JP4816607B2 - Information communication system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information communication system that performs communication between a plurality of substrates that control each functional unit of an electronic device.

In an electronic device, a plurality of substrates that respectively control each functional unit of the electronic device are connected by a signal line, and transmitted as serial data through the signal line. For example, in the inkjet printer disclosed in Patent Document 1, the interface (internal I / F) inside the controller includes print data (recording data), reference timing signal (PTS), clock supplied via the external I / F. In order to transmit a signal (CK) or the like to the carriage driving unit or the like via the paper transport unit, the printing unit, and the differential driver, each is connected by a dedicated signal line.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-178044 (FIG. 5)

In order to perform information communication between a plurality of substrates as in the ink jet printer of Patent Document 1, the substrates are connected by a dedicated signal line. At this time, a port for each signal line is required, and the same number of ports as the signal lines are required on each substrate.
However, the number of ports is limited, and it is desirable to reduce the number of ports to be used in order to realize multi-functionalization of electronic devices.
In addition, when a plurality of (n) boards perform information communication with respect to one board, it is necessary to prepare n communication ports and n times as many communication control signals are required, resulting in a decrease in system performance. Connected.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and is used to perform information communication between substrates in an information communication system that performs communication between a plurality of substrates that respectively control each functional unit of an electronic device. The number of ports can be reduced, and a plurality of boards can easily perform information communication with respect to one board.

  A program information communication system according to the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is an information communication system that performs communication between a plurality of substrates that respectively control each functional unit of an electronic device, Each of the first board and the second board includes a control unit and a serial / parallel converter connected to the control unit so as to enable serial communication, and the serial / parallel converters of the respective boards can perform parallel communication with each other. The serial / parallel converter connected to the first board or the second board is further connected to at least a third board so as to be capable of parallel communication.

  In the information communication system configured as described above, the number of ports used for information communication between substrates can be reduced, and a plurality of substrates can easily perform information communication with respect to one substrate. .

  In the information communication system according to the present invention, the electronic device is preferably a media processing device.

  In the information communication system configured as described above, information communication is performed between substrates in a media processing apparatus that writes data on a disk-shaped medium such as a CD or DVD and prints on a label surface on the medium. In addition, the number of ports used can be reduced, and a plurality of boards can easily perform information communication with respect to one board.

  Also, in the information communication system according to the present invention, the first substrate controls a label printer that controls printing on a label surface of a medium by controlling a carriage motor for reciprocating movement of a carriage having an inkjet head. The second substrate is an autoloader substrate for automatically transporting media to a media storage unit, a media drive, and the label printer, and the third substrate ejects ink from an ink ejection unit. It is an ink cartridge substrate that outputs information on whether or not an ink cartridge is mounted, and the printer substrate preferably transmits the processed printer information to the autoloader substrate by adding the ink cartridge information transmitted from the ink cartridge substrate. .

  In the information communication system configured as described above, the autoloader board obtains information on the printer status and the ink cartridge from the printer board side, and displays the information on the autoloader board side so that the contents of the information can be easily known.

Embodiments of an information communication system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information communication system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating a flow of information between a plurality of substrates.

First, the overall configuration of the information communication system will be described.
The information communication system according to the present embodiment is an information communication system that performs communication among a plurality of substrates that respectively control each functional unit of a media processing device that is an example of an electronic device.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information communication system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a printer board 1 as a first board, an autoloader board 2 as a second board, and a third board as boards for controlling the respective functional units. An ink cartridge substrate 7 is provided as a substrate, and these constitute a part of the media processing apparatus. The media processing device is a device for writing data on a disk-shaped medium such as a CD or DVD and printing on a label surface on the medium.

  The printer board 1 includes a control unit 3 and a serial / parallel converter 4, and the control unit 3 includes a print control circuit and a program for controlling a label printer that prints on a label surface of a medium. The serial / parallel converter 4 is connected to the control unit 3 so that serial communication is possible.

  The number of ports used in the control unit 3 is 5 bits including 1 bit (Bit) for data signals and 4 bits for control signals. The serial / parallel converter 4 converts the serial data transmitted through the data signal port of the control unit 3 into 24-bit parallel data and transmits it in parallel to the autoloader board 2. The serial / parallel converter 4 converts the 10-bit parallel data from the autoloader board 2 into serial data, and serially transmits the serial data to the control unit 3 via the data signal port.

  The autoloader substrate 2 is a media transport unit. The autoloader board 2 includes a control unit 5 and a serial / parallel converter 6, and the control unit 5 holds the medium and prints on a media storage unit, a data drive media drive, and a label surface. A media transport control circuit and a program for transporting each of them are included.

  The serial / parallel converter 6 is connected to the control unit 5 so that serial communication is possible, and the number of ports used in the control unit 5 is 5 bits including 1 bit for data signals and 4 bits for control signals. Yes.

  The serial / parallel converter 6 converts serial data transmitted from the data signal port of the control unit 5 into 10-bit parallel data, and transmits the parallel data to the printer board 1. The serial / parallel converter 6 converts 24-bit parallel data from the printer substrate 1 into serial data and transmits the serial data to the control unit 5.

