JP2012159586A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus in which when a plurality of kinds of events occur, a plurality of functions may be started in an appropriate order in accordance with the kinds of all the events.SOLUTION: An MFP 20 comprises: a nonvolatile storage device 47 for storing, with respect to each kind of events, function priority information in which each of a plurality of functions is associated with a priority in a starting order; an order determining means 31 for determining, when events occur, an order on the basis of priorities defined in the function priority information in accordance with kinds of the events; and a function starting means 32 for starting the plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determining means 31. When a plurality of kinds of events occur, the order determining means 31 obtains a sum of priorities of each function defined in the function priority information in accordance with the kinds of the events and determines the order on the basis of the thus obtained sum of the priorities.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that activates a plurality of functions when an event occurs.

  Conventionally, as an image forming device that activates multiple functions when an event occurs, activation of multiple functions according to the content of the user's operation that caused the recovery when returning from the energy-saving state to the normal state Are known (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2). That is, the conventional image forming apparatus can preferentially activate a function that the user desires to be preferentially activated according to the content of the user's operation that caused the return.

JP 2002-52784 A JP 2007-194476 A

  However, the conventional image forming apparatus can change the activation order of a plurality of functions according to the contents of the user's operation, that is, the type of event that has occurred, but when a plurality of types of events occur In addition, there is a problem that a plurality of functions cannot be activated in an appropriate order according to the types of all events that have occurred.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of activating a plurality of functions in an appropriate order according to the types of all events that have occurred when a plurality of types of events have occurred. To do.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that activates a plurality of functions when an event occurs, and is information in which priority of activation order is associated with each of the plurality of functions. A priority storage unit by function that stores priority information by function for each type of event, and when the event occurs, the priority of the priority information by function according to the type of the event that has occurred Order determining means for determining the order based on, and function activation means for activating the plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determination means, the order determination means, a plurality of types of the When an event occurs, the priority of the priority information for each function according to the type of all the events that have occurred is totaled for each function, and the order is determined based on the total priority. Characterized in that it constant.

  With this configuration, when a plurality of types of events occur, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention totals the priorities of the function-specific priority information according to the types of all the events that have occurred, and totals them. The activation order of a plurality of functions is determined based on the priority. Therefore, when a plurality of types of events occur, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can activate a plurality of functions in an appropriate order according to the types of all events that have occurred.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the order determination unit may include all the events that have already occurred when the event newly occurs after the function activation unit starts activation of one or more functions. The priority of the priority information for each function according to the type is totaled for each function, and the order is newly determined based on the total priority, and the function activation unit is configured so that the order determination unit includes the order determination unit. When the order is newly determined, the plurality of functions may be activated in the order newly determined by the order determination unit.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can change the activation order of the plurality of functions to an appropriate order even after starting activation of some of the plurality of functions.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention has at least two states, a normal state and an energy saving state in which energy consumption is less than the normal state, and when the event occurs in the energy saving state In addition, the apparatus may return to the normal state by activating the plurality of functions.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can preferentially activate a function that the user desires to be preferentially activated when returning from the energy saving state to the normal state.

  Further, the image forming apparatus program of the present invention stores priority information by function, which is information in which the priority of activation order is associated with each of a plurality of functions, for each event type. And an image forming apparatus that activates the plurality of functions when the event occurs. When the event occurs, the priority information for each function according to the type of the event that has occurred. The order determining means for determining the order based on the priority of the function, and the function determining means for starting the plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determining means, wherein the order determining means includes a plurality of When the event of the type has occurred, the priorities of the priority information by function according to the types of all the events that have occurred are totaled for each function, and before the total And determining the order based on the priority.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus that executes the image forming apparatus program according to the present invention, when a plurality of types of events occur, sets the priority of the priority information for each function according to the types of all the events that have occurred. Summing up for each function, the order of activation of the plurality of functions is determined based on the total priority. Therefore, the image forming apparatus that executes the program for the image forming apparatus of the present invention activates the plurality of functions in an appropriate order according to the types of all the events that have occurred, when a plurality of types of events have occurred. Can do.

