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1. 01 SWIL 3003597 3 LNnOO 3WIL 7 LAdNI ASy 39375 33O 01 AV 0 55 830 ON 1 A33 dO 3310353800 tO 9111553008 00 jJ3JO O10V 90 LYVLS U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 6 of 17 5 293 494 START DISPLAY NORMAL REVERSE CONTROL PROCESSING S6 01 NORMAL DISPLAY D2 NORMAL DISPLAY REVERSE DISPLAY FIG 5 Sheet 7 5 293 494 Mar 8 1994 U S Patent 9 93 83 OL 0 JO YSEWNN 135 V 3 0 OL 7TVNH31X3 LAS OL 0 30 138 0 135 OL 993 TVNH3ilX3 L3S 8 OL 993 IWWNH3INI 135 V 3 Ol 23 WNYSLNI 135 V 3 0 OL 2 TWNYALNI 135 1 0720 add Ta 0113 0032 003 M 9 3008008 9NI LI3S NOI IO3NNOO LINN 1875 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 8 of 17 5 203 494 START POWER OFF ROUTINE A1 lt BATTERY VOLTAGE NO NORMAL YES ABNORMAL DISPLAY NONCONNECTION A3 ABNORMAL DIS AC ADAPTER CONNECTED A4 15 ADAPTER POWER OURCE NORMAL A5 TURN ON LED S A12 DISPLAY FRAM CLOSED 3 POWER SWITCH ON YES A14 CTR CTR NO YE CURRENT HIGH DECREASE CHARGE UNIT VOLTAGE BY ONE STEP INCREASE CHARGE UNIT VOLTAGE BY ONE STEP 5 eee _ YES Ali TO POWER ON2. 8C 8 1994 Sheet 12 of 17 5 293 494 U S Patent FIG 9A U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 13 of 17 5 293 494 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 14 of 17 5 293 494 SYSTEM setup VERSION X HARD RAM SIZE O KB STANDARD MEMORY PORT ADDRESS 258 EXTENDING MEMORY PORT ADDRESS 208H RESUME FUNCTION DISABLE PRT A B PRT REVERSE DISPLAY DISABLE AUTO DISPLAY OFF TIME DISABLE DISPLAY MODE CGA 80 x 25 INCORPORATED RS 232C PORT COM 1 INCORPORATED MODEM ENABLE INCORPORATED MODEM POWER OFF LOW BATTERY SPEAKER SOUND ENABLE SYSTEM SPEAKER SOUND ENABLE 14 PRINTER PORT TYPE OUTPUT MODE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 o ENTER ITEM CHANGE 7 CONTENT CHANGE F1 COMPLETION F5 STANDARD SETTING WRITE CHANGED CONTENTS FIG 10 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 15 of 17 5 293 494 DISPLAY DATA TO LCD DISPLAY 37 DISPLAY DATA NORMAL REVERSE SELECTER lt FIG 11 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 16 of 17 5 293 494 SYSTEM VERSION XX eh 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HARD RAM SIZE STANDARD MEMORY PORT EXTENDING MEMORY PORT ADDRESS RESUME FUNCTION PRT A B ADDRESS REVERSE DISPLAY AUTO DISPLAY OFF DISPLAY MODE INCORPORATED RS 232C PORT INCORPORATED MODEM INCORPORATED MODEM POWER LOW BATTERY SPEAKER SOUND SYSTEM SPEAKER SOUND PRINTER PORT TYPE O KB 258 H 208
3. C1 the main CPU 11 determines whether or not data has been input from the keyboard 36 If NO the flow advances to step C6 in which the CPU 11 determines whether the display auto off mode is en abled nor not If NO in step C6 the flow returns If YES the flow goes to step C7 in which the PIT 16 measures the time during which no data is input from the keyboard 36 In step C8 the main CPU 11 deter mines whether or not the count of the RTC 17 is greater than the display auto off period set in the RAM 13 in step S4 FIG 3A If YES the flow proceeds to the next step C9 in which the CPU 11 determines whether or not data being displayed on the LC display 37 If YES in step C9 the CPU 11 sets an in display off flag stored in the general register of the RAM 13 In step C11 the main CPU 11 supplies a display off command through the system bus 10 and the power supply con trol interface 28 to the power control CPU 306 incorpo rated in the power supply circuit 30 Upon receipt of the display off command the power control CPU 306 sets display off data in the parallel I O unit 305 As a result of this the back light control cir cuit 308 stops the supplement of power to the back light lamp of the LC display 37 If YES in step C1 that is if data has been input from the keyboard 36 the main CPU 11 clears the counter in which the key input absence time is stored Then in step C3 the CPU 11 determines whether or not the in display off flag i
4. First Ed Sep 1988 pp 4 30 Toshiba 13100e Portable Personal Computer Reference Man ual First Ed Sep 1988 Figs 3A 3D p 3 9 Toshiba Jakopin version 3 07 Aug 1988 Computertechnik Kieckbusch GmbH Steve Primary Examiner Robert L Richardson Attorney Agent or Firm Oblon Spivak McClelland Maier amp Neustadt 57 ABSTRACT A personal computer wherein a setup processing is performed to select a display mode either a normal dis play mode or a reverse display mode and also to select one of the external devices such as a printer and an external floppy disk drive Also a display auto off mode and a display auto off period are set during the setup processing period is measured during which no data is input from a keyboard When the measured time value exceeds the display auto off period the supple ment of power to the back light is stopped automati cally 17 Claims 17 Drawing Sheets U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 1 of 17 5 293 494 10 208 20 20 1 T M CPU HDD 2 5 L FDD 32 FDD 20F f EXTERNAL FDD PRT sanie a CONT PRINTER 7 FRS 232C 1 DMAC UART INTERFACE 1 lt 0 X O Ln o MOUSE KEYBOARDI 36 35 DISP 37 CONT r 5 VRAM CRT L 4 KANJI 38 ROM DICTIONARY ROM Lu 5 o lt gt lt Lu VBK POWER SUPPLY
5. H DISABLE PRT DISABLE ENABLE CGA 80 X 25 COM ENABLE OFF ENABLE ENABLE OUTPUT MODE ENTER ITEM CHANGE CONTENT CHANGE F1 J COMPLETION F5 STANDARD SETTING FiO WRITE CHANGED CONTENTS F IG 12 8 1994 Sheet 17 of 17 5 293 494 U S Patent 3 IHS 831519380 l r L 3110801030 AdiHS 5 293 494 1 PERSONAL COMPUTER FOR SETTING IN SOFTWARE SETUP OPERATION NORMAL REVERSE DISPLAY CONNECTION OF AN EXTERNAL DEVICE AND AN AUTOMATIC DISPLAY OFF FUNCTION This application is a continuation of application Ser No 07 541 948 filed on Jun 22 1990 now abandoned BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a personal computer which is portable and is capable of being driven by a built in battery and more particularly to a personal computer having a setup processing function which has means for selecting and setting normal reverse display and external units such as a floppy disk drive a printer and the like and which is adapted for an arrangement where a display section is provided having a specific function section such as a back light which necessitates a relatively large power 2 Description of the Related Art In recent years a variety of portable internal bat tery operable personal computers have been developed Each of these computers has means for selecting and setti
6. PRT CONT 21 an I O interface 22 a keyboard controller 23 a display controller 24 a video RAM 25 a Kanji ROM 26 a dictionary ROM 27 and a power supply interface 28 all connected to the system bus 10 The extended RAM 18 is a large capacity memory removably inserted in the card slot formed in one side of the main body of the personal computer and the backup power VBK is supplied to the extended RAM 18 The backup 19 is also supplied with the backup power VBK and keeps storing the data required to perform a resume function The hard disk pack 20 is removably set in a dedicated housing made in one side of the main 5 293 494 5 body of the computer and consists of for example a 2 5 inch hard disk drive HDD 20A and a hard disk controller HDC 205 The floppy disk controller FDC 20F controls the floppy disk drive 32 and a external floppy disk drive 33 optionally connected to the personal computer The printer controller 21 is connected to a printer 34 externally connected to the computer The I O interface 22 is a universal asynchro nous receiver transmitter UART If necessary RS 232C interface units are connected to the I O interface 22 The keyboard controller KBC 23 controls the keyboard 36 The display controller DISP CONT 24 controls a liquid crystal display LCD 37 and the cath tube CRT 38 optionally connected to the personal computer The controller 24 includes the nor mal reverse displa