  In the present embodiment, an ink cartridge substrate 7 as a third substrate is connected to the serial / parallel converter 4 so as to be capable of parallel communication.

  The ink cartridge substrate 7 transmits, in parallel, information to the serial / parallel converter 4 through a 6-bit signal line as to whether or not each of the ink cartridges containing the six colors of printing ink is properly mounted.

  The ink cartridge information is processed in the control unit 3 through the serial / parallel converter 4 and transmitted to the autoloader board 2 together with predetermined printer information.

  Next, the operation of this information communication system will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. Here, a case where printer information used for autoloader control is transmitted from the printer board 1 to the autoloader board 2 will be described.

  In this system, serial communication between the control unit 3 (or 5) and the serial / parallel converter 4 (or 6) is performed at a cycle of 50 milliseconds.

  In FIG. 2, at the time of serial communication of the first cycle, information B0 transmitted from the autoloader substrate 2 side in the previous cycle (not shown) and ink cartridge information C0 from the ink cartridge substrate 7 are converted into a serial / parallel converter. 4 is transmitted to the control unit 3, and the control unit 3 acquires information of B0 and C0. Also, during this serial communication, the printer information A0 (information notification) processed by adding the ink cartridge information C0 by the control unit 3 is transmitted from the control unit 3 to the serial / parallel converter 4.

  The printer information A0 is converted into parallel data (24 bits) by the serial / parallel converter 4 and transmitted to the serial / parallel converter 6 on the autoloader board 2 side. The parallel data transmitted to the autoloader board 2 side is converted into serial data by the serial / parallel converter 6 and transmitted to the control unit 5, and the control unit 5 obtains the printer information A0. In addition, during this serial communication, information B1 (information notification) is transmitted from the control unit 5 to the serial / parallel converter 6. Further, it is converted into parallel data (10 bits) by the serial / parallel converter 6 and transmitted to the serial / parallel converter 4 on the printer board 1 side.

During serial communication in the next cycle, the information B1 is transmitted from the serial / parallel converter 4 to the control unit 3 together with the ink cartridge information C1 from the ink cartridge substrate 7, and the control unit 3 acquires information on B1 and C1. At the time of serial communication, the printer information A1 processed by adding the ink cartridge information C1 by the control unit 3 is transmitted from the control unit 3 to the serial / parallel converter 4.
Thereafter, communication is continued in the same sequence.

In the present invention, each numerical value such as the number of bits of parallel communication between boards, the number of ports of the control unit, and the time of the serial communication cycle described in the above embodiment is not limited to the above numerical values. Further, the substrate is not limited to the above-described printer substrate, autoloader substrate, and ink cartridge substrate, and can be applied to connection between other substrates.
Further, by increasing the number of bits on the parallel communication side, a plurality of other substrates can be connected to signal lines, and n substrates can be connected to one substrate.

In the information communication system of the present embodiment, as described above, the control unit of the printer board 1 uses the same data signal port for the ink cartridge information C1 from the ink cartridge board 7 and the information B1 from the autoloader board 2. Can be received. In other words, the information communication with a plurality of substrates is possible with only one data signal port.
If serial-to-board communication is performed without using a serial / parallel converter, as many data signal ports as the number of counterpart boards are required. Since this is necessary, costs for changing the design of the control unit and the like, as well as inconveniences such as a decrease in the performance of the entire system occur.
In the system according to the present embodiment, such a problem is avoided, and the connection between the substrates allows n substrates to be connected to one substrate, and the information can be obtained without increasing the number of ports of the control unit of each substrate. Can be sent and received.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information communication system according to the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of the information between the control parts of a several board | substrate.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer board | substrate (1st board | substrate), 2 ... Autoloader board | substrate (2nd board | substrate), 3 ... Control part (CPU), 4 ... Serial / parallel converter, 5 ... Control part (CPU), 6 ... Serial / Parallel converter, 7 ... ink cartridge substrate (third substrate), 10 ... information communication system.

Claims (3)

An information communication system that performs communication between a plurality of substrates that control each functional unit of an electronic device,
The first substrate and the second substrate of the plurality of substrates each include a control unit and a serial / parallel converter connected to the control unit so as to enable serial communication, and serial / parallel conversion of each substrate. Devices are connected so that they can communicate in parallel,
An information communication system, wherein the serial / parallel converter of the first substrate or the second substrate is further connected to at least a third substrate so as to be capable of parallel communication.   The information communication system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a media processing device. The first substrate is a printer substrate that controls a label printer that controls printing on a label surface of a medium by controlling a carriage motor for reciprocating movement of a carriage having an inkjet head.
The second substrate is an autoloader substrate for automatically conveying media to a media storage unit, a media drive, and the label printer,
The third substrate is an ink cartridge substrate that outputs information about the presence or absence of an ink cartridge that ejects ink from an ink ejection unit,
3. The information communication system according to claim 2, wherein the printer board transmits printer information processed by adding the ink cartridge information transmitted from the ink cartridge board to the autoloader board.

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