JP5808136B2 - Image forming apparatus, control method thereof, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method thereof, and a program.

  When the power switch of the image forming apparatus is turned on by the user, the power is supplied to the image forming apparatus by the power switch until the control software is normally started. Thereafter, when the control software starts normally, power is supplied by the control inside the apparatus by controlling the relay and FET to be turned on by the control software. Thus, even if the power switch is turned off by the user, the shutdown process can be normally performed to turn off the power. However, if the power switch is controlled to be turned off by the user before the control software starts up normally, the power is turned off immediately, and if the HDD is being accessed at that time, the data inside the HDD May be destroyed.

  Further, if the switch for supplying power inside the apparatus is controlled to be immediately turned on at the time of start-up, when the control software hangs up, the state is maintained as it is. In this case, it is conceivable that the timer is operated with the power switch being turned off by the user as a trigger, and the switch for supplying power inside the device is controlled to be turned off, and the period until the timer expires is considered. There is a problem in that the period until the power is turned off becomes longer because of waiting.

  In Patent Document 1, as a countermeasure against a hang-up of control software, two switches, a switch that can be operated by the user and a switch that can be controlled from the control device and cannot be accessed by the user, are provided. An image forming apparatus having the same has been proposed. Specifically, when the control software hangs up, it is controlled to operate the timer triggered by a user-accessible switch being turned off by the user, and to turn off when the timer expires. Yes.

JP 2009-58803 A

  However, the prior art has the following problems. In the above prior art, when the control software hangs up when the power is turned on, the image forming apparatus can be restored only by turning the power switch off / on. Furthermore, when the control software hangs up, the time from when the user controls the power switch to OFF until the power is turned off is time-consuming because the timer is used. If the relay circuit for supplying power and the FET are not controlled to be turned on until the control software is normally activated, the power switch is turned on and the power switch is turned off by the user during the activation. If you do, the power will turn off immediately. In this case, there is a possibility of destroying data inside the HDD when the HDD is being accessed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and monitors whether or not the control software starts normally at the time of start-up, and without destroying data in the HDD when the control software hangs up. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that suitably controls power supply, a control method therefor, and a program.

The present invention includes a first power supply unit, a first switch that is operated by a user and that supplies power to the first power supply unit , is controlled inside the apparatus without being operated by the user, and An image forming apparatus comprising a second switch for supplying power to the first power supply unit , the power control means and whether or not the control software is normally activated when the image forming apparatus is activated. Determining means for determining, and restarting means for restarting the control software when the determining means determines that the control software does not start normally, wherein the power control means is provided by the user. If the switch power is supplied to the power control means from said first power supply unit by being controlled to be on, control to turn on the second switch by hardware control , If the control software is determined by the determining means not to start normally, control turns off the second switch by hardware control, the restart means, said second switch by hardware control OFF The control software is restarted after the control, and the power control means is further controlled by software control when the determination means determines that the control software has started normally by restart . When the determination unit determines that the control software does not start normally even when the switch is turned on and restarted, the start-up process of the image forming apparatus is terminated .

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that monitors whether or not the control software starts normally at the time of startup, and suitably controls power supply without destroying data in the HDD when the control software hangs up. A control method and a program can be provided.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming system and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the control apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the power supply control structure which concerns on this embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a transition figure of a switch state concerning this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention.

<Configuration of image forming apparatus>
First, an image forming system and an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The image forming system includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses 100 and 101 and a host computer 10. Each device is connected to be communicable with each other via the LAN 500. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a control device (controller unit) 110, an operation unit 150, a reader unit 200, a printer unit 300, and a power source 400. The image forming apparatus 100 provides various basic image processing functions such as a printer, image input, document filing, document transmission / reception, and image conversion.

  The reader unit 200 optically reads a document image, converts it into image data, and outputs it. The reader unit 200 includes a scanner unit 210 having a function for reading a document, and a document feeding unit 250 having a function for transporting a document sheet. The printer unit 300 conveys the recording paper, prints the image data as a visible image thereon, and discharges the recording paper out of the apparatus. The printer unit 300 includes a paper feed unit 360 having a plurality of types of recording paper cassettes, a marking unit 310 having a function of transferring and fixing image data to the recording paper, and sorting and stapling the printed recording papers. And a paper discharge unit 370 having a function of outputting to.

