Patent Publication Number: US-2013238760-A1

Title: Management methods and related computer systems and machine-readable storage mediums using the same

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority of Taiwan Application No. 101107417, filed on Mar. 6, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates generally to computer systems and related management methods and, more particularly to computer systems with wireless modules and related management methods. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Recently, with the vigorous development of network applications, the opportunity for users to acquire information through a network has become greatly increased. Users may perform a lot of services and applications using electronic devices such as computer systems, portable devices and so on via the appropriate application over the network. Traditionally, when users need to use these network services, they must first connect directly to the network via the electronic device or connect to the Internet through a wired or wireless access point (AP). Generally, for applications that connect to the Internet via the AP, users who are logged on to the operating system and ready to establish a network connection may request to connect with the previously connected AP in priority. If the previously connected AP cannot be connected successfully, the operating system will search for other available AP around the AP and determine whether or not the searched AP is in a AP list under its maintenance, and a connection link is established through this AP only when it is in its AP list. 
     Generally, electronic devices such as computer systems may enter standby or sleep mode for power-saving purposes. However, users must wait a long time for the computer system to resume from sleep mode and re-enter normal mode to establish a network connection. The computer system may be periodically woken up during each count period set by a timer. After the computer system resumes from the standby mode, its central processing unit (CPU) runs the operating system (OS) and then scans the adjacent wireless network. When the scanning result matches one of the APs in the AP list, the computer system will attempt to establish a connection with this AP and access the updated network content through this AP. When the scanning result does not match any AP in the AP list, the computer system will return to standby mode. 
     However, if the scanning result matches one of the APs in the AP list, the computer system may still be woken up to attempt to establish a connection with this AP even if no network content is to be updated in the network. Thus, the computer system may consume power to wake up but nothing can be done, resulting in unnecessary power consumption. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Computer systems and management methods using the same are provided. 
     In an embodiment, a management method for use in a computer system including a wireless module and a processing unit are provided. The wireless module and the processing unit are turned off. First, the wireless module is activated to scan at least one access point (AP) to obtain a scanning result during each count period, wherein the processing unit is turned off during performing the scanning. Thereafter, the wireless module determines whether to activate the processing unit to wake up the computer system to download an update data from a network according to the scanning result and a predetermined setting. When the scanning result does not match with the predefined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network, the processing unit and the wireless module are turned off. When the scanning result matches the predetermined setting and an update data is to be downloaded, the processing unit is activated to wake up the computer system to download the update data from the network. 
     Another embodiment of a computer system at least comprises a wireless module, a timer and a processing unit. The wireless module has a microprocessor and a radio frequency (RF) module. The timer activates the wireless module to scan at least one access point (AP) to obtain a scanning result through the RF module during each count period. The processing unit is turned off and can wake up the computer system to download an update data from a network. Wherein, the microprocessor determines whether to activate the processing unit to wake up the computer system to download an update data from a network according to the scanning result and a predetermined setting, wherein when the scanning result does not match the predetermined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network, the microprocessor does not activate the processing unit, and when the scanning result matches the predetermined setting and an update data is to be downloaded, the processing unit activates the processing unit to wake up the computer system to download the update data from the network. 
     Management methods may take the form of a program code embodied in a tangible media. When the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosed method. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will become more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an operation environment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a management method of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of an operation environment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of another embodiment of a management method of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide computer systems and power management methods thereof, which can turn on the power of the processing unit to connect to the network only when the network update is needed, thereby effectively reducing power consumption. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an operation environment of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the operation environment  10  comprises a computer system  100  of the invention, an AP  200  and a network  400 . The computer system  100  can connect to the AP  200  and connect to a server  300  in the network  400  through the AP  200 . The server  300  connects to the network  400  for storing any update data of network content from the network  400 . The computer system  100  comprises at least a wireless module  110 , a processing unit  120  and a timer  160 . The processing unit  120  may control the wireless module  110  to establish a connection with at least one AP  200  and obtain updated network content from the server  300 . The wireless module  110  further comprises a microprocessor  112  and a radio frequency (RF) module  116 . 
