JP2002207399A - Image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image output device permitting speedy settlement of a problem and early stabilization of quality by realizing prediction of a problematic point when a failure occurs, from an analytic approach to the software centering on a control program of the device. SOLUTION: Key-stroke information sent from an operation panel 110 of each device 100 side to each application program 340 via an operation panel controller 300 and a system monitor/manager 330 is transmitted to an external control system 200. Thus, a series of the procedures inputted from the operation panel 110 can be recorded in the external control system 200. Moreover, in addition to or instead of transmitting a series of the procedures to the external control system 200, the device is able to make a log holding function 1032 hold them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copier, a printer, a facsimile, and an image output apparatus having a composite function of the above, and more particularly to a test / evaluation environment in control unit development and product assurance, or a failure analysis in a market. How to debug or test for failure,
The present invention relates to technology for improving the efficiency of analysis.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a copier or a printer, or an image output apparatus having a facsimile function added thereto, has become complicated and multi-functional, it is necessary to realize sufficient and efficient troubleshooting. It is necessary to enhance the interface between the machine and maintenance personnel. Appropriate interfaces provide the controls necessary to monitor and maintain the machine,
In addition to simply providing indications, fault codes, and fault histories, there is a need to provide them relatively simply, directly and efficiently.

Conventionally, at the time of regular inspection work by a specialized maintenance person or inspector, the state of the copying machine in service at that time was observed, and after inspection, appropriate measures were taken. For this reason, there is no particular means to grasp the fluctuations in the status of the copier components and the overall status of the copier from the time of the previous inspection of the copier to be inspected to the next inspection, and the occurrence of troubles. Guessed and judged as needed.

[0004] As described above, at present, countermeasures against the change over time in the print quality of the copying machine rely on the empirical judgment of each inspector. In particular, a uniform method is known. Not.

[0005] Also, as described above, a difficulty in performing a diagnostic process by a specialized inspector is that it is not possible to easily and automatically indicate the correct part or subsystem of a malfunctioning or deteriorated machine. is there. Rather than spending a lot of time and effort fixing or repairing parts, it is very economical to simply replace the parts. Therefore, to reduce machine downtime, rather than require extensive maintenance troubleshooting, a highly intelligent, automated diagnostic system that directs the replacement of specific parts or subsystems is required. Provision is desirable.

A common technique for monitoring print quality in copying or printing systems, such as electrophotographic copiers, laser printers, and ink jet printers, is to artificially generate a "test patch" of a predetermined required density. There is technology to do. In this technique, the actual density of the printing material (toner or ink) of a test patch is optically measured to determine the effectiveness of the printing process in which the printing material is printed on a printing sheet.

As an example, in the case of electrophotographic devices, for example laser printers, the surface of most interest in determining the density of a printing material is the charge retentive surface or photoreceptor. An electrostatic latent image is formed thereon, and then toner development is performed by attaching toner particles to a charged area by a specific method. In this case, an optical element for measuring the density of the test patch, which is a toner area coverage sensor
A rage sensor, or "densitometer," is located along the path of the photoreceptor and immediately downstream of the development process in the development device. Usually, a routine is provided in an operating system of a printer, and a surface at a predetermined position is artificially charged or discharged by a predetermined amount by an exposure system, and a test patch having a required density is periodically placed at a predetermined position on the photoreceptor. To be generated. The test patch passes through the developing device, where toner particles of the developing device electrostatically adhere to the test patch. If the toner in the test patch is dark,
The test patch appears dark in the optical test. The developed test patch passes through a measurement location of a densitometer located in the path of the photoreceptor and the test patch is tested for light absorption. In this test, the more light that is absorbed by the test patch, the higher the density of the toner in the test patch. Electrophotographic test patches are traditionally printed in the interdocument zone of the photoreceptor. Generally, each test patch is printed as a uniform solid area, a halftone area, and a background area. Therefore, conventional methods of process control include setting the solid area, uniform halftone, and background of the test patch. Certain high quality printers include many test patches.

[0008] It would therefore be desirable to have a simple toner area coverage sensor that can provide machine data to diagnose a machine and identify a particular component or subsystem failure or malfunction. Moreover, it is desired that this does not become a complicated sensor system. It is also desirable to provide a systematic and logical test analysis method that can evaluate machine operation with a simple sensor system and indicate which parts, components, and subsystems need replacement.

On the other hand, conventionally, the state of the components of the copying machine to be maintained and inspected and the state of the entire copying machine can be grasped only as discrete state data only at each time when the maintenance and inspection is performed. The maintenance and inspection work could not always be optimal, such as the delay in finding the problem to be solved. From such a problem, that is, from the status of each component at a specific point in time, that is, during a regular maintenance and inspection work performed after a certain period of time, the steady state of the target copier is estimated and determined. The problem of having to do so has been an issue in further improving the maintenance and inspection work level. In addition, because the professional or empirical knowledge of periodic inspections possessed by specialized inspectors varies from inspector to inspector,
There is also a problem that the level of the periodic inspection work varies.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-28363 discloses that in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, maintenance and inspection work of the copying machine components and the entire copying machine can be easily performed at a certain level. Thus, a method of providing a copier diagnostic apparatus that supports a user or a professional maintenance inspector is disclosed.

