JP4910030B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal or ECR (Electric Cash Register) electronic devices such as.

  Electronic devices such as personal computers, POS terminals, and ECRs are typically equipped with a function for notifying external devices and operators of the status when an operational failure occurs. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention relating to a control device that monitors the state of an image processing apparatus and notifies a POS terminal, which is a higher-level device, when the occurrence of a failure or the like is detected in the image processing apparatus.

  In particular, in an electronic device that starts up an OS through processing by a basic input / output system (BIOS) when power is turned on, a function for detecting and notifying the occurrence of a failure is incorporated as part of the processing by the BIOS. There are many cases. When this type of BIOS detects any failure, it displays details of the failure on the display of the electronic device or generates a beep sound from a speaker mounted on the motherboard to notify the operator of the occurrence of the failure.

  Immediately after the power is turned on to the electronic device as described above, the BIOS uses a test program called POST (Power On Self Test) to display an on-board device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a chipset, a memory, or a display. , I / O devices such as keyboards are sequentially function-tested, and each hardware is initialized to a usable state. Therefore, if no information is displayed on the display even though the electronic device is turned on, there is a failure in basic hardware such as a CPU or memory that cannot start the BIOS without it. It was difficult to determine whether the BIOS was not started due to the occurrence, or whether a failure occurred in the display system such as a display wiring failure or failure.

  The present invention has been made based on the circumstances as described above. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an operator with no information displayed on a display provided in the electronic device even when the electronic device is powered on. It is to make it easy to understand where the problem is.

  In order to solve the above object, the present invention takes the following measures.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display means for selectively displaying various types of information, and a notification that starts a notification operation when the electronic device is turned on and continues the notification operation until a stop signal is input. And a storage means storing a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) for executing a startup process of the electronic device and a POST (Power On Self Test) for executing a function test of each unit including a display means included in the electronic device. After the notification means starts the notification operation, the BIOS is read from the storage means to start the activation process, and the stop signal is output to the notification means. After this output, the POST is sent from the storage means. Control means for reading and executing the function test .

  A second aspect of the present invention is a control program for the electronic device.

  According to the present invention in which such measures are taken, the operator can easily grasp the location of the problem when no information is displayed on the display provided in the electronic device even though the power is turned on. be able to.

1 is an external perspective view of a POS terminal that is an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the control circuit of the POS terminal in the same embodiment. 6 is a flowchart of operations performed by each unit of the POS terminal after power is turned on in the embodiment. The figure explaining the effect of the POS terminal in the embodiment.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The present embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a POS terminal used for accounting processing at a merchandise sales store or a service providing store.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the POS terminal 1 as seen from the standing position side of the operator. The POS terminal 1 includes a case-like drawer 2 having a money storage space therein, and a main body 3 placed on the upper surface of the drawer 2. The main body 3 includes a display 4, a customer display 5, a keyboard 6, a receipt printer 7, a card reader 8, a barcode scanner 9, and an LED (Light Emitting Diode) 10.

  The display 4 is a display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), or an OEL (Organic Electro-Luminescence), and is detected in the progress of the startup process under BIOS control and in the initialization process of each part. Detailed information on errors or an application screen executed under OS control is selectively displayed.

  The customer display 5 is a display such as an LCD, OEL, or VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display). For example, when an application for product registration is executed, the name, price, and transaction of the product for which product information is input. The total amount, change amount, etc. are displayed toward the customer's standing position.

  The keyboard 6 is used for operations such as a numeric keypad for numeric input, a PLU (Price Look Up) key for declaring the start of product registration work, a subtotal key for declaring the end of product registration, and a deposit / current total key for declaring the close of transactions. It consists of keys.

  The receipt printer 7 is a thermal printer that conveys thermal paper to a contact position between a thermal head and a platen roller, controls heat generation of the thermal head, and prints patterns such as characters and figures on the thermal paper by thermal transfer. In particular, the receipt printer 7 prints a receipt composed of detailed transaction information and commercial information such as a store and a journal for sales information management of the store.

  When a credit card, a point card, or the like is slid, the card reader 8 reads the card information such as the credit card information and the customer ID stored in the magnetic stripe formed on the card.

  The barcode scanner 9 irradiates the barcode attached to the product or its packaging with laser light, decodes the bar pattern width information obtained from the reflected light from the barcode into code information, and outputs the code information to the main body 3.

  The LED 10 is composed of one or a plurality of LEDs that can be turned on, turned off, blinking, and the like. The operator of the POS terminal 1 can visually recognize from the standing position side where the keyboard 6 is provided and the display surface of the display 4 is directed. For example, it is provided on the side wall of the main body 3 on the standing position side.

Next, the control circuit of the POS terminal 1 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the POS terminal 1. The main body 3 includes an engine board 20 on which a CPU 21 that functions as a main control unit of the POS terminal 1 is mounted. The CPU 21 is connected to a chip set 22 including a north bridge and a south bridge. The chip set 22 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 23, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, and a SIO (Super Input / Output). 25, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 27, communication I / F (Interface) 28, display controller 29, customer display controller 30, keyboard controller 31, printer controller 32, card reader controller 33, scanner I / F 34, address bus And a bus line 35 constituted by a data bus. The notification circuit 26 is connected to a GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output) pin of the chip set 22.

The drawer opening device 40 provided inside the drawer 2 is connected to the GPIO pin of the SIO 25, the LED 10 is connected to the notification circuit 26, and the communication line 41 for communication with an external device is connected to the communication I / F 28. The display 4 is connected to the display controller 29, the customer display 5 is connected to the customer display controller 30, the keyboard 6 is connected to the keyboard controller 31, the receipt printer 7 is connected to the printer controller 32, and the card reader controller 33 is connected. A card reader 8 is connected, and a barcode scanner 9 is connected to the scanner I / F 34.
Each unit of the POS terminal 1 described above operates by receiving supply of a commercial AC power source or a power source 60 such as a battery.

  The ROM 23 stores fixed data such as a BIOS 42 that is a basic input / output program and a POST (Power On Self Test) 43 that provides a self-diagnosis function. The RAM 24 functions as a main memory of the POS terminal 1 and forms various working storage areas according to the processing scene.

  The SIO 25 outputs a control signal to the drawer opening device 40 in response to a command from the CPU 21. When receiving a control signal from the SIO 25, the drawer opening device 40 opens the money storage part of the drawer 2 in a sliding manner.

  The notification circuit 26 transmits the power supply 60 to the LED 10 at the same time as the power supply 60 is turned on to the POS terminal 1, and turns on the LED 10 (start of notification operation). Further, in response to the stop signal C being output from the GPIO pin of the chip set 22 while the power supply 60 is being supplied to the LED 10, the supply of the power supply 60 to the LED 10 is stopped and the LED 10 is turned off (the notification operation is performed). Stop).

The HDD 27 stores a system file necessary for the operation of the OS, an application file for product registration work, a PLU file registered by associating product information with a PLU code assigned to each product, and the like.
The communication I / F 28 controls communication with an external device connected via the communication line 41.

The display controller 29 and the customer display controller 30 convert display data input from the CPU 21 via the chip set 22 into a video signal and output the video signal to the display 4 and the customer display 5 respectively.
The keyboard controller 31 captures a key signal output when an operation key provided on the keyboard 6 is pressed and notifies the CPU 21 of the key signal.
The printer controller 32 develops a bitmap of print data input from the CPU 21 via the chip set 22 in a buffer (not shown), and drives the receipt printer 7 based on the developed data.
The card reader controller 33 controls the reading timing of the magnetic card by the card reader 8 and notifies the CPU 21 of the card information read by the card reader 8.
The scanner I / F 34 notifies the CPU 21 of code information generated by the barcode scanner 9 reading the barcode attached to the product or its packaging.

  In addition, LED10 and the notification circuit 26 comprise the notification means in this embodiment. Further, the display 4 and the display controller 29 constitute display means in the present embodiment.

Next, the operation of the POS terminal 1 configured as described above will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing operations performed by each unit of the POS terminal 1 after the power source 60 is turned on and before the OS is started. The power source 60 is turned on when a power button (not shown) provided on the main body 3 is pressed.

  Simultaneously with the turning on of the power supply 60, the notification circuit 26 starts to supply operating power to the LED 10 and turns on the LED 10 (step S1). Next, the BIOS 42 is read to the RAM 24 (step S2). Thereafter, the CPU 21 executes the startup process according to the program code of the BIOS 42.

  First, the CPU 21 outputs a stop signal C from the GPIO pin of the chip set 22 to the notification circuit 26 (step S3). When the stop signal C is input, the notification circuit 26 stops supplying the power source 60 to the LED 10 and turns off the LED 10.

  Thereafter, the CPU 21 reads the POST 43 into the RAM 24, and performs a function test and initialization of each hardware (step S4). In this process, first, a function test and initialization are performed on the CPU 21, chip set 22, ROM 23, and RAM 24, which are indispensable for the operation. Subsequently, a function test and initialization are performed on the display controller 29 and the display 4 to enable display of detailed information on the failure detected in the subsequent processing. Thereafter, the functions of the controllers 29 to 33 and other on-board devices provided on the engine board 20, the display 4, the customer display 5, the keyboard 6, the receipt printer 7, the card reader 8, the barcode scanner 9, and the like. Test and initialization are performed.

  When some kind of failure such as a hardware error is found during the functional test of each hardware, a beep is sounded from a speaker (not shown) mounted on the engine board 20 or information is displayed on the display 4 In such a case, detailed information on the failure is displayed on the display 4 to notify the operator of the occurrence of the failure.

  After the function test and initialization of each hardware by the POST 43 are completed, the BIOS 42 reads out an MBR (Master Boot Record) from the HDD 27, and loads an IPL (Initial Program Loader) stored in the boot sector designated by the MBR. Read and start the OS. After the OS is started, an application for product registration business is executed under the control of the OS.

Next, the effect of the startup process that involves turning on and off the LED 10 as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
When the LED 10 is turned on after the power source 60 is turned on to the POS terminal 1 and then turned off, at least the BIOS 42 is activated (steps S2 and S3). At this time, if any information under the control of the OS or the BIOS 42 is displayed on the display 4, there is no fatal failure in the basic hardware and display system such as the CPU 21 and the chipset 22, and the POS terminal 1. Is working properly.

  On the other hand, if the LED 10 is turned on after the power source 60 is turned on and then turned off, and no information is displayed on the display 4, a stop signal C is output after the BIOS 42 is started. (Step S3), however, a failure such as a failure or wiring failure is detected in the display system of the display 4 or the display controller 29 in the subsequent processing by the POST 43 (Step S4), and information cannot be displayed on the display 4. It is understood that there is a high probability.

  When the LED 10 is lit and no information is displayed on the display 4, the BIOS 42 is not started (step S 2), and a stop signal C is output to the notification circuit 26. This is not done (step S3). If the BIOS 42 does not start up in this way, a fatal failure has occurred in the basic hardware such as the CPU 21, chip set 22, ROM 23, RAM 24, etc. that would otherwise be unable to operate the POS terminal 1. It can be seen that there is a high probability of being.

  If the LED 10 is not lit even though the power button is pressed, it can be seen that there is a high probability that a connection failure between the POS terminal 1 and the power source 60 has occurred.

  The operator determines the trouble that occurs in the POS terminal 1 based on the display on the LED 10 and the display 4, and conducts a more specialized test for a basic hardware failure such as the CPU 21 or the chipset 22. If the display system fails, check the connection between the display 4 and the main unit 3 or replace the display 4 or the video card, and the connection with the power source 60 is poor. This is dealt with by confirming the connection between the power source 60 and the main body 3.

  As described above, in the POS terminal 1 according to the present embodiment, the BIOS 42 starts the notification operation immediately after the power supply 60 is turned on, and the BIOS 42 notifies the notification circuit at the predetermined timing set until the start-up process is completed. A stop signal C is output to 26 and the LED 10 is turned off. By checking the state of the LED 10, even if the POS terminal 1 does not start up normally and no information is displayed on the display 4, a fatal failure occurs in basic hardware such as the CPU 21 and the chipset 22. It is possible to easily determine whether the BIOS 42 cannot be activated due to the occurrence of a problem, or whether there is a problem in the display system such as a wiring failure or failure of the display 4.

  The predetermined timing is set after the start process is started by the BIOS 42 and before the function test of the display 4 is performed by the POST 43. Therefore, the operator can eliminate the case where the LED 10 is turned on and information is displayed on the display 4 and can easily cause a problem based only on whether or not the LED 10 is turned on when no information is displayed on the display 4. You can determine where.

  Further, after the function test of the display 4 and the display controller 29 by the POST 43 is completed, detailed information regarding the failure of each hardware is displayed on the display 4. Therefore, the location of a hardware failure other than the display system detected after the BIOS 42 is activated can be easily determined.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage.

  For example, in the embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the POS terminal 1 has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to electronic devices such as other types of merchandise sales data processing apparatuses and personal computers.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the case where LED10 was employ | adopted as an alerting | reporting means was demonstrated. However, other types of display devices such as a 7-segment display or a speaker may be employed as the notification means. Further, even when the LEDs are employed, the electronic device to which the present invention is to be applied may be caused to blink at the same time as the power is turned on, or the notification means may be configured by combining a plurality of LEDs. Good.

  In the embodiment, the case where the notification circuit 26 is connected to the GPIO pin of the chipset 22 has been described. However, the notification source 26 may be connected to the GPIO pin of the SIO 25 so that the stop signal C is output via the SIO 25, and the output source of the stop signal C may be changed.

In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, you may delete some components from all the components shown by the said embodiment. Furthermore, well-known techniques and conventional techniques may be appropriately combined within a range not departing from the gist.
The invention described in the scope of claims at the beginning of the filing of the present application is appended below.
[1] Display means for selectively displaying various information, notification means for starting a notification operation immediately after power-on, and continuing the notification operation until a stop signal is input, and functions of the display means after power-on An electronic device comprising: a BIOS that executes a startup process including a test and outputs the stop signal to the notification means at a predetermined timing set until the startup process is completed.
[2] The electronic device according to [1], wherein the predetermined timing is set after a start-up process by the BIOS is started and before a function test of the display unit is performed. machine.
[3] The electronic device according to [2], wherein the predetermined timing is set immediately after the startup process by the BIOS is started.
[4] The electronic device according to [1], wherein the BIOS causes the display unit to display information regarding a failure detected in the activation process.
[5] The electronic device according to [1], wherein the notification unit includes an LED provided in a main body of the electronic device.
[6] An operation program for an electronic device comprising: a display unit that selectively displays various types of information; and a notification unit that starts a notification operation immediately after power-on and continues the notification operation until a stop signal is input The electronic device has a function of executing a startup process including a function test of the display unit after power-on, and the notification unit has a predetermined timing set until the startup process is completed. A control program for realizing a function of outputting a stop signal.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... POS terminal, 2 ... Drawer, 3 ... Main body, 4 ... Display, 10 ... LED, 21 ... CPU, 22 ... Chipset, 23 ... ROM, 26 ... Notification circuit, 29 ... Display controller, 42 ... BIOS, 43 ... POST, 60 ... Power supply

JP 2002-132989 A

Claims (4)

Display means for selectively displaying various information;
A notification unit that starts a notification operation when powering on the electronic device and continues the notification operation until a stop signal is input;
A storage unit storing a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) for executing a startup process of the electronic device and a POST (Power On Self Test) for executing a function test of each unit including a display unit included in the electronic device;
After the notification means starts the notification operation, the BIOS is read from the storage means to start the activation process, and the stop signal is output to the notification means. After this output, the POST is read from the storage means. Control means for executing the functional test,
An electronic device comprising: The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display information about the failure when a failure is found in the function test . The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit starts an OS after executing the function test. The notification means, electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it is constituted by an LED provided on the main body of the electronic device.

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