JP2016071445A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus configured to allow easy replacement of a storage area to be used as backup of a flash memory.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 1 with a removable medium 300 mounted thereon includes: a flash memory 33 for storing important information of the image forming apparatus 1, such as various setting information, log information, and the number of sheets to be printed; a medium control section 80 for reading/writing data from/to the removable medium 300 mounted on the image forming apparatus 1; and a control section 100 for reading/writing data from/to the flash memory 33. The control section 100 causes the medium control section 80 to write the important information to the removable medium 300 as update data, before writing the important information to the flash memory 33, and writes the important information to the flash memory 33 after the update data is successfully written to the removable medium 300.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for protecting important information during writing when a sudden power interruption occurs.

  2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as printers and multifunction machines are equipped with a flash memory that stores important information such as various setting information, log information, and the number of printed sheets. When the contents of the flash memory are rewritten, if the power of the image forming apparatus is suddenly cut off while the originally written data is being erased or new data is being written, the memory access is stopped at that point. As a result, the area in the flash memory where the access has been stopped becomes incomplete, a start-up failure occurs at the next start-up of the image forming apparatus, or a memory access failure occurs during the operation of the image forming apparatus. .

  In preparation for such a sudden power interruption, when writing data to the flash memory, first write new data to an unused area, then release the area where the old data was written, Generally, a means for saving the data to another area before erasing and writing back the saved data when the power is cut off is generally used.

  For example, in the following Patent Document 1, in a device that always holds data to be input / edited by a running application program in a backup memory area and saves the data to an external recording device as necessary, the backup memory area A flag indicating whether or not the data has been saved in the external storage device is added to the internal file. In such a device, if a flag is set in the backup memory area when a sudden power failure occurs and the device is restarted, it is determined that data saving to the external storage device is not completed, for example, Data saving to the external storage device continues.

JP-A-6-19808

  In Patent Document 1, a non-volatile memory is used as a backup memory area. In general, a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory has a restriction on the number of data rewrites, and if data is repeatedly written / erased frequently, the memory deteriorates and the written data cannot be stored correctly. For this reason, it is necessary to replace the non-volatile memory used as the backup memory area when it deteriorates, but the user has no way of knowing the appropriate replacement time of the backup memory area, and it is difficult to replace the non-volatile memory. Is assumed. On the other hand, adopting a non-volatile memory with no restriction on the number of rewrites such as MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) eliminates such inconvenience, but is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, facilitates replacement of a storage area used as a backup of flash memory in an image forming apparatus, and further replaces the storage area for such backup. It is intended to be able to notify the user.

An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes an interface unit to which a removable medium can be attached,
A flash memory for storing predetermined important information including at least one of various setting information, log information, and the number of prints of the image forming apparatus;
A media control unit for reading and writing data from and to the removable media mounted on the interface unit;
Before writing the important information to the flash memory, the media control unit writes the important information as update data to the removable medium, and after the update data is successfully written to the removable medium, the important information is written to the flash memory. And a control unit for writing information.

  According to the present invention, the storage area used as a backup of the flash memory in the image forming apparatus can be easily exchanged. Furthermore, the user can be notified of the replacement time of such a storage area for backup.

1 is a front sectional view showing a structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the write-in process of the important information to flash memory. It is a flowchart which shows the warning process when a removable medium has deteriorated. It is a figure which shows the example of a warning display when a removable medium has deteriorated. 6 is a flowchart illustrating start processing of the image forming apparatus after a sudden power interruption.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  An image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a multifunction machine having a plurality of functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an apparatus main body 11 that includes an operation unit 47, an image forming unit 12, a fixing unit 13, a paper feeding unit 14, a document feeding unit 6, a document reading unit 5, and the like.