  The control device 110 is electrically connected to the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300 and further connected to the LAN 500. The control device 110 controls the reader unit 200 to read image data of a document, and controls the printer unit 300 to output the image data to a recording sheet to provide a copy function. In addition, a scanner function is provided in which image data read from the reader unit 200 is converted into code data and transmitted to the host computer 10 via the LAN 500. Further, a printer function is provided in which code data received from the host computer via the LAN 500 is converted into image data and output to the printer unit 300.

  The operation unit 150 is connected to the control device 110, is configured with a liquid crystal touch panel, and provides a user I / F for operating the image forming apparatus 100. The power source 400 converts an AC power source (AC power source) into a DC power source (DC power source) and supplies power to the control device 110 / reader unit 200 / printer unit 300. Power supply control for each device is controlled by a control signal from the control device 110.

  Next, a detailed operation in the reader unit 200 will be described. The reader unit 200 has a plurality of CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices). If the sensitivity of each CCD is different, even if each pixel on the document has the same density, each read pixel is recognized as having a different density. Therefore, in order to perform the correction, the reader unit 200 first performs exposure scanning on a white plate (uniformly white plate), converts the amount of reflected light obtained by the exposure scanning into an electric signal, and outputs it to the control device 110. doing. The reader unit 200 converts the image information into an electrical signal by inputting reflected light obtained by exposing and scanning the image on the document to the CCD. Furthermore, the electrical signal is converted into a luminance signal composed of R, G, and B colors, and the luminance signal is output to the control device 110 as image data.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the document is set on the tray of the document feed unit 250. When the user gives an instruction to start reading from the operation unit 150, a document reading instruction is given from the control device 110 to the reader unit 200. Upon receiving a document reading instruction, the reader unit 200 feeds the documents one by one from the tray of the document feeding unit 250 and performs a document reading operation. Note that the document reading method is not the automatic feeding method by the document feeding unit 250 but may be a method of scanning the document by setting the document on a glass surface (not shown) and moving the exposure unit.

  Next, a detailed operation in the printer unit 300 will be described. The printer unit 300 is an image forming device that forms image data received from the control device 110 on a sheet. In this embodiment, the image forming method is an electrophotographic method using a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can also be applied to an ink jet system that prints on paper by ejecting ink from a minute nozzle array. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the printer unit 300 is provided with a plurality of paper feed units 360 that can select different paper sizes or different paper orientations. The paper after printing is discharged to the paper discharge unit 370.

<Control device>
Next, a hardware configuration of the control device 110 in the image forming apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The control device 110 includes a main controller 111, ROM 114, DRAM 116, Codec 118, SRAM 119, external communication I / F 121, connector 122, expansion connector 124, I / O control unit 126, LCD controller 131, panel I / F 132, and real-time clock module 133. , Backup battery 134, graphic processor 135, SRAM 136, scanner I / F 140, connector 142, printer I / F 145, connector 147, USB I / F 151, LAN I / F 152, HD drive 160, SATA connector 161, HD 162, power controller 170, And a connector 17.

  The main controller 111 mainly includes a CPU 112, a bus controller 113, and various I / F controller circuits. The CPU 112 and the bus controller 113 comprehensively control the operation of the entire control device 110. The CPU 112 operates based on a program read from the ROM 114 via the ROM I / F 115. The operation of interpreting PDL (page description language) code data received from the host computer and developing it into raster image data is also described in this program and processed by software. The bus controller 113 controls data transfer input / output from each I / F, and controls arbitration at the time of bus contention and DMA data transfer.

  The DRAM 116 is connected to the main controller 111 by a DRAM I / F 117, and is used as a work area for operating the CPU 112 and an area for storing image data. The Codec 118 compresses the raster image data stored in the DRAM 116 by a method such as MH / MR / MMR / JBIG / JPEG, and conversely decompresses the code data compressed and stored into raster image data. The SRAM 119 is used as a temporary work area of the Codec 118. The Codec 118 is connected to the main controller 111 via the I / F 120, and data transfer to and from the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113 and DMA-transferred.

