TWI422164B - Portable computer system and method for switching key functions thereof - Google Patents

Description

Portable computer system and switching method of key functions thereof

The invention relates to the application of a portable computer system, and in particular to a function switching method of a physical button of a portable computer system.

In order to improve the convenience of operation, most computer systems support a combination of a plurality of specific keys, and when the user inputs the keys constituting the combination key in a predetermined order, the corresponding function can be quickly activated. In general, the effective range of the combination keys is not necessarily the same. For example, a system-level key combination can function under all programs executed by a computer system. Application-level key combinations can only work when a particular application is active. If the application is not active or running in the background, the application-level key combination will not work.

Among the many key combinations supported by the computer system, the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination is widely used. The "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination consists of three buttons "Ctrl", "Alt", and "Delete". With the different operating systems installed in the computer system, the functions corresponding to the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination are slightly different. Take the computer system of the Windows operating system (such as Windows 7) developed by Microsoft Corporation as an example. Once the secure login mechanism is enabled on the computer system, the user must display the login screen of the Windows operating system on the computer system. First press the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination to enter the personal account password to formally complete the login action. Since only the Windows operating system can recognize the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination, enabling the secure login mechanism can confirm that the screen displays the real Windows operating system login screen and ensure that the user enters the login after pressing the key combination. The account password information in the dialog box will only be read by the Windows operating system, and malicious programs such as viruses or spyware will be prevented from intercepting account password information. In such a usage scenario, the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination can be called a Secure Attention Key (SAK).

However, for a low-cost tablet (Tablet PC), the touch screen as its main input device can only accept single-point or up to two-point touch operation. Therefore, when the user activates the secure login mechanism in order to maintain the security of the computer system, the user cannot log in to the computer system by inputting the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination on the software keyboard displayed on the touch screen. In order to solve such problems, the manufacturer of the tablet computer will add a physical button dedicated to the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination function on the body to trigger "Ctrl+Alt+Del" through the physical button. The functions supported by the key combination. However, it is not difficult to imagine that adding physical buttons will not only increase the hardware cost, but also have a negative impact on the appearance of the tablet.

In view of this, the present invention provides a method for switching a button function, so that a single physical button on a portable computer system can have different functions under different computer system states.

The invention provides a portable computer system capable of providing multiple functions with a single physical button.

The present invention provides a method for switching a button function for a portable computer system having a physical button with a composite function, the portable computer system including an operating state and a secure login authentication state. Wherein, when the portable computer system is in an operating state, the physical button corresponds to a predetermined function of the system, and when the portable computer system enters the secure login authentication state, the input of the Secure Attention Key (SAK) is received. It is only possible to call the login procedure of the portable computer system. This method includes determining the state of the system in which the portable computer system is located. When the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state, the physical button corresponds to the security attention key function, and when receiving the input signal that the physical button is pressed, the login program of the portable computer system is called.

In an embodiment of the present invention, after the step of causing the physical button to correspond to the function of the security key, the method further comprises: when the portable computer system is in an operating state, the physical button is corresponding to the system predetermined function, and receiving The system reservation function is executed when the input signal of the physical button is pressed.

In an embodiment of the invention, the step of calling the login program of the portable computer system includes transmitting a scan code of the security note key to the operating system of the portable computer system, thereby calling the login program.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the method for switching the button function further includes: when the portable computer system is in an operating state, if the physical button is pressed for more than a predetermined time, the portable computer system is switched from the operating state to the operating state. The security login authentication status, and the physical button corresponds to the security attention key function, and when the input signal of the physical button is pressed, the login program of the portable computer system is called.

In an embodiment of the invention, the physical button is a power button, and the system predetermined function is to turn on or off the portable computer system.

From another point of view, the present invention provides a portable computer system that includes an operational status and a secure login authentication status. When the portable computer system enters the secure login authentication state, it needs to receive the input of the security attention key to call the login procedure of the portable computer system. The portable computer system includes a physical button with a composite function, a state determination module, and a control unit. Wherein, the physical button corresponds to a predetermined function of the system when the portable computer system is in an operating state. The status determination module is configured to determine whether the portable computer system is in a secure login authentication state. The control unit is coupled to the physical button and the state determination module. When the state determination module determines that the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state, the control unit causes the physical button to correspond to the security attention key function. When the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state and receives the input signal that the physical button is pressed, the control unit causes the portable computer system to call the login program.

In an embodiment of the present invention, after the control unit causes the physical button to correspond to the security attention key function, when the state determination module determines that the portable computer system is in an operating state, the control unit causes the physical button to correspond to the system predetermined function. And when the portable computer system is in an operating state and receives an input signal that the physical button is pressed, the control unit causes the portable computer system to perform a predetermined function of the system.

