JP5268487B2 - Recording apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a control method therefor.

  A recording apparatus that performs a recording operation using a recording material such as ink or toner is known. For example, an inkjet recording apparatus performs a recording operation by moving a recording head equipped with a heating element, an inkjet nozzle, and the like mounted on a movable carriage. In an ink jet recording apparatus, recording is performed by reciprocating in a single direction or right and left while a recording head is scanned at high speed over the entire width of a recording medium. Along with this operation, a recording image is formed on the recording medium by conveying the recording medium in the length direction. In an ink jet recording apparatus, characters, images, and the like are recorded on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head.

In the ink jet recording apparatus, a system abnormality is detected during the recording operation, and when it is determined that the operation cannot be continued, the system is stopped. The system abnormality is stored in the nonvolatile memory as an error code. If the error cannot be restored on the user side and needs to be repaired, the recording device will be collected at a later date, and the contents of the nonvolatile memory will be taken up at that time and the cause will be analyzed.
JP 2006-198807 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-328041

  Only a limited number of non-volatile memories for storing error codes are provided in the apparatus. Therefore, when an error occurs several times, the old error code is rewritten sequentially, and the error code that occurred first is overwritten. Furthermore, since the time information at the time of occurrence of abnormality is not stored, it is impossible to grasp the situation that led to the error.

  In addition, the state changes while an error has occurred several times, and error codes different from the first fatal error are stored one after another in the non-volatile memory, and the true error code is rewritten. May end up. In this case, the cause investigation is not easy, and a lot of man-hours, time and cost are required.

  In order to cope with such a situation, Patent Document 1 distinguishes error information during the recording operation from error information during the restart recovery operation of the apparatus so that the error during the recording operation is not overwritten. In this technique, since an error during a recording operation is overwritten by itself, an overwrite prohibition code is added to prohibit the storage. However, since all error information is not stored, the error frequency and the error occurrence time are unknown.

  Further, Patent Document 2 mentions a method of storing data in a nonvolatile memory when a failure occurs. In this case, since the failure that occurred the second time and the third time is also stored, the data to be truly referred to is stored. There is a risk of overwriting.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a recording apparatus and a control method therefor, in which the cause of an abnormality can be investigated in a short period of time so that the background of the abnormality of the apparatus can be grasped. The purpose is to do.

In order to achieve the above object, an aspect of the present invention is a recording device including a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory for storing error information of its own device. If the importance determined by the importance determination means is higher than a predetermined standard, information on the state of the own device before the occurrence of the error, The first storage processing means for storing in the volatile memory status information including status information, information on the status of the device after the error occurrence, and information on the time when the error occurred. If the degree of importance is higher than a predetermined reference, storage status determination means for determining whether or not the status information is stored in the nonvolatile memory, and the status in the nonvolatile memory by the storage availability determination means. If the information is determined not to be stored, a second storage processing unit for storing the state information stored in the volatile memory to the nonvolatile memory, the nonvolatile memory by the storing permission determination unit When it is determined that the state information is stored in the volatile memory, the free space for storing the time information at the time of the error occurrence in the state information stored in the volatile memory. Free space determining means for determining whether or not there is a storage area, and the second storage processing means, when the free space determination means determines that the non-volatile memory has the free space, the volatile The time information at the time of the error occurrence among the status information stored in the volatile memory is stored in the vacant area of the nonvolatile memory.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method for controlling a recording device including a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory for storing error information of its own device, and each time an error occurs in the own device, the error is important. and importance determining step of determining the degree, if the importance level determination severity determined by the process is higher than the predetermined reference, the state of error occurrence before the self information, the state of the host device when an error occurs A first storage processing step for storing state information including information, information on the state of the device after the error occurrence, and time information at the time of the error occurrence in the volatile memory, and the importance determined by the importance determination step When the degree is higher than a predetermined reference, the state information is stored in the non-volatile memory by the storage enable / disable determination step for determining whether or not the state information is stored in the nonvolatile memory, and the storage enable / disable determination step. If it is determined not to be paid, the said state information stored in the volatile memory and the second storage processing step of storing in the nonvolatile memory, the said non-volatile memory by said storing possibility judgment step When it is determined that the state information is stored, there is a free area for storing the time information at the time of the error occurrence in the state information stored in the volatile memory in the nonvolatile memory. The free space determination step for determining whether or not the free space determination step determines that there is the free space in the nonvolatile memory, the state information stored in the volatile memory And a third storage processing step for storing time information at the time of error occurrence in the free area of the nonvolatile memory.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to grasp the frequency of occurrence of an abnormality and the passage of time since the occurrence of the abnormality, as well as the state change of the apparatus up to the occurrence of the abnormality. Thereby, the true cause can be investigated in a short time.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components and operations described in this embodiment are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to them. In the following description, a recording apparatus using an ink jet recording system will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, an electrophotographic system using toner or the like as a recording material. Etc.

