JP2011131512A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect an error accurately, carry out automatic reset promptly, and improve operating ratio of the apparatus as quickly as possible even in a case where one printing job is in an error state which is apparently normal. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 11 includes: a unit 29 for notifying a trigger for notifying information relating to a processing unit of a printing job which is sequentially executed; a unit 35 for acquiring processing time for acquiring processing time based on the notified information relating to the processing unit; and a unit 37 for determining an error for determining whether a printing job relating to the notification is in an error state which is apparently normal based on time elapsed from the time of the reception of the notification and processing time acquired in the unit 35 for acquiring processing time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of sequentially executing print jobs for each processing unit.

  In an image forming apparatus capable of sequentially executing print jobs for each processing unit, for example, an error state may occur during a print data drawing process.

  As a technique for recovering from such an error state, a print job monitoring unit that monitors the state of a print job that has already been received in a state in which the transmission of the print job to the printer is blocked, and a print job monitoring unit for all print jobs. 2. Description of the Related Art A printing apparatus that includes a restart command unit that gives a restart command to a printer after completion is detected (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  According to the error recovery technique of Patent Document 1, it is possible to return the printing apparatus from the error state without causing printing to be completely cut out or causing a transmission error at the transmission source.

  However, the error recovery technology of Patent Document 1 simply describes that it restarts itself when a preset abnormality is detected (see paragraph No. 70 of Patent Document 1). There is no specific description about the type or detection method.

  However, for example, when the image forming apparatus falls into an error state such that the image forming apparatus falls into an infinite loop algorithmically or the processing speed becomes extremely slow for some reason, the apparent state is not different from the normal state. . For this reason, there is no way of knowing whether the state is abnormal or normal, and the user has only to wait.

  In particular, in an image forming apparatus that is shared and used by multiple users as a network printer, if an error occurs as described above during the processing of a certain print job, it is not limited to delaying the print job of the party user. There is a problem that even the print jobs of other users are delayed.

JP 2006-113932 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that when a conventional print job from an error state falls into an error state in which a print job appears to be normal, the print job of the party user is not delayed and other users There is also a possibility that even a print job of this type may be delayed.

  The present invention provides a trigger notification unit that notifies information related to a processing unit of a print job to be executed, a processing time acquisition unit that acquires processing time based on the information related to the notified processing unit, and the notification received An error determination unit that determines whether the print job according to the notification is in an apparently normal error state based on the elapsed time from the time point and the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit This is the main feature.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, even when a certain print job falls into an error state that is apparently normal, this error is accurately detected and automatically recovered quickly so that the operating rate of the apparatus can be maximized. In addition, the situation in which the print jobs of other users other than the parties are delayed can be eliminated.

1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

  Even when a certain print job falls into an apparently normal error state, this error is accurately detected and automatically recovered promptly to improve the operating rate of the device as much as possible. For the purpose of erasing the situation where the print job of another user is delayed, (1) Notifying information relating to the processing unit of the print job to be executed, and (2) Information relating to the notified processing unit. (3) Whether the print job related to the notification is in an apparently normal error state based on the elapsed time from the time when the notification is received and the acquired processing time It was realized by judging.

An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, taking a digital multi-function peripheral incorporated in a printing system as an example.
[Outline of the digital multifunction device built in the printing system]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment incorporated in a printing system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a printing system 10 incorporating a digital multi-function peripheral 11 corresponding to an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment includes client devices (hereinafter referred to as “user terminals”) 15 owned by a plurality of users. -1, 15-2, 15-3,... Are connected via a communication network 13 such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the digital multi-function peripheral 11 includes a host data processing unit 21, a printer drawing processing unit 23, a print engine unit 25, a memory and CPU (Central Processing Unit) not shown, an error monitoring unit 27, and the like. Configured.

  The print engine unit 25 transfers and outputs an image based on the bit string data transferred from the printer drawing processing unit 23 on a sheet.

  The memory (not shown) includes a primary storage device including a semiconductor storage device and a secondary storage device including a magnetic disk device. This memory stores various software programs and data related to image forming processing.

  The CPU (not shown) is a computer device for controlling the operation of the digital multifunction machine 11. This CPU constitutes each functional unit including a host data processing unit 21, a printer drawing processing unit 23, and an error monitoring unit 27 by executing a specified program among various software programs stored in the memory. .

  The host data processing unit 21 stores and holds print jobs transmitted from the user terminals 15-1, 15-2, 15-3,... And performs print processing in an order according to a predetermined rule. .

