Control method, control circuit and electronic equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a control method, a control circuit and electronic equipment, under the condition that the control equipment is in communication connection with the electronic equipment, the control equipment sends a first control signal to a communication element of the electronic equipment, and the communication element sends the first control signal to an embedded controller of the electronic equipment. After the embedded controller receives the first control signal, under the condition that the first control signal meets a first condition, a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal is sent to a processor of the electronic equipment, so that the processor controls an operating system of the electronic equipment to be switched to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application mainly relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically to a control method, a control circuit and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] At present, in order to meet users' different device control needs in scenarios such as remote office, multi-device operation and maintenance, remote entertainment, and remote collaboration, Figure 1 As shown, a remote control card is usually installed in an electronic device, and a microprocessor in the remote control card responds to a control signal from a local network card of the electronic device to control a power button or a restart button of the electronic device, thereby realizing remote control of the electronic device.

[0003] However, the remote control card not only increases the cost, but also requires occupying a slot of the electronic device, and is not applicable to electronic devices that do not have or have no free slots. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the above problems, this application provides the following technical solutions:

[0005] A first aspect of the present application provides a control method, which is applied to an electronic device, and the method includes:

[0006] The embedded controller of the electronic device receives a first control signal sent by a communication element of the electronic device; the first control signal is a signal sent by a control device to the communication element;

[0007] When the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor of the electronic device, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

[0008] In one possible implementation, where:

[0009] The first control signal is sent to the embedded controller when the communication element determines that the first control signal satisfies a second condition;

[0010] The second condition is a condition for identifying a control signal for a power management state of the electronic device.

[0011] In one possible implementation, where:

[0012] The first condition is used to identify a valid condition of a control signal for a power management state;

[0013] The control signal being valid indicates that the control signal can realize the control of the power management state.

[0014] In a possible implementation, when the first control signal satisfies a first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to a processor of the electronic device, including:

[0015] In response to obtaining the first control signal, the embedded controller analyzes the first control signal and determines that the first control signal includes a preparation signal and a command signal;

[0016] In a case where the time interval between receiving the preparation signal and receiving the command signal is less than or equal to a duration threshold, determining a target command corresponding to the command signal;

[0017] Sending the target instruction to a processor of the electronic device;

[0018] The ready signal is characterized as a signal ready to control the power management state of the electronic device.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the determining that the first control signal includes a preparation signal includes any one of the following:

[0020] Determining that the first control signal includes a notification signal; the notification signal indicates that a command signal for a power management state has changed;

[0021] A control flag bit in the first control signal is determined to be a target parameter; the target parameter indicates that the first control signal is a control signal for a power management state.

[0022] In a possible implementation, determining the target instruction corresponding to the instruction signal includes any one of the following:

[0023] If the received instruction signal is a first instruction signal, determining a first instruction corresponding to the first instruction signal as a target instruction;

[0024] If the received instruction signal is a second instruction signal, determining a second instruction corresponding to the second instruction signal as a target instruction;

[0025] If the received instruction signal is a third instruction signal, determining a third instruction corresponding to the third instruction signal as a target instruction;

[0026] Wherein, the first command signal, the second command signal and the third command signal are pulse signals in different states;

[0027] The first instruction, the second instruction, and the third instruction are different instructions for controlling the power management state of the electronic device, and the different instructions instruct the operating system to enter different working states.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to a processor of the electronic device, including:

[0029] Determining a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal and a current working state of an operating system of the electronic device;

[0030] If the current working state of the operating system does not match the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, sending the target instruction to the processor of the electronic device;

[0031] The target working state includes any of the following:

[0032] The operating system is turned on;

[0033] The operating system is shut down;

[0034] The operating system sleeps;

[0035] The operating system is in hibernation;

[0036] The operating system restarts.

[0037] In a possible implementation, the current working state of the operating system does not match the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, including:

[0038] If the target instruction is a shutdown instruction or a restart instruction, determining that the current working state of the operating system is a non-shutdown state;

[0039] If the target instruction is a power-on instruction, determining that the current working state of the operating system is a power-off state;

[0040] If the target instruction is a wake-up instruction, it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is a sleep state or a hibernation state.

[0041] A second aspect of the present application provides a control circuit, the control circuit comprising at least one communication element, an embedded controller and a processor, wherein:

[0042] The communication element is used to communicate with the control device and the embedded controller respectively, receive the first control signal sent by the control device, and send the first control signal to the embedded controller;

[0043] The embedded controller is configured to receive the first control signal, and send a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor when determining that the first control signal satisfies a first condition;

[0044] The processor is used to run the operating system, receive the target instruction, and control the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

[0045] A third aspect of the present application provides an electronic device, the electronic device comprising a mainboard, and a control circuit disposed on the mainboard, the control circuit comprising at least one communication element, an embedded controller and a processor, wherein:

[0046] The control circuit is used to implement the following steps:

[0047] The embedded controller receives a first control signal sent by the communication element; the first control signal is a signal sent by a control device to a signal transmission area of ​​the communication element, and the signal transmission area is configured to remain in a powered-on state;

[0048] When the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor in the control circuit, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0049] The above and other features, advantages and aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the accompanying drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar elements. It should be understood that the drawings are schematic and the originals and elements are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0050] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device for a device remote control method;

[0051] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device for another device remote control method;

[0052] Figure 3 A flow chart of a control method proposed in Example 1 of the present application;

[0053] Figure 4 A signaling flow diagram of a control method proposed in Embodiment 2 of the present application;