7. drive B in step E6 Then in step E7 CPU 11 assigns the external FDD 33 to drive In step 8 it sets the number of drives to two If NO in step EA that is if the drive A is not desig nated the main CPU 11 determines in step E9 whether or not the external FDD 33 is connected to the com puter If YES the CPU 11 assigns the internal FDD 32 to drive A in step E10 and assigns the external FDD 33 to drive B in step E11 When the connection of the external units to the computer is altered the system is rebooted More spe cifically the CPU 11 reads the data A B PRT set in the setup processing routine and representing the con nection of the external units and assigns usable floppy disk drive based on the FDD connection condition represented by the data With the conven tional percent computer of this type in order to reboot the system the operator needs to turn off the power switch a unit connection A B PRT switch is actuated and then the power switch is turned on again to reboot the system As has been explained the selecting and setting of the display mode either the normal display mode or the 5 293 494 11 reverse display mode and the selecting and setting of the external units are accomplished in the setup process ing routine Therefore the personal computer accord ing to the invention requires neither a display mode switch nor an external unit selection switch and is thus more simple
8. period For this reason if so the PC CPU 306 performs the power on operation as will be explained with reference to the flow chart of FIGS 8A through 8C The PC CPU 306 performs the power on operation in the following way First in step B1 the PC CPU 306 determines if the extension unit is unconnected or if the 20 25 30 35 40 45 55 60 65 12 connection of the extension unit has been completed to the expansion connector 40 If the extension unit is being connected to the extension connector 40 step B1 is repeated until the connection b is completed If YES in step B1 the flow goes to step B2 in which the PC CPU 306 causes the parallel I O unit 305 to supply a signal Sa to the DC DC converter 315 and the con verter 315 to output four operation voltages e g 5 V 12 V 9 V and 22 V Also in step B2 the PC CPU 306 turns the LED L1 on and clears the CRT counter In the next step B3 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the voltages output by the DC DC converter 315 are of normal values If NO the flow proceeds to step B25 in which the LED L3 flickers in red Then in step B26 the DC DC converter 315 is turned off whereby the main power supply of the com puter is turned off If YES in step B3 that is if the voltages output by the DC DC converter 315 are of normal values the system reset is released in step B4 whereby the main CPU 11 actually starts operating Since the load on the mai
9. the main power supply of the computer is turned off If the discharge current is not of a normal value the PC CPU 306 controls the D A converter 310 to regulate the output voltage of the charge unit 311 in step B13 Thereafter in step B14 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the output voltage of the main battery 31A is less than a reference value If the output voltage is the reference value or more the flow advances to step B17 If the output voltage of the battery 31A is less than the reference value low battery in step B14 the flow goes to step B15 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the output voltage of the battery 31A is too low to operate the computer correctly If YES in step B15 the flow goes to step B20 in which the PC CPU 306 supplies a signal representing the low battery condition to the power supply control interface 28 through the serial I O unit 317 In response to this sig 5 293 494 13 nal the control interface 28 supplies a low battery NMI signal to the main CPU 11 If the output voltage of the main battery 31A is less than the reference value but high enough to operate the personal computer the flow advances to step B16 In step B16 the PC CPU 306 controls the parallel I O unit 305 and the LED driver 309 to flicker the LED L2 in red In step B17 the PC CPU 306 checks the status of the AC adapter 29 If the AC adapter 29 is not connected to the power supply circuit 30 the flow goes t
10. to the setup processing More precisely FIG 4 is a flow chart explaining the auto display off routine FIG 5 is a flow chart representing the control of the normal reverse display processing routine FIG 6 isa flow chart showing a unit connection A B PRT pro cessing 5 293 494 7 FIG 7 is a flow chart showing the power off opera tion of the power control CPU 306 and FIGS 8A through 8C illustrate a flow chart showing the power on operation of the power control CPU 306 5 9A and 9B are perspective views showing an embodiment of the personal computer To be more precise FIG 9A shows the computer with its display unit 2 held in an opened position whereas FIG 9B illustrates the computer with its display unit 2 held in the closed position As is evident from FIG 9B a frame like projection 1a protrudes from the side of the main body 1 of the computer and surrounds the push button 301a of the power switch 301 The projection 1a prevents the button 301a from being depressed to turn on the switch 301 by accident while the computer is being transported from one place to another Hence the projection 1a is arranged to permit the switch 301 to be turned on only when the button 301a is depressed inten tionally The LEDs L1 L2 L3 are provided within inverse L shaped display windows arranged on an edge portion of and extending to upper and front wall sections of a rectangular shaped projecting section 15 formed on the main b
11. 0 45 50 55 65 14 Further the supplement of power to the entire dis play unit 2 instead of the supplement of only backlight power may be stopped upon lapse of a predetermined time from the last inputting of data Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art Therefore the inven tion in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and illustrated examples shown and described herein Accordingly various modifications may be without departing from the spirit or scope of the gen eral inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents What is claimed is 1 An information processing system including means for communicating address and data information in the system means for supplying a driving power from a battery to the system a memory a peripheral device means for accessing the peripheral device through the communicating means coupled to the supplying means for controlling the driving power to the peripheral device by using a setup utility stored in the memory the controlling means comprising said memory including means for storing a power control interval the interval representing an inter val since the peripheral device has last been ac cessed means for executing the setup utility at a power on of the system and displaying the stored power control interval means for selecting a power control interval of the system couple
