JP2003266889A - Printer and its controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer in which a user can be notified of a fact that an unexpected power supply trouble occurred under a state where data to be printed is left and then power supply was resumed. <P>SOLUTION: The printer monitors the voltage drop of a power supply and checks not yet processed print data remaining on a volatile memory before the operation stops upon occurrence of a voltage drop, and further checks the on/off state of a main power switch. If not yet processed print data remains and the main power switch is turned on, a state flag is set on. If the state flag is set on at the next starting time, the printer alarms occurrence of an unexpected power interruption to a user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer,
In particular, the present invention relates to a printer capable of coping with a power trouble caused by an unexpected power failure and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a printer receives a print request from a host computer and prints. That is, the printer receives print job data transmitted from the host computer in the reception buffer, interprets the print job data, generates raster-format image data, and temporarily expands the image data in the image memory. Then, the printer supplies the image data to the print engine, and the print engine fixes the recording material on the printing paper to realize printing.

[0003]

Computer-related equipment such as a printer is operated by receiving commercial power from the outside. Therefore, when a power failure such as an unexpected power failure occurs, it causes a serious situation such as the loss of internal data on the memory.

In the case of a printer, when such a power trouble occurs while executing printing, all the received print job data, the generated image data, and the setting data for printing in the memory are lost. Sisters,
The printing can no longer continue.

Even if the power trouble is a momentary power failure, all the data in the memory will be lost in the same manner. Recover to the state. Therefore, if such a momentary power failure occurs while receiving print job data, the printer immediately resumes reception of the print job data and prints after recovery.

However, since the printer tries to continue printing without taking any measures while the data is lost due to the momentary power failure, the data to be printed may be lost or misaligned, which is desirable. There was a problem that no printing was done. In particular, when performing printing on continuous paper, if such a momentary power failure occurs, printing is performed to the end with the loss of data to be printed, and continuous paper is wasted. There was also.

On the other hand, the user may voluntarily turn off the power switch of the printer for some reason to stop the operation of the printer even during printing. Therefore, the printer needs to recognize what factor causes the power supply to be stopped.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method in which even if a user has unexpected power supply trouble in a state where data to be printed remains, and then power is supplied again, The purpose is to provide a printer capable of appropriately coping with such a situation by notifying the user of that fact, and by such coping, undesired printing such as missing or misalignment of data to be printed is performed. The purpose is to prevent this.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a voltage drop of a power supply is monitored, and when a voltage drop occurs,
By the time the operation is stopped, it is checked whether unprocessed print data remains in the volatile memory.
The main point is to check the ON / OFF state of the main power switch at that time, and if the unprocessed print data remains and the main power switch is in the ON state, set the state flag to ON. . Further, according to the present invention, if the status flag is ON at the next startup, the user is warned that an unexpected power failure has occurred, and the print job data that is sent is received until confirmation is received from the user. Do not process.

Thus, even when a power trouble unexpected by the user occurs in the state where the data to be printed remains and the power is re-supplied after that, the user can be notified of that fact. Also, it becomes possible to prevent the print job data sent after such a situation from being processed unnecessarily.

Specifically, according to the present invention, an internal power supply unit for obtaining a circuit system power supply and a drive system power supply from an external power supply unit, and a main power supply unit provided between the power supply unit and the internal power supply unit. A volatile memory that operates by a power switch and circuit power supplied from the internal power supply unit and that temporarily holds print data; and a rewritable nonvolatile memory that holds a flag that indicates whether or not power failure has occurred. A control device including a control circuit having at least a memory and a drive system power supply supplied from the internal power supply unit, and under the control of the control device, based on print data supplied from the control device. A print engine for performing visualization processing on printing paper; and a power supply state monitoring means for monitoring the state of the drive system power supply obtained by the internal power supply unit,
A switch discriminating means for discriminating an on / off state of the main power source switch, wherein the monitoring means judges that the state of the drive system power source is below a predetermined value, and the switch state discriminating means determines the main power source. The printer is characterized in that, when it is determined that the switch is in the on state, the state flag on the rewritable nonvolatile memory is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred.

