TW200528973A - Apparatus for saving power of a computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for saving power of a computer system has a detecting module, a power saving control module, and a plurality of power supply modules. The detecting module detects a working status of each device of the computer system, and the detecting module outputs a control signal to the power saving control module according to the working status. The power saving module controls the power output of the power supply module according to the control signal. When one device is idle, the power saving control module reduces the power output supplied to the device according to the control signal.

Description

200528973 V. Description of the invention (1) ° TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a power-saving circuit, and more particularly to a power-saving circuit of a computer system. The previous technology in computer systems, such as notebook computers, has continuously improved the performance of its central processing unit (CPU) and other peripheral chipsets, and many new operating functions have been added, resulting in a notebook computer system. The demand for electricity has increased significantly. Because of this, a larger battery capacity is required to maintain the notebook's standby time at a certain level. As the capacity of the notebook computer battery increases, the battery volume also increases. This is undoubtedly a very important subject for various manufacturers who are committed to reducing the size of notebook computers, but to reduce the battery size, but also have sufficient power to supply notebook computer systems. A known solution is to use software to monitor the operation of the laptop system. The principle is to divide the notebook computer system into several blocks and monitor the electricity consumption of the blocks. When a device controlled by a certain block, such as an optical disc drive, is in an idle (I d 1 e) state, the power output to this block is reduced to save power. The conventional technology is to set the output mode of the power supply according to the user's habits and working environment requirements, but the user usually does not remember to change to the power saving mode, so it cannot achieve the effect of power saving. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a computer system

12803TWF.PTD Page 6 200528973 V. INTRODUCTION TO THE INVENTION (2) The electric circuit is used to achieve the power saving device. The load detection electric number is the load voltage number of the computer, and the control signal is used in Under normal circumstances, the computer detects the shape, supplies the direct input, and receives the data input number 0. The brain system is used to confirm that the load is generated. The reference power supply is provided. The device source is used to output the circuit to save the circuit voltage. If the circuit in the system is positively coupled to whether the dynamic response mode can be positively coupled, whether the internal module of the system converts the voltage at the current source. The flow-to-line voltage is based on electrical power, and it is a circuit that has a circuit that receives signals from the system and outputs to the control power based on the electrical power. In addition, the current conversion and reference system Detect electrical load power. Then the voltage ratio controls the power supply of the power supply module so that the effect determined by the power supply module provides a power saving control signal. After the load detection, the power saving control will be performed. The system is used for normal operation. The load detection circuit is lowered. In the embodiment, the load detection circuit has an AC receiving load voltage signal and a DC detection circuit has a comparison module, which is coupled to receive the input voltage. The comparison module will output the control signal according to the comparison result of the two devices to control the control circuit of the computer system. The load voltage signal circuit outputs power to the control signal circuit according to. Therefore, the operation of the load device is even turned off. The present invention provides an AC-to-DC conversion circuit, which is composed of a first filter circuit and a second filter circuit connected in series. The first filter circuit includes a first resistor, a first terminal of which receives a load voltage signal, and a first capacitor, a first terminal of which is coupled to a second terminal of the first resistor, and a first

12803TWF.PTD Page 7 200528973 V. Description of the invention (3) The second terminal of the capacitor is grounded. The second filter circuit includes a second resistor whose first terminal is coupled to the second terminal of the first resistor and whose second terminal is coupled to the comparison module, and a second capacitor whose first terminal is coupled to the second The second end of the resistor and its second end are grounded. In addition, the comparison module includes a comparator, which outputs a control signal after comparing the input voltage with a reference voltage. In one embodiment of the present invention, the comparison module further includes a decoder, which is used to make the comparison module decode according to the load voltage signal, so as to know the load status of the computer system to each device through the output of the comparison module. In addition, the power-saving control circuit mentioned above has a switch, and the switch has a control terminal, a first connection terminal, and a second connection terminal. The control terminal is coupled to the output of the load detection circuit and determines whether to connect the first connection terminal and the second connection terminal according to the control signal. The first connection terminal of the switch is coupled to the control chip, and the second connection terminal is coupled to the control circuit. When the first connection terminal and the second connection terminal are turned on, the control chip makes the power supply module reduce or even turn off the output power through the control circuit. The switch includes a transistor switch. The gate terminal is coupled to the control terminal. One of the source / drain terminals is coupled to the first connection terminal, and the other source / drain terminal is coupled to the second connection terminal. From another perspective, the present invention provides a power saving device for a computer system, which controls the power output of several power supply modules in the computer system based on the load voltage signals generated by the control unit in the computer system. The power saving device of the present invention has a detection mode for receiving a load voltage signal.