12. 318 FIG 4 Sheet 2 of 17 5 293 494 Mar 8 1994 U S Patent 91d liva s ale 39400 H3MOd dNyova LINN OA 03103 Seinen gie 6 queris 4 lt Tive w 12313 NO12313Q E lN3H4no 2 7023 To j 831 Indo OL I Q31 9 03714 0 037 3 7 802 091 OL 3080105 _YAMOd LAHOIT 9 60 08 0 037 0030 ova 131170 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 3 of 17 5 203 494 START SETUP PROCESSING TURN OFF SYSTEM REBOOT FLAG 4 52 ALTERAT ION OF DISPLAY AUTO OFF NO YES SET PERMISSION INHIBITION OF S3 DISPLAY AUTO OFF MODE SET DISPLAY AUTO OFF TIME 54 ALTERATION ET YES SET NORMAL REVERSE DISPLAY FLAG S6 S7 PRESENCE OF ALTERATION OF EXTERNAL UNIT CONNECTION NO A gt YES SET CONNECTION STATUS OF 58 EXTERNAL UNIT TURN ON SYSTEM REBOOT FLAG 59 FIG U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 4 of 17 5 293 494 40 OTHER SETUP PROCESSING is 11 SYSTEM REQUIRED YES REBOOT SYSTEM 42 FIG Sheet 5 of 17 5 293 494 Mar 8 1994 U S Patent nad GNVWWOD 33JO AV 18510 LNdLNO 01 1 489 LAdLNO u 8510 OL 9913 850 135 330 0100 5 0 SWIL AX OdNI A3 430 48510
13. ROUTINE F G 7 U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 9 of 17 5 293 494 POWER ON ROUTINE EXTENSION UNIT UNCONNEC OR TED IS PREPARAT ION COMPLETED B25 ABNORMAL DISPLAY FLICKER LED POWER OFF PROCESSING B26 YES 82 0 POWER ON PROCESSING B3 ARE RESPECTIVE OUTPUT VOLTAGES NORMAL 2 POWER OFF ROUT INE RELEASE SYSTEM RESET LE gt ARE RESPECTIVE OUTPUT VOLTAGES NORMAL B5 ABSENCE _ BRESENCE OF RECEPTION COMMAND FROM MAIN CPU POWER OFF COMMAND BACK LIGHT ON OFF COMMAND 810 TURN OFF BACK LIGHT COS FIG 8A NO U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 10 of 17 5 293 494 IS HARGE DISCHARGE CURRENT OF BATTERY ORMAL NO B12 5 YES DISCHARGE CURRENT ABNORMAL REGULATE VOLTAGE OF B13 CHARGE UNIT S B14 BATTERY IN NO LOW BATTERY STATE YES Bis YES YES INOPERABLE VOLTAGE NO 816 TURN LOW BATTERY LED 87 UNCONNECTED AC ADAPTER ABNORMAL UNCONNECTED NORMAL G gt ABNORMAL ORMAL DC IN LED B18 5 819 YES RESET SWITCH NO FTH DEPRESSED 7 FIG 8B U S Patent Mar 8 1994 Sheet 11 of 17 5 293 494 821 IS DISPLAY CLOSED XE B22 IS POWER SWITCH ACTUATED B23 CTR CTR 1 B24 w EP YES TRANSMIT MAIN CPU COMMAND B2O RECEPTION OF POWER OFF COMMAND B28 YES FIG
14. United States Patent nr Saito et al O O US005293494A Patent Number 5 293 494 4 Date of Patent Mar 8 1994 54 PERSONAL COMPUTER FOR SETTING IN SOFTWARE SETUP OPERATION NORMAL REVERSE DISPLAY CONNECTION OF AN EXTERNAL DEVICE AND AN AUTOMATIC DISPLAY OFF FUNCTION 75 Inventors Toshimitsu Saito Fuchu Junko Konno Oome both of Japan 73 Assignee Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Kawasaki Japan 21 Appl 29 963 2 Filed 9 1993 Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation of Ser No 541 948 Jun 22 1990 aban doned 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Jun 23 1989 JP 1 62233 Jun 23 1989 JP Japan 1 162232 51 G06F 13 00 G06F 1 26 52 U S 395 275 395 106 395 156 395 700 58 Field of Search 395 109 156 275 700 395 325 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 604 690 8 1986 Crabtree et 395 700 4 733 351 3 1988 Peirent 395 144 VBK 4 974 151 11 1990 Advani et al 364 200 4 979 107 12 1990 Advani et al 4 980 836 12 1990 Carter et al 5 014 193 5 1991 Garner et al 364 200 OTHER PUBLICATIONS T1200 Portable Personal Computer User s Manua 1 1987 pp 4 18 4 19 Toshiba T1600 Portable Personal Computer User s Manual
15. ag presenting the se 5 293 494 9 lected display mode in the general register of the RAM 13 Next in step S7 the CPU 11 determines whether or not an external unit is connected to the computer in stead of the unit previously connected thereto If NO the flow advances to step S10 of FIG 35 If YES it proceeds to step S8 in which the flag representing the connection of the new external unit to the computer is set in the general register of the RAM 13 Then in step S9 the CPU 11 turns on the system reboot flag Further in step S10 the CPU 11 executes another setup routine Then in step S11 it determines whether or not it is necessary to reboot the system in accordance with the presence or absence of an external unit con nected to the computer That is the CPU 11 finds it necessary to reboot the system if it has determined in step S8 that an external unit is connected to the com puter In step S12 the CPU 11 executes the BIOS stored in the ROM 12 It will now be explained how the main CPU 11 exe cutes the routine of automatically turning off the LC display 37 with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG 4 The routine represented by FIG 4 is executed by using an interrupt processing while the CPU 11 is exe cuting an application program More specifically the CPU 11 executes the routine shown in FIG 4 by using the vector interrupt in response to the time out signal supplied from the PIT 16 shown in FIG 1 In step
16. ch 301 a reset switch 302 a display switch 303 and a preparation completion set switch 304 The circuit 30 comprises a parallel I O unit 305 a power control CPU PC CPU 306 an internal bus 307 a backlight control circuit 308 an LED Light Emitting Diode driver 309 a D A converter 310 a charge unit 311 two current detectors 312 and 314 a DC DC converter 315 an A D converter 316 a serial I O unit 317 a charge unit 318 and a DC DC converter 319 The switches 301 to 304 are connected to the parallel unit 305 which holds the data items showing the on or off states of the switches 301 to 304 and also the data items set to the power control CPU 306 The power control CPU PC CPU 306 controls the power supply to all other components of the power supply circuit 30 which require power More specifi cally the CPU 306 receives information of the respec tive components of the power supply circuit 30 and an instruction from the host CPU 11 through the internal bus 307 and controls the power supplied to these com ponents in accordance with the instruction from the host CPU 11 and operational status of incorporated units and externally connected units The power control 10 25 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 6 CPU 306 has functions shown in the flow charts of FIGS 7 and 8A to 8C The back light control circuit 308 controls the back light power supplied to the LC display 37 or the quan tity of back light M