Further, the printer further comprises residual data detecting means for detecting whether or not the print data remains on the volatile memory, and the print data remains on the volatile memory by the residual data detecting means. If it is determined that the power is cut off, the state flag on the rewritable nonvolatile memory is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred.

Further, the printer checks the value of the status flag on the rewritable non-volatile memory at the time of start-up, and if the status flag is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred. A feature is that predetermined error processing is performed.

Furthermore, the printer is characterized by notifying that a power failure has occurred as a predetermined error process.

The invention of the apparatus can be understood as a method invention. That is, the present invention is a method of controlling a printer which operates by receiving power supply from the outside, which determines whether or not the state of power supplied to operate the printer is below a predetermined value. If it is determined that the value is less than or equal to the predetermined value in step 1 and the first step, it is determined whether the print data remains in the volatile memory, and the main power switch is turned on / off. A second step of judging a state, wherein print data remains on the volatile memory by the second step, and the main power switch is turned on.
When it is determined that the printer is in this state, the state flag on the rewritable non-volatile memory is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred.

Further, in the printer control method, a step of checking a status flag on the rewritable nonvolatile memory at the time of start-up, and the status flag having a value indicating that power-off has occurred in this step. And a step of performing a predetermined error process when it is determined that

In the present specification, the term "means" does not simply mean physical means, but also includes the case where the functions of the means are realized by software. Further, the function of one means may be realized by two or more physical means, or the functions of two or more means may be realized by one physical means.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a printer 1 according to this embodiment. This printer 1
It operates by receiving power supply from a power supply inlet (not shown) connected via the power cable 11.

The internal power supply unit 12 has a power cable 11
The external power supplied via the converter is converted into a power suitable for operating each internal device. In this embodiment,
The internal power supply unit 12 obtains a circuit system power supply (for example, 5V DC power supply) and a drive system power supply (for example, 42V DC power supply) from an external power supply (for example, 100V AC power supply) to control the controller 1.
3 and the print engine 14 respectively. The internal power supply unit 12 also includes a print engine 14
It monitors the state of the drive system power supply supplied to. Specifically, the internal power supply unit 12 monitors whether the voltage of the drive system power supply has dropped below a specified voltage, and when it detects that the voltage has dropped below the specified voltage, it interrupts the control device 13 in terms of hardware.

The power supplied to the internal power supply unit 12 is
It is turned on / off by the main power switch 15. That is, when the user turns on the main power switch 15, the printer 1 becomes ready to print after performing a predetermined initialization operation and waits for a print request from the host computer. When the user turns off the main power switch 15, the supplied power is cut off and the printer 1 stops all operations.

A signal line 16 for monitoring the state (ON / OFF) of the switch is wired to the main power switch 15, and the signal line 16 is a switch discrimination circuit formed on the controller 13. It is connected to 17.

The control device 13 is operated by the circuit system power supplied from the internal power supply unit 12 and controls the printer 1 as a whole. The control device 13 receives print data on the host computer in the form of print job data, interprets the print data to generate image data, and supplies it to the print engine 14 while controlling the print engine 14. Details of the control device 13 will be described later.

The print engine 14 is operated by the drive system power supplied from the internal power supply unit 12, and under the control of the controller 13, the print engine 14 visualizes the printing paper based on the image data supplied from the controller 13. Processing is performed to form a visible image of the recording material on the printing paper. The print engine 14 is mainly composed of mechanical members for visualization processing. Specifically, the print engine 14 includes a print head that records on a print sheet, a carriage that mounts the print head, a transport roller that transports the print sheet, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the control device 13 according to this embodiment.

The processor 21 executes various control programs stored in the ROM 22 while using the RAM 23 functioning as a main storage device, and controls the printer 1 as a whole. In other words, various control programs can be executed by the processor 21 to cause the printer 1 to realize a predetermined function in cooperation with other hardware elements. In the present embodiment, a print job data interpretation function for generating image data from print job data, a print control function for controlling the print engine 14, a user interface function for providing a user with an interactive operation environment, and the like are realized.

