JP2005123843A - Communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication apparatus easily storing and recovering communication data and image data at board replacement by utilizing an external device connected to its interface section. <P>SOLUTION: In the case of replacing a main board 20 on the occurrence of a fault, the communication apparatus (digital composite machine) is connected to a personal computer (PC) 40 by a USB cable 30, the communication apparatus transfers apparatus operating information data and communication data such as abbreviated dial / one-touch dial information or communication management recording information stored in an SRAM 3 and image data left in an image memory 5 to the PC 40. Then after the main board 20 is replaced, the data transferred to the PC 40 are re-transferred to the digital composite machine, the transferred data are stored in the SRAM 3 and the image memory 5, and the data are restored to be in the same state as that before the main board 20 is replaced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, and more particularly to a communication apparatus that can be connected to an external device such as a personal computer through an interface unit such as a USB device controller and can transmit / receive data to / from the external device.

USB is known as an interface for electronic devices, and this USB is widely used as a communication interface between personal computers and peripheral devices. A general personal computer operating system (OS) that supports USB is equipped with a USB controller as a USB host as a standard, and peripheral devices that support USB are equipped with a USB controller as a USB device.
Recently, communication devices such as digital multi-function peripherals and facsimile machines having a copying function, a facsimile function, a printing function, a scanner function, and the like have come to support such USB, and this USB can be connected to a personal computer. Thus, data exchange can be easily performed.

On the other hand, the communication apparatus as described above stores communication data such as destination telephone number data stored by one-touch dial, speed dial, etc. in a non-volatile memory built in a battery-backed communication apparatus such as SRAM or EEPROM. This non-volatile memory also stores a serial number, the total number of prints, etc., and is used for predicting the life of parts.
In addition, such a communication device also includes a memory for storing image information for efficient operation, easy operation, and high-speed communication, and transmits when performing reservation transmission or batch transmission. The image data is stored in the image storage memory and processing is performed.

  When a failure occurs in such a communication device, the maintenance company repairs it, but the main board of the main control unit may need to be replaced depending on the degree of the failure. Since this main board includes a non-volatile memory for storing communication data, etc., and an image information storage memory, if the main board is replaced, the data and images stored in the memory will be lost. Data registration / setting and image input operations were required.

  In addition, during repair work, the power is often turned off for safety, and if there is a transmission reservation or received image data in the memory, this image data will be lost. If an input operation is required, or if the received information remains, it is necessary to check the other party from the communication history and contact the other party to request retransmission. It took considerable effort to restore it to its original state.

  On the other hand, the communication device has a function for outputting various data set / registered by the user as a list, and this list allows the user to set / register again from the operation unit. It will be time-consuming work. In addition, when maintenance work is performed, the operator outputs a list, and if data is lost after the work, this data may be re-entered from the operation unit, but this work is also an inefficient work. Become.

For this reason, when performing maintenance and inspection work on communication devices, various data is converted into barcode format data and printed, and the lost data can be recovered by reading the printed barcode after maintenance and inspection. Has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-7-312664

  As described above, in the conventional communication device, when the main board is replaced, the user outputs various data as a list, and the setting data is re-set / registered based on the list output, or the setting data is stored in the barcode format. However, it is very troublesome to manually re-enter the data, and it is difficult to re-enter the data. In order to convert the data into the barcode format, there is a problem that a barcode conversion device and a barcode reading device must be provided in the communication device.

  In addition, as described above, the communication device includes an image memory for storing image data to be transmitted by facsimile. When image data for time-designated transmission or the like remains in the image memory when replacing the substrate, the substrate is replaced. Since the image in the image memory disappears, there is a problem that the image must be read again.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and a communication device that can easily store and restore setting data and image data when replacing a board by using an external device connected to the interface unit. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, a communication apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an interface unit that establishes a connection with an external device, a communication unit that is connected to a communication line, and a data storage unit that stores communication data and the like. And an image storage unit for storing the image and a control unit for controlling the respective units, and when there is a request for backup data from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit receives the request from the data storage unit. Data is read and transferred to an external device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the communication device according to the first aspect, when a backup data request is received from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit determines whether the device is in a standby state. Only when the apparatus is in a standby state, the data is read from the data storage unit and transferred to an external device.
Furthermore, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the communication device according to claim 2, the control unit prohibits the operation of the device other than the data transfer operation when the data is transferred to the external device. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the communication device according to any one of the first to third aspects, when a backup data request is received from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit Determines whether or not image data is stored in the image storage unit. When an image is stored in the image storage unit, the image data in the image storage unit is externally stored together with the data in the data storage unit. It is transferred to the device.

  According to the communication device of the first aspect of the invention, when the main board is replaced, the setting data is transferred to the external device by requesting the communication device from the interface unit, for example, the external device connected to the USB device controller. The setting data of the communication device can be easily recovered by transferring the setting data to the communication device after replacing the board.