  The printer drawing processing unit 23 draws the print job transferred from the host data processing unit 21 in a predetermined processing unit. Specifically, the printer drawing processing unit 23 receives print data described in a page description language (hereinafter referred to as “PDL”) from the host data processing unit 21, interprets the PDL, and converts it into intermediate data. The intermediate data is converted into a bit string and output to the print engine unit 25.

  The printer drawing processing unit 23 includes a trigger notification unit 29. Each time the trigger notification unit 29 executes a print job in a certain processing unit, the trigger notification unit 29 notifies the error monitoring unit 27 of information related to the processing unit. The information related to the processing unit includes the configuration content of the processing unit (for example, information indicating whether the processing unit is a job unit, a page unit, a drawing object unit, and a processing amount in each unit). Including. In addition to this, a configuration in which the processing time of the processing unit is added on the notification side may be adopted. These will be described later.

  The error monitoring unit 27 is a functional unit that monitors whether the software processing of the printer drawing processing unit 23 is performed smoothly, and includes a notification receiving unit 31, a threshold table 33, a processing time acquisition unit 35, an error determination unit 37, And each function part including the return process execution part 39 is comprised.

  The notification receiving unit 31 receives notifications from the trigger notification unit 29 and sequentially stores and holds them.

  The threshold value table 33 stores processing time threshold values for different processing units of the print job. The processing unit of the print job is any one of a job unit, a page unit, and an object unit, and the object unit is any one of a character unit, an image unit, and a graphic unit.

  The threshold table 33 will be specifically described with a drawing object as a processing unit. Drawing objects described in the page description language are roughly classified into text representing characters, images representing images, and graphics representing figures and lines.

  For example, when the processing unit of the print job is text, the threshold value table 33 may set a processing time threshold value in association with the number of texts (number of characters). In addition, the threshold value table 33 in the case where the processing unit of the print job is an image may set a threshold value for the processing time in association with the data amount of the image. Then, the threshold value table 33 in the case where the processing unit of the print job is a graphic may be set in association with the number of passes that the graphic has, respectively.

  The processing time threshold set in the threshold table 33 is preferably changeable by the user. In this way, the threshold value can be adjusted to suit the printing environment for each user, which can contribute to the improvement of customer satisfaction.

  The processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time based on the information related to the processing unit notified from the trigger notification unit 29. There are two possible ways of acquiring this processing time.

  In the first acquisition mode, the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time by calculation based on the threshold value table 33. More specifically, it is assumed that, for example, it is received from the information related to the processing unit of the trigger notification unit 29 that the processing unit is text and the number of texts (number of characters) is 100. In this case, the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time (threshold) corresponding to the number of texts “100” by calculation by looking up the threshold value table 33.

  In the second acquisition mode, the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time directly from the notification content of the trigger notification unit 29. In short, the processing load on the error monitoring unit 27 side is reduced by adding the processing time related to the processing unit on the side of the printer drawing processing unit 23 familiar with the information related to the processing unit.

  Based on the elapsed time from when the notification is received from the trigger notification unit 29 and the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35, the error determination unit 37 enters an error state in which the print job related to the notification is apparently normal. Determine if you have fallen. In this case, the error determination unit 37 is apparently normal when the elapsed time from the reception of the notification exceeds the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35 and the execution of the print job related to the notification continues. It is determined that an error state has occurred.

  In addition, the error determination unit 37 determines the previous time based on the elapsed time from the previous notification based on the stored content of the notification reception unit 31 to the current notification and the processing time related to the previous notification acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35. A configuration may be adopted in which it is determined whether the print job related to the notification is in an apparently normal error state. In this case, the error determination unit 37 determines that an error state is apparently normal when the elapsed time exceeds the processing time related to the previous notification and the execution of the print job related to the previous notification continues.

  When the error determination unit 37 determines that the print job has entered an apparently normal error state, the return processing execution unit 39 forcibly terminates and restarts the operation of the printer drawing processing unit 23 (CPU). Then, the return processing from the error state is executed.

  In addition, the return processing execution unit 39 adopts a configuration in which cancel processing of a print job waiting in the host data processing unit 21 or a print job being processed in the print engine unit 25 is performed in accordance with execution of the restart. May be.

Further, the return processing execution unit 39 can adopt a configuration in which an error state of a print job related to the restart is stored before the restart is executed. In this case, it is preferable to adopt a configuration in which the return process execution unit 39 presents the stored error status of the print job related to the restart to the corresponding user after the restart is executed.
[Operation of Image Forming Apparatus]
Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

  In step S <b> 11, as shown in FIG. 2, the printer drawing processing unit 23 acquires print data from the host data processing unit 21.

  In step S <b> 12, the trigger notification unit 29 of the printer drawing processing unit 23 notifies the error monitoring unit 27 of the start of execution of a print job in a certain processing unit. This notification corresponds to the “previous notification” of the present invention.