  When a plurality of types of events occur, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can activate a plurality of functions in an appropriate order according to the types of all events that have occurred.

1 is a block diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MFP shown in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the priority information classified by function memorize | stored in the non-volatile memory | storage device shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a plurality of functions of the controller shown in FIG. 2. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when an event occurs in an energy saving state. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an activation order of a plurality of functions illustrated in FIG. 4 when an event “data is received from USB” occurs in an energy saving state. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the order of activation of a plurality of functions shown in FIG. 4 when a plurality of events “data received from USB” and “operation on the panel” occur in the energy saving state. Figure when the event “Data has been received from USB” occurs in the energy-saving state, and the event “Operation on the panel” has newly occurred after starting the activation of the USB device driver function. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an activation order of a plurality of functions illustrated in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the activation order of a plurality of functions shown in FIG. 4 when an event “power is turned on” occurs when the power is turned off.

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

  First, the configuration of the image forming system according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming system 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system 10 includes an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) 20 as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and a host PC (Personal Computer) 80 and a host PC 90 that are devices external to the MFP 20. Yes. The MFP 20 and the host PC 80 can be connected to each other via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable 11. The MFP 20 and the host PC 90 can be connected to each other via a LAN (Local Area Network) 12.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MFP 20.

  The MFP 20 shown in FIG. 2 has at least two states: a normal state and an energy-saving state that consumes less energy than the normal state.

  The MFP 20 includes a controller 30 that controls the MFP 20, a display 41 that is connected to the controller 30 and displays various information, an operation unit 42 that is connected to the controller 30 and receives various operations by a user, A printer 43 that is connected to the controller 30 and executes printing on a recording medium such as paper, a scanner 44 that is connected to the controller 30 and reads a document and generates image data, and a controller 30 connected to the controller 30. The USB interface 45 that communicates with the host PC 80 via the USB cable 11, the network interface 46 that is connected to the controller 30 and communicates with the host PC 90 via the LAN 12, and the controller 30. Has been and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and a nonvolatile storage device 47 such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

  The controller 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a program (including an image forming program of the present invention) and a ROM (Read Only Memory) preliminarily storing various data, and a rewritable volatile memory used as a work area of the CPU. RAM (Random Access Memory) which is a storage device. The CPU is an arithmetic processing unit that operates the control unit by executing a program stored in the ROM. The RAM temporarily stores programs and various data when the programs are executed by the CPU.

  The display 41 is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).

  The operation unit 42 is an input device such as a button that forms a touch panel together with the display 41.

  The printer 43 is, for example, various types of image data generated by the scanner 44, print data received from the host PC 80 via the USB interface 45, and print data received from the host PC 90 via the network interface 46. A printing device that prints data.

  For example, the USB interface 45 transmits image data generated by the scanner 44 to the host PC 80 via the USB cable 11, or receives print data to be printed by the printer 43 from the host PC 80 via the USB cable 11. To do.

  For example, the network interface 46 transmits image data generated by the scanner 44 to the host PC 90 via the LAN 12 and receives print data to be printed by the printer 43 from the host PC 90 via the LAN 12.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the priority information for each function stored in the nonvolatile storage device 47.

  The nonvolatile storage device 47 stores the priority information classified by function shown in FIG. The priority information by function shown in FIG. 3 includes “USB device driver”, “Ethernet (registered trademark) device driver”, “panel device driver”, “XXX device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, “display data generation unit”. ”,“ Print data processing unit ”, etc., each of which is associated with the priority of the activation order,“ power is turned on ”,“ data received from USB ”, Each type of event such as “data received from LAN” or “operation on the panel” is stored in the nonvolatile storage device 47. For example, regarding the event “data received from USB”, the priority of the activation order for a plurality of functions is 90 for “USB device driver”, 40 for “Ethernet device driver”, 60 for “panel device driver”, “XXX device driver” is 40, “data transmission / reception unit” is 80, “display data generation unit” is 50, and “print data processing unit” is 70.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the controller 30 determines the order based on the priority of the priority information for each function according to the type of the event when an event occurs by executing the image forming program. It functions as an order determination unit 31 and a function activation unit 32 that activates a plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determination unit 31.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a plurality of functions of the controller 30.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the controller 30 includes, for example, a USB device driver 33 that is a device driver that controls the USB interface 45, an Ethernet device driver 34 that is a device driver that controls the network interface 46, a display 41, and an operation unit. 42, a panel device driver 35 that is a device driver that controls the device 42, a XXX device driver 36 that is a device driver that controls a specific device other than the display 41, the operation unit 42, the USB interface 45, and the network interface 46, and the USB interface 45 or Data to be transmitted / received via the network interface 46 and data to be displayed on the display 41 A display data generation unit 38 to be generated includes a plurality of functions of print data processing unit 39 for processing the print data received via the USB interface 45 or the network interface 46.