12803TWF.PTD Page 8 200528973 V. Description of the Invention (4) Group, this detection module also receives the reference voltage. The detection module will compare the load voltage signal with the reference voltage, and then output the control signal based on the comparison result of the two. In addition, the power saving device of the present invention also has a power saving control module, which is coupled to the detection module to receive the control signal. And the power saving control module is based on the control signal to decide whether it is necessary to reduce or even turn off the output power of at least one of the power supply modules in the computer system. In one embodiment of the present invention, the detection module includes a load detection circuit and a microcontroller. The load detection circuit receives the load voltage signal and the reference voltage, and generates a control signal based on the comparison of the two. The microcontroller is coupled to the load detection circuit, and judges the load condition of the computer system based on the output of the load detection circuit. The microcontroller further determines whether to make the power supply module at least one of them according to the load condition of the computer system. One reduces or even turns off its output power. In addition, when the microcontroller learns the load condition of the computer, it will inform the auxiliary software provided by the present invention. This auxiliary software is used to adjust the output power of each power supply module according to the load condition of the computer system. In addition, the control unit controls the frequency of the clock signal output by the clock generator in the computer system through the above-mentioned auxiliary software. Similarly, the load detection circuit includes an AC-to-DC conversion circuit and a comparison module. The comparison module includes a comparator and a decoder. The comparator compares the input voltage with a reference voltage and outputs a control signal. The decoder enables the comparison module to decode according to the load voltage signal, so that the microcontroller can learn the information in the computer system through the comparison module.

12803TWF.PTD Page 9 200528973 V. Description of the invention (5) Load condition ’to adjust the output power of these power supply modules. In contrast, the power-saving control module has several power-saving control circuits, which are respectively connected to the power supply module. These power-saving control circuits control the output of the power supply module according to the control signals. Generally speaking, the control unit includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a control chipset (C0ntrr1Chipset), which are used to control all devices in a computer system. In addition, the central processing unit and the control chipset are connected to a clock generator in the computer system, and the clock generator is used to provide a clock signal required for the operation of the computer system.

The present invention uses a load detection circuit to detect the load of each device of a computer system. When a device of the computer system is in an idle state, the load detection circuit will inform the power-saving control circuit, and the power-saving control circuit will control the power supply module coupled to the device to reduce its output power to achieve power saving the goal of. In order to make it easier to understand, the detailed description of the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention can be made clearer. Several embodiments will be given below, and will be described in detail with the accompanying drawings. Implementing Party 1

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1. The control unit 30 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 132 and a control chipset 134, etc., and is coupled to the main system 100 to control the operation of all devices in the computer system. In addition, the input of the load detection circuit 2 is coupled to the control unit 130 and the reference voltage Vref, and its output is coupled to the power-saving control circuit 1 2 2. Power saving control circuit 1 2 2 is based on load detection circuit

200528973 V. Description of the invention (6) The output of 1 1 2 is used to control the power output of the power control module 1 41 to the main system 100. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a load detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the AC-to-DC conversion circuit 2 10 receives the load voltage signal vs output from the control unit 130 and converts it into a DC input voltage Vi to output to the comparison module 2 2 0. The comparison module 2 2 0 is output to the power-saving control module 1 2 2 according to the comparison result between the input voltage ¥ 1 and the reference voltage Vrei. Please continue to refer to FIG. 2, where the AC-to-DC conversion circuit 210 can be implemented by using two R C Filters connected in series as shown in this embodiment. Among them, one end of the resistor 21 in the filter 211 receives the load voltage signal vs and the other end is coupled to the capacitor 23 and the resistor 25 in the filter 213. In addition, one end of the capacitor 23 in the filter 211 is coupled to the resistor 21 The other end is grounded. In addition, one end of the resistor 25 in the filter 213 is coupled to the resistor 2 1 and the other end is coupled to the capacitor 27 and the comparison module 2 2 0. One end of the capacitor 2 7 in the filter 2 1 3 is coupled to the resistor 25, and the other end is also grounded. When the AC-type load voltage signal is in the positive half cycle, the capacitors 23 and 27 will be charged. When the load voltage signal is in the negative half cycle, the capacitors 23 and 27 start to discharge. Those skilled in this art can increase the capacitance of capacitors 23 and 27 to increase the discharge time. Assume that the discharge time of capacitors 2 3 and 27 is much longer than the time of the load voltage signal vs. the negative half cycle, so capacitors 23 and 27 have not been completely discharged, and the load voltage signal 乂 5 will turn into a positive half cycle and start to Capacitors 23 and 27 are charged. Therefore pay

