JP2010162815A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a downtime of error occurrence, the number of service calls, and user's time and effort. <P>SOLUTION: In a printer 100 which records a generated error as an error log in ROM 14, an error determination part M1 determines whether the service call in the error is needed and whether there is a record of error in the error log with reference to an error database. When the error needs the service call and is recorded in the error log, the printer is automatically restarted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that records an error that has occurred in an error log.

  Conventionally, in many types of printing apparatuses, when an error requiring a service call occurs, an error number that can specify the error content and error type and a message that prompts an inquiry to the service center are displayed on the panel. In recent models, when an error occurs, the power may be turned off and then restarted (hereinafter referred to as power off / on) may be instructed on the panel display. This is to reduce service costs by reducing inquiries to the service center. In either case, the user must go to the printer, check the error message displayed on the panel to understand the situation, and select a response. Of course, the error content may be confirmed or notified through the network, but the user must also grasp the situation and select the response, or if the power is turned off / on It is the same that you need to go to the printer side and operate.

  Furthermore, in recent years, printers that can be arranged on a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet have increased, and it has become common to use printers via the network. A printer connected to a network necessarily has a large number of users. The printer is not processed until the error is resolved after the error that requires a service call. That is, the range of users affected by downtime is also widened.

  On the other hand, in the service center, the cost for maintaining the service center is increasing as the labor cost is increased. Some inquiries may be simple questions or require advanced technical knowledge, so it is desirable for service center personnel to have expert knowledge, but personnel with specialized knowledge are expensive. Labor costs will increase further. That is, the cost per service call is increasing.

  In order to solve the above problems, Patent Document 1 describes a configuration including means for detecting a failure that can be recovered by turning off / on the power and means for rebooting.

JP 2005-219247 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, the error types are classified into A to D (type A: failure requiring urgency and requiring repair by a service person, type B: failure of a specific unit, and basic function. Unaffected faults, Type C: Log function faults, Type D: Other faults that can be recovered by turning the power off and on), Type D faults that are subject to reboot only . The standard to be rebooted is a failure that occurs only once or less while the total counter for counting the number of printed sheets is counted up by 10. That is, in the case of a failure that is not a reboot target of type A and type D, a service call is generated. However, the type classification of the cited document 1 is not necessarily reliable, and the determination as to whether or not the type D is to be rebooted is not certain. Therefore, in the technique of Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that an inquiry to the service center occurs even in the case of a failure that does not necessarily require a service call.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printing apparatus that can further reduce downtime when an error occurs, the number of service calls, and user trouble.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a printing apparatus that records an error that has occurred in an error log, and includes a determination unit and a restart unit.
The determination means determines whether or not a service call is necessary for the error and whether or not the error is recorded in the error log. Here, the error that does not require a service call may include all errors except errors that occur due to an error in the user's operation procedure, such as out of paper or opening the printer cover.
The restarting means sets all of the errors requiring a service call as those to be restarted that are recorded in the error log. In the error log, there is a record that can be discriminated about the error that has been resolved. For example, each error has a flag indicating whether or not the error has been resolved. Separate error logs from unresolved errors, record only resolved errors in the error log, etc.). Therefore, if there is a record that the error has been resolved in the error log, it can be said that there is a very high possibility that the error will be resolved by restart. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably reduce downtime, the number of service calls, and user troubles when an error occurs.

  As an alternative aspect of the present invention, the restarting unit may record the error in the error log before restarting. When the error is resolved by restarting, the error that has been resolved is also recorded in the error log, so that it becomes possible to identify the error to be restarted in subsequent restarts. In the printing apparatus of the present invention, the error is solved without the user's knowledge. However, if the user is an administrator or a user with specialized knowledge, the error has occurred by referring to the log. I can know.

  Further, as a selective aspect of the present invention, the restarting unit notifies the user of information about the error when the error is not recorded in the error log, and indicates whether or not the restart is possible. The printing apparatus may be restarted when an input is accepted and an operation input permitting restart is accepted. For errors that are not recorded in the error log, the user can determine the status of the error by having the user decide whether or not to restart. By recording in the log, the same error that occurs thereafter is automatically resolved without bothering the user.