17. d to the executing means means coupled to the selecting means for determin ing whether the selected power control interval is different from said stored interval means for writing the selected interval in the storage means thereby updating the stored interval when the selected interval is different from the stored interval means determining whether the peripheral device is being accessed means for counting an interval since the peripheral device has been last accessed when the determining means determines that the peripheral device is not being accessed and means coupled to the counting means for outputting a power control signal to the peripheral device when the counted interval exceeds the stored power control interval 2 The system according to claim 1 further compris ing power supply means for supplying the driving power to the peripheral device 3 The system according to claim 2 wherein the power supply means includes means for stopping the driving power to the peripheral device in response to the power contro signal 4 The system according to claim 3 further compris ing means for disabling the stopping means when the stored interval in zero 5 The system according to claim 3 wherein the power control signal includes a display off command for signalling said stopping means to stop the driving power to the display device 6 The system according to claim 2 wherein the pe ripheral device i
18. e display modes and which performs a setup pro cessing for setting a system environment said method comprising the steps of displaying on a display unit a menu screen for selecting the normal display mode or the reverse display mode in the setup processing and selectively setting the normal display mode and the reverse display mode on the select menu screen According to a fourth aspect of this invention there is provided a personal computer provided with a dis play means and an input means and capable of perform ing a setup processing for setting a system environment said computer comprising means for setting a display auto off mode during the setup processing means for measuring a period of time during which said input means remains not operated after the display auto off mode has been set means for disabling a specific func tional operation of said display means when the period of time measured by said time measuring means exceeds a predetermined value and means for enabling the spe cific functional operation of said display means when said input means is operated while the specific func tional operation is disabled According to a fifth aspect of the present invention there is provided a personal computer having a display means and an input means and capable of performing a setup processing for setting a system environment said computer comprising means for setting a display auto off mode and an auto off period in the set
19. e memory when the counted time is determined to exceed the stored interval and the display device is being supplied with the driving power 16 The method according to claim 10 further com prising the steps of disabling reboot of the system upon execution of the setup utility and enabling reboot of the system upon completion of the execution of the setup utility 17 The method according to claim 10 further com prising the steps of clearing the counted time whenever the peripheral device is accessed UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENTNO 5 293 494 DATED March 8 1994 INVENTOR S Toshimitsu SAITO et al It is certified that error appears in the above indentified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below On the title page Item 30 the lst Foreign Application Priority Data should read as follows Jun 23 1989 JP Japan 1 162233 Signed and Sealed this Nineteenth Day of July 1994 Attest US once BRUCE LEHMAN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
20. e unit 311 fall within a nor mal range If this voltage falls outside the normal range it is determined that the charge unit 311 is malfunction ing and the flow returns to step A2 On the other hand if the output voltage of the unit 311 falls within the normal range the PC CPU 306 determines in step A9 whether or not the output voltage is too high If YES in step A9 the output voltage of the charge unit 311 is reduced to a predetermined value in step A10 If NO in step A9 the voltage is increased to the predetermined value Then the flow advances to step A12 If YES in step A6 that is if the charge current of the battery 31A is of a normal value the LED L3 is turned in red in step A7 In the next step A12 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the display unit 2 is in the closed position as is shown in FIG 9B If YES the computer is automatically set in a power off state and the flow returns to step Al If the display unit 2 is in an opened position as is shown in FIG 9A the flow goes to step A13 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether the power switch 301 is turned on or not If YES the value of a CTR counter is incremented by one in step A14 In step A15 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the value of the CTR counter has reached a prede termined value N If NO the flow returns to step Al That the value of the CTR counter reaches the value N means the power switch 301 keeps its On state for a predetermined
21. ification of the setup screen shown in FIG 10 and FIG 13 is a block diagram showing a modification of the embodiment of the present invention 5 15 25 35 40 45 55 60 65 4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG 1 is a system diagram of an embodiment of a personal computer of the present invention and FIG 2 is a block diagram of a power supply circuit 30 in coporated in the computer in FIG 1 As is shown in FIG 1 the computer comprises system bus 10 and components 11 to 17 connected to the bus 10 These components are a main CPU Central Processing Unit 11 ROM Read Only Memory 12 RAM Random Access Memory 13 a DMAC Direct Memory Access Controller 14 a PIC Programmable Interrupt Controller 15 a PIT Programmable Interval Timer 16 and Real Time Clock 17 The main CPU Central Processing Unit 11 controls an entirety of the system and executes the various rou tines represented by the flow charts shown in FIGS 3A and 3B 4 to 7 and 8A through 8C The main CPU 11 serves as a host CPU to the power control CPU incor porated in the power supply circuit 30 to be described later The ROM 12 stores a basic input and output program BIOS The main CPU 11 executes the BIOS when the power switch of the computer is turned on to read the setup data stored in a specific area of the RAM 13 or register to determine the system environment to fur ther read a bo
22. iled description of the preferred embodi ments given below serve to explain the principles of the invention FIG 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a personal computer according to the present inven tion FIG 2 is a block diagram showing the power supply incorporated in the computer shown in FIG 1 FIGS 3A and 3B illustrate a flow chart representing the setup processing routine for the personal computer shown in FIG 1 FIG 4 is a flow chart explaining the auto display off processing routine for the computer shown in FIG 1 FIG 5 is a flow chart showing the normal reverse display processing routine for the computer shown in FIG 1 FIG 6 is a flow chart showing the unit connection status processing routine for the computer shown in FIG 1 FIG 7 is a flow chart showing the power off process ing routine executed by the power control CPU 306 incorporated in the computer shown in FIG 1 FIGS 8A through 8C illustrate a flow chart showing the power on processing routine executed by the power contro CPU 306 used in the computer illustrated in FIGS 1 and 2 FIGS 9A and 9B are perspective views showing an embodiment of the personal computer FIG 10 is a diagram showing an example of the setup screen in the embodiment of the present invention FIG 11 is a block diagram illustrating an arrange ment of a normal reverse display switching circuit in corporated in the computer FIG 12 is a diagram showing a mod
