JP2017170760A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of achieving cost reduction.SOLUTION: A printer 11 comprises: a hard disk 16 as a storage part; a printing request reception part 21; a prediction part 22; and a notification control part 23. The hard disk 16 stores a past failure which has occurred during printing, as data of a trace log. The printing request reception part 21 receives a request of printing from a computer 19a as an external unit. The prediction part 22 predicts whether or not a content of the request of printing received by the printing request reception part 21, generates a failure, on the basis of the data of the trace log stored by the hard disk 16. The notification control part 23 performs control so as to notify a user of occurrence of the failure, when it is predicted that the failure occurs by the prediction part 22.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

  In a printing apparatus typified by a multifunction peripheral or the like, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoconductor by irradiating light to the photoconductor based on image data transmitted from a computer via a network. Thereafter, charged toner is supplied onto the formed electrostatic latent image to form a visible image, which is then transferred and fixed on paper, discharged outside the apparatus, and printed.

  Here, technologies related to power saving in an electronic device such as a printing apparatus are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-303075 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-220163 (Patent Document 2), and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-25472 (Patent Document). Document 3).

  According to Patent Document 1, a host operating state monitoring unit that monitors whether the host device is turned on, a priority setting unit for each host that sets the priority of each printer for each host device, and the host operating state are considered. A printer information totaling unit that calculates the priority of each printer by aggregating the set priority by host, a printer power source determination unit that determines whether each printer is required from the totaling result of the printer information totaling unit, and each printer A power management device is disclosed that includes a printer power supply control unit that remotely controls the power supply of the printer based on whether or not the operation is necessary.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a device state control system that connects a plurality of network devices in a communicable manner and controls the operation state of a seated chair via the network. The network device has a first standby state in which the network device can operate immediately after receiving the operation command, and a second standby in which consumption is lower than that in the first standby state but requires a predetermined time until the operation is enabled after receiving the operation command. The operating state can be switched to any of the states. Then, the operation state of each network device is switched to either the first standby state or the second standby state so that a predetermined number of the network devices are in the first standby state. It is a feature.

  According to the device control method disclosed in Patent Document 3, the management computer collects status information regarding the status of use of the office device, and the control processing step of executing the control processing for the office device based on the status information It is characterized by having.

JP 2003-303075 A JP 2004-220163 A JP 2005-25472 A

  In the technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 described above, the state of the printing apparatus is managed to encourage the user to save power, that is, to save power. In addition to management for encouraging power saving, when a failure occurs in the printing apparatus, control is performed to display that the failure has occurred and to call a so-called service person.

  However, such a state in which the service person is called to eliminate the failure often occurs as a service person's work cost, so it is preferable to avoid it as much as possible from the viewpoint of cost. That is, in order to realize a low cost when using the printing apparatus, it is necessary to avoid such a situation as much as possible.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of realizing cost reduction.

  The printing apparatus of the present invention receives a print request and performs printing. The printing apparatus includes a storage unit, a print request reception unit, a prediction unit, and a notification control unit. The storage unit stores past failures that occurred during execution of printing as trace log data. The print request receiving unit receives a print request from an external device. The prediction unit predicts whether or not the content of the print request received by the print request reception unit causes a failure based on the trace log data stored in the storage unit. If the prediction unit predicts that a failure will occur, the notification control unit controls to notify that fact.

  According to such a printing apparatus, when it is predicted that a failure will occur when a printing request is received, it is possible to prompt the user to cancel the printing request. Then, it is possible to avoid a failure of the printing apparatus that may occur when the printing apparatus is actually operated. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which a failure of the printing apparatus occurs and a service person is called. As a result, cost reduction can be achieved.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when a printing request is issued from a computer to a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of a display part. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when a printing request is issued from a computer to a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of a display part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the appearance of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

  1 and 2, the printing apparatus 11 includes a control unit 12, an operation unit 13, an image forming unit 15, a hard disk 16, and a network interface unit 17 for connecting to a network 14.

  The control unit 12 controls the entire printing apparatus 11. The operation unit 13 includes a display unit 18 that displays data such as information transmitted from the printing apparatus 11 and user input contents. The display unit 18 has a touch panel function. The operation unit 13 allows the user to input image forming conditions such as the number of copies to be printed and gradation, and power on / off. The image forming unit 15 forms an image on a sheet based on the image data transmitted from the computers 19a, 19b, and 19c via the network 14, and performs printing. The hard disk 16 stores data such as transmitted image data and input image forming conditions. The hard disk 16 stores past failures that occurred during printing as trace log data. Note that the arrows in FIG. 2 indicate the flow of data regarding control signals, control, and images.

