JP5420576B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a customized screen display function.

  In the image forming apparatus, for example, when a paper jam is detected during printing, the contents are displayed on the operation panel.

  If the details of the error are displayed in detail in the document, it takes time to read it, and conversely, the work efficiency may be deteriorated. Therefore, it is necessary to display the error content briefly.

  However, since display is performed for a general user, some users may not be able to correctly recognize the content of the error.

  The following cited document 1 discloses a configuration in which a message input by a user is displayed in a customized data display box when an error occurs.

JP 2010-86091 A

  However, in this configuration, for example, when out of paper occurs, additional information such as where new paper is stored is displayed as customized data, and the error content itself is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, if this is used, the display configuration becomes complicated, and conversely, the work efficiency may be deteriorated.

  Usually, the display module is included in the panel board, but its application platform is simpler than that of the controller board that performs copying, facsimile transmission and reception, etc. The configuration becomes complicated and the cost increases.

  In view of these problems, the object of the present invention is to replace a part of the built-in error display screen with a customized screen according to the user while suppressing the complexity of the software configuration of the panel board. An object is to provide a possible image forming apparatus.

In the first aspect of the present invention,
Equipment for image formation;
An operation panel;
A controller board having a controller on the first application platform for controlling the device and outputting error information of the device state;
In response to notification of error information from the controller, a panel board provided with a normal screen display means on the second application platform for displaying the error content on the operation panel;
The panel board further includes:
Selection information that stores an error code indicating the presence of customization,
In response to the notification of the error information, if there is a plug-in on the first application platform on the controller board, error content display information corresponding to the error information is acquired via the plug-in, and the operation panel displays the error content display information. Customized screen display means on the second application platform for displaying error content display information;
The normal screen display means, in response to the notification of the error information, determines whether or not the selection information includes an item that matches the error code included in the error information, and makes an affirmative determination. In this case, the error information is notified to the customized screen display means, and if it is not included, the error content is displayed on the operation panel by itself.

In a second aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, in the first aspect, the first application platform includes a Web server, and the plug-in includes an HTML file corresponding to the error code or corresponds to the error code. It has a web application that generates HTML files,
The customized screen display means transmits a request message to the Web server in response to the URL, a conversion unit that converts the error information into a URL, and sends an HTML file corresponding to the error code from the Web server. Browser means for receiving a response message containing the message.

In a third aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, in the second aspect, the panel board further refers to the selection information in response to system power-on, and if the selection information includes an error code. Only when each error code is sequentially supplied to the customized screen display means to determine whether or not a normal response is obtained from the Web server, and all error codes included in the selection information are positively determined. , Having initialization means on the second application platform for setting the customized screen display presence / absence information to indicate that the customized screen display is present,
In response to the notification of the error information, the normal screen display means selects the one that matches the error code included in the error information only when the customized screen display presence / absence information indicates that the customized screen display is present. It is determined whether it is included in the information.

  In the fourth aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, in the second or third aspect, the error information includes an error occurrence location identifier, and the conversion unit includes the error occurrence location identifier in a query character string of the URL. Make it.

  According to the configuration of the first aspect, the normal screen display unit on the second application platform provided on the panel board responds to the notification of error information from the controller on the first application platform provided on the controller board. Then, it is determined whether or not the information that matches the error code included in the error information is included in the selection information. If the determination is affirmative, the error information is displayed on the customized screen on the second application platform. The customized screen display means acquires the error content display information corresponding to the error information via the plug-in on the first application platform, and the error content display information is displayed on the operation panel. If it is not included, the error is displayed on the operation panel by itself. Since the contents are displayed, it is possible to replace a part of the built-in error display screen with a customized screen according to the user while suppressing the complexity of the software configuration of the panel board. .

  According to the configuration of the second aspect, a plug-in provided with a Web application that generates an HTML file corresponding to an error code or an HTML file corresponding to the error code by using the Web server included in the first application platform. Therefore, there is an effect that the configuration is simplified.

  According to the configuration of the third aspect, by the initialization process by the initialization unit, the normal screen display unit is included in the error information only when the customized screen display presence / absence information indicates that the customized screen display is present. Since it suffices to determine whether or not an error code matches the selection information, the processing time can be shortened.

  According to the configuration of the fourth aspect, there is an effect that even if the error information includes an error occurrence location identifier, the customized screen display means can cope with the error information relatively easily.

