JP4458866B2 - Image forming apparatus and automatic reboot method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an automatic reboot method.

In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, failures due to various causes of hardware or programs (software) may occur, and the response to these failures is to ensure the smooth use of equipment. It is an important theme. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-321931 discloses a technique for centrally managing failure information of an image forming apparatus at a center.

  Conventionally, failures have been classified into the following four types A to D, for example.

Type A ··· Failure requiring urgent service and repair by a service person Type B · · Failure of a specific unit that does not affect the basic function Type C · · Log function failure Type D · · Other failures that can be recovered by turning off (OFF) / ON (ON) Note that the above type classification is for convenience and does not necessarily mean the order of severity of the failure.

  FIG. 10 is an operation flow chart showing the operation when a failure occurs in the prior art, and is an operation for the type A and type D failures. A separate alert is displayed for type B, and no special display is performed for type C.

  In FIG. 10, when a type A or type D failure occurs (step S601), if a type A failure or a type D failure occurs at a predetermined frequency, the image forming apparatus has a CSS (Customer Satisfaction Service). If there is an automatic notification function called “)” and the function is valid, the automatic notification screen at the time of failure is displayed and an automatic notification is made to the service center (step S602). If the notification is successful, a message indicating that the service person is waiting for repair is displayed (step S603), and the power supply is turned off / on (step S604). If the report fails, the user is informed that the service center should be contacted (step S605), and waits for power OFF / ON (step S606).

  In addition, when a type D failure occurs in a single occurrence (occurrence that does not reach a predetermined frequency), automatic notification is not performed even when the automatic notification function of the image forming apparatus is effective, and the user can A message prompting OFF / ON is displayed (step S607), and a state of waiting for power OFF / ON is entered (step S608).

  On the other hand, if the automatic notification function of the image forming apparatus is invalid or the model does not have the automatic notification function itself, the type A failure or the type D failure occurs at a predetermined frequency, the user is notified. A message indicating that the service center should be contacted is displayed (step S611), and the apparatus waits for power OFF / ON (step S612). If a type D failure occurs once, the user turns off / on the power, and if the failure still occurs, a message is displayed indicating that the service center should be contacted (step S609). Is in a state of waiting for OFF / ON (step S610).

  Conventional countermeasures when a failure occurs are performed as described above, but have the following problems.

  That is, when a type D failure occurs once, the user is prompted to turn off / on the power regardless of the presence or absence of the automatic notification function, which causes a problem that the user is burdened. At this time, since a power switch is rarely used in a normal copy operation or the like, a person who is not familiar with the operation may be confused without knowing the location of the power switch.

  In addition, when a type D failure occurs at a predetermined frequency, an automatic notification is made or a contact to the service center is prompted, but in the case of a type D failure that occurred before that, Failures that might have been resolved if they were turned on may reoccur due to improper power OFF / ON by the user. There was a problem that automatic notification or contact was made by the user.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described conventional problems, and the object of the present invention is to perform automatic operation without requiring user operation for a failure that is likely to be recovered by turning the power OFF / ON. It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus and an automatic reboot method capable of performing appropriate reboot (reset, restart).

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, an image forming apparatus having hardware resources used for image formation and a program for performing processing related to image formation , A means for detecting a failure to be rebooted among failures that are likely to be recovered by power OFF / ON, a means for rebooting the hardware resource and the program, and an automatic notification to the service center. A means to stop in the state of waiting for power OFF / ON regardless of success or failure of the system, and detected a failure subject to automatic notification other than from the detection of the failure subject to reboot to the execution of the reboot perform automatic report if, when detecting another failure during the detection of a fault to be rebooted subject to execution reboot, the other failure automatic communication Even the subject so that to continue executing the reboot without automatic report.

  Further, as described in claim 2, the failure to be rebooted is within a range in which a failure that is likely to be recovered by turning the power OFF / ON does not reach a predetermined number of times while performing a predetermined number of prints. It can be the case when it occurs.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the predetermined number may be 10 and the predetermined number may be 2.

