JP2002154253A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power consumption of a printer controller in addition to turning off power at the print section. SOLUTION: A power supply section 1 generates a DC power supply from a commercial power supply, a print section 2 prints out print data from a PC, a network 3 connects the PC and a printer physically, and a controller 7 controls the printer. In this regard, power supply from the IEEE1394-I/F of the network 3 is also monitored and when the power supply is turned off, i.e., a cable is not connected, power supply at the controller section is also turned off and power supply from a controller I/F feeds only a PHYVCC to a PHY and an actuation detecting section. In such an arrangement, a power supply switching section at the time of power save mode which makes a transition to power save mode by means of a timer, and a reset means of power save mode which monitors the power supply from the IEEE1394-I/F are provided in order to reduce power consumption of the printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device, and more particularly, to a printer device consuming less power.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printer devices are generally equipped with a PC.
(Personal computer) does not know whether print data is transmitted. For this reason, in order to perform a quick response, it is necessary to keep the power on at all times, and power consumption during standby increases. In such a situation, as a method of reducing power consumption, there is a method of turning off the power of the printing unit and turning on only the power of the printer controller.

[0003]

However, according to the above-described conventional method, unnecessary power is consumed even in a case where there is no printing environment, for example, when a PC connected to the printer is turned off. Will be.

For example, in a printer which is always connected to a PC, even if the PC is turned off after the use of the PC,
Sometimes the user forgets to turn off the printer.

According to the present invention, in addition to turning off the power supply of the printing unit, the power consumption of the printer controller is reduced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device that consumes less power.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a timer for shifting to an energy saving mode, power detection means supplied from the IEEE 1394-I / F, and an energy saving mode. Power supply switching unit, operation unit, and IEEE1394-I as time transition means
/ F for monitoring the power supplied from the / F and returning from the energy saving mode to reduce the power consumption of the printer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to the first aspect, the power consumption is reduced by turning off the power supply other than the printer controller using a timer.
And executed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer according to the first or second aspect, the IEEE1394-
When the power supplied from the I / F is off, the PHY
And turning off the power supply other than the operation unit and the detection circuit.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
3 to 3 show one embodiment of the printer device of the present invention.

First, the printer of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the configuration diagram of FIG. The printer device shown in FIG. 1 includes a power supply unit 1, a printing unit 2, a network 3, a driving unit 4, a display unit 5, an operation unit 6, a controller 7, and a memory 8.

The power supply section 1 is a section for generating a DC power supply from a commercial power supply. The printing unit 2 is a unit for printing print data from the PC, and the network 3 is a unit for physically connecting the PC and the printer.
It constitutes an I / F.

The driving section 4 is a section for carrying a recording sheet such as a motor during a printing operation. The display unit 5 is a part that indicates the status of the printer. The operation unit 6 performs printer settings and the like, and the controller 7 controls the printer. The memory 8 is a part for storing print data.

Next, the configuration of the network unit will be described. In FIG. 2, a controller I / F 10 is a physical I / F with the controller 7, and includes a power supply and a PCI-I.
/ F.

LINK 11 is an IC of a LINK layer.
An HY (physical layer protocol) 12 is an IC of a physical layer, and an EEPROM 13 is a part for recording initial settings of a LINK.

PHYVCC14 is IEEE1394-I
/ F15, or a power supply supplied from the printer controller to generate a power supply to the PHY 12, and the detection voltage is IEEE1394-I /
This is a part for detecting the power supplied from F15.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example. In FIG. 3, after the power of the printer is turned on (step S1), if there is no input from the operation unit and no print data from the PC for a certain period, the power supply of the printing unit and the driving unit is controlled by a timer provided in the controller. The supply is cut off (step S2, step S3, step S4).

At this time, the power supplied from the IEEE 1394-I / F is also monitored (step S5), and the power is turned off.
(S5 / NO), that is, when the cable is not connected, the power of the controller unit is also turned off (step S5).
6), P is controlled by the power supplied from the controller I / F.
PHYVCC is supplied to the HY and only the power supply for the part for starting detection is supplied.

As the signal for detecting the activation, the key input of the operation unit and the power supplied from the IEEE1394-I / F are used.

A return operation from the energy saving mode will be described. When connected to the IEEE 1394-I / F (step S7 / YES), the detection voltage is turned on, and when a key input of the operation unit is performed, those signals are used as a trigger to the CPU, ASIC, ROM, etc. in the controller. Power is supplied (step S8).

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, the printer of the present invention has a timer for shifting to the energy saving mode, detecting the power supplied from the IEEE 1394-I / F, and switching the power in the energy saving mode. And an operation unit,
The power supply from the IEEE 1394-I / F is monitored, and the mode is returned from the energy saving mode. Therefore, by including the timer, the detection circuit, and the energy-saving resetting means, the power consumption of the printer during standby can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an overall configuration showing an embodiment of a printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a network unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Power supply part 2 Printing part 3 Network 4 Drive part 5 Display part 6 Operation part 7 Controller 8 Memory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A timer for shifting to an energy saving mode, a power detecting unit supplied from the IEEE 1394-I / F, a power switching unit as a shifting unit in the energy saving mode, an operation unit, and an IEEE 1394-I / A printer device that monitors power supplied from an F and has means for returning from an energy saving mode to reduce the power consumption of the printer. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the power consumption is reduced by turning off a power supply other than a printer controller by the timer.
2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is executed. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the power supplied from the IEEE 1394-I / F is off, the supply of power other than the PHY, the operation unit, and the detection circuit is turned off. The printer device as described in the above.