[0054] Figure 5 A flow chart of a control method proposed in Embodiment 3 of the present application;

[0055] Figure 6 A flow chart of a control method proposed in Embodiment 4 of the present application;

[0056] Figure 7A schematic diagram of the structure of a control device proposed in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. The terms used in the implementation mode of the present application are only used to explain the specific embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. The embodiments of the present application are described below in conjunction with the drawings. It is known to those of ordinary skill in the art that with the development of technology and the emergence of new scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0059] The term "first", "second" etc. that the full text of the application relates to is used to distinguish similar objects, and need not be used to describe a specific order or sequential order. It should be understood that the terms used in this way can be interchangeable in appropriate circumstances, and this is only to describe the distinction mode adopted by the objects of the same attributes when describing in the embodiments of the application. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any of their deformations are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, so that the process, method, system, product or equipment comprising a series of units need not be limited to those units, but may include other units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or equipment.

[0060] In view of the description of the background technology part, the present application hopes to achieve the following results without adding an additional PCIe control card (such as Figure 1 A remote control card in the system) is used to realize the switching control of different working states of the operating system of the electronic device. To this end, a solution is to adopt WOL (wake on LAN, network wake-up or remote wake-up) technology to remotely wake up the operating system of the electronic device. Figure 1 The device remote control architecture based on WOL technology shown in the figure can send a power-on signal / wake-up signal when the control device is communicated with the local network card of the electronic device, and the local network card of the electronic device transmits it to the central processor to control the operating system to start up or wake up the operating system. However, this cannot realize other types of control operations on the electronic device, resulting in the device control function being too single, making it difficult to meet diverse device control needs, and reducing the user experience.

[0061] In order to further improve the above problems, the present application proposes a control method, a control circuit and an electronic device. After establishing a communication connection between a control device and an electronic device (at this time, it serves as a controlled device, so that the user can use the control device to control the electronic device), the control device can be used to meet different types of control requirements for the electronic device, such as controlling the electronic device to start up, power on, sleep, sleep or wake up the operating system, etc., to achieve richer control of the electronic device, better meet the user's application requirements for the electronic device, and improve the user experience. The control method of the embodiment of the present application is first described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0062] Reference Figure 3 , is a flow chart of a control method proposed in the first embodiment of the present application. The control method can be applied to electronic devices, which may include but are not limited to mobile phones, tablet computers, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) devices, laptop computers, smart home devices, smart medical devices or robots and other terminal devices. In the scenario where the electronic device is controlled by the control device without changing the original structure of the electronic device, such as Figure 3 As shown, the control method proposed in this embodiment may include but is not limited to the following steps:

[0063] Step S31, the embedded controller of the electronic device receives a first control signal sent by a communication element of the electronic device; the first control signal is a signal sent by the control device to the communication element;

[0064] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication element of the electronic device is any network device supported by the electronic device itself that can communicate and connect with other devices, such as the existing LAN local network card (i.e., LAN (Local Area Network) network interface card, also known as Ethernet card) of the electronic device itself, WiFi (Wireless Fidelity, a wireless local area network technology) wireless network card, mobile communication network card (such as 5G / 6G network processing chip, etc.) or other wired / wireless network card, etc. The communication connection method between the control device and the electronic device can be flexibly selected based on the geographical location relationship between the control device and the electronic device, the network quality in the environment, and the network communication method supported by the control device. The present application does not limit the type of communication element that realizes the communication connection between the electronic device and the control device.

[0065] Among them, the control device can be a terminal device of a user who needs to operate the electronic device, which can be any one of the types listed above. After successfully establishing a communication connection between the control device and the electronic device, the control device can be operated to send a corresponding control signal to the electronic device according to actual operating requirements. For the convenience of description, the control signal can be recorded as a first control signal.

[0066] In actual applications, users can perform input operations on the control device through voice or using any input component such as a mouse keyboard, a stylus, etc., so that it sends control signals that meet actual operation needs to the electronic device, such as power on / off / sleep / wake up control signals. This application does not limit the implementation method of how the control device sends the first control signal to the communication element of the electronic device.

[0067] After the communication element of the electronic device receives the first control signal, Figure 2 In the method shown, the first control signal is directly sent to the central processing unit for processing. The present application will send the first control signal to an existing embedded controller of the electronic device (such as an EC (Embedded Controller) chip on the motherboard), and the embedded controller will achieve the effect of device control diversity and reliability in the manner described below.

[0068] Among them, the present application can configure a signal transmission area in the communication element for receiving a control signal sent by a control device, and can obtain the control signal / control instruction sent by the control device by detection, and send the control signal / control signal corresponding to the control instruction to the embedded controller accordingly. In this regard, the present application configures the signal transmission area to remain in a powered-on state to ensure that it can obtain the control signal / control instruction sent by the control device in a timely manner, and according to the control method proposed in the present application, the timeliness of the control of the electronic device is achieved. The present application does not limit the implementation method of how to ensure that the signal transmission area of ​​the communication element is always in a powered-on state.

[0069] Step S32, when the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor of the electronic device, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

[0070] After the embedded controller in the electronic device receives the first control signal, in order to improve the reliability of switching control of the operating system working state of the electronic device, the present application can pre-configure the conditions for identifying that the control signal to be transmitted can achieve switching control of the operating state of the electronic device, which can be recorded as the first condition. The present application does not limit the content of the first condition for achieving the identification purpose and the representation form of the identification purpose, and can be flexibly configured or adjusted according to actual conditions.

