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According to one embodiment of the invention, a task management section of an operating system is notified of temperature abnormality by the notification that the rotation rate of the cooling fan reaches a specified rate, it executes measures to reduce the load of the processor: for example, (1) discriminating a program that does not require real-time execution, with reference to the task management table and forcibly stopping the program; (2) discriminating a program that requires real-time execution and that is in operation in a normal status, with reference to the task management table, and simplifying or omitting a process of the program; and (3) discriminating a program of a low priority of real-time execution from the programs that require real-time execution, with reference to the task management table, and forcibly stopping the program.

Inventor: Yoshihiro Nishida
Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Primary Examiner: David Robertson
Secondary Examiner: Jay R Marcyes
Attorney: Blakely Sokoloff Taylor & Zafman, LLP
Current U.S. Classification: 718/100; 702/132; 713/324

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Citations

Cited PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US6845456Jul 16, 2001Jan 18, 2005Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.CPU utilization measurement techniques for use in power management
US20040193383Mar 27, 2003International Business Machines CorporationComputer chip heat responsive method and apparatus

Referenced by

Citing PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US7499770Nov 28, 2005Mar 3, 2009Kyocera Mita CorporationData processing device with cooling fan
US7954007Oct 23, 2006May 31, 2011International Business Machines CorporationDetecting faulty CPU heat sink coupling during system power-up

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the processor;

a cooling fan;

a fan controller in communication with the temperature sensor and the cooling fan, the fan controller to control a rotation rate of the cooling fan based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor; and
a task management section that (i) whether each of a plurality of programs executed by the processor requires real-time execution and (ii) stops a program determined to not require real-time execution when the rotation rate of the cooling fan reaches a specified rotation rate.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a task management table that stores information of each of the plurality of programs, the information including a priority of operation and an indication whether a program requires real-time execution.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the task management section and the task management table are part of an operafing system.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the task management section determines an operation status of each of the plurality of programs and alters functionality of a program, selected from a group of programs that require real-time execution and determined to be in operation.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the task management section alters functionality of the program, being a video processing program, by changing an image quality of encoded video information, which is to be reproduced by decoding, from a high-quality level to a standard level, and causes the encoded video information to be stored in a memory device in parallel with the decoding.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the task management section determines priorities of real-time execution for a group of programs of the plurality of programs that require real-time execution, and stops a program whose priority of real-time execution is determined to be lower than other programs of the group of programs.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an environment setting section that sets operation environment to one of a first mode, in which the specified rotation rate of the cooling fan is set to a first value, and a second mode, in which the specified rotation rate is set to second value lower than the first value.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the environment setting section sets time zones to which the first mode and the second mode are respectively applied.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the task management section inquires whether the second mode can be changed to the first mode when the rotation rate of the cooling fan reaches the specified rotation rate while the second mode is set, and withholds controlling with respect to the plurality of programs and instructs the environment setting section to change to the first mode if the change to the first mode is permitted.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the task management section is a part of an operating system.

Drawings