JP2002019231A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer wherein controlling for power saving and power source off/on can be readily executed and the power saving in a higher level can be achieved irrespective of kinds or a number of I/Fs with an external device. SOLUTION: After a main power source is turned on, initialization of a CPU 101 and a system and self-diagnosis is executed and then the printer is set in a ready state (S60-S64). When a predetermined time has elapsed without receiving data from the external device (S65), a power saving mode signal is set and a reset mode is set (S74, S75) and then oscillation of a power on/off control signal generating circuit 202 is activated (S76). In terms of a boot operation of the CPU 101, it is determined that the boot is originated by power-on at the power saving mode and then the initialization is executed (S70). When an INPUT signal is detected during the predetermined time period of the power-on (S71, 72), the oscillation of the power on/off control signal generating circuit 202 is turned off (S73) and then a normal printing operation is executed (S65-S70).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus,
In particular, it relates to a printing apparatus having a power saving mode function by a CPU peripheral control circuit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printing apparatuses for printing data received from external devices have been widely used. In such a printing apparatus, it is necessary to keep the printing apparatus in a standby state without turning off the power so that printing can be performed even when data from an external apparatus is received. Power saving has been demanded. Therefore, conventionally, in a printing apparatus, power consumption is reduced by turning off the power of units such as a unit and a fixing unit that consume a large amount of power. As another power saving means, there is known a method in which a power saving control CPU (Central Processing Unit) for lowering or stopping a clock frequency is mounted, and another control unit controls transition to a power saving mode. In a printing apparatus having a power-saving mode for performing such power-off control, generally, a return (power-on) event from the power-saving mode is controlled by hardware based on data-in from an external device (upper device). You. Further, in order to further reduce power consumption of the controller of the printing apparatus, a control method of partially turning off the power has been devised.

[0003]

However, in the case of a printing apparatus for printing data received from an external device, it is necessary to always receive data from the external device even in a power saving state. In the means, returning from the power saving mode is a major issue. Further, in order to realize the power off / on control method at the time of returning from the power saving mode by hardware, depending on the type and number of I / Fs (interfaces) to be connected to the external device, the power supply of the printing apparatus is required. The off / on control method becomes complicated, which causes an increase in cost.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an interface with an external device.
An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus which can easily perform power-saving power supply off / on control without depending on the type and number of / F and can further reduce power consumption.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus having a power saving mode in which data is received from an external apparatus, printed out, and power consumption is reduced under certain conditions. Receiving means for receiving data from the printer, printing means for printing the data received by the receiving means, and a printer controller for turning off / on the power saving target portion of the printing apparatus in a power saving mode. When the receiving means does not receive the data from the external device, the printer controller achieves the above object by automatically turning off / on the power of the power saving target portion at a fixed cycle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when the power-saving target portion powered off by the printer controller boots, the printing device boots from a main power-on state or the power saving mode. Further comprising a determination unit that determines whether the boot from the power on in the case of the mode, wherein the determination unit determines that the boot of the power saving target portion is a boot from the power on in the case of the power saving mode, The printer controller detects whether or not the receiving unit has received data from an external device, and upon detecting data reception, the power saving section achieves the above object by performing a return from a power saving mode. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the setting of a power-off / on cycle of a power saving target portion by the printer controller can be changed, thereby achieving the above object. To achieve.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first, second and third aspects of the present invention, the power is turned off / on in a power-off / on cycle of the power-saving target portion by the printer controller. The above object is achieved by enabling the time and the power-on time to be set individually.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a printer controller according to the present embodiment. The printer controller 100 includes a CPU 101 as a main processor,
SIC (Application Specific)
Integrated Circuit (102), power control unit 103, DRAM (Dynamic)
Random Access Memory) 104,
NVRAM (Nonvolatile Random)
Access Memory) 105, CODEROM
106, FONTROM 107, operation panel I / F10
8, a host I / F 109 and a video I / F 110 are provided.