  The graphic processor 135 performs processing such as image rotation, scaling, and color space conversion. The external communication I / F 121 is connected to the main controller 111 by the I / F 123 and is connected to the external network by the connector 122. An expansion connector 124 for connecting an expansion board and an I / O control unit 126 are connected to the general-purpose high-speed bus 125. As a general-purpose high-speed bus, a PCI Express bus and a PCI bus are generally used.

  The I / O control unit 126 is equipped with two channels of an asynchronous serial communication controller 127 for transmitting and receiving control commands to and from the CPUs of the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300. The F circuits 140 and 145 are connected. The panel I / F 132 is connected to the LCD controller 131 and includes an I / F for displaying on the liquid crystal screen on the operation unit 150 and a key input I / F 130 for inputting hard keys and touch panel keys. Is done.

  The operation unit 150 includes a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached on the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hard keys. A signal input by the touch panel or the hard key is transmitted to the CPU 112 via the panel I / F 132, and the liquid crystal display unit displays image data sent from the panel I / F 132. The liquid crystal display unit displays function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming apparatus.

  The real-time clock module 133 is for updating / saving the date and time managed in the device, and is backed up by a backup battery 134. The SATA interface 161 is for connecting an external storage device. In the present embodiment, the hard disk drive 160 is connected via the I / F, and the image data is stored in the hard disk 162 or the image data is read from the hard disk 162.

  The connectors 142 and 147 are connected to the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300, respectively, and are composed of synchronized chronochronous serial I / Fs 143 and 148 and video I / Fs 144 and 149. The scanner I / F 140 is connected to the reader unit 200 via the connector 142 and further connected to the main controller 111 via the scanner bus 141. The scanner I / F 140 has a function of performing a predetermined process on the image received from the reader unit 200, and further generates a control signal generated based on the video control signal sent from the reader unit 200. It also has a function of outputting to the bus 141. Data transfer from the scanner bus 141 to the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113.

  The printer I / F 145 is connected to the printer unit 300 via the connector 147 and further connected to the main controller 111 via the printer bus 146. Further, the printer I / F 145 performs a predetermined process on the image data output from the main controller 111 and outputs it to the printer unit 300, and a control signal generated based on the video control signal from the printer unit 300. A function of outputting to the bus 146. Transfer of raster image data developed on the DRAM 116 to the printer unit 300 is controlled by the bus controller 113 and DMA-transferred to the printer unit 300 via the printer bus 146 and the video I / F 149. The LAN I / F 152 is connected to the plurality of host computers 10 via the LAN 500 and receives a print instruction from the host computer 10.

  The power control unit 170 is connected to the power source 400 via the connector 171. Further, the control signal 172 is connected to the main controller 111, receives a command from the main controller 111 via the control signal 172, and controls whether to supply power to each device from the power source 400 by the command. .

<Hardware configuration for power control>
Next, a hardware configuration related to power control of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The image forming apparatus 100 includes a first power supply unit 400, a second power supply unit 401, and switches 402, 403, and 404 as a hardware configuration related to power control. In addition, the control device 110 includes a power supply control unit 170 and a second power supply monitoring unit 409.

  A switch (first switch) 402 is a switch for the user to turn on / off the power of the image forming apparatus 100. When the switch 402 is turned on by the user, AC power is input to the first power supply unit 400. The first power supply unit 400 converts AC power into DC power and supplies the first power 405 to the control device 110. The first power supply 405 supplied from the first power supply unit 400 is a power supply that supplies power to the control device 110 even when the image forming apparatus 100 is in the sleep mode. The first power supply 405 is mainly supplied to the power supply control unit 170 and an incoming call detection circuit (not shown) for detecting an incoming call from the LAN 500 or FAX, which causes a return from the sleep mode in the sleep mode.

  The second power supply unit 401 converts AC power into DC power, and supplies the control device 110 with a second power 406 for supplying power to a load different from the first power 405. The second power supply 406 supplied from the second power supply unit 401 is a power supply that stops supplying power to the control device 110 when the image forming apparatus 100 is in the sleep mode. The second power supply unit is provided to reduce power consumption in the sleep mode and to supply power to various devices that do not require power supply in the sleep mode in the normal mode.

