Importance

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Abstract

A data processing system that employs a rechargeable battery and supports a full discharge of the battery and that is not shut down even if a user mistakenly removes a battery while the system is being operated in a full discharge mode, and a power supply apparatus for such a data processing system and a method for using the apparatus. When a data processing system is to be operated in a full discharge mode, an external power source constantly and steadily supplies power to the first electric circuitry, while a battery supplies power to the second electric circuitry until the discharge is completed. The first electric circuitry is designed to include components, such as a CPU and a main memory, that may force the entire system to be shut down when the supply of power is abruptly halted to those components. The second electric circuitry is designed to include components, such as a backlight of a liquid crystal display device, that do never cause the entire system to be shut down even when the power supply to only these components is abruptly terminated. Therefore, when a user mistakenly removes a battery while a full discharge of the battery is in progress, only the power supply to the second electric circuitry is stopped, and the whole system will not be shut down. When the power supply arrangement is so designed that only an external power source supplies power in response to the detection of the removal of the battery, only a backlight is turned off at the moment a battery is removed; and immediately turned on so that the task executed by the CPU 11 will not be abruptly terminated.

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First Claim