  Next, the operation of the image forming system 10 will be described.

  When the MFP 20 is in the normal state, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, such as when there is no operation from the user for a predetermined time, the MFP 20 shifts from the normal state to the energy saving state.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 20 when an event occurs in the energy saving state.

  The MFP 20 starts the process shown in FIG. 5 when an event occurs in the energy saving state. As shown in FIG. 5, the order determining means 31 of the controller 30 determines the order based on the priority of the priority information classified by function according to the type of event that has occurred (S101).

  Next, the function activation unit 32 of the controller 30 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order determined in S101 (S102).

  Next, the controller 30 determines whether or not a new event has occurred (S103).

  When it is determined in S103 that a new event has occurred, the order determining unit 31 executes the process of S101 again.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S103 that a new event has not occurred, the controller 30 determines whether or not activation of all functions has been completed (S104).

  If it is determined in S104 that the activation of all functions has not been completed, the controller 30 executes the process of S103 again.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S104 that the activation of all functions has been completed, the controller 30 ends the processing shown in FIG.

<Example 1>
For example, the operation of the controller 30 when an event “data received from USB” occurs in the energy saving state will be described.

  When the generated event is an event “data received from USB”, according to the priority information by function shown in FIG. 3, the priority of the activation order for a plurality of functions is “USB device driver” is 90. The “Ethernet device driver” is 40, the “panel device driver” is 60, the “XXX device driver” is 40, the “data transmission / reception unit” is 80, the “display data generation unit” is 50, and the “print data processing unit” is 70. It is. Therefore, the order determining means 31 is the order in which these priorities are high, that is, “USB device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, “print data processing unit”, “panel device driver”, “display data” shown in FIG. The order of “generation unit”, “Ethernet device driver”, and “XXX device driver” is determined (S101). Note that the “Ethernet device driver” and the “XXX device driver” have the same priority of 40, so any order may be first.

  Next, the function activation unit 32 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order determined in S101 (S102).

  Accordingly, when the event of “received data from USB” occurs when the controller 30 is in the energy saving state, the “USB device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, and “print data processing” functions related to USB are generated. After the “part” is activated with the highest priority, the “panel device driver” and the “display data generation unit”, which are functions related to the display 41, are activated to display “processing in progress” on the display 41. The functions “Ethernet device driver” and “XXX device driver” that are not used immediately are activated last.

<Example 2>
For example, the operation of the controller 30 when a plurality of events “data received from USB” and “operation on the panel” has occurred in the energy saving state will be described.

  When the generated event is an event “data received from USB”, according to the priority information by function shown in FIG. 3, the priority of the activation order for a plurality of functions is “USB device driver” is 90. The “Ethernet device driver” is 40, the “panel device driver” is 60, the “XXX device driver” is 40, the “data transmission / reception unit” is 80, the “display data generation unit” is 50, and the “print data processing unit” is 70. It is. Further, when the generated event is an event “the panel has been operated”, according to the priority information by function shown in FIG. 3, the priority of the activation order for a plurality of functions is “USB device driver”. 70, “Ethernet device driver” 60, “Panel device driver” 120, “XXX device driver” 50, “Data transmission / reception unit” 40, “Display data generation unit” 115, “Print data processing unit” Is 40. Therefore, the order determination means 31 sums up these priorities for each function, and determines the order in which the summed priorities are large (S101). Here, the total priority is 160 for “USB device driver”, 100 for “Ethernet device driver”, 180 for “panel device driver”, 90 for “XXX device driver”, 120 for “data transmission / reception unit”, “ “Display data generation unit” is 165, and “print data processing unit” is 110. Therefore, the order determining means 31 is the order in which the priorities are high, that is, “panel device driver”, “display data generation unit”, “USB device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, “print data” shown in FIG. The order of “processing unit”, “Ethernet device driver”, and “XXX device driver” is determined.