  Further, as a selective aspect of the present invention, the restarting means does not notify the user of information about the error when the error does not recur after the automatic restart, and after the automatic restart. When the same error as the above error occurs, a service call may be instructed to the user. In other words, errors that can be automatically resolved by restart can be resolved without the user being aware of the error itself, while errors that cannot be resolved automatically by reboot are notified to the user and a service call is made. Get it. Therefore, the minimum number of service calls is required.

  Further, as a selective aspect of the present invention, when the restart unit detects an error different from the error after the automatic restart, the restart unit causes the determination unit to determine the different error and the restart The means may separately determine whether the automatic restart is appropriate. For errors that cannot be resolved by restarting, there is a possibility that the error will recur during restarting, but other errors may occur during restarting even though the error has been resolved by restarting. is there. In order not to confuse these errors, it is determined whether or not the error that occurred before the restart matches the error that occurred after the restart. If they do not match, it is determined again whether or not the error is resolved by restart.

  Further, as a selective aspect of the present invention, a display unit that acquires the error log and displays the list on a display, and an operation input that receives an operation input that designates and deletes any of the error logs displayed in the list A configuration may further include receiving means and deleting means for deleting the error log designated by the operation input. According to this configuration, the error log can be optimized so that the user or the administrator can display the error list and leave only the necessary error log.

  Note that the printing apparatus described above includes various modes such as being implemented in a state of being incorporated in another device or being implemented together with another method. The present invention also provides a printing system including the printing apparatus, a control method having a process corresponding to the configuration of the apparatus described above, a program for causing a computer to realize a function corresponding to the configuration of the apparatus described above, and a computer reading that records the program It can also be realized as a possible recording medium. The inventions of the printing system, the printing control method, the printing control program, and the medium on which the program is recorded also have the above-described operations and effects. Needless to say, the configurations described in claims 2 to 6 are also applicable to the system, the method, the program, and the recording medium.

2 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a printer. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a software configuration of a printer. FIG. It is a flowchart of an error monitoring process. It is a table | surface which shows an example of an error database. It is a table | surface which shows an example of log data. It is a flowchart of the error monitoring process at the time of starting. It is a flowchart of an error log edit process.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
(1) Configuration of printing apparatus:
(2) Error monitoring process:
(3) Error monitoring process at startup:
(4) Error log editing process (5) Summary:

(1) Configuration of printing apparatus:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printer 100 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a printer 100 includes a control unit (printer controller) 10 and a printing unit 20. A host PC (Personal Computer) 200 is connected to the control unit 10 and generates print data based on image data sent from the host PC. The control unit 10 transmits the generated print data to the print engine 21 of the printing unit 20. Then, the print engine 21 controls the toner cartridge 22, the photosensitive drum 23, the laser beam irradiation mechanism 24, the paper feed mechanism 25, the paper supply / discharge mechanism 26, and the like according to the print data, and performs laser type printing processing.

  The control unit 10 includes an ASIC 11, a CPU 12 as an arithmetic processing unit, a RAM 13 as a volatile memory, a ROM 14 as a rewritable nonvolatile memory, a display 15, an operation panel 16, and a pulse width modulation circuit (PWM circuit) 18. Yes.

  The CPU 12 controls the entire control unit. The CPU 12 and the RAM 13 are connected to the ASIC 11 via a dedicated bus, and the ROM 14 is connected to the ASIC 11 via an external external bus 17. The CPU 12 expands various programs compressed and stored in the ROM 14 to the RAM 13 via the ASIC 11. For example, the ROM 14 includes an initialization program P1 for initializing the control unit 10, a print control program P2 for generating print data for causing the print engine 21 to execute printing, a startup program P3 for starting the printer 100, and a control unit. A monitoring program P4 for monitoring errors that occur in various programs executed at 10 and an error log editing program P5 for displaying the contents of the error log and enabling deletion of the error log are stored in advance.

