JP6766109B2 - Image forming device and control method of image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a method for controlling an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a technique suitable for use when an error occurs due to a hard disk abnormality.

Conventionally, some image forming devices include a hard disk as a storage device for storing user image data, application data, and temporary data during processing. Hard disk abnormalities include physical abnormalities such as poor cable connection, and logical abnormalities due to off-tracking where the read / write position of the hard disk shifts due to vibration or an unexpected power failure during writing.

When an abnormality in the hard disk is detected, the image forming apparatus notifies the UI or the remote monitoring system of an error and requests the dispatch of a service person. Therefore, the serviceman turns on the power again and formats the hard disk area (partition) that seems to be abnormal. If the error still cannot be resolved, the hard disk is replaced. Here, the serviceman is a person who maintains the image forming apparatus. The serviceman is a worker who is assumed to have specialized knowledge about the image forming apparatus in charge, and solves the trouble when a trouble occurs.

Actually, it is often an error notified mainly by a logical abnormality of the hard disk due to a malfunction of software such as a partition abnormality or a file system corruption. In that case, the dispatched serviceman can eliminate the error simply by turning the power on again and formatting the partition. As a method of resolving a logical abnormality of these hard disks, a technique of automatically formatting when an abnormality is detected has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

On the other hand, even if there is a physical abnormality in the hard disk, it may be temporarily recovered by the partition format, and after recovery with the format implemented when the first serviceman was dispatched, the hard disk will be replaced when an error is notified again. I am taking measures.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-33239

However, if the format is automatically performed without the user's consent, the user's image data and application data will be deleted without permission.
In addition, even if there is a physical abnormality in the hard disk, there are cases where it is temporarily recovered by formatting. Therefore, the work may be completed without replacing the hard disk at the first dispatch, and the physical abnormality of the hard disk may not be dealt with appropriately. This has a problem that it operates with the risk of loss of user data.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the attendance cost of a serviceman for a logical abnormality of a hard disk that can be recovered by a simple measure and to appropriately eliminate the risk of loss of user data.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a hard disk for storing data and an error detecting means for detecting an error in the hard disk, and is a formatting means for formatting a predetermined area of the hard disk. The formatting means has the temporary area regardless of the type of data held in the temporary area when the error of the hard disk occurs in the temporary area used when decompressing the compressed image data. It is characterized by formatting all areas of.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the dispatch of service personnel when a hard disk error that can be recovered by turning on the power again or formatting a partition that does not affect user data occurs.
Further, according to another feature of the present invention, the physical abnormality can be appropriately detected by setting the specified number of times of automatic formatting, and the risk of loss of user data can be eliminated at an early stage.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the schematic structure of a hard disk. It is a figure which shows an example of the partition structure inside a hard disk. It is a figure which shows the display example at the time of abnormality detection of a hard disk. It is a flowchart explaining the process flow of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this embodiment.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.
The image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanner device 2, a controller 3, a printer device 4, an operation unit 8, a hard disk 14, and the like.

The scanner device 2 is an engine that optically reads an image from a document and converts it into a digital image. The printer device 4 is an engine that outputs a digital image to a paper device. The operation unit 8 is for operating and displaying the present device. The hard disk 14 stores digital images, control programs, and the like. The controller 3 is connected to these and makes it possible to execute a job on the image forming apparatus by giving an instruction to each module.

The image forming apparatus 1 can also input / output digital images from the computer 10 via LAN 9, issue jobs, instruct equipment, and the like.
The scanner device 2 includes a document feeding unit 11 capable of automatically sequentially replacing a bundle of documents, and a scanner unit 12 capable of optically scanning a document and converting it into a digital image, and the converted image data is a controller. It is sent to 3.

The printer device 4 includes a paper feed unit 18 capable of sequentially feeding sheets one by one from a bundle of paper, a marking unit 16 for printing image data on the fed paper, and a paper discharge unit for discharging the printed paper. 17. It is composed of a finisher unit 500 that performs post-treatment on the discharged paper.

The controller 3 has a CPU 13 and transmits / receives and stores image data with the scanner device 2 and the printer device 4. That is, the controller 3 temporarily stores the image data received from the scanner device 2 in the memory 15. After that, the image data is stored in the hard disk 14 to scan and save the image.

