Patent Publication Number: US-2009237276-A1

Title: Computer apparatus and the function activating method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a computer apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method of activating a function of computer apparatus by a keyboard. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Today, with improving technology, personal computers have become important data processing equipments in people&#39; daily life. Especially notebooks, they provide high portability so that information can be carried around and processed, which is a powerful tools for people for business nowadays. 
     With people&#39;s increasing demands on functions of the notebook, functions affiliated to the notebook are also increased. For users&#39; convenient operation, most devices for activating these functions are Fn keys disposed on the keyboard or other separately added function keys. However, all of the keys on the keyboard notify the computer to activate associated functions by sending corresponding keyboard scan codes. Therefore, the more function keys are increased, the more scan codes are generated. With so many scan codes in different versions of operating systems, conflicts with operating systems are occurred. 
     Based on the above, in the same computer, if different versions of operating systems are installed, scan codes generated by certain function keys may not work normally because of conflicts with the operating system, and thereby many functions may fail. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a computer apparatus and a method used for activating a function of the computer apparatus by a keyboard, by which only one scan code is required for a plurality of function keys to activate corresponding processes. 
     The present invention provides a computer apparatus including a function key, a controller, a basic input/output system (BIOS) unit and an operating system (OS) unit. The function key is used for activating a predetermined function of the computer apparatus and outputting a control signal when the function key is enabled. The controller is coupled to the function key and used for sending a corresponding function code based on the control signal and a scan code. In addition, the BIOS unit is coupled to the controller and serves as receiving and storing the function code. The OS unit having an application program is coupled to the controller and the BIOS unit. The OS unit is used for receiving the scan code, receiving the function code based on the scan code and executing a corresponding process based on the function code. 
     Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, the corresponding process is executed by pressing the function key. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the OS unit further receives the function code upon the scan code being received by the OS unit. 
     The present invention provides a function activating method of a computer apparatus having a function key. The method includes the following steps. First, a pressing status of the function key is detected. Then, a corresponding function code and a scan code are generated according to the pressing status. Finally, the function code is received based on the scan code, and a corresponding process is executed based on the received function code. 
     The present adopts converting the control signal sent by the function key into the function code and storing the function code in advance so that the function code is separately read by an application program module. Hence, a plurality of function keys is used without using many scan codes so as to avoid conflicts with the operating system. 
     In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic view of a computer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic view of a computer apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a schematic view of a function activating method of a computer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a schematic view of a function activating method of a computer apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, a computer apparatus and a function activating method thereof according to preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the relative drawings. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , it illustrates a schematic view of a computer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. A computer apparatus  100  in the present embodiment includes a function key  110 , a controller  120 , an operating system (OS) unit  130  with an application program  131  built therein and a basic input/output system (BIOS) unit  140 . The function key  110  includes a plurality of Fn keys (e.g. F1 through F12 keys) or other additional keys thereon. These Fn keys usually represent a function respectively, for example, key F1 can be used for adjusting contrast of monitors, F2 can be used for adjusting brightness of monitors, and additional function keys are separately provided additional keys when Fn keys are not sufficient. 
     When a user wants to use a predetermined function of the computer apparatus  100 , he/she presses a corresponding function key  110 . Meanwhile, the controller  120  receives a control signal generated while the function key  110  is pressed and sends a pre-set scan code to the OS unit  130 . In addition, the controller  120  generates a function code in correspondence to the pressed function key  110 . Then, the function code is sent to and stored in the BIOS unit  140 . The scan code is used for notifying the latter OS unit  130  to execute messages of the application program therein, and the scan code is not used by most built-in functions of the operation system. The function code is a code of the application program to be executed, which can be identified by both the controller  120  and the OS unit  130 . 
     When the scan code is received by the OS unit  130 , it can be know that a function is to be activated. In the meantime, the OS unit  130  retrieves the function code from the BIOS unit  140 . Thus, the OS unit  130  can acknowledge that the application program  130  is to be executed by the user and then activates such execution. 