  The operation unit 47 receives instructions such as an image forming operation execution instruction and a document reading operation execution instruction from the operator regarding various operations and processes that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 47 includes a display unit 473. The display unit 473 is configured by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) having a touch panel function.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 performs a document reading operation, the document reading unit 5 optically reads a document fed by the document feeding unit 6 or a document placed on the document placing glass 161, Generate image data. Image data generated by the document reading unit 5 is stored in a built-in HDD or a network-connected computer.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 performs an image forming operation, it is based on image data generated by the document reading operation, image data received from a computer connected to a network, image data stored in a built-in HDD, or the like. Then, the image forming unit 12 forms a toner image on a sheet P as a recording medium fed from the sheet feeding unit 14. When performing color printing, the magenta image forming unit 12M, the cyan image forming unit 12C, the yellow image forming unit 12Y, and the black image forming unit 12Bk of the image forming unit 12 respectively A toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 121 by charging, exposure, and development processes based on an image composed of each color component constituting data, and the toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 125 by the primary transfer roller 126. Let them transcribe.

  The toner images of the respective colors transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 125 are superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 125 with the transfer timing adjusted to form a color toner image. The secondary transfer roller 210 passes the toner image of the color formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 125 from the paper supply unit 14 through the conveyance path 190 at a nip N between the intermediate transfer belt 125 and the driving roller 125a. Transfer is performed on the conveyed paper P. Thereafter, the fixing unit 13 fixes the toner image on the paper P to the paper P by thermocompression bonding. The sheet P on which the color image has been formed after the fixing process is completed is discharged to the discharge tray 151.

  In the image forming apparatus 1, when performing double-sided printing, the sheet P on which an image is formed on one side by the image forming unit 12 is nipped by the discharge roller pair 159, and then the sheet P is loaded. The sheet is switched back by the discharge roller pair 159 and sent to the reverse conveyance path 195, and is conveyed again to the upstream area in the conveyance direction of the paper P with respect to the nip portion N and the fixing unit 13 by the conveyance roller pair 19. As a result, an image is formed on the other side of the sheet by the image forming unit 12.

  Next, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10. The control unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM, a ROM, a dedicated hardware circuit, and the like, and controls overall operation of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The document reading unit 5 includes a reading mechanism 163 (see FIG. 1) having a light irradiation unit, a CCD sensor, and the like under the control of the control unit 10. The document reading unit 5 reads an image from the document by irradiating the document with the light irradiating unit and receiving the reflected light with a CCD sensor.

  The image processing unit 31 performs image processing on the image data of the image read by the document reading unit 5 as necessary. For example, the image processing unit 31 performs predetermined image processing such as shading correction in order to improve the quality after the image read by the document reading unit 5 is formed by the image forming unit 12.

  The image memory 32 is an area for temporarily storing document image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 5 and temporarily storing data to be printed by the image forming unit 12.

  The flash memory 33 is a memory that stores important information such as log information of the image forming apparatus 1, counter information such as the number of printed sheets, and setting information of the image forming apparatus 1. Further, flag information indicating whether or not the important information has been successfully written is written in the flash memory 33. The flash memory 33 can hold the stored contents even when the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off.

  The image forming unit 12 forms an image such as print data read by the document reading unit 5 and print data received from the computer 200 connected to the network.

  The operation unit 47 receives instructions from the operator regarding various operations and processes that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 47 includes a display unit 473.

  The display unit 473 displays various displays such as an operation screen, a preview screen, and a print job status confirmation screen.

  The facsimile communication unit 71 includes an unillustrated encoding / decoding unit, modulation / demodulation unit, and NCU (Network Control Unit), and performs facsimile transmission using a public telephone network.

  The network interface unit 91 includes a communication module such as a LAN board, and transmits / receives various data to / from the computer 200 in the local area via a LAN connected to the network interface unit 91.

  The HDD 92 is a large-capacity storage device that stores document images and the like read by the document reading unit 5.

  The driving motor 70 is a driving source that applies a rotational driving force to each rotating member of the image forming unit 12, the conveyance roller pair 19, and the like.

  The interface unit 801 is connectable to the removable medium 300 and connects the connected removable medium 300 to the media control unit 80.

  The media control unit 80 controls data writing to the removable medium 300 connected to the interface unit 801 and data reading from the removable medium. In particular, the media control unit 80 executes a retry function for writing data to another area when data writing to one area of the removable medium 300 fails. Note that the media control unit 80 may be a part of the control unit 10.

