JP2839902B2 - Digital copier - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a digital copying machine comprising a system in which a main (master) device and a sub (slave) device are connected by a serial communication network.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a digital copying machine as a premise of the present invention, wherein 100 is a reading device, 302 is a system control device, 400 is an operation device, and 500 is a copying device (copying circuit).

Here, the system control device 302 constitutes a main device, and the reading device 100, the operating device 400, and the copying device 500 constitute a sub-operation. Further, these sub-devices, mainly the main device, have a star structure. They are connected by 310, 311 and 312.

In such a system, if one sub-device (for example, the reading device 100) is reset for some reason and reset to the initial state, operating the other main and sub-devices independently of them will lead to abnormal operation. , You need to initialize the whole system.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

At this time, it is usually necessary to turn on the power of the entire system again or reset and initialize the main and sub devices in accordance with a predetermined procedure, which causes a problem of poor operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital copying machine which is controlled so that when one sub-device is reset, the whole system is automatically reset and can be set to an initial state.

[Means for solving the problem]

The object is to transmit and receive various data including an initialization signal between a sub-device capable of transmitting an initialization signal when the device is initialized, and to initialize from one of the sub-devices. When a signal is received, a main device that can transmit an initialization signal to at least another sub device that has not received the initialization signal, and data is transmitted and received between the main device and the sub device. And communication means connected to the star structure.

[Action]

When the main device receives the initialization signal from any of the sub devices, the main device operates to transmit the initialization signal to at least other sub devices that have not received the initialization signal.

〔Example〕

FIG. 3 shows an outline of a copying machine incorporating one embodiment of the present invention. The copier executes a series of processes for reading a document, a reading device 100 as a reading unit, an image information storage device 300 as a storage unit for storing read document information, and copying the stored information to paper. Copy circuit 500,
The system includes a system control device 302 for controlling them, an operation device 400 as operation means for performing key input to the system control device 302, and the like. The operating device 400 includes a display for displaying various information.

The detailed configuration of the system control device 302 is shown in FIG.
That is, it is mainly composed of a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) 303, and includes a ROM, a RAM, and a clock signal generation circuit, a timer, an interrupt controller for interrupt processing, and the like. Further, the reading device 100, the image information storage device 300,
It includes a copying circuit 500, an I / O for information exchange with the operation device 400, and serial communication controllers 304 to 306.

The operation device 400 includes an operation panel 402 and an operation control circuit 401. FIG. 4 shows the plane of the operation panel 402. The operation panel 402 has keys (mode clear, stop, start, numeric keypad,
A density display, image quality adjustment, paper size, enlargement, reduction memory number, setting) character display (number of sets, number of copies, magnification), document loading enable display, and document insertion direction display are provided.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the mechanical configuration of the reading device 100. When an operator inserts a document into roller 1, the document is
Is transported between the contact glass 2 and the reflection plate 3 in the sub-scanning direction in accordance with the rotation of the mirror. During this transport, the original surface is scanned in the main scanning direction by the light from the fluorescent lamp 4. The reflected light is
An image is formed on an image sensor (CCD) 6 via a lens 5 and original information is read. The original image formed on the CCD 6 is output as an analog signal in synchronization with the clock generated from the write synchronization control circuit 105, and is amplified by the image amplification circuit 101. The A / D conversion circuit 102 converts the amplified analog image signal into multi-valued digital image information for each pixel. The shading correction circuit 103 corrects distortion of digital image information due to noise of the original image, uneven light amount, contamination of the contact glass 2, uneven sensitivity of the CCD 6, and the like. Thereafter, the image is converted into digital recording image information by the image processing circuit 104. The digitally recorded image information is output to the image storage device 300 and written to one page memory of the image memory unit 301.
The digitally recorded image information stored in the page memory is converted into laser light by the next copying circuit 500.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of a mechanical configuration of a copying apparatus 200 in which the image information storage device 300, the copying circuit 500 and the operating device 400 are incorporated.

The digitally recorded image information read from the page memory is received by the line driver circuit 501 and amplified by the laser driver circuit 502. The digitally recorded image information is a one-bit (record / non-record) binary signal per pixel, and the laser driver circuit 502 activates the laser diode 503 in response to the binary signal. Laser diode 5
The laser light emitted from the laser beam 03 is reflected by the rotary polygon mirror 11 and passes through the polygon mirror tilt correction cylindrical lens 12 to obtain f-θ
After passing through the lens 13, the light is reflected by the first mirror 14, the second mirror 15, and the third mirror 16, and is irradiated onto the photosensitive drum 17. The rotating polygon mirror 11 is fixed to a polygon mirror driving motor 18 and a rotating shaft 19, and the motor 18 rotates at a constant speed,
The polygon mirror 11 is driven to rotate at a constant speed. By the rotation of the polygon mirror 11, the laser light is scanned in a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 17, that is, in a direction along the drum axis.