  In addition, as described in claim 4, each of the above means is a function of a system control service that performs processing such as application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, hardware resource management, and interrupt application control. Can be configured.

In addition, as described in claim 5 , immediately after detecting a failure to be rebooted, the operation of the hardware resource and the program can be suppressed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention , it is possible to wait for a predetermined time from the response from the hardware resource and the program to the execution of reboot after the response to the operation suppression.

In addition, as described in claim 7 , rebooting the hardware resource and the program sequentially performs an engine reset, a hard disk drive access stop, an engine power off, an engine power on, and an application reboot. Can be.

In addition, as described in claim 8, when the reboot of the hardware resource and the program detects that the energy saving transition is in progress, the engine power is turned on first after post-processing. be able to.

Further, as described in claim 9 , following the turning on of the engine power supply, it is possible to sequentially stop access to the hard disk drive and reboot the application.

In addition, as described in claim 10 , when a failure to be rebooted is detected, a screen informing the start of execution of automatic reboot can be displayed.

In addition, as described in claim 11 , the screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot may include a display showing the progress status of the post-processing of the hardware resource and the program.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention , the screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot may include a display indicating the time until the reboot is performed.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention , the screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot can include a button for instructing the start of the reboot immediately.

In addition, as described in claim 14 , a screen for requesting confirmation from the user can be displayed after the reboot.

Further, as described in claim 15 to 17, it may be configured as automatic reboot process.

  In the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to automatically and appropriately perform a reboot for a failure that is highly likely to be recovered by turning off / on the power supply without requiring a user operation.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 is configured to include a software group 2, an image forming apparatus activation unit 3, and hardware resources 4.

  The image forming apparatus activation unit 3 is executed first when the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on, and activates the application layer 5 and the platform layer 6. For example, the image forming apparatus activation unit 3 reads the programs of the application layer 5 and the platform layer 6 from a hard disk device (hereinafter referred to as HDD) and transfers each read program to a memory area and activates it. The hardware resource 4 includes a scanner 25, a plotter 26, and a hardware resource 24 such as an ADF (Auto Document Feeder).

  The software group 2 includes an application layer 5 and a platform layer 6 activated on an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) such as UNIX (registered trademark). The application layer 5 includes programs that perform processing unique to user services related to image formation such as printers, copies, faxes, and scanners.

  The application layer 5 includes a printer application 9 that is a printer application, a copy application 10 that is a copy application, a fax application 11 that is a fax application, and a scanner application 12 that is a scanner application.

  The platform layer 6 interprets a processing request from the application layer 5 and generates a hardware resource 4 acquisition request, and manages one or more hardware resources 4 to control the control service layer. 7 includes a system resource manager (hereinafter referred to as “SRM”) 21 that arbitrates acquisition requests from 7 and a handler layer 8 that manages hardware resources 4 in response to acquisition requests from the SRM 21.

  The control service layer 7 includes a network control service (hereinafter referred to as NCS) 13, a delivery control service (hereinafter referred to as DCS) 14, an operation panel control service (hereinafter referred to as OCS) 15, and a fax control service (hereinafter referred to as FCS) 16. , Engine control service (hereinafter referred to as ECS) 17, memory control service (hereinafter referred to as MCS) 18, user information control service (hereinafter referred to as UCS) 19, system control service (hereinafter referred to as SCS) 20, etc. The service module is configured to be included.

  The platform layer 6 is configured to have an API 28 that can receive a processing request from the application layer 5 using a predefined function. The OS executes the software of the application layer 5 and the platform layer 6 in parallel as processes.

  The process of the NCS 13 provides a service that can be commonly used for applications that require network I / O. Data received from the network side according to each protocol is distributed to each application, and data from each application. Mediation when sending to the network side.

  For example, the NCS 13 controls data communication with a network device connected via a network by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol Daemon) by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).