The copier diagnostic apparatus disclosed in the above publication is
Storage means for storing state information of component parts output periodically from the copying machine and abnormal state information output at the time of abnormality; and a copying machine based on the periodic state information and the abnormal state information stored in the storage means. Analyzes and evaluates the contents and changes / history of the status, outputs the diagnostic result information necessary for copier maintenance, inputs the quality evaluation of the printed matter output from the copier, and determines various adjustment values to be applied to the copier. Diagnostic means for outputting. With this configuration, the diagnosis unit can perform a check based on the status information of the component parts periodically output from the copier stored in the storage device and the abnormal status information output at the time of the abnormal status, based on the past inspection of the copier. Maintenance of copiers that accurately grasps the current status of the target copier and potential problems by accurately grasping the fluctuation history as well as analyzing and evaluating as judgment materials in addition to the above conditions The system outputs the necessary diagnosis result information to provide effective information not only for the immediate maintenance work but also for the subsequent maintenance planning. In this way, conventionally, the judgment of the inspector based on the state information at the time of the inspection has a personal unevenness, but such an individual difference between the inspectors is eliminated. In addition, by inputting the quality evaluation of the printed matter output from the copier and outputting various adjustment values to be applied to the copier, variations in levels due to the difference in the amount of professional and empirical knowledge possessed by maintenance personnel are eliminated. It is stated that the maintenance inspector can take appropriate measures against the temporal change of the print output of the copying machine.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-164800,
JP-A-5-164801, JP-A-5-16480
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2 (1993) -207, a method using a conventional expert system, for example, a method of performing a production rule type inference in which a condition and a conclusion are paired, and an inference by a monitoring control device based on information from an object to be monitored Is a problem of the diagnostic method with an inference mechanism, that is, it is necessary to prepare a large number of rules in advance as a knowledge base, and the accuracy of the diagnosis result by the expert system is He mentions that it depends on being correct.

In a conventional diagnostic method using such an expert system or a diagnostic method having an inference mechanism, the basic principle of the rule is originally clear, or it can be easily obtained from past experience. In the event that a new problem that cannot be dealt with is completely unpredictable and cannot be dealt with, the newly identified trouble and its cause are set as expert rules as new rules. Although it is necessary to incorporate the knowledge base into the knowledge base of the system, there is a problem that it takes time and effort to update the knowledge base for realizing the expert system. In some cases, the expert system itself cannot keep up with the knowledge base,
He pointed out that in this case, the knowledge could soon become obsolete.

Therefore, in the series of inventions, as a diagnosis method and apparatus capable of coping with an unexpected trouble, a diagnosis of a device to be diagnosed is performed based on operation state information indicating an operation state of the apparatus to be diagnosed. Collecting operation state information indicating an operation state in each of the devices to be diagnosed from a plurality of devices to be diagnosed, extracting a universal sign indicating a common characteristic with respect to the plurality of devices to be diagnosed from the plurality of operation state information, A method for determining a trouble that may occur in the device to be diagnosed based on universal symptoms is proposed.

Further, diagnosis of the device to be diagnosed is performed based on operation state information comprising a plurality of factors indicating the operation state of the device to be diagnosed, and operation state information indicating an operation state corresponding to each of the plurality of devices to be diagnosed. To obtain a universal sign indicating common characteristics with respect to the plurality of devices to be diagnosed by analyzing the operation state information, and accumulate the universal signs obtained from these universal sign case bases. The solution is aimed at by having.

In this case, the operating state information indicating the operating state of a plurality of devices to be diagnosed, for example, a copying machine, together with the data indicating the type of trouble collected by the diagnostic apparatus, is sent to the diagnostic apparatus. Then, a universal sign indicating a common characteristic for a plurality of devices to be diagnosed is extracted from a plurality of operation state information. This universal symptom indicates a symptom of a trouble common to all the devices to be diagnosed.If a specific trouble occurs frequently, the same trouble will occur in the future even if no trouble actually occurs at present. Since it is predicted that a problem will occur, it is possible to prevent the problem beforehand by taking a measure against the problem in advance.

[0017]

In the above two examples, the failure diagnosis in the maintenance and inspection or the appropriate measures for maintaining the quality are performed, and the influence of the professional and empirical difference of the maintenance and inspection staff in charge is considered. There is disclosed a means that can be performed as much as possible, or a technology that can reliably, efficiently, and stably perform failure diagnosis and / or quality maintenance management of a complex multifunctional device.

However, none of these techniques is concerned with failure diagnosis and quality maintenance management, and does not consider data relating to the operation of the user itself. As in the past, when the proportion of image output devices as hardware, mainly copying machines, is large, there is almost no problem by grasping and maintaining the functions, performance, durability, etc. of the parts of the device and managing them. The maintenance of the equipment was possible. However, as in recent years, the image output device itself has a large number of intelligent functions, and further, as the image output device has various functions such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile,
There is no doubt that the specific gravity of the software that controls them has increased.

Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 5-164800, 5-164801, 5-164802
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-75, information on a plurality of devices to be diagnosed is statistically treated so that unpredictable troubles can be quickly dealt with. It is not always effective to respond to a problem or to respond to a single case.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation of the prior art, and an object thereof is to predict a problem location at the time of occurrence of a defect from an analytical approach to software centering on an apparatus control program. An object of the present invention is to provide an image output device capable of solving problems more quickly and stabilizing quality early. In particular, from the stage when the device is under development, to the stage of product testing, to the stage when it actually comes to market,
It can be used as a powerful tool for failure analysis at all various stages, so it is possible to confirm advanced functions and performance or debug programs, and also to improve development efficiency and evaluation test efficiency. It is valid.

[0021] Further, basically, a sufficient quality inspection, load test, acceleration test, and reliability test are performed before the product is put on the market, but it is virtually impossible to perform a complete test. is there. No matter how many tests are repeated, the possibility of failure occurring in the market remains to be said. Therefore, if a product is to be put on the market after conducting as much product testing as possible, how quickly if a problem occurs in the market,
The issue is how to deal with it effectively.

