JP2008162168A - Log data recording apparatus, log data recording method and log data recording program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a log data recording apparatus capable of recording log data with an inexpensive constitution without decreasing printing speed, a log data recording method, and a log data recording program. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 is equipped with a non-volatile HDD 20 and a volatile RAM 22 which can write data at a higher speed than the HDD 20. During image forming operation of the image forming apparatus 10, the log data generated in a parent process and in a child process are stored in the RAM 22. When the image forming apparatus 10 is stopped in such cases as a case where power source off for the image forming apparatus 10 is indicated and a case where an obstacle is generated, the log data stored in the RAM 22 are stored in the HDD 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a log data recording device, a log data recording method, and a log data recording program. More specifically, the present invention relates to a log data recording device for recording log data including various statuses relating to the operation of an image forming apparatus, and log data recording. The present invention relates to a method and a log data recording program.

  Conventionally, log data including various statuses relating to operations during image formation is recorded in a storage device so that the situation can be confirmed when a failure or the like occurs during the operation of an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile. An apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

As a storage device for storing log data, for example, there is a hard disk drive or the like. For example, a high-speed and high-productivity high-speed color continuous paper printer that prints images on continuous paper by an electrophotographic method is used. In such a case, there is a problem in that the amount of log data increases, and the printing operation of the log data becomes an unexpected load and the printing speed decreases.
JP 2004-122448 A

  Although there is a non-volatile memory and a storage device that is faster than a hard disk drive, it is very expensive when compared with the same storage capacity. In addition, if log data is stored in a volatile memory such as a RAM, the cost of the apparatus can be reduced. However, since the log data is lost when the apparatus is turned off, the situation at the time of failure is known. Requires a process such as printing on a recording sheet before the apparatus is turned off.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is a log data recording apparatus, log data recording method, and log data recording capable of recording log data without reducing the printing speed with an inexpensive configuration. The purpose is to provide a program.

  In order to achieve the above object, a log data recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a non-volatile first storage unit and a volatile first unit capable of writing data faster than the first storage unit. 2 storage means, log data generation means for generating log data relating to the image forming apparatus, and during the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the log data is stored in the second storage means, and the image forming operation is performed. Control means for storing the log data stored in the second storage means in the first storage means at a predetermined timing other than the inside.

  According to the present invention, the control means is volatile so that the log data generated by the log data generation means can be written at higher speed than the nonvolatile first storage means during the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus. The log data stored in the second storage unit and stored in the second storage unit at a predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation is stored in the first storage unit.

  Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the speed of the image forming operation from being lowered by the log data recording operation.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the predetermined timing may be configured when an instruction to turn off the power of the image forming apparatus is given or when a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control unit stops the log data generation by the log data generation unit, and then stores the log data stored in the second storage unit in the first storage. You may make it memorize | store in a means. Thereby, loss of log data can be prevented.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the control unit causes the second storage unit to store at least a part of log data stored in the first storage unit when the image forming apparatus is activated. You may do it.

  In this case, as described in claim 5, the control unit stores at least a part of the log data stored in the first storage unit in the second storage unit when the image forming apparatus is activated. Then, generation of log data by the log data generation means may be started. Thereby, loss of log data can be prevented.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, when the image forming apparatus is activated, the control unit stores log data related to the control of the control unit in the first storage unit, and the first storage unit After storing at least a part of the log data stored in the second storage means, the log data related to the control may be stored in the second storage means.

  Further, when the amount of log data related to the control of the control means is small, as described in claim 7, the control means always stores the log data related to the control of the control means in the first storage means. You may do it.

  In addition, when there is no need to store log data related to the control of the control means in the first storage means, the control means, as described in claim 8, the log data related to the control of the control means. You may make it not memorize | store in the said 1st memory | storage means.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a log data recording method for generating log data relating to an image forming apparatus, and during the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the log data is faster than the nonvolatile first storage means. Data is stored in a writable second storage device, and log data stored in the second storage device is stored in the first storage device at a predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, during the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the generated log data is stored in the volatile second storage unit capable of writing data faster than the nonvolatile first storage unit. Since the log data stored in the second storage unit is stored in the first storage unit at a predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation, the speed of the image forming operation is prevented from being reduced by the log data recording operation. be able to.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a log data recording program for generating log data relating to an image forming apparatus, and storing the log data in a non-volatile first storage unit during an image forming operation of the image forming apparatus. The data is stored in a volatile second storage means capable of writing data at high speed, and the log data stored in the second storage means is stored in the first storage means at a predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation. A log data recording program for causing a computer to execute processing including the step of storing.

