JP2005115766A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of taking out failure information for the purpose of maintenance work even in the event of such fatal failure that a system itself will not start up. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor is provided with a main power supply for supplying power to a system; a power circuit positioned between the main power supply and the system for controlling the main power supply to the system; a failure supervising part for supervising the power supply to the system or the operation of the system for failure; and a failure information reporting part built into the information processor and having a memory for storing the failure information. The failure supervising part causes the failure of the power supply to the system supervised and the failure of operation of the system to be stored in the memory of the failure information reporting part as failure information. The failure information reporting part has an auxiliary power supply different from the main power supply and, using the power supplied from the auxiliary power supply, reads the failure information stored in the memory to send this information out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus configured to store system failure information.

  In this type of information processing device, when a failure occurs in the operating system, the failure information is recorded in some storage device, and then the maintenance operator reads the failure information by a maintenance program, etc. The contents of the failure that occurred in the system are specified.

  Two things need to be considered when storing failure information. The first is that the failure information is not lost due to the interruption of the power supply, and the second is that the failure information can be easily read.

  As an example of this, by writing failure information to a non-volatile memory (NVRAM) or hard disk drive (HDD), it is possible to prevent loss of failure information when the power is cut off, and to generate a failure stored in the non-volatile memory or HDD. There is known an information processing apparatus that stores failure information in which a failure of a part is canceled and the system is activated in a degenerated state (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Also, failure information is written to a removable nonvolatile memory card to prevent loss of failure information when the power is cut off, and the nonvolatile memory card is removed and attached to another information processing device. Thus, an electronic device is also known that reads failure information written in the nonvolatile memory card (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-8-147197 JP 7-175373 A

  However, in these devices, the failure information is stored in the nonvolatile memory to prevent the loss of the failure information due to the power interruption, but there are the following problems.

  That is, in the former, when a fatal failure that does not start the system occurs, for example, when the main control unit that controls the entire system fails, or when the power supply unit that supplies power to the system fails, The system itself is in a situation where it cannot be activated, and even if a failure is detected and the failure information is stored, the failure information cannot be practically read.

  In the latter case, since the nonvolatile memory card in which the failure information is written and the information processing apparatus in which the failure has occurred can be separated, the information processing apparatus and the failure information may not be paired. This is because, in view of the fact that the person who actually needs the stored failure information is generally a service person who repairs the failed device, rather than being a user, It can be said that one of the comparatively big problems that conventional systems / techniques have is that a situation that cannot be realized.

  Also, inserting a non-volatile memory card that stores failure information into the information processing apparatus substantially means that a dedicated card slot needs to be provided. For example, in a notebook personal computer, there are usually one or two card slots. However, in the case of a conventional system, it is not known when and when an equipment failure is detected (it is always necessary to detect the failure). Therefore, one of the card slots must be used as a card slot dedicated to a non-volatile memory card for writing failure information, which places great restrictions on the user's system use. It becomes.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a failure information notification unit that operates with a power source different from that device is provided in the information processing device, and the failure information notification unit stores system failure information. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to read out the failure information from the failure information notification unit as necessary so that it can be used for maintenance work or the like.

The present invention is an information processing apparatus including a system that performs information processing, and is disposed between a main power source that supplies power to the system and the main power source and the system, and controls power supply to the system of the main power source A power supply circuit, an abnormality monitoring unit that monitors a power supply abnormality to the system or monitors a system operation abnormality, and a failure information notifying unit that is built in the information processing apparatus and has a memory for storing failure information; The abnormality monitoring unit stores the power supply abnormality to the monitored system and the system operation abnormality as failure information in the memory of the failure information notification unit,
The failure information notification unit is an information processing device that has a sub power source different from the main power source, reads out the failure information stored in the memory and transmits it to the outside by supplying power from the sub power source.

  According to the present invention, when a power supply abnormality to the system or a system operation abnormality occurs, the abnormality monitoring unit stores the abnormality as failure information in the memory of the failure information notification unit. Thereafter, the failure information stored in the memory is read out and transmitted to the outside by the power supply from the sub power source. Therefore, even when a fatal failure occurs such that the system itself does not start up, failure information can be extracted to the outside. In addition, since the failure information storage unit is built in the information processing apparatus, a situation where the information processing apparatus and the failure information do not pair does not occur.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes an information processing apparatus A according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This information processing apparatus A mainly includes a main power supply 1, a system 2, a power supply circuit 3, an abnormality monitoring unit 4, an abnormality detection unit 6, and The failure information notification unit 5 is configured.

