JP5024232B2 - Signal storage device, communication control device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal storage device, a communication control device, and an image forming apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an LED printer that realizes light and shade by changing the light emission amount of each LED for each pixel without reducing the printing speed.

JP 2000-141752 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a signal storage device, a communication control device, and an image forming apparatus that can store a signal generated in a predetermined period together with a time in which both the length of the period and the shortness of the interval are compatible. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 includes signal acquisition means for acquiring a signal, first time information generation means for generating first time information to be cut at a first time interval, A second time information generating means for generating second time information that ticks the second time interval within the first time interval, and a time pair that combines the first time information and the second time information. A signal storage device having storage means for storing the signal acquired by the signal acquisition means together with the information at the second time interval.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the first time information generation unit generates the first time information with the first time interval being 1 millisecond, and the second time information generation unit includes: The signal storage device according to claim 1, wherein the second time information is generated by setting the second time interval to 1 microsecond or less.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the second time information generating unit starts generating the second time information every time the first time information generating unit generates the first time information. The signal storage device according to claim 1.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided communication means for transmitting and receiving signals, first time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval, and within the first time interval. The communication means transmits and receives the second time information generating means for generating the second time information to be engraved at two time intervals, and the time pair information in which the first time information and the second time information are paired. And a storage means for storing a signal to be stored at the second time interval.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming means, a communication means for transmitting and receiving a signal relating to the image forming means, and a first time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval. The second time information generating means for generating the second time information that ticks the second time interval within the first time interval, and the first time information and the second time information as a pair The image forming apparatus includes a storage unit that stores a signal transmitted and received by the communication unit together with time pair information at the second time interval.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a signal generated in a predetermined period can be stored together with a time in which both the length of the period and the short interval are made compatible.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, the configuration can be simplified as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the present invention according to the first or second aspect, the time at which the signal is stored can be made more accurate than when the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a signal generated in a predetermined period can be stored together with a time in which both the length of the period and the short interval are compatible, and the signal can be transmitted and received.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, an image can be formed by storing a signal generated in a predetermined period together with a time in which both the length of the period and the shortness of the interval are compatible.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an outline of an image forming system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system 1 is configured by connecting an image forming apparatus 2 to a host apparatus (host computer) 4 via a channel interface 3.

The image forming apparatus 2 includes a user interface (UI) device 20, an image forming unit 24, a control unit 26, and a communication control unit 5. The UI device 20 is a user interface including a display device such as an LCD panel and an input device such as a keyboard. The image forming unit 24 includes, for example, a printing apparatus and a scanner apparatus (all not shown) including a paper feeding device, a xerographic device, a fixing device, and the like. The control unit 26 includes a main CPU and a main storage device (not shown), and controls each unit constituting the image forming apparatus 2. The communication control unit 5 connects the host device 4 and the control unit 26 via the channel interface 3.
That is, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a function as a computer, and performs processing such as printing by executing a program received via the communication control unit 5.

Next, the communication control unit 5 will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of the communication control unit 5 and its periphery. The communication control unit 5 is a communication control device accommodated in, for example, a PCI card, and is connected to a main CPU (not shown) of the control unit 26 via the PCI bus 6 in the image forming apparatus 2 and via the channel interface 3. Connected to the host device 4. The communication control unit 5 includes a local CPU 50, a system memory 52, a PCI interface (I / F) 54, a communication control circuit 56, and a log storage memory 58, and each unit constituting the communication control unit 5 has a local bus 59. The signals can be transmitted and received through each other.

  The local CPU 50 controls each part of the communication control unit 5 and generates a time signal (first time information: STIME) including, for example, the year, month, day, hour, and minute recorded at millisecond intervals (first time interval). To do.