  According to the present invention, during the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the generated log data is stored in the volatile second storage unit capable of writing data faster than the nonvolatile first storage unit. Since the log data stored in the second storage unit is stored in the first storage unit at a predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation, the speed of the image forming operation is prevented from being reduced by the log data recording operation. be able to.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to record log data without reducing the printing speed with an inexpensive configuration.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a control unit 12, a UI (user interface) panel 14, an image output unit 16, and the like.

  The control unit 12 controls the printing operation by outputting print data to the image output unit 16 according to an instruction from the host computer 40 or according to an instruction by a user operation on the UI panel 14.

  In the present embodiment, for example, the image output unit 16 performs printing by electrophotography, for example, but is not limited thereto. In the electrophotographic system, a latent image corresponding to an image is formed on the photosensitive member by scanning the photosensitive member with a laser beam modulated according to the image, and this is developed with toner and transferred to a recording sheet.

  The control unit 12 includes a CPU 18, an HDD (hard disk drive) 20, a RAM 22, a UI control unit 24, an IOT (image output unit) control unit 26, a communication control unit 28, and the like. These units are connected to each other via a bus 30.

  As an example, the HDD 20 that is a non-volatile storage device includes storage areas such as a spool area 20A, a log data storage area 20B, and a system area 20C. The HDD 20 has a storage capacity that is at least larger than that of the RAM 22.

  The spool area 20A is an area for temporarily storing print data or the like input from the host computer 40 via the communication control unit 28.

  Although details will be described later, the log data storage area 20B is an area for storing log data generated for an image forming operation or the like.

  The system area 20C is an area in which an operating system for controlling the image forming operation and various programs operating on the operating system are stored. In the present embodiment, as an example, a case will be described in which image forming processing is executed using a multitask operating system capable of simultaneously executing a plurality of processes (tasks) as an operating system.

  The RAM 22, which is a volatile storage device, includes storage areas such as a log data writing area 22A, a work area 22B, and a program load area 22C as an example. The RAM 22 has a data writing speed faster than at least the HDD 20.

  The log data writing area 22A is an area in which various log data generated during, for example, an image forming operation is written.

  The work area 22B is an area used when each process described later is executed.

  The program load area 22C is an area into which an operating system and a program for executing each process are read. The CPU 18 executes processing in accordance with the program read into the program load area 22C.

  The RAM 22 may be a DRAM (Dynamic RAM), for example, but is not limited thereto, and other volatile memories such as an SRAM (Static RAM) and an SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) may be used.

  FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the control unit 12. As shown in the figure, the control unit 12 includes functional blocks such as a printer status management unit 50, a GUI management unit 52, an input control unit 54, a print data generation unit 56, an output control unit 58, and an IOT management unit 60. And each is connected to each other. Each of these units is a functional unit that executes each process on the multitask operating system in this embodiment.

  The printer status management unit 50 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing printer status management processing. For example, the status of the image output unit 16, the out of paper or toner that occurs in the image forming operation executed by the image output unit 16. Status information such as the degree of wear of consumables is managed and output as log data. In this embodiment, as an example, a case where the process for performing the printer status management process is set as a parent process and the process for managing other child processes is also performed, but a function unit for executing the parent process is provided separately. Also good.

  The GUI management unit 52 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing GUI management processing. For example, the GUI management unit 52 manages status information related to the operation of the UI panel 14 by a user and outputs it as log data.

  The input control unit 54 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing input control processing. For example, the input control unit 54 manages status information related to reception of print data input from the host computer 40 and outputs it as log data.