23. in structure than the conventional personal computer An operation of the PC CPU 306 will now be de scribed with reference to FIGS 7 and 8A through 8C When the power supply circuit 30 is OFF the PC CPU 306 determines in step Al whether or not the output voltage of the battery 31A is of a normal value If NO the flow goes to step A2 In step A2 the PC CPU 306 supplies control data to the LED driver 309 through the internal bus and the parallel I O unit 305 to thereby flicker LED L2 in red If the output voltage of the battery 31A is of the normal value the PC CPU 306 determines in step A3 whether or not the AC adapter 29 is connected to the charge unit 311 If NO the flow goes to step A12 If YES the flow advances to step A4 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the output voltage of the AC adapter 29 is of a normal value If NO the flow goes to step A2 which the PC CPU 306 causes the LED L2 to flicker in red If the output voltage of the adapter 29 is of a normal value the flow advances to step Ac in which the LED L3 is turned on in red Next in step A6 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the charge current of the charge unit 311 is of a normal value The charge current may be determined from the difference between the readings of the current detectors 312 and 314 If the charge current is of an abnormal value in step A6 the PC CPU 306 determines in step A8 whether or not the output voltage of the charg
24. ing function in a set up processing Another object of the invention is to provide a porta ble and built in battery operable personal computer which can extremely reduce without decreasing the operability a power dissipation of a display provided with a specific function section such as a back light which consumes relatively large power According to a first aspect of the invention there is 5 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 provided a personal computer having display modes of 65 a normal display and a reverse display and performing a setup processing for setting a system environment said computer comprising means for selectively setting ei 2 ther the normal display mode o the reverse display mode in the setup processing and means for controlling the normal display mode or the reverse display mode set by the setting means According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a personal computer capable of performing a setup processing for setting a system environment said computer comprising means for setting a connec tion status of a unit connected to said computer in the setup processing and means for specifying the system environment based on data from said setting means According to a third aspect of this invention there is provided a method of setting a normal display mode or reverse display mode in a personal computer which is provided with a display means having normal and re vers
25. inputting the characters or numerals and altering the item If the operator pushes the F1 key no items are altered and the system setup routine ends If the opera tor pushes the F5 key default values are set If the operator pushes the F10 key the parameters set and displayed on the setup screen are finally fixed The setup items which are concerned with the pres ent invention are PRT A B REVERSE DIS PLAY and AUTO DISPLAY OFF TIME PRT A and B stand for a printer a drive A and a drive B As FIG 1 shows the personal computer has a port which enables either the external FDD 33 or the printer 34 to be connected to the computer An operator connects the printer or the external FDD to the computer main body through the connector as the need arises When the printer 34 is connected to the computer the opera tor input PRT from the keyboard 36 on the setup menu screen When the external FDD 33 is connected the operator designates the drive A or B from the key board 36 as will be explained later in detail When the reverse display is desired ENABLE is input for the REVERSE DISPLAY and when the normal display is desired DISABLE is input As for item AUTO DISPLAY OFF TIME the operator inputs a desired period of time if the operation wishes to have the supply of the back light power automatically stopped upon lapse of the desired period from the last inputting of data The setup processing
26. l I O unit 317 In response to this command the control interface 28 out puts a power off signal NMI to the main CPU 11 In step B28 upon receipt of a power off command supplied from the main CPU 11 through the serial I O unit 317 the PC CPU 306 clears the counter CTR and drives the parallel I O unit 305 The parallel I O unit 305 generates the signal Sa which is supplied the DC DC converter 315 The DC DC converter 315 is thereby turned off and the supplement of power to the various components of the computer is stopped How ever the backup power VBK is continuously supplied to the components of the personal computer The present invention is not limited to the embodi ment described above In the above embodiment not only ENABLE but also a display auto off period is input in order to set the display auto off mode Instead it may suffice to input ENABLE only as is shown in the setup display screen shown in FIG 12 and the supply of back light power will then be automatically stopped upon lapse of a predetermined fixed period starting with the last inputting of data from the key board 36 Moreover the supplement of back light power may be stopped upon lapse of a predetermined period from the last inputting of data from an input device other than a keyboard such as a mouse a touch panel or a hand writing device of the type which has as is shown in FIG 13 a tablet and a controller the keyboard 36 20 25 3
27. logic 0 The operation of the embodiment of the invention described above will now be explained with reference to the drawings When the operator pushes the button 301a thus turn ing on the power switch 301 main CPU 11 executes the BIOS stored in the ROM 12 whereby the CPU loads the boot block stored in the FDD 32 into the RAM 13 The CPU 11 executes the boot block to load the DOS program from the FDD 32 into the RAM 13 Then the main CPU 11 executes the DOS program and the oper ator operates the keyboard 36 inputting a setup com mand SETUP In response to the setup command the CPU 11 causes the LC display 37 to display the setup screen shown in FIG 10 and then starts executing the setup processing routine as is shown in the flow chart of FIGS 3A and 3B As is shown in FIG 10 various items are displayed 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 8 in the setup screen such as hard RAM size standard memory port address extended memory port ad dress resume function PRT A B reverse dis play display auto off display mode incorpo rated RS 232C port incorporated modem porated modem power low battery speaker sound system speaker sound and printer type The operator pushes the arrow keys thereby moving the cursor on the screen to the desired item displayed then depresses the key and depresses character keys thus