     The processing unit  120  is turned off and can be activated to wake up the computer system  100  to download an update data from a network  400 . The microprocessor  112  may determine whether to activate the processing unit  120  according to a scanning result and predetermined determination/setting data so as to wake up the computer system  100  to download the update data from the network  400 . The predetermined determination/setting data may comprise at least one of wireless AP setting data, Internet Protocol (IP) setting data and computer-hardware setting data corresponding to the computer system  100 , but it is not limited thereto. For example, the predetermined setting may be the wireless AP setting data, the IP setting data and/or the computer system setting data. Note that the wireless AP setting data may comprise AP-related data, such as the SSID, the MAC address, the signal strength, the country code, the channel data, the security data, the authentication data of the AP and so on. The IP setting data may be IP-address data, such as the IP addresses of the DHCP server, the DNS server, the WINS server, the gateway, the subnet mask and so on. The computer system setting data may be data related to a timer-triggered event schedule, the power status of the battery, the temperature, the time (e.g. data indicating whether it is a working hour or a non-working hour), the system status (e.g. whether the power state of the system is in S3/S4/S5 state of the Advanced Configuration Power interface (ACPI)), the location information (which may distinguish whether the computer system is being used indoors or outdoors) and so on. The above-mentioned determination/setting data may assist in the subsequent determination of whether to turn on the power of the processing unit  120  such that the processing unit  120  starts connecting to the AP. The RF module  116  may receive data from the AP  200  and transmit data to the AP  200 . The RF module  116  may be any wireless communication modules, such as blue-tooth communication modules, WiFi or 3 G communication modules or WLAN communication modules in compliance with IEEE 802.1X standard, for connecting to responsive wired or wireless AP  200  to connect to the network  400  via the connected AP such that the computer system  100  may access resources on the connected network  400 , e.g. the update data in the server  300  of the network  400 . The AP  200  is connected to the network  400  and thus may obtain data to be updated from the server  300  via the AP  200 . The network  400  may comprise, for example, wired or wireless networks, such as the Internet, WiFi or 3G wireless networks, but the invention is not limited thereto. The computer system  100  may establish a connection link with the AP  200  through the RF module  116  to connect to the network  400  and access data from the network  400 . For example, if the network  400  is the Internet and the AP  200  is compatible with the IEEE802.11a standard, then the RF module  116  is a WLAN communication module compatible with the IEEE802.11a standard and the computer system  100  may establish a connection link with the AP  200  in the wireless network and perform wireless communication through the corresponding wireless module, and then connect to the Internet at its back-end via the AP  200 . 
     The microprocessor  112  can perform the management method of the present invention. To be more specific, the microprocessor  112  can control the RF module  116  to perform a connection scan for scanning whether a connection with at least one AP can be successfully established to connect to the network (e.g. the Internet)  400  and confirm that whether any updated network content data exists in the server  300  of the network  400  after the connection has been successfully established. In addition, the microprocessor  112  may obtain predetermined setting related to the computer system and setting data related to the network for subsequent determination. When the scanning result does not match the predetermined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network  400 , the microprocessor  112  does not activate the processing unit  120 . Contrarily, when the scanning result matches the predetermined setting and an update data is to be downloaded, the microprocessor  112  activates the processing unit  120  to wake up the computer system  100  to download the update data from the network  400 . 
     The timer  160  may configure a count period (e.g. a sleep cycle) and may activate the wireless module  110  to perform a scanning for scanning the at least one AP  200  to obtain a scanning result through the RF module  116  in each count period reached. 
     In the present invention, each time the count period is completed, only the wireless module  110  will be woken up to perform the management method of the invention and the power of the processing unit  120  is only turned on to download update data from the network  400  only if the specific condition has been met, thus reducing the system power consumption and achieving the goal of saving power. The responsive management method will be discussed further in the following paragraphs. 
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a management method of the invention. Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The management method can be applied to the computer system  100  for automatically managing whether to wake up the processing unit to perform a network content updating operation. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the computer system  100  is operating in a standby, sleep or power-off state and thus powers of the wireless module  110 , the processing unit  120 , and so on have been turned off. 
