Patent Application
20090161471
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a power control technique, and more specifically, to a power supply device for non-volatile memories.
2. Description of Related Art
Non-volatile memories, e.g. complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), etc. are popularly applied in most electronic devices such as personal computers, servers, and so forth; the non-volatile memories are used to store essential data related to operation of the electronic devices, such as information of hard drive allocation, preset parameters of BIOS, and others; therefore, it is essential to keep supplying working power to the non-volatile memories to secure information stored inside the non-volatile memories against being lost.
Please refer to
Specifically, as shown in
However, sometimes, in order to recover from a system failure of the electronic device, or reset a password in a case of losing original password of the aforesaid non-volatile memory, or for other reasons, information stored in the aforesaid non-volatile memory 3 has to be deleted. Therefore, the aforesaid non-volatile memory 3 needs a discharging process. In summary of working principles of the aforesaid power supply circuit 1, before proceeding to the discharging process of the non-volatile memory 3, the electronic device has to be unplugged to disconnect from power source in order to electrically disconnect the second power supply unit 13 from the system power, next, removing cover body of the case of the electronic device and then removing the battery installed inside on mother board of the electronic device, during this period of time, the non-volatile memory 3 is not supplied with any power, and the discharging process of the non-volatile memory 3 is completed by means of natural power consumption, thereby deleting information stored in the non-volatile memory 3.
However, the aforesaid means of discharging of non-volatile memory has complicated procedure; especially the modern electronic products are in a trend of miniaturization, components are integrated highly densely on a mother board, space for installing a battery is getting smaller and smaller, and therefore, it is getting difficult to remove the battery from the mother board.
In addition, by applying means of natural power consumption, discharging speed is dependent on allocation of chip components inside the non-volatile memory, generally, the discharging speed is slow, and there are different types of non-volatile memories, correspondingly there are different types of allocations of chip components. Therefore, time period of discharging of different types of non-volatile memories is different from one another, so that it is difficult for a user to decide how much time is required for a full discharging process. Further, if a computer is rebooted again before the full discharging process of the non-volatile memory is completed, undeleted messages remained in the non-volatile memory may cause system errors at time of restarting the computer.
Hence, it is an urgent demand for a power supply device, which is easier to manipulate than those in the prior art.
In view of the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a power supply device that is easy to manipulate.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a power supply device for non-volatile memories and for speeding up discharging speed of the non-volatile memories.
To achieve the aforementioned and other objectives, a power supply device is provided according to the present invention. The present invention provides a power supply device for a non-volatile memory of an electronic device, wherein the non-volatile memory has at least one power receiving end, and the power supply device includes a power supply circuit having a first power input end, a power output end, and a first power supply unit that is electrically connecting to the first power input end; a control unit having a first connection end electrically connected to the power output end of the power supply circuit, a second connection end, and one switching end electrically connected to the power receiving end of the non-volatile memory for switching the first connection end and the second connection end to be electrically connected to the power receiving end; and a power consuming unit having a first end electrically connected to the second connection end of the control unit, and a second end electrically grounded.
The power supply circuit further comprises a second power input end; a second power supply unit electrically connected to the second power input end; and a switching unit having a first end electrically connected to the first power input end, and a second end electrically connected to both the power output end and the second power input end.
In accordance with the present invention, voltage of the second power supply unit is higher than voltage of the second power supply unit, and the switching unit is a diode, wherein anode of the diode is electrically connected to the first power supply unit, and cathode of the diode is electrically connected to the second power supply unit.
In addition, in the power supply device of the present invention, the power consuming unit is a resistor; the switching end of the control unit is a selective switch for the non-volatile memory to selectively electrically connect to the power supply unit or the power consuming unit; preferably, the selective switch is allocated on the exterior side of the electronic device for providing users with a convenient way to manipulate.
Moreover, the power supply device of the present invention further comprises a first anti-inference module electrically connected to the power supply circuit and a grounding end for eliminating inference generated while a switching is performed by the selective switch. Preferably, the first anti-inference module is a capacitor.
Furthermore, the power supply device of the present invention further includes a second anti-inference module having a first end electrically connected to the power output end of the power supply circuit, and a second end electrically grounded and being for preventing power supply noise inference and power jitter generated while a switching between the first power supply unit and the second power supply unit is performed. Preferably, the second anti-inference module further includes a second capacitor having a first end electrically connected to the power output end of the power supply circuit, and a second end electrically grounded for providing high frequency filter; and a third capacitor having a first end electrically connected to the power output end of the power supply circuit, and a second end electrically grounded for providing low frequency filter and storing energy.
Compared with the prior art, the power supply device of the present invention includes a power consuming module and a control unit between the power supply circuit and non-volatile memory. Therefore, at the time when the control unit enables power input path between the power supply circuit and the non-volatile memory, it also disenables power release path between the power consuming unit and the non-volatile memory, thereby enabling the non-volatile memory to operate normally, and operation mode at this moment is the same as the mode of power supply of prior power supply circuit; also at the time when the control unit disenables the power input path between the power supply circuit and the non-volatile memory, it correspondingly enables the power release path between the power consuming unit and the non-volatile memory, thereby executing a discharging process of the non-volatile memory via the power consuming unit, accordingly avoiding the complicated discharging process as in the prior art, i.e. power has to be turned off and then battery has to be taken off, and chip units of the non-volatile memory have to go through a full and slow discharging process. Furthermore, compared with the prior means of natural power consumption of the complicated chip units of the non-volatile memory, the power consuming unit provided in the power supply device of the present invention is directly electrically connected to the non-volatile memory for executing discharging process, so that discharging speed of the non-volatile memory is relatively faster, and the discharging speed is easier to master.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following illustrative embodiments are provided to illustrate the disclosure of the present invention, these and other advantages and effects can be apparently understood by those in the art after reading the disclosure of this specification. The present invention can also be performed or applied by other different embodiments. The details of the specification may be on the basis of different points and applications, and numerous modifications and variations can be devised without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
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As shown in
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The power supply circuit 1′ includes a power output end 1, a first power input end c, and a first power supply unit 11′, wherein the first power supply unit 11′ is electrically connected to the first power input end c and is allocated with a battery thereon for supplying first working power to the non-volatile memory 3. In the present embodiment, the first working power is 3 volts. Since the power supply principle of the power supply circuit 1′ is well known for persons skilled in the art, it is unnecessary to be described in detail herein.
