JP2010128747A - Communication apparatus, and method and program for suppressing restoration of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication apparatus, wherein when receiving a request eliminating the necessity of a response from an external device, a control unit is not activated to thereby suppress an increase in power consumption, and to provide a method and program for suppressing restoration of the communication apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: When an IP address allocated to an image forming apparatus 1 expires (YES in step S4), a CPU 11 sets discarding of data sent from PCs 2, 3 to a network controller 14a (step S12) and shifts a normal mode to an energy saving mode (step S13). Thereby, when receiving requests eliminating the necessity of a response from the PCs 2, 3, the CPU 11 is not activated, so that the increase in power consumption can be suppressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device, a return suppression method thereof, and a program.

  Conventionally, a communication apparatus (for example, a camera) that can appropriately set an expiration date of device information is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  When the camera shifts from the normal mode to the sleep mode, the camera issues a refresh command including information indicating that the valid time of UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) information is longer than the time before the sleep mode shift. Thereafter, when the sleep mode is canceled, the camera issues a refresh command including information indicating the original valid time (for example, 5 minutes), and returns the valid time to the value before the transition to the sleep mode.

As a result, the sleep mode time does not exceed the valid time determined in advance by the communication protocol, and communication between the server on the network and the camera is prevented from being completely disconnected.
JP 2006-127230 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that can suppress an increase in power consumption without starting a control unit when a response-unnecessary request from an external device is received, a method for suppressing the return, and a program thereof It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, a communication device according to claim 1 includes a control unit that controls the operation of the entire communication device, and a communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or an external device connected to a network. When the address assigned to the communication device has expired, the unit sets the communication control unit to discard data sent from the external device, and shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. It is characterized by doing.

  The communication device according to claim 2 is the communication device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode, and an address assigned to the communication device has expired. In this case, the control unit receives only data from the router, discards data sent from the external device, and shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode again.

  The communication device according to claim 3 is the communication device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a counting unit that counts an elapsed time since the control unit has shifted to the energy saving mode, and the control unit includes the normal device. The time when the mode is shifted to the energy saving mode is stored, and the current time is calculated based on the elapsed time counted by the counting unit and the stored time when returning from the energy saving mode to the normal mode. It is characterized by doing.

  The communication device recovery suppression method according to claim 4 is a communication device recovery suppression method including a control unit and a communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or an external device connected to a network. A first step of setting the communication control unit to discard data sent from the external device when the assigned address has expired, and changing the control unit from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. And a second step of transition.

  The communication device recovery suppression method according to claim 5 is the communication device recovery suppression method according to claim 4, wherein the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode and is assigned to the communication device. When the expiration date has passed, only data from the router is received, data sent from the external device is discarded, and the control unit shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. It has a step.

  The communication device recovery suppression method according to claim 6 is the communication device recovery suppression method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the control unit counts an elapsed time after the transition to the energy saving mode. A fifth step of storing a time when the normal mode is shifted to the energy saving mode; and an elapsed time counted by the fourth step when the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode and the storage. And a sixth step of calculating the current time based on the determined time.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication device including a control unit and a communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or an external device connected to a network. A first unit for setting the communication control unit to discard the data sent from the external device, and a second unit for causing the control unit to shift from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. It is characterized by.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to suppress an increase in power consumption without starting the control unit when a request that does not require a response is received from an external device.

  According to the invention of claim 2, even when the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode, only data from the router is received and no extra processing is performed in order to receive a new address assignment. Power can be reduced.

  According to the invention of claim 3, even if the control unit shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the address assigned to the communication device has expired.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when a request that does not require a response from an external device is received, an increase in power consumption can be suppressed without starting the control unit.

  According to the invention of claim 5, even if the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode, only data from the router is received and no extra processing is performed in order to receive a new address assignment. Power can be reduced.