The rewritable non-volatile memory 24 stores data to be held even when the printer 1 is stopped without being supplied with power, such as when the main power switch is OFF. Examples of such data include print setting data and the like. In the present embodiment, data indicating whether or not power failure has occurred is stored in a predetermined area of the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24, and the processor 2
1 uses this area as a flag. For example, if this area is "1", the flag indicates that there is an unexpected power failure, and if it is "0", it is not.

Note that the processor 21 may directly access the rewritable non-volatile memory 24 when processing such data, or may transfer the rewritable non-volatile memory 24 to the RAM 23 and access it there before the printer 1 is stopped. Alternatively, the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 may be saved.

The external interface circuit 25 communicates with a host computer connected via a communication cable to receive print job data. The connection method with the host computer may be a network connection method, a serial or parallel connection method, and can be selectively used as appropriate. In this case, it is preferable that the printer 1 and the host computer bidirectionally communicate with each other so that the printer 1 can send status information and the like to the host computer. This is to notify the host computer of information regarding the status of the printer 1. The status information includes print progress information such as the page number being printed, and error information such as paper exhaustion and ink exhaustion. Further, it is more preferable that the information indicating that the power failure unexpected by the user has been transmitted to the host computer as a kind of status information. When the external interface circuit 25 receives the print job data, the external interface circuit 25 temporarily stores the print job data in a reception buffer (not shown), and the R function is performed by the DMA function at appropriate timing.
Transfer to AM23.

The image memory 26 is a memory for temporarily storing the image data generated from the print job data by the print job data interpretation function.
That is, the processor 21 interprets the print job data stored in the RAM 23, generates image data, and writes the image data in the image memory 26. The image memory 26 has a predetermined bandwidth (for example, one page)
The image data of can be stored. If the printer 1 is of a color type, an image memory 26 for each color component such as YMCK is prepared.

The engine controller 27 drives and controls the mechanical members constituting the print engine 14. The engine controller 27 has an image memory 26.
When the image data for the predetermined bandwidth is generated, the image data is read out and supplied to the print engine 14 while controlling the print engine 14 to realize printing on the printing paper.

The user interface circuit 28 is for controlling a user interface realized by a liquid crystal panel and various buttons provided in the main body of the printer 1. As a result, the printer 1 provides the user with an interactive operating environment under the control of the processor 21.

As described above, the switch discrimination circuit 17 is a circuit for discriminating the state (ON or OFF state) of the main power switch 15. Switch discrimination circuit 1
The determination result of 7 is referred to by the processor 21 (control program).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the main power switch 15 according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the main power switch 15 is composed of two open / close switches 151 and 152 which are interlocked with each other. The open / close switch 151 is for switching ON / OFF of an external power supply to be supplied to the internal power supply unit 12, and is provided on the outer surface of the housing of the printer 1 so as to be operated by the user.

The open / close switch 152 reproduces the ON / OFF state of the open / close switch 151 as it is, and forms a part of the switch discrimination circuit 17.
In order to reproduce the ON / OFF state of the open / close switch 151 as it is, the open / close switches 151 and 152 are connected by the connecting member 153. That is, when the user operates the open / close switch 151 as the operation of the main power switch 15 (for example, turned on), the open / close switch 152 is switched in conjunction with it.

When the open / close switch 152 is in the ON state, a closed circuit is formed internally, so the switch discrimination circuit 1
Reference numeral 7 is an opening / closing switch 151, that is, a main power switch 15
Is determined to be in the ON state, and a value indicating the ON state (for example, "1") is held, while the open / close switch 152 is turned on.
In the FF state, the circuit is internally opened, and the switch determination circuit 17 determines that the main power switch 15 is in the OFF state, and holds the value indicating the OFF state (for example, "0"). Such a switch discrimination circuit 17 is mainly composed of a flip-flop circuit.