However, a defect that first appears in the market often occurs only in a specific combination of both a user's device operation and a device control program. Alternatively, a malfunction may occur only at a delicate timing of operation and control. Basically, defects that can easily be reproduced are often detected by testing before product shipment, and therefore,
It is relatively easy to deal with.

However, in the case of a defect which becomes apparent for the first time in the market, reproducibility of the occurrence of the defect is not always obtained. Therefore, even when the cause is clarified, it may not be possible to cope with the failure because the occurrence of the failure cannot be reproduced.

[0024] Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for elucidating the mechanism of occurrence of a defect when a user reports the occurrence of a defect in a device once on the market.
To gain one clue,
In some cases, the purpose is to grasp unexpected usage conditions and use it as one index in future product development.

That is, in the present invention, a sequence such as a function call, an inter-process communication, and a notification of hardware status information exchanged in a control program is used as reference data.
By comparing the actual operation with the actual operation, it is possible to identify the module that operated differently from the design, and at the time of development, defects occurred in all stages of testing such as quality and reliability and after entering the market Analysis support can be expected in such cases. In particular, since the problem location can be predicted at the control program level, quick feedback to the developer is possible.

[0026]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to an operation unit having an input device, an image forming unit for forming an image based on input image data, and control of each unit. In an image output apparatus having a control means, a recording means for recordably recording an operation history input from the input device, and an operation state of hardware and software of each unit in the apparatus are sequentially notified to the control means. Notifying means, verification means for sequentially verifying the operation for each operation based on the information notified by the notifying means, and a common timer in the device, the control means, the control means, the device to any operator An operation procedure when used and simultaneously obtains detailed information inside the apparatus, and the notifying unit obtains time information obtained from the timer when information to be notified is generated. In addition, the control unit notifies the control unit of internal state information with occurrence time information, and the verification unit performs processing for each operation input from the input device based on the internal state information notified from the notification unit to the control unit. The operation is sequentially verified.

In this case, furthermore, an operation procedure when the operator uses and detailed information inside the apparatus are added with occurrence time information and a result of operation verification for each operation, and the information processing apparatus is connected to an external information processing apparatus via a communication function. A means for successively notifying, a means for notifying the user of the device that the device is unusable, or a need for repair, and the control means determine that the device is in an unusable state or a state requiring repair. Sometimes, the acquisition of the internal operation state information and the operation information by the user is stopped, and the failure information is transmitted to the information processing apparatus.
Means for stopping notification of information may be provided.

Further, there is provided means for notifying the user of the apparatus that the apparatus is unusable or that repair is necessary, and the control means determines that the apparatus is unusable or requires repair. In addition, the acquisition of the internal operation state information and the operation information by the user is stopped, and a part or all of the information acquired so far is added to the operation verification result for each operation and stored in the recording unit. You can also. In addition, when storing in the recording means,
Rearrangement may be performed in the order of information generation time, and the internal information may be stored in the recording unit in the order of generation time. Further, when the information is stored in the recording means, if the capacity of the storage unit for storing the information is exceeded, the oldest occurrence time information added to the detailed internal information of the apparatus may be sequentially discarded. .

The verification means holds reference data including the order of occurrence, movement, and temporal timing of information related to the operation for each operation, and verifies the validity of the operation by comparing the reference data with the actual operation. The verification means has, at the time of operation verification, the order in which expected information is generated, the temporal timing of the generation of the information, and the tolerance information for the actual operation as reference data. The type and / or timing of each piece of information generated in the above are compared, and if the difference between the reference data and the information generated in the actual operation deviates from an allowable range, it is set in advance according to the degree, nature and content of the deviation. The information is stored in the recording means as information to which warning information is added. Further, the verification means sets the tolerance information for the actual operation in the information contained therein as the reference data stepwise from a normal operation state to a fatal state, and determines at what level the verification result is. It may be added as a part of the warning information. Further, the verification means, at the time of operation verification,
When it is determined that there is no problem in the actual operation, it is possible to prevent each piece of information generated regarding the operation from being stored in the recording unit. Further, the verification means may include, when the operation verification is performed, when the verification result is added as a part of the warning level, when a verification result equal to or lower than a preset warning level is obtained, each information generated regarding the operation. May not be stored in the recording means. Further, the verification means, when the operation verification result is not normal,
It can also indicate which parts of the software and / or hardware are likely to be problematic.

It is to be noted that a display means for displaying the verification result held in the recording means and the information associated therewith may be provided. In this case, the display means adds a warning level to the operation verification result, It is also possible to specify a warning level or a range of warning levels to be displayed, and selectively display only a desired warning level or a verification result of the warning level range.

It should be noted that, instead of storing the data in the recording means, it is also possible to transmit the data to an external information processing means.

More specifically, the first means is a display / printing apparatus having an input section such as various keys and a touch panel in an operation section, and having a CPU / MPU or other control unit therein. And a copier, a facsimile, a printer having the function, or an apparatus having a composite function of these, and a control device such as an external personal computer or a workstation connected via an external communication function, or an external device. Regardless of the presence or absence of the communication function with the internal control device or control unit,
It is possible to record a history of operations performed via input devices such as the above-mentioned various keys and a touch panel. Further, various functional units inside the device, such as an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a charging process, a transport system, Paper unit, operation panel, image reading unit, memory-related mechanism (compression / decompression, transfer, processing, etc. of image data), communication-related mechanism (public line communication, USB,
IEEE 1394, Ethernet (registered trademark), RS2
32C, parallel, etc.), and a mechanism for sequentially notifying the operation states of both hardware and software. The operation procedure when the apparatus is used by an arbitrary operator and detailed information inside the apparatus are simultaneously performed. A device that can be acquired,
A shared timer is provided inside the apparatus, and when obtaining detailed information inside the apparatus, time information is immediately added when information to be notified by each information generating mechanism is generated, and internal state information with generated time information is added. To the control unit, and
The operation for each operation is sequentially verified based on the detailed information inside these devices.

