INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR MEASURING COOLING PERFORMANCE AND FOR DETECTING DETERIORATION IN THE PERFORMANCE

• US 20080243436A1
• Filed: 03/13/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Andou, Hideaki, Tsutsui, Tomonori
• Application Number:
  US12/048,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243436A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/203 for portable computers, e.g. for laptops
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus, includes a power consumption reading unit configured to read information corresponding to power consumption of a system, a temperature reading unit configured to read a temperature of the processor, a first storage unit configured to store power consumption P1 and a temperature T1, a load unit configured to impose a load on the processor, a second storage unit which stores power consumption P2 and a temperature T2 after the load is imposed, a calculation unit which calculates cooling performance ΔT from the power consumption P1 and the temperature T1 and the power consumption P2 and the temperature T2, and a reporting unit configured to report that the cooling performance of the system has deteriorated when the cooling performance value is higher than a setting value.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

a system main unit;

a processor disposed in the system main unit;

a cooling system disposed in the system main unit comprising a cooling unit to cool the processor;

a cooling control unit disposed in the system main unit and configured to control cooling performance of the cooling system;

a power consumption reading unit disposed in the system main unit and configured to read information corresponding to power consumption of the system main unit;

a temperature reading unit disposed in the system main unit and configured to read a temperature of the processor;

a condition judgment unit disposed in the system main unit and configured to determine whether or not the system main unit satisfies a condition to detect a cooling performance value;

a first storage unit configured to store information P′

₁ corresponding to power consumption P₁ to be read by the power consumption reading unit and to store a temperature T₁ to be read by the temperature reading unit when it is determined that the system main unit satisfies the condition;

a load unit configured to impose a load on the processor after the information P′

₁ and the temperature T₁ are stored in the first storage unit;

a second storage unit configured to store information P′

₂ corresponding to power consumption P₂ to be read by the power consumption reading unit and to store a temperature T₂ to be read by the temperature reading unit after the load is imposed;

a calculation unit configured to calculate cooling performance Δ

T from the power consumption P₁, temperature T₁, power consumption P₂, and temperature T₂;

a cooling performance judgment unit configured to determine whether or not the calculated cooling performance Δ

T is lower than a setting value; and

a reporting unit configured to report that the cooling performance of the system main unit has deteriorated when the cooling performance value is higher than the setting value.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling performance Δ

T is expressed as follows;

Δ

T=(T₂−

T₁)/(P₂−

P₁)

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a rechargeable battery built in the system main unit; and

a power source controller configured to generate system power to drive the system main unit from power supplied from the rechargeable battery or from external power, and to control charging of the rechargeable battery when the external power is supplied,

wherein the condition is that the external power has been supplied.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the power source controller is configured to limit a time to charge the rechargeable buttery depending on a setting;

and

the condition is that the setting to limit the time to charge the rechargeable battery has been disabled.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a setting unit configured to set charge disablement to the rechargeable battery.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the power source controller comprises a current value measuring instrument configured to measure an electrical current value of the system power, and a voltage value measuring instrument configured to measure a voltage value of the system power,

wherein the power consumption reading unit is configured to read the electrical current value measured by the current value measurement instrument and the voltage value measured by the voltage value measuring instrument.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a termination reporting unit configured to notify a user to terminate an unnecessary application before determining whether or not the system main unit satisfies the condition to detect a cooling performance value.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a load stop unit configured to stop imposing the load on the processor when the temperature of the processor is higher than a setting value while the load is imposed on the processor.

9. A method for measuring cooling performance and for detecting deterioration in the cooling performance of an information processing apparatus provided with a cooling system which is disposed in the system main unit and comprises a processor and a cooling unit to cool the processor, comprising:

determining whether or not the system main unit satisfies a condition to detect a cooling performance value;

reading information P′

₁ corresponding to power consumption P₁ of the system main unit when it is determined that the system main unit satisfies the condition;

reading a temperature T₁ of the processor when it is determined that the system main unit satisfies the condition;

imposing a load on the processor after reading the information P′

₁ and the temperature T₁;

reading information P′

₂ corresponding to power consumption P₂ of the system main unit after imposing the load;

reading a temperature T₂ after imposing the load;

calculating cooling performance Δ

T from the power consumption P₁, the temperature T₁, the power consumption P₂ and the temperature T₂;

determining whether or not the calculated cooling performance Δ

T is lower than a setting value; and

reporting that cooling performance of the system main unit has deteriorated when the cooling performance value is higher than a setting value.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the cooling performance Δ

T is expressed as follows;

Δ

T=(T₂−

T₁)/(P₂−

P₁).

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the information processing apparatus further comprises:

a rechargeable battery which is built in the system main unit; and

a power source controller configured to generate system power to drive the system main unit from power supplied from the rechargeable battery or from external power, and to control charging of the rechargeable battery when the external power is supplied,

wherein the condition is that the external power has been supplied.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power source controller is configured to limit a time to charge the rechargeable buttery depending on a setting;

and

the condition is that the setting to limit the time to charge the rechargeable battery has been disabled.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising disabling charging of the rechargeable battery before reading the information P′

₁ corresponding to the power consumption P1 of the system main unit.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the power source controller comprises a current value measuring instrument configured to measure an electrical current value of the system power;

and a voltage value measuring instrument configured to measure a voltage value of the system power, and wherein reading the information P′

₁ and P′

₂ comprises reading a measured electrical current value by from the current value measuring instrument and a measured voltage value from the voltage value measuring instrument.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising notifying a user to terminate an unnecessary application before determining the condition.

16. The method according to claim 9, further comprising removing the load from the processor when the temperature of the processor is higher than a setting value while the load is imposed on the processor.