     First, in step S 102 , during each count period set by the timer  160 , the wireless module  110  is activated to scan at least one AP  200  to obtain a scanning result. In other words, the wireless module  110  receives power so that the wireless module  110  is activated and can operate normally. Thereafter, the microprocessor  112  of the wireless module  110  starts performing a scan for scanning all of the APs listed in the preferred AP list and obtaining a scanning result. To be more specific, the preferred AP list may record data related to multiple APs that the user has been connected to and that have been added to preferred AP list, and the lower the value of its priority is, the higher its priority will be. Therefore, the AP with the lowest priority will be the first one selected for connection. When performing the scan, the microprocessor  112  may sequentially select the APs in the preferred AP list to connect based on the values of priority of the APs in ascending order. Meanwhile, the power of the processing unit  120  is still turned off. 
     After obtaining a scanning result, in step S 104 , the wireless module  110  determines whether to activate the processing unit  120  to wake up the computer system  100  to download an update data from the network  400  according to the scanning result and a predetermined setting. As aforementioned, the predetermined setting may comprise at least one of: a wireless AP setting data, an IP setting data and a computer-hardware setting data corresponding to the computer system  100 , but it is not limited thereto. When the scanning result does not match the predetermined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network  400 , the microprocessor  112  does not activate the processing unit  120 . Contrarily, when the scanning result matches the predetermined setting and an update data is available to be downloaded, the microprocessor  112  activates the processing unit  120  to wake up the computer system  100  to download the update data from the network  400 . 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of an operation environment of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the operation environment  20  comprises a computer system  100  of the invention, an AP  200 , a server  300  and a network  400 . The computer system  100  can connect to the AP  200  and further connect to the server  300  in the network  400  through the AP  200 . The server  300  connects to the network  400  for storing any update data of network content from the network  400 . The computer system  100  at least comprises a wireless module  110 , a processing unit  120 , a system chip  130 , a basic input/output system (BIOS)  140  and a memory unit  150 . The processing unit  120  is coupled to the system chip  130  (e.g. a SouthBridge chip) and may through the system chip  130  to control the wireless module  110  to establish a connection with the AP  200  and obtain updated network content from the server  300 . 
     The BIOS  140  is coupled to the system chip  130  and the wireless module  110  and can activate the processing unit  120  in response to a request from the wireless module  110 . 
     The wireless module  110  may obtain predetermined setting defined by the computer system  100  from the OS through the system chip  130  and the BIOS  140 . For example, the predetermined setting may be the wireless AP setting data, the IP setting data and/or the computer system setting data. Note that the wireless AP setting data may comprise AP related data, such as the SSID, the MAC address, the signal strength, the country code, the channel data, the security data, the authentication data of the AP and so on. The IP setting data may be an IP address data, such as IP addresses of the DHCP server, the DNS server, the WINS server, the gateway, the subnet mask and so on. The computer system setting data may be data related to a timer-triggered event schedule, a power status of the battery, the temperature, the time (e.g. data indicating whether it is on a working hour or a non-working hour), the LID angle, the system status (e.g. whether the power state of the system is in S3/S4/S5 state of the Advanced Configuration Power interface (ACPI)), the location information (which may distinguish from whether the computer system is being used indoor or outdoor) and so on. The above-mentioned setting data may assist in subsequent determination of whether to turn on the power of the processing unit  120  such that the processing unit starts connecting to the AP. 
     In some embodiments, before being woken up to prepare to perform a connection scan, the wireless module  110  may first check a number of certain computer system setting data, e.g. checking whether the remaining power of the battery is higher than a predetermined value, and the wireless module  110  may determine not to perform the connection scan, in stead directly enter into the standby or sleep state and wait for next timer-triggered event if certain of the computer system setting data does not match a minimum requirement. 
     The memory unit  150  may store a number of predetermined settings, such as the wireless AP setting data, the IP setting data and/or the computer system setting data and so on. In addition, the memory unit  150  may further store the above-mentioned preferred AP list which records data related to multiple APs to which the user has been connected. 
