2 shows an example of a block diagram of a computer having such a power saving function.

(Outline of Operation of General Power Saving Function)
As a specific means for realizing this power saving function, the 86 series CPU of the company has the above-mentioned SMI (System Management Infrastructure).
(rrupt) is supported.
SMI is the highest priority interrupt executed by the CPU, and CP
This is executed as the highest priority processing while U is performing any operation. The mode in which the SMI is executed is SMM (System
The operation is performed in a mode called a management mode, which is different from a mode executed by a normal CPU. The operation of the SMI and SMM will be described with reference to FIG. The SMM is a mode fundamentally different from an operation such as a real mode, a protected mode, and a virtual 86 mode in which a normal 86 CPU operates. The SMM is a mode activated by the SMI, and operates as an interrupt mode for the normal mode. In this SMM, for example, 64 KB at 30,000h address of 16 memory addresses is converted into 17 SM Rs.
Special RAM to store SMI handler called AM
The CPU is controlled by this SM
It is moved to the entry point on the RAM. All subsequent operations are controlled by the 18 SMI handlers until the SMI processing ends. As shown at 19, the SMI handler reads this S ROM from the 15 BIOS ROM when the computer starts up.
The data is copied onto the MRAM, and control is passed every time an SMI occurs. In this SMI handler, SM
The cause of the occurrence of I is checked from the 19 SMI cause registers and the like, and power saving operation is performed according to the cause. For example, if there is no access to the hard disk for a certain period of time and the timer that monitors the hard disk access expires, the rotation of the hard disk stops, so that extra power is not consumed, or if there is no keyboard or mouse operation for a certain period of time. Is performed to turn off the power of the display device. If the operator wants to stop using the computer for a while, the operator may press the suspend / resume switch. The operation in this case is normally suspended, but it is usually possible to set it to 0 V suspend by setting.

The specific operation of the power saving function will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of a hardware configuration of a computer provided with a top priority hardware interrupt, a memory for saving data, and an IO device monitoring logic. This is a block diagram of hardware which is a premise of the present invention. 1 is a CPU, 4
Are connected to the memory controller 2 and the main memory 3 via the host bus. Further, the CPU bus 4 is connected to the PCI bus 7 via the host-PCI bridge 6, and each of the 9 and 10 I buses on the PCI bus is connected.
The O controller has a structure accessible from one CPU. Furthermore, 7 PCI-ISA bridges have 13
Of the ISA bus, and IO controllers such as 11 and 12 on the ISA bus can be accessed from the CPU via this bridge. Here, the peripheral logic 6 includes IO access monitoring logic, and has a function of monitoring access of the CPU to the IO controller. Here, hardware that realizes basic functions of a computer such as a memory controller, a bridge, and IO access monitoring logic is often provided in the form of a set of semiconductor chips called a chip set indicated by 16. The IO access monitoring logic has one or more timers therein, designated 20;
If the CPU has not accessed a specific IO controller associated with the timer for a certain period of time,
It has a function to generate the highest priority interrupt to the CPU.
One timer is assigned to each device that performs a power saving operation. In addition, timers are assigned to each of standby and suspend. This timer value and IO
The IO controller to be monitored for access can be programmed from software, and has a structure that allows setting of IO access monitoring conditions optimal for the computer system. These settings are usually stored in 15 ROMs (BIOS (Basic Input Output System)).
Do. In addition to the highest priority interrupt by the timer, it is also possible to provide a switch operable by the operator so that the operator intentionally generates the highest priority interrupt. This is generally called a suspend / resume switch, and allows the user to intentionally shift the computer to suspend or 0V suspend.

(Operation of 0V Suspend) In the present invention, the stored information of the hardware is used for failure analysis, and an operation using the stored information generated at the time of 0V suspend as the stored information will be described below as an example. Generally, the stored information is stored in an external storage device such as a hard disk.
In the following example, the operation when 22 hard disks are used will be described as an example of the present invention with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. The 0V suspend operates as described above when the suspend timer expires or when the suspend / resume switch is pressed. suspend/
The resume switch is connected in hardware to a signal line of a chipset that provides basic functions of an electronic computer. In many cases, this signal line has a signal name such as 21 SRBTN-N and is prepared as a signal line for an operator to operate suspend / resume.
Signals such as SRBTN-N are asserted when the suspend / resume switch is depressed, and the chipset receiving the signal recognizes the cause of the depression of the suspend / resume switch by software such as the SMI factor register of 19 based on internal logic. It outputs to the possible part and issues SMI which is the highest priority interrupt to CPU. CP who received SMI
U enters SMM (System Management Mode) and SM
Execute the SMI handler on the RAM. The SMI handler first reads the cause determination register to detect the cause of the SMI. In this case, the suspend operation is started in order to find out here the cause of the depression of the suspend / resume switch. The specific content depends on the operation of hardware when SMI occurs.
-Saving the 24 CPU contexts pushed to the RAM to the hard disk, 27, 29, 31, 33,
The current status of various IO registers indicated by 34 is stored on the hard disk, the content of the main memory 25 is stored on the hard disk, the content of VRAM (video memory) 30 is stored on the hard disk, and the like. All of this information is stored in a specific area of the 22 hard disks, for example, a specific partition or a specific file as shown at 23. After saving all necessary information on the hard disk, turn on the 0V suspend processing execution flag in the non-volatile memory incorporated in the real-time clock, etc., issue an instruction from software to the power-off control register, Is turned off. This means that the power of the computer is turned off with the state of the computer completely stored in the hard disk.