  The removable medium 300 is a recording medium that can be easily connected to the interface unit 801. As the removable medium 300, for example, an SD memory card (hereinafter simply referred to as an SD card) can be used. The removable medium 300 is used as a backup memory area when important information is written to the flash memory 33, and update data is written therein. Further, the removable medium 300 stores a boot code that is executed when the image forming apparatus 1 is started up when writing of important information to the flash memory 33 is interrupted.

  The control unit 10 includes a control unit 100. The control unit 100 includes a document reading unit 5, a document feeding unit 6, an image processing unit 31, an image memory 32, a flash memory 33, an image forming unit 12, an operation unit 47, a facsimile communication unit 71, a media control unit 80, a network interface. Are connected to a unit 91, an HDD (hard disk drive) 92, and the like, and performs drive control of these units.

  In particular, the control unit 100 writes data to the flash memory 33 and reads data from the flash memory 33. More specifically, the control unit 100 causes the media control unit 80 to write the important information as update data to the removable medium 300 before writing the important information to the flash memory 33, and the update data has been successfully written to the removable medium 300. Later, important information is written into the flash memory 33. That is, the removable medium 300 is used as a backup memory area of the flash memory 33.

  Next, a process for writing important information to the flash memory 33 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process for writing important information to the flash memory 33.

  When the document scanning process by the document reading unit 5 or the image printing process by the image forming unit 12 and the fixing unit 13 is completed (S1), the control unit 100 displays log information indicating that scanning or printing has been performed, Before writing important information such as counter information indicating the number of times of scanning or printing into the flash memory 33, the important information is passed to the media control unit 80. Receiving the important information, the media control unit 80 writes the important information as update data in the removable medium 300 (S2). The important information may be at least one of the log information and the counter information.

  When the update data is written to the removable medium 300, the media control unit 80 reads the updated data that has been written and compares it with the original data to determine whether the update data has been successfully written. When the update data has been successfully written to the removable medium 300 (YES in S3), the control unit 100 sets a flag in the flash memory 33 (S4). Then, the control unit 100 writes the important information in the flash memory 33 (S5), and then lowers the flag of the flash memory 33 (S6).

  In this way, by adding flag information to the flash memory 33, it is possible to determine whether or not writing of important information to the flash memory 33 is completed with reference to the flag information.

  If the removable medium 300 is deteriorated, update data writing may fail. If the update data writing has failed (NO in S3), the media control unit 80 writes the update data to another area in the removable medium 300 if the number of failures is not more than a certain number (YES in S7) ( S8). On the other hand, when the number of failures exceeds a certain number (NO in S7), the media control unit 80 does not rewrite the update data, and the control unit 100 causes the display unit 473 to deteriorate the removable media 300, for example. A warning process for displaying the fact is displayed (S9).

  Next, a warning process when the removable medium 300 is deteriorated will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a warning process when the removable medium 300 is deteriorated. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning display when the removable medium 300 is deteriorated.

  The control unit 100 displays a warning screen as shown in FIG. 5 on the display unit 473 (S10). When the user selects to replace the removable medium 300 (SD card) according to the warning display (YES in S11), the control unit 100 displays the SD card replacement procedure on the display unit 473 (S12). When the SD card is exchanged, the media control unit 80 accesses the exchanged SD card and performs setup such as writing of necessary files (S13). As described above, when the removable medium 300 is replaced, the backup function using the removable medium 300 is kept on.

  On the other hand, when the user selects not to replace the SD card (NO in S11), the control unit 100 turns off the backup function using the removable medium 300 (S14). When the backup function is turned off, important information is written directly to the flash memory 33 without being written to the removable medium 300.

  Further, the control unit 100 may receive an instruction to continue writing to the removable medium 300 in S11.

  When the backup function is turned off, there is a risk that important information may be lost if a sudden power failure occurs. For this reason, when the user chooses not to replace the SD card, it is preferable to display a warning about the danger on the display unit 473.

  The storage capacity of the removable medium 300 is arbitrary. In the case of a small capacity medium, the cost can be reduced. On the other hand, although the capacity of a large-capacity medium is high, the replacement frequency can be reduced because of the large storage capacity. Therefore, the removable medium 300 having an appropriate capacity may be adopted according to the user's needs.