28. n power supply changes when the system reset is re leased the PC CPU 306 again determines in step B5 whether or not the output voltages of the DC DC con verter 315 are of normal values If NO in step B5 the flow goes to step B25 and then to step B26 If YES in step B5 the PC CPU 306 checks in step B6 the presence of a command supplied from the main CPU 11 through the serial I O unit 317 If there is not such a command the flow goest to step B11 If there is such a command the flow goest to step B7 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether this is a power off command If YES in step B7 the PC CPU 306 turns off the DC DC converter 315 in step B26 If NO in step B7 the PC CPU 306 determines in step B8 whether or not the command is a back light on off command If YES the PC CPU 306 controls in step B9 the back light control circuit 308 thus starting the power supply to the backlight lamp when this is an on command or stopping the power supply when this is an off com mand If NO in step B8 that is if the command is other than a backlight on off command the PC CPU 306 processes the command in step B10 Then in step B11 the PC CPU 306 determines whether or not the charge and discharge currents of the main battery 31A are of normal values If YES the flow advances to step B14 If NO the fact that the discharge current is not of normal value is detected in step B12 and the flow goes to step B25 and then to step B26 whereby
29. ncludes a display device 7 The system according to claim 6 further compris ing means for determining whether the display device is supplied by the driving power supplied by the 5 293 494 15 power supply means when a counted time exceeds the stored interval and means for setting a display off flag in the memory when the display device is determined to be sup plied by the driving power supplied by the power supply means 8 The system according to claim 1 further compris ing means for disabling a reboot of the system upon exe cution of the setup utility and means for enabling a reboot of the system upon com pletion of the execution of the setup utility 9 The system according to claim 1 further compris ing means coupled to the counting means for clearing the counted time whenever the peripheral device is determined to be accessed 10 A method for controlling a driving power to a peripheral device in an information processing system comprising the steps of executing a setup utility stored in a computer memory at a power on of the system and displaying a stored power control interval for the peripheral device the power control interval representing an interval after which when the peripheral device is not ac cessed the driving power to the peripheral device is not to be stopped selecting a power control interval for the system determining whether the selected interval is different from the stored i
30. ng a normal reverse display mode and external devices connected to the computer from a view point of operability and functionality In a prior art the selec ting setting means is realized by manual switches which are arranged on the main body of the computer and positioned such that the operator can easily operate them For this reason a conventional personal com puter is provided with many switches resulting in com plicated operations and hardware arrangement Furthermore this type of personal computer must be operated not only with an AC adapter but by a built in battery in order to ensure the usability irrespective of a place where it is used In order to satisfy such demand a back lit liquid crystal display LCD may be used However as is well known in the art a back lit LCD consumes a relatively large amount of power Therefore it is difficult to use the personal computer for a long time with only the use of a normal built in battery On the contrary if a large capacity built in battery is used in order to satisfy this requirement a weight of the built in battery is in creased resulting in a decreased convenience of porta bility SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a personal computer which excludes a switch for setting a normal reverse display a switch for setting external units and the like and simplifies the operability and the hardware arrangement thereof by realizing the sett
31. nterval when the selected interval is different from the stored interval storing the selected interval in the mem ory to update the stored interval determining whether the peripheral device is being accessed and counting when the peripheral device is not being accessed an interval since the periph eral device has last been accessed and outputting a power control signal to the peripheral device when the counted interval exceeds the 10 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 65 16 stored interval thereby controlling the driving power to the peripheral 11 The method according to claim 10 further com prising the step of supplying the driving power to the peripheral device 12 The method according to claim 11 further com prising the step stopping the driving power to the peripheral device in response to the power control signal 13 The method according to claim 12 further com prising the step of disabling the stopping step when the selected interval is zero 14 The method according to claim 12 wherein when the power control signal includes a display off com mand the stopping step stops the driving power to the display device 15 The method according to claim 11 further com prising the steps of determining whether the display device is being sup plied with the driving power by the power supply ing step when the counted time exceeds the stored interval and setting a display off flag in th
32. o control the LC display 37 so as to display data in the normal mode If NO the CPU 11 causes the controller 24 to control the LC display 37 so as to display data in the reverse mode In the case of the reverse display the display data is supplied to the LC display 37 after it has been inverted by the NOT circuit 245 used in the dis play controller 24 With reference to the flow chart of FIG 6 it will now be explained how the main CPU 11 performs an alteration processing of a unit externally connected to the personal computer First in step E1 the CPU 11 determines whether or not the printer 34 has been designated If YES the CPU 11 sets the drive designation for the internal FDD to drive in step E2 and then sets the number of drives to one in step E3 Since according to the present inven tion the printer 34 and the external FDD 33 are con nected to the personal computer through a common connector the external FDD 33 is not connected to the personal computer when the printer 34 is connected thereto Accordingly if the printer 34 is designated only the internal FDD 32 can be used If NO in step E1 that is if the printer 34 has not been designated the main CPU 11 determines in step EA whether or not the drive is designated If YES the flow goes to step E5 in which the CPU 11 determines whether or not the external FDD 33 is connected to the personal computer If YES in step E5 the CPU 11 assigns the internal FDD 32 to