  According to the invention of claim 6, even if the control unit shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the address assigned to the communication device has expired.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, when a request that does not require a response from an external device is received, an increase in power consumption can be suppressed without starting the control unit.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system provided with a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The system in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus 1 as a communication apparatus, personal computers (PCs) 2 and 3, and a router 4, which are connected to each other via a network 5.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a printer, a copier, a FAX, or a multifunction peripheral (an apparatus having a print function, a copy function, and a FAX function). The image forming apparatus 1 includes a CPU 11 (control unit) that controls the entire apparatus, a program corresponding to a network handler and a system time interrupt handler, a memory 12 that stores various programs and data, and a CPU 11 that has shifted to an energy saving mode. A real time clock (RTC) unit 13 (counting unit) that counts the elapsed time of the network, and a network controller 14a (communication control unit) that performs packet communication between the image forming apparatus and the personal computer (PC) 2, 3 or router 4 Including a network interface card (NIC) 14 and an image forming unit 15 that forms an image on a recording medium such as paper or film. The CPU 11 is connected to the image forming unit 15 and the memory 12, and is connected to the RTC unit 13 and the NIC 14 via the system bus 16.

  The CPU 11 has a timer 11a that measures time. In FIG. 1, the NIC 14 is connected to the network by wire, but may be connected wirelessly.

  The router 4 is an IPv6 router and automatically sets the IP addresses of the image forming apparatus 1 and the PCs 2 and 3. Since the IP addresses assigned to the image forming apparatus 1 and the PCs 2 and 3 have an expiration date, the IP address is discarded when the expiration date expires, and a new IP address is assigned to the image forming apparatus 1 and the PCs 2 and 3. The expiration date of the IP address is notified from the router 4 when the IP address is assigned to the image forming apparatus 1.

  In the image forming apparatus 1, the CPU 11 sets a normal mode or an energy saving mode. When shifting from the normal mode to the energy saving mode, for example, the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped. Here, the modal mode is a normal operation mode, and the energy saving mode is a mode that consumes less power than the normal mode.

  By the way, when the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped (in this embodiment, this is in the energy saving mode), when the network controller 14a receives a packet for an IP address whose expiration date has passed, for example, from the PCs 2 and 3, the CPU 11 Then, the normal mode is restored from the energy saving mode, the packet is determined to be an illegal packet, and the normal mode is changed to the energy saving mode again (that is, the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped). If such processing is repeated, the power consumption of the image forming apparatus 1 increases more than necessary.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the network controller 14a filters packets sent from other devices (for example, the PCs 2 and 3) other than the router 4 that assigns the IP address to the image forming device 1 (that is, the CPU 11 uses the packet). However, even if a packet whose validity period has expired is received while the operation of the CPU 11 is stopped, the CPU 11 is not operated more than necessary.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing executed in the image forming apparatus 1.

  First, the CPU 11 is in the normal mode (that is, the normal operation mode) (step S1), and activates the RTC unit 13 in order to shift to the energy saving mode, and stores the time of the timer 11a at this time (step S2). Further, the CPU 11 performs setting so that the network handler and the system time interrupt handler do not operate (step S3).

  Next, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the expiration date of the automatically set IP address has passed the expiration date based on the expiration date of the IP address notified in advance and the time of the timer 11a (step S4). If the expiration date has passed, the IP address is discarded and a new IP address is not assigned to the image forming apparatus 1.

  If NO in step S4 (when the expiration date of the IP address has not expired), the CPU 11 stops the operation of the CPU 11 itself (step S5). That is, the CPU 11 shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. Thereafter, the network controller 14a receives a packet from the network 5 (step S6). The network controller 14a outputs a return instruction to the CPU 11, and the CPU 11 returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode (step S7). The CPU reads the elapsed time from the transition to the energy saving mode from the RTC unit 13, and adds the read elapsed time and the time of the timer 11a stored in step S2 to calculate the current time (step S8). ).

  Again, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the expiration date of the automatically set IP address has passed the expiration date based on the expiration date notified in advance and the calculated current time (step S9).

  If NO in step S9 (when the expiration date of the IP address has not expired), the CPU 11 returns the setting in step S3 to the setting for operating the network handler or system time interrupt handler (step S10). A predetermined process is executed based on the received packet (step S11), and the process returns to step S1.

  If YES in step S4 (if the IP address has expired), the CPU 11 is sent to the network controller 14a from a device other than the router 4 (for example, PCs 2 and 3). Settings are made to discard (filter) incoming packets (step S12), and the operation of the CPU 11 itself is stopped (step S13). That is, the CPU 11 shifts from the normal mode to the energy saving mode.

  Thereafter, the network controller 14a receives a packet from the network 5 (step S14), and determines whether or not the received packet is a packet from the router 4 (step S15).