  Other objects, characteristic configurations and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in connection with the appended claims and the drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structural example of the customized screen display function in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the selection list | wrist in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the initialization process relevant to the customized screen display function. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the process in the normal screen display module in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the selection table used with the image forming apparatus which concerns on Example 2 of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an image forming apparatus 10 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a scanner 11, a print engine 12, a FAX modem 13, and a paper transport mechanism 14 as devices related to image formation, and an operation panel 15 for operation / setting / status display. The image forming apparatus 10 further includes a controller board 16 that controls the blocks 11 to 14 and a panel board 17 that controls the operation panel 15 as separate bodies, so that each can be developed in parallel.

  The controller board 16 includes a CPU 160, a hardware 160 including a nonvolatile memory (for example, a flash memory) coupled to the CPU via a bus, a RAM, a communication interface, and interfaces of the blocks 11 to 14, and the nonvolatile memory. And a program stored in the computer.

  This program includes an application platform 161 including an operating system (OS), various drivers, and an application library, a controller 162 operating on the application platform 161, an extension application 163, and a plug-in 164.

  The controller 162 is a basic application incorporated in advance that realizes functions such as image scanning, printing, copying, and FAX transmission / reception. The extension application 163 and the plug-in 164 used as an additional function of the application are created by a third party vendor or a user.

  On the other hand, the panel board 17 includes a hardware 170 and an application platform 171 similar to the hardware 160 and the application platform 161, a normal screen display module 172, a customized screen display module 174, and a selection list operating on the application platform 171. An editing module 175, an initialization module 176, and a selection list 173 used in the normal screen display module 172 are provided.

  For example, when the controller 162 detects a paper jam or no-paper error during printing and interrupts the job, the controller 162 receives the normal screen display module 172 via the application platform 161, the hardware 160 and 170, and the application platform 171. The error code and additional information indicating the error location, for example, the location of the paper jam or the identifier of the paper feed stage with empty paper are notified as error information. Conventionally, the normal screen display module 172 displays the error content on the operation panel 15 based on the error information.

  Here, if the error contents are displayed in detail, it takes time to read the error contents, and conversely, the work efficiency may be deteriorated. Therefore, it is necessary to display the error contents in a concise manner. However, since display is performed for a general user, some users may not be able to correctly recognize the content of the error.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the first embodiment, a user or a third party eventer plugs in the controller board 16 without changing the software configuration prepared by the manufacturer and provided in the controller board 16 and the panel board 17. By adding 164 and adding a selection list 173 to the panel board 17, the contents of the error can be displayed on the operation panel 15 more easily.

  The normal screen display module 172 is a user interface for operating each function on the operation panel 15, setting parameters for each function, and displaying the status of each device and job. A process for coordinating with the module 174 is added.

  The selection list 173 is stored in a rewritable nonvolatile storage device such as a flash memory in the hardware 170, and the selection list editing module 175 responds to the operation of the operation panel 15 to edit (add, Deleted, updated).

  In general, plug-ins exist on the same platform as the application to be plugged in, but in the first embodiment, they exist on different platforms. This is because the application platform 161 has more functions than the application platform 171 and includes existing ones that can be used by the plug-in 164.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration example of a part of the application platform 161 in FIG. 1 and a plug-in 164 using the application platform 161 and a part of the application platform 171 and the customized screen display module 174 using the part. .

  Since it is only necessary to change the display for the error display that is difficult for the user to understand, the user or the third party eventer operates the operation panel 15 and enters the selection list 173 as shown in FIG. Write down the error code.

  In response to the notification of the error information, the normal screen display module 172 refers to the selection list 173, and if the error code included in this error information is not included in the selection list 173, the normal screen display module 172 itself performs an error as in the conventional case. Is displayed on the operation panel 15. When the error code is included in the selection list 173, the normal screen display module 172 notifies the error information to the customized screen display module 174.

  In response to this, the customized screen display module 174 acquires the data of the error display contents via the plug-in 164 added as a part thereof, displays the data on the operation panel 15, and controls the normal screen display module. Return to 172.

  The customized screen display module 174 includes a control unit 20, a conversion unit 21, and a browser 22. In response to the notification of the error information, the control unit 20 passes the error information to the conversion unit 21 to convert the error information into a URL. For example, when the error information is only the error code “105”, the conversion unit 21 converts this into “http://192.168.0.2/error105.htm”, and the error code of the error information is “302”. When the error occurrence location identifier is “28”, these are converted to “http://192.168.0.2/error302.htm?location=28”, and this URL is supplied to the browser 22. In response to this, the browser 22 transmits a request message including this URL to the Web server 31 via the communication unit 23 of the application platform 171 and the communication unit 30 of the application platform 161.