  The display 15 and the operation panel 16 are connected to the ASIC 11. The operation panel 16 is provided on the casing of the printer 100 as a plurality of buttons, for example, and the CPU 12 acquires a signal indicating an input operation on the operation panel 16 via the ACIC 11. The display 15 can display various information, images, and the like based on the input data, and the CPU 12 inputs data indicating the contents to be displayed on the display 15 via the ASIC. As a result, various information, images, and the like are displayed on the display 15.

  The PWM circuit 18 is connected to the ASIC 11 via the external bus 17 and further directly connected to the print engine. The PWM circuit 18 converts the print data transmitted from the ASIC 11 into PWM data that can be interpreted by the print engine 21 and outputs the PWM data to the print engine 21. For example, when 8-bit parallel data (print data) is sent, the PWM circuit 18 converts this data into 1-bit serial data and sequentially transmits it to the print engine 21.

  The ASIC 11 is an integrated circuit for performing image processing for image data to be printed, switching control of the external bus 17, and the like. The ASIC 11 includes a CPU control circuit 11a, a RAM control circuit 11b, a ROM control circuit 11c, an image processing circuit 11d, a bus switching circuit 11e, and an I / F control circuit 11f. These control circuits are connected to each other via an internal bus of the ASIC 11 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The CPU 12 is connected to the CPU control circuit 11a by a CPU dedicated bus. The CPU control circuit 11 a converts the signal supplied from the CPU 12 into a signal for controlling each unit in the ASIC 11. Further, the CPU control circuit 11 a converts signals supplied from the respective units in the ASIC 11 into signals that can be processed by the CPU 12. For example, the CPU control circuit 11a supplies a control signal for loading a program developed in the RAM 13 from the RAM 13 to the RAM control circuit 11b based on the instruction signal supplied from the CPU 12. For example, the CPU control circuit 11a supplies a signal for controlling switching of the external bus 17 to the bus switching circuit 11e based on the instruction signal supplied from the CPU 12.

  The RAM control circuit 11b is a circuit that controls the RAM 13, and the RAM 13 is connected by a bus dedicated to RAM. For example, the RAM control circuit 11b outputs a program and data stored at a predetermined address on the RAM 13 to the CPU control circuit 11a based on a control signal from the CPU control circuit 11a. Further, the RAM control circuit 11b acquires a program stored in the ROM 14 from the ROM 14 via the ROM control circuit 11c based on a control signal from the CPU control circuit 11a, and stores it in a predetermined address on the RAM 13. .

  The ROM control circuit 11 c is a circuit that controls the ROM 14, and is connected to the ROM 14 via the bus switching circuit 11 e and the external bus 17. For example, the ROM control circuit 11c outputs a program and data stored at a predetermined address on the ROM 14 to the CPU control circuit 11a based on a control signal from the CPU control circuit 11a. The ROM control circuit 11c stores data at a predetermined address on the ROM 14 based on a control signal from the CPU control circuit 11a.

  The image processing circuit 11d generates print data that can be printed by the print engine 21. For example, the image processing circuit 11d generates print data from image data generated by the host PC 200, and transmits the generated print data to the PWM 16 in parallel in units of 8 bits via the bus switching circuit 11e and the external bus 17. To do.

The bus switching circuit 11e is a circuit that controls switching of the external bus 17. For example, the bus switching circuit 11e performs control to switch the communication destination of the external bus 17 between the ROM 14 and the PWM 16 based on a control signal supplied from the CPU control circuit 11a.
The I / F control circuit 11f is an interface to which an external device such as a host PC 200 or an external device such as a device for reading and writing data to an external semiconductor memory is connected. For example, the I / F control circuit 11f conforms to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. An interface or an interface for connecting to a local area network (LAN).

