Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support – Computer power control – Power conservation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-13
2001-08-07
Myers, Paul R. (Department: 2181)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: support
Computer power control
Power conservation
C713S310000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272645
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 87113260, filed Aug. 12, 1998, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a kind of power management and control circuit of a computer system, and more specifically relates to a wake-up control circuit used to wake a personal computer or work station when the micro processor is in standby mode. The invention further specifically relates to a wake-up control circuit to wake up a computer by using the peripherals rather than the panel switch.
2. Description of Related Art
The Macintosh personal computer manufactured by Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., uses specified keys on the keyboard to turn the computer on or off. The method is very convenient.
On the other hand, Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., provides a specification for a personal computer, called The ATX specification. In the ATX specification, power is no longer controlled by a mechanical switch. The ATX specification manages and controls the power of the whole computer system by a control chipset within the computer. This is a soft power control concept, which uses various methods to turn the computer on or off and is not limited to mechanically switching the power on or off.
As an example of ATX specification version 2.01, the standby power 5VSB is DC 5V, which provides a maximum output current of 0.7A in order to drive the basic power management circuit of a computer system in the power-off state. The management circuit can be set up to process various convenient functions. For example, the system can be set up in advance so that the system can be activated at a predetermined time at night.
Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba, which define different standby modes between operation and power-off of a computer system, provide a specification of an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI). The computer decides an appropriate standby mode for saving power according to the amount of tasks the computer has. In accordance with the amount of power saving, from small to large, there are four standby modes, which are S
1
:stop CPU clock, S2:suspend to RAM,S3:suspend to disk and S4: soft off. When the computer is in the mode of suspending to RAM, the S2 mode, the clock pulses on the mainboard other than the real-time clock are all suspended; therefore, all tasks are stopped because no clocks are inputted to the CPU and other circuits. When the user tries to wake up the computer, the user cannot wake up the computer system by a keyboard controller or infrared controller (or serial port) because all of the peripherals are suspended. Under these conditions, the user has to push a button to inform the computer to resume operations. Accordingly, the conventional computer system can not be woken up by its peripherals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the foregoing description, an object of this invention is to provide a solution to wake up a computer system from standby mode based on the current ACPI specification.
Another object of this invention is to provide a wake-up control circuit, which wakes up a computer system from standby mode. The wake-up control circuit has to separate the input/output buffer at the original peripheral circuit, which prevents receiving abnormal signal when the computer system returns to operation mode. Furthermore, the output signal of the wake-up control circuit must couple to the output signal of a button on a panel to form Wire-And (the input signal of the chipset is assumed to Active-Low).
According to the object mentioned above, a wake-up control circuit used to wake up a computer system from standby mode by peripherals is provided. This control circuit couples between a chipset on the mainboard of the computer, at least one peripheral controller, and external peripherals, and is built into the computer. The control circuit comprises at least an input/output buffer, a decoder, a control register, a data register, a comparator and an AND logic gate. The input/output buffer is coupled between the peripherals and the peripheral controller in order to buffer the output signal. When the input/output buffer is enabled, the peripherals and the peripheral controller are separated, and when the input/output buffer is disabled, the peripherals can communicate with the peripheral controller each other. When the decoder couples to the peripherals is enabled, the decoder receives and decodes the output signal from the peripherals. The control register coupled to the mainboard for temporarily storing computer system control data controls the input/output buffer and the decoder according to the control data. The comparator coupled to the decoder and the data register is used to compare the output data of the decoder with a predetermined wake-up mode and then outputs a comparison result signal. The AND logic gate receives the comparison result signal and an output signal from the panel switch of the computer system, and generates a signal which is input into the chipset on the mainboard.
Consequently, the computer system can be woken up and returned to normal operation mode by the peripherals rather than by the panel switch according to the invention. This invention provides a more convenient and friendly method for the user.
According to the object mentioned above, a wake-up method used to wake up a computer system from standby mode by peripherals is provided. The computer system comprises a least a peripheral, a peripheral controller, a wake-up control circuit and a chipset. The method comprises the following steps. Store the user's predetermined operation mode for waking up the computer system before the system is in standby mode. Separate the peripherals and the peripheral controller after the system is in standby mode so that the output signal of the peripherals is received by the wake-up control circuit rather than by the peripheral controller. If the output signal of the peripheral is consistent with the user's predetermined operation mode for waking up the system, the wake-up control circuit wakes up the computer and then brings the system back to the normal operation mode. The peripheral can then communicate with the peripheral controller again.
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Huang Jiawei
J.C. Patents
Myers Paul R.
Windbond Electronics Corp.
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