33. o step B19 If the AC adapter 29 is connected to the circuit 30 and its output voltage is of an abnormal value the flow jumps to the steps B25 and B26 If the AC adapter 29 is connected the circuit 30 and its output voltage is of a normal value the flow goes to step B18 in which the LED L3 is turned in red In the next step B19 the PC CPU 306 determines whether the reset switch 302 is ON or OFF If the reset switch is ON the flow proceeds to step B27 in which the PC CPU 306 sets the clear terminal of the main CPU 11 at a low level thereby resetting the main CPU 11 through the serial I O unit 307 and the power sup ply control interface 28 Then the flow goes to step BS If NO in step B19 that is if the reset switch 302 is OFF the flow advances to step B21 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether o not the display unit 2 is in the closed position If YES the flow goes to step B5 If NO the flows goes to step B22 in which the PC CPU 306 determines whether the power switch 301 is ON or OFF If OFF the flow returns to step B5 If ON the flow goes to step B23 in which the PC CPU 306 incre ments the value of the counter CTR by one Then in step B24 the PC CPU 306 determines whether the value of the counter CTR has reached a predetermined value M If NO the flow returns to step B5 If YES the flow advances to step B20 in which the CPU 306 supplies power off command to the power supply control interface 28 through the seria
34. ody 1 Accordingly the display states of the LEDs L1 L2 can be seen not only when the display unit frame is opened but also when the display unit frame is closed FIG 10 shows an example of the setup screen in the above embodiment FIG 11 is a block diagram illustrat ing the normal reverse display switching circuit incor porated in the personal computer As is shown in FIG 11 the display mode switching circuit comprises reg ister 241 a selector 243 connected to the output of the register 241 and a NOT circuit 245 connected to one input of the selector 243 When ENABLED is input for REVERSE DISPLAY on the setup screen the main CPU 11 sets a logic 1 in the register 241 and supplies an I O write signal IOW thereto When DISABLED is input for REVERSE DISPLAY on the setup screen the CPU 11 sets a logic in the register 241 and supplies an I O write signal IOW thereto The register 241 supplies logic 1 or 0 from its output terminal Q to the selector 243 In the mean time display data is supplied to the first input terminal A of the selector and to the NOT circuit 245 The NOT circuit 245 inverts the data and the inverted display data is supplied to the second input terminal B of the selector 243 Thus the selector 243 outputs the display data to the LC display 37 when the input signal is logic 1 and the inverted display data to the LC display 37 when input signal is
35. ore precisely the circuit 308 supplies back light power determined by adjusting the back light quantity controlling variable resistor not shown and stops supplying the back light power to the LC display 37 under the control of the power control CPU 306 when the auto display off mode is set in the setup display screen The LED driver 309 controls the ON of various LEDs including a power speed LED L1 low battery LED L2 and an AC adapter LED L3 all illustrated in FIGS 9A and 9B under the control of the power control CPU 306 Each of the LEDs consists of a dual color type LED of red and green The LED driver 309 turns LED L1 in green when the power switch is turned on and the computer operates on a high speed clock signal and turns LED L1 in red when the computer operates on a low speed clock signal The LED driver 309 flickers the LED L2 in red in a low battery state and turns LED L2 in orange red green while the main battery 31A is being charged fast and turns LED L2 in green when the charging operation is completed Furthermore the driver 309 turns LED L3 in red when the AC adapter 209 is effectively connected to the computer and flickers LED L3 when the power supply circuit 30 is faulty while the AC adapter 29 is connected to the computer effectively The D A converter 310 converts the charge control data i e the digital data output from the power control CPU 306 into an analog signal which is supplied
36. ot block from a floppy disk drive FDD 32 and to load an disk operating system DOS pro gram stored in the FDD 32 into the RAM 13 The RAM 13 stores the DOS Disk Operating System pro gram the system programs shown in FIGS 3A to 8C application programs and various data including setup data to be described later Backup power VBK is sup plied to the RAM 13 from the power supply circuit 30 Hence the data stored in the RAM 13 is not vanished even if the power switch of the computer is turned off The DMAC 14 performs a direct memory access control The PIC 15 can be set by a program The PIT 16 can be set by a program and supplies an interrupt signal to the main CPU 11 under control of the PIC 15 when its count reaches a value set by a program In response to the interrupt signal the main CPU 11 exe cutes vector interrupt processing routine to thereby execute a routine of determining whether or not data has been input from a keyboard 36 within a predeter mined time If no data has been input within the prede termined time the main CPU 11 will execute auto dis play off routine which will later be described in detail The RTC 17 is a timer module which has a dedicated built in battery not shown and measures time its out put represents the present time As is shown in FIG 1 the personal computer further comprises an extended RAM 18 a backup RAM 19 a hard disk pack 20 a floppy disc controller FDC 20F printer controller
37. routine will now be described in detail with reference to the flow chart shown in FIGS 3A and 3B In the first step S1 the main CPU 11 turns off the system reboot flag thus disabling system reboot Other wise the CPU 11 will automatically reboot the system since the system reboot flag is on when the setup pro cessing routine FIGS 3A and 3B is completed When the system is rebooted the BIOS stored in the ROM 12 will be executed and the parameters stored in the RAM 13 will be read out To prevent the reading of these parameters the system reboot flag must be turned off at first in the setup routine Then in step S2 the CPU 11 determines whether or not the period of time set for the display auto off has been altered If NO the flow proceeds to step 55 If YES the flow goes to step S3 in which either a display auto off enable flag or a display auto off disable flag is set in a general register not shown incorporated in the RAM 13 The display auto off mode is disabled if no period of time is set at all and is enabled if any period of time is set In step 54 the CPU 11 sets the period of time input by the operator in the RAM 13 In step 55 the CPU 11 determines whether or not the display mode has been altered either from the normal display mode to the reverse display mode or from the reverse display mode to the normal display mode If NO the flow goes to step S7 If YES it goes to step S6 in which the CPU 11 sets the fl