  The process of the DCS 14 performs control such as distribution of stored documents. The process of the OCS 15 controls an operation panel serving as information transmission means between the operator and the main body control. The FCS16 process provides APIs for sending and receiving faxes from the application layer 5 using the PSTN or ISDN network, registering / quoting various fax data managed in the backup memory, reading faxes, receiving faxes, etc. To do.

  The process of the ECS 17 controls the engine unit such as the scanner 25, the plotter 26, and other hardware resources 24. The process of the MCS 18 performs memory control such as acquisition and release of memory and use of the HDD. The UCS 19 manages user information.

  The process of the SCS 20 performs processing such as application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, hardware resource management, and interrupt application control.

  The process of the SRM 21 controls the system and manages the hardware resources 4 together with the SCS 20. For example, the process of the SRM 21 performs arbitration according to an acquisition request from an upper layer that uses the hardware resources 4 such as the scanner 25 and the plotter 26, and performs execution control.

  Specifically, the process of the SRM 21 determines whether or not the requested hardware resource 4 is available (whether it is not used by another acquisition request). The higher layer is notified that the resource 4 is available. Further, the process of the SRM 21 performs scheduling for using the hardware resource 4 in response to an acquisition request from an upper layer, and the request contents (for example, paper conveyance and image forming operation by the printer engine, memory allocation, file generation, etc.) Has been implemented directly.

  The handler layer 8 includes a fax control unit handler (hereinafter referred to as FCUH) 22 for managing a fax control unit (hereinafter referred to as FCU), which will be described later, and an image for allocating memory to the process and managing the memory allocated to the process. And a memory handler (hereinafter referred to as IMH) 23. The SRM 21 and the FCUH 22 make a processing request for the hardware resource 4 by using an engine I / F 27 that enables transmission of a processing request for the hardware resource 4 by a predefined function.

  The image forming apparatus 1 can centrally process processes commonly required for each application by the platform layer 6. Next, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a controller board 30, an operation panel 43, an FCU 44, and an engine 47. The FCU 44 includes a G3 standard compatible unit 45 and a G4 standard compatible unit 46.

  The controller board 30 includes a CPU 31, an ASIC 40, an HDD 42, a system memory (MEM-P) 32, a local memory (MEM-C) 41, a north bridge (hereinafter referred to as NB) 33, and a south bridge. (Hereinafter referred to as SB) 34, NIC 35 (Network Interface Card), USB device 36, IEEE 1394 device 37, and Centronics device 38.

  The operation panel 43 is connected to the ASIC 40 of the controller board 30. The SB 34, the NIC 35, the USB device 36, the IEEE 1394 device 37, and the Centronics device 38 are connected to the NB 33 via a PCI bus.

  The FCU 44 and the engine 47 are connected to the ASIC 40 of the controller board 30 via a PCI bus.

  The controller board 30 is connected to the ASIC 40 with the MEM-C 41, the HDD 42, and the like, and the CPU 31 and the ASIC 40 are connected to each other through the NB 33 of the CPU chip set. In this way, if the CPU 31 and the ASIC 40 are connected via the NB 33, it is possible to cope with the case where the interface of the CPU 31 is not disclosed.

  Further, the ASIC 40 and the NB 33 are not connected via a PCI bus, but are connected via an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 39. In this way, in order to control execution of one or more processes forming the application layer 5 and the platform layer 6 in FIG. 1, the ASIC 40 and the NB 33 are connected via the AGP 39 instead of the low-speed PCI bus, thereby reducing the performance. It is preventing.

  The CPU 31 performs overall control of the image forming apparatus 1. The CPU 31 causes the NCS 13, DCS 14, OCS 15, FCS 16, ECS 17, MCS 18, UCS 19, SCS 20, SRM 21, FCUH 22, and IMH 23 of FIG. The copy application 10, the fax application 11, and the scanner application 12 are activated and executed.

  The NB 33 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 31, the MEM-P 32, the SB 34 and the ASIC 40. The MEM-P 32 is a memory used as a drawing memory of the image forming apparatus 1. The SB 34 is a bridge for connecting the NB 33 to the PCI bus and peripheral devices. The MEM-C 41 is a memory used as a copy image buffer and a code buffer.