[0071] Based on this, the embedded controller can first determine whether the first control signal currently received meets the first condition. If it does, it means that the first control signal can realize the switching control of the operating system working state of the electronic device. The embedded controller will send a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor (CPU central processing unit) so that the processor responds to the target instruction and controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction. This application does not elaborate on how the processor realizes the switching of different working states of the operating system.

[0072] In summary, in the embodiment of the present application, when the control device is connected to the communication element of the electronic device, when it is necessary to control the working state of the operating system of the electronic device, the control device is used to send a corresponding first control signal to the communication element, and the communication element sends the first control signal to the embedded controller of the electronic device. After determining that the first control signal meets the first condition, the embedded controller will send the corresponding target instruction to the processor, so that the processor controls the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, and reliably meet the control requirements. The entire control process is directly implemented under the original structure of the electronic device, which solves the technical problems of high cost in the method of adding an additional control card to realize remote control, and insufficient number of card slots to install the control card to realize remote control.

[0073] In some embodiments, in combination with the above description of the first condition, the operating state of the operating system (system operation state) represents the management of the power management state by the operating system, that is, when the operating system enters the corresponding working state according to the power management state, the above first condition may be a condition for identifying that the control signal for the power management state is valid. The power management state refers to the state in which the electronic device optimizes the use of power in different usage scenarios to extend battery life or reduce power consumption, usually including normal working state (power-on state), sleep state, hibernation state, standby state and power-off state. The validity of the control signal may indicate that the control signal can realize the control of the power management state, which is realized by sending an instruction corresponding to the received control signal to the processor.

[0074] It can be seen that in the control method proposed in the present application, the embedded controller determines that the first control signal satisfies the first condition, indicating that the first control signal is a valid signal for controlling the power management state and can realize the control of the power management state. At this time, it can be considered that the user intends to realize the switching control of the power management state of the electronic device, rather than a false trigger. Afterwards, the operating system can be controlled to enter the target working state, that is, the system operation state that the user expects the electronic device to enter, according to the method described above.

[0075] It should be understood that, based on the above analysis, when the embedded controller determines that the first control signal currently received does not meet the first condition, such as the first control signal is not a signal for controlling the power management state, or the first control signal is invalid, etc., it means that the first control signal cannot realize the switching control of the operating system working state of the electronic device. It can be considered that the user's intention of using the control device to send the first control signal is not to control the power management state, or the user mistakenly triggers the sending of the first control signal. At this time, the embedded controller cannot or does not need to send the corresponding target instruction to the processor to notify the processor to control the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction. The first control signal can be directly ignored without any processing, which saves processing resource consumption and improves the accuracy and reliability of the switching control of the operating system working state.

[0076] Reference Figure 4 , which is a signaling flow diagram of a control method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present application, can describe an optional refinement method of the above control method, in a scenario where the control device used is connected to the electronic device for communication, such as Figure 4 As shown, the control method applied to the electronic device may include:

[0077] Step S41, the communication element of the electronic device receives a first control signal sent by the control device;

[0078] Step S42, the communication component determines that the first control signal satisfies the second condition, and sends the first control signal to the embedded controller of the electronic device;

[0079] In an embodiment of the present application, when the communication element that receives the first control signal has a certain data processing capability, after the communication element receives the first control signal from the control device, it can first determine whether it is necessary to send the first control signal to the embedded controller based on a pre-configured second condition. If not, the communication element will not send the first control signal to the embedded controller to avoid occupying transmission resources between the communication element and the embedded controller.

[0080] Based on this, combined with the control requirements proposed in this application, the condition for identifying the control signal for the power management state of the electronic device can be pre-configured as the second condition, and it is determined whether the first control signal received by the communication element is a signal for controlling the electronic device (the device where the communication element is located) and controlling the power management state. According to the second condition, if it is determined that the first control signal is used to control the electronic device rather than other devices, and is for controlling the power management state rather than other functions, that is, the first control signal satisfies the second condition, the communication element will send the first control signal to the embedded controller to continue to execute the subsequent steps.

[0081] In this way, the communication element determines that the first control signal is not used to achieve control of the electronic device, such as the first control signal is a control signal for the power management status or other functions of other devices, or the first control signal is a control of the non-power management status of the electronic device, such as the first control signal is to control the electronic device to switch to the next music playback and other operation controls, which indicates that the first control signal does not meet the second condition. In this case, the communication element may not process the first control signal, or it may send corresponding instructions to the processor according to the control requirements actually represented by the first control signal to achieve control of the electronic device or other devices, such as the communication element directly sends an instruction to play the next music to the processor, and the processor controls the music player to switch to the next song to play, but it is not limited to the control method described in this embodiment.

[0082] In a possible implementation, combined with the above description of the second condition, in order to identify that the control signal is a signal for controlling an electronic device, the signal data structure of the control signal may be required to include identification information for identifying the electronic device, such as one or more of a MAC (Media Access Control Address), a UDID (Unique Device Identifier), and a MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier). In this way, when a control device is used to send different control signals to an electronic device to implement different operations on the electronic device, it is necessary to configure the above identification information of the electronic device to be controlled in the control signal. It should be noted that, in addition to the identification information, the control signal also needs to include a signal that characterizes the control content, etc. The present application does not restrict the composition and structure of the control signal, and it can be flexibly configured according to actual needs.