The surface of the photoreceptor drum 17 is uniformly charged by a charger connected to a negative voltage high voltage generator. When the laser light emitted based on the digitally recorded image information is applied to the uniformly charged photoreceptor surface, the charge on the photoreceptor surface flows to the device ground of the drum 17 main body due to a photoconductive phenomenon and disappears. . Here, the laser is not turned on in a portion where the document density is low (the binarized signal is at the non-recording level), and the laser is turned on in a portion where the document density is high (the binarized signal is at the recording level). As a result, the portion corresponding to the light document density portion on the surface of the photoreceptor drum has a potential of -750 V, and the portion corresponding to the high document density portion has a potential of about -100 V. A latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing unit 20 to form a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 17. The toner in the developing unit 20 is negatively charged by stirring, the developing unit 20 is biased to about −550 V by a developing bias generator, and adheres to a place where the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 17 is higher than the developing bias. A toner image corresponding to the document image is formed.

On the other hand, the recording paper is selected from any of the three paper feed trays 21, fed out by the paper feeding operation of the feed roller 22, cut into an appropriate size by the cutter 23, and At the timing, the toner image passes through the lower portion of the photosensitive drum 17, and the toner image is transferred onto the recording paper by the operation of the transfer charger 25 during this time. The transferred recording paper is then sent to a heat fixing unit 26, where the toner is fixed to the recording paper, and the recording paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray 27.

FIG. 3 is referred to again. The copying machine of this embodiment includes an image information storage device 300 in addition to the reading device 100 and the copying circuit 500. The storage device 300 includes an image memory unit 301 and a system control device 302. In this embodiment, the image memory unit 301, the system control device 302, and the operation device 400 are housed in the housing of the copying apparatus 200 shown in FIG. Reading device 100, copy circuit 500, image information storage device 30
0 and the operating device 400 are connected to each other by RS422 standard signal lines L1, L2, and L3, and 9600 bp
Serial data transmission is performed at the transmission speed of s.

The main part of the control operation of the CPU 303 of the system control device 302 is shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. CPU3
In step 03, after power is turned on, the I / O interface section and the RAM are cleared and set to the initial state (701 to 704).

Next, the program executes a three-second closed loop timer (705), and further checks the presence or absence of the image memory unit 301 used in the present system (706). Set 304 to 306 (707).

Thus, the initialization of the system control device 302 is completed, and then the main program is executed. In the following, first, the CPU 303 is connected to each device (the reading device 100, the copying circuit 500, and the operating device).
The presence / absence of the data received from (400) is checked (708), and if there is data, processing is executed according to the received code. Next, the presence or absence of an error is checked (709), and thereafter the main monitor program (710) is executed. In the main monitor program, a reception code of a ready code or an initial code from each sub-device is checked, and if various signals are received, a transmission bit for transmitting a signal to each sub-device according to the reception code. Set. Next, after checking the bits necessary for transmission, data corresponding to the transmission bit is transmitted to each sub device (711).

The main part of the control operation of the CPU in each of the sub-devices of the reading device 100, the copying circuit 500 and the operating device 400 is shown in FIGS. 11 (1101-1115) and 12 (1201-1204). After the power is turned on, the CPU executes the initial setting program in the same manner as the system control device 302 (1101 to 1106), and then sends an initial code to the system control device 302 (meaning that the sub device is initialized and executed from the beginning of the program). ) And a ready code (meaning that the sub device has been initialized and communication with the main device is possible) is transmitted (1107, 1108), and thereafter the main program is executed (1109 to 1115). . First, an internal flag (FSLVRDY) indicating that the sub device has entered the ready state
Is set (1109), and the data received from the system controller 302 is checked (1110). After checking for errors (1111), the main monitor program (1111)
Perform 12). The main monitor program checks the flags used in the present system and monitors inputs and outputs necessary for drive control. Then the system controller
When there is data to be transmitted in 302, it is transmitted according to each transmission bit (1113). Next, the ready status flag (FSYRDY) of the system is checked (1114). If the flag is not set, the flow proceeds to 1109. If the drive is set (1115), the flow jumps to 1109 and jumps to 1109. Repeat the run.

Now, it is assumed that the power is turned on separately for each device. For example, the main unit (SY:
It is assumed that the system control device 302) has started up.

In this case, first, the program of the sub device shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 is started. That is, when the main device has not started up, the initial code and the ready code are transmitted from the sub device. Next, the secondary device sets the flag (FSLVRDY) indicating that the initial setting and communication start program have been executed and the main program is ready to be executed. When the power of the main device is turned on after the sub device is in the ready state in this way, the initial code is sequentially transmitted from the main device to the sub device, and when the sub device receives this, the reception code shown in FIG. Data check subroutine (1201 ~ 12
As can be seen from 04), the program will be executed again from the start. Then, the sub device receives the ready code of the sub device again in the main device and puts the sub device in the ready state. On the other hand, the main device receives the ready code, and the ready flag (FSLVRDY) corresponding to the ready flag (FSLVRDY) of the sub device is received. FSCRDY, FPRRDY, FKBRDY) are sequentially set.

After receiving the ready code from all the secondary devices,
As shown in FIG. 9 (901 to 917), on the contrary, the system ready code is transmitted to the sub system, and the main system sets the flag (FSYSRDY) indicating that the system is in the ready state, When the device receives the system ready code, it sets the system ready flag (FSYRDY) in the sub device and starts execution of the main program.