  Further, according to the communication device of the invention according to claims 2 and 3, when there is a request for backup data from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit determines whether or not the device is in a standby state. Only when the device is in a standby state, the data is read and transferred to an external device, and the operation of the device other than the data transfer operation is prohibited. For example, when the setting data fluctuates such as during facsimile reception In this case, data transfer is not performed, and no reception operation or the like is performed during the data transfer. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the data transferred to the external device from being inconsistent with the data of the communication device.

  Further, according to the communication device of the invention according to claim 4, when there is a request for backup data from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit determines whether the image data is stored in the image storage unit. If the image is stored in the image storage unit, the image data is transferred to the external device, so that the stored image data can be prevented from being lost due to substrate replacement.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the communication apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a digital multi-function peripheral having a copy mode, a printer mode, a fax mode, and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a control system of a digital multi-function peripheral. As shown in the figure, the digital multi-function peripheral has a CPU 1, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 2, an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) 3, a RAM 4, An image memory 5, a display / operation unit 6, a reading unit 7, a recording unit 8, a codec 9, a modem 10, a network control unit NCU 11, and a USB device controller 12 are connected to each other via a bus 13. The CPU 1, ROM 2, SRAM 3, RAM 4, image memory 5, codec 9, and modem 10 are mounted on the main board 20 of the digital multi-function peripheral.

  The CPU 1 controls each hardware unit of the digital multi-function peripheral via the bus 13 and executes various programs based on the programs stored in the ROM 2. The ROM 2 stores various control programs necessary for the operation of the digital multi-function peripheral, and the SRAM 3 is a non-volatile memory for storing device information data including system data such as a subscriber telephone number and device operating condition parameters. Communication data such as a dial number and name registered for each partner, speed dial for storing capability information of the partner model, one-touch dial information, communication management record information transmitted and received, and the like are stored.

  The RAM 4 is configured by SRAM or the like, and stores temporary data generated when the program is executed. The image memory 5 is configured by using DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or the like, and image data to be transmitted or received image. Store the data.

  The display / operation unit 6 includes a display unit that displays an operation state of the digital multifunction peripheral or displays an operation screen for various functions, and a plurality of keys for operating the digital multifunction peripheral. Reads a document with a scanner using a CCD or the like and outputs dot image data converted into black and white binary. The recording unit 8 includes an electrophotographic printer or the like, and prints out the received data as a hard copy. The codec 9 compresses the image information to be transmitted by a certain encoding method, while receiving the received image data. Is restored to the original information.

The modem 10 is connected to the bus 13 and has a function as a fax modem capable of facsimile communication. The modem 10 is also connected to the NCU 11 connected to the bus 13. The NCU 11 is hardware for closing and opening an analog line, and connects the modem 10 to a telephone line as necessary.
The USB device controller 12 communicates with an external device connected to the USB terminal of the digital multi-function peripheral, receives signals and data from the external device, and transmits signals and data to the external device. Interface processing such as signal conversion and protocol conversion is executed.

  The digital multi-function peripheral has the above-described configuration. When the facsimile is transmitted, the image data of the original is read by the reading unit 7, compressed by the codec 9 and stored in the image memory 5. The compressed image data is read from the image memory 5, modulated by the modem 10, and transmitted from the NCU 11 to the communication partner through the public telephone line. At the time of facsimile reception, the received image data is demodulated by the modem 10, stored in the image memory 5, decoded by the codec 9, and printed by the recording unit 8.

  Next, the operation when the maintenance worker backs up the data stored in the SRAM 3 when the digital multifunction peripheral fails and the main board 20 is replaced will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this case, as the degree of failure, it is assumed that at least the CPU 1, ROM 2, SRAM 3, RAM 4, image memory 5 and the like necessary for the backup operation operate normally.

First, before the main board 20 is replaced, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 40 is connected to the USB device controller 12 of the digital multi-function peripheral through the USB cable 30. Then, the PC 40 is used to request the digital multi-function peripheral to transmit SRAM data.
On the other hand, when the CPU 1 of the digital multifunction peripheral receives an SRAM read request from the PC 40 (step 101), the CPU 1 determines whether or not the CPU 1 is in a standby state where facsimile transmission / reception or the like is not being executed (step 102). For example, if a facsimile is being received, the PC 40 is notified of the inability to transfer data (step 103), and the program ends.
In this case, the maintenance worker waits for the facsimile reception process to be completed, and requests the digital multi-function peripheral from the PC 40 again to transmit the SRAM data.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 102 that the apparatus is not waiting, the CPU 1 prohibits operations other than the backup data transfer operation (step 104). As a result, the facsimile reception operation is also prohibited. Next, after requesting the PC to receive data (step 105), the CPU 1 reads out device operation information data and communication data stored in the SRAM 3, and transfers them to the PC 40 via the USB device controller 12 and the USB cable 30 ( Step 106).