  The second power supply monitoring unit 409 monitors whether the second power supply 406 is supplied at a normal voltage and issues a reset signal 413 to various devices including the power supply control unit 170. When the reset signal 412 is input from the power supply control unit 170 and the reset signal 412 is asserted by the power supply control unit 170, the second power supply monitoring unit 409 asserts the reset signal 413 and includes the power supply control unit 170. Issues a reset to various devices. The power supply controller 170 determines whether the second power supply 406 is normally supplied by looking at the input of the reset signal 413.

  The switch (second switch) 403 is a switch controlled by the power supply control unit 170 (inside the apparatus), and the switch is turned on / off by a control signal 407 output from the power supply control unit 170. In the normal mode or the sleep mode, the switch 403 is turned on by the control signal 407, and the first power source 405 is supplied to the control device 110. The switch 403 can be realized by a relay switch, an FET, or the like.

  The switch (third switch) 404 is a switch controlled by the power supply control unit 170 (inside the apparatus), and the switch is turned on / off by the control signal 408. In the sleep mode, the power control unit 170 controls the control signal 408 to turn off the switch 404 and stop the AC power input to the second power supply unit 401, thereby causing the second power source 406 to the control device 110. The supply of is stopped. The switch 404 can be realized by a relay switch, an FET, or the like.

<Power control>
Next, power control of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, an example of the procedure of the control device when the software on the control device 110 hangs up when the power is turned on will be described. The processing described below is realized by the CPU 112 reading and executing a control program from the ROM 114 or the like.

  S501 indicates that the switch 402 is turned on by the user. When the switch 402 is controlled to be turned on, power is supplied to the control device 110. In step S502, the power control unit 170 of the control device 110 determines whether or not the first power source 405 is normally supplied. If the power is normally turned on, the process proceeds to S503. If the power is not turned on normally, the determination in S502 is repeated periodically.

  In step S <b> 503, when the first power supply 405 is normally supplied, the power supply control unit 170 controls the switch 403 and the switch 404 to be turned on by controlling the control signal 407 and the control signal 408 to be turned on. The on control of the switches 403 and 404 in S503 is performed by hardware control. Thus, by controlling the switch 403 to be turned on, even if the user operates the switch 402 to be turned off during the startup process, the power supply to the control device 110 is prevented from being interrupted instantaneously. Can do. That is, according to the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the power supply to the control device 110 can be maintained even if the switch 402 is turned off by the user during the startup process. Further, the second power source 406 can be supplied to the control device 110. The first power is supplied even in an energy saving state such as a sleep mode, and is mainly supplied to a circuit such as a power management circuit or an RTC. On the other hand, the second power supply is supplied to other CPUs and IO chips (loads). The on-control of the switches 403 and 404 in S503 is controlled by the power control unit 170. In step S503, when power is supplied to the image forming apparatus 100 by the switches 403 and 404, first, control software is activated.

  In step S504, the power supply control unit 170 determines whether the control software has started normally. If the control software is normally activated, the process proceeds to S511. If the control software is not normally activated, the process proceeds to S505. Whether or not it has been started normally is determined, for example, by whether or not a watchdog timer interrupt mounted in the power supply control unit 170 has been cleared. FIG. 6A shows the state transition of the switch 403 when the control software is normally activated in S504. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the control software is normally started, the switches 402 and 403 are turned on.

  On the other hand, if the control software does not start normally, in S505, the power supply control unit 170 controls the control signal 408 to be turned off and the switch 404 to be turned off in order to stop the supply of the second power supply 406. Control. The off control of the switch 404 in S505 is performed by hardware control. Thereby, the second power supply supplied to the CPU and the IO chip is stopped. The device is initialized by temporarily turning off the power to the CPU and IO chip.

  Subsequently, in S506, the power supply control unit 170 controls the control signal 407 to be off and controls the switch 403 to be off. The off control of the switch 403 in S506 is performed by hardware control. Thus, by controlling the switch 403 connected to supply power in the image forming apparatus 100 to be turned off, the user can turn off the switch 402 even when the control software hangs up again. Will turn off the power immediately. Further, in S507, the power supply control unit 170 controls the control signal 408 to be turned on and the switch 404 to be turned on in order to supply the second power supply 406. The on control of the switch 404 in S507 is performed by hardware control. As a result, the second power is supplied to the CPU and the IO chip, and the control software is restarted.