  The system memory 52 stores a program executed by the local CPU 50 and data generated by executing the program. In addition, the system memory 52 stores time information indicating an event occurrence time and an event code at a predetermined point in a communication sequence performed by the local CPU 50 and the host device 4 under the control of the local CPU 50 in the first log. A software log storage unit 520 for storing (software log) is included. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the first log includes time information including, for example, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond, and an event code indicating an event that has occurred. Note that the millisecond time information included in the first log is also stored in a time register 562 described later.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a sequence in which the local CPU 50 writes the first log in the software log storage unit 520.
As shown in step 100 (S100), when the communication control circuit 56 receives a command from the host device 4 and transmits a command reception interrupt to the local CPU 50, the local CPU 50 writes the first log in the software log storage unit 520.

  As shown in step 102 (S102), when the local CPU 50 transmits an initial status transmission command to the communication control circuit 56, the local CPU 50 writes the first log in the software log storage unit 520. The communication control circuit 56 is configured to transmit the initial status to the host device 4 when receiving the initial status transmission command.

  As shown in step 104 (S104), when the communication control circuit 56 receives an initial status reception response from the host device 4 and transmits a status transmission completion interrupt to the local CPU 50, the local CPU 50 sends a first log to the software log storage unit 520. Write a log.

  As shown in step 106 (S106), when the local CPU 50 transmits a data reception start command to the communication control circuit 56, the local CPU 50 writes the first log in the software log storage unit 520. The communication control circuit 56 is configured to transmit a data request to the host device 4 when receiving a data reception start command.

  As shown in step 108 (S108), when the communication control circuit 56 receives data transmission from the host device 4 and transmits a data reception completion interrupt to the local CPU 50, the local CPU 50 stores the first log in the software log storage unit 520. Write.

  As shown in step 110 (S110), when the local CPU 50 transmits an end status transmission command to the communication control circuit 56, the local CPU 50 writes the first log in the software log storage unit 520. The communication control circuit 56 is configured to transmit an end status to the host device 4 when receiving an end status transmission command.

  As shown in step 112 (S112), when the communication control circuit 56 receives an end status reception response from the host device 4 and transmits a status transmission completion interrupt to the local CPU 50, the local CPU 50 sends a first log to the software log storage unit 520. Write a log.

  The PCI interface 54 (FIG. 2) is an interface that connects the PCI bus 6 and the local bus 59.

  The communication control circuit 56 includes a signal control circuit 560, a time register 562, and a hardware counter 564, and is a control circuit that controls to output communication signals (control signals and data) to the host device 4 and the log storage memory 58. is there. The signal control circuit 560 is a circuit that generates and transmits / receives a signal in the communication control circuit 56, and transmits / receives a signal to / from each unit constituting the communication control unit 5 and the host device 4. The time register 562 receives a time signal at an interval of milliseconds output from the local CPU 50, counts it for example every 1 millisecond (mS), and stores it as 10-bit data. The hardware counter 564 is a 10-bit counter that counts up, for example, every 1 microsecond (μS), regardless of whether the communication control circuit 56 transmits or receives a communication signal. The hardware counter 564 may be cleared for each millisecond time signal output from the local CPU 50 and newly counted up every 1 microsecond. In this manner, the hardware counter 564 generates a time signal (second time information: HC) that is recorded at microsecond intervals (second time intervals).

  The log storage memory 58 is controlled each time one of the communication signals changes under the control of the communication control circuit 56 while the communication control circuit 56 transmits and receives the communication signal to and from the host device 4 via the channel interface 3. The second time information (hardware log) includes the time in milliseconds and the second time information (HC) of the first time information (STIME) corresponding to the time when the communication signal changed, and the changed communication signal. ). Here, the log storage memory 58 is configured to recursively write a changed communication signal generated during a predetermined period (set operation period) together with time information as a second log.