     Herein, a specific example will be illustrated so that those with ordinary skills of the art may have further understanding and implement the present invention accordingly. 
     When a user wants to turn speakers up, he/she presses an Fn key (for example, F10) used for turning volume up. In the meantime, the detector  120  detects a control signal sent while the F10 key is pressed so that a function code (for example, 01) of turning volume up is generated and stored into the BIOS unit  140 . Meanwhile, a scan code is generated to notify the OS unit  130  to execute the function of turning volume up. Upon receiving the scan code, the OS unit  130  retrieves the function code from the BOIS unit  140  and executes turning volume up according to the function code (01 in this example). 
     After that, when a user wants to turn the speakers down, he/she presses an Fn key (for example, F9) used for turning volume down. In the meantime, the detector  120  detects a control signal sent while the F9 key is pressed so that a function code (for example, 02) of turning volume down is generated and stored into the BIOS unit  140 . Meanwhile, a scan code is generated to notify the OS unit  130  to execute the function of turning volume down. Upon receiving the scan code, the OS unit  130  retrieves the function code from the BOIS unit  140  and executes turning volume down according to the function code (02 in this example). 
     It is apparent from the example illustrating actions of the computer apparatus  100  as described above that only one scan code is used by the controller  120  to accomplish a variety of functions. Thereby, conflicts with built-in functions of the OS caused from the keyboard having too many scan codes can be effectively eliminated. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , it illustrates a schematic view of a computer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 2 , a computer apparatus  200  is illustrated, which includes a central processing unit (CPU)  210 , a chip set  220 , a memory  230 , a BOIS unit  240 , a hard disk  250 , a function key  260  and a controller  270 . The chip set  220  is consisted of a north bridge chip  221  and a south bridge chip  222 . An OS unit  251  is stored in the hard disk  250 . 
     When a user wants to use a predetermined function of the computer apparatus  200 , he/she presses the function key  260 . The function key  260  is usually disposed on a keyboard (not shown). Of course, it can also be disposed on other peripherals (e.g. a mouse or a touch-screen monitor) of the computer apparatus  200 . The controller  270  detects a control signal sent while the function key  260  is pressed so that a scan code is generated and sent to the south bridge chip  222 . Then, the scan code is sent to OS unit  251  by the south bridge chip  222 . Meanwhile, a function code is generated and stored in the BIOS unit  240 . After the scan code is received by the OS unit  251 , the BIOS unit  240  reads the function code stored therein just now and executes an associated application program based on the function code. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , it illustrates a schematic view of a function activating method of a computer apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method includes the following steps. First, a pressing status is detected (S 310 ). When the function key being pressed is detected, a corresponding function code and a fixed scan code are generated (S 320 ). The generated function code is stored. Finally, the function code is received based on the scan code, and then a corresponding process is executed based on the received function code (S 330 ). 
     As for the function activating method of the computer apparatus, an embodiment thereof will be further described so that those with ordinary skills of the art can understand more about the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  (together with  FIG. 1 ), it illustrates a schematic view of a function activating method of a computer apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment includes steps as follows. When a user wants to use an associated function, he/she presses a corresponding function key on the keyboard  110  (S 410 ). In the meantime, the controller  120  detects that a function key is pressed, sends a scan code to the OS unit  130  and sends a function code to the BIOS unit  140  (S 420 ). Upon the application module  130  receiving the scan code, the BIOS unit  140  reads the function code (S 430 ). The application  131  built in the OS unit  130  executes a function defined by the function code (S 440 ). 
     In view of the foregoing, the present invention utilizes the controller in the computer apparatus to receive the scan code of the keyboard and converts the scan code into a fixed scan code and a corresponding function code so as to execute the function activating. As a result, scan codes of the keyboard actually sent to the OS and the application module requires only one. Hence, the scan code can be effectively prevented from being increased by increasing function codes. Thus, the problem of the function codes conflicting with the OS can be eliminated. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.