  Further, in this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “printing”, “image formation”, “printing”) is not limited to the case of forming significant information such as characters and graphics, but may be significant. Absent. Further, it also represents a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or a medium is processed regardless of whether or not it is manifested so that a human can perceive it visually.

  “Recording medium” refers not only to paper used in general recording apparatuses but also widely to cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, and the like that can accept ink. .

  Furthermore, “ink” (sometimes referred to as “ink droplet” or “liquid”) should be interpreted widely as in the definition of “recording (printing)”. Therefore, by being applied on the recording medium, it can be used for forming an image, pattern, pattern, etc., processing the recording medium, or processing the ink (for example, coagulation or insolubilization of the colorant in the ink applied to the recording medium). It shall represent a liquid that can be provided.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The recording device 70 incorporates a CPU 1 (central processing unit) such as a programmable microprocessor.

  A ROM (Read Only Memory) 2 includes font data, various control data, an importance information table that defines the importance of an error (error), a program instruction sequence executed by the CPU 1 for controlling the recording device 70, and various controls. Stores tables and the like.

  A RAM (volatile memory) 23 is used as a work area when the CPU 1 executes various programs. In the RAM 23, for example, various recording data sent from the host computer 22 through the interface 21 are stored. This recording data is, for example, data used when printing is output by the black recording head 11 and the color recording head 12. Here, the buffer 23a in the RAM 23 stores information indicating the state of the own device (system). The state of the own device (hereinafter abbreviated as the device state) is updated every 500 msec, for example. Thereby, the state of the apparatus is intermittently stored in the RAM 23. Further, in the RAM 23, as information indicating the state of the apparatus before the occurrence of an abnormality, at the time of occurrence of the abnormality, and after the occurrence of the abnormality, information 23b before error occurrence, information 23c upon occurrence of error, information 23d after occurrence of error, error occurrence time information 23e Etc. are memorized. The pre-error occurrence information 23b is information indicating the state of the apparatus before the error is detected from the various sensors 6. This information is rearranged in time series and stored. The error occurrence time information 23c is information indicating the state of the device at the time of error occurrence. The post-error occurrence information 23d is information indicating the state of the apparatus after the occurrence of the error. This information is stored every predetermined time interval, for example, every 500 msec after an error occurs. The error occurrence time information 23e is information indicating the time when an error has occurred. This time information is sequentially stored every time an error occurs. The time information is sent from the host computer 22 to the recording device 70 via the interface 21, for example.

  The ASIC 8 serving as the control logic controls the print head driver 10 to output the control signals for the nozzles in the print heads 11 and 12, and controls data transfer between the interface 21, the CPU 1, and the RAM 23. . Furthermore, the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 8 includes control logic for the DC motor drivers 13 and 16.

  The DC motor driver 13 controls the two motors (line feed motor 14 and carriage motor 15). The line feed motor 14 drives the conveyance roller and controls sheet feeding, feeding and discharging. The carriage motor 15 drives the carriage and controls the movement of the recording heads 11 and 12 to the recording position in the scanning direction. The DC motor driver 16 controls the paper feed recovery motor 17. The paper feed recovery motor 17 controls driving of sheet feeding related to the paper feed system and driving of recovery operations such as cleaning, wiping, and cap of the recording heads 11 and 12 related to recovery.