  The main power source 1 is a power source such as an AC adapter, an AC-DC circuit, a DC-DC circuit, or a battery that supplies power to the entire information processing apparatus A according to the present invention.

  The system 2 includes a main control unit 21 including a CPU and a RAM, and a peripheral device 22 including various peripheral devices and a control IC. The main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22 are connected to each other by a bus, and perform the main activity of the information processing apparatus by exchanging data within each device or between each device.

  The power supply circuit 3 mainly supplies and blocks power supplied from the main power supply 1 to the main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22. Further, voltage level conversion is performed when the voltage level required by the main controller 21 and the peripheral device 22 is different from the voltage level supplied by the main power supply 1. In a general information processing apparatus, power is supplied to the system 2 by turning on a power button (not shown), and the power is cut off by turning off the power button.

  The abnormality detection unit 6 includes a first detection circuit 61 and a second detection circuit 62. The first detection circuit 61 detects a voltage abnormality of the main control unit 21, and the second detection circuit 62 detects a voltage abnormality of the peripheral device 22.

  The abnormality detection unit 6 operates without being supplied with the power supply circuit 3 and is always supplied with power from the main power supply 1. However, the abnormality detection unit 6 is supplied with electric power by a small secondary battery such as a configuration in which electric power is supplied from a sub-power supply 53 to be described later, or a capacitor that stores electric power using electric power from the main power supply 1. It does not matter as a configuration or the like.

The abnormality monitoring unit 4 is composed of a one-chip microcomputer. The abnormality monitoring unit 4 may be incorporated in an EC (Embedded Controller). The abnormality monitoring unit 4 operates without being supplied through the power supply circuit 3 and is always supplied with power from the main power supply 1. The abnormality monitoring unit 4 is connected to the memory 51 of the failure information notification unit 5 through a two-wire I ² C bus or a serial bus such as USB. The abnormality monitoring unit 4 monitors the power supply abnormality information output from the abnormality detection unit 6 and the system operation abnormality information output from the system 2, and if an abnormality occurs, the abnormality information is broken. Information is sent to the memory 51 in the failure information notification unit 5 via the bus, and the failure information is stored in the memory 51.

  In the present embodiment, the abnormality monitoring unit 4 is configured to be supplied with power from the main power supply 1, but the configuration in which power is supplied from the sub-power supply 53 described later or the power from the main power supply 1 is used. A configuration in which power is supplied with a small secondary battery such as a capacitor for storing electricity may be used.

  The failure information notification unit 5 is built in the information processing apparatus A and includes a memory 51, a transmitter 52, a controller 54, and a sub power supply 53. As the sub power source 53, a button battery, an AA or AAA dry battery, or a secondary battery is used. The memory 51 is a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM, for example, and is always supplied with power from the main power supply 1 and operates. When the power supply from the main power source 1 is cut off, the sub power source 53 is backed up. The transmitter 52 and the controller 54 are operated by the sub power source 53. The failure information notification unit 5 transmits the failure information stored in the memory 51 to the outside of the information processing apparatus A by the controller 54 and the transmitter 52.

Next, processing contents of the information processing apparatus will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the abnormality monitoring in the internal processing of the first detection circuit 61, the second detection circuit 62, the main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22, and FIG. It is a flowchart to show.

First, the processing contents of the abnormality monitoring in FIG. 2 will be described.
The abnormality monitoring unit 4 confirms whether the power supplied to the main control unit 21 is abnormal by the first detection circuit 61 (step S1), and if an abnormality is detected, the memory of the failure information notification unit 5 The failure information is stored in 51 (step S5).

  When the supply voltage level to the main control unit 21 is inappropriate, the entire system 2 does not operate. However, the abnormality detection unit 6, the abnormality monitoring unit 4, and the failure information notification unit 5 are directly supplied with power from the main power supply 1 without going through the power supply circuit 3. Therefore, when there is an abnormality in the power supplied to the main control unit 21 when a power supply trigger to the main control unit 21 is pressed, for example, when the power button is pressed, the abnormality monitoring unit 4 provides information on the abnormality in the power supply. The information can be stored in the memory 51 of the failure information notification unit 5.