[0083] According to the above analysis, after receiving the first control signal, the communication element can obtain the device identification information contained in the first control and the electronic device identification information, and determine that the device identification information is consistent with the identification information of the electronic device (which usually refers to the same type of identification information, such as MAC addresses, etc. If they are not the same type of identification information, the consistency here means matching), indicating that the first control signal is a control signal for controlling the electronic device; otherwise, it is determined that the first control signal does not meet the second condition. However, it is not limited to this judgment implementation method.

[0084] In addition, the present application also needs to determine whether the first control signal is a control signal for controlling the power management state. The signal content (or signal state) of the control signal for implementing the power management state can be pre-configured. At this time, the communication element can match the received first control signal with the signal content (or signal state) corresponding to the pre-configured different power management states. If the match is successful, it means that the first control signal is a control signal for controlling the power management state; otherwise, it is determined that the first control signal does not meet the second condition.

[0085] Combined with the above analysis, the above second condition may include at least one identification information for identifying the electronic device, and the signal content / state for identifying the control signal corresponding to different power management states, etc. After the communication element receives the first control signal sent by the control device, it determines whether the first control signal meets the second condition according to the method described above. It should be noted that the content of the second condition includes but is not limited to the content described above, and can also be adaptively adjusted / configured according to actual needs. This application does not give detailed examples one by one.

[0086] Step S43, when the received first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller determines the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal and the current working state of the operating system of the electronic device;

[0087] Step S44, the embedded controller determines that the current working state of the operating system does not match the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, and sends the target instruction to the processor of the electronic device;

[0088] Combined with the above description of the first condition, when the embedded controller determines that the first control signal can realize the control of the power management state of the electronic device, the electronic device may be in the power management state that the user expects it to be in. At this time, there is no need to switch the power management state of the electronic device, and the current power management state can be maintained. If the corresponding target instruction is still sent to the processor at this time, the processor will not execute the target instruction after identification, but this process will occupy the transmission resources between the embedded controller and the processor, and may also cause a waste of computing resources of the processor.

[0089] In order to improve this problem, when the current power management state of the electronic device is already the power management state expected by the user, in order to avoid occupying the transmission resources between the embedded controller and the processor, as well as the computing resources of the processor, the embodiment of the present application proposes that when the embedded controller determines that the first control signal satisfies the first condition, it further identifies whether the current working state of the operating system is the target working state expected by the user. If not, the embedded controller sends the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor; if not, the embedded controller can ignore / delete the first control signal and no longer send the target instruction to the processor.

[0090] In this regard, the embedded controller can obtain the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal after determining that the received first control signal is a valid control signal for the power management state according to the first condition, so as to determine which power management state the first control signal instructs the electronic device to enter (which can be recorded as the target power management state), that is, to instruct the operating system of the electronic device to enter which working state (which is recorded as the target working state, and the target working state is consistent with the target power management state), and at the same time, obtain the current working state of the operating system of the electronic device (which is consistent with the current power management state of the electronic device). This application does not limit the method for obtaining the target instruction and the current working state.

[0091] Afterwards, the embedded controller determines whether the current working state of the operating system is the target working state (that is, determines whether the current working state matches the target working state). If they do not match, it means that the current working state of the operating system is not the target working state. In order to meet the control requirements, the embedded controller needs to send a target instruction to the processor to notify the processor to implement switching control of the operating system's working state; if they match, it means that the current working state of the operating system is the target working state. At this time, there is no need to switch the operating system's working state, and there is no need to occupy resources to perform subsequent operations.

[0092] Among them, different working states of the operating system of the electronic device may include but are not limited to: power-on state (operating system power-on, i.e. starting the operating system), power-off state (operating system power-off, i.e. shutting down or terminating the operating system), hibernation state (operating system hibernation), sleep state (operating system, sleep) and restart state (operating system restart), etc. Based on this, the target working state of the operating system may be any one of the different working states, which may be determined according to actual control requirements.

[0093] Step S45: the processor responds to the target instruction and controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to the target working state.

[0094] When the processor receives the target instruction sent by the embedded controller, it will control the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction according to the control logic of the pre-configured operating system working state. The implementation process will not be described in detail in this application.

[0095] Exemplarily, as analyzed above, if the target instruction is a sleep instruction, and the target working state corresponding to the sleep instruction is operating system sleep, it is determined that the electronic device is in a sleep state, and the electronic device does not need to execute the sleep instruction, the embedded controller does not process it, and does not need to continue to transmit the sleep instruction to the processor to avoid occupying transmission resources; but if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device is in a non-sleep state such as a power-on state (that is, the operating system has been successfully started) or a sleep / restart state (that is, the operating system is starting), it is necessary to execute the sleep instruction, and the embedded controller will send the sleep instruction to the processor, and the processor will respond to the sleep instruction to control the electronic device to enter a sleep state.

[0096] Similarly, according to the above analysis, if the embedded controller determines that the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal is a shutdown instruction or a restart instruction, the above step S44 can be that when it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is not a shutdown state, the embedded controller sends the target instruction to the processor, and the processor controls the electronic device to shut down or restart. If the target instruction is a restart instruction, the embedded controller determines that the operating system is in a shutdown state and does not need to process the restart instruction.

[0097] Similarly, based on the above analysis, if the embedded controller determines that the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal is a power-on instruction, the above step S44 can be that when it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is the shutdown state, the embedded controller sends a power-on instruction to the processor, and the processor controls the electronic device to start up; when it is determined that the operating system is in a non-shutdown state, such as any of the above-mentioned power-on / hibernation / sleep / restart states, the embedded controller does not need to process the power-on instruction.