  The ASIC 40 is an IC for image processing applications having hardware elements for image processing. The HDD 42 is a storage for storing images, programs, font data, forms, and the like. The operation panel 43 is an operation unit that accepts an input operation from the user and performs display for the user.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a functional unit provided in the SCS 20 of FIG. 1 for the failure handling of the present invention. Only the part related to failure handling is shown.

  In FIG. 3, the SCS 20 includes a failure detection unit 20a that detects the above-described type A and type D failures, a log writing unit 20b that writes the failures that occurred in a log, and a possibility of recovery by turning the power OFF / ON. Type D faults that are subject to rebooting (for example, if the type D fault does not reach twice while the total counter that counts the number of printed sheets is counted up by 10), that is, the first type And a reboot target failure detection unit 20c that detects a failure of D).

  The SCS 20 also includes a screen display control unit 20d that displays a screen relating to automatic notification and automatic reboot when a failure occurs, and a type A failure or a type D failure occurring at a predetermined frequency (for example, counting the number of printed sheets). Automatic notification to the service center using the above-mentioned CSS or NRS (New Remote Service), which is a diagnostic service using the network, when a Type D failure occurs twice while the total counter is counted up by 10 And an automatic notification control unit 20e.

  Further, immediately after the failure to be rebooted is detected, the SCS 20 suppresses the operation of the engine or program (software group 2) that is the hardware resource 4 of the image forming apparatus 1 (new operation) before the reboot. Execution suppression control unit 20f that performs control of communication, suppression of interprocess communication, access control to HDD, and the like, and reboot execution that performs a series of reboot (reset) processing on the engine and program of image forming apparatus 1 And a control unit 20g. The energy saving transition detection unit 20h is a part that detects that the image forming apparatus 1 is in an energy saving state.

  FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus when a failure occurs.

  In FIG. 4, when a type A or type D failure occurs (step S101), a type A failure or a type D failure that is not a reboot target (the total counter for counting the number of printed sheets is incremented by 10). If a type D failure occurs twice during this period, if the image forming apparatus 1 has an automatic notification function by CSS or NRS and the function is valid, the automatic notification screen at the time of failure is displayed. Automatic notification is made to the service center (step S102). If the report is successful, a message is displayed indicating that the serviceman will wait for a repair (step S103), or a message indicating that the response will be the next business day because it is out of business hours as another pattern (step S105). It will be in the state of waiting for OFF / ON of (step S104, S106). If the report fails, the user is informed that the service center should be contacted (step S107) and waits for power OFF / ON (step S108).

  Further, in the case of a type D failure and a reboot target (when it occurs for the first time), automatic notification is not performed even when the automatic notification function of the image forming apparatus 1 is valid, and the present invention. A screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot as a characteristic operation of is displayed (step S109). In this screen, the contents of the process will be erased by rebooting, indicating that it is necessary to start again. In addition, the progress of the post-processing for rebooting hardware resources and programs, and the reboot execution are displayed. And a button for instructing the start of reboot immediately. Here, the post-processing is processing for enabling an appropriate reboot so as not to leave paper on the engine or to cause a failure of the HDD. Further, as a time until the reboot is executed, a waiting time of, for example, 30 seconds is provided after the post-processing is completed and the reboot can be performed. This is because when the post-processing is completed in a short time, a screen for informing the start of automatic reboot is displayed only for a short time, and the user cannot be sufficiently recognized. The reason why the button for instructing the start of the reboot is provided immediately is to perform the reboot without waiting for a predetermined waiting time when the operation is in a hurry, and to promptly recover.

  When a predetermined waiting time has elapsed since the screen informing the start of execution of automatic reboot has been displayed, automatic reboot is executed (step S110), and a screen for informing the user that automatic reboot has been executed and for confirmation is displayed. (Step S111). Then, when the user presses the confirmation button, the normal screen is displayed (step S112).

