Information processing apparatus, information processing method and program

• US 20070171230A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Masuda, Takeshi, Koide, Keisuke, Tobe, Tatsuya, Iwase, Shunichiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,599,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/519
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/363 Graphics controllers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a first image signal; a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a second image signal; an output changeover section capable of selectively outputting one of the first or second image signals; an inputting section configured to input a user operation to select one of the first graphics chip or the second graphics chip; and a control section configured to control the output of the output changeover section in response to the inputted user operation.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a first image signal;

a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a second image signal;

an output changeover section capable of selectively outputting one of the first or second image signals;

an inputting section configured to input a user operation to select one of the first graphics chip or the second graphics chip; and

a control section configured to control the output of the output changeover section in response to the inputted user operation.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control section is configured to stop power supply to the one of the graphics chips which has not been selected by the user.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control section includes:

a detection section configured to detect a starting event of the information processing apparatus;

a supplying section configured to supply power to the first and second graphics chips if the starting event is detected by the detection section; and

a stopping section configured to stop the power supply to the one of the graphics chips which has not been selected by the user.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control section includes:

a detection section configured to detect a re-starting event of the information processing apparatus;

a supplying section configured to supply power to the first and second graphics chips if the re-starting event is detected by the detection section; and

a stopping section configured to stop the power supply to the one of the graphics chips which has not been selected by the user.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, if the selection of one of the graphics chips is changed by the inputting section while the information processing apparatus is in a started state, then the control section causes display of a screen which urges the user to re-start the information processing apparatus.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification section configured to issue a notification of which one of the graphics chips has been selected by the user.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the notification section is a light emitting diode (LED) display section configured to issue a notification of which one of the graphics chips has been selected by lighting of an LED.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fan configured to radiate heat generated in the information processing apparatus,

the control section being configured, based on the user operation, to set the speed of rotation of the fan to a first speed of rotation when the first graphics chip has been selected and to set the speed of rotation of the fan to a second speed of rotation higher than the first speed of rotation when the second graphics chip has been selected.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a central processing unit (CPU) configured to control operation of the entire information processing apparatus,

the control section being configured, based on the user operation, to set an operation clock number of the CPU to a first clock number when the first graphics chip has been selected and to set the operation clock number of the CPU to a second clock number higher than the first clock number when the second graphics chip has been selected.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a power saving section configured to place the information processing apparatus into a power saving mode,

the control section being configured, when the information processing apparatus is placed in the power saving mode, to store information regarding the selection state of the graphics chips by the user and, when the information processing apparatus returns from the power saving mode, to cause the output changeover section to output an image signal from the graphics chip selected before the placement into the power saving mode based on the stored information.

11. An information processing apparatus which operates with power supplied from one of an AC adapter or a battery, comprising:

a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a first image signal;

a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity and being capable of producing a second image signal;

an output changeover section capable of selectively outputting one of the first or second image signals;

a detection section configured to detect from which one of the AC adapter or the battery the information processing apparatus is supplied with the power; and

a control section configured to control the output changeover section based on a result of the detection by the detection section such that the first image signal is output when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the battery and the second image signal is output when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the AC adapter.

12. An information processing method, comprising:

outputting one of a first image signal output from a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity or a second image signal output from a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity;

inputting a user operation to select one of the first graphics chip or the second graphics chip; and

controlling the outputting step to output the first image signal or the second image signal in response to the inputted user operation.

13. An information processing method which is performed by an information processing apparatus which can operate with power supplied from one of an AC adapter or a battery, the method comprising:

outputting one of a first image signal output from a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity or a second image signal output from a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity;

detecting from which one of the AC adapter or the battery the information processing apparatus is supplied with the power; and

based on a result of the detection, controlling the outputting step to output the first image signal when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the battery and to output the second image signal when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the AC adapter.

14. A program for causing an information processing apparatus to execute an information processing method, the method comprising:

outputting one of a first image signal output from a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity or a second image signal output from a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity;

inputting a user operation to select one of the first graphics chip or the second graphics chip; and

controlling the outputting step to output the first image signal or the second image signal in response to the inputted user operation.

15. A program for causing an information processing apparatus, which can operate with power supplied from one of an AC adapter or a battery, to execute an information processing method, the method comprising:

outputting one of a first image signal output from a first graphics chip having a first drawing processing capacity or a second image signal output from a second graphics chip having a second drawing processing capacity higher than the first drawing processing capacity;

detecting from which one of the AC adapter or the battery the information processing apparatus is supplied with the power; and

based on a result of the detection, controlling the outputting step to output the first image signal when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the battery and to output the second image signal when the information processing apparatus is supplied with power from the AC adapter.