The controller 3 can perform print output by temporarily storing image data from the hard disk 14 in the memory 15 and transmitting the image data from the memory 15 to the printer device 4.

Further, an image processing unit 5 having a general-purpose image processing unit 19 and capable of storing image data stored in the memory 15 in the memory 15 again after being subjected to processing such as reduction in the general-purpose image processing unit 19. have. The image forming apparatus 1 has an operation unit 8 controlled by the controller 3, and the CPU 13 can interpret the operator operation or the instruction from the LAN 9 and execute various jobs. Further, the operation unit 8 can display the status of the job and the status of the engine of the scanner device 2 or the printer device 4.

The SRAM 40 is a non-volatile memory, and is continuously held even when the power is turned off such as by user setting. In the present embodiment, it is also used as a format number storage means for storing the formatted number of times and a format number upper limit storage means for storing the upper limit of the number of times the partition is formatted. The program executed by the CPU 13 of the controller 3 is stored in the ROM 160, but it can also be used for the purpose of holding the set value like the SRAM 40.

The power supply device 6 is a device that supplies power to each part constituting the image forming device 1. When the image forming apparatus 1 is OFF, the AC power supply 29 is insulated from the AC-DC converter 20 by the switch 30. By turning on the switch 30, the AC power supply 29 is supplied to the AC-DC converter 20, and the DC power supply is produced in the AC-DC converter 20. The image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to perform four independent power supply controls for the entire apparatus according to the instruction of the CPU 13.

That is, by controlling the switch 21 from the CPU 13, the power supply of the controller unit power 25 can be turned off / on. Similarly, the switch 22 can control the power of the printer unit 28, the switch 23 can control the power of the scanner unit 26, and the switch 24 can control the power of the general-purpose image processing unit 27 to be turned off / on. By controlling these switches 21 to 24, the CPU 13 appropriately supplies electric power to the required location of the image forming apparatus 1.

The [sleep state] is a state in which the power of the image forming apparatus 1 itself is reduced as much as possible.
In the [sleep state], the peripheral device of the CPU 13 is set to the general suspend state, and only the part where the job can be detected (sleep power 31) is energized to bring the power of the entire device to a very low power state. Can be done.

Specifically, the CPU 13 saves the state of the device in the memory 15 and turns off the power of the controller unit power 25 including itself. At this time, the CPU 13 itself does not operate, but the power saving key 610 turns on the sleep power 31 in hardware, and only the job has arrived. Then, for example, when the control command of the computer 10 and the operation of the operation unit 8 are performed from the LAN 9, the power 25 of the controller unit is turned on in terms of hardware.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the hard disk 14.
The magnetic head 201 is moved to the sector 203 of the magnetic disk 202 to read the data. An abnormal state occurs due to factors such as the sector 203 being read and written being displaced due to external vibration and the temperature / humidity environment, and the writing to the sector 203 not being completed normally due to an unexpected power failure during writing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a partition configuration inside the hard disk 14.
The temporary region 301 is a partition that holds data that is temporarily used, such as when the image forming apparatus 1 expands a compressed image. The BOX data area 302 is a partition used as a user data area for holding data of the BOX function for printing or transmitting the stored scanned image. The application area 303 is a partition used as a user data area for holding an application that the user can install and use later. The other area 304 is, for example, a partition for holding an execution program or a function license.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example when an abnormality is detected in the hard disk 14. When the controller 3 detects an abnormality in the hard disk 14, it displays on the LCD 400 an error code 401 indicating an area in which the abnormality is detected and prompts the user to turn on the main power switch again, and notifies the occurrence of the abnormality. This is because if an abnormality detection of the hard disk 14 occurs during reading, it may be recovered by turning the main power switch off and then on again.

[First Embodiment]
The processing flow of the image forming apparatus 1 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Each process in this flowchart is realized by the CPU 13 of the controller 3 executing the program stored in the ROM 160.
In S501, the controller 3 performs a hard disk failure detection process for confirming whether or not a failure has occurred in the hard disk 14.
In S502, the controller 3 performs a format count confirmation process for confirming whether or not the upper limit of the format count of the hard disk 14 has been reached. If it is determined that the upper limit of the number of times has been reached, the process proceeds to S515. As a countermeasure at this time, it is assumed that the hard disk is replaced by a service person. If it is determined that the upper limit of the number of times has not been reached, the process proceeds to S503.