[0098] Similarly, according to the above analysis, if the embedded controller determines that the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal is a wake-up instruction, the above step S44 may be that when it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is a sleep state or a hibernation state, the embedded controller sends a wake-up instruction to the processor, and the processor wakes up the operating system, and then the operating system can be considered to be in the boot state. If it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is the boot state, the wake-up instruction does not need to be processed.

[0099] To summarize, in an embodiment of the present application, in a scenario where a control device is used to control the power management state of an electronic device (which is used as a controlled device at this time), a communication connection is established between the control device and at least one communication element of the electronic device. In this way, after the communication element receives a first control signal sent by the control device, it will determine, based on a pre-configured second condition, that the first control signal is used to control the power management state of the electronic device. Only then will the communication element send the first control signal to the embedded controller, thereby avoiding the occupation of transmission resources between the communication element and the embedded controller by control signals for other devices or non-power management state control operations, as well as the waste of processing resources and inaccurate control caused by sending such control signals to the embedded controller.

[0100] Moreover, after the embedded controller receives the first control signal that meets the second condition, in order to avoid responding to the first control signal that is mistakenly triggered by the user, the embedded controller will first determine whether the first control signal is a valid control signal for the power management state based on the first condition. If so, the embedded controller will further determine whether it is necessary to execute the target instruction corresponding to the valid first control signal by determining whether the target working state represented by the target instruction corresponding to the first control signal matches the current working state of the operating system of the electronic device. If necessary, that is, the target working state does not match the current working state of the operating system, the embedded controller will send the target instruction to the processor, and the processor will control the operating system to enter the target working state, thereby avoiding the transmission and subsequent processing of the instruction corresponding to the invalid first control signal, and when the target working state corresponding to the valid first control signal matches the current working state of the operating system, the transmission and subsequent processing of the target instruction corresponding to the valid first control signal reduces the consumption of transmission resources and processor computing resources, and improves the reliability of the switching control of the working state of the electronic device operating system.

[0101] Reference Figure 5 , is a signaling flow diagram of a control method provided in Embodiment 3 of the present application. This embodiment can provide a detailed description of an optional implementation method in which the embedded controller determines that the first control signal satisfies the first condition in the control method proposed in the above embodiment, such as Figure 5 As shown, the control method proposed in this embodiment may include but is not limited to the following steps:

[0102] Step S51, the embedded controller of the electronic device receives a first control signal sent by the communication element of the electronic device;

[0103] Step S52, in response to obtaining the first control signal, the embedded controller analyzes the first control signal and determines that the first control signal includes a preparation signal and a command signal;

[0104] Step S53, when the time interval between receiving the preparation signal and receiving the command signal is less than or equal to the time threshold, the embedded controller determines the target command corresponding to the command signal;

[0105] Step S54: the embedded controller sends a target instruction to the processor of the electronic device, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

[0106] In the embodiment of the present application, the first control signal received by the embedded controller may be a control signal determined by the communication element to satisfy the second condition. The implementation process may refer to the description of the corresponding part of the above embodiment, such as the description of the corresponding part of step S42. Of course, the present application may also use other methods to constrain the first control signal to satisfy the second condition, and the present application does not limit this implementation method. Afterwards, in combination with the above description of the first condition, the embedded controller may first receive a ready signal, and then receive a command signal indicating a target command within a pre-configured duration threshold (which can be configured according to actual requirements, such as 100ms, etc., and the present application does not limit the duration threshold), indicating that the first control signal is a valid control signal for the power management state, and then continue to perform subsequent processing operations.

[0107] Based on the above analysis, this application requires that the control signal sent by the communication element to the embedded controller includes at least two parts. The first part can be a preparation signal as a header to notify the embedded controller to control the power management state of the electronic device, and the second part can be an instruction signal as a control content part to instruct the embedded controller which instruction to send to the processor to notify the processor to control the operating system to enter the target working state expected by the user. This application does not restrict the composition structure of the control signal for the power management state sent by the communication element to the embedded controller, its content representation method, signal type, etc., which can be determined according to the circumstances.

[0108] In this way, after the embedded controller receives the first control signal, it can parse the first control signal and determine that the first control signal includes a preparation signal (i.e., a signal indicating that the power management state of the electronic device is ready to be controlled. This application does not limit the content of the signal and its representation implementation method) and a command signal, indicating that the composition of the first control signal meets the requirements. It can further determine whether the first control signal is triggered by the user by mistake based on the time intervals between the two parts of the signal, i.e., determine whether the first control signal is valid. Therefore, the time when the embedded controller receives the preparation signal from the communication element is used as the start time of the timing, and the time when the embedded controller receives the command signal from the communication element is used as the end time of the timing. The time difference between the end time and the start time is the time interval between receiving the preparation signal and the command signal, but it is not limited to the timing implementation method of this time interval.

[0109] Afterwards, the embedded controller determines that the above-obtained time interval is not greater than (i.e., less than or equal to) the time threshold, indicating that the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the first control signal is valid, and the embedded controller can continue to perform subsequent operations. The subsequent operation process can refer to the description of the corresponding part of the above embodiment, and this embodiment will not be described in detail here; on the contrary, if it is determined that the above-obtained time interval is greater than the time threshold, or the first control signal does not include a preparation signal or does not include an instruction signal, it means that the first control signal does not meet the first condition and may be triggered by mistake by the user. At this time, the embedded controller will not perform subsequent operations on the first control signal, thereby improving the reliability of device control.