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of the printer 100. In the figure, the monitoring program P4 executed in the control unit 10 is always executed while the initialization program P1, the print control program P2, the startup program P3, and the error log editing program P5 are executed. The error monitoring process is executed while referring to the EDB and the error log. The error monitoring program P4 includes an error determination unit M1. The activation program P3 includes an activation processing unit M2, and the error log editing program P5 includes an error log editing unit M3.

(2) Error monitoring process:
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the error monitoring process. The error monitoring process is always executed while the printing apparatus is activated.

  In step S100 (hereinafter, “step” is omitted), the error determination unit M1 detects whether an error has occurred. The control program outputs an error code according to the error occurrence status (control / communication object, control content, response status from the control object, etc.). Therefore, the error determination unit M1 monitors the output of the control program, and if an error code is detected, acquires this error code and proceeds to S105. On the other hand, when the error determination unit M1 does not detect an error code, the process of S100 is repeated. Note that the error code in this embodiment corresponds to information for specifying an error.

  In S105, the error determination unit M1 determines whether an error requires a service call (hereinafter referred to as SC) based on an error code and an error database (hereinafter referred to as EDB). . The error determination unit M1 proceeds to S110 when the error requires the SC, and proceeds to S125 when the error does not require the SC.

  FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of the EDB stored in the ROM 14 in advance. In EDB, the correspondence between error codes, error outlines, and error messages is defined. The error code is a unique identification code assigned to each error type and content. The outline of the error is a simple explanation of the content of the error. For example, if there is no response in the loopback test executed by the I / F control circuit 11f, an error in the communication test with an external device will occur. Is detected. " The error message is a message for instructing the procedure for resolving the error. For example, “Please turn off / on the power. If the error persists, please contact the service call”. Specific recovery procedures are recorded.

  For example, when there is no response during a communication test with the I / F circuit and a timeout occurs, the control program outputs a predetermined error code (for example, “0210”). Then, since the error determination unit M1 acquires this error code “0210”, refer to the EDB, and refer to the panel message corresponding to the error code “0210” “Please turn the power off / on. If an error is still displayed Please contact the service call. " At this time, the error determination unit M1 can detect the content indicating the SC in the panel message (for example, a character string “service call”), and therefore can determine that the SC is a necessary error.

  In other words, errors that require service calls include those that do not recover unless they are repaired due to a machine or device failure, and those that can be operated by turning the power off and on again. The cause of the latter is, for example, a temporary noise, a malfunction of the device due to overlapping of specific timings, and the like. However, the distinction between the two is not certain, and it is difficult to determine whether or not the problem will be resolved unless the system is actually restarted. In the present embodiment, the latter error is automatically and reliably eliminated to reduce downtime, reduce the user's effort, etc., while avoiding the former error as a target for restarting as much as possible. To.

  On the other hand, if no paper is sent even though the paper is in the paper feed tray even though the paper feed tray is instructed to feed paper, the control program uses a predetermined error code (for example, “8101”). Is output. Then, the error judgment unit M1 obtains this error code “8101”, so there is a possibility of a panel message “Paper jam” corresponding to the error code “8101” by referring to the EDB. Remove the jammed paper. Can be obtained. At this time, the error determination unit M1 can determine that the SC is an unnecessary error because there is no content (for example, a character string “service call”) suggesting the SC in the panel message.

  In other words, for errors that do not require a service call, an error before the error occurs, an error notifying the user's operation procedure (paper size, paper orientation, door open, instructing the implementation of unsupported functions Etc.). Such errors will not be resolved unless the user actually works, so they are notified as before.

  Of course, instead of determining whether or not a service call is required from the contents of the error message, a flag indicating whether or not a service call is required is attached to the EDB in advance, and the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not this flag exists. The necessity of SC may be determined by determining the above.

  Further, the error determination unit M1 may determine not only whether or not a service call is required, but also whether or not it can be restored by restarting. For example, the error determination unit M1 determines the presence / absence of a character string for specifying restart in the error message (for example, “off / on”, etc.), the error requires the SC, and the restart is indicated in the error message If yes, the process may proceed to S110, and otherwise, the process may proceed to S125. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a method in which error types that can be recovered by restarting are registered in advance in the program or in the ROM 14 and it is determined whether or not a corresponding error code has occurred.