  The black recording head 11 and the color recording head 12 controlled by the recording head driver 10 are moved by a carriage. These recording heads are composed of removable units. These recording heads include an ink discharge nozzle for forming a recording image on a recording medium, and a head diode 9 that feeds back information on the presence and characteristics of a removable recording head. Based on the electrical signal sent from the recording head driver 10, the electrothermal conversion elements of the recording heads 11 and 12 are driven to generate thermal energy for causing film boiling in the ink. As a result, ink is ejected toward a predetermined recording position on the recording medium. Since the ink ejection amount varies depending on the temperature of the recording heads 11 and 12, the recording apparatus 70 monitors the temperature output from the thermistor 3 that measures the ambient temperature in the apparatus and the head diode 9 of the recording heads 11 and 12. ing.

  Further, the recording apparatus 70 incorporates an interface 21 that connects the recording apparatus 70 and the host computer 22. The interface 21 has a signal path capable of bidirectional transmission and reception, and transmits and receives recording data and commands to and from the host computer 22.

  The nonvolatile memory 19 is mounted on, for example, a main board and stores error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b, and the like. The non-volatile memory 19 is configured by, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM). Various sensors 6 are mounted on the recording device 70. The PE sensor 6a (paper end sensor) detects a passing sheet. The ASF sensor 6b (feed sensor) detects the rotational position of the cam of the feed unit. The PG sensor 6c (purge sensor) detects the position of the cam of the head recovery unit. In addition, sensors such as a cover sensor linked to the cover switch 4c, an encoder 6d for reading carriage position information, an encoder 6e for reading position information of LF, and a front cover sensor 6f for detecting the open / closed state of the front cover 66 are also available. Provided.

  The timer 24 performs a function of measuring a predetermined time and is involved in controlling various motors. The power supply 25 supplies power for driving the recording apparatus 70. Further, the recording device 70 is equipped with a switch 4 for user operation such as a power switch 4a and a resume switch 4b. Furthermore, the recording device 70 is also equipped with a display LCD 5 that informs the user of the state of the recording device 70.

  FIG. 2 is an example of a perspective view of the recording device 70 shown in FIG.

  Reference numeral 30 denotes a recording head (image recording means). Reference numeral 31 denotes a carriage that functions as a head mounting means for mounting the recording head 30, and 33 denotes a guide member that guides the carriage 31 in the direction of arrow A in the figure. The guide member is a guide shaft that functions as a holding unit that holds the carriage 31. The right side of the guide shaft 33 is positioned and fixed to the right side plate 39, and the left side of the guide shaft 33 is positioned and fixed to the left side plate 38.

  A guide member 34 guides the carriage 31. Specifically, the guide member is a guide rail that functions as a holding unit, and guides the movement of the carriage 31. The right side of the guide rail 34 is positioned on the right side plate 39, and the left side of the guide rail 34 is positioned on the left side plate 38. Reference numeral 35 denotes a timing belt, and a part of the timing belt 35 is fixed to the carriage 31. The carriage motor is positioned and fixed to the chassis 32. By driving the carriage motor, the carriage 31 on which the recording head 30 is mounted can be scanned in the direction of arrow A in the figure.

  A scale 36 indicates the absolute position of the carriage 31 in the scanning direction. This scale is a carriage encoder and constitutes position detection means. The right side of the carriage encoder 36 is positioned and fixed to the right side plate 39. The position of the carriage encoder 36 in the height direction is regulated by the left side plate 38.

  Reference numeral 40 denotes a recovery unit that performs discharge recovery processing of the recording head 30. The recovery unit 40 includes a cleaning unit (not shown) that cleans the head surface of the recording head 30 and a cap unit (not shown) that forms a sealed system at the discharge port of the recording head 30. The recovery unit 40 is positioned and fixed to the base chassis 37.