  Next, the activation process of the image forming apparatus 1 after a sudden power interruption will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a startup process of the image forming apparatus 1 after a sudden power failure.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the control unit 100 refers to the flag information of the flash memory 33 and determines whether or not the writing of the important information to the flash memory 33 is completed. For example, if the flag is set in the flash memory 33 when the image forming apparatus 1 is activated, the control unit 100 determines that the writing of the important information has not been completed and the writing has been completed at the time of the previous writing to the flash memory 33. Is possible. At this time, it is considered that a power failure occurred during the writing of important information to the flash memory 33. Accordingly, when the flag is set in the flash memory 33 when the image forming apparatus 1 is activated, the control unit 100 causes the media control unit 80 to read the boot code from the removable medium 300 (S20). Then, the control unit 100 executes the read boot code (S21), and causes the media control unit 80 to read update data from the removable medium 300 (S22).

  By referring to the update data recorded on the removable medium 300, the control unit 100 can recognize the address and data in which writing has been interrupted in the flash memory 33 due to a sudden power interruption (S23). Thereby, the control unit 100 can restart the writing of the important information from the address where the writing is interrupted in the flash memory 33 with reference to the update data (S24).

  When the writing of important information to the flash memory 33 is completed, the control unit 100 lowers the flag of the flash memory 33 (S25) and restarts the image forming apparatus 1 (S26). In this case, since the flag of the flash memory 33 is lowered when the image forming apparatus 1 is activated, the image forming apparatus 1 can continue normal operation.

  Note that when the removable medium 300 is replaced, the new removable medium 300 may not have a boot code. In such a case, the media control unit 80 may write a boot code in the removable medium 300 at the time of setup when the new removable medium 300 is mounted on the image forming apparatus 1. As a result, the boot code is automatically stored in the replaced removable medium 300, and the removable medium 300 can be started immediately without any new settings.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in a system in which important information such as log information and counter information recorded in the flash memory 33 is frequently rewritten, even if a sudden power failure occurs, the information is stored in the removable medium 300. The important information that was scheduled to be rewritten can be rewritten using the updated data. As a result, even if a sudden power interruption occurs during write access to the flash memory 33, it is possible to recover using the update data stored in the removable medium 300. In addition, the storage area used as a backup of the flash memory 33 can be easily exchanged. Furthermore, the user can be notified of the replacement time of such a storage area for backup.

  The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, an SD card is used as the removable medium 300, but another memory card such as a Memory Stick (registered trademark) or a compact flash (registered trademark), a USB memory, or the like may be used. Further, although an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described using a multifunction peripheral, this is merely an example, and other image forming apparatuses such as a printer may be used.

  The configuration and processing shown in the above embodiment using FIGS. 1 to 6 are only one embodiment of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to the configuration and processing.

1 Image forming apparatus 33 Flash memory 80 Media control unit 100 Control unit 300 Removable media

Claims (5)

An interface unit to which removable media can be connected;
A flash memory for storing predetermined important information including at least one of various setting information, log information, and the number of prints of the image forming apparatus;
A media control unit for reading and writing data to and from the removable media connected to the interface unit;
Before writing the important information to the flash memory, the media control unit writes the important information as update data to the removable medium, and after the update data is successfully written to the removable medium, the important information is written to the flash memory. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that writes information. A display unit;
The media control unit has a retry function of writing data to another area when data writing to one area of the removable media fails,
The said control part displays that the said removable medium has deteriorated on the said display part, when the frequency | count of retry of writing of the said update data to the said removable medium exceeds the predetermined value. Image forming apparatus.   The control unit sets a flag for the flash memory before writing the important information to the flash memory and after writing the important information to the removable medium, and the writing of the important information to the flash memory is completed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flag is lowered after the operation.   If the flag is set in the flash memory when the image forming apparatus is activated, the control unit causes the media control unit to read a boot code from the removable medium, and executes the boot code to execute the media control. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the update data is read from the removable medium, and the writing of the important information is resumed from an address at which writing is interrupted in the flash memory.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the media control unit writes the boot code in the removable medium when the boot code does not exist in the removable medium.