The ASIC 102 is an IC that controls a CPU bus and a system bus and performs arbitration (mediation). The ASIC 102 also controls a video I / F, a panel I / F, and a host I / F. The power control unit 103 includes a power switch of a CPU block (a portion surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. 2) as a partial power unit, and a control unit that controls off / on of the power switch. Font data is stored in the font ROM 107. The DRAM 104 is a readable / writable RAM such as a page memory or a work memory. NVR
The AM 105 is a memory that can hold data even when the power is turned off, and the CODEROM 106 is a nonvolatile read-only memory that stores a program. The host I / F 109, the video I / F 110, and the operation panel I / F 108 are connected as external I / Fs to the external host machine 111, the printer engine 113, and the operation panel 112, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the power saving mode. FIG. 2 shows, as an example, a hardware configuration of a printer controller when the power of a CPU block, that is, a partial power down unit (a portion surrounded by a dotted line in the figure) is turned off during power saving. The power control unit 103 includes a relay 201 serving as a power off / on switch, a power off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 for controlling the relay 201 to be off / on, and a reset IC 203 for detecting a main power supply and a partial power supply, respectively. , 204. Reset IC2
03 and 204 are input to the ASIC 102, and the power-on reset control circuit 205 inside the ASIC 102 outputs signals from the ASIC 102 according to each state.
The PU 101 performs reset control on other printing apparatus systems. Here, it is assumed that when the main power is on, the relay 201 is energized by default.

The transition to the power saving mode is performed by the ASIC 102.
This is performed only by setting an I / O (Input / Output) port (power-saving mode ON signal) in the inside.
When the power saving mode on signal is set, the power off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 operates, and the power off / on of the CPU block is repeated at a constant cycle. in this way,
When the power-saving mode ON signal is set, that is, in the power-saving mode, the power-off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 automatically operates, and the power-off / on of the CPU block is repeated, so that the power-saving target hardware is periodically cycled. There is a period in which the power supply to the wear portion is cut off, and power consumption can be reduced.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a power-off mode setting and a power-off / on oscillation control port. In the control port of FIG. 3, simultaneously with the setting of the power saving mode ON signal,
From the time the power of the printing apparatus is turned on to the time the user can operate the printing apparatus, the CPU 101 of the printing apparatus performs a series of operations automatically, such as booting from a normal main power-on or power saving. It is also possible to set a flag for determining the power saving mode for determining whether the boot is from the partial power on in the mode. in this way,
Since a flag for determining the power saving mode is provided, the CPU 101 performs a data-in check of each I / F when it is determined by the flag that the partial power-on in the power-saving mode is ON, and when the data-in is detected. A return process from the power saving mode can be performed. Therefore, CPU
When the 101 boots, the main power-on boot
Alternatively, since it is possible to determine whether the boot is performed when the partial power supply is turned on in the power saving mode, it is possible to determine the boot of the power saving target hardware part in the power saving mode by software processing, and the return processing from the power saving mode can be determined only by software. Therefore, power saving can be achieved with the same hardware configuration regardless of the type and number of I / Fs, and the hardware configuration can be simplified.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation of the power off / on control signal oscillation circuit. First, in the power saving mode, the power off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 oscillates a power off / on control signal as shown in FIG. CP
The U block is energized during the High period, and is partially powered off during the Low period. When energized,
The CPU 101 boots in the same manner as when the main power is turned on.
UT check, that is, data-in check is performed,
If there is no data-in, the partial power is turned off after a lapse of a predetermined time. Such an operation is repeated, but when the partial power is turned off,
At the time of the NPUT check, if data-in is detected, the oscillation from the power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 is stopped, and the operation shifts to the same normal operation as when the main power supply is turned on.

Further, the time-out period from the data transmission to the response at which the next data can be transmitted differs depending on the host machine 111 which is an external device.
The power-off / on cycle of the power-saving target hardware part, that is, the change of the setting of the oscillation cycle of the power-off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 and the adjustment of the busy period at the time of power-off are performed so that the data from 11 does not time out. I can do it. As described above, since the setting of the oscillation cycle of the power off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 can be changed, the power off period can be adjusted so that the data from the host machine 111 does not time out. , Timeouts can be avoided.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification of the operation of the power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit. FIG. 5 shows a power off / on control signal having the same cycle as FIG. 4 but changing the partial power off / on time of the CPU block. In the power saving mode, the longer the power-off time, the more power-saving effect. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, by changing the duty ratio of the partial power on / off by the power-off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202, as shown in FIG. Even with the same cycle as described above, it is possible to further reduce power consumption compared to the operation in FIG.

As described above, the power-off time and the power-on time of the power-saving target hardware can be individually set so that the longer the power-off time, the greater the power-saving mode effect. For example, when it is determined by the flag that the partial power is on in the power saving mode, the CPU 10
1 performs a data-in check of each I / F, and when a data-in is detected, performs a return process from the power saving mode to minimize the return time, that is, the power-on time as short as possible, and the power-off / By changing the duty ratio of the partial power on / off by the on control signal oscillation circuit 202, each can be optimally set such that the power off time is made as long as possible so that the host machine 111 does not time out, thereby reducing power consumption. Can be achieved.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a power saving operation of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. First,
After the main power of the printing apparatus is turned on, the CPU 101
Are initialized (step 60), and a reset mode check is performed (step 61). When the main power of the printing apparatus is turned on for the first time, since the reset mode is not set (step 61; N), the system initialization of the printing apparatus and self-diagnosis as to whether the printing apparatus itself can print is performed. (Steps 62 and 63), ready (printing standby state)
(Step 64). When the printing device is ready and there is data IN from an external device (step 65;
Y), printing of the received data is started (step 66),
When printing is completed for all data (step 6
7; Y), the process ends.