  Reference numeral 41 denotes a transport roller that functions as a sheet transport rotating member (transport means) for transporting a recording medium (for example, a recording sheet). Reference numeral 42 denotes a pinch roller that abuts the recording sheet against the conveyance roller 41 by a spring (not shown), and 43 denotes a pinch roller holder that rotatably supports the pinch roller 42. A scale for detecting the rotational position of the transport roller 41, specifically, a line feed encoder 46 is attached to the end of the transport roller 41. The line feed encoder 46 detects the amount of rotation of the transport roller 41 by the position detector 51 positioned and fixed on the left side plate 38. A discharge roller 32 discharges the recording sheet to the outside of the recording apparatus.

  Reference numeral 44 denotes an automatic feeding apparatus that stacks a plurality of recording sheets and separates and feeds the recording sheets one by one. The recording sheet fed from the automatic feeding device 44 is guided by the pinch roller holder 43 and the sheet guide member 48 and conveyed to the nip between the conveying roller 41 and the pinch roller 42. The sheet guide member 48 is positioned and fixed to the positioning portion of the base chassis 37. The black ink tank 52, the cyan ink tank 53, the magenta ink tank 54, and the yellow ink tank 55 mounted on the recording head 30 function as an ink storage unit. These ink tanks are detachable from the recording head 30.

  FIG. 3 is an example of a perspective view of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the left side.

  As described above, the exterior is attached so as to cover the mechanism portion of the recording apparatus 70. The exterior mainly includes a lower case 64, an upper case 65, an access cover 62, and a front cover 66.

  The front cover 66 is configured so that a paper discharge tray 67 can be stored, and is configured to close the paper discharge port when not in use. The open / closed state of the front cover 66 can be detected by the front cover sensor 6f. An access cover 62 is attached to the upper case 65. The access cover 62 is configured to be rotatable. A part of the upper surface of the upper case 65 has an opening, and the user of the recording apparatus 70 can replace the ink tanks 52, 53, 54, 55 and the recording head 30 in this opening. The upper case 65 is provided with a cover switch 4c for detecting opening / closing of the access cover 62, an LED guide (not shown) for transmitting / displaying LED light, a power switch 4a for turning on / off the power source, and the like. Further, a paper feed tray 61 is rotatably attached to the upper case 65. When the sheet feeding unit is not used, the sheet feeding tray 61 can be accommodated to serve as a cover for the sheet feeding unit. The side cover 63 is attached so as to cover the upper case 65 and the lower case 64 from the left and right.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of error information (error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b) stored in the RAM (volatile memory) 23 and the nonvolatile memory 19 in the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG.

  A buffer 23 a in a RAM (volatile memory) 23 has a plurality of block areas in which sensor information, print head information (hereinafter abbreviated as head information), and paper information are gathered together. The buffer 23a is updated every 500 msec, for example, and the information of the oldest block area is overwritten. In this case, block areas from # 1 to # 48 are provided in the block area, and a maximum of 48 pieces of data can be stored. The buffer pointer 23f points to the address of the block area where information is stored next. That is, the block corresponding to the address immediately before the address indicated by the buffer pointer 23f is the latest information.

  Here, the pre-error occurrence information 23b holds information stored in the buffer 23a when an error occurs. That is, information immediately before the occurrence of the error is stored in the pre-error occurrence information 23b. The error occurrence time information 23c is an area for storing device information when an error occurs, and in addition to sensor information, head information, and paper information, ink information, head temperature information, carriage position information, current time Is stored in detail. The post-error occurrence information 23d stores sensor information (for the recording device 70 at that time), head information, and paper information for each periodic interrupt interval (for example, 500 msec) after the occurrence of an error. In the error occurrence time information 23e, the error time that occurred first is stored in the # 1 area, and the error time that occurred next is stored in # 2. In the error occurrence time information 23e, the time information is sequentially stored every time an error occurs. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that error occurrence time information for up to five times is stored. The non-volatile memory (error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b) 19 stores pre-error occurrence information 23b, error occurrence time information 23c, post-error occurrence information 23d, and error occurrence time information 23e when an error occurs.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration realized by the CPU 1 of the recording apparatus 70 illustrated in FIG. Some or all of these processing functions are realized by a program stored in a ROM or the like being executed by the CPU. Note that these functional configurations may be realized by hardware.

