Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support – Computer power control – Power conservation
Reexamination Certificate
1997-04-09
2001-11-06
Sheikh, Ayaz (Department: 2155)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support
Computer power control
Power conservation
C713S300000, C713S310000, C713S320000, C713S322000, C713S323000, C360S075000, C330S265000, C307S064000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314523
ABSTRACT:
PRIORITY FILING DATE
Priority filing date for the present application is claimed under Provisional Application, Ser. No. 60041810, filed Apr. 8, 2000, 1997, titled “APPARATUS FOR MANAGING POWER CONSUMPTION WITHIN A SYSTEM WITH INDEPENDENTLY POWERED DEVICES.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power management devices within a powered system. More particularly still, the present invention relates to managing the power requirements of a system having a plurality of independently powered and operable devices integrated in a single system.
2. Prior Art
Power conservation in consumer appliances has come a long way from the early days of simply turning the appliance off. Simple timing devices were added to the appliance to turn it on at a select time and then turn it off at another select time in one attempt to conserve energy, while providing the consumer with some added flexibility. Another way of determining when it was appropriate to power an apparatus off was to monitor the level of activity for that appliance. When the level of inactivity for the appliance reached a certain level, the system would go into a sleep mode and power down entirely. Either the appliance had to be manually turned on again, or the sleep mode could be ended, but in any event the information of activity at the time of suspension would be lost and the system would start over.
Next, appliances became integrated so that the operation of the main unit would control the individual devices. This was helpful where commonality was desired. For example, audio components have become integrated such that the amplifier portion, the tuner portion, the tape playback portion, and the CD drive portion all share the same power source and can be selectively turned on and off by the user while the main system is still powered on. For example, the user may be listening to the tuner and have turned off the tape player and the CD player. These type of components, however, require that the user actively turn off the device rather than the device turning off automatically upon lack of use. Further, in these component systems, the subsystems typically do not function or operate should the main unit be powered down.
In another consumer appliance area, the computer industry, energy conservation is an important feature in many peripheral devices and main systems. For example, many monitors are now Energy Star compliant such that they turn off after a given period of inactivity. This conserves energy and if the device is a video monitor, it lessens the exposure of the user to the magnetic field generated. Likewise, many printers are now Energy Star compliant in that they power down after a preselected level of inactivity when no print operations have been requested. Even before Energy Star standards had been established and agreed upon, hard disk drives would power down after a certain level of inactivity as would floppy disk drives and CD drives. During all this inactivity, however, the main system would stay active and online at full power regardless of the status of the peripheral devices connected to the main system.
Laptop computers, typically with their great need to conserve energy because of limited battery life, have optimized the art of powering down specific components within the system. Again, screens have been powered down, as have hard disk drives, as have other peripheral devices that typically drain power with constant steady use. But these power management improvements are still lacking in that if the main system needs to be powered down, then the entire system is nonfunctional.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved way of managing power to different components within a consumer appliance even if the main powered element is to be shut down due to inactivity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, an apparatus having a plurality of independently-operable and powerable devices is disclosed. The apparatus includes a plurality of power rails, a second plurality of ground planes, and a power management circuit. One of the power rails is associated with one of the plurality of independently operable devices. One of the plurality of ground planes is selectively associated with one or more of the plurality of power rails. The power management circuit couples to the plurality of power rails and the second plurality of ground planes, for selectively deactivating at least one of the plurality of power rails independently of any of the other plurality of power rails.
The independently operable devices are selected from a group of analog signal processing devices, digital signal processing devices, as well audio analog and video analog processing devices. Further, these independently operable devices typically operate at different voltage levels, while some devices share the same voltage level for operation and can share the same ground plane, others cannot share the same ground plane or voltage requirements.
The specific apparatus includes a circuit for providing selective power engagement and disablement for these plurality of integrated devices. This particular circuit includes a power source for each of the plurality of integrated devices. This power source is the main power supply that is subdivided into various power sources for operating each of the integrated devices where some of these power devices actually share the same power supply. Switching circuitry is provided that is coupled to each of the plurality of integrated devices. The switching circuitry, upon activation, engages or disengages the power source to the particular integrated device so designed to facilitate the ability to separately select which integrated device is to be powered off, isolation ground planes are provided for each of the integrated devices. Some of these devices may share the same ground plane, while others may have independent and isolated ground planes as needed. The switching circuitry further includes a first and second activator switch, which are arranged in the fashion of a single pole/double throw switch. A control switch is further included that is coupled to the power supply and to each of the first and second activator switches. The control switch enables both the first and second switch to engage, thus enabling or disabling the power supply upon activation by the control switch.
Lastly, a method is provided for discretely powering the integrated devices. In this method, the system associates a selected power source to the plurality of integrated devices. Again, the power source may be one or multiple sources for each of the integrated devices as desired. Next, the system associates each of the integrated devices to a preselected ground plane. The system then switches one of the plurality of integrated devices between a power-on and a power-off state independently of any of the other plurality of integrated devices, provided that integrated device is tied to a separate power supply.
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Compaq Computer Corporation
Jean Frantz
Sharp Comfort & Merrett P.C.
Sheikh Ayaz
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