[0110] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned preparation signal can be a notification signal for indicating that the instruction signal for the power management state has changed, or it can be the content of the control flag bit being a target parameter, and the control flag bit is used to determine whether the control signal is a control signal for the power management state, and the target parameter indicates that the first control signal is a control signal for the power management state, that is, a signal for controlling the power management state of the electronic device, such as 1, etc. This application does not limit the configuration method of the control flag bit and the content of the target parameter.

[0111] Combined with the description of the first control signal in the above embodiment, in order to meet the needs of users, the operating system of the electronic device enters different working states, realizes rich control of the electronic device, and brings greater value to the user, no longer limited to Figure 2The power-on and wake-up operations of the electronic device in the method shown can also realize one or more operations of shutting down the electronic device (which can be realized through a normal shutdown or forced shutdown process), hibernation, sleeping and restarting. The command signals corresponding to these multiple operations can be configured. During the control process, facing the user's multiple expected control requirements for the electronic device, the command signal corresponding to the user's current expected control requirement is written into the first control signal. According to the control method described in the above embodiment, the user's expected control of the electronic device can be reliably realized. It can be seen that when the user's expected control requirement changes, ensuring that the first control signal contains the command signal corresponding to the changed expected control requirement can realize the expected control requirement of the electronic device.

[0112] Therefore, for the command signal for implementing the power management state control of the electronic device, a one-to-one corresponding command signal can be configured for different power management states, and different command signals indicate one-to-one corresponding instructions, that is, different instructions for controlling the power management state of the electronic device, and the different instructions instruct the operating system to enter a different working state, that is, the processor receives different instructions sent by the embedded controller, and controls the target working state that the operating system enters to be different.

[0113] In this way, in step S52, when the command signal received by the embedded controller is a first command signal (for example, a power-on signal), the first command corresponding to the first command signal (for example, a power-on command corresponding to the power-on signal) can be used as the target command; if the received command signal is a second command signal (for example, a sleep signal), the second command corresponding to the second command signal (for example, a sleep command corresponding to the sleep signal) can be used as the target command; if the received command signal is a third command signal (for example, a restart signal), the third command corresponding to the third command signal (for example, a restart command corresponding to the restart signal) can be used as the target command.

[0114] Of course, the command signal received by the embedded controller may also be a fourth command signal corresponding to the fourth command (for example, a shutdown signal corresponding to the shutdown command), a fifth command signal corresponding to the fifth command (for example, a sleep signal corresponding to the sleep command), a sixth command signal corresponding to the sixth command (for example, a wake-up signal corresponding to the wake-up command), etc., which can be flexibly configured according to actual conditions, and the present application does not limit the way of distinguishing different command signals. It can be seen that according to the control method proposed in the present application, when using the control device to remotely control the electronic device, it is no longer limited to obtaining the two types of power-on signals and wake-up signals to achieve the two functions of power-on and wake-up. As shown in the example content of the first, second, and third command signals and their corresponding instructions above, the EC of the present application can at least obtain the three command signals of power-on signal, sleep signal, and restart signal, so that the CPU can at least control the three functions of power-on, sleep, and restart of the electronic device. Of course, it is not limited to these three function controls. The control device can send command signals of a type that matches the actual control requirements to achieve richer control of the electronic device according to the control method proposed in the present application.

[0115] In practical applications, the command signal described above may be a pulse signal of different states, and the different states of the pulse signal may be represented by three-bit binary numbers, such as pulse signals of 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111, etc. If more types of functional control are required, 4-bit, 5-bit or even more-bit binary numbers may be used to represent pulse signals of different states, corresponding to different command signals, respectively. The present application does not limit the method of obtaining different command signals. Optionally, the control of pulse signals of different states described in the present application may be implemented by a signal path having the same number of binary digits, and each signal path may transmit a pulse signal of 0 or 1 through a high or low level state, and the transmission of different command signals is implemented by these multiple signal paths, but is not limited to this implementation method.

[0116] For example, refer to Figure 6 As shown in the flowchart, if the user uses the control device to send a power-on command to the electronic device, according to the method described above, the signal transmission area in the firmware FW of the communication element receives the power-on command and sends a first control signal to the embedded controller. At this time, the command signal in the first control signal can be called a power-on signal, such as a 001 pulse signal; according to the method described above, the EC determines that the first control signal satisfies the first condition, and determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 001 pulse signal contained therein is a power-on instruction, and simultaneously determines the current working state of the operating system, such as the operating system is currently in the shutdown state, the EC sends the power-on command to the processor CPU, and the CPU implements the power-on function; if the operating system is currently in a non-shutdown state, the EC may not process the target instruction.

[0117] Similarly, in the shutdown control scenario, if Figure 6 As shown, if the EC determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 010 pulse signal included in the first control signal is a shutdown instruction, and determines that the operating system is currently in a non-shutdown state, the EC can send a shutdown instruction to the CPU. For example, the EC can pull the power button signal of the electronic device for a certain period of time (such as 4s, etc., to simulate a forced shutdown operation), and the CPU determines the shutdown instruction to implement the shutdown function; if the operating system is currently in a shutdown state, the EC does not process the shutdown instruction.