  Here, in the CPU 1, the error occurrence detection unit 81, the importance level determination unit 82, the error information management unit 83, the error information output unit 84, and the error information deletion unit 85 are realized as functional configurations. The

  The error occurrence detection unit 81 detects an error occurrence. The error occurrence detection unit 81 detects the occurrence of an error based on an error notification from the various sensors 6 or the like. The various sensors 6 include, for example, a PE sensor 6a (paper end sensor), an ASF sensor 6b (feed sensor), a PG sensor 6c (purge sensor), a cover sensor, a carriage encoder 6d, a line feed encoder 6e, a front cover sensor 6f, and the like. It is. Further, the error occurrence detection unit 81 detects the occurrence of an error based on the ambient temperature in the recording apparatus measured by the thermistor 3, the temperature output from the recording heads 11 and 12 monitored by the head diode 9, and the like. There is also.

  The importance level determination unit 82 determines the importance level of the error detected by the error occurrence detection unit 81. The importance level determination unit 82 determines the importance level based on an importance level information table registered in advance in the ROM 2 or the like. In the importance information table, information indicating the importance corresponding to the error is defined. For example, the more critical the error, the higher the importance.

  The error information management unit 83 manages error information (error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b). The error information management unit 83 includes a first storage processing unit 83a, a second storage processing unit 83b, a third storage processing unit 83c, a fourth storage processing unit 83d, and a fifth storage processing unit. 83e, a sixth storage processing unit 83f, an editing unit 83g, and a storage availability determination unit 83h. Furthermore, the error information management unit 83 includes an error information output unit 84 and an error information erasure unit 85.

  The first storage processing unit 83a stores information (first information) indicating the state of the recording device 70 in the buffer 23a (first area) in the RAM 23, for example, every 500 msec. The editing unit 83g rearranges and edits information indicating the state of the recording device 70 stored in the buffer 23a in time series when an error occurs. The second storage processing unit 83b stores information (second information) indicating the state before the error occurrence of the recording device 70 edited by the editing unit 83g in the predetermined area (second area) in the RAM 23 before the error occurrence. Stored as information 23b. The third storage processing unit 83c stores information (third information) indicating the state of the apparatus at the time of error occurrence in a predetermined area (third area) in the RAM 23 as error occurrence time information 23c. The fourth storage processing unit 83d sends information (fourth information) indicating the state of the recording device 70 after the occurrence of the error to the predetermined area (fourth area) in the RAM 23 along with the occurrence of the error. 23d is stored. The fifth storage processing unit 83e stores time information (fifth information) indicating a time when an error occurs in a predetermined area (fifth area) in the RAM 23 as the error occurrence time information 23e. The storage possibility determination unit 83h determines whether error information has already been stored in the nonvolatile memory 19. The sixth storage processing unit 83f stores the pre-error occurrence information 23b, the error occurrence time information 23c, the post-error occurrence information 23d, and the error occurrence time information 23e stored in the above-described RAM 23 when an error occurs. To store. Although details will be described later, management of error information by the error information management unit 83 is performed based on the determination results of the importance level determination unit 82 and the storage availability determination unit 83h.

  The error information output unit 84 outputs error information (error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b) stored in the nonvolatile memory 19. Specifically, error information is transferred from the non-volatile memory 19 to the outside of the apparatus by an instruction from an operation unit (not shown) by a customer engineer or the like. In addition, you may make it display on the display part (LCD5) provided in the apparatus, and the output form of error information is not ask | required especially.

  The error information erasure unit 85 erases error information (error information 19a, error occurrence time information 19b) stored in the nonvolatile memory 19. Specifically, the error information is erased from the nonvolatile memory 19 by an instruction from an operation unit (not shown) by a customer engineer or the like.