38. s play of a screen for a personal computer having a dis play means and an input means and capable of perform ing a setup processing for setting a system environment said method comprising the steps of a displaying a setup menu screen including a setting of the display auto off mode on said display means b setting the display auto off mode and an auto display off period c measuring a period of time for which said input means is not actuated after the display auto off mode has been set d disabling a specific functional operation of said display means when the period of time measured ex ceeds the auto display off period and e detecting an input from said input means while the specific function is disabled and enabling the specific fucntional opera tion of the display means in response to the input Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and ob tained by means of the instrumentalities and combina tions particularly pointed out in the appended claims BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings which are incorpo rated in and constitute a part of the specification illus trate presently preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the general description given above and the deta
39. s set If YES the flow goes to step C4 in which the in display off flag is turned off that is the in display flag is set In this case the CPU 11 out puts a display command in step C5 Upon receipt of the display command the power control CPU 306 supplies a display designation command to the parallel I O unit 305 As a result the back light control circuit 308 supplies the back light power to the LC display 37 As has been described when the display auto off function is enabled and when the key input absence time reaches the set time the supplement of back light 5 20 25 35 40 45 55 60 65 10 power to the LC display 37 is stopped The back light lamp incorporated in the LC display 37 is thus turned off When data is input from the keyboard 36 thereafter the back light lamp is turned on immediately and thus the input operation is enabled The display auto off routine thus performed therefore save back lighting power successfully lengthening the lifetime of the main battery 31A the main CPU 11 is to execute a demonstration program wherein no data is input from the keyboard 36 at all the display auto off mode is disabled Then the LC display 37 keeps on displaying the demonstration data If the normal reverse display mode is altered CPU 11 determines whether the display mode selected is the normal display mode or not in step D1 of FIG 5 If YES the CPU 11 causes the display controller 24 t
40. to the charge unit 311 The unit 311 charges the main battery 31A in accordance with the charge control signal out put from the D A converter 310 under the contro of the power control CPU 306 The current detector 312 detects a total current flowing in the computer includ ing the charge of current the main battery 31A The current detector 314 detects the current excluding the backup current flowing in the circuits in the computer The DC DC converter 315 produces voltages for driv ing the components of the computer from the power supplied from the AC adapter 29 via the current detec tor 314 or the power supplied from the main battery 31A The A D converter 316 converts the currents de tected from the detectors 312 and 314 the voltage out put from the main battery 31A the voltages output from the DC DC converter 315 and the like all being analog values to digital values The digital values output from the A D converter 316 are supplied to the power control CPU 306 The serial I O unit 317 trans fers data between the power control CPU 306 and the main CPU 11 The charge unit 318 charges the subbat tery 31B The DC DC converter 319 converts the pow ers supplied from the batteries 31A and 31B to backup power VBK FIGS 3A and 3B form a flow chart explaining the setup processing routine executed under control of the main CPU 11 FIGS 3 to 6 are flow charts explaining the routines of the setup processing and processings related
41. up processing means for measuring a period of time during which said input means remains not operated after the display auto off mode has been set means for disabling specific func tional operation of said display means when the period of time measured by the time measuring means exceeds the auto off period and means for enabling the specific functional operation of said display means when said input means is operated while the specific functional operation is disabled According to a sixth aspect of this invention there is provided a method of automatically disabling a display of a screen for a personal computer having a display means and an input device and capable of performing a setup processing for setting a system environment said method comprising the steps of a displaying a setup menu screen including a setting of the display auto off mode on said display means b setting the display auto off mode c measuring a period of time for which said input means is not actuated after the display auto off mode has been set d disabling a specific functional operation of said display means when the period of time measured exceeds a predetermined value and e detect ing an input from said input means while the specific function is disabled and enabling the specific functional operation of said display means 5 293 494 3 According to a seventh aspect of this invention there is provided a method of automatically disabling a di
42. y switching circuit illustrated in FIG 11 The video 25 is supplied with the backup power VBK and stores video data The Kanji ROM 26 stores the patterns of Kanjis Chinese charac ters correspond to Kanji codes The dictionary ROM 27 stores a table showing the correspondence between Kanjis and the corresponding spellings in Kanas Japa nese syllabics which is used to convert words spelled in Kanas are converted to words spelled in Kanjis The power supply control interface PS IF 28 connects the power supply circuit 30 to the main CPU 11 through the system bus 10 When necessary an AC adapter 29 is plugged into the main body of the personal computer It rectifies the commercially available AC power into a DC power of a predetermined voltage An expansion connector 40 is connected at one end to the system bus 10 An expan sion unit is selectively connected to the other end of the connector 40 The power supply circuit 30 an interlli gent power supply has a power control CPU PC CPU 306 and will be described later with reference to FIG 2 A main battery 31A which is a chargeable battery pack is removably mounted on the main body of the personal computer sub battery 31B which is also chargeable is incorporated in the main body of the computer FIG 2 is a block diagram illustrating the power sup ply circuit 30 incorporated in the personal computer shown in FIG 1 In FIG 2 the circuit 30 has a power swit
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