  In step S <b> 13, the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires a processing time threshold value for each processing unit related to the previous notification by calculation based on the threshold value table 33. The error determination unit 37 determines whether or not the next notification has been received within the acquired processing time threshold. This “next notification” corresponds to the “current notification” of the present invention.

  In other words, the error determination unit 37 includes the elapsed time from the previous notification to the current notification based on the storage content of the notification reception unit 31, and the threshold of the processing time related to the previous notification acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35. Based on this, it is determined whether or not the print job related to the previous notification is in an apparently normal error state. In other words, the error determination unit 37 determines that an error state has occurred when the elapsed time exceeds the processing time related to the previous notification and the execution of the print job related to the previous notification continues.

  As a result of the determination in step S13, when this notification is received within the acquired processing time threshold value, that is, when the print job of the processing unit related to the previous notification is normally completed without falling into an error state, The CPU returns the flow of processing to step S12 and repeatedly executes the following processing.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S13, when the current notification is not received within the acquired processing time threshold, that is, when the print job of the processing unit related to the previous notification falls into an error state, the CPU Then, the process flow proceeds to the next step S14.

  In step S14, the return process execution unit 39 stores the error status of the print job determined to have entered the error status in step S13. The error status of the print job stored here is referred to when presenting print job error information to the corresponding user.

  In step S <b> 15, the return processing execution unit 39 sends a print job cancellation notification to the host data processing unit 21 and the print engine unit 25. As a result, the print job waiting in the host data processing unit 21 and the print job being processed in the print engine unit 25 are canceled.

  In step S <b> 16, the return process execution unit 39 executes the return process from the error state by forcibly terminating and restarting the operation of the printer drawing processing unit 23 (CPU).

  In step S17, the return process execution unit 39 presents the stored print job error information to the corresponding user after execution of the restart. As a form of this presentation, the print job error information may be printed out or distributed by attaching it to a mail addressed to the corresponding user.

Then, after presenting the print job error information in step S17, the CPU ends a series of processing flow.
[Effect of Example]
The image forming apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment includes a trigger notification unit 29 that notifies information related to processing units of print jobs that are sequentially executed, and a processing time that acquires a processing time based on the notified information related to the processing units. Based on the acquisition unit 35 and the elapsed time from the time when the notification is received and the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35, it is determined whether the print job related to the notification is in an apparently normal error state. And an error determination unit 37 for determination. For this reason, even when a certain print job falls into an error state that is apparently normal, this error is accurately detected and automatically recovered quickly to improve the operating rate of the apparatus as much as possible. , It is possible to eliminate the situation in which print jobs of other users other than the parties are delayed.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment includes a trigger notification unit 29 that notifies information related to processing units of print jobs that are sequentially executed, a notification reception unit 31 that receives the notifications and sequentially stores and holds the notifications. In the processing time acquisition unit 35 that acquires the processing time based on the information related to the notified processing unit, and the elapsed time and the processing time acquisition unit 35 from the previous notification to the current notification based on the stored contents of the notification reception unit 31 And an error determination unit 37 that determines whether the print job related to the previous notification is in an apparently normal error state based on the acquired processing time related to the previous notification. For this reason, as described above, even when a certain print job falls into an error state that is apparently normal, this error is accurately detected and automatically recovered quickly to make the operating rate of the apparatus as high as possible. In addition, the situation in which the print jobs of other users other than the parties are delayed can be eliminated.

  Further, a configuration is adopted in which a threshold value table 33 storing a threshold value of processing time for each different processing unit of the print job is provided, and the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time by calculation based on the threshold value table 33. In this case, it is possible to acquire the processing time for each processing unit that guarantees immediacy by a simple method.

  Furthermore, the threshold value of the threshold value table 33 can contribute to the improvement of customer satisfaction when adopting a configuration that is set to be changeable.

  In addition, the information related to the processing unit of the trigger notification unit 29 includes the processing time in the processing unit, and the processing time acquisition unit 35 acquires the processing time directly from the notification content of the trigger notification unit 29. Is used, the printer drawing processing unit 23 that is familiar with the information related to the processing unit adds the processing time related to the processing unit and notifies it, thereby greatly increasing the processing load on the error monitoring unit 27 side. Can be reduced.

  Further, the error determination unit 37 is an error state that is apparently normal when the elapsed time from the reception of the notification exceeds the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit 35 and the execution of the print job related to the notification continues. In the case of adopting the configuration in which it is determined that the error has occurred, the error determination can be performed based on one notification, so that the configuration required for the error determination can be simplified.