  The error types that can be restored by restarting include, for example, a network error that occurs when the I / F control circuit 11f communicates with an external device, a checksum error of data recorded in the ROM 14, and a data recorded in the RAM 13. Data checksum error, loopback error when there is no response in the loopback test executed to confirm the communication status with the external device, exception processing in CPU 12 (for example, TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) error Exception handling when a page fault occurs).

  In S110, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the error that has occurred in S100 has occurred in the past and has been resolved by restart. More specifically, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not an error code has already been recorded in the error log and an error elimination flag is attached. If the error code has already been recorded in the error log and the error elimination flag is attached, the error determination unit M1 proceeds to S115, records the error code detected in S100 in the error log, and proceeds to S120. On the other hand, if the error code is not yet recorded in the error log, or the error determination unit M1 is recorded in the error log but has not been flagged with an error, the error determination unit M1 proceeds to S140 and detects it in S100. The error code is recorded in the error log, and the process proceeds to S145.

  FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of an error log. In the figure, the error log is composed of an error occurrence number, a panel message, an error code, the number of pages, an error occurrence date / time, an error release date / time, and an error elimination flag. The error occurrence number is a management number that is automatically assigned in the order in which errors occurred. As described above, the panel message is a character string displayed on the display 15 when an error occurs, and indicates an outline of the error and a response to be taken by the user when the error occurs. The number of pages is the number of pages of the print job that was printed when the error occurred. The date and time when the error occurred is recorded as the date and time when the error occurred. The date and time when the error that has occurred is canceled is recorded as the error cancellation date and time. The date and time when the error was released is the date and time when the error state ended. The error resolution flag is a flag indicating whether or not the generated error has been resolved by restart. That is, the error determination unit M1 can determine whether or not the error that occurred in S100 has occurred in the past by searching the error code for the error code acquired in S100, and by referring to the error resolution flag, it can determine whether the error has occurred in S100. It is possible to determine whether or not the error that occurred in can be resolved by restarting.

  In S120, the error determination unit M1 records information indicating that automatic restart is performed in a predetermined register, and then instructs the start processing unit M2 to restart, and ends the error monitoring process.

In S125, the error determination unit M1 records the error code detected in S100 in the error log, and proceeds to S130.
In S130, the error determination unit M1 refers to the EDB, displays an error message corresponding to the error code on the display 15, and proceeds to S135.
In S135, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the error has been resolved. The error determination unit M1 returns to S100 when the error is resolved, and repeats the processing from S130 when the error is not resolved. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned paper jam error, when it is detected that any cover of the paper feed mechanism is opened or closed, the paper feed mechanism is instructed to perform a paper feed operation, and it is detected that the paper has been normally fed. If possible, it can be determined that the error has been resolved.

  In S145, the error determination unit M1 determines whether to restart. The error determination unit M1 proceeds to S120 when restarting, and proceeds to S150 when not restarting. The error determination unit M1 displays information about the error on the display 15 and determines whether an operation input indicating whether to restart is performed. For example, the error determination unit M1 displays a summary of the error corresponding to the error code on the display 15, displays a message suggesting that the current error may be resolved by restarting, and restarts. Let the user choose Since the user operates the operation panel 16 to select whether or not to restart, the error determination unit M1 can determine whether restart is necessary based on the operation input on the operation panel 16.

In S150, the error determination unit M1 displays an error message corresponding to the error code on the display 15 with reference to the EDB as in S130, and proceeds to S155.
In S155, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the error has been resolved as in S135. The error determination unit M1 returns to S100 when the error is resolved, and repeats the processing from S150 when the error is not resolved.