In S503, a process for confirming whether or not the failure location is a predetermined partition, here, the controller 3 performs a partition confirmation process for confirming whether or not the failure occurrence partition of the hard disk 14 is the temporary area 301. Do. If it is determined that the temporary region 301 is located, the process proceeds to S504. If it is determined that the area is not the temporary area 301, the process proceeds to S506.

In S504, the controller 3 performs a partition formatting process for formatting the failure-occurring partition.
In S505, the controller 3 adds the number of formats. Then, the format number storage process for storing the added format number in the SRAM 40 is performed.
In S506, the controller 3 performs a partition confirmation process for confirming whether or not the failure occurrence partition of the hard disk 14 is the BOX data area 302. If it is determined that the BOX data area 302 is located, the process proceeds to S508. If it is determined that it is not the BOX data area 302, the process proceeds to S507.

In S507, the controller 3 performs a partition confirmation process for confirming whether or not the failure occurrence partition of the hard disk 14 is the application area 303. If it is determined that the application area is 303, the process proceeds to S508. If it is determined that the application area is not 303, the process proceeds to S515. At this time, the failure occurrence partition is the other area 304, and there may be a case where the partition does not start normally, and it is assumed that the hard disk is replaced by a serviceman.

In S508, the controller 3 performs a data update confirmation process for confirming whether or not there is a data change from the initial state for the failure-occurring partition, that is, whether or not there is data added / updated by the user. In the BOX data area 302, data change corresponds to storing an image used by the user for the BOX function or changing the directory name used for the BOX function. Further, in the application area 303, the fact that an application that can be added later by the user is installed corresponds to the data change. If it is determined that there is a data change, the process proceeds to S509. If it is determined that there is no data change, the process proceeds to S504.

In S509, the controller 3 confirms whether or not the data can be read. If it is determined that the data can be read, the process proceeds to S510. If it is determined that the data cannot be read, the process proceeds to S515. At this time, it is assumed that the serviceman informs the user that the data cannot be guaranteed and formats the failed partition with the consent of the user.

In S510, the controller 3 confirms whether or not there is sufficient free space for saving the read data. If it is determined that the free space is sufficient, the process proceeds to S511. If it is determined that the free space is not sufficient, the process proceeds to S504.
In S511, a data save process for temporarily saving to a free area other than the failed partition is performed. Specifically, the controller 3 saves the read data in the memory 15.

In S512, the controller 3 formats the failed partition.
In S513, the controller 3 adds the number of formats.
In S514, the data saved in S511 is written back to the read partition, and a data restoration process for restoring the temporarily saved data is performed.
In S515, the controller 3 performs an error notification process for notifying the LCD 400 of an error.

With the above configuration, it is possible to reduce the dispatch of a serviceman when an abnormality occurs in the hard disk 14, which can be recovered by turning on the power again or formatting the partition that does not affect the user data.
Further, by providing the specified number of times of automatic formatting by the image forming apparatus 1, the physical abnormality of the hard disk 14 can be appropriately detected, and the risk of loss of user data can be eliminated at an early stage. The data save destination in S511 is not limited to the memory 15, but may be SRAM 40 or ROM 160.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (computer program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to the system or device via a network or various computer-readable storage media. Then, the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or device reads and executes the program.

1 Image forming device 2 Scanner device 3 Controller 4 Printer device 5 Image processing unit 6 Power supply device 8 Operation unit 9 LAN
14 Hard disk 40 SRAM (non-volatile memory)

Claims (15)