The second means is that, in the first means, the device is in a state where it is impossible to perform all or a part of its functions, and is unusable to a user of the device. Or has a function to notify that repair is necessary, and when it is determined that such an unusable state or a state requiring repair is required, acquisition of internal operating state information and operation information by the user is performed. Stopping, saving some or all of the information obtained up to that time in an internal nonvolatile recording device with an operation verification result for each operation added, and recalling the stored information according to a predetermined operation. I made it possible.

[0034] The third means is the first or second means, wherein the operation procedure for use by an arbitrary operator and detailed information inside the apparatus are added with the occurrence time information and the operation verification result for each operation. A device having a function of sequentially transmitting the information to a control device such as a personal computer or a workstation connected to the outside of the device via a communication function with the outside may have all or some of the functions originally provided by the device. Has a function of notifying the user of the device that the device is unusable or that repair is necessary when the device becomes impossible to perform, and such a disabled state, or When it is determined that the state requires repair, the acquisition of the internal operation state information and the operation information by the user is stopped, and at the same time, the occurrence of failure information is notified to an externally connected control device. It provided with a function to stop the notification of the broadcast.

The fourth means has a function of recording a history of operations performed through an input device such as various keys and a touch panel in the first or second means. A mechanism for sequentially notifying the operation states of both hardware and software is provided, and it is possible to simultaneously obtain an operation procedure when the device is used by an arbitrary operator and detailed information inside the device, A shared timer is provided inside the device, and when obtaining detailed information inside the device, each information generating mechanism immediately adds time information when information to be notified is generated, and further verifies the operation verification result for each operation. In the device having the function of adding, when saving the internal state information with the occurrence time information, perform the rearrangement in the order of the information occurrence time, hold in the internal storage device in the order of the occurrence time of the internal information,
Alternatively, a notification is sent to a control device connected to the outside.

The fifth means has a function of recording a history of operations performed through input devices such as various keys and a touch panel in the first, second and fourth means. A mechanism for sequentially notifying the operation states of both the hardware and software of the functional unit is provided, and it is possible to simultaneously obtain an operation procedure when the apparatus is used by an arbitrary operator and detailed information inside the apparatus. There is a shared timer inside the device, and when obtaining detailed information inside the device, each information generating mechanism immediately adds time information when information to be notified is generated, and furthermore, an operation for each operation is performed. A device that has a function of adding a verification result and sequentially notifies such information to an internal control device.When the detailed information inside the device is retained inside, when the capacity of the storage unit that retains the information is exceeded. The detailed equipment It was to sequentially discarded from the old ones of the added occurrence time information in the internal information.

A sixth means is the display / printing apparatus according to the first to fifth means, wherein the operation unit has various keys, an input device such as a touch panel, and a CPU / MPU or other control unit therein. And a copier, a facsimile, a printer having the function, or a device having a complex function of these, and a control device such as an external personal computer or a workstation connected through an external communication function, or an external device. Regardless of the presence or absence of the communication function, it is possible to record the operation history performed through an input device such as the above various keys and a touch panel in an internal control device or control unit, and further, various internal Functional units such as an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a charging process, a transport system, a paper feeding unit, an operation panel, an image reading unit, and a memory unit Mechanism (image data compression and decompression, transfer, processing, etc.), communication-related mechanism (public line communication, USB,
IEEE 1394, Ethernet, RS232C, parallel, etc.), a function to sequentially notify the operating states of both hardware and software, etc., an operation procedure when the apparatus is used by an arbitrary operator, and details inside the apparatus. A device that can simultaneously acquire important information, has a shared timer inside the device, and when obtaining detailed information inside the device, prompts each information generation mechanism when information to be notified is generated. It has a function of adding time information and notifying the control unit of the internal state information with occurrence time information, and furthermore, an order of occurrence, movement (sequence),
Reference data such as temporal timing is stored, and the validity of the operation is verified by comparing the reference data with the actual operation.

The seventh means is the first to sixth means, wherein at the time of operation verification, the expected order of generation of information, the timing of the generation of the information, and the tolerance information for the actual operation, Internally as reference data, the type and timing of each piece of information generated in actual operation are compared with the reference data, and if the difference between the reference data and the information generated in actual operation deviates from an allowable range, Depending on the degree, nature, contents, etc. of the information, warning information set in advance is stored as information to which information is added, or a notification is sent to an externally connected control device.

In an eighth aspect, in the seventh aspect, upon detecting the operation, the tolerance information for the actual operation in the information contained therein as reference data is set stepwise from a normal operation state to a fatal state. Then, the level of the verification result is added as a part of the warning information to notify the user.

The ninth means is that, in the first to eighth means, when it is determined at the time of operation verification that there is no problem in the actual operation, the information generated regarding the operation is not stored or connected to the outside. Can be set so as not to notify the specified control device.

The tenth means is that, in the eighth means, when the verification result is added as a part of the warning level at the time of the operation verification, the verification result below the preset warning level is obtained. In addition, it is possible to set so as not to save each information generated with respect to the operation or to notify the externally connected control device.