  The above is an example of a functional configuration realized by the CPU 1. Note that the functions performed by the error information output unit 84 and the error information erasing unit 85 described above are not necessarily realized in the recording apparatus 70, and may be omitted.

  Next, an example of the operation of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, an example of processing when the recording apparatus 70 is powered on will be described with reference to FIG.

  This process starts when the user presses the power switch 4a provided in the recording device 70 (S6-1). When the power is turned on, the recording device 70 clears the buffer 23a, the pre-error occurrence information 23b, the error occurrence time information 23c, the post-error occurrence information 23d, and the error occurrence time information 23e on the RAM 23 (S6-2). Also, the buffer pointer 23f on the RAM 23 is cleared (S6-3).

  Subsequently, in the recording device 70, a periodic interrupt starts (S6-4), and a mechanical is performed. The mechanical unit of the recording apparatus 70 is initialized by this mechanical, and the recording apparatus 70 is ready for recording (S6-5).

  After the initialization, the recording device 70 checks whether there is recording data. When there is no recording data (NO in S6-6), the recording device 70 enters a standby state. If there is recorded data (YES in S6-6), recording (printing) is executed (S6-7).

  Thereafter, the recording apparatus 70 checks in the error occurrence detection unit 81 whether the outputs from the various sensors 6 mounted on the apparatus during standby are correct and whether an error has occurred. If no error is detected (NO in S6-8), the process returns to S6-6 again to check for the presence of recording data. On the other hand, when the occurrence of an error is detected (YES in S6-8), the recording apparatus 70 ends the process (S6-9) after performing the error occurrence process (S6-9), which will be described in detail later. -10). If an error occurs during printing in S6-7, the recording apparatus 70 immediately stops the operation and proceeds to the process in S6-8.

  Next, an example of processing that is performed at the time of periodic interruption in the recording apparatus 70 illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that a periodic interrupt occurs every 500 msec, for example.

  This process starts when a periodic interrupt occurs (S7-1). When this processing starts, the recording apparatus 70 causes the first storage processing unit 83a to store sensor information, head information, and paper information in the buffer 23a in the RAM 23 (S7-2). Further, the recording device 70 updates the buffer pointer 23f in the first storage processing unit 83a, and instructs the area for storing information next (S7-3).

  Thereafter, the recording device 70 confirms in the first storage processing unit 83a whether the buffer pointer 23f points to an address in the buffer 23a (S7-4). That is, it is confirmed whether or not data is stored in all block areas (up to 48 in this embodiment) in the buffer 26a.

Here, if the buffer pointer 23f is within 48 (NO in S7-4), the buffer 23a is empty, so this process is terminated as it is (S7-6).
On the other hand, if the buffer pointer 23f exceeds 48 (YES in S7-4), there is no space in the buffer 23a, so the recording device 70 sets the buffer pointer 23f in the first storage processing unit 83a. Clear (S7-5). Then, the head block area of the buffer 23a is designated. Thereafter, this process is terminated (S7-6).

  Next, an example of the error generation process in S6-9 shown in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

  This process starts when an error occurs (S8-1). When this process is started, the recording device 70 checks in the importance level determination unit 82 whether or not the error that has occurred has a higher importance level, specifically, whether the importance level is higher than a predetermined standard (S8-2). ). As described above, this process is performed based on the importance level information table.

  Here, if the error is less important than the predetermined standard (NO in S8-2), this process is terminated (S8-12). On the other hand, if the error is higher in importance than the predetermined standard (YES in S8-2), the recording device 70 causes the third storage processing unit 83c to indicate the system status at the time of the error in a predetermined area in the RAM 23. Is stored as error occurrence time information 23c (S8-3). As described above, the system state includes information such as sensor information, head information, paper information, ink information, head temperature information, carriage position information, and current time information.

