Abstract:
To provide a computer having function for controlling temperature of file bays, the computer includes a ventilation opening which is formed on a wall of the computer, a first file bay which contains a first file unit having own ID, a second file bay which contains a second file unit having own ID and is arranged near the first file bay, a fan which dissipates heat of the first and second file units and is arranged close to the ventilation opening, a bay identifying circuit which recognizes operation assuring temperature of the first and second file units by referring to the IDs and determines blowing direction of the fan; and a fan control circuit which controls blowing direction of the fan determined by the bay identifying circuit.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a computer having a plurality of file bays in which a plurality of file units such as a hard disk drive and a CD-ROM drive can be selectively mounted and, more particularly, to the computer having a function for controlling the temperatures of the file bays.  
           [0002]    A conventional computer having a function for controlling the temperature of a file bay provided in the computer will be explained in detail in reference to the drawings.  
           [0003]    Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, a portable computer  1 , a prior art, includes: a space  11 ; any one of a case  12   a  to a case  12   c  detachably mounted in the space  11 ; a connector  13  in the main body of the portable computer  1 ; a determining circuit  14  for determining as to which one out of the cases  12   a  to  12   c  is mounted; a control circuit  15  for controlling the rotation speed of a radiating fan  16  based on an output from the determining circuit  14 ; and a radiating fan  16  to be actuated under the control of the control circuit  15 .  
           [0004]    The case  12   a  to the case  12   c  respectively include a file unit  12   a   1  to a file unit  12   c   1 .  
           [0005]    In this description, the file unit  12   a   1  is a hard disk drive (an HHD), the file unit  12   b   1  is a floppy disk drive (an FDD), and the file unit  12   c   1  is a CD-ROM drive. The number of signal pins of the file unit is different from each other.  
           [0006]    Each case ( 12   a  to  12   c ) has a converting board ( 12   a   2  to  12   c   2 ) corresponding to the file unit ( 12   a   1  to  12   c   1 ), the file unit is connected to the converting board by the signal pins. Each of converting boards can connect to the connector  13 . The connector  13  has signal pins adaptable to the file unit having the greatest number of signal pins and a signal pin for identifying a file unit.  
           [0007]    Next, operation of the portable computer  1  will be described below in reference to FIG. 7.  
           [0008]    First, one of the cases having the file unit selected by a user is mounted to the space  11 . The determining circuit  14  identifies the file unit connected to the connector  13 . Subsequently, the control circuit  15  determines the rotation speed of the radiating fan  16  based on heat generating quantities of the mounted file unit, thus actuating the radiating fan  16 .  
           [0009]    The function for controlling the temperature of a file bay according to the above-described conventional portable computer is for the computer having a single file unit.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The object of the present invention is to provide a computer having a function for controlling temperature of file bays optimally.  
           [0011]    According to the present invention, a computer includes a ventilation opening which is formed on a wall of the computer, a first file bay which contains a first file unit having own ID, a second file bay which contains a second file unit having own ID and is arranged near the first file bay, a fan which dissipates heat of the first and second file units and is arranged close to the ventilation opening, a bay identifying circuit which recognizes operation assuring temperature of the first and second file units by referring to the IDs and determines blowing direction of the fan; and a fan control circuit which controls blowing direction of the fan determined by the bay identifying circuit. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one preferred embodiment according to the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the computer  101  according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is an example of a bay ID relationship table;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a table illustrating the correspondence of fan blowing direction control;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing one example of the prior art;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing one example of the prior art; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the prior art. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    Next, the present invention will be explained in detail below in reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0021]    Referring to FIG. 1, a computer  101 , for example a notebook computer, includes a file bay  105 , a file bay  106 , a ventilation opening  109 , a ventilation opening  110 , a bay fan  108 , a temperature sensor  115 , a bay identifying circuit  111 , and a fan control circuit  112 .  
         [0022]    Each of the file bays ( 105  and  106 ) can contain one of file units ( 102  to  104 ) therein, selectively.  
         [0023]    The ventilation opening  109  is formed on a first side wall of the computer  101 . The ventilation opening  110  is formed on a second side wall, an opposite side of the first side, of the computer  101 .  
         [0024]    The bay fan  108  is placed close to the ventilation opening  109 .  
         [0025]    The temperature sensor  115  detects an ambient temperature of the file bays, and transmits information of the temperature to the fan control circuit  112 .  
         [0026]    The bay identifying circuit  111  identifies which bay units ( 102  to  104 ) are mounted to the file bays ( 105  and  106 ) by a bay ID signal transmitted from the mounted file unit, determines a blowing direction of the fan  108 , and transmits a blowing direction indicating signal to the fan control circuit  112 .  
         [0027]    The fan control circuit  112  transmits a fan control signal to the bay fan in order to control the direction and speed of rotation of the bay fan  108 , based on the blowing direction indicating signal and the information of the ambient temperature of the file bays.  
         [0028]    In this embodiment, the file unit  102  is an FDD, the file unit  103  is an HDD  103 , and the file unit  104  is a CD-ROM drive. Each of the file units ( 102  to  104 ) has a bay ID, which indicates its own type of file unit.  
         [0029]    Further, each of the file units has its own operation assuring temperature. The operation assuring temperatures of the drives are generally set to 50° C. for the FDD, 60° C. for the HDD and 55° C. for the CD-ROM drive, respectively. That is, the operation assuring temperature depends on the type of the drive. Then, the rotating direction, namely inhalation or exhaust, of the bay fan  108  is changed, according to the file units mounted in the file bays, as explained below.  
         [0030]    Therefore, in the case where the file unit having a low operation assuring temperature is mounted in the file bay  105  while the file unit having a high operation assuring temperature is mounted in the file bay  106 , the bay fan  108  is rotated forward, so that outside air is taken in through the ventilation opening  109 , and then, heated air is dissipated through the ventilation opening  110 . In sum, in this case, a blowing direction of fan  108  is “A” in FIG. 1.  
