Apparatus for controlling standby power

• US 7,380,142 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: INCA Solution Company Limited
• Original Assignee: INCA Solution Company Limited
• Inventors: Lee, Jeong-Soo, Kim, Chan-Dong
• Primary Examiner(s): CONNOLLY, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US11/037,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20060101294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320, 713/324, 713/340
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• 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: 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

A standby power control apparatus is developed for monitoring the peripheral devices connected to a computer and the current computer status. A power-supply voltage applied to the peripheral devices and the computer can be completely blocked depending on the result of the monitoring. The standby power control apparatus is comprised of: a power-supply unit, interface unit, I/O terminal unit for transmitting the input signals received from a mouse or keyboard to the microprocessor, a switching unit, an individual load detector for detecting the load of a peripheral device, a sensor for determining the user status, a microprocessor for actuating the switching unit according to first to third input signals to control the voltage generated from the sockets, an individual drive signal generator for generating a drive signal to switch the switching unit; and a monitoring/management unit for transmitting a power-supply control command signal to the microprocessor, and providing the various administrator setup menus.

Claims

1. A standby power control apparatus being used in a power control device for controlling a power-supply voltage of a computer system including a computer and a monitor, and controlling power-supply voltages of peripheral devices, the apparatus comprising:

a power-supply unit for converting a commercial power source to a DC power-supply voltage requisite for the system, and providing individual components with necessary power-supply voltages;

an interface unit being connected to the computer via a communication line, and interfacing a signal transmitted from the computer;

an Input/Output (I/O) terminal unit being connected to a mouse and a keyboard of the computer and transmitting input signals received from the mouse and the keyboard to a microprocessor;

a switching unit for connecting a plurality of switches to a plurality of sockets, respectively, switching the switches according to an external control signal, and recovering or blocking power-supply voltages applied to the sockets;

an individual load detector for receiving power-supply state information from the switching unit, and detecting load information of the peripheral device on the basis of the received power-supply state information;

a sensor being mounted to one side of the computer or the monitor, and determining the presence or absence of a user;

a microprocessor for receiving a first input signal from the computer via the interface unit, a second input signal from the mouse and the keyboard via the I/O terminal unit, and a third input signal from the individual load detector and the sensor, switching the switching unit according to the received first to third input signals, and controlling a power-supply voltage generated from the sockets, wherein said microprocessor transmits only standby power to the computer if the presence of the user is detected by the sensor on the condition that the computer is completely powered off;

an individual drive signal generator for receiving a control command signal from the microprocessor, and generating a drive signal to switch on or off the switches of the switching unit; and

a monitoring/management unit for determining whether the computer, the monitor, and the peripheral device are actually used, transmitting a power-supply control command signal to the microprocessor via the interface unit according to the determined result, and being installed in the computer in the form of an application program, such that it provides the user with a variety of administrator setup menus to allow the user to control overall operations of the system using the administrator setup menus, wherein said monitoring/management unit displays a message indicative of a power-supply recovery on the monitor until the peripheral device recovers its power-supply voltage in a warm-up state when recovering a power-supply voltage of the peripheral device.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sockets include designated addresses for every peripheral device such that the microprocessor independently controls the computer, the monitor, and the peripheral device;

and the monitoring/management unit includes address information when transmitting the power-supply control command signal to the microprocessor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring/management unit transmits a first power-supply control command, a second power-supply control command, a third power-supply control command, or a fourth power-supply control command, further comprising:

the first power-supply control command selectively or simultaneously blocks power-supply voltages of the peripheral device when the user enters a power-supply blocking command of the peripheral device;

the second power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to a corresponding peripheral device on the condition that used state information of the peripheral device is recognized in real time and the corresponding peripheral device is in an idle state during a predetermined period;

the third power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to a corresponding peripheral device when the user manually powers off the corresponding peripheral device; and

the fourth power-supply control command simultaneously blocks power-supply voltages of the peripheral device if an input signal is not received from the mouse or the keyboard during at least a predetermined time, or selectively blocks only power-supply voltages of unused peripheral devices other than the used peripheral device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring/management unit transmits a first power-supply control command, a second power-supply control command, a third power-supply control command, a fourth power-supply control command, or a fifth power-supply control command, further comprising:

the first power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage of the monitor upon receiving a power-supply blocking command of the monitor from the user;

the second power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to the monitor on the condition that used state information of the monitor is recognized in real time and the monitor is in an idle state during a predetermined period;

the third power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to the monitor when the user powers off the monitor;

the fourth power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to the monitor when there is no input signal from the mouse or the keyboard during at least a predetermined time; and

the fifth power-supply control command blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to the monitor if a screen saver or a monitor-off operation is activated according to power-supply setup information of the monitor from among power-supply option information of the computer system.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring/management unit monitors state information of the computer on the condition that the peripheral device is powered off, generates a command for storing all current tasks if the computer is in an unused state, stores the current tasks, and terminates the system.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the monitoring/management unit turns off an HDD or activates a system standby mode according to power-supply option information of the computer system before the system is terminated, monitors state information of the computer during a predetermined time, and terminates the system if the computer is continuously in the unused state.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the microprocessor blocks a power-supply voltage from being applied to the computer, the monitor, and the peripheral device in the case of the following first to fourth cases, further comprising:

the first case indicates that the computer system is terminated such that the monitoring/management unit does not generate a response signal at least a predetermined number of times;

the second case indicates that an input signal is not generated from the mouse and the keyboard via the I/O terminal unit during at least a predetermined time;

the third case indicates that a detected load is less than reference load when the individual load detector detects the amount of load of the computer, the monitor, or the peripheral device; and

the fourth case indicates that the user is not detected by the sensor during at least a predetermined time.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessor boots the computer or recovers a power-supply voltage of the computer, the monitor, or the peripheral device, if the user enters an input signal using the keyboard or the mouse and transmits the input signal to the I/O terminal unit on the condition that the computer, the monitor, and the peripheral device are powered off or do not receive their power-supply voltages, or if the presence of the user is detected by the sensor.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessor receives a first power-supply control command, a second power-supply control command, or a third power-supply control command, selectively recovers a power-supply voltage of the monitor or the peripheral device, or simultaneously recovers power-supply voltages of the monitor and the peripheral device according to the received power-supply control command information, further comprising:

the first power-supply control command selectively recovers a power-supply voltage of the monitor or the peripheral device or simultaneously recovers power-supply voltages of the monitor and the peripheral device on the condition that the microprocessor receives power-supply recovery commands of the monitor and the peripheral device from the monitoring/management unit after the monitor and the peripheral device are powered off;

the second power-supply control command recovers a power-supply voltage of a specific peripheral device on the condition that the microprocessor determines whether the specific peripheral device is used after recognizing used state information of the monitor and the peripheral device in real time; and

the third power-supply control command recovers power-supply voltages of the monitor and the peripheral device by allowing the microprocessor to determine whether an input signal is generated from the mouse or the keyboard.