Electric quantity display system and notebook computer with same

[0018] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments, but it is not intended to limit the present invention.

[0019] The present invention provides a power display system, from figure 1 It can be seen that the power display system mainly includes a manipulation unit, a power monitoring module, a controller, a power detection module, and a power display device.

[0020] Wherein, the operating part is arranged on the upper surface of the host end of the notebook computer (that is, the surface of the notebook computer where the keyboard is provided), and is used to manipulate the power monitoring module to send a power display request signal to the controller. Preferably, the operating part may be in the form of a power button, and when the user presses the power button, the power monitoring module is activated to send a power display request signal to the controller. The controller is used to receive the power display request signal from the power monitoring module, and send a power detection command to the power detection module. At the same time, it also receives power feedback information from the power detection module, and displays the power based on the received power feedback information The device issues a power display instruction so that the power display device can display power without entering the operating system. The power detection device is used to start power detection after receiving the power detection command from the controller, and send power feedback information to the controller after the power detection is completed. The power display device is used to receive power display instructions from the controller, and display power without entering the operating system according to the received power display instructions.

[0021] According to the power display system of the present invention, when the user wants to check the power of the battery, he only needs to operate the control unit. The control unit activates the power monitoring module and sends a power display request signal to the controller, and then the controller, The power detection module and the power display device complete the power display, providing users with a way to view the battery power status separately. The user does not need to boot into the operating system, eliminating the need to wait before entering the operating system, and also realizes the laptop computer Functional expansion.

[0022] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the controller can adopt the embedded controller (EC ROM) inside the notebook computer, so that no additional controller is needed, and the existing hardware resources of the notebook computer can be fully utilized to achieve the control effect. While saving costs.

[0024] Also preferably, a single-chip microcomputer additionally installed on the motherboard of the notebook computer can be used as the controller. In this way, other functions of the notebook computer will not be affected when it is replaced, and the specially set single-chip microcomputer is also conducive to rapid data processing.

[0025] When the type of data transmitted between the controller and the power detection module does not match, preferably, such as Figure 2 to Figure 4 As shown, a signal conversion unit can be provided in the power detection module. The signal conversion unit can be, for example, a digital/analog conversion unit or an analog/digital conversion unit. Its function is to convert the signal sent from the controller to the power detection module. It is a type that the power detection module can recognize, and converts the signal sent by the power detection module to the controller into a type that the controller can recognize.

[0026] image 3 A preferred embodiment of the power display device is shown. in image 3 The power display device includes a BIOS component and a display. The power display command issued by the controller is received by the BIOS component. The BIOS component then generates power display information and sends it to the display, which is displayed in the BIOS interface. in image 3 When the battery is displayed in the illustrated embodiment, the user needs to press the power-on button of the notebook computer, and then operate the operating part, and press the Del key to enter the BIOS interface before entering the operating system to see the battery display.

[0027] in Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the display device is a light emitting diode provided in the manipulation portion. Taking the power button as the operating part as an example, the light emitting diode is arranged in the shell of the power button, and the light emitting diode is turned on and emits light when receiving the power display instruction from the control part. Specifically, the power display command issued by the control unit may be in the form of voltage, and different voltages are output to the light-emitting diodes for different power conditions, so that the brightness of the light-emitting diodes is different, so as to indicate the remaining power. For example, the brighter the light emitted by the light-emitting diode, the more power remaining, and vice versa. Through this implementation, the battery level can be displayed by pressing the battery button, eliminating the need to press the power button to enter the BIOS interface. Especially for the case where the battery is partially integrated inside the notebook computer, a way to check the battery status is additionally set.

[0028] Further preferably, a plurality of light-emitting diodes can be used to form a specific pattern to display the power. For example in Figure 5 As shown in, a part of the light-emitting diodes form a battery-shaped outline, and the other part of the light-emitting diodes are arranged into a plurality of power indicating gears within the battery-shaped outline. Such as Figure 5 As shown, there are four gears composed of four light-emitting diodes, one gear corresponds to 25% electricity, two gears correspond to 50% electricity, three gears correspond to 75% electricity, and four gears indicate full electricity. status.

[0029] The present invention also provides a notebook computer with the above-mentioned power display system, so that the power display can be realized without entering the operating system.

[0030] The following are to include image 3 with Figure 4 The notebook computer of the illustrated embodiment is taken as an example, assuming that the operating part is a power button, and the operation process of displaying power is described.

[0031] For the display device including BIOS components and monitors, the user needs to press the power button and the power button as the operating part (in no particular order). Before entering the operating system, the user also needs to press the Del button (for the first press of the power button and then the power button). In the case of pressing the battery button, you need to press the battery button before pressing the Del button), then you can enter the BIOS interface, and the battery status will be displayed in the BIOS interface. When the power button is pressed, the power button activates the power monitoring module and sends a power display request signal to the controller. The controller then sends a power detection command to the power detection module to instruct the power detection module to perform power detection and complete the power detection. After the test, the power detection module sends power feedback information to the controller, and the controller sends a power display command to the BIOS component based on the received power feedback information. The power display command can include power status information, that is, the control unit directly instructs the BIOS The component displays the actual power status, and the BIOS then sends the actual power status as power display information to the display, thereby displaying the power status in the BIOS interface.

[0032] For the case where the display device is a light-emitting diode set in the power button, the user only needs to press the power button to display the power state. The specific implementation is basically the same as the case of the display device including the BIOS components and the display, except that the controller can adjust the brightness of the light-emitting diodes through the voltage level when sending the battery display command, so that the user can intuitively observe The battery level.

[0033] Regarding how the power detection module performs power detection, methods known to those skilled in the art, such as voltage testing methods, battery modeling methods, and coulomb counters in the prior art, can be used, which will not be repeated here.