The eleventh means is the first to tenth means, wherein the internal information used for operation verification is used in a control program mounted in a control unit comprising a CPU / MPU or other control unit in the apparatus. Function name, process name, message name or message in inter-process communication, and various functional units inside the device, such as image forming unit, fixing unit, charging process, transport system, paper feed unit, operation panel, and image reading Section, memory related mechanism (compression / decompression, transfer, processing, etc. of image data), communication related mechanism (public line communication, USB, IEEE)
1394, Ethernet, RS232C, parallel, etc.), using a communication message name or message between hardware and control software, etc., if the operation verification result is not normal, any part of the software / hardware may have a problem. Can be suggested to be high.

In a twelfth means, in the first to eleventh means, the verification result held in the apparatus and information accompanying the verification result are displayed on the display attached to the apparatus by using an operation function attached to the apparatus. Can be displayed on the device.

A thirteenth means is a method according to the first to eleventh means, wherein the verification result held in the apparatus and the information accompanying the verification result are stored in the apparatus without using an operation function attached to the apparatus or a display device. Data can be read from a storage device installed inside the device.

In a fourteenth means, in the twelfth or thirteenth means, a warning level is added to the operation verification result,
A warning level or a range of warning levels to be displayed is specified, and only a desired warning level or a verification result of a warning level range is selectively displayed and read out.

[0046]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1. Overview In the present invention, various keys of the operation unit, a module for controlling information such as signals and messages issued from an input device such as a touch panel, a means for transmitting information to a module such as an application program that should originally receive the information. In addition, by providing means for transmitting the same information to the monitor module simultaneously with the transmission of the information, it is possible to monitor the information input from the operation unit. In addition, in addition to the information from the input device, by providing a mechanism for acquiring information exchanged between each functional unit inside the device, or between each functional unit and the control unit, and further between each functional unit and the application, By monitoring the internal transmission information, information from the input device provided in the apparatus and various information transmitted inside the apparatus can be stored inside the apparatus, or externally connected via an interface with the outside of the apparatus. Can be stored in the system.

At this time, in the means for monitoring the information input from the operation unit by means for transmitting the information to the test monitor module added to the module for controlling the information emitted from the input device, That is, information generated when an input device such as a touch panel is operated is temporarily stored in a memory, and this data is sequentially transmitted to operation information acquisition means other than the input device in a predetermined order and timing. By issuing the command, an operation procedure recording function for recording / reproducing a procedure from the operation panel becomes possible.

Further, by providing a function of converting information such as signals and messages recorded in the above-mentioned operation procedure recording function into a display format corresponding to the information,
It can be expressed in a format with good visibility. By providing a function for sequentially converting an operation input via an input device into the above-described format, the converted description language is sequentially displayed, thereby facilitating the correspondence between the operation and the expression in the description language. To be able to understand
The conversion of the operation procedure into the description language can be automatically executed.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the outline of the system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 101 of the apparatus 100 is mounted on a base unit including an OS and various device drivers. The interface unit 102 with the external system 200 is constructed on this OS, and communication with the external system 200 is realized through this. The verification module 103 sequentially obtains various kinds of information exchanged by the control program 105 inside the apparatus 100, for example, function calls, inter-process communication, hardware control commands, and status notification information 104 from the hardware inside the control program 105. . The verification module 103 selects reference data according to the operation of the device 100, and sequentially compares and verifies the reference data with information actually exchanged inside the device 100, thereby making a determination on each piece of acquired information.

An interface unit 202 corresponding to the present apparatus is constructed on the external system 200, and exchange of data and the like is realized through these. In the stage of development, for example, a display program of an acquisition log and saving of acquisition log data can be performed. It should be noted that a function unit for storing the acquired log display program and acquired log data is indicated by reference numeral 202, a code conversion module is indicated by reference numeral 203, and an application program is indicated by reference numeral 204.

FIG. 2 shows an example having no external interface. In this case, the display log display program and the information display program for each warning level are stored in the apparatus 100 itself, and the log data is stored.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the operation panel controller of the present apparatus. The operation panel controller section 300 includes a device driver 310 and a window manager 320, is connected to the system monitor / manager 330 and the application 340, and inputs from the operation panel 110 (FIG. 4) by the user to the system key monitor 331. Via the application, the application 340 requesting the input or the engine or other system services is notified.

The device driver 310 includes a buzzer driver 311, an LED driver 312, and an LCD driver 31.
3, a touch panel driver 314 and a hard key driver 315. window·
The manager 320 includes a library function 321, an object record 322, an item search unit 323, and a hard key input unit 324.

The system monitor manager 330
Is provided with the system key monitor 331, and an input from the touch panel driver 314 is
System key monitor 3 as touch key code from 23
31, the input from the hard key driver 315 is input from the hard key input unit 324 to the system key monitor 331 as a hard key code, and is input to the application 340 as touch key information or hard key information (other than the system key), respectively. You. From the application 340, object operations and drawing instructions are issued.
Further, an object operation, a drawing instruction, or an application switching input is input from the system monitor / manager 330 to the library function 321.
When the virtual screen (object record) 322 is drawn, the virtual screen is drawn in response to the virtual screen drawing 325 instruction from the library function 321.

2. First Embodiment FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image output device according to a first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the modules and applications of the device 100 are described in C language, a personal computer is used as the external control system 200, and the description language of the external control system 200 is C language.
And C ++ were used. These may use another programming language, an assembler language, or the like.
Ethernet was used for communication between the device 100 and the external control system 200. This is because a device including a function of a so-called network printer having an Ethernet interface inside the device 100 is targeted. Also, depending on the mounting situation, RS-232C, IEEE
It is also possible to use E488 / IEEE488.2 (GP-IB) or the like.

