JP6291983B2 - Recovery device and recovery method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recovery device and a recovery method.

  The network controller includes a MAC (Media Access Control) that performs network control and a network PHY (PHYsical layer) that converts a digital signal from the MAC into an electrical signal. The network PHY has not only a function as a simple physical layer but also a function of detecting a specific packet and outputting an interrupt signal.

  There is a technique for turning on / off a power supply according to an instruction of a management server for a network device connected to a network using a network PHY that detects a specific packet and outputs an interrupt signal. Although it is possible to turn off the power of the network device by a simple network protocol, in order to turn on the power, the instruction from the management server can be received even when the power of the network device is turned off. It is necessary to keep.

  There is a technique called WakeOnLAN (hereinafter referred to as WOL) as a technique for remotely starting the power supply of a network device from a management server. The WOL function performs necessary settings for enabling the WOL function for the network PHY, turns off the power of network devices including the MAC, and turns on only the network PHY. When it is desired to turn on the power of the network device, a technique for turning on the power of the network device by transmitting a packet called magic packet (registered trademark) from the management server to the network device is already known (for example, patents). Reference 1 etc.).

  A remote activation function such as the WOL function is useful for managing the power supply of the network device from the management server. However, when a power failure occurs while the remote activation function is enabled and power is not supplied to the network PHY, all the remote activation function settings that have been set for the network PHY are erased. . For this reason, in order to perform remote activation from the management server, there is a further problem in that it takes time to activate the network device and reset the remote activation function for the network PHY.

  One aspect of the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described conventional problems. The object of the present invention is to provide remote control over the network PHY even when the power supply to the network device is recovered. An object of the present invention is to provide a recovery device that can eliminate the complexity of resetting the activation function.

To solve the above problems, in the present invention, which is set to the network PHY network adapter provided in the information processing apparatus, a recovery device for recovering the configuration information for remote activation function, of the setting information A holding unit that holds a copy; and a writing unit that writes a copy of the setting information held in the holding unit to the network PHY when the information processing apparatus recovers from a power supply stop state.

  According to the present invention, even when the power supply to the network device is recovered from the stopped state, the trouble of resetting the remote activation function for the network PHY is eliminated, and the power is supplied according to the activation request from the management server. Can be turned on.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the system configuration | structure concerning one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the recovery part concerning one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating state transition of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow from the setting of the WOL function concerning one Embodiment of this invention to the writing of the network PHY at the time of a recovery | restoration from a power-off state. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence which the recovery part concerning one Embodiment of this invention implements.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a communication system according to the present embodiment.

  Image forming apparatuses 1 a, 1 b, 1 c... (If not distinguished from each other, image forming apparatus 1) and management server 2 are connected via a network 3. Note that the number of image forming apparatuses 1 connected to the network 3 is an example, and a system in which these are connected more than the example shown in FIG. 1 or a system connected less than the example shown in FIG. It may be. The network 3 in this embodiment is Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The image forming apparatus 1 is an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that can be used as a printer, a scanner, or a copier by providing a photographing function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like. The image forming apparatus 1 in the present embodiment receives a print job, performs image forming processing, and executes printing. The image forming apparatus 1 has a plurality of different states such as an operating state and a sleep state in which only some functions are energized. The image forming apparatus 1 turns on / off the power according to the activation request of the management server 2.

  The management server 2 is an information processing apparatus operated by a network administrator or the like, and is realized by a PC (Personal Computer) or the like. The management server 2 manages the operating state of the image forming apparatus 1 and the power supply via the network 3.

  A WOL (Wake On LAN) function or the like is a function for turning on the power of the image forming apparatus 1 to which the management server 2 is connected via the network 3. The management server 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 in this embodiment are compatible with the WOL function.

  In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 is exemplified as a network device, but the network device may be an information processing device such as a PC.

<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a CPU 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102, a ROM (Read-Only Memory) 103, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) 104, an auxiliary storage device 105, an image reading device 106, a printing device 107, A display device 108, an input device 109, a PMC (Power Management Controller) microcomputer 110, a switch 113, a network adapter 114, and the like are provided.

  The CPU 101 is used to execute various processes of the image forming apparatus 1 according to a program stored in the RAM 102.

  The RAM 102 is used for temporarily storing programs and information for executing arithmetic processing, and includes a semiconductor memory or the like. The RAM 102 is composed of, for example, a DDR-DRAM (Double-Data-Rate SDRAM). The ROM 103 and the EEPROM 104 are nonvolatile storage devices that store various programs, data used for various processes, and the like.

  The auxiliary storage device 105 is used to store programs, files, data, and the like necessary for execution of processing, and includes a hard disk drive device.

  The image reading device 106 optically reads a document placed on the reading surface and generates image data.