Next, the CPU 1 determines whether or not the received image data or image data to be transmitted remains in the image memory 5 (step 107).
When data remains in the image memory 5, the CPU 1 reads out the image data stored in the image memory 5 and transfers it to the PC 40 via the USB device controller 12 and the USB cable 30 in the same manner as described above ( Step 108).
Thereafter, the operation prohibition other than the transfer operation is canceled (step 109), and the program is terminated.

When the transfer of the backup data to the PC 40 is completed, the maintenance worker replaces the main board 20 and then retransfers the data transferred to the PC 40 to the digital multifunction peripheral to restore the data. The operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The maintenance worker connects the personal computer (PC) 40 to the USB device controller 12 of the digital multi-function peripheral again with the USB cable 30 and then requests the digital multi-function peripheral to receive SRAM data using the PC 40. .

When the CPU 1 of the digital multi-function peripheral receives an SRAM write request from the PC 40 (step 201), the CPU 1 determines whether or not the self-machine is in a standby state in which facsimile transmission / reception or the like is not being performed, as in the case of data transmission (step S201). Step 202). For example, if a facsimile is being received, the PC 40 is notified of the impossibility of data transfer (step 203), and the program ends.
Note that during failure repair for replacing the main board, the telephone line is usually disconnected and the work is often performed. Therefore, the apparatus will not be on standby at this stage for reasons such as facsimile reception.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 202 that it is not waiting, the CPU 1 prohibits operations other than the backup data reception operation (step 204), and then makes a data transmission request to the PC 40 (step 205). . Then, if data such as communication data is transferred from the PC 40, and if image data is transferred, the transferred data is stored in the SRAM 3 and the image memory 5 (step 206). Thereby, data is restored to the same state as before the main board replacement.
Next, the CPU 1 performs a reset process of the digital multifunction peripheral, and a restart process similar to that performed when the power is turned on is executed (step 207).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a communication flow at the time of transferring and restoring the above data. At the time of data transfer, the digital multi-function peripheral makes a request for data reception to the PC by making an SRAM data transmission request from the PC to the digital multi-function peripheral. Thereafter, the SRAM data and the image data are transferred. At the time of restoration, after the SRAM data reception request is made from the PC, the digital multi-function peripheral makes a data transmission request, whereby the SRAM data and the image data are sent from the PC.

  As described above, by requesting backup data from the personal computer connected to the USB terminal when replacing the main board to the digital multi-function peripheral, various data can be stored in the personal computer. By transferring to the digital multi-function peripheral, the data of the digital multi-function peripheral can be easily recovered.

  Also, data is transferred to the personal computer only when the digital multi-function peripheral is in a standby state, and other than the transfer operation is prohibited at the time of transfer. For example, if the setting data fluctuates such as during facsimile reception, the data Thus, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the data transferred to the personal computer after data restoration is different from the data of the digital multi-function peripheral.

  Furthermore, when image data is stored in the image storage unit of the digital multi-function peripheral, the image data is also transferred to the personal computer, so that the stored image data is prevented from being lost by replacing the board. Can do.

  In the above embodiment, the USB device controller is used as the interface unit. However, various other interface units can be used, and in the above embodiment, the communication apparatus of the present invention has a copying function and a facsimile function. Although an example in which the present invention is applied to a digital multifunction machine having a print function, a scanner function, etc. has been described, the communication apparatus of the present invention can also be applied to a normal facsimile apparatus.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the digital multifunctional device which implemented the communication apparatus of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when data is transferred from a digital multifunction peripheral to a PC. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when data is restored by transmitting data from a PC to a digital multi-function peripheral. It is a figure which shows the communication flow at the time of the transfer of data, and a decompression | restoration.

Explanation of symbols

1 CPU
2 ROM
3 SRAM
4 RAM
5 Image Memory 6 Display / Operation Unit 7 Reading Unit 8 Recording Unit 9 Codec 10 Modem 11 NCU
12 USB device controller 13 Bus 20 Main board 30 USB cable 40 Personal computer (PC)

Claims (4)

  An interface unit that establishes a connection with an external device, a communication unit connected to a communication line, a data storage unit that stores communication data, an image storage unit that stores images, and a control unit that controls each of the above units And when the backup data is requested from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit reads the data from the data storage unit and transfers the data to the external device.   In the communication device according to claim 1, when there is a request for backup data from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit determines whether the device is in a standby state, and the device is in a standby state. Only when the data is read from the data storage unit and transferred to an external device.   3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the data is transferred to an external device, the control unit prohibits the operation of the apparatus other than the data transfer operation.   4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein when a backup data request is received from an external device connected to the interface unit, the control unit stores image data in the image storage unit. The image data stored in the image storage unit is transferred to the external device together with the data stored in the data storage unit when the image is stored in the image storage unit. apparatus.

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