Conversely, when the power supply of the main device is turned on before the sub device, the program of the main device is executed as in the case described above, and then the ready code is received from the sub device, The main unit enters a ready state and executes each program.

In this way, it can be seen that the entire system operates smoothly regardless of the order of power-on of the main device and the sub-device.

As described above, when the power of the main unit is turned off and on again after the power is turned on and the whole system is started to start or complete the copying operation, or when the main unit is reset for some reason. Will be described in detail below.

When the main unit is reset, the program that has been running is interrupted, and the main unit program is restarted when the power is turned on again. At this time, the main device transmits an initial code to each sub device, and forcibly initializes the sub device.

When the power of one of the sub-devices is turned off and then turned on after the entire system has been started, the sub-device interrupts the program that has been running, and the program of the sub-device is restarted when the power is turned on again. Hereinafter, the operation at this time will be described in detail.

The sub device transmits an initial code and a ready code to the main device, and requests the system to be initialized.

Suppose now that the operation control circuit of the sub device is reset when the entire system is operating normally, and the sub device interrupts the program being executed and restarts. Then, the stack pointer is reset (1101) as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, and a predetermined area of the RAM is cleared. This includes various flags FSLVRDY and FSYRDY. Next, set necessary bits on RAM (1103)
Then, I / Os around the CPU are initialized (1104).
The program then runs a one-second closed loop timer (11
05), and set the serial communication controller in this sub device to enable communication with the main device (1106).
I do.

Next, an initial code and a ready code are transmitted to the main unit, an internal flag (FSLVRDY) indicating that the sub unit has entered the ready state is set, and then the execution of the main program is started.

On the other hand, when the copying operation is started or ended, the main device receives an initial code from the sub device while executing the main program, and when the program of the main device checks the received data, Figure 8 (801-810)
As shown in (1), when the initial code is received from the sub device (801 to 806), the main device is currently in the system ready state, so that FSYSRDY = 1 (807), the initial code from any sub device is received. However, the program forcibly jumps to the start (808 to 810), and the initial setting program shown in FIG. 7 is executed from the beginning. Then, the main device is reset again as if a reset was applied during the execution of the main program, and the main program is executed again and the initial code is transmitted to the sub device.

More specifically, when the main device executes the main monitor (710) of the main program, the main device executes FSCRDY, FPRRDY, and FKBR as shown in the main monitor subroutine of FIG.
The DY is checked (901 to 903), and since the RAM has been cleared, the flag is "0", so that 909 is executed. Otherwise, execute steps 904 to 908. LOOP
Is incremented by +1 in the counter, and LOOP = 500
It is counted up until it becomes. When LOOP = 500 (9
10) Check FSCRDY, FPRRDY, and FKBRDY again, and when "0", set the transmission bits SCINT, PRINT, and KBINT for transmitting the initial code to each sub-device to "1" (9)
11-917). When the initial code is set, the LOOP counter is reset to "0", and the data is transmitted to the sub device as in the subroutine of "data transmission to sub device" shown in FIG. 10 (1001 to 1014). Now, since the transmission bit SCINT = 1 (1103), the initial code is transmitted to the reading control circuit of the sub device (1009, 1010). Similarly, an initial code is sequentially transmitted to the write control circuit and the operation control circuit, which are the other sub-devices (1004, 1005, 1011, 1012, 1013, 1014).

Upon receiving the initial code, each of the sub-devices executes the check program of the received data shown in FIG. 12, and since the sub-device is executing the main program, FSLVRDY = 1 (1203) and receives the initial code. (1204), the program jumps to the start and executes the initialization program of FIG. 11 from the beginning.
Similarly, the write control circuit of the sub device interrupts the program and executes from the start. In this way, even if any of the sub-devices is reset, the entire system can be automatically initialized via the communication means between the main and sub-devices.

In the flowchart, SC indicates a read control circuit, PR indicates a write drive control circuit, KB indicates an operation control circuit, and SY indicates a main device.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, even if a reset is applied to one of the sub-devices, the entire system can be automatically initialized via the communication means between the main and sub-devices. Thus, a digital copier excellent in operability can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 2 are structural views for explaining the mechanism of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an outline of the structure of an electric element according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an operation panel in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the system controller in FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a digital copying machine, and FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are block diagrams. Fifth
11 and 12 are flow charts for explaining the control operation of the microprocessor in each of the sub-devices. 100 …… Reader, 302 …… System controller, 400 ……
Operating device, 500: Copying device, 310-312: Data bus.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/00 G06F 1/00 350

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A sub-device capable of transmitting an initialization signal when self-initialized, transmits / receives various data including an initialization signal to / from the sub-device, and initializes from one of the sub-devices. When receiving an initialization signal, a main unit capable of transmitting an initialization signal to at least other sub-devices that have not received the initialization signal, and mutually transmit / receive data to / from the main device and the sub-device. And a communication means connected to a star structure. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said main device comprises an initialization means for initializing itself based on said initialization signal when receiving an initialization signal from said sub device. Digital copier.