5A and 5B are data format diagrams, in which FIG. 5A is a data format diagram of the embodiment when the log storage memory 58 stores the second log, and FIG. 5B is a data format diagram of the comparative example. .
As shown in FIG. 5A, the log storage memory 58 stores the first time information (10 bits of time information in milliseconds) and the second time information (10 bits) under the control of the local CPU 50. A second log is stored that is composed of a pair of 20-bit time pair information and 44-bit waveform information / state information indicating a communication signal (control signal and data) and is represented by a total 64-bit data format. Has been.
On the other hand, as a comparative example, when the present invention is not applied, when the time information is generated by, for example, a hardware counter in order to show time information from the date to the microsecond, the hardware counter becomes 52 bits, If 44-bit waveform information / state information is added, the data format becomes 96 bits.

FIG. 6 illustrates a case where the UI device 20 (or the host device 4) of the image forming apparatus 2 uses, for example, the first log stored in the software log storage unit 520 and the second log stored in the log storage memory 58. It is an example of a log display screen to be displayed.
The image forming apparatus 2 (or the host apparatus 4) uses the second log to obtain the waveform information of the communication signal (control signal and data) shown in FIG. 6, the first time information, and the second time information. Can be displayed.
Further, the main CPU (not shown) of the control unit 26 uses the time information in milliseconds stored in the time register 562 to associate the first log with the second log, whereby the image forming apparatus 2 (or the host). As shown in FIG. 6, the device 4) can display that an event has occurred (the signal has changed) at, for example, August 19, 11:23:11, 123 milliseconds.

1 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of a communication control part, and its periphery. It is a 1st log example. It is a sequence diagram which shows the sequence in which a local CPU writes a 1st log in a software log storage part. It is a data format figure, Comprising: (A) is a data format figure of the Example in case a log storage memory memorize | stores a 2nd log, (B) is a data format figure of a comparative example. It is an example of a log display screen displayed by a UI device (or host device) of an image forming apparatus using a first log stored in a software log storage unit and a second log stored in a log storage memory.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming system 2 Image forming apparatus 20 UI apparatus 24 Image forming part 26 Control part 3 Channel interface 4 Host apparatus 5 Communication control part 50 Local CPU
52 System Memory 520 Software Log Storage Unit 54 PCI Interface 56 Communication Control Circuit 560 Signal Control Circuit 562 Time Register 564 Hardware Counter 58 Log Storage Memory 59 Local Bus 6 PCI Bus

Claims (5)

Signal acquisition means for acquiring a signal;
First time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval;
Second time information generating means for generating second time information that divides the first time interval by a second time interval;
Together with the time-to information pairing the first time information and second time information, a signal that the signal acquisition means to acquire, have a storage means for storing each time the signal changes,
The second time information generation unit is a signal storage device that starts generating the second time information every time the first time information generation unit generates the first time information . The first time information generating means includes
Generating the first time information by setting the first time interval to 1 millisecond;
The second time information generating means is
The signal storage device according to claim 1, wherein the second time information is generated by setting the second time interval to 1 microsecond or less. First time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval;
  A hardware counter that generates second time information that ticks within the first time interval at a second time interval;
Storage means for storing a log together with time pair information in which the first time information and the second time information are paired each time a communication signal changes;
Have
  The hardware counter starts generating the second time information every time the first time information generating means generates the first time information.
Signal storage device. A communication means for transmitting and receiving signals;
First time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval;
Second time information generating means for generating second time information that divides the first time interval by a second time interval;
Together with the first time information and the time-to information on pairs of the second time information, a signal that the communication means transmits and receives, have a storage means for storing each time the signal changes,
The second time information generation unit is a communication control device that starts generating the second time information each time the first time information generation unit generates the first time information . Image forming means;
Communication means for transmitting and receiving signals relating to the image forming means;
First time information generating means for generating first time information to be engraved at a first time interval;
Second time information generating means for generating second time information that divides the first time interval by a second time interval;
Together with the first time information and the time-to information on pairs of the second time information, a signal that the communication means transmits and receives, have a storage means for storing each time the signal changes,
The second time information generation unit is an image forming apparatus that starts generating the second time information every time the first time information generation unit generates the first time information .

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