12803TWF.PTD Page 11 200528973 V. Description of the invention (7) " --- The current-to-DC conversion circuit 2 1 〇 will output an input current close to DC compared to the module 2 2 0. 1 I ratio continues to refer to FIG. 2. The comparison module 2 2 〇 includes a comparator 2 2 2. The comparison module 2 2 0 outputs a control signal according to the result of the comparison between the input voltage and the reference voltage Vref. Electric control circuit 1 2 2. The comparison module 2 20 also includes a decoder 224, which enables the comparison module 22 to decode according to the load voltage signal vs, so as to know the current load status of each device of the computer system through the output of the load detection circuit 1 1 2 0 3 is a block diagram of a power-saving control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the control signal output by the load detection circuit 112 is buffered by a resistor-capacitor waver composed of = resistor 4 丨 and capacitor 43; and then transported to the control terminal 45 of the switch 410. A connection terminal 49 of the switch 41 0 is coupled to the control chip 40 3, and a connection terminal 47 of the switch 410 is coupled to the control circuit 2. The switch 410 determines whether to turn on the control 4 f and 4 y according to the control signal ^. Continued With reference to FIG. 3, the switch 410 is, for example, a transistor switch. In the crystal bean body of the switch 4U, a pole terminal between Γ and 1 is turned on and off, and the middle / source terminal is coupled to the connection terminal 4 7 and the other end is connected to the connection terminal 49. When the control signal ^ controls the connection end ", / s I ^, the control chip 40 3 will reduce the power supply M group 1 4 1 or even turn off its output power through the control circuit 4 0 5. 方 @ ^ 4 系 / 会A block diagram of another computer system not according to an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to FIG. 4 ′. In another alternative embodiment of the present invention,

12803TWF.PTD Page 12 200528973 V. Description of the invention (8) Module 1 0 receives the load voltage signal V S and the reference voltage Vref generated by the control unit 130 and generates the control signal V. To the power saving control module 1 20. The power saving control module 1 2 0 is respectively coupled to the power supply module 1 4 1 to the power supply module 1 4 3. The power supply modules 1 41 to 1 4 3 are used to output power to the devices 101 to 103 to make the computer system operate. Please continue to refer to FIG. 4. The control unit 130 is coupled to the main system 100 to control various devices in the computer system. When the control unit 30 controls the main system 100, it sends a load voltage signal vs to the load detection circuit η 2 in the detection module 11 according to the operating conditions of the devices 101 to 103. The load detection circuit 1 1 2 outputs the control signal Vc according to the comparison result between the load voltage signal vs and the reference voltage Vf f. The power saving control module 120 will control the signal V according to the control signal. To adjust the power output from the corresponding power supply module. The power-saving control module adjusts the output of the power supply. Please refer to FIG. 4 again. The power-saving control module 1 2 0 includes several power-saving control circuits such as the power-saving control circuit 1 2 2. Each power-saving circuit is correspondingly coupled to a power supply module, and each power & source supply module is correspondingly coupled to a device 1 in the main system 1 0 0 according to the device 1 0 1 Operation status of the device 1 0 3 to the power of the corresponding one of the module 1 41 to the power supply module 1 4 3 to the main system 100. An example is given below to illustrate the spirit of the present invention. Fake a CD-ROM drive. If this optical disc drive has 詈 f ^ 疋 when reading a music CD (CD) to play music, the disc & operates at a lower speed, so the required power rounding ratio ff can be used at a ratio of 7%. Usually low. this