  If NO in step S15, the network controller 14a discards the packet (step S16) and returns to step S14. If YES in step S15, the network controller 14a outputs a return instruction to the CPU 11, and the CPU 11 returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode (step S17), and proceeds to step S8.

  If YES in step S9 (when the expiration date of the IP address has passed the expiration date), the CPU 11 sets itself to receive and process only the packet from the router 4 (step S18). The setting in S3 is returned to the setting in which the network handler or system time interrupt handler operates (step S19), and it is determined whether or not the received packet is a packet from the router 4 (step S20).

  If YES in step S20, the process proceeds to step S11. If NO in step S20, the CPU 11 discards the received packet (step S21) and proceeds to step S13.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the CPU 11 is sent from the PCs 2 and 3 when the IP address assigned to the image forming apparatus 1 has expired (YES in step S4). The network controller 14a is set to discard incoming data (step S12), and the normal mode is shifted to the energy saving mode (step S13). Therefore, when a request that does not require a response from the PCs 2 and 3 is received, the CPU 11 is not activated, and an increase in power consumption is suppressed.

  When the CPU 11 returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode (steps S7 and S17) and the address assigned to the image forming apparatus 1 has expired (YES in step S9), the CPU 11 4 is received (steps S18 to S20), the data sent from the PCs 2 and 3 are discarded (step S21), and the normal mode is shifted to the energy saving mode again (step S13).

  Therefore, even when the CPU 11 returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode, only data from the router is received and no extra processing is performed in order to receive a new address assignment. Therefore, an increase in power consumption can be suppressed.

  Note that the communication apparatus according to the present embodiment is not limited to the image forming apparatus 1, and may be a camera, a recording apparatus, a recording / reproducing apparatus, a mobile phone, or the like.

  The above-described implementation can also be realized by supplying a recording medium in which a software program for realizing the functions of the image forming apparatus 1 is recorded to the image forming apparatus 1 and the CPU 11 reads and executes the program stored in the storage medium. The same effect as that of the embodiment is produced. Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program include a CD-ROM, a DVD, or an SD card.

  In addition, the CPU 11 executes the software program for realizing the functions of the image forming apparatus 1, and the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the system provided with the communication apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed in the image forming apparatus 1.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming apparatus 2, 3 Personal computer (PC)
4 Router 5 Network 11 CPU
11a Timer 12 Memory 13 Real-time clock (RTC) unit 14 Network interface card (NIC)
14a Network controller 15 Image forming unit 16 System bus

Claims (7)

A control unit that controls the operation of the entire communication device;
A communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or an external device connected to the network,
When the address assigned to the communication device has expired, the control unit sets the communication control unit to discard data sent from the external device, and changes from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. A communication apparatus characterized by being transferred to.   When the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode and the address assigned to the communication device has expired, the control unit receives only data from the router, The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data transmitted from an external apparatus is discarded and the normal mode is changed to the energy saving mode again. A counting unit that counts an elapsed time after the control unit shifts to the energy saving mode;
The control unit stores the time when the normal mode is shifted to the energy saving mode, and when returning from the energy saving mode to the normal mode, the elapsed time counted by the counting unit and the stored time are stored. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the current time is calculated based on the communication time. A communication device recovery suppression method comprising a control unit and a communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or external device connected to a network,
A first step of setting the communication control unit to discard data sent from the external device when an address assigned to the communication device has expired;
And a second step of causing the control unit to shift from the normal mode to the energy saving mode.   When the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode and the address assigned to the communication device has expired, only the data from the router is received and transmitted from the external device. 5. The method for suppressing a return of a communication apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a third step of discarding the received data and causing the control unit to shift from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. A fourth step of counting an elapsed time after the control unit shifts to the energy saving mode;
A fifth step of storing a time when the normal mode shifts to the energy saving mode;
A sixth step of calculating a current time based on the elapsed time counted by the fourth step and the stored time when the control unit returns from the energy saving mode to the normal mode. The method for suppressing the return of the communication device according to claim 4 or 5. A communication device including a control unit and a communication control unit that performs data communication with a router or an external device connected to the network,
First means for setting the communication control unit to discard data sent from the external device when the address assigned to the communication device has expired, and the control unit is set to normal A program which functions as a second means for shifting from the mode to the energy saving mode.

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