From the operation panel 110 of each device 100,
Key press information (touch key code and hard key code in FIG. 3) sent to each application program 340 via the operation panel controller 300 and the system monitor / manager 330 is transmitted via the interface unit 102 with the external control system 200. It has a function of transmitting to the external control system 200. Thereby, a series of procedures input from the operation panel 110 can be recorded in the external control system 200. Here, the operation panel 110 includes all keys, a touch panel, a display device, indicators such as LEDs, a buzzer, and the like. The operation panel controller 300 controls the operation panel 110 and functions as a device driver for the operation panel 110.

The system monitor / manager 330 manages the entire resources of the control unit 110 in the apparatus 100. In the present embodiment, the processing function related to the key operation information of the system monitor / manager 330 includes the interface unit 102 with the external control system 200. The function to record and play key press information has been realized by adding a function to exchange information with the key press. Of course, depending on the configuration of the system, a function of recording operation / drawing information can be realized by adding a similar function to a portion corresponding to the operation panel controller 300. Alternatively, a similar recording function can be realized by adding a similar function to the application program itself.

In an actual use situation in which a user or a person in charge of evaluation manually inputs a key from the operation panel 110, the user does not guarantee that his or her own operation is reliably stored, and performs various tests. Even in this case, if a more complicated operation is performed, the evaluator may make an operation error. Therefore, in such a situation, when an unexpected result is obtained, it may be difficult to determine whether the operation is an operation error or a defect of an application program or the like. In particular,
When a huge number of tests are performed on a wide variety of models, evaluators often operate as quickly as possible to reduce the time required for testing, and operation errors may occur. Will also be higher.

In the present embodiment, when a user or a person in charge of evaluation manually inputs a key from the operation panel 110, an unexpected result is obtained by recording a series of operation procedures using the recording function 1032. When it is obtained, it is possible to distinguish whether it is an operation error or a defect of an application or the like.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is possible not only to record the key press information but also to obtain the display information (command) for each application on the operation panel. It is also possible to detect such an operation error, and it is possible to distinguish a malfunction when a predetermined operation is performed from such an operation error.

In this embodiment, the user's operation panel 11
Operation information using system monitor / manager 3
A function of simultaneously notifying the log holding function 1032 of the same operation information in the system monitor / manager 330 when the application 340 is notified via the application 30 is realized, thereby realizing a function of logging the operation information.

Similarly, in addition to the applications, systems, and services that should be notified of the generated transmission information, various systems in the apparatus 100 are also provided with a function of notifying the log holding function 1032 at the same time. Examples of the transmission information include communication between processes of the control program, control commands to various hardware, and status notifications from the hardware. Thereby, the apparatus 100 can acquire various services in the apparatus 100 and event information from the subsystem 120 together with the operation information from the operation panel 110.

Further, a function for adding the occurrence times of these various kinds of information, that is, a time information adding function 130 is provided. Thereby, even if a slight time lag occurs due to the operating state of the OS or the system in the apparatus 100 and the information transmission order of the event occurrence is changed, the data is rearranged in the order of the acquisition time information, so that more accurate data can be obtained. Log information can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the operation panel 11
0, key control information, inter-process communication information in the control program, control commands to various hardware, and status notification information from the hardware.
The movement of the various information in a series of operations triggered by a specific event is compared with reference data describing the movement.
At this time, it is determined whether to add a warning flag to the allowable range described simultaneously in the reference data file. This allowable range is determined based on the importance of the target information and the allowable range of timing, and is mainly set by the developer. Further, by setting the allowable range in multiple stages, a plurality of warning levels are provided to verify the operation. The reference data is stored in the log holding function 10 shown in FIG.
32. In the present embodiment, the control means described in the claims corresponds to the operation panel controller 300, more specifically, the operation panel controller 30.
0 corresponds to a CPU (not shown). The CPU executes processing according to the program according to a program stored in a ROM (not shown) while using a RAM (not shown) as a work area.

Normally, the device 1 is operated by a panel operation of the user.
00 is determined. For example, when the copy function is used, a series of operations is started by pressing the start key after setting the number of copies and the scaling ratio. In the present embodiment, for the copy function, the reference data to be used is determined by the setting at the time of pressing the start key. If the user requests another operation using the interrupt key during a series of operations using the copy function, the reference data determined at the start of the interrupt process is used until the interrupt process is completed. Further, when a fatal malfunction or an error of a preset level occurs inside the apparatus 100, the writing of data to the internal log holding function 1032 is stopped.

As a result, when such a problem occurs, it is possible to retain information such as an actual operation procedure and a change in an internal state until the problem occurs without losing it.

Further, even if a problem occurs in a product actually provided to the market, it is possible to obtain accurate operation procedures and information on the internal state, thereby enabling quick response to the occurrence of a problem in the market. Becomes Conventionally,
In practice, it has been difficult to obtain accurate information on operation information at the time of occurrence of a problem even if the situation is collected from the user. However, according to the present invention, accurate information at the time of occurrence of a problem can be obtained.

The operation information acquired as the log data,
And detailed state information inside the device is stored in a log holding function 1032 inside the device, and the external control system 2
The external control system 200 is connected to the external control system 200 via the interface unit 102 with the external control system 00. The external control system 200 includes an interface unit 210 with the device 100 and a function unit 220 having various functions such as log data storage, warning level display, and warning target message display. In this embodiment, as the external control system 200, a personal computer equipped with FreeBSD as an OS is used. This, of course,
A personal computer on which another OS is installed may be used, or a workstation or the like may be used. When connected to the external control system 200 in this manner, the device 10
0, detailed state information inside the device 100 acquired inside,
Operation information of the user using the operation panel 110 can be stored in the external device 200. This storage is performed by, for example, the function unit 220.