[0118] In the sleep control scenario, Figure 6 As shown, if the EC determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 011 pulse signal included in the first control signal is a sleep instruction and determines that the operating system is currently in a non-sleep state, the EC can send a sleep instruction to the CPU, and the CPU responds to the sleep instruction to implement the sleep function of the operating system; if the operating system is currently in a sleep state, the EC does not process the sleep instruction. In the sleep control scenario, Figure 6 As shown, if the EC determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 100 pulse signal included in the first control signal is a sleep instruction, and determines that the operating system is currently in a non-sleep state, the EC can send a sleep instruction to the CPU, and the CPU responds to the sleep instruction to implement the sleep function of the operating system; if the operating system is currently in a sleep state, the EC does not process the sleep instruction.

[0119] In the wake-up control scenario, such as Figure 6 As shown, if the EC determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 101 pulse signal included in the first control signal is a wake-up instruction, and determines that the operating system is currently in a sleep or hibernation state, the EC can send a wake-up instruction to the CPU, and the CPU responds to the wake-up instruction to implement the operating system wake-up function; if the operating system is currently in the boot state, the EC does not process the wake-up instruction.

[0120] In the restart control scenario, such as Figure 6 As shown, if the EC determines that the target instruction corresponding to the 110 pulse signal included in the first control signal is a restart instruction, and determines that the operating system is currently in a non-shutdown state, the EC can send a restart instruction to the CPU, and the CPU responds to the restart instruction to implement the operating system restart function; if the operating system is currently in a shutdown state, the EC does not process the restart instruction.

[0121] It should be understood that when the above-mentioned command signal is a signal in the form of a state representation, the process of realizing richer remote control of electronic devices is similar, and this application does not give examples one by one in detail. Among them, there is no restriction on the transmission method of the target instruction between the EC and the CPU (which can be transmitted in the form of high and low level signals, etc.), and it can be implemented by using the existing functions of communication between the EC and the CPU in the electronic device, such as the EC pulling the corresponding type of signal according to the determined target instruction, and the CPU implementing the corresponding control function. There is no need to add additional devices to the electronic device, which avoids various problems caused by adding devices and improves the diversity and reliability of control between different devices.

[0122] A control method provided in an embodiment of the present application is introduced above, and a control circuit for executing the above control method will be introduced below.

[0123] Reference Figure 7 , is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the control circuit proposed in the embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 7 As shown, the control circuit may include: at least one communication element 710, an embedded controller 720 and a processor 730, wherein:

[0124] The communication element 710 is used to communicate with the control device and the embedded controller 720 respectively, receive the first control signal sent by the control device, and send the first control signal to the embedded controller 720. According to actual needs, combined with the description of the corresponding part of the above method embodiment, when it is determined that the first control signal satisfies the second condition, the first control signal can be sent to the embedded controller 720, and the implementation process is not described in detail in this application.

[0125] In practical applications, the communication element 710 can be one or more of a LAN local network card, a WiFi wireless network card, a 5G / 6G network processing chip (i.e., the above-mentioned mobile communication network card), or other wired / wireless network cards, etc. Each communication element 710 is configured with a signal transmission area that remains in a powered-on state to detect the first control signal sent by the control device. This application does not limit the type of the communication element 710, which can be determined based on the configuration of the electronic device where the control circuit is located.

[0126] like Figure 7 As shown, in the control method proposed in the present application based on the control circuit, different communication elements 710 can send high and low level signals to the embedded controller 720 respectively, so that the embedded controller 720 receives pulse signals of different states (i.e., different instruction signals), such as the above-mentioned pulse signals of 010, 101, etc. Alternatively, multiple signal channels are formed between the communication element 710 and the embedded controller 720 in other ways to realize the transmission of pulse signals of different states, etc.

[0127] The embedded controller 720 is used to receive the first control signal, and when it is determined that the first control signal satisfies the first condition, sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor 730. The implementation process can refer to the description of the corresponding part of the above method embodiment, and this embodiment is not repeated here. In the embodiment of the present application, the embedded controller 720 can be an EC chip, and this application does not describe its functions and the communication methods between the processor CPU and each communication element in detail.

[0128] The processor 730 may be a central processing unit (CPU), which may be used to run the operating system, receive the target instruction, and control the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction. This application does not elaborate on how the processor 730 implements the switching control logic of the operating system working state.

[0129] Regarding the various components in the control circuit in implementing the control method proposed in this application, reference can be made to the description of the corresponding parts of the above embodiments, and the embodiments of this application will not be described in detail here.

[0130] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product including computer-readable instructions. When the computer-readable instructions are executed on an electronic device, the electronic device implements any control method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0131] Reference Figure 8 , is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the electronic device may include but is not limited to the method described above. Figure 8 As shown, the electronic device may include but is not limited to: a mainboard 810, and a control circuit 820 deployed on the mainboard 810. In combination with the relevant description of the control circuit embodiment above, the control circuit 820 may include at least one communication element, an embedded controller and a processor, wherein:

[0132] When an electronic device is communicatively connected to a control device as a controlled device, the control circuit 820 in the electronic device can implement the control method proposed in the embodiment of the present application, that is, the embedded controller receives a first control signal sent by a communication element, and the first control signal is a signal sent by the control device to a signal transmission area of ​​the communication element, and the signal transmission area is configured to remain in a powered-on state to ensure that the communication element obtains the first control signal sent by the control device in a timely manner. Thereafter, when the first control signal satisfies a first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor in the control circuit 820, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

[0133] In the embodiment of the present application, regarding the connection mode between the communication element, the embedded controller and the processor in the control circuit 820, and how each part cooperates to implement the implementation process of the control method proposed in the present application, reference can be made to the description of the corresponding part of the above embodiment, and this embodiment will not be repeated. It should be noted that the electronic device proposed in the embodiment of the present application is used as a controlled device in the control method described above, so that the user can use the control device to control the electronic device with different functions. In some scenarios, the electronic device can also be used as a control device to control other electronic devices, and the other electronic devices can be remotely controlled in a rich manner according to the control method provided in the present application.