In an embodiment of the invention, the control unit transmits the scan code of the security note key to the operating system of the portable computer system to call the login program.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the portable computer system is in an operating state, if the physical button is pressed for more than a predetermined time, the portable computer system is switched from the operating state to the secure login authentication state, and the control unit Let the physical button correspond to the security note button function. When the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state and receives an input signal that the physical button is pressed, the control unit causes the portable computer system to call the login program.

In an embodiment of the invention, the physical button is a power button, and the system predetermined function is to turn on or off the portable computer system.

Based on the above, the present invention determines that the current system state of the portable computer system is an operational state or a secure login authentication state, so that a physical button of the portable computer system corresponds to different key functions in different computer system states. Accordingly, the number of physical buttons required for the portable computer system is reduced, thereby reducing the hardware cost of the portable computer system.

The above described features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.

1 is a block diagram of a portable computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , the portable computer system 100 includes a physical button 110 having a composite function, a state determination module 120 , and a control unit 130 . In the embodiment, the portable computer system 100 is, for example, a tablet PC, but the invention is not limited thereto.

The system state of the portable computer system 100 includes an operational status and a secure login authentication status. The secure login authentication status refers to the state in which the portable computer system 100 displays its operating system login screen. It must be specially stated that when the portable computer system 100 enters the secure login authentication state, the login procedure of the portable computer system must be called after receiving the input of the Secure Attention Key (SAK). Let the user enter the account password to complete the login action. Among them, the security attention key is a combination of three buttons "Ctrl", "Alt", and "Delete". The operating state refers to a situation other than the secure login authentication state. For example, when the power of the portable computer system 100 is activated but the operating system login screen has not been displayed, or the user completes the login operation, the portable computer system 100 can be operated. When.

In this embodiment, when the portable computer system 100 is in an operating state, the physical button 110 corresponds to a system predetermined function. For example, the physical button 110 can be a power button, and the corresponding system predetermined function is to turn on or off the portable computer system 100.

The state determination module 120 is configured to determine whether the system state of the portable computer system 100 is an operational state or a secure login authentication state. In this embodiment, the state determination module 120 is implemented as an application and stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the portable computer system 100. Once the application is started, it is continuously detected and judged. The system state of the portable computer system 100.

The control unit 130 is coupled to the physical button 110 and the state determination module 120. The control unit 130 is, for example, an embedded controller (EC) for correspondingly switching the function of the physical button 110 according to the determination result generated by the state determination module 120.

In order to further explain the detailed manner in which the control unit 130 switches the function of the physical button 110, the present invention will be described below with reference to another embodiment. 2 is a flow chart of a method for switching a button function according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 simultaneously, first, as shown in step 210, the state determination module 120 determines the system state of the portable computer system 100. For example, the state determination module 120 can determine whether the portable computer system 100 is currently located by checking the status of the operating system of the portable computer system 100, the currently displayed screen, and/or the activation of a specific program. The system status is the operational status or the secure login authentication status.

Next, in step 220, when the state determination module 120 determines that the portable computer system 100 is in the secure login authentication state, the control unit 130 causes the physical button 110 to correspond to the security attention key function. For example, the control unit 130 can cause the physical button 110 to correspond to different functions by setting different flag values.

Finally, as shown in step 230, when the portable computer system 100 receives the input signal that the physical button 110 is pressed, it is equivalent to the user inputting the security attention button, so the control unit 130 causes the portable computer system 100 to call it. Login program. Specifically, the control unit 130 transmits the scan code of the security attention key to the operating system of the portable computer system 100, thereby calling the login program. After the login program is called and begins execution, the user can enter their account password in the login dialog to complete the login action.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for switching a button function according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the portable computer system 100 is in an operating state, so the physical button 110 currently corresponds to a system predetermined function. In other words, if the user presses the physical button 110 at this time, the portable computer system 100 will perform the system predetermined function.

First, as shown in step 310, the state determination module 120 determines whether the portable computer system 100 is switched from the operational state to the secure login authentication state. In an embodiment, the state determination module 120 begins to continuously detect whether the system state of the portable computer system 100 changes after the power of the portable computer system 100 is started. In another embodiment, the state determination module 120 may start detecting after receiving the user's indication. For example, if the state determination module 120 is implemented as an application, the application will start detecting the system state of the portable computer system 100 after being activated by the user. Specifically, the state determination module 120 determines whether the portable computer system 100 is switched from the operating state to the secure login authentication state according to the state of the operating system of the portable computer system 100.

When the portable computer system 100 is switched to the secure login authentication state and the touch screen displays the login screen of the operating system, it indicates that the user wants to perform the login operation (either after login or after switching to a different user account). Sign in). As shown in step 320, the control unit 130 causes the physical button 110 to correspond to the secure attention key function.