  Also, the recording device 70 rearranges the sensor information, head information, and paper information stored in the buffer 23a for each periodic interruption in the editing unit 83g in time series. Then, in the second storage processing unit 83b, the information is stored in a predetermined area in the RAM 23 as pre-error occurrence information 23b (S8-4). As described above, the block below the block indicated by the buffer pointer 23f is old information, and the block above the block indicated by the buffer pointer 23f is new information.

  Thereafter, in the fourth storage processing unit 83d, the recording device 70 stores post-error information in a predetermined area in the RAM 23 (S8-5) and details the error information of the nonvolatile memory, as will be described in detail later. 19a and 19b are read (S8-6). When this reading is completed, the recording device 70 checks in the storage possibility determination unit 83h whether this area is not 0, that is, whether the error information has already been stored (S8-7). If not stored (NO in S8-7), the recording device 70 uses the sixth storage processing unit 83f to store the pre-error occurrence information 23b, the error occurrence time information 23c, and the post-error occurrence information 23d stored in the RAM 23. Store in the nonvolatile memory 19 (S8-11). Thereafter, the recording device 70 proceeds to the process of S8-9. On the other hand, if the error information has already been stored (YES in S8-7), the recording apparatus 70 is full of all the error time information 23e in the fifth storage processing unit 83e (in this embodiment, it is full for five times). Find out if it is.

  As a result, if the error occurrence time information is full (YES in S8-8), this process is terminated (S8-12). When the error occurrence time information is not full (NO in S8-8), the recording apparatus 70 searches the area where the area occurrence time information 23e in the RAM 23 is stored in the fifth storage processing unit 83e, and is free. The current time information is stored in the area (S8-9). In this process, for example, the empty area of the error occurrence time information 23e is searched in order from # 1, and the current time information is stored in the empty area. Thereafter, the recording device 70 stores the error occurrence time information 23e in the nonvolatile memory 19b in the sixth storage processing unit 83f (S8-10), and then ends this processing (S8-12).

  Next, an example of post-error occurrence information storage processing in S8-5 shown in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When this process is started (S9-1), the recording apparatus 70 uses the fourth storage processing unit 83d to store sensor information, head information, and paper information as information 23e after error occurrence in a predetermined area in the RAM 23 (for example, , # 1) (S9-2). And it waits for the interval (for example, 500 msec) of the period interruption (S9-3). After the wait, the recording apparatus 70 checks in the fourth storage processing unit 83d whether all the information after the error has been stored (for example, whether # 2 to # 5 are free) (S9-4). Note that whether or not the data has been stored may be determined based on whether or not the corresponding area is 0, for example.

  If all the post-error occurrence information 23e has been stored (YES in S9-4), this process is terminated (S9-8). If all are not stored (NO in S9-4), the recording device 70 searches the fourth storage processing unit 83d for empty areas of the post-error occurrence information 23e, for example, sequentially from # 2 (S9- 5). Then, the recording device 70 stores the sensor information, the head information, and the paper information in the searched empty area in the fourth storage processing unit 83d (S9-6), and the period interrupt interval (for example, 500 msec). Wait (S9-7). When the wait is over, the process returns to S9-4 again, and the above-described process is repeated until all of the post-error information 23e from # 2 to # 5 have been stored.

  The above is an example of a typical embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention. .