  The printing apparatus 107 prints a bitmap image on a recording sheet by, for example, an electrophotographic process method.

  The display device 108 is configured by a display or the like, and displays, for example, various types of information related to image forming operations. The display device 108 is a display such as a liquid crystal or an organic EL, for example.

  The input device 109 is configured with hardware keys and the like, and is used to input each operation signal to the image forming apparatus 1. The input device 109 is, for example, a touch panel or a hard switch.

  The PMC microcomputer 110 has a power control unit 111 and a recovery unit 112. Since the PMC microcomputer 110 includes the power control unit 111 that controls the power supply of the image forming apparatus 1, the PMC microcomputer 110 is energized even when the image forming apparatus 1 is powered off.

  The power control unit 111 monitors the state of the power switch. When the power switch is turned on, power supply to the image forming apparatus 1 is started, and when the power switch is turned off, the image forming apparatus 1 is started. It has a function to stop the power supply. For example, an interrupt signal from the network PHY 116 that detects a magic packet (registered trademark) used in remote activation processing such as WOL is input to the power control unit 111 in the PMC microcomputer 110 to turn on the power of the image forming apparatus 1. can do.

  The recovery unit 112 is a function for recovering the setting of the remote activation function held in the network adapter 114. The recovery unit 112 functions as a holding unit 11 and a writing unit 12 as shown in FIG.

  The recovery unit 112 functions as the holding unit 11 and holds the setting information and MAC address of the remote activation function such as WOL received from the network adapter 114 in the storage area in the recovery unit 112. The remote activation function setting information is, for example, flag information indicating whether or not to enable the remote activation function.

  After recovery from a state where power supply such as a power failure is interrupted, the recovery unit 112 functions as the writing unit 12 and performs processing of writing setting information of the remote activation function in the network adapter 114. The interruption of power supply is not limited to a power failure, and may include a case where a momentary interruption due to hardware abnormality or an abnormal large current due to lightning is detected.

  In the present embodiment, the PMC microcomputer 110 includes the recovery unit 112, but another device including a nonvolatile memory may include the recovery unit 112.

  The switch 113 switches the connection between the PMC microcomputer 110 and the network adapter 114. The switch 113 is switched by the PMC microcomputer 110, and the PMC microcomputer 110 and the network adapter 114 are connected with the switch 113 being on.

  The network adapter 114 is a network adapter that supports a remote activation function such as WOL, and is a network communication unit that controls network communication. The network adapter 114 includes a MAC 115 and a network PHY 116.

  The MAC 115 is a chip circuit that controls the MAC layer. The MAC 115 also sets a remote activation function such as a MAC address and WOL for the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110 and the network PHY 116 in the network adapter 114.

  The network PHY 116 is a chip circuit that performs physical layer control and the like. The network PHY 116 stores the setting of the remote activation function transmitted from the MAC 115 in a storage area in the network PHY 116. In the present embodiment, the network PHY 116 monitors reception of a predetermined packet (for example, a predetermined signal such as MAGIC PACKET (registered trademark)) indicating the activation request of the image forming apparatus 1 and detects reception of the packet. An interrupt signal is generated and output to the power control unit 111 in the PMC microcomputer 110. Thereafter, the power control unit 111 of the PMC microcomputer 110 that has received the interrupt signal from the network PHY 116 turns on the power of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 described above is not limited to the above-described configuration because the main configuration has been described in describing the features of the present embodiment. Further, the configuration of the general image forming apparatus 1 is not excluded.

<Processing operation>
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a flow from the setting of the remote activation processing function according to the embodiment of the present invention to the recovery from the power-off state and the activation of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the activation request.

  In step S 1, after the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on, the MAC address is written in the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110. The MAC address is stored in a storage area such as a flash memory provided in the recovery unit 112.

  In step S <b> 2, the MAC 115 sets a flag indicating whether the remote activation processing function is valid for the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110. A flag indicating whether or not to enable the remote activation processing function may be set by a user operation. The recovery unit 112 is stored in a storage area provided in the recovery unit 112 in the same manner as the MAC address.

  In step S <b> 3, the MAC 115 sets the setting information of the remote activation processing function for the network PHY 116. At this time, the setting information is the same as that performed in step S2.

  In step S4, the PMC microcomputer 110 puts the image forming apparatus 1 into a shutdown state. The shutdown state indicates a state in which some functions such as the network PHY 116 and the PMC microcomputer 110 are energized.

  In step S5, the power supply to the image forming apparatus 1 is stopped by a sudden power failure or the power plug being removed, and the entire image forming apparatus 1 including the network PHY 116 and the PMC microcomputer 110 is turned off.

