JP4960066B2 - Information processing apparatus and control method of information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that sets a function of a video controller that generates a video signal, and a control method for the information processing apparatus.

  In Windows XP (registered trademark) manufactured by Microsoft Corporation, when acquiring system configuration information (for example, whether or not the screen is scaled and the TV type is NTSC or PAL), the display driver uses the OS kernel to interrupt the display BIOS SW interrupt ( The system BIOS I / F that executes the software interrupt (INT15H) of the system BIOS via the INT 10H) is used to acquire the information.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for reading and writing the system configuration of a CMOS memory under an operating system.
JP-A-7-287682

  The above-described method cannot use this mechanism when the operating system kernel does not support interrupts such as INT10H (for example, Windows Vista (registered trademark)).

  An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of exchanging system configuration information between a program on the operating system and the system BIOS even if the operating system does not support the function of notifying the system BIOS of an interrupt, and It is to provide a method for controlling an information processing apparatus.

  An information processing apparatus according to an example of the present invention includes a display controller that generates a video signal that forms a display image to be displayed on a display device, a storage device that stores function settings of the display controller, and a video driver. A process for controlling the display controller, a process for a utility operating on the operating system to notify the video driver of a request for calling the setting of the function of the display controller from the storage device, and an ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) a process for notifying a request for calling the setting to the driver, a process for notifying a request for calling the setting to a basic input / output system (BIOS) by the ACPI driver, and the system BIOS (Basic input / output system) before A process for reading the setting from a storage device; a process for notifying the ACPI driver of the setting read by the system BIOS; a process for notifying the video driver of the setting read by the ACPI driver; And a processor for executing a process of notifying the utility of the read setting.

  Even if the operating system does not support the function of notifying the system BIOS of an interrupt, system configuration information can be exchanged between a program on the operating system and the system BIOS.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. This information processing apparatus is realized as, for example, a notebook personal computer 10.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of the notebook personal computer 10 with the display unit opened. The computer 10 includes a computer main body 11 and a display unit 12. The display unit 12 incorporates a display device composed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 17, and the display screen of the LCD 17 is positioned substantially at the center of the display unit 12.

  The display unit 12 is attached to the computer main body 11 so as to be rotatable between an open position and a closed position. The computer main body 11 has a thin box-shaped casing, and a keyboard 13, a power button 14 for turning on / off the computer 1, an input operation panel 15, and a touch pad 16 are arranged on the upper surface. Has been.

  The input operation panel 15 is an input device that inputs an event corresponding to a pressed button, and includes a plurality of buttons for starting a plurality of functions. These button groups also include a TV start button 15A and a DVD / CD start button 15B. The TV start button 15A is a button for reproducing TV broadcast program data. When the TV activation button 15A is pressed by the user, an application program for reproducing TV broadcast program data is automatically activated. The DVD / CD start button 15B is a button for playing back video content recorded on a DVD or CD. When the DVD / CD activation button 15B is pressed by the user, an application program for reproducing video content is automatically activated.

  Next, the system configuration of the computer 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the computer 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 111 as a processor, a north bridge 112, a main memory 113, a graphics controller 114, a south bridge 119, a BIOS-ROM 120, a hard disk drive (HDD). ) 121, an optical disk drive (ODD) 122, an embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 124, and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory 130.

  The CPU 111 is a processor provided to control the operation of the computer 10 and executes an operating system (OS) and various application programs loaded from the hard disk drive (HDD) 121 to the main memory 113. The OS has a window system for displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen.

  A moving image is normally displayed in a window corresponding to a video reproduction application program for reproducing the moving image data (for example, video content stored in a storage medium such as a DVD). In this case, for example, a window corresponding to the video playback application program is arranged on the desktop screen, and a moving image is displayed in the window (window mode). The computer 10 can also display a moving image on the display screen of the LCD 17 in a full screen mode. In this full screen mode, only moving images are displayed in almost all areas on the display screen. In this case, the window corresponding to the application screen other than the desktop screen and the video playback application program is basically not displayed. Further, the menu bar of the window corresponding to the video playback application program is not displayed, and only the moving image is displayed in almost all areas on the display screen.

  The CPU 111 also executes a system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) stored in the BIOS-ROM 120. The system BIOS is a program for hardware control.