  For example, the information stored in the buffer 23a for each periodic interrupt, the pre-error occurrence information 23b, the error occurrence time information 23c, the post-error occurrence information 23d, and the error occurrence time information 23e are not necessarily configured as described above. There is no need. For example, the error occurrence time information 23c has been described with respect to the case where the information includes sensor information, head information, paper information, ink information, head temperature information, carriage position information, and the current time. Any information may be included. Moreover, you may be comprised including information other than this. The configuration of such information can be appropriately changed according to the usage environment of the apparatus.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an example of the perspective view which removed the exterior of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1, and looked at the mechanism part from the left side. It is an example of the perspective view which looked at the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 from the left side. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of error information stored in a RAM (volatile memory) 23 and a nonvolatile memory 19 in the recording device 70 illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows an example of a functional structure implement | achieved by CPU1 of the recording device 70 shown in FIG. 3 is a first flowchart showing an example of the operation of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1. 6 is a second flowchart showing an example of the operation of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1. 6 is a third flowchart showing an example of the operation of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 6 is a fourth flowchart showing an example of the operation of the recording apparatus 70 shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 CPU
2 ROM
8 ASIC
19 Nonvolatile memory 19a Error information 19b Error occurrence time information 23 RAM
23a buffer 23b information before error occurrence 23c information at error occurrence 23d information after error occurrence 23e error occurrence time information 70 recording device 81 error occurrence detection unit 82 importance determination unit 83 error information management unit 83a first storage processing unit 83b second Storage processing unit 83c third storage processing unit 83d fourth storage processing unit 83e fifth storage processing unit 83f sixth storage processing unit 83g editing unit 83h storage availability determination unit

Claims (8)

A recording device comprising a volatile memory for storing error information of its own device and a nonvolatile memory,
Importance determination means for determining the importance of the error every time an error occurs in the device,
When the importance determined by the importance determination means is higher than a predetermined standard, information on the state of the own device before the occurrence of the error, information on the state of the own device when the error occurs, and the state of the own device after the occurrence of the error First storage processing means for storing in the volatile memory state information including information on the above and time information at the time of error occurrence;
A storage availability determination unit that determines whether or not the state information is stored in the nonvolatile memory when the importance determined by the importance determination unit is higher than a predetermined reference;
If the status information in the nonvolatile memory is determined not to be stored by the storage determination unit, a second storage processing of storing the state information stored in the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory Means,
When it is determined that the state information is stored in the non-volatile memory by the storage possibility determination unit , the time information at the time of the error occurrence is stored in the state information stored in the volatile memory. Free space determination means for determining whether or not there is a free space for storing in the non-volatile memory,
The second storage processing means, when the free area determination means determines that the non-volatile memory has the free area, the error information in the state information stored in the volatile memory The time information is stored in the empty area of the nonvolatile memory. Information on the state of the device at the time of the error occurrence is
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of sensor information, paper information, recording material information, recording head information, recording head temperature information, and carriage information in the apparatus at the time of the error occurrence. Recording device. The first storage processing means includes:
The at least one of sensor information, paper information, and recording head information in the own apparatus periodically acquired before an error occurs is rearranged in time series and stored in the volatile memory. The recording apparatus according to 1. Information on the status of the device after the error occurs is
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, comprising at least one of sensor information, paper information, and recording material information in the self apparatus after the state of the self apparatus at the time of the error occurrence. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nonvolatile memory includes an area for storing information on occurrence times of errors for a plurality of times.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising output means for outputting the state information stored in the nonvolatile memory.   2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an erasing unit for erasing the state information stored in the nonvolatile memory. A control method of a recording device comprising a volatile memory and non-volatile memory for storing error information of the device itself,
Each time an error occurs in the device itself, an importance determination step for determining the importance of the error,
When the importance determined in the importance determination step is higher than a predetermined standard, information on the state of the own device before the occurrence of an error, information on the state of the own device when the error occurs, and the state of the own device after the occurrence of the error A first storage processing step of storing state information including information on the above and information on the time of occurrence of an error in the volatile memory;
A storage availability determination step of determining whether or not the state information is stored in the nonvolatile memory when the importance determined by the importance determination step is higher than a predetermined reference;
If the status information in the nonvolatile memory is determined not to be stored by the storage determination step, a second storage processing of storing the state information stored in the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory Process,
When it is determined that the state information is stored in the non-volatile memory by the storage possibility determination step , the time information at the time of the error occurrence is stored in the state information stored in the volatile memory. A free space determination step for determining whether there is a free space for storage in the non-volatile memory; and
When it is determined by the free space determination step that the free space is present in the nonvolatile memory, the time information at the time of the error occurrence in the status information stored in the volatile memory is stored in the nonvolatile memory. And a third storage processing step of storing in the empty area of the recording apparatus.

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