Next in step 330, it is determined whether the physical button 110 is pressed. If the control unit 130 receives the input signal that the physical button 110 is pressed, as shown in step 340, the control unit 130 causes the portable computer system 100 to call the login program. In other words, although the user presses only one physical button 110, it is equivalent to inputting a combination of three keys "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Delete".

Returning to step 330, if the input signal that the physical button 110 is pressed is not received, then as shown in step 350, the status determination module 120 determines whether the portable computer system 100 is transitioned from the secure login authentication state to the operational state.

If the portable computer system 100 is still in the secure login authentication state, the method for switching the button functions described in this embodiment will return to step 330 again to determine whether the physical button 110 is pressed.

However, if the state judging module 120 determines that the portable computer system 100 is switched from the secure login authentication state to the operating state, it indicates that the user has logged into the portable computer system 100 to complete the system authentication action, thereby causing the portable computer system 100 to return. To the operational state, as shown in step 360, control unit 130 re-enables physical button 110 to the system predetermined function. As a result, when the portable computer system 100 is in an operating state and the physical button 110 is pressed by the user, the portable computer system 100 performs a system predetermined function.

The method for switching the button functions in the embodiment will repeat step 310 to step 360, and when the portable computer system 100 is in the secure login authentication state, the physical button 110 is switched to the corresponding security attention button function. And when the portable computer system 100 is in an operating state, the physical button 110 is switched to a corresponding system predetermined function.

As shown in FIG. 3, for the portable computer system 100 having an existing physical button 110, even if the physical button 110 is originally designed to drive the portable computer system 100 to perform a predetermined function of the system, the control unit 130 can According to the system state judgment result provided by the state judging module 120, it is determined that the physical button 110 should currently correspond to the system predetermined function or the security attention key function. Therefore, when the user is ready to log in and the portable computer system 100 enters the secure login authentication state, although the touch screen of the portable computer system 100 cannot accept more than three touch operations, the user cannot The security keyboard displayed by the three buttons "Ctrl", "Alt", and "Delete" is input by the software keyboard displayed on the touch screen, but the user can perform security by pressing a single physical button 100. Pay attention to the key function, and then call the login program to complete the secure login action.

It is worth mentioning that, in the above embodiment, when the portable computer system 100 is in an operating state, if the physical button 110 is continuously pressed for more than a predetermined time (for example, two seconds), the portable computer system 100 will be The operational status is switched to the secure login authentication status. The control unit 130 then causes the physical button 110 to correspond to the secure attention key function. In this way, when the portable computer system 100 is in the secure login authentication state and receives the input signal that the physical button 110 is pressed, the control unit 130 will cause the portable computer system 100 to call the login program.

4 is a block diagram of a portable computer system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4 , the portable computer system 400 includes a physical button 410 having a composite function, a button function definition module 420 , a state determination module 430 , and a control unit 440 . The physical button 410, the state determination module 430, and the control unit 440 are substantially similar to the physical button 110, the state determination module 120, and the control unit 130 of the portable computer system 100. Therefore, only the portable computer system 400 and the following are available. The differences between the portable computer system 100 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the button function definition module 420 is coupled to the control unit 440 . In this embodiment, the portable computer system 100 includes a plurality of system states (such as a secure login authentication state and an operating state, etc.), and the button function definition module 420 is configured to define a corresponding one of each system state. Key Function. The button function definition module 420 is implemented, for example, by a software component. The button function definition module 420 can automatically set a button function corresponding to each system state according to system requirements, or provide an interface for the user to manage each system state and button. The correspondence of functions.

The detailed operation of the various components in the portable computer system 400 will be described below in conjunction with FIG. Please also refer to Figure 4 and Figure 5.

First, in step 510, the button function definition module 420 defines a button function corresponding to each system state supported by the portable computer system 400. For example, it is assumed that the system state of the portable computer system 400 includes a secure login authentication state and an operation state, and the key function corresponding to the secure login authentication state is, for example, a security attention key function, and the key function corresponding to the operation state may be a system. Scheduled function. In an embodiment, the button function can also be any function of a combination of three or more buttons. The button function definition module 420, for example, records the correspondence between various system states and button functions in a correspondence table.

Then, as shown in step 520, when the state determination module 430 determines that the portable computer system 400 is in one of the system states, the control unit 440 refers to the definition of the button function definition module 420 (for example, the query button function definition module 420 records The physical button 410 has the button function corresponding to the system state currently in the portable computer system 400. The control unit 440 can change the button function that the physical button 410 should have at this time by setting different flag values. In this embodiment, when the portable computer system 400 is in one of the included system states, if the physical button 410 is pressed for more than a preset time, the portable computer system 400 is switched to include the other one. A system state. For example, when the portable computer system 400 is in an operating state, if the user continues to press the physical button 410 for more than a preset time, the portable computer system 400 switches to the secure login authentication state.