  The north bridge 112 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 111 and the south bridge 119. The north bridge 112 also includes a memory controller that controls access to the main memory 113. The north bridge 112 also has a function of executing communication with the graphics controller 114 via an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus or the like.

  The graphics controller 114 is a display controller that controls the LCD 17 used as a display monitor of the computer 10. The graphics controller 114 has a video memory (VRAM), and generates a video signal that forms a display image to be displayed on the LCD 17 from display data drawn in the video memory by the OS / application program. The display image to be displayed on the LCD 17 is usually composed of an image of a desktop screen and images of windows arranged on the desktop screen. However, when a moving image is displayed in the full screen mode, the display image to be displayed on the LCD 17 is composed only of the moving image. Therefore, when a moving image is displayed in the full screen mode, a video signal that forms only a display image of the moving image is output from the graphics controller 114.

  The graphics controller 114 also has an interface for outputting an analog video signal to an external CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and an interface for outputting the analog video signal to the outside via an S video terminal. Further, the graphics controller 114 has a scaling function for changing the resolution and aspect ratio of the video signal.

  The south bridge 119 controls each device on an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus. The south bridge 119 incorporates an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controller for controlling the HDD 121 and the ODD 122. Further, the south bridge 119 has a function for controlling access to the BIOS-ROM 120.

  An optical disk drive (ODD) 122 is a drive unit for driving a storage medium such as a DVD or a CD in which video content is stored.

  The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 124 is a one-chip microcomputer in which an embedded controller for power management and a keyboard controller for controlling the keyboard (KB) 13 and the touch pad 16 are integrated. . The embedded controller / keyboard controller IC (EC / KBC) 124 has a function of powering on / off the computer 10 in accordance with the operation of the power button 14 by the user.

  The CMOS memory stores initial settings of hardware at startup.

  This apparatus has a utility for setting the function of the graphics controller 114. The utility is executed by the CPU 111 and operates on the operating system.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a window displayed on the LCD 17 by the utility. As shown in FIG. 3, depending on the window, the user can determine whether the graphics controller 114 performs the scaling process in the type of signal output from the external output terminal such as the S-Video terminal or the full screen mode (full screen display). Set.

  When the check box 211 is checked, an NTSC standard signal is output from an external output terminal such as an S-Video terminal. When the check box 212 is checked, a PAL standard signal is output from an external output terminal such as an S-Video terminal. Note that the check box 211 and the check box 212 are exclusively checked.

  When the check box 213 is checked, the scaling process is performed by checking the check box 214 where the scaling process is performed. Note that the check box 213 and the check box 213 are exclusively checked.

  User settings using the utility are stored in CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) memory. Next, a configuration for setting a user setting in the CMOS memory and a configuration for reading a setting stored in the CMOS memory 130 by the utility will be described with reference to FIG.

  The utility 201 operates on the operating system. The video driver 203 mediates between the kernel 202 and the graphics controller, and controls the graphics controller.

  An ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) driver 204 mediates between the kernel 202 and the BIOS, and sets various HWs of the computer when shifting to a standby or hibernation state.

  The utility 201, the kernel 202, the video driver 203, the ACPI driver 204, and the system BIOS 205 are programs executed by the CPU 111 as a processor.

  When the utility 201 is activated, the current setting is read from the CMOS memory 130 and the current setting state is displayed in a window. First, the procedure in which the utility 201 reads the setting from the CMOS memory 130 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the utility 201 calls the video driver 203 and requests system configuration information stored in the CMOS memory 130 (step S11). The video driver 203 requests the system configuration information stored in the CMOS memory 130 from the ACPI driver 204 in response to the request (step S12). The ACPI driver 204 requests system configuration information stored in the CMOS memory 130 from the system BIOS 205 (step S13). The system BIOS 205 reads system configuration information from the CMOS memory 130 (step S14). The system BIOS 205 passes the read system configuration information to the ACPI driver 204 (step S15). The ACPI driver 204 calls the video driver 203 and passes system configuration information to the video driver 203 (step S16). The video driver 203 calls the utility 201 and passes system configuration information to the utility 201 (step S17).

  With the above processing, the video driver 203 can acquire the system configuration information stored in the CMOS memory 130 even if the operating system kernel 202 does not support data exchange with the system BIOS 205.

  Next, a description will be given of how the computer 10 writes user settings to the CMOS memory 130.