     The wireless module  110  further comprises a microprocessor  112 , a memory  114  and at least one radio frequency (RF) module  116 . The wireless module  110  may further include an antenna  118  and the RF module  116  may receive data from the AP  200  and transmit data to the AP  200  via the antenna  118 . The microprocessor  112  can perform the management method of the present invention. To be more specific, the microprocessor  112  can control the RF module  116  to perform a connection scan for scanning whether a connection with at least one AP of the preferred AP list can be successfully established to connect to the network (e.g. Internet)  400  and confirm that whether any updated network content data is exist in the server  300  of the network  400  after the connection has been successfully established. In addition, the microprocessor  112  may obtain predetermined setting related to the system and setting data related to the network for subsequent determination. When the scanning result does not match the predetermined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network  400 , the processing unit  120  is still turned off. Contrarily, when the scanning result matches the predetermined setting and an update data is to be downloaded, the processing unit  120  is activated to wake up the computer system  100  to download the update data from the network  400 . The RF module  116  may be any wireless communication modules, such as blue-tooth communication modules, WiFi or 3 G communication modules or WLAN communication modules in compliance with the IEEE 802.1X standard, for connecting to responsive wired or wireless AP  200  to connect to the network  400  via the connected AP such that the computer system  100  may access resources on the connected network  400 , e.g. the update data in the server  300  of the network  400 . The AP  200  is connected to the network  400  and thus may obtain data to be updated from the server  300  via the AP  200 . The network  400  may comprise, for example, wired or wireless networks, such as the Internet, WiFi or 3G wireless networks, but the invention is not limited thereto. The computer system  100  may establish a connection link with the AP  200  through the RF module  116  to connect to the network  400  and access data from the network  400 . For example, if the network  400  is the Internet and the AP  200  is compatible with the IEEE802.11a standard, then the RF module  116  is a WLAN communication module compatible with the IEEE802.11a standard and the computer system  100  may establish a connection link with the AP  200  in the wireless network and perform a wireless communication through the corresponding wireless module, and then connect to the Internet at its back-end via the AP  200 . 
     When the computer system  100  is operating in a standby, sleep or power-off state, the powers of the wireless module  110 , the processing unit  120  and the BIOS  140  will have been turned off. When the computer system  100  is resumed from the standby, sleep or power-off state and enters an execution state, the powers of the wireless module  110 , the processing unit  120  and the BIOS  140  have been turned on. The computer system  100  may further include a timer  160 , which may configure a count period and may wake up/activate the wireless module  110  to perform a connection scan. The management method will be detailed with reference to  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of another embodiment of a management method of the invention. Please refer to  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The management method can be applied to the computer system  100  of  FIG. 3  for automatically managing whether to wake up the processing unit to perform a network content updating operation. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the computer system  100  is operating in a standby, sleep or power-off state and thus the powers of the wireless module  110 , the processing unit  120 , the BIOS  140 , and so on will have been turned off. 
     First, the timer  160  activates the wireless module  110  each time the count period is reached (step S 202 ). In other words, the power of the wireless module  110  will be turned on so that the wireless module  110  is activated and can operate normally. Thereafter, the microprocessor  112  of the wireless module  110  starts performing a scan for scanning all of the APs listed in the preferred AP list and obtaining a scanning result (step S 204 ). To be more specific, in the preferred AP list, the lower the priority value is, the higher its priority will be. Therefore, the AP with the lowest priority will be selected first to establish connection. When performing the scan, the microprocessor  112  may sequentially select the APs in the preferred AP list to connect based on the priority values of the APs in ascending order. 
     The microprocessor  112  then detects setting conditions including the wireless AP setting data, the IP setting data and the computer system setting data. Note that the wireless AP setting data may comprise the SSID, the MAC address, the signal strength, the country code, the channel data, the security data, the authentication data of the AP and so on. The IP setting data may be an IP address data, such as IP addresses of the DHCP server, the DNS server, the WINS server, the gateway, the subnet mask and so on. The computer system setting data may be data related to a timer-triggered event schedule, a power status of the battery, the temperature, the time (e.g. data indicating whether it is on a working hour or a non-working hour), the LID angle, the system status (e.g. whether the power state of the system is in S3/S4/S5 state of the ACPI), the location information (which may distinguish from whether the computer system is being used indoor or outdoor) and so on. In some embodiments, before the wireless module  110  is woken up to prepare to perform a connection scan, the microprocessor  112  may first check a number of certain computer system setting data and determine to start the scanning only when the certain computer system setting data matches its minimum requirement. For example, the microprocessor  112  may first check whether the remaining battery power is higher than a predetermined value, and the wireless module  110  may re-enter a standby or sleep state to wait for the next timer-triggered event when the specific computer system setting data does not match its minimum requirement, e.g. the remaining battery power is lower than the predetermined value. 