A hard disk for storing data and
An error detecting means for detecting an error in the hard disk and
It is an image forming apparatus having
It has a formatting means for formatting a predetermined area of the hard disk.
The formatting means, when an error on the hard disk occurs in the temporary region used when decompressing the compressed image data , all of the temporary region regardless of the type of data held in the temporary region . An image forming apparatus characterized by formatting an area . A scanning means that reads the original and generates image data,
The data holding area for holding the image data generated by the reading means includes an update confirmation means for determining the presence or absence of the generated image data added / updated by the user.
The formatting means
The feature is that the data holding area is formatted when an error of the hard disk occurs in the data holding area and there is no generated image data added or updated to the data holding area by the update confirmation means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. Further, a saving means for saving the generated image data held in the data holding area is provided in a free area other than the data holding area where the error has occurred.
When it is determined that an error of the hard disk occurs in the data holding area and there is the generated image data added or updated in the data holding area by the update confirmation means.
The saving means saves all the generated image data held in the data holding area, and the formatting means formats the data holding area in which the saving of the generated image data is completed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. Further having a restoring means for restoring the generated image data saved by the saving means to the data holding area.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the restoring means restores the saved generated image data to the data holding area formatted by the formatting means. The application holding area for holding the installed application further has an update confirmation means for determining the presence or absence of the application added / updated by the user.
The formatting means
A claim characterized in that the application holding area is formatted when an error of the hard disk occurs in the application holding area and there is no application added or updated to the application holding area by the update confirmation means. The image forming apparatus according to 1. Further, a saving means for saving the application held in the application holding area is provided in a free area other than the application holding area where the error has occurred.
When an error of the hard disk occurs in the application holding area and it is determined by the update confirmation means that there is the application added or updated in the application holding area.
The fifth aspect of claim 5, wherein the evacuation means saves all the applications held in the application holding area, and the formatting means formats the application holding area in which the saving of the application is completed. Image forming device. Further having a restoring means for restoring the application saved by the saving means to the application holding area,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the restoration means restores the saved application to the application holding area formatted by the formatting means. A hard disk for storing data and
An error detecting means for detecting an error in the hard disk and
It is an image forming apparatus having
A specific means for identifying a predetermined area where an error detected by the error detection means has occurred, and
It has a formatting means for formatting the predetermined area, and has
In the formatting means, when the predetermined region specified by the specific means is a temporary region used when developing compressed image data, the formatting means is described regardless of the type of data held in the temporary region. An image forming apparatus characterized by formatting an entire area of a temporary area. A scanning means that reads the original and generates image data,
An update confirmation means for determining the presence or absence of the generated image data added / updated by the user is provided in the data holding area for holding the image data generated by the reading means.
The formatting means
When the area specified by the specific means is the data holding area and there is no generated image data added or updated to the data holding area by the update confirmation means, the data holding area is formatted. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8. Further, a saving means for saving the generated image data held in the data holding area is provided in a free area other than the data holding area where the error has occurred.
When it is determined that the area specified by the specific means is the data holding area and there is the generated image data added or updated to the data holding area by the update confirmation means.
The saving means saves all the generated image data held in the data holding area, and the formatting means formats the data holding area in which the saving of the generated image data is completed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9. Further having a restoring means for restoring the generated image data saved by the saving means to the data holding area.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the restoring means restores the saved generated image data to the data holding area formatted by the formatting means. The application holding area for holding the installed application further has an update confirmation means for determining the presence or absence of the application added / updated by the user.
The formatting means
When the area specified by the specific means is the application holding area and there is no application added or updated to the application holding area by the update confirmation means, the application holding area is formatted. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11. Further, a saving means for saving the application held in the application holding area is provided in a free area other than the application holding area where the error has occurred.
When the area specified by the specific means is the application holding area, and it is determined by the update confirmation means that the application has been added or updated to the data holding area.
12. The evacuating means according to claim 12, wherein the saving means saves all the applications held in the application holding area, and the formatting means formats the application holding area in which the saving of the application is completed. Image forming device. Further having a restoring means for restoring the application saved by the saving means to the application holding area,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the restoring means restores the saved application to the application holding area formatted by the formatting means. A control method for an image forming apparatus having a hard disk for storing data and a control means for controlling the hard disk.
The steps performed by the control means are
A detection process for detecting an error in the hard disk and
When the error of the hard disk detected by the detection step occurs in the temporary region used when decompressing the compressed image data , all of the temporary region regardless of the type of data held in the temporary region . A method for controlling an image forming apparatus, which comprises a formatting step for formatting a region of an image forming apparatus.

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