When the main power switch 15 is turned off, power is not supplied to the internal power supply unit 12 and the operation of the control device 13 is stopped, so that the switch discrimination circuit 17 itself also functions. I will not do it. Therefore, the switch determination circuit 17 includes a backup capacitor that prevents the function from immediately stopping even when the switch determination circuit 17 is turned off.

Next, the operation of the printer 1 when the power is cut off will be described. The printer 1 may be powered off when the user turns off the main power switch 15 or when an unexpected power failure (including a momentary power failure) occurs.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the process for powering off in the printer 1 according to this embodiment. This process may be realized by a control program executed on the control device 13 when the printer 1 is started up, or may be realized as firmware for ensuring high speed operation.

That is, during operation, the control device 13 monitors the interruption due to the voltage drop from the internal power supply unit 12 (STEP 401). When the control device 13 detects this interrupt (Yes in STEP 401), it determines that the power is cut off and saves the setting data in the RAM 23 to the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 (STEP).
402).

Subsequently, the control device 13 checks whether or not the unprocessed print data remains in the RAM 23 or the image memory 26 (STEP403). here,
The print data is meant to include print job data in the reception buffer formed in the external interface 25 or the RAM 23 and image data in the image memory 26. The control device 13 manages the execution position for the print data by the execution pointer for the print processing,
If the execution pointer does not indicate the end of the print data, it is determined that the unprocessed print data remains.

When the control device 13 determines that unprocessed print data remains (Yes in STEP 403),
The value held by the switch discrimination circuit 17 is referred to (ST
EP404), the state of the main power switch 15 is determined (STEP405). That is, the control device 13 determines that the main power switch 15 is in the ON state if the switch determination circuit 17 holds "1", and the OFF state if it holds "0". to decide. Controller 13
When it is determined that the main power switch 15 is in the ON state, the flag value of the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 is set to ON (“1”) (STEP 406).

The above-described processing is performed by the internal power supply unit 12
Is performed in a transitional state from when the voltage drop of the drive system power supply is detected until the voltage required for operation is no longer secured. That is, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the flow of processing when the power is cut off together with the voltage transition.

As shown in the figure, when the drive system power supply falls below the specified voltage, an interrupt occurs and the control device 13 detects this ((1) in the figure). With this voltage, the control device 13 that operates with the circuit power supply is not affected and can operate normally. The control device 13 saves the current setting data in the RAM 23 to the writable non-volatile memory 24 ((2) in the figure) and checks whether the print data remains ((3) in the figure). When the control device 13 determines that the print data remains, the control device 13 further adds the main power switch 15
The ON / OFF state of is checked, and when it is judged that this is the ON state, the flag is set to ON (“1”) ((4) in the figure). In this way, the printer 1 holds that the power cutoff unexpected by the user has occurred between the time when the power cutoff is detected and the time when the printer 1 becomes inoperable.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of processing when the printer 1 according to this embodiment is powered on. As shown in the figure, when power supply is started and the control device 13 is activated, the control device 13 first checks the value of the flag of the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 (STEP 601). When the control device 13 determines that the value of the flag is OFF (“0”) (ST
Yes of EP602), the normal printer initial operation is performed (STEP603). The initial operation of the printer is, for example, an operation check of the print engine 14. On the other hand, when the control device 13 determines that the value of the flag is ON (“1”), it displays error information on the user interface and performs error processing such as prompting the user to confirm (STEP 604). ).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the error processing routine in STEP 604. In this error processing, the control device 13 controls the user interface to display a confirmation message together with a message indicating that an unexpected power-off has occurred (STEP 701). In this case, the control device 13 may send error status information to the host computer to notify the error not only on the user interface on the printer 1 but also on the host computer. Next, the control device 13 enters a standby state until the user gives a confirmation instruction (STEPs 702 to 70).
2). In this standby state, the control device 13 discards the print job data transmitted from the host computer so that the internal print processing is not performed. Upon receiving a confirmation instruction from the user via the user interface, the control device 13 controls to start receiving new print job data (STEP 704).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the power is cut off, it is checked whether or not the print data remains in the RAM 23 or the like until the operation of the printer 1 is completely stopped. Then, the ON / OFF state of the main power switch 15 is checked. In this case, RA
If print data remains in M23 or the like and the main power switch 15 is still in the ON state, it is considered that a power failure unexpected to the user has occurred, and the flag on the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 is It is set to ON.
Therefore, next time the printer 1 is started up, it is possible to check whether or not a power failure unexpected by the user has occurred by referring to the value of this flag, and if so, do not immediately continue the operation. The user can be warned.