  Next, the configuration of the control unit 12 will be described. The control unit 12 includes a print request reception unit 21, a prediction unit 22, a notification control unit 23, a data storage control unit 24, and a data transmission unit 25. The print request receiving unit 21 receives print requests from the computers 19a to 19c as external devices. The prediction unit 22 predicts whether or not the content of the print request received by the print request reception unit 21 causes a failure based on the trace log data stored in the hard disk 16. If the prediction unit 22 predicts that a failure will occur, the notification control unit 23 performs control to notify that fact. In addition, if a failure occurs, the notification control unit 23 performs control to notify that fact. If a failure occurs when the print request received by the print request receiving unit 21 is executed, the data storage control unit 24 uses the contents of the print request received by the print request receiving unit 21 as trace log data. Control is performed so as to be stored in the hard disk 16. In addition, if the prediction unit 22 predicts that a failure will occur, the data transmission unit 25 transmits the trace log data to the computer 19c as an external device.

  Next, the flow of processing when printing is performed using the printing apparatus 11 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a printing request is made from the computer 19a using the printing apparatus 11. It is assumed that the hard disk 16 does not yet store data relating to the contents of printing that caused a failure of the printing apparatus 11 in the past, that is, trace log data. Here, a case where 100 copies are continuously printed using a specific file will be described.

  Referring to FIG. 3, first, the user makes a print request from computer 19a. Specifically, data of a specific file is transmitted from the computer 19 a to the printing apparatus 11 via the network 14, and 100 copies are input as the number of copies, and a printing request is made to the printing apparatus 11. Then, the print request accepting unit 21 accepts the print request from the computer 19a as well as the data of the specific file (Step S11 in FIG. 3, hereinafter, “step” is omitted).

  Based on this print request, the image forming unit 15 tries to execute printing (S12). That is, printing is executed based on the data of the specific file transmitted from the computer 19a.

  Here, in the printing apparatus 11, for example, when the extension of the specific file is not supported, there is a possibility that a failure occurs (S13). That is, although the data of the specific file is received, the data of the specific file has an extension that is not supported by the printing apparatus 11, and therefore, there is a possibility that printing cannot be performed and a failure occurs. In this case, a software failure may occur.

  When a failure has occurred (YES in S13), the notification control unit 23 controls the display unit 18 to display a failure message (S14). Specifically, the notification control unit 23 controls the display unit 18 to display a failure mode and a message that a service person is called.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the display unit 18 in this case. Referring to FIG. 4, a message 26 “Failure ABC: Please call a service person” is displayed on the display unit 18. The failure mode of failure ABC indicates a failure based on the extension of a specific file.

  Here, the data storage control unit 24 controls the hard disk 16 to store a failure that occurred during execution of printing as trace log data (S15). Specifically, this is trace log data relating to the extension of a specific file requested to be printed.

  The user calls the service person by telephone or the like based on the display by the display unit 18 described above. The called service person eliminates the failure that has occurred in the printing apparatus 11. If no failure occurs in S13 (NO in S13), the printing process is executed (S16), and the process is terminated.

  Next, a case where a similar print request is made will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the printing apparatus 11 in this case.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the user again requests printing from the computer 19a. Also in this case, it is assumed that 100 copies of a specific file having an extension that is not supported by the printing apparatus 11 are continuously printed. Then, the print request receiving unit 21 receives a print request (S21).

  Thereafter, the prediction unit 22 predicts whether or not the content of the print request received by the print request reception unit 21 causes a failure based on the trace log data stored in the hard disk 16 (S22). In this case, for example, specifically, it is predicted by determining whether or not it is a request for printing with a file having the same extension as the extension of the file in which a failure has occurred in the past.

  If the prediction unit 22 predicts that a failure will occur (YES in S22), the notification control unit 23 displays a message indicating that a failure may occur and a selection key on the display unit 18 (S23). .

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the display unit 18 in this case. Referring to FIG. 6, the display unit 18 is described with a message 28 that “It is an unsupported extension. There is a risk of malfunction due to printing operation” and “Cancel”. A selection key 29a for canceling the execution of printing when pressed and a "continue printing" are indicated, and a selection key 29b for continuing printing when pressed is shown. That is, the notification control unit 23 causes the display unit 18 to display a cancel key for stopping execution of the requested printing when pressed.

  The user sees the display on the display unit 18 and grasps that there is a possibility that the printing apparatus 11 may fail if the printing is continued as it is. Then, if it is determined that the cost will be incurred if a failure occurs and the service person is called, the cancel selection key 29a is pressed (YES in S24). If the pressing of the selection key 29a is detected, the printing is stopped (S25).