Normally, when storing data inside the apparatus 100, it is difficult to secure such a large capacity.
For example, when acquiring a log of the internal state in continuous operation before product shipment, the external control system 2
By connecting to 00, a large amount of data can be obtained. As a result, a series of data capable of associating the detailed information in the apparatus 100 with the user's operation via the operation panel 110 is acquired, and one of the information for investigating the cause when a trouble or the like occurs. As
It is possible to acquire whether or not the internal operation is as expected in the form of a sequence of internal information, and if the operation deviates from a predetermined operation, it is possible to clarify what information is caused by the operation.

3. Second Embodiment FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image output device according to a second embodiment.

The present embodiment is effective for, for example, testing and evaluating a copying machine having only a copying function.
In the present embodiment, in particular, the interface 10
Means for recording an operation procedure input from the operation panel 110, ie, the log holding function 1032
Is provided inside, and a portion shown by a halftone dot in FIG. 5 is deleted from the first embodiment. Other mechanisms are configured and operate in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

The acquired operation procedure is stored in the internal memory (log holding function) 1032 and can be deleted by a specific panel operation. Thereby, the operation panel 11 can be prepared without preparing a special evaluation system.
Tests and evaluations can be performed with inputs made via 0. In particular, even a device put on the market can be easily checked by a service person or the like.

In the present embodiment, the warning level is set to five levels, and a setting is made such that a level lower than the designated level (a level at which there are few problems) is not recorded, and all levels are recorded. , The display level can be specified when a display is requested from the operation panel. Also,
When specifying a level, multiple levels and a range of levels can be specified.

As shown in FIG. 6, the acquired log is read out from the log holding function 1032 by a predetermined operation, and
00 can be displayed on a display device provided on the operation panel 110 of the main unit. In the present embodiment, the display device is provided on the operation panel 110, but may be individually mounted.

In this embodiment, in order to reduce the size of the code of the test / evaluation module incorporated in the apparatus 100 as much as possible, no communication function unit with the external control system 200 is provided. In an apparatus having a communication function with the system 200, both the external control system 200 and the inside may have a function of recording the above-mentioned operation procedure.

Other parts which are not particularly described are the same as those in the above-described schematic structure and the first embodiment, and therefore, duplicated description will be omitted.

4. Third Embodiment FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image output device according to a third embodiment.

This embodiment is an example in which log data of internal information acquired inside the apparatus 100 is directly read. This is when a catastrophic failure occurs in the device 100.
It is assumed that a case where the method described in the second embodiment cannot be used is dropped.

In this embodiment, the internal state log data acquired inside the apparatus 100 is held in a memory (log holding function) 1032 completely separated for log acquisition. In the present embodiment, the memory of the IC card is used as the memory device, but other than this, a smart media or the like may be used. Of course, the purpose is to ensure that the internal information that has been acquired up to that point can be reliably obtained even when a malfunction occurs that the device itself does not function properly. Therefore, in some cases, a method of using a flexible disk or an internal hard disk may be considered. Of course, when using the internal hard disk, it is necessary to take out the hard disk, install it in another device, and read it.

When the memory 1032 is used as a log holding function as described above, the memory 1032 can be read from an external device by accessing the memory 1032, or the memory 1032 can be detached and read by a reading device. For this reason, even when a malfunction occurs such that the device 100 itself does not function, it is possible to obtain a user operation and detailed internal state information until such a malfunction occurs.

The other parts, which are not particularly described, have the same structure as those of the first embodiment and the first and second embodiments.

[0084]

According to the present invention configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the present invention, detailed state information inside the apparatus and information on the procedure operated by the user via the operation panel are simultaneously obtained, and whether the operation of the control program is in accordance with a predetermined operation is determined based on each information. It is possible to sequentially verify and obtain the results including the results, thereby obtaining data effective for cause analysis when a failure occurs.
In addition, since the acquired data can be read directly from the internal storage device, it is possible to acquire the data directly from the storage device even when a failure occurs that makes it impossible to analyze via a network or restart the device. Become.

Further, according to the present invention, in the case of a device connected to a network, more detailed internal information and a verification result can be obtained even when the device is operated by management from a remote place, and a problem occurs. Timely handling can be performed quickly.

According to the present invention, in particular, in the case of a device not connected to a network, the acquired log data is stored in a non-volatile memory, and overwriting to the memory is stopped. Can be held. Further, even when the power is cut off due to a failure, the data up to immediately before can be obtained / held.

Further, according to the present invention, the acquired data is rearranged and stored based on the time information added at the time of occurrence, so that the internal data can be acquired and managed more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently and efficiently obtain analysis data at the time of occurrence of a failure by using the limited resources in the apparatus to the maximum and effective use.

Further, according to the present invention, since the internal information is sequentially verified at the time of log data acquisition, it is possible to omit the primary analysis procedure at the time of occurrence of a failure, and it may cause a problem of a certain level or more. The operation can be selectively stored, so that the efficiency of the failure analysis can be increased and the resource can be saved.

Further, according to the present invention, in the verification of the internal information, the degree, type, nature, and the like of the deviation from the predetermined operation can be set, and efficient analysis can be performed particularly at the development stage.

