Apparatus for recording or/and reproducing information and method for reducing power consumption thereof
View Patent ↗In an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information, which reproduces servo information being recorded on a medium and conducts a tracking operation based on the servo information, a power save part conducts a power save operation by reducing an operation clock frequency in accordance with a predetermined process during a tracking operation, during a seek operation, and/or during spindle motor startup.
1. An apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information comprising means for reproducing servo information being recorded on a medium and means for conducting a tracking operation based on the servo information, said apparatus further comprising:
at least two processors operating independently from each other by firmware; and
a power save part conducting a power save by reducing more than one operation clock frequency in accordance with a predetermined process with respect to the at least two processors during a tracking operation, and increasing the reduced operation clock frequency during writing and reading operations.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said power save part conducts the power save by reducing a number of tracking controls.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said power save part conducts the power save when a command has not been supplied from an upper apparatus for a predetermined time.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the at least two processors include a main processor and one or more sub processors, and
wherein the power save part controls the at least two processors so that after at least one operation clock frequency of the one or more sub processors is reduced, an operation clock frequency of the main processor is reduced.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the power save part controls the at least two processors so that after the operation clock frequency of the main processor is reset, the at least one operation clock frequency of the one or more sub processors is reset.
6. An apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information comprising means for reproducing servo information being recorded on a medium and means for conducting a seek operation based on the servo information, said apparatus further comprising a power save part conducting a power save operation during the seek operation including stopping a power supply to a circuit for recording the information to said medium and exchanging the information with said medium.
7. A method for operating an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus, including at least two processors operating independently from each other by firmware, that reproduces servo information being recorded on a medium and conducts a tracking operation based on the servo information, said method further comprising the step of conducting a power save by reducing more than one operation clock frequency during the tracking in accordance with a predetermined process with respect to the at least two processors' operation.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said step conducts the power save by reducing a number of tracking controls.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein said step conducts the power save when a command has not been supplied from an upper apparatus for a predetermined time during the tracking operation.
10. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said step conducts the power save when a command has not been supplied from an upper apparatus for a predetermined time during the tracking operation.
11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 ,
wherein the at least two processors include a main processor and one or more sub processors, and
wherein the power save is conducted to control the at least two processors so that after at least one operation clock frequency of the one or more sub processors is reduced, an operation clock frequency of the main processor is reduced.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the power save part is conducted to control the at least two processors so that after the operation clock frequency of the main processor is reset, the at least one operation clock frequency of the one or more sub processors is reset.
13. A method for operating an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus that reproduces servo information being recorded on a medium and conducts a seek operation based on the servo information, said method further comprising the step of conducting a power save for more than one circuit during the seek operation including stopping a power supply to a circuit for recording information to said medium and/or exchanging information with said medium.