Patent Publication Number: US-2007124588-A1

Title: Information processing device and controlling method thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-345384, filed Nov. 30, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND  
      1. Field  
      This invention relates to an information processing device capable of returning from a power-saving mode through single sign-on by a pen input device and a control method of the information processing device.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      According to the technique employing a tablet PC having a pen input function, power supply is restricted unless a signal emitted from the pen is received for more than a set period of time. If a pen input is made while the power supply is restricted, registered authentication information is compared with input authentication information (BIOS authentication). If the registered authentication information matches the input authentication information, the power is supplied (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-258997).  
      According to this technique, however, log-in authentication of the operating system needs to be executed after the BIOS authentication, and convenience may be thereby damaged for the user. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
      A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a structure of a tablet PC to which an information processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied;  
       FIG. 2  is an illustration showing a concept of a configuration including a tablet controller employed for return from a power-saving mode under single sign-on control, in the tablet PC shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing a method of controlling the information processing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is an illustration showing a pen input screen to execute authentication by a pen input device; and  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing a tablet style of the tablet PC.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying-drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, an information processing device capable of executing the BIOS authentication processing and the log-in authentication of the operating system by one-time authentication under the single sign-on control, and also provide a method of controlling the information processing device. To achieve this object, an aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising detection means for detecting an input from pen input means, authentication means, comprising discrimination means for discriminating whether or not single sign-on is set if the input from the pen input means is detected by the detection means in a case where the information processing device is in a power-saving state, authentication processing means for executing authentication by the authentication means if it is discriminated by the discrimination means that the single sign-on is set, and return means for returning the information processing device from the power-saving state if the authentication is confirmed by the authentication processing means.  
      An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     FIRST EMBODIMENT  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a notebook-type tablet PC as an information processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
      A tablet PC  1  is composed of a main body comprising a keyboard  3 , a touch pad  7 , a fingerprint authentication device  21  and a hinge  6  connecting with a movable liquid-crystal display  13 , and the liquid-crystal display  13  movably connected with the hinge  6 . In the tablet PC  1 , the display  13  is a touch panel. Direct operations can be made on the display  13  with a pen input device  8  such as a stylus pen which can be built in the main body. The display  13  can be rotated at the hinge  6  about the Y axis. The display  13  is also able to fall down about the X axis.  
       FIG. 2  is an illustration showing a concept of a configuration including a tablet controller employed for return from a power-saving mode under single sign-on control, in the tablet PC.  
      The tablet PC  1  is composed of the display (tablet)  13  to detect the input from the pen input device  8 , a tablet controller  31 , an EC/KBC  32 , the BIOS  33 , the fingerprint authentication device  21 , etc.  
      The pen input device  8  contains, for example, a coil. The display  13  of the tablet PC  1  comprises a pen input sensor (not shown) which detects a location of the coil in the pen input device  8 , as sensing means. The tablet controller  31  notifies the EC/KBC  32  of the detection data of the pen input device  8  obtained by the sensing means.  
      When the EC/KBC  32  receives the signal, the EC/KBC  32  transmits a Wake-Up signal to the BIOS  33 . When the BIOS  33  receives the Wake-Up signal, the BIOS  33  activates the operation system and the fingerprint authentication device  21  such that the operation system and the fingerprint authentication device  21  can be employed.  
      Next,  FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing a method of controlling the information processing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.  
      When the pen input sensor of the display  13  discriminates that pen input from the pen input device  8  has been detected (YES in step S 1 ), the pen input sensor transmits the detected data of the pen input device  8  to the EC/KBC  32  (step S 2 ).  
      When the EC/KBC  32  receives the detected data of the pen input device  8 , the EC/KBC  32  transmits a Wake-Up signal to the BIOS  33  (step S 3 ). The BIOS  33  discriminates whether or not the single sign-on is set (step S 4 ). If it is discriminated by the BIOS  33  that the single sign-on is set (YES in step S 4 ), the pen input screen is displayed.  
      On the pen input screen, for example, six colors are displayed and the authentication is conducted by tapping the same color as a preset color.  
      If the authentication conducted by the pen input device  8  is OK (YES in step S 6 ), the single sign-on control is started by the BIOS  33  (step S 7 ) and the tablet PC  1  is activated (step S 8 ).  
      On the other hand, if it is discriminated by the BIOS  33  that the single sign-on is not set (NO in step S 4 ), the password input screen is displayed on the display  13  to urge the user to input a BIOS password (step S 10 ). If the BIOS password authentication is OK (YES in step S 10 ), the OS password authentication is confirmed. If the OS password authentication is OK (YES in step S 11 ), the tablet PC  1  is activated (step S 8 ).  
      If the authentication is not okay in steps S 6 , S 10  and S 11 , the authentication error is displayed (step S 9 ).  
      As a modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention, the display  13  can fall down about the X axis. If the display  13  falls down with the display face thereof facing upward, the tablet PC  1  becomes a tablet style as shown in  FIG. 5 . When the tablet PC  1  is in such a tablet style, for example, two users can watch the display  13 .  
      In this case, the fingerprint authentication device  21  may be provided in the frame of the display  13 . Even if the tablet PC  1  is in the tablet style, the authentication can be executed by the fingerprint authentication device  21 .  
      In the conventional password authentication, it is necessary to execute authentication in the BIOS at the time of activating the PC and further execute authentication at the time of log-in to the operation system, i.e. the password needs to be input two times. The single sign-on control requires the password authentication in the BIOS at only one time and the authentication is executed until the log-in to the operation system. In a case where the single sign-on is executed in a device wherein the single sign-on can be executed, various kinds of devices other than the fingerprint authentication device can also be employed.  
      Moreover, if a number of set colors are displayed or a plurality of colors are selected at the authentication employing the pen input device  8 , the reliability of the device capable of the single sign-on can be enhanced. The present invention can also be further developed to applied examples by adding a handwriting recognition technology, etc. to the discrimination program.  
      Consequently, a high-level security mechanism can be easily implemented in association with the activation of the device capable of the single sign-on, by employing the pen-operated Wake-Up control peculiar to the tablet PC. Furthermore, if the user moves away from the tablet PC  1  while having the pen input device  8  in the user&#39;s hand at the time of standing by the Wake-Up of the tablet PC  1 , the Wake-Up processing cannot be executed and further enhancement of the easy and simple security can be thereby achieved.  
      The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above but the constituent elements of the invention can be modified in various manners without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Various aspects of the invention can also be extracted from any appropriate combination of a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. Some constituent elements may be deleted in all of the constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. The constituent elements described in different embodiments may be combined arbitrarily.  
      While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.