  In step S508, the power control unit 170 determines whether the second power source 406 is normally supplied. If the second power supply 460 is normally supplied, the process proceeds to S509, and if not supplied, the determination in S508 is periodically repeated. In step S509, the power supply control unit 170 determines whether the control software has started normally. If the control software has been activated normally, the process proceeds to S512. If the control software has not been activated normally, the process proceeds to S510, where it is determined that the hang-up has occurred, and the activation process ends. Whether or not it has started normally is determined by whether or not a watchdog timer interrupt mounted in the power supply control unit 170 has been cleared, for example. The state transition of the switch 403 when it does not start normally after the restart is as shown in FIG. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the control software does not start normally after the restart, the switch 402 is turned on and the switch 403 is turned off.

  In S512, when the control software is normally activated, the power supply control unit 170 controls the switch 403 to be turned on by controlling the control signal 407 to be turned on. The ON control of the switch 403 in S512 is performed by software control. This state is shown in FIG. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6C, both the switches 402 and 403 are turned on. Accordingly, even when the user controls the switch 402 to be turned off, the power supply to the control device 110 is not cut off. The software control indicates control by the activated control software, and the hardware control indicates control by a chip other than the control software.

  From the above, when the control software hangs up, it is possible to start the system by restarting it once. At that time, since the relay switch for supplying power in the image forming apparatus 100 is controlled to be turned off and restarted, even if a software hang-up occurs again, the user can immediately supply power by turning off the power switch. It becomes possible to stop. Further, even when the power is turned off by the user turning off the power switch when the power is turned on, it is possible to prevent damage to the system such as destruction of data in the HDD.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (7)

A first power supply unit, a first switch operated by a user and for supplying power to the first power supply unit , controlled inside the apparatus without being operated by the user, and the first power supply An image forming apparatus comprising a second switch for supplying power to a supply unit ,
Power control means;
Determination means for determining whether or not the control software has been normally activated when the image forming apparatus is activated;
Restarting means for restarting the control software when the determining means determines that the control software does not start normally,
The power control means includes
When power is supplied from the first power supply unit to the power control means because the first switch is turned on by the user, the second switch is turned on by hardware control, and the control When the determination unit determines that the software does not start normally, the second switch is controlled to be turned off by hardware control ;
The restarting means restarts the control software after the second switch is controlled to be turned off by hardware control,
The power control means further includes
If the control means determines that the control software has been normally started by restarting, the control software is not normally started even if the second switch is controlled to be turned on by software control and restarted. An image forming apparatus characterized in that, when determined by the determining means, the starting process of the image forming apparatus is terminated . A second power supply unit;
A third switch that is controlled inside the apparatus without being operated by a user and that supplies power to the second power supply unit ,
The power control means includes
When power is supplied to the power control unit from the first power supply unit by Yu chromatography The by said first switch is controlled to be on, turning on the third switch in addition to the second switch Control
If the control software is determined by the determining means not to start properly, before Symbol by controlling on again after controlling turning off the third switch, and wherein the restarting of the control software The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the restarting unit controls the third switch by hardware control. The first power supply unit is a power supply unit that supplies power to the image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus is in a sleep mode.
  The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second power supply unit is a power supply unit that does not supply power to the image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus is in a sleep mode. .   5. The determination unit according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the control software has been normally started by using a watchdog timer that is cleared when the control software is normally started. The image forming apparatus described in the item. A first power supply unit, a first switch operated by a user and for supplying power to the first power supply unit, controlled inside the apparatus without being operated by the user, and the first power supply A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a second switch for supplying power to a supply unit; and a power control unit.
  First control for controlling the second switch to be turned on by hardware control when power is supplied from the first power supply unit to the power control unit by the user controlling the first switch to be turned on. Steps,
  A first determination step of determining whether or not the control software has normally started after controlling the second switch to be on;
  A restarting step of restarting the control software after controlling the second switch to be turned off by hardware control when it is determined in the first determination step that the control software does not start normally;
  A second determination step of determining whether or not the control software has been normally started by restart;
  When it is determined in the second determination step that the control software has started normally by restart, the second switch is turned on by software control, and the control software does not start normally by restart A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a second control step for ending the start-up process of the image forming apparatus when determined in the second determining step. The program for making a computer perform each step in the control method of the image forming apparatus of Claim 6 .

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