  If no abnormality is detected in step S1, the abnormality monitoring unit 4 checks whether or not the power button has been turned on by the user, and after the ON operation (step S2), the second detection circuit 62 causes the peripheral device to operate. It is confirmed whether or not there is any abnormality in the power supplied to 22 (step S3). If an abnormality is detected, the failure information is stored in the memory 51 of the failure information notification unit 5 (step S5).

  That is, as in the case of the abnormality detection of the first detection circuit 61, when there is an abnormality in the power supplied to the peripheral device 22, the main control unit 21 supplies the power before starting the control of the peripheral device 22. The abnormality information can be stored in the memory 51 of the failure information notification unit 5 by the abnormality monitoring unit 4.

  In this process, it is checked whether or not the power button has been pressed. The reason is that in the present embodiment, the main control unit 21 is represented as one block for the sake of convenience, but in detail, the block that is powered and operated by the ON operation of the power button and the ON / OFF operation of the power button Regardless of whether there is a block (for example, an RTC) that is always supplied with power and is in operation, and if it is considered to detect a power supply abnormality in the latter (a block that is always in operation), the first It is necessary to detect the abnormality of the detection circuit unit 61 regardless of the ON / OFF operation state of the power button. On the other hand, regarding the abnormality detection of the second detection circuit 62 and the operation abnormality detection (in particular, the operation abnormality detection of the peripheral device 22), the system 2 can be operated when the abnormality occurs in the main control unit 21. In addition, when the main control unit 21 is not in a state where it can be operated, the peripheral device 22 is not in a usable state (can be operated) (the peripheral device 22 is a device used in the system). Therefore, in this embodiment, the detection process is performed only after the power button is turned on. That is, in this processing, it is clearer that abnormality detection by the first detection circuit 61 is prioritized over abnormality detection or operation abnormality detection by the second detection circuit 62 (particularly, operation abnormality detection of the peripheral device 22). However, the detection process may be always performed (regardless of the ON / OFF operation of the power button) (step S2 is deleted).

  This example shows, as an example, the fact that the actual design of the information processing apparatus can be reduced by taking into account the above, and can lead to reductions in used parts and development costs. Even if the supply voltage level is not abnormal (a process equivalent to the process of monitoring the abnormality of the first detection circuit) despite the power being supplied to the peripheral device 22) There is no other thing.

When no abnormality is detected in steps S1 and S3, abnormality monitoring in the internal processing of the main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22 is performed when, for example, the hard disk controller itself detects that the motor unit of the hard disk has stopped moving. In response to a failure (operation abnormality) detection signal output directly from the CPU (calculation unit in the main control unit 21) or the controller in the peripheral device 22 (step S4), the abnormality monitoring unit 4 is a failure information notification unit. 5 is stored in the memory 51 (step S5).
As described above, the failure information is stored in the memory 51 even when an abnormality is detected by abnormality monitoring in the internal processing of the main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the failure information notification unit 5 confirms whether data, that is, failure information exists in the memory 51 (step S11). If failure information exists, the controller 54 sends a transmitter. 52, failure information is transmitted to the outside of the information processing apparatus A (step S12).

Embodiment 2
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example in which an RFID tag is used as a failure information notification unit.
In the figure, reference numeral 200 denotes an information processing apparatus B according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The information processing apparatus B mainly includes a main power supply 1, a system 2, a power supply circuit 3, an abnormality monitoring unit 4, an abnormality detection unit 6, and It consists of an RFID tag 7. Compared with the block diagram shown in FIG. 1, the rest is the same except that the failure information notification unit 5 is replaced with an RFID tag 7.

  In the figure, an RFID reader / writer 8 is described as an example of a device for reading failure information from the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7. The RFID reader / writer 8 includes a power source 81, a controller 82, a transceiver 83, and an antenna 84.

  The RFID tag 7 includes an antenna (wireless antenna) 71, a transceiver 73, a controller 72, a memory 74, and a rectified voltage generator 75.

  The memory 74 is a memory in which failure information is stored. In the present embodiment, the memory 74 is supplied with power from the main power supply 1. However, a separate sub-power source may be provided in the RFID tag 7 and power may be supplied from the sub-power source to the memory 74, or a small secondary battery such as a capacitor that stores electricity using the power from the main power source 1. For example, a configuration for supplying power to the memory 74 may be used.