When a predetermined time has elapsed without any data IN from an external device while the printing apparatus is in a ready state (step 6).
5; N), the process proceeds to the power saving mode setting process (step 74). In the case of power saving mode setting (step 74;
Y), the reset mode is set simultaneously with the setting of the power saving mode ON signal (step 75). Then, by turning on the oscillation of the power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202, the printing apparatus enters the power saving mode, and shifts to the reset mode check processing by the CPU 101 in the power saving mode (step 61). If it is determined by the reset mode check that the power saving mode ON signal is set, that is, the power saving mode is selected (step 61; Y), the power supply of the power saving target hardware portion is automatically turned on by the power off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202. It is turned on / off. When the power of the power saving target hardware part is turned on, the CPU 101 boots in the same manner as when the main power is turned on. By setting the reset mode, the boot operation of the CPU 101 is determined to be a boot from partial power-on in the power saving mode, and initialization in the power saving mode is performed (step 70).

During a predetermined period of time when the partial power supply is turned on, that is, during the power saving mode, an INPUT check is performed (step 71), and when an INPUT is detected (step 72;
Y), the operation returns from the power saving mode, and the oscillation of the power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit 202 is turned off (step 7).
3), proceed to normal printing operation processing (step 65-
67). In the flowchart of FIG. 6, after all data is printed (step 67), the processing ends. However, in actuality, the CPU 101 of the printing apparatus returns to the reset mode check processing (step 61) and executes the data IN operation for a predetermined period.
If there is not, the process shifts to the power saving mode, and if an INPUT is detected during the power saving mode, the process shifts to the printing operation.

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the receiving means does not receive data from an external device, the printer controller automatically repeats power-off / on of the power-saving target portion at a fixed cycle, thereby saving power. In the power mode, power can be cut off for a certain period of time, and power consumption can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the power saving target portion powered off by the printer controller boots, the printing device boots from the main power on or boots from the power on in the power saving mode. Since a determination means for determining whether the interface is provided is further provided, the same hardware configuration can be realized regardless of the type and number of interfaces, and the configuration can be easily performed.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the setting of the power-off / on cycle of the power-saving target portion by the printer controller can be changed, so that the time-out period from the data transmission to the response at which the next data becomes possible is different. Adjustment of the power-off period that can support external devices, so that data printing from external devices does not time out,
Timeout can be avoided.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the power-off time and the power-on time of the power-off / on cycle of the power-saving target portion by the printer controller can be individually set. The power off / on time can be optimally set such that the power supply time off time is as long as possible so that data printing from the printer does not time out, and power consumption can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printer controller according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration in a power saving mode.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a power-off mode setting and a power-off / on oscillation control port.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation of a power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification of the operation of the power supply off / on control signal oscillation circuit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a power saving operation of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Printer controller 101 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 102 ASIC (Application Spec)
if Integrated Circuit) 103 power control unit 104 DRAM 105 NVRAM 106 CODEROM 107 FONTROM 108 operation panel I / F (interface) 109 host I / F 110 video I / F 201 relay 202 power on / off control signal oscillation circuit 203, 204 reset IC 205 power-on reset control circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus having a power saving mode for receiving and printing data from an external device and saving power consumption under certain conditions, a receiving unit for receiving data from the external device, Printing means for printing data received by the means, and a printer controller for turning off / on the power of the power saving target portion of the printing apparatus in a power saving mode, wherein the receiving means is configured to receive data from the external device. The printer controller automatically repeats power-off / on of the power-saving target portion at regular intervals when the printer controller receives no. 2. A method for determining whether to boot from a main power supply of a printing apparatus or to boot from a power supply in a power saving mode when a power saving target part powered off by the printer controller boots. Further comprising: if the determining unit determines that the boot of the power saving target portion is a boot from a power-on in the power saving mode, the receiving unit receives data from an external device by the printer controller. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when detecting whether or not data reception has been performed, the power saving section returns from a power saving mode. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting of the power off / on cycle of the power saving target portion by the printer controller can be changed. 4. A power-off time and a power-on time of a power-off / on cycle of a power-saving target portion by the printer controller can be set individually. The printing device according to any one of the above.