200528973 V. Description of the invention (9), the load detection circuit 1 12 will output the control signal Vc to the power-saving control module 1 2 0 according to the comparison result of the load voltage signal vs the reference voltage \ ei. The power supply module 141 reduces the power output to the device 101 to save power consumption. The internal structure and working principle of the load detection circuit 1 12 and the power-saving control circuit 12 2 of this embodiment have been described in the previous paragraphs, so they will not be described again. Please refer to FIG. 4 again. In another embodiment, the detection module 1 10 may further include a microcontroller 1 1 4. The microcontroller 1 1 4 is coupled to the load detection circuit 1 12 to judge the operation of the devices 101 to 103 in the computer system according to the output of the load detection circuit 1 12 and inform the auxiliary software 116. When one of the devices 101 to 103 is idle or requires only part of the power to work, the microcontroller 1 1 4 can be judged by the output of the load detection circuit 1 1 2 come out. Then the microcontroller 1 1 4 will inform the auxiliary software 1 1 6 of this message, and the auxiliary software 11 6 cooperates with the microcontroller 1 1 4 and the control signal Ve, so that the power-saving control module 1 2 0 controls the corresponding power supply. The supply module reduces or even shuts down its output power to save power consumption. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a power saving device of another computer system according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, in general, a computer system also has a clock generator 15 1 which is used to provide a clock signal required by the control unit 130 and the main system 100. In this embodiment, the auxiliary software 1 16 can also adjust the output clock signal of the clock generator 15 1 according to the load condition of the computer system on the devices 101 to 103 by the control unit 130.

12803TWF.PTD Page 14 200528973 V. The frequency of invention description (ίο). In summary, the present invention uses a load detection circuit in combination with a microcontroller and auxiliary software to detect the operation of various devices in the computer system, so that the power-saving control module adjusts the power output of the power supply module. Effectively save electricity. Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with several embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some modifications and retouching without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention The scope of protection shall be determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

12803TWF.PTD Page 15 200528973 Brief Description of Drawings Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a load detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a power saving control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system according to another embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a block diagram of a power saving device of another computer system according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Illustration of diagrammatic symbols] 2 1, 2, 5, 4 1: Resistance 23, 27, 43: Capacitance 45: Control terminal 4 7, 4 9: Connection terminal 1 0 0: Main system 1 01, 103: Device 1 1 0 : Detection module 1 1 2: Load detection circuit 1 1 4: Microcontroller 1 1 6: Auxiliary software 1 2 0: Power-saving control module 1 2 2: Power-saving control circuit 1 3 0: Control unit 1 3 2: Central Processing Unit 1 3 4 · Control Chip

12803TWF.PTD Page 16 200528973 Brief description of the diagram 141 151 210 2 11 220 222 224 403 405 410 411 411 1 4 3: Power supply module clock generator AC to DC conversion circuit 2 1 3: Resistance capacitor filter comparison mode Group comparator decoder control chip control circuit switch transistor switch

12803TWF.PTD Page 17

Claims (1)