         [0031]    In contrast, in the case where the file unit having a high operation assuring temperature is mounted in the file bay  105  while the file unit having a low operation assuring temperature is mounted in the file bay  106 , the bay fan  108  is reversely rotated, so that the outside air is taken in through the ventilation opening  110 , and then, the heated air is dissipated through the ventilation opening  109 . In sum, in this case, a blowing direction of fan  108  is “B” in FIG. 1.  
         [0032]    In other words, in the case where the operation assuring temperature of the drive in the file bay  105  is lower than that in the file bay  106 , the optimum means for preventing any increase in temperature of the file bays is to control the fan  108  in the blowing direction “A” in FIG. 1, in which the file bay  105  is remarkably cooled.  
         [0033]    In contrast, in the case where the operation assuring temperature of the drive in the file bay  105  is higher than that in the file bay  106 , the optimum means for preventing any increase in temperature of the file bays is to control the fan in the blowing direction “B” in FIG. 1, in which the file bay  106  is remarkably cooled.  
         [0034]    Next, referring to FIG. 2, explanation will be made on a case in which the FDD  102  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the HDD  103  is mounted in the file bay  106 .  
         [0035]    First, the bay identifying circuit  111  receives the bay ID of the mounted drives (Step S 1 ), identifies which drive is mounted in the file bay  105  and  106 , respectively (Step S 2 ), and recognizes the respective operation assuring temperatures of the FDD  102  and the HDD  103  by referring to a bay ID relationship table illustrated in FIG. 3 (Step S 3 ).  
         [0036]    The bay ID relationship table is stored in the bay identifying circuit  111  or a memory in the computer  101 , and relates the operation assuring temperature with the bay ID. However, information of the operation assuring temperature may be included in the bay ID, instead of storing the relationship table in the computer  101 .  
         [0037]    Then, the bay identifying circuit  111  determines the blowing direction of the fan  108  and transmits information of the blowing direction to the fan control circuit  112  (Step S 4 ). In detail, the bay identifying circuit  111  compares the operation assuring temperature of the FDD  102  with that of the HDD  103 , detects the temperature of the FDD is smaller than that of HDD  103 , and determines that the blowing direction of the fan  108  is the direction “A”.  
         [0038]    Then, when the fan control circuit  112  detects the ambient temperature of the file bays being close or equal to 50° C., which is the lower operation assuring temperature, from the temperature sensor  115 , the circuits  112  sets the fan power of fan  108  for ON-state and the blowing direction of the fan  108  for the direction “A” based on the information of the blowing direction transmitted from the bay identifying circuit  111  (Step S 5 ). Then, the fan control circuit  112  controls rotating speed of the fan  108  in response to change of the ambient temperature of the file bays detected by the temperature sensor  115 .  
         [0039]    In this way, the fan control circuit  112  efficiently controls the bay fan  108  by required minimum operation.  
         [0040]    As the air flow in the blowing direction “A” is illustrated in FIG. 4, the outside air having a temperature lower than that inside of the computer  101  enters through the ventilation opening  109 , passes the file bay  105 , and then, the air having a higher temperature, staying inside, gets out of the ventilation opening  110  through the file bay  106 , thereby remarkably cooling the drive of the file bay  105 .  
         [0041]    In this manner, it is possible to effectively cool the drive of the file bay  105  having a lower operation assuring temperature.  
         [0042]    As shown in FIG. 4, the same temperature and fan control as described above is performed in the case in which the FDD  102  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the CD-ROM drive  104  is mounted in the file bay  106 , and further, in the case in which the CD-ROM drive  104  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the HDD  103  is mounted in the file bay  106  except that the lower operation assuring temperature is 55° C.  
         [0043]    Next, Explanation will be made on a case in which the HDD  103  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the FDD  102  is mounted in the file bay  106 . In this case, the blowing direction of the fan  108  is the direction “B”, after the processing shown in FIG. 2.  
         [0044]    As the air flow in the blowing direction “B” is illustrated in FIG. 3, the outside air having a temperature lower than that inside of the system enters through the ventilation opening  110 , passes the file bay  106 , and then, the air having a higher temperature, staying inside, gets out of the ventilation opening  109  through the file bay  105 , thereby remarkably cooling the drive of the file bay  106 .  
         [0045]    In this manner, it is possible to effectively cool the drive of the file bay  106  having a lower operation assuring temperature.  
         [0046]    The similar temperature and fan control as described above is performed in the case in which the CD-ROM drive  104  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the FDD  102  is mounted in the file bay  106 , and further, in the case in which the HDD  103  is mounted in the file bay  105  and the CD-ROM drive  104  is mounted in the file bay  106 .  
         [0047]    In above-described embodiment, the ventilation opening  110  is arranged at the just opposite side of the ventilation opening  109 . However, the ventilation opening  110  can arrange at anywhere or is not necessary, in the condition that an air flow for dissipating the heat of the file units  105  and  106  is assured.  
         [0048]    According to the present invention, in the case where the drives having the different operation assuring temperatures are mounted in the two file bays, the computer recognizes the operation assuring temperatures of the drives, changes the blowing direction of the fan according to the arrangement or configuration of the file bays mounted thereon, and thus controls the temperatures of the file bays optimally.  
         [0049]    As described above, the temperature and fan can be efficiently controlled in the computer, to which the present invention is applied, thereby preventing any increase in temperature inside of the computer, to thus enhance the reliability of the computer with respect to heat.  
         [0050]    While this invention has been described in conjunction with the preferred embodiment described above, it will now be possible for those skilled in the art to put this invention into practice in various other manners.