  First, the utility 201 delivers data for writing setting contents to the CMOS memory 130 to the video driver 203 via the kernel 202 (step S21). An example of the data is shown below.

Method (VDIF, 4) {
// Arguments
// Arg0 EAX
// Arg1 EBX
// Arg2 ECX
// Arg3 EDX
Name (BUFF, Package (4) {
0x00, // EAX
0x00, // EBX
0x00, // ECX
0x00, // EDX
Writhe
})
Return (BUFF)
}
The word after “//” in the line is a comment.

  The video driver 203 analyzes the data and recognizes that the data is to be transferred to the ACPI driver 204. The video driver 203 calls the ACPI driver 204 and passes the above-described data (step S22).

  The ACPI driver 204 analyzes the data and recognizes that the data is to be transferred to the system BIOS 205. The ACPI driver 204 calls the system BIOS 205 and passes the data described above (step S23).

  The system BIOS 205 analyzes the data and recognizes that the data to be written to the CMOS memory 130 is included. The setting information is written to the corresponding address in the CMOS memory 130 (step S24).

  With the above processing, the setting can be written in the CMOS memory 130 even if the operating system kernel 202 does not support data exchange with the system BIOS 205.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

1 is a diagram showing a notebook personal computer as an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing a notebook personal computer as an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the window which a utility displays on LCD, in order for a user to set a video function. The block diagram which shows the structure for performing acquisition / writing of the setting of a video function. The flowchart which shows the process for acquiring the setting of a video function from CMOS memory. The flowchart which shows the process for writing the setting of a video function in CMOS memory.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Notebook-type personal computer, 111 ... CPU (processor), 114 ... Graphics controller (display controller), 120 ... BIOS-ROM, 130 ... CMOS memory, 201 ... Utility, 202 ... Kernel, 203 ... Video driver, 204 ... ACPI driver, 205 ... System BIOS

Claims (8)

A display controller for generating a video signal forming a display image to be displayed on the display device;
A storage device in which the setting of the function of the display controller is stored;
A process for controlling the display controller by a video driver; a process for notifying the video driver of a request for a utility operating on an operating system to call a function setting of the display controller from a storage device; and an ACPI by the video driver. (Advanced configuration and power interface) a process for notifying a driver of a request for calling the setting, a process for notifying a request for calling the setting to a basic input / output system (BIOS) by the ACPI driver, A process in which a system BIOS (Basic input / output system) reads the setting from the storage device, a process of notifying the ACPI driver of the setting read out by the system BIOS, and the setting read out by the ACPI driver The information processing apparatus characterized by comprising a process of notifying the video driver, and a processor for executing a process of notifying a setting read the said utility by the video driver.   The processor is configured to notify the video driver of a setting of a function of the display controller set by a user by the utility, a process of notifying the ACPI driver of the setting by the video driver, and the system by the ACPI driver. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a process of notifying the BIOS of the setting and a process of storing the setting in the storage device by the system BIOS are executed.   2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein whether or not to perform scaling processing for changing the resolution and aspect ratio of the original video format is set in the storage device.   2. The storage device is set to determine whether or not to generate video signals of NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard and PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) standard from the display controller. Information processing device. A control method for an information processing apparatus, comprising: a display controller that generates a video signal that forms a display image to be displayed on a display device; and a storage device that stores setting of functions of the display controller,
Controlling the display controller by a video driver;
A utility operating on the operating system notifies the video driver of a request for calling the setting of the function of the display controller from the storage device,
The video driver notifies the ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) driver of a request to call the configuration,
The ACPI driver notifies the system BIOS (Basic input / output system) of a request for calling the setting,
The system BIOS (Basic input / output system) reads the setting from the storage device,
Notifying the ACPI driver of the read setting by the system BIOS;
Notifying the video driver of the settings read by the ACPI driver;
A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, comprising: notifying the utility of the setting read by the video driver. Notifying the video driver of the setting by the user from the utility,
Notifying the ACPI driver of the setting from the video driver;
Notifying the system BIOS of the setting from the ACPI driver;
The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 5, wherein the BIOS stores the setting in the storage device.   6. The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 5, wherein whether or not to perform scaling processing for changing the resolution and aspect ratio of the original video format is set in the storage device.   6. The storage device is set to determine whether or not to generate video signals of NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard and PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) standard from the display controller. Method for controlling the information processing apparatus.

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