The power consuming unit 21 is electrically connected to a grounding end 211 for providing the non-volatile memory 3 with a power release path. Preferably, the power consuming unit 21 is a resistor, and resistance of the resistor is capable of determining discharging speed of the non-volatile memory 3. In other words, the smaller the resistance, the faster the discharging speed, and the shorter the time period of discharging. Therefore, users can know how much time is required for a discharging process based on resistance of the resistor 21 in a practical circuit allocation, thereby avoiding disadvantages of the prior art, i.e. time period of discharging is difficult to master, and consequently incomplete discharging is likely to cause system error at time of rebooting in the prior art.
In the present embodiment, as shown in
The control unit 23 has a first connection end 231, a switching end 233, and a second connection end 235, which are electrically connected to the power supply circuit 1′, the non-volatile memory 3, and the power consuming unit 21 respectively. The switching end 233 is selectively electrically connected to the first connection end 231 or the second connection end 235, so as to enable or disenable a power input path of power provided by the power supply circuit 1′ and transmitted to the non-volatile memory 3. As shown in
Preferably, the switching end 233, e.g. the selective switch, is allocated on exterior side of the electronic device for user to manipulate conveniently. At the time when system failure of the electronic device occurs, or users forget the password of the non-volatile memory 3 and have to reset the password, and the aforesaid non-volatile memory 3 needs a discharging process to delete messages saved in the non-volatile memory 3, all the users have to do is flipping the control unit 23 so as to connect the switch end 233 to the second connection end 235, i.e. enabling the power release path between the power consuming unit 21 and the non-volatile memory 3. The power input path from the power supply circuit 1′ to the non-volatile memory 3 is disenabled. Therefore, the discharging process of the non-volatile memory 3 can be completed without unplugging the electronic device nor consequently taking off battery.
Moreover, the present invention further provides a first anti-inference module 25 electrically connected to the power supply circuit 1′ and the grounding end 211. In the present embodiment, the first anti-inference module 25 is electrically connected to the power output end a of the power supply circuit 1′ and the grounding end 211 for eliminating inference generated at the switching moment of the control unit 23, so as to ensure the power supply device more stable and reliable. Preferably, the first anti-inference module 25 is a first capacitor 251.
Please refer to
As shown in the
In the present embodiment, voltage of the second power supply unit is higher than voltage of the first power supply unit, and the switching unit 15 is a diode, wherein anode of the diode is electrically connected to the first power input end c of the first power supply unit 11′, and cathode of the diode is electrically connected to the power output end a and the second power input end d of the second power supply unit 13′. When the second power supply unit 13′ is not supplying power, the diodes is enabled, and the first power supply unit 11′ supplies power, and when the second power supply unit 13′ is supplying power, the diodes is disenabled, and the second power supply unit 13′ supplies power.
According to the previous descriptions, as shown in
It is noted that the second anti-inference module 26 has a first end electrically connected to the power output end a of the power supply circuit 1′, and a second end is grounded, and is for preventing from power supply noise inference and power jitter generated while a switching between the first power supply unit 11′ and the second power supply unit 13′ is performed. Preferably, the second anti-inference module 26 further includes a second capacitor 261 having a first end electrically connected to the power output end a of the power supply circuit 1′, and a second end electrically grounded, and being for providing high frequency filter; and a third capacitor 262 having a first end electrically connected to the power output end a of the power supply circuit 1′, and a second end electrically grounded, and being for providing low frequency filter and storing power.
In view of the above, the power supply device of the present invention provides a power consuming module and a control unit to between the prior power supply circuit and non-volatile memory. Consequently, when the control unit enables power input path between the power supply circuit and the non-volatile memory, it also disenables the power release path between the power consuming unit and the non-volatile memory, thereby enabling the non-volatile memory to operate normally, and operation mode at this moment is the same as power supply mode of the prior power supply circuit. When the control unit disenables the power input path between the power supply circuit and the non-volatile memory, it correspondingly enables the power release path between the power consuming unit and the non-volatile memory, thereby executing discharging process of the non-volatile memory via the power consuming unit, and avoiding the complicated discharging process as in the prior art, i.e. power has to be turned off first and then battery has to be taken off, and chip units of the non-volatile memory have to go through a full and slow discharging process in the prior art. Furthermore, compared with the prior means of natural power consumption of the complicated chip units of the non-volatile memory, the power consuming unit provided in the power supply device of the present invention is directly electrically connected to the non-volatile memory for executing discharging process, so that discharging speed of the non-volatile memory is relatively faster, and the discharging speed is easier to master.
The foregoing descriptions of the detailed embodiments are only illustrated to disclose the features and functions of the present invention and not restrictive of the scope of the present invention. It should be understood to those in the art that all modifications and variations according to the spirit and principle in the disclosure of the present invention should fall within the scope of the appended claims.