  On the other hand, the error determination unit 37 adopts a configuration in which it is determined that an error state is apparently normal when the elapsed time exceeds the processing time related to the previous notification and the execution of the print job related to the previous notification continues. In this case, the error determination can be performed based on a pair of continuous notifications, which can contribute to an improvement in error determination accuracy.

  When the error determination unit 37 determines that the print job has fallen into an error state that is apparently normal, the operation of the apparatus is forcibly terminated and restarted to execute a recovery process from the error state. Since the return process execution unit 39 is provided, the return process from the error state can be surely performed.

  Further, when the configuration is adopted in which the return processing execution unit 39 cancels a print job that is waiting or being processed in accordance with the execution of the restart, it is possible to cause a situation where the print job is complicated after the restart. Can be suppressed.

  In addition, when the configuration is adopted in which the return processing execution unit 39 stores the error status of the print job related to the restart before executing the restart, the print processing error is appropriately managed and used as appropriate. be able to.

  In addition, when adopting a configuration in which the return processing execution unit 39 presents the stored error status of the print job related to the restart to the corresponding user after the restart is executed, the print job error is indicated to the party user. Can be surely informed.

  The processing unit of the print job is one of a job unit, a page unit, or an object unit, and the object unit is any one of a character unit, an image unit, or a vector graphic unit. It is possible to implement a print job error detection technique applicable to the above.

  Finally, according to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, for example, the apparatus has fallen into an error state that is apparently normal, such as the apparatus falling into an infinite loop algorithmically or the processing speed being extremely slow for some reason. Even in this case, such errors can be detected accurately and without omission.

Therefore, according to the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is possible to release the user from complicated error recovery processing by accurately and without error detecting an error that is apparently normal that cannot be handled by the conventional technology. As a result, it greatly contributes to a dramatic improvement in customer satisfaction.
[Others]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the invention read from the claims and the entire specification or the technical idea, and image formation accompanied by such changes Devices are also encompassed within the scope of the present invention.

  That is, in the embodiments of the present invention, an example in which the present invention is applied to a digital multifunction peripheral has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this example. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a printer or the like.

11 Digital MFP (image forming device)
21 Host Data Processing Unit 23 Printer Drawing Processing Unit 25 Print Engine Unit 27 Error Monitoring Unit 29 Trigger Notification Unit 31 Notification Reception Unit 33 Threshold Table 35 Processing Time Acquisition Unit 37 Error Determination Unit 39 Return Processing Execution Unit

Claims (12)

A trigger notification unit for notifying information related to a processing unit of a print job to be executed;
A processing time acquisition unit that acquires a processing time based on the information related to the notified processing unit;
An error determination unit that determines whether the print job according to the notification is in an apparently normal error state based on the elapsed time from the time when the notification is received and the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit When,
An image forming apparatus comprising: A trigger notification unit for notifying information related to a processing unit of a print job to be executed;
A notification receiver that receives the notification and sequentially stores and holds the notification;
A processing time acquisition unit that acquires a processing time based on the information related to the notified processing unit;
Based on the elapsed time from the previous notification to the current notification based on the stored content of the notification receiving unit and the processing time related to the previous notification acquired by the processing time acquisition unit, the print job related to the previous notification is apparently An error determination unit that determines whether or not the error state is normal;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
A threshold table storing thresholds of processing time for each different processing unit of the print job;
The processing time acquisition unit acquires the processing time by calculation based on the threshold value table.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein
The threshold of the threshold table is set to be changeable,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The information related to the processing unit of the trigger notification unit includes a processing time in the processing unit,
The processing time acquisition unit acquires the processing time from the notification content of the trigger notification unit,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The error determination unit falls into an error state that is apparently normal when the elapsed time from the reception of the notification exceeds the processing time acquired by the processing time acquisition unit and execution of the print job related to the notification continues. Judge that
An image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
The error determination unit determines that an error state is apparently normal when the elapsed time exceeds the processing time according to the previous notification and the execution of the print job according to the previous notification continues;
An image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
When the error determination unit determines that the print job has entered an error state, the error determination unit includes a return process execution unit that forcibly terminates the operation of the apparatus and restarts the apparatus to restart the error state. ,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein
The return process execution unit performs a cancel process for a print job that is waiting or being processed in accordance with the execution of the restart.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein
The return processing execution unit stores an error state of a print job related to the restart before executing the restart.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein
The return process execution unit presents an error status of the stored print job related to the stored restart to the corresponding user after the restart is executed.
An image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11,
The processing unit of the print job is one of a job unit, a page unit, or an object unit,
The object unit is either a character unit, an image unit, or a vector graphic unit.
An image forming apparatus.