(3) Error monitoring process at startup:
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the error monitoring process at startup.
In step S200, the activation processing unit M2 executes a POST (Power On Self Test) process. The POST process is a process for checking and initializing the connected device. The POST process initializes registers in the ASIC 11, initializes the RAM 13 and ROM 14, and obtains information on external devices connected to the I / F control circuit 11f. Information on devices connected to the ASIC 11, or information on devices connected to the internal bus.

  In step S205, the error determination unit M1 determines whether an error has occurred during the POST process. If an error is detected, the error determination unit M1 proceeds to S210, records the error code detected in S205 in the error log, and proceeds to S215. On the other hand, if no error is detected, the error determination unit M1 adds a flag indicating that the error has been resolved by restarting to the error resolution flag of the most recent error log, and proceeds to S100 of the error monitoring process. Therefore, when the error is resolved by restarting, the user does not need to be aware that the error has occurred, and the error is resolved with the shortest downtime. Also, even if an error occurs for the first time before restarting, the next time the same error occurs, it will automatically restart by referring to the error resolution flag, so the user needs to select whether or not to restart Disappears.

  In S215, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the current activation is performed by the restart process (automatic restart process) performed by the error determination unit M1. Since the error determination unit M1 records information indicating that automatic restart is executed in a predetermined register when restarting in S120, whether or not the automatic restart processing is performed by referring to this register. Can be judged. If it is automatic restart, the error determination unit M1 proceeds to S220. If it is not automatic restart, the error determination unit M1 proceeds to S100 of the error monitoring process.

  In S220, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the same error has occurred before and after the automatic restart. For example, the error determination unit M1 refers to the EDB to determine whether the two most recent error logs have the same error code, thereby determining whether the same error has occurred before and after the automatic restart. Can be judged. The error determination unit proceeds to S225 if the same error has occurred before and after the automatic restart, and if the same error has not occurred before and after the automatic restart, the error recorded immediately before the automatic restart. A flag indicating that the error has been resolved by restarting is added to the error elimination flag of the log, and the process proceeds to S110 of the error monitoring process. That is, when an error that occurred before automatic restart has already been resolved and another error has occurred, it is determined whether or not automatic restart is necessary in the error monitoring process. Therefore, even if the restart fails due to a different error, there is no provision of an erroneous error message to the user or troublesome user.

In S225, the error determination unit M1 displays an error message corresponding to the error code causing the automatic restart on the display 15, and proceeds to S230.
In S230, the error determination unit M1 determines whether or not the error has been resolved. The error determination unit M1 starts the above-described error monitoring process when the error is resolved, and repeats the processing from S215 when the error is not resolved. In the message displayed at this time, a portion for instructing power off / on is not displayed, but a message for instructing the user to contact the content of the error and the service call is displayed. At this point, since it has already been found that the error due to restart cannot be resolved, the user does not need to operate the power switch himself. When automatic restart is performed, the user sees an error message for the first time in S230.

(4) Error log editing process:
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the error log editing process. This process is executed by the error log editing program P5, and is a process for a user or system administrator to refer to the error log and delete a part or the whole of the log. The error log may be edited by operating the operation panel 16 while displaying it on the display 15 of the printer 100. However, since it is easier to display the list on the large screen, the host PC 200 It is preferable to carry out from an external device. Therefore, in the following, a case will be described as an example in which an error log is edited while communicating with the host PC 200.

  In S300, the error log editing unit M3 determines whether an error log is requested from the host PC 200 or not. For example, an error log request is output to the printer 100 by executing a program or the like for managing the error log in the host PC 200 and performing an operation input for the user to acquire the error log using this program. The error log editing unit M3 proceeds to S305 when detecting an error log request, and repeats S300 when it does not detect an error log request.

  In S305, the error log editing unit M3 acquires the EDB from the ROM 14 and transmits it to the host PC 200. The host PC 200 that has received the error log displays a list of error logs with a predetermined UI on the large screen display, so that the user confirms whether there is an unnecessary log while viewing the list of error logs.

