JP2009111552A - Multifunction machine system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a printing device having a scanner portion and a printer portion to give notice of the cause of trouble more reliably in such a case. <P>SOLUTION: The printing device has the scanner portion and printer portion which are connected together through a scanner control cable, the scanner portion has a scanner drive circuit for driving a scanner engine and a console panel for displaying state information on the printing device and receiving input to the printing device. Then the printer portion includes a printer drive circuit for driving a printer engine, a printer control circuit for controlling the printer drive circuit, a scanner control circuit for controlling the scanner drive circuit through the scanner control cable, a console panel control circuit for controlling the console panel through the scanner control cable, a backup display panel for displaying the state information on the printing device, and a backup display control circuit for controlling the backup display panel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a multifunction machine system having a scanner function.

  There is a printing apparatus (so-called “multifunction machine”) having a scanner function. Some printing apparatuses have a scanner unit and a printer unit as separate housings. In such a printing apparatus, the scanner unit mainly stores mechanical components of a scanner function such as a scanner engine and a scanner engine drive circuit. On the other hand, in addition to the mechanical components of the printer function such as the printer engine and the printer drive circuit, the printer unit also stores a main controller for controlling the whole including the scanner unit and the printer unit, a power supply unit, and the like. Has been.

  The printer unit and the scanner unit are connected by a cable (referred to as a “scanner control cable”), and the main controller of the printer unit controls the scanner unit via this cable.

  Further, from the viewpoint of space saving, the scanner unit is usually disposed on the printer unit. The operation panel is installed on the scanner unit side from the viewpoint of user visibility and operability. In addition, a mounting connector for a portable recording medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory is usually installed on the scanner unit side.

JP-A-2005-331871

  When the power is turned on (on), the above-mentioned printing apparatus turns on the LED of the operation panel, starts displaying the LCD (liquid crystal display device) of the operation panel, starts the initialization of the printer function, and the scanner function If there is no problem, it will be ready for use.

  However, if the power is turned on without noticing that the scanner control cable has been disconnected, the LED on the operation panel will not light up and the LCD will not be displayed. I do not understand. Also, I don't know why the operation panel does not start up, such as a malfunction of the operation panel, a problem with the scanner control cable, a problem with the main controller in the printer, a problem with the printer engine, or a problem with the scanner engine. .

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for more reliably and promptly informing the cause of a malfunction even when a malfunction occurs in a printing apparatus including a scanner unit and a printer unit.

  In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention is a multi-function device system including a scanner unit and a printer unit, and the scanner unit and the printer unit are connected via a scanner control cable. The scanner unit includes a scanner driving circuit for driving a scanner engine, and an operation panel for displaying status information of the printing apparatus and receiving an input to the printing apparatus. The printer unit includes a printer driving circuit that drives a printer engine, a printer control circuit that controls the printer driving circuit, a scanner control circuit that controls the scanner driving circuit via the scanner control cable, An operation panel control circuit for controlling the operation panel via a scanner control cable, a spare display panel for displaying status information of the printing apparatus, and a spare display panel control circuit for controlling the spare display panel; .

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing apparatus (multifunction machine system) 100 to which the present embodiment is applied.

  The printing apparatus 100 is a so-called multifunction machine having a scanner function, and includes a scanner unit 110 and a printer unit 120. A facsimile function may be provided.

  The scanner unit 110 and the printer unit 120 are configured by separate housings, and the scanner unit 110 is disposed above the printer unit 120.

  The scanner unit 110 includes a light source, a lens, a scanning motor, a CCD image sensor, and the like. The scanner engine 111, a scanner engine driving circuit 112 that drives the scanner engine 111, a message to the user, and an input from the user. An operation panel 140 that accepts instructions and a USB board 142 for mounting the USB memory 145 are provided.

  The operation panel 140 includes a display device such as an LCD (liquid crystal display device) and an input device such as a hard switch and a touch panel.

  The USB board 142 includes a connector 162 for connecting to the USB host control cable 152.

  The printer unit 120 includes a printer engine 123 including a printing mechanism and a paper supply / discharge mechanism, and a printer engine drive circuit 124 that drives the printer engine 123. Further, the printer unit 120 includes a controller 121, a spare display panel 122, and a power supply unit 125.

  The controller 121 is configured by a computer including a CPU, a memory, and an interface, and as its functional units, a spare display panel control circuit 131 that controls the spare display panel 122, a scanner control circuit 132 that controls the scanner engine drive circuit 112, An operation panel control circuit 133 for controlling the operation panel 140, a scanner power supply circuit 134 for supplying power to the scanner unit 110, a printer control circuit 135 for controlling the printer engine drive circuit 124, and a USB for controlling the USB board 142. A host control circuit 136.

  That is, the printer unit 120 stores a control circuit related to the scanner function and a control circuit related to the entire printing apparatus 100 in addition to the control circuit related to the printer function.

