Microcontroller Power Shutdown Control Unit
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing microcontrollers face challenges in minimizing current consumption during standby modes due to high leakage currents, and existing power shutdown techniques either require lengthy initialization processes or increase circuit complexity to prevent interrupt-related issues.
Innovation Solution
A microcontroller design that includes a power supply control unit to manage power shutdown and restoration through a microprogram, allowing for efficient evacuation and restoration of necessary information without interrupting the power shutdown process, using existing wirings and minimizing additional logic circuits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If power shutdown is implemented to reduce current consumption, then current consumption is reduced, but initialization process time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by evacuating necessary register values to backup registers before power shutdown occurs. This pre-evacuation ensures that when power is restored, the system can quickly restore execution state without performing lengthy initialization processes, thus reducing both energy loss during standby and time loss during restoration.
2Reliability
If interrupt prohibition is implemented before power shutdown to prevent register value changes, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the critical function of register value protection by evacuating necessary values to backup registers before power shutdown. This extraction eliminates the need for complex interrupt prohibition control circuits, as the backup registers inherently preserve the execution state without requiring active intervention during the power transition.
3Loss of energy
If backup registers are directly connected to evacuation registers through logic circuits to prevent unnecessary current flow, then current consumption is reduced, but circuit scale increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mediator approach by using the backup register bank as an intermediate storage location for evacuated register values. This intermediary structure allows clean separation between the active CPU registers and the backup storage, enabling simple control logic that activates evacuation only when needed, thereby avoiding the need for complex continuous protection circuits.
Data Source
AI summary
A power supply unit is arranged between a CPU and a power supply device for supplying power to the CPU. Information necessary in proceeding with a program is evacuated from the CPU to an information holding unit. When a power shutdown factor is generated, a power supply control unit outputs a shutdown request signal to the CPU. The CPU, upon receiving the shutdown request signal, activates a power shutdown microprogram, evacuates the information necessary in proceeding with the program to the information holding unit, and outputs an evacuation completed signal to the power supply control unit after the evacuation is completed. Upon receiving the evacuation completed signal, the power supply control unit outputs a power shutdown control signal to the power supply unit. Upon receiving the power shutdown control signal from the power supply control unit, the power supply unit shuts down power supply to the CPU.