Finally, as shown in step 530, when the physical button 410 is pressed, the control unit 440 causes the portable computer system 400 to perform the key functions currently possessed by the physical button 410. For example, the control unit 440 determines, according to the flag value set by the physical button 410, which button function the physical button 410 currently has, and then transmits the scan code of the button function to the operating system of the portable computer system 400 to execute the button. Features.

As shown in FIG. 5, as long as the button function corresponding to various system states included in the portable computer system 400 is defined by the button function definition module 420, the control unit 440 determines the result of the module 430 according to the state. The current system state of the portable computer system 400 sets the key functions that the physical button 410 should have. Accordingly, the effect of enabling a physical button to support different key functions in different system states is achieved.

In summary, the portable computer system and the method for switching the button functions of the present invention enable a physical button to support different functions when the portable computer system is in an operating state or a secure login authentication state. In this way, the manufacturer of the portable computer system does not need to add a physical button corresponding to the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination function, and can be realized by using a physical button on the portable computer system. Enter the purpose of the "Ctrl+Alt+Del" key combination.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100. . . Portable computer system

110. . . Physical button

120. . . State judgment module

130. . . control unit

210-230. . . Each step of the method for switching the button function according to an embodiment of the present invention

310～360. . . Each step of the method for switching the button function according to another embodiment of the present invention

400. . . Portable computer system

410. . . Physical button

420. . . Button function definition module

430. . . State judgment module

440. . . control unit

510 ~ 530. . . Each step of the method for switching the button functions according to still another embodiment of the present invention

1 is a block diagram of a portable computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flow chart of a method for switching a button function according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for switching a button function according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram of a portable computer system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method for switching a button function according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

210-230. . . Each step of the method for switching the button function according to an embodiment of the present invention

Claims (8)

A method for switching a button function for a portable computer system having a composite function physical button, the portable computer system including an operating state and a secure login authentication state, wherein the portable computer When the computer system is in the operating state, the physical button corresponds to a system predetermined function, and when the portable computer system enters the secure login authentication state, it needs to receive a Secure Attention Key (SAK) input to call. a login procedure of the portable computer system, the method comprising: determining a system state of the portable computer system; and when the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state, causing the physical button to correspond to a Safely paying attention to the key function; when the portable computer system is in the operating state, the physical button is corresponding to the predetermined function of the system; and when receiving the input signal that the physical button is pressed, performing the system predetermined function to call The login program of the portable computer system. The method for switching a button function according to claim 1, wherein the step of calling the login program of the portable computer system comprises: transmitting a scan code of the security attention key to the portable type An operating system of the computer system calls the login program. The method for switching the function of the button as described in claim 1 further includes: when the portable computer system is in the operating state, if the entity is pressed Pressing the key for more than a predetermined time, causing the portable computer system to switch from the operating state to the secure login authentication state; causing the physical button to correspond to a secure attention key function; and when receiving the physical button is pressed Enter the signal to call the login program of the portable computer system. The method for switching a button function as described in claim 1, wherein the physical button is a power button, and the predetermined function of the system is to enable or disable the portable computer system. A portable computer system includes an operating state and a secure login authentication state, wherein when the portable computer system enters the secure login authentication state, an input of a security attention key is received to call The portable computer system includes: a physical button having a composite function, wherein the physical button corresponds to a predetermined function of the system when the portable computer system is in the operating state; a state judging module to determine whether the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state; and a control unit coupled to the physical button and the state judging module, wherein the state judging module determines the portable type When the computer system is in the secure login authentication state, the control unit causes the physical button to correspond to a security attention key function, and when the state determination module determines that the portable computer system is in the operation state, the control unit causes the entity The button corresponds to the predetermined function of the system, and the portable computer system is in the operating state and receives the real Key is pressed the input signal, the control unit enabling the portability The computer system performs the predetermined function of the system to call the login program. The portable computer system of claim 5, wherein the control unit transmits a scan code of the security attention key to an operating system of the portable computer system to call the login program. The portable computer system of claim 5, wherein when the portable computer system is in the operating state, if the physical button is pressed for more than a predetermined time, the portable computer system is configured by the portable computer system The operating state transitions to the secure login authentication state, and the control unit causes the physical button to correspond to a secure attention key function, and when the portable computer system is in the secure login authentication state and receives an input of the physical button being pressed At the time of the signal, the control unit causes the portable computer system to call the login program. The portable computer system of claim 5, wherein the physical button is a power button, and the predetermined function of the system is to turn the portable computer system on or off.