  The preliminary display panel 122 is provided to inform the user of the state of the printing apparatus 100 even when the state of the printing apparatus 100 cannot be displayed on the operation panel 140 due to a connection failure between the printer unit 120 and the scanner unit 110. It has been. Therefore, it is only necessary to perform a minimum warning display, and it is not necessary to provide an advanced display device as high as the operation panel 140.

  FIG. 2 is a view showing the appearance of the preliminary display panel 122.

  The preliminary display panel 122 according to the present embodiment includes a number of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) corresponding to the status items requiring a warning among the status items of the printing apparatus 100, and displays the status by turning on / off.

  Status items that require a warning include power status, controller malfunction, cable connection failure, printer function malfunction, scanner function malfunction, and the like.

  The controller 121 includes a connector 166 for connecting to the connector 165 on the printer unit 120 side of the scanner control cable 151. Further, a connector 168 for connecting to the connector 167 on the printer unit 120 side of the USB host control cable 152 is provided.

  The scanner unit 110 and the printer unit 120 are connected via a printer control cable 151 and a USB host control cable 152 by connecting corresponding connectors 161 to 168.

  The USB host control circuit 136 stores (writes) image data read from a document by the scanner engine 111 in the USB memory 145, stores print data in the USB memory 145, and reads print data from the USB memory 145. Process.

  The printer control circuit 135 performs processing for executing printing by the printer engine 123 using the print data read from the USB memory 145 by the USB host control circuit 136.

  That is, the USB memory 145 stores scanned data as well as data used for printing (print data).

  Each control circuit may be realized by hardware or may be realized by software.

  A characteristic operation of the printing apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 3 is a table showing the correspondence between the state of the printing apparatus 100 and the operation (lighting / extinguishing) of the spare display panel 122. As a premise, when the power is off, any of the spare display panels 122 shown in FIG. The LEDs 201 to 205 are also turned off.

  When the power from the power supply unit 125 is turned on, energization to the controller 121 is started.

  Therefore, the spare display panel control circuit 131 turns on the “LED indicating the power state” 201 of the spare display panel 122 only when energization to the controller 121 is detected. This notifies the user of the start of energization to the controller.

  When energization is started, the controller 121 performs initialization according to a predetermined procedure. The spare display panel control circuit 131 turns on the “LED indicating the controller state” 202 of the spare display panel 122 only when it is detected that the initialization of the controller 121 has been normally completed. Thereby, the user is notified of the normal end of initialization of the controller 121.

  After the initialization is completed normally, the controller 121 confirms the connection of cables (scanner control cable 151 and USB host control cable 152). The connection confirmation is performed by transmitting a response request signal to the scanner engine drive circuit 112, the operation panel 140, and the USB board 142, and detecting the presence / absence of the response signal.

  When a plurality of devices are connected to the same cable, if there is a response from one device, it can be determined that there is no problem with the cable connection and that the connection state is normal. In this embodiment, the scanner engine drive circuit 112 and the operation panel 140 are connected to the scanner control cable 151. If there is a response from any of the devices, the controller 121 may determine that the connection state is normal. However, as long as there is no response from all the devices connected to one cable, it can be set not to determine the normal connection state.

  When the controller 121 detects a normal connection state (no failure) of the cables, the spare display panel control circuit 131 turns on the “LED indicating the connection state of the cables” 203 on the spare display panel 122. As a result, the user is notified of the end of normal connection confirmation of the cables.

  When the normal connection state is confirmed, the controller 121 confirms the operation state of the printer function and the operation state of the scanner function. Any confirmation may be performed first.

  In the confirmation process of the operation state of the printer function, the controller 121 confirms connection with the printer engine drive circuit 124 and detects a malfunction of the printer engine 123. The connection confirmation is performed by transmitting a response request signal to the printer drive circuit 124 and detecting the presence or absence of a response signal. The malfunction detection of the printer engine 123 is performed by performing a predetermined diagnosis on the printer engine 123 via the printer engine driving circuit 124 after obtaining the connection confirmation and obtaining a diagnosis result.

  When the preliminary display panel control circuit 131 detects a normal operation state (no problem) of the printer function (the printer engine drive circuit 124 and the printer engine 123), the “LED indicating the printer state” 204 of the preliminary display panel 122 is displayed. Lights up. This notifies the user of the normal operating state of the printer function.

  In the confirmation process of the operation state of the scanner function, the controller 121 detects a malfunction of the scanner engine 111. The malfunction detection of the scanner engine 111 is performed by performing a predetermined diagnosis on the scanner engine 111 via the scanner engine drive circuit 112 and obtaining a diagnosis result.

  The spare display panel control circuit 131 turns on the “LED indicating the printer status” 204 of the spare display panel 122 only when it detects a normal operation state (no defect) of the scanner function. This notifies the user of the normal operating state of the printer function.

  The state of the printing apparatus 100 and the operation (lighting / extinguishing) of the preliminary display panel 122 have been described above with reference to FIG.

  When the connection with the operation panel 140 is confirmed, the operation panel control circuit 133 sends predetermined information (message, menu, etc.) to be displayed on the operation panel 140 at that time to the operation panel 140 for display.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when a warning cannot be displayed on the operation panel 140 due to poor connection of cables, the warning can be displayed on the preliminary display panel 122. Therefore, the user can surely and early know where the trouble is.