The above embodiment is an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention only to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist thereof. For example, in the above-mentioned flow chart, the flow of various r has been described sequentially, but the flow is not particularly limited to this. Therefore,
As long as there is no contradiction in the operation, the order of processing may be changed or the operation may be performed in parallel.

[0049]

According to the present invention, when a power trouble unexpected by the user occurs in the state where the data to be printed remains, and the power is then re-supplied, the fact can be notified to the user. become able to. Therefore, such notification makes it possible to prevent undesired printing such as missing or misalignment of data to be printed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a main power switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for powering off the printer according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the flow of processing when the power is turned off in the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention together with the voltage transition.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing when the power is turned on in the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an example of an error processing routine in STEP 604.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 ... Printer 11 ... Power cable 12 ... Internal power supply unit 13 ... Control device 14 ... Print engine 15 ... Main power switch 16 ... Signal line 17 ... Switch discrimination circuit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A voltage drop of a power supply to be supplied is monitored, and when the voltage drop occurs, whether or not unprocessed print data remains in the volatile memory before the operation is stopped. Check whether or not the main power switch is O
A printer for checking the N / OFF state, wherein when unprocessed print data remains in the volatile memory and the main power switch is in the ON state, a state flag in the rewritable nonvolatile memory Is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred. 2. An internal power supply unit for obtaining a circuit system power supply and a drive system power supply from an external power supply unit, a main power supply switch provided between the power supply unit and the internal power supply unit, and the internal power supply. A control circuit having at least a volatile memory that operates by a circuit system power supply supplied from a supply unit and that temporarily holds print data and a rewritable nonvolatile memory that holds a flag indicating whether or not a power failure has occurred. It is operated by a configured control device and a drive system power supply supplied from the internal power supply unit, and under the control of the control device, a visible image is formed on a print sheet based on print data supplied from the control device. A print engine for performing a conversion process, a power supply state monitoring unit for monitoring a state of a drive system power supply obtained by the internal power supply unit, and an ON / OFF state of the main power supply switch Switch determining means for determining, and the monitoring means determines that the state of the drive system power source is below a predetermined value, and the switch state determining means determines that the main power source switch is in the on state. In this case, the printer is characterized in that the status flag on the rewritable nonvolatile memory is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred. 3. The printer further comprises residual data detection means for detecting whether or not print data remains in the volatile memory, and the print data remains in the volatile memory by the residual data detection means. 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein a status flag on the rewritable non-volatile memory is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred when it is determined that the power is cut off. 4. The printer checks the value of a status flag on the rewritable non-volatile memory at the time of start-up, and if the status flag is set to a value indicating that power failure has occurred. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer performs predetermined error processing. 5. The printer according to claim 4, wherein the printer notifies that power-off has occurred as a predetermined error process. 6. A method of controlling a printer which operates by receiving power from the outside, the first step of determining whether or not the state of the power supplied to operate the printer is below a predetermined value. When it is determined in the first step that the print data is equal to or less than the predetermined value, it is determined whether the print data remains in the volatile memory and the main power switch is turned ON / O.
A second step of determining the state of the FF, wherein the second step determines that the print data remains in the volatile memory and the main power switch is in the ON state. A method of controlling a printer, further comprising: setting a status flag on a rewritable nonvolatile memory to a value indicating that power failure has occurred. 7. A step of checking a status flag on the rewritable non-volatile memory at the time of start-up, and when the status flag is determined by this step to be a value indicating that power failure has occurred, 7. The printer control method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of performing a predetermined error process.