  Thereafter, the data transmission unit 25 transmits the data of the trace log to, for example, another computer 19c having a function as a server (S26). The computer 19c analyzes the trace log data. If the analysis results indicate that failure can be avoided by remote operation, countermeasures are taken by remote operation. That is, for example, if the extension of the printing apparatus 11 can be supported by the remote operation from the computer 19c, such a countermeasure is taken.

  If a failure is not predicted to occur (NO in S22) or if the user decides that the service person may be called and the selection key 29b is pressed (NO in S24), printing is executed. (S27). If a failure occurs, the notification control unit 23 displays on the display unit 18 that a failure has occurred (S28). If no failure occurs, the process is terminated as it is.

  According to such a printing apparatus 11, when it is predicted that a failure will occur when a printing request is received, it is possible to prompt the user to cancel the printing request. If it does so, failure of the printing apparatus 11 which may generate | occur | produce when actually operating the printing apparatus 11 can be avoided. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which a failure occurs in the printing apparatus 11 and a service person is called. That is, it is possible to predict a failure that has occurred once and prevent the occurrence of a second failure. As a result, cost reduction can be achieved.

  In this case, since the notification control unit 23 notifies by displaying on the display unit 18, it is possible to grasp that there is a possibility that a failure may occur easily with the eyes.

  Further, in this case, the notification control unit 23 causes the display unit 18 to display a cancel key for stopping the execution of the requested printing when pressed, so that the printing request can be easily canceled.

  In this case, if the prediction unit 22 predicts that a failure will occur, the data transmission unit 25 that transmits the trace log data to the computer 19c as an external device is provided. If so, printing can be continued while taking measures against the failure to avoid the failure.

  In the above-described embodiment, the notification control unit 23 performs notification by display on the display unit 18. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the notification control unit 23 may notify by voice or display unit. In addition to the display by 18, it may be notified by voice.

  Further, the notification control unit 23 may notify the user via the computer 19a as an external device that has made a print request to the printing apparatus 11. Specifically, the notification control unit 23 displays a notification to that effect on a display (not shown) connected to the computer 19a as an external device that has requested printing to the printing device 11. . In addition, you may make it alert | report by the audio | voice emitted from the computer 19a. Furthermore, the above-described selection in S24 may be performed on the display connected to the computer 19a side. That is, in S23, the screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display, and the processing corresponding to one of the selection keys 29a and 29b may be selected by detecting the click of the selection keys 29a and 29b. . Further, the fact that a failure has occurred in S28 may be displayed on a display connected to the computer 19a.

  In the above embodiment, the data storage control unit 24 is provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the trace log data assuming the prediction result by the prediction unit 22 may be stored in the hard disk 16 in advance. Good.

  In the above embodiment, data is stored in the hard disk 16, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the control unit 12 may store data.

  In the above embodiment, if the prediction unit 22 predicts that a failure will occur, the data transmission unit 25 transmits the trace log data to the computer 19c as an external device. However, the configuration is not limited to this, and the data transmission unit 25 may not be provided.

  In the above embodiment, the failure is a failure caused by the extension of the file requested to be printed. However, the failure is not limited to this, and the failure includes other software failures.

  It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and are not restrictive in any aspect. The scope of the present invention is defined by the scope of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the scope of the claims.

  The printing apparatus according to the present invention is particularly effectively used when low cost is required.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Printing apparatus, 12 Control part, 13 Operation part, 14 Network, 15 Image formation part, 16 Hard disk, 17 Network interface part, 18 Display part, 19a, 19b, 19c Computer, 21 Print request reception part, 22 Prediction part, 23 Notification control unit, 24 data storage control unit, 25 data transmission unit, 26, 28 message, 29a, 29b selection key.

Claims (7)

A printing apparatus that accepts a print request and performs printing.
A storage unit that stores past failures that occurred during printing as trace log data;
A print request accepting unit that accepts a print request from an external device;
Based on the data of the trace log stored by the storage unit, a prediction unit that predicts whether the content of the print request received by the print request reception unit causes a failure,
A printing apparatus comprising: a notification control unit that controls to notify that if a failure is predicted by the prediction unit. A display unit for displaying data;
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification control unit controls the display unit to display a message that a failure may occur due to execution of a print request received by the print request reception unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notification control unit causes the display unit to display a cancel key for stopping execution of the requested printing when pressed. If a failure occurs when executing the print request accepted by the print request accepting unit, the contents of the print request accepted by the print request accepting unit are stored in the storage unit as the trace log data. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data storage control unit that performs control as described above. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data transmission unit configured to transmit data of the trace log to an external device if a failure is predicted to be generated by the prediction unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the failure is a failure caused by an extension of a file requested to be printed. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification control unit displays a notification to that effect on a display connected to the external apparatus that has requested printing to the printing apparatus. .

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