  In S <b> 310, the error log editing unit M <b> 3 determines whether an operation for selecting and deleting any error log has received a request (error log deletion request) from the host PC 200. In this request, for example, an error log is specified by a management number. Of course, an error code of a specific error log may be specified to request deletion of all error logs of a specific error code, or a request to delete all error logs of a specific date and time. When receiving the error log deletion request, the error log editing unit M3 proceeds to S315, deletes the corresponding error log from the ROM 14, and returns to S310. On the other hand, if the error log editing unit M3 does not receive the error log deletion request, the process proceeds to S320.

  In S320, the error log editing unit M3 determines whether the editing of the error log is finished. The error log editing unit M3 executes the processing from S300 when the error log editing is completed. The predetermined UI displayed on the host PC 200 includes a button for completing editing of the error log, and the UI display is ended by operating the button with an operation input device such as a mouse. At the same time, a notification that the editing of the error log is completed is transmitted to the printer 100. The error log editing unit M3 can determine the end of error log editing by determining the presence or absence of this notification.

(5) Summary:
As described above, in the printer 100 according to the present embodiment, the error that has occurred is recorded in the ROM 14 as an error log, and the error determination unit M1 refers to the error database to determine whether or not a service call is necessary for the error. And whether or not an error is recorded in the error log, and if the error requires a service call and is recorded in the error log, the printer 100 is automatically restarted. Therefore, the downtime, the number of service calls, and the user's trouble when an error occurs are reduced.

In the error log in the above-described embodiment, only errors whose errors have been resolved by restart may be recorded. In this way, it is difficult to increase the size of the error log, and the processing time for searching for an error that has occurred from the error log can be shortened.
The error log may be created and managed separately for an error that has been resolved by a reboot or the like and an error that has not been resolved by a reboot or the like. When editing an error log, two error logs are acquired and displayed separately, or are mixed and displayed for each time series and error type. Since it is better to leave as many error logs as possible from the standpoint of error handling by the administrator, it is preferable to coexist the above-described embodiment, the error log in which the error has been eliminated, and the error log in which the error has not been eliminated.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and the structures disclosed in the above-described embodiments and modifications are mutually replaced, the combinations are changed, the known technique, and the above-described implementations. Configurations in which the configurations disclosed in the embodiments and modifications are mutually replaced or the combinations are changed are also included.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control part, 11 ... ASIC, 11a ... CPU control circuit, 11b ... RAM control circuit, 11c ... ROM control circuit, 11d ... Image processing circuit, 11e ... Bus switching circuit, 11f ... I / F control circuit, 12 ... CPU , 13 ... RAM, 14 ... ROM, 15 ... display, 16 ... operation panel, 17 ... external bus, 18 ... PWM circuit, 20 ... printing unit, 21 ... print engine, 100 ... printer, 200 ... host PC, M1 ... error Judgment unit, M2 ... Startup processing unit, M3 ... Error log editing unit, P3 ... Startup program, P4 ... Monitoring program, P5 ... Error log editing program

Claims (6)

A printing device that records errors that occur in an error log,
A determination means for determining whether or not a service call is required in the error that has occurred, and whether or not the error log is recorded in the error log; and the error that has occurred requires a service call and is recorded in the error log. And a restarting unit that automatically restarts the printing apparatus when the printing apparatus is in the printing apparatus.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restarting unit records the error in the error log before the restarting.   If the error is not recorded in the error log, the restarting unit notifies the user of information related to the error, receives an operation input indicating whether the restart is possible, and allows the restart to be performed. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is restarted when receiving the command.   If the error does not recur after the automatic restart, the restart means does not notify the user of information about the error, and if the same error as the error occurs after the automatic restart, The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a service call is instructed to the printer.   When the restarting unit detects an error different from the error after the automatic restarting, the restarting unit causes the determining unit to determine the different error, and the restarting unit separately determines whether the automatic restarting is appropriate. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is determined. Display means for acquiring the error log and displaying a list on a display;
An operation input receiving means for receiving an operation input for designating and deleting any of the error logs displayed in the list;
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a deletion unit that deletes the error log designated by the operation input.

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