Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Mayumi Maeda

Yoshio Matsuoka

Koji Nakamura

Nobutaka Nishigaki

Nobuyuki Nanno

Ryu Nakazato

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a main body, an authentication unit which performs an authentication process, upon power-on of the main body, if authentication information is registered in the main body, the authentication process including a process to authenticate a user based on authentication information input by the user and the authentication information registered in the main body, and a forced-registration unit which performs a forced-registration process to request the user to register new authentication information and inhibit the main body from operating until the new authentication information is registered, upon power-on of the main body.

Information processing apparatus and method of controlling authentication process

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a main body, a first authentication unit which performs a first authentication process to authenticate a user when the main body is powered on, a second authentication unit which performs a second authentication process to authenticate the user after the user is authenticated in the first authentication process, and an authentication skip control unit which skips the first authentication process until a given time period elapses since the user is last authenticated in the second authentication process.

The CPU operates at the highest speed in start processing of an operating system. When a power-saving driver receives a start completion message from the operating system, the power-saving driver waits for a predetermined period until user operation to a computer system is enabled, and then sets the processing speed of the CPU to a user-designated speed. When the power-saving driver receives from the OS an OS termination start message representing the start of shutdown processing, the power-saving driver cancels setting of the user-designated speed, and returns the CPU to, e.g., the highest speed. Hence, start processing/shutdown processing can be executed at a high speed regardless of the set value of the user-designated speed.

System and method for implementing a user specified processing speed in a computer system and for overriding the user specified processing speed during a startup and shutdown process

In a computer, software may make an access to a controller in order to rewrite the contents of a nonvolatile storage device. If so, an interruption signal is automatically supplied to a CPU. In response to the interruption signal the CPU stops executing the software and starts performing an interruption process. During the interruption process it is determined whether the access made by the software is a right one. If the access is a wrong one, the rewriting of the contents of the nonvolatile storage device is prohibited at once.

Data-processing apparatus and method of controlling the rewriting of a nonvolatile storage device

When the display rate of a plasma display reaches a display rate exceeding the rated maximum electric power of the plasma display, the display mode of the plasma display is switched from a high brightness display mode to a normal brightness display mode. An item for selecting whether or not a battery recharge operation is enabled is provided to a setup menu screen. A user arbitrarily selects a charge mode (a battery charge operation is enabled in the normal brightness display mode) or a non-charge mode (the battery charge operation is disabled in the high brightness display mode). When the charge mode is selected, an electric power value obtained by subtracting electric power necessary for recharging the battery from the rated maximum electric power of the plasma display is set as a reference value, and when the display rate requires electric power exceeding the reference value, the display mode is switched from the high brightness display mode to the normal brightness display mode.

Method and system for detecting full charge of a rechargeable battery in

When an application program is being executed, a popup menu screen is displayed on a display device in response to a depression of specific keys on a keyboard. The popup menu screen displays a plurality of types of data indicating gray scale levels. A user selects one of the data indicating gray scale levels. Gray scale data are set in pallet registers in a display controller on the basis of the selected data indicating the gray scale level. As a result, a screen display based on the selected gray scale levels can be obtained in real time.

Display control system for setting gray scale levels using popup menu

An expansion unit has a connector for docking a portable computer. A value of a specific pin of the connector is set in a connection identification register arranged in the expansion unit. When the portable computer is started, it reads the content of the identification register, and checks if a resume mode is set. When it is determined that the expansion unit is connected, and the resume mode is set, a message indicating that the expansion unit is connected is displayed on a display device for a predetermined period of time.

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Ome, Japan

Mayumi Maeda