<Modification>
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, in order to detect a connection failure of the USB host control cable 152, a connection confirmation signal line 320 is provided in the USB host control cable 152, and this is used to confirm the connection. May be performed. That is, the USB host connector is usually composed of four D +, D-, _VBUS , and GND. In addition to these four, a signal for confirming connection (IP signal) is prepared, and the IP signal Check the connection status by checking the status.

  The controller 121 includes a control IC 323 that functions as a USB host. The control IC 323 is connected to the USB host control cable 152 via connectors 168 and 167. The signal line 320 for connection confirmation is grounded on the USB board 142 side.

  The control IC 323 detects whether the connection between the control IC 323 and the USB board 142 is a connection state or a disconnection state by a connection state detection element (for example, a pull-up resistor) connected to the signal line 320. The detection result of the connection state detection element 325 is stored in a register (not shown) for storing the connection state, and the control IC 323 reads the register to confirm the connection state.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operation (warning display process) in such a configuration.

  When the power is turned on (S101), the controller 121 confirms the connection of the USB host control cable 152 using the connection state confirmation signal line 320 (S102).

  When the connection state is normal (Y in S102), the process proceeds to a predetermined normal operation (S103). On the other hand, in the case of a disconnection state (N in S102) and in a normal connection state with the operation panel 140 (Y in S104), the operation panel control circuit 133 connects the USB host control cable 152 to the operation panel 140. A message indicating that the camera is not properly mounted is displayed (S105), and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, in the case of the disconnection state (N in S102) and the normal connection state with the operation panel 140 has not been established (N in S104), the spare display panel control circuit 131 displays the “connection state of cables”. The LED 203) is not turned on (S106), and the process is terminated, thereby warning the user.

  The preliminary display panel 122 may display a connection state of the USB host control cable 152, for example, including a small LCD. In this case, the spare display panel control circuit 131 displays a message on the spare display panel 122 that the USB host control cable 152 is not normally attached.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus. The figure which shows the external appearance of a preliminary display panel. The figure which shows the corresponding | compatible table | surface with the state of a printing apparatus, and the operation | movement (lighting / extinguishing) of a preliminary display panel. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram around a USB host control cable. The flowchart of a warning display process.

Explanation of symbols

100 ... printing device,
110: Scanner unit, 111: Scanner engine, 112 ... Scanner engine drive unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 120 ... Printer part, 121 ... Controller, 122 ... Preliminary display panel, 123 ... Printer engine, 124 ... Printer engine drive circuit, 125 ... Power supply unit,
131 ... Preliminary display panel control circuit, 132 ... Scanner control circuit, 133 ... Operation panel control circuit, 134 ... Scanner power supply circuit, 135 ... Printer control circuit, 136 ... USB host control circuit,
140 ... Operation panel, 142 ... USB board, 145 ... USB memory,
151 ... Scanner control cable, 152 ... USB host control cable,
161-168 ... Connector

Claims (4)

A multi-function system comprising a scanner unit and a printer unit,
The scanner unit and the printer unit are connected via a scanner control cable,
The scanner unit is
A scanner driving circuit for driving the scanner engine;
An operation panel for displaying status information of the printing apparatus and receiving input to the printing apparatus,
The printer unit is
A printer drive circuit for driving the printer engine;
A printer control circuit for controlling the printer drive circuit;
A scanner control circuit for controlling the scanner drive circuit via the scanner control cable;
An operation panel control circuit for controlling the operation panel via the scanner control cable;
A preliminary display panel for displaying status information of the printing apparatus;
And a spare display panel control circuit for controlling the spare display panel. The multifunction device system according to claim 1,
The preliminary display panel is
At least one of a power-on state, a state of each control circuit, a connection state between the printer unit and the scanner unit, a printer function state, and a scanner function state is displayed. . The multi-function device system according to claim 1 or 2,
The scanner unit is
A reading device for reading and / or writing data on a portable recording medium;
The scanner unit and the printer unit are connected via a reading device control cable,
The printer unit is
A reading device control circuit for controlling the reading device via the reading device control cable;
The reading device control cable is:
It has a signal line to detect the connection status,
The printer unit is
A detection element for detecting a connection state of the reading device control cable using the signal line;
The preliminary display panel control circuit includes:
A multifunction machine system, wherein a connection state of the reading device control cable is displayed on the operation panel or the preliminary display panel according to a detection result of the detection element. A multi-function system comprising a scanner unit and a printer unit,
The scanner unit is
A reading device for reading and / or writing data on a portable recording medium;
The scanner unit and the printer unit are connected via a reading device control cable,
The printer unit is
A reading device control circuit for controlling the reading device via the reading device control cable;
The reading device control cable is:
It has a signal line to detect the connection status,
The printer unit further includes:
A detection element for detecting a connection state of the reading device control cable using the signal line;
A multifunction device system comprising: a display unit configured to display a connection state of the reading device control cable on a display panel according to a detection result of the detection element.

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