[0134] It should be understood that Figure 8 The structure of the electronic device shown does not constitute a limitation on the electronic device in the embodiment of the present application. In practical applications, the electronic device may include Figure 8 More or fewer components shown, or some components are combined, when the electronic device is any of the terminal devices mentioned above, in order to realize the original functions of the electronic device, it can also generally include memories such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD), such as graphics processing unit (GPU), microprocessor (MP), digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field programmable gate array (FPGA) and other one or more other processors, as well as microphones, speakers, display screens, various sensors, antennas, power modules, radio frequency components, external ports or other input / output components, etc., which can be determined according to the device type of the electronic device and its functional requirements. This application does not give detailed examples one by one.

[0135] It should also be noted that the device embodiments described above are merely schematic, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed over multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the scheme of this embodiment. In addition, in the drawings of the circuit and electronic device embodiments provided by the present application, the connection relationship between the modules indicates that there is a communication connection between them, which may be specifically implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines.

[0136] Through the description of the above implementation methods, the technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that the present application can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general hardware, and of course, it can also be implemented by special hardware including application-specific integrated circuits, special CPUs, special memories, special components, etc. That is to say, in the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. In this specification, each embodiment is described in a progressive or parallel manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other. For the control circuit and electronic device disclosed in the embodiment, since it corresponds to the method disclosed in the embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the method part description.

Claims

1. A control method, applied to an electronic device, comprising: The embedded controller of the electronic device receives a first control signal sent by the communication element of the electronic device; The first control signal is a signal sent by a control device to the communication element; When the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor of the electronic device, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first control signal is sent to the embedded controller when the communication element determines that the first control signal satisfies a second condition; The second condition is a condition for identifying a control signal for a power management state of the electronic device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first condition is used to identify a valid condition of a control signal for a power management state; The control signal being valid indicates that the control signal can realize the control of the power management state.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the first control signal satisfies a first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to a processor of the electronic device, comprising: In response to obtaining the first control signal, the embedded controller analyzes the first control signal and determines that the first control signal includes a preparation signal and a command signal; In a case where the time interval between receiving the preparation signal and receiving the command signal is less than or equal to a duration threshold, determining a target command corresponding to the command signal; Sending the target instruction to a processor of the electronic device; The ready signal is characterized as a signal ready to control the power management state of the electronic device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining that the first control signal includes a preparation signal comprises any one of the following: Determining that the first control signal includes a notification signal; the notification signal indicates that a command signal for a power management state has changed; A control flag bit in the first control signal is determined to be a target parameter; the target parameter indicates that the first control signal is a control signal for a power management state.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining the target instruction corresponding to the instruction signal comprises any one of the following: If the received instruction signal is a first instruction signal, determining a first instruction corresponding to the first instruction signal as a target instruction; If the received instruction signal is a second instruction signal, determining a second instruction corresponding to the second instruction signal as a target instruction; If the received instruction signal is a third instruction signal, determining a third instruction corresponding to the third instruction signal as a target instruction; Wherein, the first command signal, the second command signal and the third command signal are pulse signals in different states; The first instruction, the second instruction, and the third instruction are different instructions for controlling the power management state of the electronic device, and the different instructions instruct the operating system to enter different working states.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor of the electronic device, comprising: Determining a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal and a current working state of an operating system of the electronic device; If the current working state of the operating system does not match the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, sending the target instruction to the processor of the electronic device; The target working state includes any of the following: The operating system is turned on; The operating system is shut down; The operating system sleeps; The operating system is in hibernation; The operating system restarts.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the current working state of the operating system does not match the target working state corresponding to the target instruction, comprising: If the target instruction is a shutdown instruction or a restart instruction, determining that the current working state of the operating system is a non-shutdown state; If the target instruction is a power-on instruction, determining that the current working state of the operating system is a power-off state; If the target instruction is a wake-up instruction, it is determined that the current working state of the operating system is a sleep state or a hibernation state.

9. A control circuit, comprising at least one communication element, an embedded controller and a processor, wherein: The communication element is used to communicate with the control device and the embedded controller respectively, receive the first control signal sent by the control device, and send the first control signal to the embedded controller; The embedded controller is configured to receive the first control signal, and send a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor when determining that the first control signal satisfies a first condition; The processor is used to run the operating system, receive the target instruction, and control the operating system to switch to the target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

10. An electronic device, comprising a mainboard, and a control circuit disposed on the mainboard, the control circuit comprising at least one communication element, an embedded controller and a processor, wherein: The control circuit is used to implement the following steps: The embedded controller receives a first control signal sent by the communication element; the first control signal is a signal sent by a control device to a signal transmission area of ​​the communication element, and the signal transmission area is configured to remain in a powered-on state; When the first control signal satisfies the first condition, the embedded controller sends a target instruction corresponding to the first control signal to the processor in the control circuit, so that the processor controls the operating system of the electronic device to switch to a target working state corresponding to the target instruction.

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