  This power supply is for supplying power necessary for writing failure information from the abnormality monitoring unit 4 to the memory 74, and will be described later when accessing from the external RFID reader / writer 8 is performed. Since the operation with the induced electromotive force from the antenna 71 is possible, in this case, the power supply need not be performed.

  The antenna 71 is for performing data transmission / reception between the RFID reader / writer 8 and the memory 74. That is, the antenna 71 receives a radio wave (question signal: command / data) from the RFID reader / writer 8 and transmits a response signal (data) corresponding to the question signal to the RFID reader / writer 8. To do.

  The rectified voltage generator 75 rectifies the induced electromotive force generated by the antenna 71 by the radio wave transmitted from the RFID reader / writer 8 and supplies the controller 72 and the transmitter / receiver 73 with power. Further, when failure information is read from the memory 74, power is supplied to the memory 74.

  The transmitter / receiver 73 is operated by the electric power from the rectified voltage generator 75, and when receiving the interrogation signal from the RFID reader / writer 8, demodulates the interrogation signal. Further, when failure information (response signal) of the memory 74 is transmitted to the RFID reader / writer 8 via the controller 72, the response signal is modulated.

  When the controller 72 is operated by the electric power from the rectified voltage generator 75 and receives a failure information read instruction (question signal) from the RFID reader / writer 8, the failure information (response signal) corresponding to the instruction is received. Is read from the memory 74, modulated by the transceiver 73, and then transmitted from the antenna 71 to the RFID reader / writer 8.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the RFID reader / writer 8 and the RFID tag 7.
As shown in this figure, the RFID reader / writer 8 is operated by a power supply 81, and when transmitting an interrogation signal, the interrogation signal is modulated by a modulator 83b and transmitted from an antenna 84. Further, when the response signal is received by the antenna 84, the response signal is demodulated by the demodulator 83a and taken in. The demodulator 83a and the modulator 83b are incorporated in the transceiver 83 shown in FIG.

  When the RFID tag 7 receives an interrogation signal by radio waves from the RFID reader / writer 8 by the antenna 71, the RFID tag 7 is operated by electromagnetic energy supplied by the radio waves. Specifically, the induced electromotive force generated by the radio wave received by the antenna 71 is rectified by the rectified voltage generating unit 75, and the inquiry signal is received and the response signal is transmitted using the power. Thereby, when the access from the RFID reader / writer 8 is performed, the sub power source 53 shown in FIG. 1 is not required.

  The interrogation signal received by the antenna 71 is demodulated by the demodulator 73 a and read by the controller 72. The controller 72 reads out failure information corresponding to the read question signal from the memory 74. The read failure information is modulated by the modulator 73b and transmitted from the antenna 71 to the RFID reader / writer 8 as a response signal. The demodulator 73a and the modulator 73b are built in the transceiver 73 shown in FIG.

  The memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 is a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM, for example, and normally operates by being always supplied with power from the main power supply 1, and is supplied from the rectified voltage generator 75 when failure information is read out. It is designed to operate with power. Since the memory 74 is a non-volatile memory, a power source for holding the stored contents is unnecessary.

  If failure information is written in the memory 74, regardless of whether the information processing apparatus is activated or deactivated, that is, whether or not power is being supplied from the main power supply 1 to the memory 74, the RFID tag 7 is read. If a failure information read instruction is given, the failure information written in the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 can be easily read at an arbitrary time.

  Therefore, for example, when repairing the information processing apparatus, the maintenance worker may bring a handy type RFID reader / writer and read out failure information from the RFID tag 7 with the RFID reader / writer. The RFID reader / writer used by the maintenance worker only needs to be able to read failure information from the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 and may function only as an RFID reader.

  In this case, if the RFID reader / writer is capable of writing data, the failure information may be deleted after the repair is completed, and the history of the failure repair is written in the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 to be used for the next repair. You may do it.

  In this example, the RFID tag 7 is not limited to a tag shape, and may take various forms such as a paper tag, a coin (button), and a label. Alternatively, it may be directly embedded in the main frame of the information processing apparatus.