  In step S <b> 6, power is supplied to the image forming apparatus 1 when the power failure is eliminated or a power plug is inserted. At that time, the network PHY 116 and the PMC microcomputer 110 are also energized.

  In step S7, the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110 confirms the setting information of the remote activation processing function that is held. The PMC microcomputer 110 confirms that the power supply of the network PHY 116 is turned on, and writes the setting information of the remote activation processing function in the network PHY 116.

  In step S8, the network PHY 116 enables the remote activation process and enters a standby state in which a predetermined packet can be received.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state transition of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In step S11, when the power of the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on, the shutdown state is changed to the operating state.

  In step S12, when the processing of the job or the like is completed and there is no job processing request for a predetermined time, the image forming apparatus 1 transitions to a standby state indicating a standby state.

  In step S <b> 13, the image forming apparatus 1 shifts to a sleep state in which some devices are turned off after a predetermined time has elapsed from the standby state.

  In step S14, when an operation from the user is received in the sleep state indicating the power saving state, the image forming apparatus 1 transits to the standby state.

  In step S15, when a job processing request is made, the image forming apparatus 1 shifts from the standby state to the operating state, and executes the requested job.

  In steps S16 to S18, when the power switch is turned off in each of the operating state, the standby state, and the sleep state, the process shifts to the shutdown state. In the shutdown state, when a startup request is received in a state where the remote startup processing function is enabled, the shutdown state transitions to the operating state.

  In step S19, when the power supply is stopped, such as a power failure or the power plug is removed from the outlet, the power supply is stopped. At this time, the entire image forming apparatus 1 including the network PHY 116 and the PMC microcomputer 110 is turned off.

  In step S20, when the power distribution is restored, the image forming apparatus 1 is energized and transits from the power supply stop state to the shutdown state.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure executed by the recovery unit 112 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In step S <b> 30, the recovery unit 112 executes the process while the power source of the image forming apparatus 1 is activated.

  In step S <b> 31, the recovery unit 112 stores the remote activation function setting information set in the MAC 115 in a storage area in the recovery unit 112. At this time, the setting information to be stored stores flag information indicating whether to use the remote activation function, the MAC address of the image forming apparatus 1, and the like.

  In step S32, the image forming apparatus 1 is not energized due to a power failure or a power plug being removed. At this time, the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110 is also not energized.

  In step S33, a power failure or a power plug is inserted, and the image forming apparatus 1 is energized. At this time, the energization of the recovery unit 112 in the PMC microcomputer 110 is resumed.

  In step S34, the recovery unit 112 refers to the setting information of the remote activation function at the timing when it is energized, and determines whether or not the remote activation function is enabled. If the determined result is YES, that is, if the remote activation function is enabled, the process proceeds to step S35. If the determined result is NO, that is, if the remote activation function is not enabled, the process proceeds to step S36.

  In step S <b> 35, the recovery unit 112 transmits setting information of the remote activation function to the network PHY 116. The network PHY 116 sets the setting information transmitted from the recovery unit 112 in its own device. Then, it progresses to step S36 and the said process is complete | finished.

  In step S36, the recovery unit 112 does not transmit the setting information of the remote activation function to the network PHY 116, and ends the process.

<Summary>
Although the invention has been described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Obviously it can be added. In other words, the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the details of the specific examples and the accompanying drawings.

1 Image forming apparatus 11 Holding unit 12 Writing unit 101 CPU
102 RAM
103 ROM
104 EEPROM
105 Auxiliary Storage Device 106 Image Reading Device 107 Printing Device 108 Display Device 109 Input Device 110 PMC Microcomputer 111 Power Control Unit 112 Recovery Unit 113 Switch 114 Network Adapter 115 MAC
116 Network PHY
2 Management server 3 Network

JP 2013-126022 A

Claims (4)

Is set to the network PHY network adapter provided in the information processing apparatus, a recovery device for recovering the configuration information for remote activation function,
A holding portion for holding a copy of the configuration information,
A writing unit that writes a copy of the setting information held in the holding unit to the network PHY when the information processing apparatus recovers from a power supply stop state;
A recovery device characterized by comprising: The recovery device according to claim 1,
The setting information includes information on whether to enable the remote activation function,
The recovery device, wherein the writing unit does not write a copy of the setting information to the network PHY when the information indicating whether or not to enable is not valid. The recovery device according to claim 1 or 2,
A recovery device further comprising a switch for enabling or disabling the function of the recovery device. Is set to the network PHY network adapter provided in the information processing apparatus, a recovery method to recover the setting information of the remote activation function,
A holding unit of a recovery device holds a copy of the setting information;
A writing unit of the recovery device writing a copy of the held setting information to the network PHY when the information processing apparatus recovers from a power supply stop state;
A recovery method characterized by comprising:

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