  The print data generation unit 56 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing print data generation processing, and print data obtained by converting print data described in, for example, a page description language input from the input control unit 54 into raster data or the like. Status information relating to generation of print data as in the case of generation is managed, and this is output as log data.

  The output control unit 58 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing output control processing. For example, the page of the print data generated by the print data generation unit 56, such as how many pages have been output to the IOT management unit 60, is displayed. Manages status information related to output and outputs it as log data.

  The IOT management unit 60 is a functional unit that executes a process for performing image output control processing. For example, the IOT management unit 60 manages status information about a series of image forming operations by the image output unit 16 and abnormalities that have occurred in the image output unit 16, and the like. Is output as log data.

  In the present embodiment, as an example, a case where a process executed by each unit of the GUI management unit 52, the input control unit 54, the print data generation unit 56, the output control unit 58, and the IOT management unit 60 is a child process. explain.

  The parent process and the child process output log data each time an event for which log data should be output occurs in each functional unit.

  Next, as an operation of the present embodiment, processing executed by the control unit 12 when the image forming apparatus 10 is started and stopped will be described with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  First, processing executed when the image forming apparatus 10 is started will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. This process is executed by the parent process when the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on.

  In step 100, the printer status management process as the parent process is started. In step 102, if log data is generated by the execution of the parent process, it is recorded in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20.

  In step 104, the writing of the log data of the parent process to the HDD 20 is temporarily stopped. In step 106, the log data recorded in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20 is read and written to the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22. . Note that log data generated in the parent process after pausing writing of log data is preferably temporarily stored internally.

  In step 108, it is determined whether or not all of the log data recorded in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20 has been written in the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22. If not all of the log data has been completed, the process ends. Copy log data up to.

  If all of the log data recorded in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20 has been written to the log data write area 22A of the RAM 22, the child process is started in step 110. That is, the child processes executed by the GUI management unit 52, the input control unit 54, the print data generation unit 56, the output control unit 58, and the IOT management unit 60 are sequentially activated.

  In step 112, it is determined whether or not all the child processes have been activated. If all the child processes have not been activated, the process returns to step 110 to activate the unactivated child processes. When all the child processes are activated, the print process can be executed. When print data is input from the host computer 40, the print process is executed.

  If all the child processes are started, in step 114, the log data write target generated in the parent process is changed to RAM. At this time, if the log data generated after the temporary stop of the writing of the log data in step 104 is temporarily stored therein, the log data is written in the log data writing area 22 A of the RAM 22.

  Thereafter, the parent process and the child process write the log data generated by the execution of each process into the log data writing area 22 </ b> A of the RAM 22.

  As described above, in this embodiment, after all the child processes are activated and the image forming operation is enabled, the log data is written in the RAM 22 in which data can be written at high speed. For this reason, for example, even when log data is recorded by an image forming apparatus such as a high-speed color continuous paper printer that prints images on continuous paper, it is possible to suppress a reduction in printing speed and reduce productivity. Can be prevented.

  In this embodiment, since the log data stored in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20 is copied to the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22 when the image forming apparatus 10 is started, the child process is started. For example, when the log data is copied from the beginning of the log data writing area 22A, the log data already written in the log data writing area 22A by the child process is lost ( Overwriting) can be prevented.

  Next, processing executed when the image forming apparatus 10 is stopped will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. This process is executed by the parent process when the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on.

  First, in step 200, it is determined whether or not the parent process has received a stop signal indicating that the apparatus should be stopped from the child process. The stop signal is output from the GUI management unit 52, for example, when the user gives an instruction to turn off the power by operating the UI panel, or the image output unit 16 does not stop a device such as a paper jam or out of toner. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is output to the parent process when a state in which the apparatus should be stopped occurs.

  If the parent process receives a stop signal, the process proceeds to step 202. In step 202, the child process is stopped, and in step 204, it is determined whether all the child processes are stopped. If all the child processes have not been stopped, the process returns to step 202 to stop the child processes that have not been stopped.

  As described above, after the child processes are sequentially stopped, in step 206, writing of the log data of the parent process to the RAM 22 is temporarily stopped, and in step 208, the log recorded in the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22 is recorded. Data is read out and written to the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20. Note that log data generated in the parent process after pausing writing of log data is preferably temporarily stored internally.