(Resume from 0V Suspend) Next, resume processing from 0V suspend will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Since the 0V suspend completely turns off the power of the apparatus, the resuming process starts with exactly the same process as the normal power-on. That is,
When the power of the computer is turned on, the CPU
Execute the contents of When the CPU is reset upon power-on, the CPU starts executing from a specific address. The address that this CPU executes first is 15 R
By assigning a hardware to the OM in advance and writing a program for verifying the contents of the program of the ROM itself and a program for executing a test of the main memory and the IO controller in advance in the ROM,
At power-on, self-diagnosis of the hardware that makes up the computer is performed at once. When the initialization and diagnosis of the hardware have been completed to some extent and the operation of the hardware has been guaranteed, the initial diagnosis program determines whether or not the process when the power was last turned off was 0 V suspend in the nonvolatile memory. Check the flags. If the check result does not indicate 0V suspend, the normal OS boot process is continued as it is,
In the case of V suspend, the SMI itself issues an SMI by software, and writes information on all IO devices and the like stored in the hard disk, the state of the CPU, and the contents of the memory to the respective IO devices and memories. Perform the return process. Finally, CPU resume instruction by CPU
The control can be returned to the execution address immediately before the occurrence of the SMI that triggered the 0V suspend in the context of, and the operation can be resumed in a state before the occurrence of the SMI. Here, the Resume instruction is an instruction of the Intel 86 CPU that writes back all the contexts of the CPU stacked on the SM RAM to the CPU.

(0 of an electronic computer having no external storage device)
(V Suspend and Resume) With reference to FIG. 1, the process of 0V suspend and resume of the computer connected via the communication means will be described.

Using the highest priority interrupt, the internal state of the interrupted computer 100 is collected by the internal state collection means 101 of the computer 100 in operation. After saving the collected internal state in the external storage device 114 of the other operating computer 110 via the communication means, the function of the interrupted computer 100 is stopped.
At the time of restart, the external storage device 1 of another computer 110
The internal state stored in 14 is restored by the internal state restoring means 102 via the communication means, and the computer 100 is restarted.

As a result, it is possible to suspend 0 V even if the computer 100 does not have an external storage device.

(0V Suspend and Resume Using Main Memory of Another Computer) The above internal state can be stored in the main memory 113 of another computer. By doing so, the other computers 110
The resume from the 0V suspend can be performed faster than the case where the data is stored in the external storage device 114.

(Others: 0V Suspend and Resume of Computer at Preservation of Internal State) Another computer 110 storing the internal state of the computer 100 which has been brought to the 0V suspend state in the above-described processing procedure, Further 0V
Even when the computer 100 is suspended, the computer 100 that has initially suspended 0 V can be resumed.

A process in which another computer 110 storing the internal state of the computer 100 further suspends the voltage by 0 V will be described below.

Using the highest priority interrupt, the internal state of the computer 110 at the interrupt destination is collected by the internal state collection means 111 of the computer 110 in operation. The collected internal state is stored in the external storage device 124 or the main storage memory 123 of another operating computer 120 via the communication unit. Also, the internal state collecting means 11
1 also collects the internal state of the computer 100 stored in the computer 110, and similarly collects other operating computers 120
To save. After that, the function of the interrupted computer 110 is stopped.

First, the computer 10 suspended at 0V
The process of resuming 0 is described below.

First, the computer 10 suspended at 0V
At the time of the restart of “0”, the internal state restoring unit 102 inquires of the internal state collecting unit by a method such as broadcast or polling, and specifies the internal state collecting unit 121 of the computer 120 of the internal state saving destination. The specified internal state restoring unit 102 restores the internal state stored in the external storage device 124 of the computer 120 in operation via the communication unit, and restarts the computer 100.

By the above processing, 0 V of another computer is
Even if the operating computer that stores the internal state necessary for resuming from the suspend performs the 0V suspend, the computer 10 that first enters the 0V suspend state is started.
Resume of 0 can be enabled.

[0037]

According to the present invention, an external storage device, an external storage device of another computer via communication means without high-speed calculation processing capability, or another computer via communication means can be used. Even in a computer system with improved economics, maintainability, and portability by performing distributed processing, functions other than the built-in clock are completely stopped, and power is saved except for the non-volatile memory that requires a built-in clock and power backup. Means for realizing a power saving mode that does not consume power.

Further, as compared with the case where an external storage device is used,
It is possible to provide a means for completely stopping functions other than the built-in clock and returning quickly from a power saving mode in which power is not consumed, except for a nonvolatile memory requiring a built-in clock and power backup.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an electronic computer system connected by communication means of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer having a power saving function.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating operations of an SMI and an SMM.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an operation of 0V suspend when a hard disk is used.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining storage information of 0V suspend when a hard disk is used.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining resume processing from 0V suspend.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Electronic computer without external storage device, 101 ...
Internal state collecting means, 102 ... internal state restoring means,
103: main storage memory, 110: a computer having an external storage device, 111: internal state collecting means,
112: internal state restoring means, 113: main memory, 1
14 external storage device, 120 computer having an external storage device, 121 internal state collecting means, 122 internal state restoring means, 123 main memory, 124 external storage device, 150 communication means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] In an electronic computer system in which a plurality of electronic computers are connected via communication means, some or all of the electronic computers have a highest priority interrupt function and a highest priority interrupt destination. Internal state collecting means for collecting a part or all of the internal state of the computer;
Saving the collected internal state, a storage device of another computer connected via communication means, and a function to stop some or all functions of the computer of the highest priority interrupt destination,
Transferring the saved internal state via the communication means, and restoring the internal state restoring means, and having a function of restarting from the state immediately before saving the internal state,
Electronic computer system 2. The internal state collecting means according to claim 1, wherein if another internal state is stored in a storage device of the computer in which said internal state collecting means exists, this is also collected and communicated via communication means. An electronic computer system characterized in that it is stored in a storage device of another electronic computer to be connected.