  Next, the function activation unit 32 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order determined in S101 (S102).

  Accordingly, the controller 30 is a function related to the display 41 “panel device driver” when a plurality of events “data received from USB” and “operation on the panel” occur in the energy saving state. ”And“ display data generation unit ”are activated with the highest priority, and then“ USB device driver ”,“ data transmission / reception unit ”and“ print data processing unit ”, which are functions related to USB, are activated. The functions “Ethernet device driver” and “XXX device driver” that are not used immediately are activated last.

<Example 3>
For example, when the event “data is received from USB” occurs in the energy saving state, and the event “operation on the panel” newly occurs after starting the function of the USB device driver 33 The operation of the controller 30 will be described.

  First, when the event that has occurred is an event that “data has been received from USB”, as described above, the order determination unit 31 performs “USB device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, “print data” illustrated in FIG. The order of “processing unit”, “panel device driver”, “display data generation unit”, “Ethernet device driver”, and “XXX device driver” is determined (S101). Note that the “Ethernet device driver” and the “XXX device driver” have the same priority of 40, so any order may be first. Then, the function activation unit 32 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order determined in S101 (S102).

  If a new event “operation on the panel” occurs after the function activation unit 32 starts activation of the function of the USB device driver 33, the controller 30 determines that a new event has occurred (S103). YES) Here, since the events that have already occurred are a plurality of events “data received from USB” and “operation on the panel”, as described above, the order determining unit 31 performs the “panel” shown in FIG. The order of “device driver”, “display data generation unit”, “USB device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit”, “print data processing unit”, “Ethernet device driver”, “XXX device driver” is newly determined (S101). ). Then, the function activation unit 32 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order newly determined in S101 (S102). At this time, since activation of the function of the USB device driver 33 has already started, the function activation unit 32 newly determines activation of functions other than the USB device driver 33 that has already been activated in S101. Start in order. That is, the function activation unit 32 actually activates a plurality of functions in the order shown in FIG.

  Therefore, when the controller 30 is in the energy saving state, an event “data has been received from USB” occurs, and after starting the function of the USB device driver 33, an event “operation has been performed on the panel” is newly added. After starting the “USB device driver” that is a function related to USB with the highest priority and starting the “panel device driver” and the “display data generation unit” that are functions related to the display 41, The remaining functions related to USB, “data transmission / reception unit” and “print data processing unit” are activated. The functions “Ethernet device driver” and “XXX device driver” that are not used immediately are activated last.

<Example 4>
For example, the operation of the controller 30 when an event “power is turned on” occurs when the power is turned off will be described.

  The MFP 20 operates in the same manner as when an event occurs when the power is turned off when the power is turned off, and when an event occurs when the power is in an energy saving state.

  When the generated event is an event “power is turned on”, according to the priority information by function shown in FIG. 3, the priority of the activation order for a plurality of functions is “USB device driver” is 90, The “Ethernet device driver” is 90, the “panel device driver” is 90, the “XXX device driver” is 90, the “data transmission / reception unit” is 50, the “display data generation unit” is 50, and the “print data processing unit” is 30. is there. Therefore, the order determining means 31 is the order in which the priorities are high, that is, “USB device driver”, “Ethernet device driver”, “panel device driver”, “XXX device driver”, “data transmission / reception unit” shown in FIG. ”,“ Display data generation unit ”, and“ print data processing unit ”are determined (S101). Note that the “USB device driver”, “Ethernet device driver”, “panel device driver”, and “XXX device driver” have the same priority level of 90, so any order may be first. Similarly, since both the “data transmission / reception unit” and the “display data generation unit” have the same priority of 50, any order may be first.

  Next, the function activation unit 32 starts activation of a plurality of functions in the order determined in S101 (S102).

