Electronic apparatus that allows cooling fan to be driven with certainty even at the time of software malfunction/lock-up or at the time of controller failure

Abstract: A voltage for driving a cooling fan is usually output from a fan voltage control circuit. Whether to cause the fan voltage control circuit to output the drive voltage or not is controlled by a system management utility (software) and a bridge controller (hardware) on the basis of temperature data from a temperature sensor. To provide for the occurrence of a failure in the system management utility or the bridge controller, a temperature comparator monitors the temperature data from the temperature sensor and instructs a fan voltage control circuit to output a drive voltage for the cooling fan in the case where the temperature rises above a given value. (end of abstract)

Agent: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP Eric S. Cherry - Docketing Supervisor - Mclean, VA, US
Inventors: Takehiko Yamamoto, Akira Suzuki
USPTO Applicaton #: #20070241708 - Class: 318471000 (USPTO)

Electronic apparatus that allows cooling fan to be driven with certainty even at the time of software malfunction/lock-up or at the time of controller failure description/claims

The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070241708, Electronic apparatus that allows cooling fan to be driven with certainty even at the time of software malfunction/lock-up or at the time of controller failure.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/944,901, filed Sep. 21, 2004, and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120. This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119 from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-334179, filed Sep. 25, 2003, the entire contents of both applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a technique that controls the driving of a cooling fan used in an electronic apparatus such as a personal computer.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] In recent years, various types of personal computers, such as notebook computers and desktop computers, have come into wide use in offices and homes. In general, with these types of personal computers, a cooling fan is installed in the neighborhood of a central processing unit (CPU) in order to discharge air, the temperature of which has been elevated due to heat generated by the CPU, to the outside of the casing. Control of the cooling fan is carried out on the basis of temperature data output from a temperature sensor (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,843).

[0006] This allows appropriate cooling-fan control that allows for low-noise driving and low power consumption to be implemented (such as rotates the cooling fan only when necessary).

[0007] Up to now, the driving of the cooling fan has been controlled by a single controller. The controller receives commands associated with drive control of the cooling fan from software whenever necessary or drives the cooling fan as initialized by software.

[0008] With such a system, however, the occurrence of a malfunction or lock-up in the software or a failure in the controller will result in failure to perform the appropriate control of the cooling fan. In this case, as long as the cooling fan continues to rotate there is no problem, but if the cooling fan does not rotate at all, the function of protecting the CPU may not be performed.

[0009] With a large business-oriented server computer, it is possible to provide a dual cooling fan system; however, since this system inevitably causes the cost and size to be increased, it is not practical to provide the dual cooling fan system in a personal computer.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronic apparatus comprises a fan drive circuit which drive controls a cooling fan, first and second fan voltage control circuits each of which outputs a drive voltage required for the fan drive circuit to drive the cooling fan, a temperature sensor, a system controller which drive controls the first fan voltage control circuit on the basis of temperature data received from the temperature sensor, and a temperature comparator which acquires the temperature data transferred toward the system controller and, when the temperature is above a given value, drive controls the second fan voltage control circuit to output the drive voltage without intervention of the system controller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the portion associated with cooling fan control of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] FIG. 2 is a flowchart for drive control of the cooling fan by the system management utility in the electronic apparatus of FIG. 1; and

[0014] FIG. 3 is a flowchart for drive control of the cooling fan by the temperature comparator in the electronic apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] An embodiments of the present will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] FIG. 1 shows, in block diagram form, the portion associated with cooling fan control of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] This electronic apparatus, which is, for example, a notebook-type personal computer, is subject to overall control by a CPU 11. In the electronic apparatus, a system management (SM) bus 1 and a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus 2 for data transmission and reception are installed. A bridge controller 12 has a bridge function of connecting the SM bus 1 and the PCI bus 2 with the high-speed local bus of the CPU 11.

[0018] A system memory 13 and a BIOS-ROM 14 are connected to the bridge controller 12, which also has the function of controlling access to these components.

[0019] The system memory 13, which is a storage medium that serves as main storage of the electronic apparatus, temporarily stores various programs executed by the CPU 11 and various pieces of data employed by these programs. One of the programs stored in the system memory 13 is a system management utility 100 which will be described later. The BIOS-ROM 14, which is a storage medium that stores the basic input/output system (BIOS), comprises a program-rewritable flash memory.

Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
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