Information processing system and method of controlling the same

• US 20050257040A1
• Filed: 05/12/2005
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Yong Hoon, Choi, Seung-beom, Na, Kwangyun
• Granted Patent: US 7,337,254 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power

Abstract

An information processing system operating in response to a remote control signal transmitted from a remote controller, the information processing system including a remote signal receiver to receive the remote control signal; an interrupt generator to generate a system management interrupt signal when receives the remote control signal by the remote signal receiver; and a controller to process the remote control signal received by the remote signal receiver and to control the information processing system to operate in correspondence to the remote control signal when the interrupt generator generates the system management interrupt signal.

Claims

1. An information processing system operating in response to a remote control signal transmitted from a remote controller, the information processing system comprising:

a remote signal receiver to receive the remote control signal;

an interrupt generator to generate a system management interrupt signal when receiving the remote control signal from the remote signal receiver; and

a controller to process the remote control signal received by the remote signal receiver and to control the information processing system to operate according to the remote control signal when the interrupt generator generates the system management interrupt signal.

2. The information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a wakeup unit to transmit a wakeup signal to the interrupt generator and to wake up the information processing system in response to the remote control signal received by the remote signal receiver when the information processing system is in a power-off mode or a power manage mode.

3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the controller comprises:

a system management interrupt handler of a Basic Input/Output System to process and convert the remote control signal into corresponding data when the system management interrupt signal is generated.

4. The information processing system according to claim 3, further comprising:

a system management memory that is accessible when the system management interrupt signal is generated, wherein

the system management interrupt handler is loaded into the system management memory when the information processing system is turned on.

5. The information processing system according to claim 3, wherein the controller transmits the converted data to a predetermined location via a keyboard controller.

6. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined location comprises at least one of a device driver, a launcher program, or an application program.

9. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the remote signal receiver includes a radio frequency receiver to receive a radio frequency signal as the remote control signal and/or an infrared sensor to receive an infrared signal as the remote control signal.

10. The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein the interrupt generator has a general purpose input port to receive the remote control signal and transmits the system management interrupt signal to a processor which then turns over control authority of the information processing system to the system management interrupt handler stored in the system management memory.

11. The information processing system according to claim 10, wherein the system management interrupt handler analyzes a waveform of the remote control signal to implement a corresponding operation of the information processing system.

12. The information processing system according to claim 9, wherein the information processing system is a computer system.

7. A method of controlling an information processing system operating in response to a remote control signal transmitted from a remote controller, the method comprising:

inputting the remote control signal from the remote controller to an interrupt generator;

allowing the interrupt generator to generate a system management interrupt signal whenever the remote control signal is inputted; and

processing the inputted remote control signal and controlling the information processing system to operate according to the remote control signal when the interrupt generator generates the system management interrupt signal.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting a wakeup signal to the interrupt generator to wake up the information processing system in response to the remote control signal when the information processing system is in a power-off mode or a power manage mode.

13. A method of controlling an information processing system, comprising:

processing a control signal via a system management interrupt handler while the information processing system is operating, converting the control signal into data, and transmitting the converted data to appropriate locations; and

temporarily storing the system management interrupt handler in memory when the information processing system is booted, the memory is only accessible to a system management interrupt mode at which a system management interrupt signal is generated,

wherein when the control signal is received by the system after the system is booted, the system management interrupt signal is generated and independently controlled by the system management interrupt handler temporarily stored in the memory.

14. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

generating the system management interrupt signal according to the control signal;

transmitting the generated system management interrupt signal to a processor; and

turning over control authority of the information processing system to the system management interrupt handler stored in the memory.

15. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

wherein the booting is a power on self test-booting performed to determine a connection state of at least one peripheral unit, such that during the power on self test-booting, the memory is initialized to be accessible to the system management interrupt mode for processing the system management interrupt signal.

16. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

analyzing a waveform of the control signal to determine whether a custom code for the control signal is available such that a corresponding operation of the information processing system is implemented.

17. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the analyzing the waveform of the control signal comprises:

determining whether the waveform has a leader pulse;

converting the control signal to binary data according to a pulse width of the leader pulse;

accumulating custom code and data code for each data frame until all bits of data are accumulated in order to determine whether custom code is available for the control signal; and

transmitting the completed frame data to at least one appropriate interface when it is determined that the custom code is available.

18. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a wakeup signal to wake-up the information processing system upon receiving the control signal when the information processing system is in a power-off mode or a power manage mode.

19. The method of controlling the information processing system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the information processing system is a computer system.