  Further, when the user presses a button for instructing the start of the reboot immediately from the screen informing the start of the automatic reboot, the automatic reboot is executed without a predetermined waiting time (step S113). The screen shifts to a screen (step S112). In this case, the screen (step S111) for notifying the user that automatic reboot has been executed and requesting confirmation is omitted.

  On the other hand, when the automatic notification function of the image forming apparatus 1 is invalid or the model does not have the automatic notification function itself, in the case of a type A failure or a type D failure and not subject to reboot, the user Is displayed to the effect that the service center should be contacted (step S117), and the system waits for power OFF / ON (step S118).

  If the type D is a failure and is to be rebooted, a screen notifying the start of execution of the automatic reboot is displayed (step S114) as in the case where the automatic notification function is enabled (step S109), and a predetermined standby When the time has elapsed, an automatic reboot is executed (step S115), a screen is displayed to inform the user that the automatic reboot has been executed and a confirmation request is displayed (step S111), and the user normally presses the confirmation button. The screen shifts to a screen (step S112). When the user presses a button for instructing the start of the reboot immediately from the screen informing the start of the automatic reboot, the automatic reboot is executed without passing a predetermined waiting time (step S116). The screen shifts to a screen (step S112).

  With the above operations, for failures that are likely to be recovered by turning the power off / on and that do not require automatic notification, rebooting is performed appropriately and automatically without bothering the user. Will be.

  Next, FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus when a reboot target failure occurs.

  In FIG. 5, OCS 15 and SCS 20 correspond to those shown in FIG. The SCS 20 is shown including the function of the SRM 21 in FIG. The applications 101 and 102 correspond to the printer application 9, the copy application 10, the fax application 11, and the scanner application 12 in FIG. 1, and the engine 103 corresponds to the hardware resource 4 in FIG. The xCS 104 corresponds to a process of the control service layer 7 such as NCS 13, DCS 14, FCS 16, ECS 17, MCS 18, UCS 19 in FIG. Note that the processing related to rebooting is mainly performed by the functional unit in the SCS 20 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, when a failure to be rebooted (a failure of type D and occurs for the first time) occurs and the SCS 20 detects this (step S201), a screen is displayed to notify the start of automatic reboot. (Step S202) At substantially the same time, an operation suppression notification is sent to the xCS 104, the applications 101 and 102, and the engine 103 (Steps S203 to S206). Each unit that has received the notification of the operation suppression stops the operation in a state in which the process in process is in good condition and can be rebooted safely as post-processing, and suppresses the new operation by suppressing the interface. A response is notified to (steps S207 to S210). The SCS 20 times out reception of a response, for example, in 3 minutes.

  Next, the SCS 20 waits for 30 seconds, for example (step S211), and enters the execution of reboot. Here, a communication stop request of the operation unit driver is made to the OCS 15, but there is no response because it is blocked in the function (step S212). Subsequently, the SCS 20 issues a reset request to the engine 103 (step S213) and receives a response from the engine 103 (step S214). Then, HDD access stop processing (step S215), engine power OFF (step S216), engine power ON (step S217), and reboot of the applications 101 and 102 (step S218) are sequentially performed. The controller is activated (step S219), and the engine configuration is received from the engine 103 (step S220). Then, a screen for informing the user that automatic reboot has been executed and for confirmation is displayed (step S221).

  In this way, the operation of each module is suppressed, and after the processing during operation and the interface are suppressed, the system can be rebooted promptly without causing any remaining paper, HDD failure, data garbage, etc. it can.

  By the way, another failure may occur during the automatic reboot or automatic notification process. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation pattern when a failure occurs during the automatic reboot or automatic notification process. The patterns are divided according to the types of the first and second failures.

  In FIG. 6, “before improvement” means a type A failure or a type D failure that is not a reboot target (type D failure occurs twice while the total counter for counting the number of printed sheets is counted up by 10). If it occurs), the principle of automatic notification is applied as it is. After improvement, the operation is corrected in consideration of the problems at that time. Note that the operation flows of FIGS. 4 and 5 described above correspond to those after improvement.