  Therefore, when the event that “the power is turned on” occurs when the power is turned off, the controller 30 has the functions “USB device driver”, “Ethernet device driver”, “panel device driver” that are the functions of the lowest layer. ”And“ XXX device driver ”are activated with the highest priority, then“ data transmission / reception unit ”and“ display data generation unit ”, which are the functions of the upper layer, are activated, and the functions of the layer one level higher The “print data processing unit” is activated last.

  As described above, when a plurality of types of events occur, the MFP 20 totals the priorities of the priority information for each function according to the types of all the generated events for each function, and the total priority The activation order of a plurality of functions is determined based on the above. Therefore, when a plurality of types of events occur, the MFP 20 can activate a plurality of functions in an appropriate order according to the types of all the events that have occurred.

  The MFP 20 does not calculate the priority information for each function according to the types of the plurality of events that have occurred, but stores the priority information for each function according to the types of the events that have occurred for all the patterns in advance. You may do it. However, if the MFP 20 calculates the priority information for each function according to the types of the plurality of events that have occurred, the MFP 20 displays the priority information for each function according to the types of the events that have occurred for all the patterns. As compared with the configuration stored in advance, a huge storage capacity for storing the priority information for each function is not required.

  Further, the MFP 20 can preferentially activate a function that the user desires to be preferentially activated when returning from the energy saving state to the normal state.

  In addition, when an event occurs after the function activation unit 32 starts activation of one or more functions, the MFP 20 renews the activation order of a plurality of functions according to the types of all events that have already occurred. Therefore, even after starting activation of some of the plurality of functions, the activation order of the plurality of functions can be changed to an appropriate order.

  Note that the priority information by function stored in the nonvolatile storage device 47 may be changeable by the user via the operation unit 42, the operation unit of the host PC 80, the operation unit of the host PC 90, or the like. .

  A device external to the MFP 20 is a host PC in the present embodiment, but may be a device other than the host PC.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an MFP in the present embodiment, but may be an image forming apparatus other than the MFP, such as a copier or a printer.

20 MFP (image forming apparatus)
31 Order determining means 32 Function starting means 33 USB device driver (function)
34 Ethernet device driver (function)
35 Panel device driver (function)
36 XXX Device Driver (Function)
37 Data transceiver (function)
38 Display data generator (function)
39 Print Data Processing Unit (Function)
47 Nonvolatile storage device (priority storage unit by function)

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus that activates a plurality of functions when an event occurs,
A priority storage unit by function that stores priority information by function, which is information in which the priority of the order of activation is associated with each of the plurality of functions, for each type of event, and the event has occurred The order determining means for determining the order based on the priority of the priority information by function according to the type of the event that has occurred, and the plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determining means. And a function activation means for activating
The order determining means, when a plurality of types of events occur, sums the priorities of the priority information for each function according to the types of all the events that have occurred, for each function, the total An image forming apparatus, wherein the order is determined based on priority. The order determination means, when the event is newly generated after the function activation means starts activation of one or more of the functions, the priority by function according to the types of all the events that have already occurred Summing the priorities of information for each function, and newly determining the order based on the summed priorities,
The function activation means activates the plurality of functions in the order newly determined by the order determination means when the order determination means newly determines the order. The image forming apparatus described.   The image forming apparatus has at least two states, a normal state and an energy saving state in which energy consumption is less than that in the normal state. When the event occurs in the energy saving state, the plurality of the image forming apparatuses The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus returns to the normal state by activating a function. A function-specific priority storage unit that stores, for each event type, function-specific priority information that is information in which the priority of activation order is associated with each of a plurality of functions is provided, and the event occurs. When the event occurs, the image forming apparatus that activates the plurality of functions when the event occurs determines the order based on the priority of the priority information classified by function according to the type of the event that has occurred. Function as function activation means for activating the plurality of functions in the order determined by the order determination means, and the order determination means;
The order determining means, when a plurality of types of events occur, sums the priorities of the priority information for each function according to the types of all the events that have occurred, for each function, the total A program for an image forming apparatus, wherein the order is determined based on a priority.

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