JPH0644791B2 - Remote fault diagnosis and fault repair method for communication terminals - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote fault diagnosis / fault repair method for a communication terminal device such as a facsimile device.

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic devices in recent years have a large number of electronic components mounted thereon and have a complicated circuit configuration. Therefore, electronic devices often have a self-diagnosis function in order to analyze the cause of a failure and repair the failure early.

In addition to the above self-diagnosis function, communication terminal devices such as facsimile machines can use their own communication functions to perform remote fault diagnosis / faults that can be used for fault diagnosis and fault repair from remote diagnostic centers and other communication terminal devices. Has a repair function.

As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional facsimile apparatus is provided with, for example, a scanning unit / recording unit 1, a communication data processing unit 2, a modulation / demodulation circuit 3, a network control circuit 4, and a circuit 5 for performing failure diagnosis and repair. .

The operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 6. The failure diagnosis / repair circuit 5 is operated by the diagnosis request notification from the diagnosis center (or another facsimile device or the like) to cause the failure of the other circuits 1 to 4. The analysis is performed and the failure diagnosis result is notified to a diagnosis center or the like, or the operator of the facsimile device is notified. If the failure can be repaired, the diagnostic center or the like notifies the facsimile device of the failure repair information or the failure repair processing request. It should be noted that in FIG. 5, the broken line in the drawing shows the control line when the failure diagnosis / repair is performed, and the solid line in the drawing shows the control line when the control unit 6 performs normal communication control.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, according to such a configuration, the facsimile apparatus must be provided with a failure diagnosis / failure repair function in advance,
Therefore, there is a problem in that the facsimile apparatus becomes expensive if it has multiple functions.

The above problems can be solved to some extent if the diagnosis / repair function is realized by a program, but in this case also, there is a problem that a large amount of memory dedicated to the program is required. Further, since the programming is performed in advance, it is difficult to expand the function later, and there is a problem that it is impossible to deal with an unexpected kind of failure.

By the way, with respect to the failure of the facsimile apparatus, in many cases, if the failure mode can be grasped, it can be dealt with by simply changing the operation parameter in the facsimile apparatus. Therefore, it has been desired that a service person can perform a simple repair work by remote operation without bothering to go to the place where the facsimile device is installed.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example, the present invention provides a remote failure diagnosis of a communication terminal device capable of realizing a fine failure diagnosis / fault repair without providing a large-scale diagnosis / repair function to a facsimile device in advance. An object is to provide a failure repair method.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, when a center transfers a memory read request signal added with address information to a communication terminal device, the communication terminal device reads from the memory based on the address information transferred from the center. When the operation parameter information is read and transferred to the center, and the center confirms the transferred operation parameter information and then transfers the memory write request signal with the address information added and the operation parameter information to the communication terminal device, The communication terminal device is characterized in that the operation parameter information transferred from the center is stored in the memory based on the address information transferred from the center.

Operation According to the present invention, the center reads the operation parameter information in the memory of the communication terminal device by communication, confirms the setting contents of the operation parameter information, and then remotely changes the operation parameter information in the memory. Fault diagnosis and fault repair can be performed reliably and easily.

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a scanning unit / recording unit for reading an original image and recording the transmitted original image, 2 is a communication data processing unit for processing a transmission image signal and a reception image signal, 3
Is a modulation / demodulation circuit that modulates a transmission image signal or demodulates a reception image signal, 4 is a network control circuit that controls a network with a diagnostic center to which the present facsimile machine is connected and other facsimile machines, and 5 is an operation of the facsimile machine. A memory for writing parameters and a diagnostic / restoration program, 6 is a function of reading data from the memory 5, writing data to the memory 5 and executing a program of the memory 5, and 7 is the facsimile machine. It is a control circuit that performs overall control.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram when the diagnostic center grasps the state of the facsimile apparatus. First, a request for reading the contents of the memory is added from the diagnostic center to the facsimile machine with address information added. In the facsimile machine, the request is read, written, and transmitted to the program execution function 6 via the network control circuit 4 and the control circuit 7 to read the contents of the memory 5. The read data is transferred to the diagnostic center via the network control circuit 4. In this case, when the diagnostic center designates an appropriate address and issues a read request, the data in the memory 5 is transferred, and the state of the facsimile apparatus at that time can be grasped.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the case where the diagnostic center changes the operating parameters of the facsimile machine. Here, the operating parameters refer to the set amount of the equalizer, the operation of the modulation / demodulation circuit, the transfer speed, the attenuation amount of the attenuator, etc., and are stored in the memory 5.

First, a memory write request is added from the diagnostic center to a facsimile machine with address information added, and then operation parameter information is transferred. In this case, assuming that the added address is the operation parameter storage address of the memory 5, the operation parameter of the memory 5 is changed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, after confirming the setting contents of the operation parameter in the memory 5 on the diagnostic center side by the state grasping operation of FIG. 2, the operation parameter is changed by the operation parameter changing operation of FIG. It is possible to realize fault diagnosis and fault repair of the facsimile device.

Next, we will describe diagnosis and repair for failures that cannot be dealt with only by changing operating parameters. FIG. 4 shows a case where the facsimile machine executes the program transferred by the diagnostic center. First, the diagnostic center sends a memory write request with address information added, and then sends the program. In the facsimile apparatus, the program sent to the added address in the memory 5 is written by the read / write / program execution function 6.

Next, when the diagnostic center issues a program execution request and further specifies the address of the above program, the reading, writing, and program executing function 6 of the facsimile machine reads and executes the program. By combining the execution of this program and the status grasp of FIG. 2, failure diagnosis and failure repair of the facsimile apparatus can be realized.

If the failure diagnosis / fault repair program is built in the memory 5, the failure diagnosis / fault repair of the facsimile apparatus can be performed by transferring the execution request of the program from the diagnostic center.

As described above, according to the present invention, the operation parameter information in the memory of the communication terminal device is read by communication to confirm the setting contents of the operation parameter information, and then the operation parameter information in the memory is remotely changed. Since the function for performing the above is provided, it is possible to realize flexible and fine failure diagnosis and failure repair without providing a dedicated failure diagnosis / failure repair circuit in the facsimile apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for grasping the state of the facsimile machine from a diagnostic center, and FIG. 3 is a modification of operating parameters of the facsimile machine from the diagnostic center. 4 is a schematic diagram for causing a facsimile machine to execute a program transferred by a diagnostic center, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional facsimile machine, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the facsimile machine. It is a figure. 5 ... Memory, 6 ... Read, write, program execution function.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Eika Iwawaki 2-3-8 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Matsushita Dentsu Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-58-57859 (JP, A) JP JP 59-22475 (JP, A) JP 59-122071 (JP, A) JP 61-141260 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When a center transfers a memory read request signal added with address information to a communication terminal device, the communication terminal device reads operating parameter information from a memory based on the address information transferred from the center, and When the center transmits the memory write request signal with the address information added and the operation parameter information to the communication terminal device after confirming the transferred operation parameter information, the communication terminal device causes the communication terminal device to A remote failure diagnosis / failure repair method for a communication terminal device, characterized in that the operation parameter information transferred from the center is stored in the memory based on the address information transferred from the center.