  Particularly problematic is the case of pattern (1) and pattern (3) in FIG. That is, in pattern (1), after entering the automatic reboot process due to the first type D failure, if a type D failure occurs for the second time, before the improvement, the automatic reboot is interrupted and the automatic notification process is started. It will end up. However, in this case, the automatic notification function by NRS cannot be used due to the suppression of the operation of each module performed at the beginning of the reboot process, and the automatic notification process will always fail. In addition, since the count value for grasping the frequency of occurrence of type D failures is cleared by shifting to automatic notification processing, if a type D failure occurs again after failure of automatic notification, it is originally the third time. However, there is also a problem that the reboot process is repeated because it is treated as a first type D fault and the reboot process is repeated.

  On the other hand, the pattern (3) is a case where the second time is a type A failure, and the problem that the automatic notification process always fails due to the suppression of the operation is the same. However, as in the case of fixing SC (fixing unit failure) There is a problem that the SP type (special mode) for preventing recovery cannot be entered unless the service person is released, and the same type A failure occurs even after a manual reboot.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation before improvement when a failure occurs during the above-described reboot processing, and a screen that notifies the start of execution of automatic reboot is displayed when a failure that is the target of automatic reboot occurs (step S301). (Step S302), a reboot is normally performed (Step S303), and a confirmation screen is displayed to complete the process (Step S304). However, a failure of type A or type D occurs during the process. Occurs (step S305), an automatic notification (display of the service call screen when the automatic notification function is disabled) is performed (step S306), and the operation stops in a state of waiting for power OFF / ON ( Step S307).

  Because of such a problem, as an operation after the improvement, when another failure occurs after the automatic reboot process is started, only the log is left and the reboot process is continued.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an operation after improvement when a failure occurs during the reboot process. A failure that is a target of automatic reboot occurs (step S401), and a screen that indicates the start of execution of automatic reboot is displayed. After that (step S402), even if another type A or type D failure occurs (step S405), only the log is written (step S406) and the reboot is executed (step S403). After rebooting, a confirmation screen is usually displayed and the process is terminated (step S404). However, if a failure that is the subject of automatic notification occurs before that (type A in the case of fixing SC). (Nevertheless reoccurs as a failure) (step S407), the screen shifts to an automatic notification or service call screen (step S408). By doing so, it is possible to perform an appropriate response according to the content of the failure.

  Next, FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an automatic reboot operation during energy saving transition. In other words, many image forming apparatuses are configured to enter the energy saving mode in order to reduce the power consumption, but this is an operation in the case where a failure to be rebooted occurs during such energy saving transition.

  In FIG. 9, when a failure to be rebooted (a failure of type D and occurs for the first time) occurs and the SCS 20 detects this (step S501), a screen informing the start of automatic reboot is displayed. (Step S502) At substantially the same time, an operation suppression notification is sent to the xCS 104 and the applications 101 and 102 (Steps S503 to S505). Note that the SCS 20 recognizes that it has shifted to the energy saving state, and the engine 103 is substantially stopped due to the energy saving transition, so that the engine 103 is not notified of operation suppression.

  Each unit that has received the notification of the operation suppression stops the operation in a state in which the process in process is in good condition and can be rebooted safely as post-processing, and suppresses the new operation by suppressing the interface. Is notified of the response (steps S506 to S508). The SCS 20 times out reception of a response, for example, in 3 minutes.

  Next, after waiting for 30 seconds, for example (step S509), the SCS 20 first turns on the engine (step S510), and then performs HDD access stop processing (step S511). Thereafter, a ready notification is sent from the OCS 15 (step S512), and an operation unit driver communication stop request is sent to the OCS 15 (step S513). Since the engine 103 is substantially stopped due to the energy saving transition, the engine 103 is not requested to be reset and the power is not turned off. Then, the application 101, 102 is rebooted (step S514), the controller is activated for the engine 103 (step S515), the engine configuration is received from the engine 103 (step S516), and the user has executed the automatic reboot. A screen for requesting confirmation is displayed (step S517).