Further, according to the present invention, since an allowable range can be set for each piece of information expected for a designated operation, it is possible to avoid a problem that a process with a small specific operation margin is always determined as a warning level. Appropriate settings can be made for each target operation and each target information.

According to the present invention, as a result of the sequential verification,
By not storing and notifying the information determined to be no problem, resources can be saved.

Further, according to the present invention, information to be acquired can be set at the warning level, so that only necessary information can be selected and efficient analysis can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, by directly obtaining information used in a control program in the apparatus, it is possible to analyze a portion expected to have a problem more accurately.

According to the present invention, the acquired data is displayed on the display device attached to the device by using the operation panel attached to the device, so that the device used in a stand-alone device not connected to a network or the like can be used. Analysis becomes possible.

Further, according to the present invention, data to be displayed can be designated in units of warning levels, so that efficient browsing of data is possible even in a situation where the display screen is limited.

Further, according to the present invention, instead of storing the information in the recording means, the information is transmitted to the external information processing means, so that even a large amount of information can be stored with a margin. Even if the device itself breaks down, the information is stored outside, so that the information can be used reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a system of an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a system of an image output apparatus having no external interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an operation panel controller of the image output apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of the image output apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of the image output device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image output device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image output device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Image output device 101 System unit 102 Interface unit 103 Verification module 104 Lower module 105 Control program 110 Operation panel 120 Various systems inside device 300 Operation panel controller 310 Device controller 320 Window manager 330 System monitor / manager 340 Application 1031 Operation verification program 1032 Log Holding function

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 AP07 AQ05 AQ06 HN15 HV01 HV35 2H027 DA44 DA50 EE08 EJ08 EJ15 FA31 FA40 GB01 GB05 GB07 GB09 GB20 HA01 HA12 HA16 ZA07 5B021 AA01 AA05 NN19 NN19 NN16

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. An image output apparatus comprising: an operation unit having an input device; an image forming unit that forms an image based on input image data; and a control unit that controls each unit. Recording means for recording the performed operation history in a readable manner, notification means for sequentially notifying the control means of the operation states of the hardware and software of each unit in the apparatus, and information based on the information notified by the notification means. Verification means for sequentially verifying the operation for each operation, and a common timer in the device, the control means, an operation procedure when the device is used by any operator, details of the inside of the device The notification means adds time information obtained from the timer when information to be notified occurs, and controls the internal state information with occurrence time information. Image output, wherein the verification unit sequentially verifies the operation for each operation input from the input device based on the internal state information notified from the notification unit to the control unit. apparatus. 2. An operation procedure for use by an operator and detailed information inside the apparatus, together with occurrence time information and an operation verification result for each operation, and sequentially notified to an external information processing apparatus via a communication function. And means for notifying the user of the device that the device is unusable or that repair is required.When the control unit determines that the device is unusable or requires repair, 2. A means for stopping acquisition of internal operation state information and operation information by a user, transmitting malfunction occurrence information to the information processing apparatus, and stopping notification of the information. The image output device as described in the above. 3. A device for notifying a user of the device that the device is unusable or that repair is required, wherein the control unit determines that the device is unusable or requires repair. Stopping the acquisition of the internal operation state information and the operation information by the user, and storing a part or all of the information acquired so far in the recording unit with an operation verification result for each operation added. The image output device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The image output apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when storing in the recording unit, the information is rearranged in the order of the information generation time, and the internal information is stored in the recording unit in the generation time of the internal information. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the information is stored in the storage unit, if the capacity of the storage unit for storing the information is exceeded, the oldest occurrence time information added to the detailed internal information of the apparatus is sequentially discarded. The image output device according to claim 4, wherein 6. The verification means holds reference data including an order of occurrence, movement, and temporal timing of information relating to the operation for each operation, and compares the reference data with the actual operation to sequentially determine the validity of the operation. 2. The image output device according to claim 1, wherein verification is performed. 7. The verification unit according to claim 1, wherein at the time of operation verification, an expected order of generation of information, a temporal timing of generation of the information, and tolerance information for actual operation are internally stored as reference data. The type and / or timing of the reference data and the information generated in the actual operation are compared, and if the difference between the reference data and the information generated in the actual operation deviates from the allowable range, the degree, nature and content of the deviation are determined. 7. The image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is set in advance and stored in the recording unit as information to which warning information is added. 8. The verification means, according to claim 1, further comprising: information on an allowance for an actual operation in information internally stored as said reference data;
8. The image output apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the level is set stepwise from a normal operation state to a fatal state, and the level of the verification result is added as a part of the warning information. 9. The verification means has a function of, when it is determined that there is no problem in an actual operation at the time of operation verification, not storing information generated for the operation in the recording means. Claims 1, 3, 6,
The image output device according to any one of claims 7 and 8. 10. The verification means according to claim 5, wherein, when the verification result is added as a part of the warning level at the time of operation verification, when a verification result equal to or lower than a predetermined warning level is obtained, the verification unit generates the verification result. 9. The image output apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a function of not storing each set of information in said recording unit. 11. The verification means has a function of indicating which part of software and / or hardware is likely to have a problem when an operation verification result is not normal. Claims 1, 3,
The image output device according to any one of 6, 7, 8 and 10. 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying the verification result held in said recording means and information associated therewith. Image output device. 13. The display means adds a warning level to an operation verification result, designates a warning level or a range of warning levels to be displayed, and displays only a desired warning level or a verification result of a warning level range. 13. The image output device according to claim 12, further comprising a function of selectively displaying the image. 14. The image output apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information is transmitted to an external information processing unit instead of being stored in the recording unit.