Patent ID: 8165727

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a main body; a heating device provided in the main body; a cooling fan provided in the main body, the cooling fan to cool the heating device; a temperature sensor provided in the main body, the temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the heating device; a fan control unit provided in the main body, the fan control unit to (i) rotate the cooling fan at a first rotation speed or higher during power-on of the information processing apparatus, the first rotation speed being a value within a rotation speed range which allows the cooling fan to rotate at a constant speed, and (ii) switch a rotation speed of the cooling fan to a second rotation speed which is higher than the first rotation speed when the temperature of the heating device sensed by the temperature sensor reaches a threshold value; and a threshold value control unit to (i) set the threshold value to a first value when the information processing apparatus is set in a performance mode in which performance has higher priority than power saving and the cooling fan is used for cooling the heating device and (ii) set the threshold value to a second value which is higher than the first value when the information processing apparatus is set in a power-saving mode in which power saving has higher priority than performance and the cooling fan is used for cooling the heating device, the threshold value, the first value and the second value being temperature values, wherein the fan control unit supplies the cooling fan with a control signal having a first control signal value for rotating the cooling fan at a start up rotation speed upon power-on of the information processing apparatus, monitors a rotation speed of the cooling fan, and when the monitored rotation speed reaches a minimum value of the rotation speed range, changes a value of the control signal from the first control signal value to a second control signal value for rotating the cooling fan at a first rotation speed, the start up rotation speed being higher than the first rotation speed.