200528973 6. Application patent scope 1. A power saving device for a computer system, comprising: a load detection circuit that receives a load voltage signal generated by the computer system and compares it with a reference voltage to generate a control signal; And a power-saving control circuit, coupled to the output of the load detection circuit, for receiving the control signal, and controlling the operation of a power supply module according to the control signal. 2 · The power saving device of the computer system according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the power saving control circuit determines whether to make the power supply module reduce or turn off the output power according to the control signal. 3. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the load detection circuit comprises: an AC-to-DC conversion circuit that receives the load voltage signal to output an input voltage of DC; and A comparison module is coupled to the AC-to-DC conversion circuit to receive the input voltage, and the comparison module generates the control signal according to a result of comparison between the input voltage and the reference voltage. 4. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 3 of the patent application scope, wherein the comparison module includes a comparator for comparing the input voltage with the reference voltage and outputting the control signal. 5. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 4 of the scope of patent application, wherein the comparison module further includes a decoder, so that the comparison module decodes according to the load voltage signal, and uses it to obtain Know the operation of each of these devices in the computer system. 12803TWF.PTD Page 18 200528973_ VI. Patent Application Range 6 · The power-saving device of the computer system as described in the first item of the patent application range, wherein the AC-to-DC conversion circuit is filtered by a first and a second filter in series Circuit. 7. The power-saving device of the computer system according to item 6 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the first filter circuit includes: a first resistor whose first end receives the load voltage signal; a first capacitor whose first One end is coupled to the second end of the first resistor, and the second end of the first capacitor is grounded. The second filter circuit includes: a second resistor, the first end of which is coupled to the first end of the first resistor Two terminals, and the second terminal of the second resistor is coupled to the comparison module; and. A first terminal of a second capacitor is coupled to a second terminal of the second resistor, and a second terminal of the second capacitor is grounded. 8. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the power saving control circuit comprises: a switch having a control terminal, a first connection terminal and a second connection terminal, the control terminal An output coupled to the load detection circuit for determining whether to connect the first connection end and the second connection end according to the control signal; a control chip coupled to the first connection end; and a control circuit Is coupled to the second connection terminal, and when the first connection terminal and the second connection terminal are conducting, the control chip will enable the control circuit to control the power supply module to decrease or turn off. 12803TWF.PTD Page 19 200528973 'Sixth, the scope of patent application' Close the power output to the device. 9. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 8 of the scope of patent application, wherein the switch comprises a transistor switch, the gate terminal of which is coupled to the control terminal, and a source / drain terminal of the transistor switch is coupled. Connected to the first connection terminal, and the other source / drain terminal of the transistor switch is coupled to the second connection terminal. 1 0. — A power saving device of a computer system is based on a load voltage signal generated by a control unit in the computer system to control the power output of a plurality of power supply modules in the computer system. The computer system The power-saving device includes: a detection module that receives the load voltage signal and a reference voltage, and compares the load voltage signal with the reference voltage, and outputs a control signal based on the comparison result; and The power-saving control module is coupled to the detection module to receive the control signal. The power-saving control module determines whether to control at least one of the power supply modules to reduce or decrease the power according to the control signal. Turn off its output power. 1 1. The power-saving device for a computer system as described in item 10 of the scope of patent application, wherein the detection module includes: a load detection circuit that receives and generates signals based on the load voltage signal and the reference voltage The control signal; and a microcontroller coupled to the load detection circuit for determining the load condition of the computer system based on the load detection circuit, and the micro-control 12803TWF.PTD Page 20 200528973 6. Scope of patent application The device is based on the load condition of the computer system to determine whether to make at least one of the power supply modules reduce or turn off its output power. 1 2. The power-saving device of the computer system according to item 11 of the scope of patent application, wherein when the microcontroller learns the load status of the computer system, it further includes notifying an auxiliary software, and the auxiliary software system is used for According to the load condition of the computer system, the output power of each power supply module is adjusted. 1 3. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 12 of the scope of patent application, wherein the control unit determines the frequency of the clock signal output by a clock generator in the computer system by using the auxiliary software. size. 1 4. The power-saving device of the computer system according to item 11 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the load detection circuit includes: an AC-to-DC conversion circuit that receives the load voltage signal and outputs an input voltage of DC And a comparison module coupled to the AC-to-DC conversion circuit for receiving the input voltage, and the comparison module outputs the control signal according to a result of comparison between the input voltage and the reference voltage. 1 5. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 14 of the scope of patent application, wherein the comparison module includes: a comparator for comparing the input voltage with the reference voltage and outputting the control signal And a decoder, which enables the comparison module to decode according to the load voltage signal, so that the microcontroller learns the load condition in the computer system through the comparison module to control the power supply modules At least 12803TWF.PTD Page 21 200528973 VI. One of the scope of patent application reduces or shuts down its output power. 16. The power-saving device of the computer system according to item 10 of the scope of patent application, wherein the power-saving control module has a plurality of power-saving control circuits, and the power supply modules are correspondingly controlled according to the control signals. Its output. 1 7. The power saving device of the computer system according to item 16 of the scope of patent application, wherein each of the power saving control circuits includes: a switch having a control end, a first connection end and a second connection Terminal, the control terminal is coupled to the output of the load detection circuit to determine whether the switch is conducting according to the control signal; a control chip is coupled to the first connection terminal; and a control circuit is coupled The second connection terminal, wherein when the switch is turned on, the control chip controls the control circuit, so that the power supply module corresponding to the power saving control circuit reduces its output power. 1 8. The power-saving device of a computer system as described in item 10 of the scope of patent application, wherein the control unit includes a central processing unit and a control chipset for controlling all devices in the computer system, and the central unit The processor and the control chipset are coupled to a clock generator in the computer system, and the clock generator is used to provide a clock signal required for the operation of the computer system. 12803TWF.PTD Page 22