     Thereafter, the wireless module  110  checks whether the scanning result of the preferred AP list matches the predetermined setting and whether an updated network content data is exist in the server  300  of the network  400  (step S 206 ). In other words, the microprocessor  112  may determine whether the scanning result matches the predetermined wireless AP setting data, IP setting data and/or computer system setting data. In some embodiments, the predetermined setting may be directly loaded to the memory  114  of the wireless module  110  before the computer system  100  changes its state from the execution state to the standby/sleep state and thus the microprocessor  112  may later directly obtain the predetermined setting from the memory  114  for comparison. In some embodiments, the microprocessor  112  may obtain the predetermined wireless AP setting data, IP setting data and computer system setting data from the memory unit  150  via the BIOS  140  after it has been woken up or it may obtain those predetermined setting by detecting the computer system  100  via the BIOS  140  after it has been woken up. 
     When the scanning result of the preferred AP list matches the predetermined setting and there is an updated network content data exist in the server  300  of the network  400  (Yes in step S 206 ), the microprocessor  112  wakes up or activates the processing unit  120  to wake up the computer system  100  to establish a wireless Internet connection (step S 208 ) and performs a network content updating procedure to download the updated Internet content data from the server  300  of the network  400  (step S 210 ). Therefore, latest Internet content can be automatically updated to the computer system  100  before the user manually turns on the computer system  100 . 
     After the update of the Internet content has been completed, the power of the processing unit  120  is turned off once again such that the computer system  100  enters suspend or shut down procedure and the wireless module  110  re-enters to the standby or sleep state to wait for next timer-triggered event (step S 212 ). 
     Contrarily, when the scanning result of the preferred AP list does not match the predetermined setting (No in step S 206 ), the wireless module  110  directly enters the standby or sleep state to wait for next timer-triggered event (step S 212 ). That is, when the scanning result does not match the predetermined setting or no update data is available to be downloaded from the network  400 , the microprocessor  112  of the wireless module  110  will not wake up or activate the processing unit  120  to activate the computer system  100  via the BIOS  140 , thus efficiently saving power. 
     In some embodiments, the wireless module  110  may further comprise a plurality of RF modules and may select any of the RF modules in the wireless module  110  to attempt to establish the connection according to a specific rule during the performance of the scan. For example, the wireless module  110  may comprise a 3G RF module and a WLAN RF module, wherein the WLAN RF module which saves more power than the 3G RF module is first selected to attempt to establish the connection with APs in its responsive preferred AP list during the connection test and the 3G RF module may further be selected to attempt to establish the connection with APs in its responsive preferred AP list after the connection establishment for the WLAN RF module is failed. In some embodiments, the 3G RF module and the WLAN RF module may exchange signals between each other via the BIOS  140  or may directly exchange signals between each other without going through any other modules. 
     In sum, with the computer systems and related management methods of the invention, when each count period has been reached, only the wireless module is woken up first to perform the scanning and detection while the processing unit is not be woken up or activated, wherein the processing unit is woken up or activated only when the specific conditions have been met and the Internet has update data, which is different from the traditional computer system that wakes up or activates its processing unit during each count period and results in additional power consumption, thus avoiding unnecessary power consumption. In addition, the computer systems and related management methods of the invention can provide a number of RF modules with different type of service networks to increase the probability of a successful connection and have priority in selecting the connection mode that saves the most power, thereby further reducing unnecessary power consumption. 
     Management methods, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of a program code (i.e., executable instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMS, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine thereby becomes an apparatus for practicing the methods. The methods may also be embodied in the form of a program code transmitted over some transmission medium, such as electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via any other form of transmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosed methods. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processor to provide a unique apparatus that operates analogously to application specific logic circuits. 
     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalent.