JP5150419B2 - Image forming apparatus and activation control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction machine, and a startup control method thereof.

  For example, some image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals assumed to be used in an office have a department management function. According to the department management function, it is possible to manage, for each department to which the user of the image forming apparatus belongs, the number of print sheets used for copying and printing by the image forming apparatus.

  The department management function is realized as follows, for example. That is, in the image forming apparatus, the department to which the user belongs is registered in advance together with the identification information of the user. When the registered user uses the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus identifies the user based on the identification information and identifies the department to which the user belongs. The image forming apparatus has a department management counter that counts the number of print sheets used for each department, and increases the value of the department management counter corresponding to the department to which the user belongs by the number of print sheets used by the user. Let

  By the way, in the image forming apparatus having the department management function as described above, the user may use basic functions such as copying and printing by the image forming apparatus after the user turns on the power of the image forming apparatus. There is a problem that it takes time to become ready (operating state).

  One of the causes may be that it takes time until the hardware resource or software resource for realizing the department management function is activated after the image forming apparatus is turned on.

  Specifically, the image forming apparatus includes a department management counter as a resource for realizing the department management function. The image forming apparatus is assumed to be used in an organization having a large number of departments and includes a large number of department management counters. Each department management counter is formed on, for example, a volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) provided on a circuit board for controlling a printing mechanism for realizing a function of printing a document image on printing paper. When the image forming apparatus is in operation, the number of print sheets used is recorded for each department by each department management counter formed on the RAM. When the power of the image forming apparatus is turned off, the image forming apparatus uses the NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM) provided on the circuit board together with the value of each department management counter recorded on the RAM immediately before turning off the power. ). Thus, the number of print sheets used in each department is retained even after the image forming apparatus is turned off.

  When the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on, the image forming apparatus performs error detection by calculating a checksum of the area where the value of each department management counter is recorded in the NVRAM. At this time, since the image forming apparatus performs error detection for each of the counter value storage areas one by one for each of the many counter value storage areas in which the values of the many department management counters are stored in the NVRAM, the image forming apparatus repeatedly performs to access. As a result, it takes time for the basic functions of the image forming apparatus to become operational after the image forming apparatus is turned on.

  In particular, in an image forming apparatus, when a circuit board (main board) provided with a CPU for controlling activation of the image forming apparatus and a circuit board (engine board) provided with NVRAM are separated, the main In order for the CPU provided on the board to access the NVRAM provided on the engine board, communication must be performed between the main board and the engine boat. As the number of accesses to the NVRAM increases, the number of communications between the main board and the engine boat increases. As a result, it takes a longer time from when the image forming apparatus is turned on until the basic function of the image forming apparatus is activated. Further, there may be a conflict between access to the NVRAM for error detection and access to the NVRAM for other processing. If such a conflict frequently occurs, the power source of the image forming apparatus is turned off. It takes a long time for the basic functions of the image forming apparatus to become operational after being inserted.

  The present invention has been made in view of, for example, the problems described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of shortening the time from when the power is turned on until the basic function is in an operating state, and the image forming apparatus It is to provide an activation control method.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a basic function for performing copying, printing, or facsimile communication, and a department management function for managing the use status of the image forming apparatus for each department. A first storage area in which first management data, which is data necessary for starting the basic function among department management data related to the department management function, is stored; A storage unit having a second storage area in which second management data, which is data not necessary for activation, is stored, and error detection of the first storage area is performed, or the first management data is transferred to the first storage area First activation processing means for performing a first activation process for reading from one storage area, and detecting an error in the second storage area or reading the second management data from the second storage area Second startup processing means for performing a second startup process, wherein the first startup processing means executes the first startup process immediately after the image forming apparatus is turned on, and The second activation processing unit executes the second activation process after the basic function is in an operating state after the image forming apparatus is turned on.

  In the above-described image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the first management data is overall management data related to the management of the entire department, and the second management data is individual management data related to management for each department. .

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention described above, the second management data includes department management counter data indicating the number of print sheets used in one department, and the second storage area includes the department management counter data. It is desirable to include a department management counter data storage area for storing management counter data.

  In order to solve the above problems, the activation control method of the present invention has a basic function for performing copying, printing, or facsimile communication, and a department management function for managing the use status of the image forming apparatus for each department, Of the department management data related to the management function, the first storage area in which the first management data, which is data necessary for starting the basic function, is stored, and the department management data is not necessary for starting the basic function. An activation control method for controlling activation of an image forming apparatus including a storage unit having a second storage area in which second management data that is data is stored, wherein error detection in the first storage area is performed. Performing a first activation processing step of performing or reading the first management data from the first storage area, and performing error detection of the second storage area or transferring the second management data to the second storage area A second activation process step that reads from the image forming apparatus, the first activation process step is executed immediately after the image forming apparatus is turned on, and the basic function is established after the image forming apparatus is turned on. The second start-up process step is executed after the operating state is reached.

  According to the above-described invention, it is possible to reduce the time required for the basic functions of the image forming apparatus to be in an operating state after the image forming apparatus is turned on.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. An image forming system 100 in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus 1 and a plurality of terminal apparatuses 2, 2,. The image forming apparatus 1 is a multifunction machine, for example. The image forming apparatus 1 has, for example, a copy function, a print function, and a facsimile communication function as its basic functions. Each terminal device 2 is, for example, a personal computer. The image forming apparatus 1 and each terminal device 2 are connected to be communicable with each other via a computer network 3 such as a local area network (LAN). A user operates the terminal device 2 to send document image data from the terminal device 2 to the image forming apparatus 1, and prints an image related to the document image data on printing paper or transmits it by facsimile using the image forming apparatus 1. Can do.

  The image forming apparatus 1 has a department management function in addition to the basic functions described above. The department management function is a function for managing the number of print sheets used for copying and printing by the image forming apparatus 1 for each department to which the user of the image forming apparatus 1 belongs.

  In this embodiment, the users of the image forming system 100 are divided into, for example, three departments A, B, and C (for example, the general affairs department, the accounting department, and the sales department), and each user uses them accordingly. The terminal device 2 is also divided into three groups for each department. In the image forming apparatus 1, identification information of each user (or identification information of each terminal device 2) and a department to which each user belongs (or a group to which each terminal device 2 belongs) are registered in advance.

  When the registered user uses the image forming apparatus 1, the image forming apparatus 1 specifies the user based on the identification information and specifies the department to which the user belongs. The image forming apparatus 1 includes department management counters 25, 25,... (See FIG. 2) that count the number of print sheets used for each department, and the user belongs to the number of print sheets used by the user. The value of the department management counter 25 corresponding to the department is increased. As a result, for example, the number of print sheets used in the last month can be obtained as information such that department A has 5600 sheets, department B has 1200 sheets, and section C has 800 sheets, based on this information. In order to reduce the running cost, it is possible to perform management such as limiting the number of permitted use of the printing paper of the department A next month to 5000 sheets.

  FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the image forming apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a main board 10 and an engine board 20. The main board 10 is a circuit board on which electrical / electronic components (first control unit) constituting elements for performing basic control, overall control, and image processing of the image forming apparatus 1 are mainly mounted. It is. The engine board 20 mainly controls the printing mechanism in the image forming apparatus 1 (for example, a mechanism that performs basic processing such as development, transfer, and fixing) and the printing paper transport mechanism, and prints the printing paper by the department management counter 25. This is a circuit board on which an electric / electronic component (second control unit) constituting an element for counting the number of used sheets is mounted. The main board 10 and the engine board 20 are separated from each other. For example, the engine board 20 is disposed in the vicinity of the printing mechanism, whereas the main board 10 is disposed at a position away from the printing mechanism. The main board 10 and the engine board 20 are connected via a bus 30 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The main board 10 is equipped with an overall control CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, and a RAM 13, which are connected to each other on the main board 10 so as to communicate with each other. Although other elements (electrical / electronic components) for realizing various functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are mounted on the main board 10, these are omitted in FIG.

  The ROM 12 stores a program for causing the total control CPU 11 to function as the first start processing unit 14, the second start processing unit 15, and the total control unit 16. The overall control CPU 11 functions as the first activation processing unit 14, the second activation processing unit 15, and the overall control unit 16 by reading this program from the ROM 12 and executing it. The first activation processing unit 14 and the second activation processing unit 15 will be described later with reference to FIG. The comprehensive control unit 16 mainly performs basic control of the image forming apparatus 1, comprehensive control, image processing, and activation processing of basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1. The RAM 13 is used as a working memory when the general control CPU 11 executes the program.

  The engine board 20 includes a CPU 21 for controlling the printing mechanism, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, and a storage unit 24, which are connected to each other on the engine board 20 so as to communicate with each other. The engine board 20 is mounted with other elements (electrical / electronic components) for realizing the printing process and the like in the image forming apparatus 1, but these are omitted in FIG.

  The ROM 22 stores a program for mainly controlling the printing mechanism and the printing paper transport mechanism in the image forming apparatus 1 and counting the number of printing paper used by the department management counter 25. The printing mechanism control CPU 21 reads this program from the ROM 22 and executes it.

  The RAM 23 is a volatile storage device or storage element, and is used as a work area when the printing mechanism control CPU 21 executes the program. In the RAM 23, department management counters 25, 25,... Are formed. The number of department management counters 25 is equal to the upper limit (for example, 100) of the number of departments that can be registered in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The memory | storage part 24 is a non-volatile memory | storage device or memory element, and is specifically NVRAM or EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM), for example, is flash memory. The data stored in the storage unit 24 is retained even after the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off.

  The storage unit 24 stores later-described department management data 50 (see FIG. 3). The department management data 50 includes overall management data 51 and individual management data 52. In the storage unit 24, an overall management data storage area 26 for storing the overall management data 51 and an individual management data storage area 27 for storing the individual management data 52 are formed. Further, the individual management data 52 includes a plurality of department management data 53, 53,... And a plurality of department management counter data 54, 54,. In the individual management data storage area 27 of the storage unit 24, a plurality of department management data storage areas 28, 28,... For storing a plurality of department management data 53 and a plurality of department management counter data 54 are stored. A plurality of department management counter data storage areas 29, 29,. The number of department management data storage areas 28 and the number of department management counter data storage areas 29 are equal to the upper limit of the number of departments that can be registered in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes well-known components (a printing mechanism, a printing paper transport mechanism, a document reading mechanism, a communication interface, etc.) for realizing basic functions such as a copying function, a printing function, and a facsimile function. These are not described and illustrated.

  FIG. 3 shows department management data 50 stored in the storage unit 24 on the engine board 20. The department management data 50 is data used to realize a department management function. The department management data 50 includes overall management data 51 and individual management data 52. Furthermore, the individual management data 52 includes a plurality of department management data 53 and a plurality of department management counter data 54. The number of department management data 53 and the number of department management counter data 54 are respectively equal to the upper limit of the number of departments that can be registered in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The overall management data 51 is data related to the management of the entire department, and includes, for example, data indicating the number of departments, the number of print sheets used in the entire department (total value of the department management counter 25), and the like.

  The individual management data 52 is data related to management for each department. Of these, each departmental management data 53 is data indicating department identification information, identification information of users belonging to a department, the number of users belonging to a department, history of each department management counter data 54, etc. including. Each department management counter data 54 includes data indicating the value of the department management counter 25 at the time of the last update of the department management counter data 54 for one department.

  The data indicating the number of departments included in the overall management data 51 and the department-specific management data 53 are added, changed, or deleted when a new department is registered, changed, or deleted. Data indicating the number of print sheets used for the entire department included in the overall management data 51 is updated at the same time as, for example, the department management counter data 54 is updated. Each department management counter data 54 is updated every predetermined time interval (for example, one day) or immediately before the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off.

  Each department management counter data 54 is updated by storing the value of each department management counter 25 on the RAM 23 in the department management counter data storage area 29 of the storage unit 24 as each department management counter data 54.

  Further, since the RAM 23 is a volatile storage device or storage element, when the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off, the value of each department management counter 25 formed on the RAM 23 disappears. For this reason, when the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off and then the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on, each department management counter data 54 stored in the storage unit 24 in the activation control process (see FIG. 4) described later. Are expanded on the RAM 23, whereby each department management counter 25 is reconfigured.

  FIG. 4 shows activation control processing by the image forming apparatus 1. When the user turns on the power of the image forming apparatus 1, the image forming apparatus 1 performs the following startup control process. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, first, the first activation processing unit 14 calculates a checksum for the overall management data storage area 26, and performs error detection of the overall management data storage area 26 using this checksum. (Step S1).

  Since the first activation processing unit 14 is embodied by the general control CPU 11 mounted on the main board 10, the first activation processing unit 14 detects an error in the overall management data storage area 26 of the storage unit 24 mounted on the engine board 20. Sometimes, the first activation processing unit 14 accesses the storage unit 24 by using communication between the main board 10 and the engine board 20 via the bus 30. That is, the first activation processing unit 14 accesses the storage unit 24 via the bus 30 and stores it in the general management data storage area 26 of the storage unit 24 in order to calculate the checksum of the general management data storage area 26. Read the recorded data. A known method is used as an error detection method using a checksum.

  Subsequently, the first activation processing unit 14 reads data indicating the number of departments and data indicating the number of print sheets used for the entire department from the overall management data storage area 26 (step S2). In this reading process, the first activation processing unit 14 accesses the storage unit 24 using communication between the main board 10 and the engine board 20 via the bus 30. The data indicating the number of departments read and the data indicating the number of print sheets used for the entire department are used to form an initial screen to be displayed on a display disposed on the front panel of the image forming apparatus 1 and to activate basic functions. Used for

  Subsequently, the general control unit 16 performs a startup process necessary for putting the basic functions (copying function, printing function, and facsimile communication function) of the image forming apparatus 1 into an operating state (a state that can be used by the user). Perform (step S3).

  Subsequently, the second activation processing unit 15 determines whether or not the basic function of the image forming apparatus 1 has been activated (step S4). Specifically, when the activation process for the basic function of the image forming apparatus 1 is completed and the basic function is in an operating state, information indicating that is provided by the general control unit 16. Based on this information, the second activation processing unit 15 determines that the basic function of the image forming apparatus 1 is in an operating state. For example, the general control unit 16 turns on a basic function activation process completion flag stored on the RAM 13. The second activation processing unit 15 refers to this flag to determine that the basic function of the image forming apparatus 1 has been activated.

  When the basic function of the image forming apparatus 1 is activated (step S4: YES), the second activation processing unit 15 detects an error in the individual management data storage area 27 (steps S5 and S6). Specifically, the second activation processing unit 15 calculates a checksum for each departmental management data storage area 28, and uses this checksum to detect an error in each departmental management data storage area 28 (step S1). S5). Subsequently, the second activation processing unit 15 calculates a checksum for each department management counter data storage area 29, and uses this checksum to detect an error in each department management counter data storage area 29 (step S6). .

  In the processing of steps S5 and S6, the second activation processing unit 15 accesses the storage unit 24 using communication between the main board 10 and the engine board 20 via the bus 30. Since the processes in steps S5 and S6 are performed for each individual department management data storage area 28 and for each department management counter data storage area 29, the second activation processing unit 15 in the processes of steps S5 and S6. Access to the storage unit 24 via the bus 30 is performed a plurality of times.

  Subsequently, the second activation processing unit 15 expands each department management counter data 54 stored in each department management counter data storage area 29 of the storage unit 24 on the RAM 23 (step S7). Specifically, the second activation processing unit 15 reads each department management counter data 54 from each department management counter data storage area 29, writes these into the RAM 23, and forms each department management counter 25 on the RAM 23. This process may be performed by the printing mechanism control CPU 21 under the control of the second activation processing unit 15.

  When the process of step S7 is completed, the department management function of the image forming apparatus 1 is in an operating state.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1, after the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are in operation, that is, after the activation of the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 is completed, the individual management data storage area 27 or the individual An activation process (steps S5 to S7) related to the management data 52 is performed. As a result, the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 can be quickly activated, and the time from when the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on until the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are put into operation is shortened. be able to.

  In particular, since the image forming apparatus 1 performs start-up processing such as error detection in each department management counter data storage area 29 after the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are in operation, the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are determined. Speeding up of startup can be realized efficiently. In other words, the printing mechanism control CPU 21 is mounted on the engine board 20 which is separated from the main board 10 and is disposed in the vicinity of the printing mechanism due to circumstances such as efficient control of the printing mechanism. Since the count of the number of print sheets used is performed by each department management counter 25 formed on the RAM 23 under the control of the printing mechanism control CPU 21, the storage unit 24 (department department) that stores the value of each department management counter 25. The management counter data storage area 29) is also mounted on the engine board 20 in consideration of control and manufacturing efficiency. On the other hand, the basic process and the department management function start-up process of the image forming apparatus 1 are processes related to the basic operation of the image forming apparatus 1 and are therefore in charge of the general control CPU 11 mounted on the main board 10. Therefore, in order to start the department management function of the image forming apparatus 1, the general control CPU 11 mounted on the main board 10 must access the storage unit 24 mounted on the engine board 20 via the bus 30. I must. Moreover, since the error detection of the department management counter data storage area 29 needs to be performed for each department management counter data storage area 29, the storage unit 24 is used to detect errors in each department management counter data storage area 29. Access to must be repeated multiple times. As a result, it may take a long time for startup processing such as error detection in each department management counter data storage area 29. However, according to the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, start processing such as error detection of each department management counter data storage area 29 is performed after the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 are in an operating state. Even if it takes a long time to start the error detection of each department management counter data storage area 29, the activation of the basic functions of the image forming apparatus 1 can be efficiently realized.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 described above, the main board 10 and the engine board 20 are separated from each other, and the general control CPU 11 that performs the start control process is mounted on the main board 10 and stores the department management data 50. The case where the storage unit 24 is mounted on the engine board 20 is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The CPU that performs the activation control process and the storage unit that stores the department management data may be mounted on the same board. For example, the main IC chip that aggregates the components mounted on the main board 10 and the engine IC chip that aggregates the components mounted on the engine board 20 may be mounted on a single board. The component mounted on 10 and the component mounted on the engine board 20 may be simply arranged on a single substrate. Even in such a case, the basic functions of the image forming apparatus are turned on after the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on by performing error detection in each department management counter data storage area after the basic functions of the image forming apparatus are in operation. The time it takes for the function to become operational can be shortened. However, by applying the present invention, the effect of shortening the time required for the basic functions of the image forming apparatus to be in an operating state after the image forming apparatus is turned on is the CPU that performs the start control process. The larger the storage unit that stores the department management data, the more the boards are mounted on different boards.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 described above, the case where the overall management data storage area 26, the departmental management data storage area 28, and the department management counter data storage area 29 are formed in the storage unit 24 is taken as an example. The region may be formed on a single storage device or storage element, or may be formed separately on a plurality of storage devices or storage elements.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 described above, a case where a plurality of users belong to each department is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. One user may belong to each department.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the overall management data 51 is taken as an example of data necessary for starting the basic function among the department management data 50 related to the department management function, and the department management data 50 is not necessary for starting the basic function. The individual management data 52 is given as an example of data that is not present. However, data necessary for starting the basic function is a part of the overall management data 51, and data not required for starting the basic function is the rest of the overall management data 51 and the individual management data 52, or the basic The present invention is also applied to the case where the data necessary for starting the function is all of the whole management data 51 and a part of the individual management data 52 and the data not necessary for starting the basic function is the remainder of the individual management data 52. can do.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the image forming apparatus 1 is a multifunction peripheral is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a copying machine (copy machine), a printing machine (printer), and a facsimile communication machine (facsimile device).

  In addition, the present invention can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and an image forming apparatus and a startup control method that involve such a change are also included in the present invention. It is included in the technical idea.

1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal structure of an image forming apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the department management data memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the engine board. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a start control process by the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 14 1st starting process part 15 2nd starting process part 16 General control part 24 Storage part 26 Whole management data storage area 27 Individual management data storage area 29 Department management counter data storage area

Claims (3)

An image forming apparatus having a basic function for performing copying, printing or facsimile communication, and a department management function for managing the use status of the image forming apparatus for each department,
Of the department management data related to the department management function, a first storage area storing first management data that is data necessary for starting the basic function, and of the department management data, necessary for starting the basic function A storage unit having a second storage area in which second management data that is not data is stored;
First activation processing means for performing error detection of the first storage area or performing a first activation process for reading the first management data from the first storage area;
Second activation processing means for performing error detection of the second storage area or performing a second activation process for reading the second management data from the second storage area;
The first activation processing means executes the first activation processing immediately after the image forming apparatus is turned on, and the second activation processing means is activated when the image forming apparatus is turned on. the basic function executes the second activation process after becoming operational state from
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first management data is overall management data relating to management of the entire department, and the second management data is individual management data relating to management for each department .   The second management data includes department management counter data indicating the number of print sheets used in one department, and the second storage area stores a department management counter data storage area for storing the department management counter data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: It has a basic function for performing copying, printing, or facsimile communication, and a department management function for managing the usage status of the image forming apparatus for each department, and is necessary for starting the basic function among department management data related to the department management function. A first storage area in which first management data that is data is stored, and a second storage in which second management data that is not necessary for activation of the basic function among the department management data is stored An activation control method for controlling activation of an image forming apparatus including a storage unit having an area,
A first activation process step of performing error detection of the first storage area or reading the first management data from the first storage area;
A second activation process step of performing error detection of the second storage area or reading the second management data from the second storage area,
The first activation process is performed immediately after the image forming apparatus is turned on, and the second activation process is performed after the basic function is activated after the image forming apparatus is turned on. Execute the process ,
The activation control method according to claim 1, wherein the first management data is overall management data relating to management of the entire department, and the second management data is individual management data relating to management for each department .

Images