  By doing in this way, it is possible to perform an appropriate reboot even when the image forming apparatus 1 is shifting to energy saving.

1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the function part for the failure response in SCS. FIG. 6 is an operation flow diagram illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus when a failure occurs. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus when a reboot target failure occurs. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement pattern when a failure generate | occur | produces during the process of automatic reboot or automatic notification. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement before improvement when a failure generate | occur | produces during a reboot process. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement after improvement when a failure generate | occur | produces during a reboot process. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement of the automatic reboot during energy saving transition. It is an operation flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the failure occurrence in the past.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming device 15 OCS
20 SCS
20a Failure detection unit 20b Log writing unit 20c Reboot target failure detection unit 20d Screen display control unit 20e Automatic notification control unit 20f Operation suppression control unit 20g Reboot execution control unit 20h Energy saving transition detection unit 21 SRM
101 application 102 application 103 engine 104 xCS

Claims (17)

In an image forming apparatus having hardware resources used for image formation and a program for performing processing relating to image formation,
Means for detecting a failure to be rebooted out of failures that are likely to be recovered by power OFF / ON;
Means for rebooting the hardware resource and the program ;
A means for automatically reporting to the service center and stopping while waiting for power OFF / ON regardless of success or failure of the report ,
If a failure that is the subject of automatic notification is detected in addition to the time between the detection of the failure that is the reboot target and the execution of the reboot , the automatic notification is made, and there is another time between the detection of the failure that is the reboot target and the execution of the reboot. An image forming apparatus characterized in that when a failure is detected , the reboot is continued without automatic notification even if the other failure is a target of automatic notification.   The failure to be rebooted is a case where a failure that has a high possibility of being recovered by turning the power OFF / ON occurs within a range that does not reach a predetermined number of times during a predetermined number of printings. The image forming apparatus according to 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined number is 10 and the predetermined number is two.   Each of the above means is configured as one function of a system control service that performs processing such as application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, hardware resource management, and interrupt application control. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein operation of the hardware resource and the program is suppressed immediately after detecting a failure to be rebooted. 6.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus waits for a predetermined time from the response from the hardware resource and the program to the operation suppression until the reboot is executed.   7. The rebooting of the hardware resource and the program includes sequentially resetting the engine, stopping access to the hard disk drive, turning off the engine power, turning on the engine power, and rebooting the application. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   7. The reboot of the hardware resource and the program, when it is detected that an energy saving transition is in progress, the engine power is turned on first after post-processing. The image forming apparatus described in 1.   9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein after the engine power is turned on, access to the hard disk drive is stopped and an application is rebooted sequentially.   10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a screen informing the start of execution of an automatic reboot is displayed when a failure to be rebooted is detected.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot includes a display indicating a progress status of post-processing of the hardware resource and the program.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the screen informing the start of execution of the automatic reboot includes a display indicating a time until the reboot is performed.   13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the screen informing the start of the automatic reboot includes a button for instructing the start of the reboot immediately.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a screen for prompting a user for confirmation is displayed after the reboot. A step of detecting a failure to be rebooted out of failures that are likely to be recovered by power OFF / ON in an image forming apparatus having hardware resources used for image formation and a program for performing processing relating to image formation; ,
Rebooting the hardware resource and the program ;
A process of automatically reporting to a service center and stopping in a state waiting for power OFF / ON regardless of success or failure of the report ,
When a failure that is the subject of automatic notification is detected in addition to the time between the detection of the failure that is the reboot target and the execution of the reboot , automatic notification is performed, and the time between the detection of the failure that is the reboot target and the execution of the reboot An automatic reboot method characterized in that when a failure is detected , rebooting is continued without performing automatic notification even if the other failure is a target of automatic notification.   16. The automatic reboot method according to claim 15, wherein operation of the hardware resource and the program is suppressed immediately after detecting a failure to be rebooted. 17. The reboot of the hardware resource and the program sequentially performs engine reset, hard disk drive access stop, engine power off, engine power on, and app reboot. The automatic reboot method according to claim 1.

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