As described above, by incorporating the RFID tag 7 in the information processing apparatus, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the failure information and the information processing apparatus are not paired.
In this case, the abnormality monitoring unit is preferably configured to convert the failure information into an identification code corresponding to the content of the failure and to transmit the identification code to the RFID tag 7. With this configuration, it is easy to grasp the content of the failure.

The processing content of the information processing apparatus in this configuration is basically the same as the processing content in the configuration of FIG.
That is, the abnormality detection of the power supply supplied to the main control unit 21 by the first detection circuit 61, the detection of the power supply abnormality supplied to the peripheral device 22 by the second detection circuit 62, or the abnormality notification by the main control unit 21 and the peripheral device 22 is notified. If there are, those abnormalities are transmitted to the abnormality monitoring unit 4.

  The abnormality monitoring unit 4 writes failure information into the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 through the bus. The failure information written in the memory 74 can be easily read out by the RFID reader / writer outside the information processing apparatus via the antenna 71. In that case, since the RFID tag 7 can be operated by electromagnetic energy supplied from the RFID reader / writer, it is not necessary to supply power from the information processing apparatus side.

  In the case where the failure information notification unit 5 is configured by the RFID tag 7, a very simple system configuration can be achieved, so that the cost can be reduced. Further, by making the memory 74 built in the RFID tag 7 a non-volatile memory, it is possible to prevent the loss of failure information when the power is shut off.

  Furthermore, since the RFID tag 7 can operate with electromagnetic energy supplied from an external RFID reader / writer 8, the memory 74 of the RFID tag 7 can be used even when all the power sources in the information processing apparatus are shut off. It is possible to easily acquire the failure information written in.

  In this way, the abnormality detection unit and the abnormality monitoring unit can be operated independently of the system, and the failure information is stored in the memory of the failure information notification unit that is operated by a sub power source different from the main power source. It is possible to prevent the loss of failure information when the power supply circuit is shut off. Further, even when a fatal failure occurs such that the system itself does not start up, failure information can be transmitted to the outside via the failure information notification unit.

  Then, by storing the failure information in the memory of the failure information notification unit built in the information processing apparatus, the association between the failure information and the information processing apparatus in which the failure has occurred can be ensured.

  Further, by configuring the failure information notification unit with an RFID tag, it is possible to easily acquire failure information with a simple configuration.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of Embodiment 1 of the information processing apparatus of this invention. 4 is a flowchart showing processing contents of an abnormality monitoring unit 4. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the controller 54 (FIG. 1) and 72 (FIG. 4). It is a block diagram which shows the structure of Embodiment 2 of the information processing apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between a RFID reader / writer and a RFID tag.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main power supply 2 System 3 Power supply circuit 4 Abnormality monitoring part 5 Fault information notification part 6 Abnormality detection part 7 RFID tag 8 RFID reader / writer 21 Main control part 22 Peripheral device 51,74 Memory 52 Transmitter 53 Sub power supply 54,72, 82 Controller 61 First detection circuit 62 Second detection circuit 71, 84 Antenna 73, 83 Transceiver 73a, 83a Demodulator 73b, 83b Modulator 75 Rectified voltage generator 81 Power supply 100 Information processing apparatus A
200 Information processing device B

Claims (2)

An information processing apparatus including a system for performing information processing,
A main power supply for supplying power to the system;
A power supply circuit disposed between the main power supply and the system to control power supply to the main power supply system;
An abnormality monitoring unit that monitors power supply abnormality to the system or monitors system operation abnormality,
A failure information notification unit built in the information processing apparatus and having a memory for storing failure information;
The abnormality monitoring unit stores power supply abnormality and system operation abnormality to the monitored system in the memory of the failure information notification unit as failure information,
The failure information notification unit is an information processing apparatus that has a sub power source different from the main power source, and reads out the fault information stored in the memory and transmits it to the outside by supplying power from the sub power source.   The failure information notification unit includes a responder that responds to a question signal generated by radio waves from an interrogator, an antenna that receives a question signal generated by radio waves from the interrogator, and a radio wave received by the antenna. And a rectified voltage generator that rectifies the induced electromotive force generated by the interrogator, and when receiving an interrogation signal from the interrogator, the power rectified by the rectified voltage generator is used as the sub power source, and is stored in the memory. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stored failure information is read and transmitted to the interrogator.

Images