  In step 210, it is determined whether or not all the log data recorded in the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22 has been written in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20. Copy log data up to.

  When all of the log data recorded in the log data writing area 22A of the RAM 22 has been written to the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20, the write target of log data generated in the parent process is changed to the HDD in step 212. To do. At this time, if the log data generated after the suspension of writing log data in step 206 is temporarily stored therein, the log data is written in the log data storage area 20B of the HDD 20. In step 214, the parent process is stopped and this routine is terminated.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when the image forming apparatus 10 is stopped, all the child processes are stopped and then the log data stored in the RAM 22 is copied to the HDD 20, so that loss of the log data can be prevented. .

  In the present embodiment, the log data is copied from the RAM 22 to the HDD 20 when a state in which the apparatus should be stopped occurs, such as when the apparatus is turned off or when an abnormality occurs. However, there is a pause period between image forming operations. In some cases, log data may be copied during that period.

  In this embodiment, log data generated in the parent process is also stored in the RAM 22. However, when the amount of generated log data is such that the print speed does not decrease, the log data is always stored in the HDD 20. Data may be recorded. In the case of log data that does not need to be recorded in the HDD 20, the log data may not be written in the HDD 20. The same applies to the child process.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the image forming process is executed using a multitask operating system capable of executing a plurality of tasks simultaneously in parallel as the operating system has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to the case where the image forming process is executed by the above.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of processing executed when the image forming apparatus is activated. 5 is a flowchart of processing executed when the image forming apparatus is stopped.

Explanation of symbols

10 Image forming apparatus 12 Control unit (log data recording apparatus)
14 UI panel 16 Image output unit 18 RAM
20 RAM
20A Spool area 20B Log data storage area (first storage means)
20C system area 22 HDD
22A Log data writing area (second storage means)
22B Work area 22C Program load area 24 UI control unit 26 IOT control unit 28 Communication control unit 40 Host computer 50 Printer status management unit (control means)
52 GUI management unit (log data generation means)
54 Input control unit (log data generating means)
56 Print data generation unit (log data generation means)
58 Output control unit (log data generation means)
60 IOT management unit (log data generation means)

Claims (10)

Non-volatile first storage means;
Volatile second storage means capable of writing data faster than the first storage means;
Log data generating means for generating log data relating to the image forming apparatus;
During the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the log data is stored in the second storage unit, and the log data stored in the second storage unit is stored at the predetermined timing other than during the image forming operation. Control means for storing in the first storage means;
A log data recording device.   The log data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined timing is when a power-off instruction is given to the image forming apparatus or when a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus.   The control means stores log data stored in the second storage means in the first storage means after stopping the generation of log data by the log data generation means. The log data recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein when the image forming apparatus is activated, at least a part of log data stored in the first storage unit is stored in the second storage unit. 4. The log data recording device according to any one of items 3.   The control unit stores at least part of the log data stored in the first storage unit in the second storage unit when the image forming apparatus is activated, and then logs data generated by the log data generation unit. The log data recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein generation of the log data is started.   When the image forming apparatus is activated, the control unit stores log data relating to the control of the control unit in the first storage unit, and at least a part of the log data stored in the first storage unit is stored. 6. The log data recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein log data relating to the control is stored in the second storage unit after being stored in the second storage unit.   6. The log data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit always stores log data related to the control of the control unit in the first storage unit.   The log data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit does not store log data related to the control of the control unit in the first storage unit. Generate log data about the image forming device,
During the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the log data is stored in a volatile second storage unit capable of writing data at a higher speed than the nonvolatile first storage unit, and other than during the image forming operation A log data recording method for storing log data stored in the second storage unit in the first storage unit at a predetermined timing. Generating log data relating to the image forming apparatus;
During the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus, the log data is stored in a volatile second storage unit capable of writing data at a higher speed than the nonvolatile first storage unit, and other than during the image forming operation Storing the log data stored in the second storage means in the first storage means at a predetermined timing of:
Log data recording program for causing a computer to execute processing including

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