  The communication unit 30 and the web server 31 of the application platform 161 communicate with a browser in a personal computer (not shown) coupled to the image forming apparatus 10 and are used when this browser is used as a remote control panel. The function is also used in the plug-in 164.

  If the URL does not include a query character string, the Web server 31 reads the corresponding file in the HTML file group 32 and sends a response message with a header added thereto to the browser 22 via the communication unit 30 and the communication unit 23. Reply to If the URL includes a query character string, the Web server 31 transfers control to the Web application 33. In response to this, the Web application 33 generates an HTML file corresponding to the query character string with a program included in the file specified by the URL path, and returns it to the Web server 31, which the Web server 31 responds to. A response message with the header added is returned to the browser 22.

  When the display process by the browser 22 ends, the control unit 20 stops the operation of the browser 22 and returns the control to the normal screen display module 172.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part related to the customized screen display module 174 in the processing of the initialization module 176 executed when the system power of the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on. In the following, the step identification codes in the figure are shown in parentheses.

  (S0) The contents of the selection list 173 stored in the nonvolatile storage device are read out on the RAM in the hardware 170.

  (S1) If an error code is included in the selection list 173, the process proceeds to step S2, and if not, the process proceeds to step S5.

  (S2) It is confirmed whether or not the predetermined plug-in 164 is included in the controller board 16. If included, the process proceeds to step S3, and if not, the process proceeds to step S5. For this confirmation, for example, for each error code on the selection list 173, a request is made to the Web server 31 via the customized screen display module 174, and a normal response message is obtained (the error message is not included in the response message). It is done by confirming. For error information that includes an error location identifier, an arbitrary error location identifier within an allowable range is used.

  (S3) By creating an instance of the customized screen display module 174 on the RAM of the hardware 170 and starting the Web server 31 via the OS in the application platform 161, these can immediately respond when an error occurs. Keep it like that.

  (S4) 1 is substituted into the customized screen display flag F, and the process of FIG.

  (S5) 0 is substituted into the customized screen display flag F, and the process of FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in the normal screen display module 172, and this processing is started in response to notification of error information from the controller 162.

  (S10) If the value of the flag F is 1, the process proceeds to step S11. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S13.

  (S11) With reference to the selection list 173 read in step S0, it is checked whether or not there is an error code received from the controller 162.

  (S12) If there is no match, the process proceeds to step S13, and if there is, the process proceeds to step S14.

  (S13) The content of the error corresponding to the error information is displayed on the operation panel 15 by itself.

  (S14) The error information is notified to the customized screen display module 174. As a result, the error content customized as described above is displayed on the operation panel 15.

  FIG. 6 shows a selection table 173A used in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The difference from FIG. 3 is that this table includes a column of error location identifiers. When an error location identifier is included in the error information, a representative error location identifier is entered via the selection list editing module 175 corresponding to the error code. This error location identifier is used in step S2.

  The other points are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, the present invention includes various modifications, and other configurations that realize the functions of the respective components described in the above embodiments are used. However, other configurations that would be conceived by those skilled in the art from these configurations or functions are also included in the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Scanner 12 Print engine 13 FAX modem 14 Paper transport mechanism 15 Operation panel 16 Controller board 160, 170 Hardware 161, 171 Application platform 162 Controller 163 Extended application 164 Plug-in 17 Panel board 172 Normal screen display module 173 selection List 173A Selection table 174 Customized screen display module 175 Selection list edit module 176 Initialization module 20 Control unit 21 Conversion unit 22 Browser 23, 30 Communication unit 31 Web server 32 HTML file group 33 Web application F Customized screen display flag

Claims (4)

Equipment for image formation;
An operation panel;
A controller board having a controller on the first application platform for controlling the device and outputting error information of the device state;
In response to notification of error information from the controller, a panel board provided with a normal screen display means on the second application platform for displaying the error content on the operation panel;
The panel board further includes:
Selection information that stores an error code indicating the presence of customization,
In response to the notification of the error information, if there is a plug-in on the first application platform on the controller board, error content display information corresponding to the error information is acquired via the plug-in, and the operation panel displays the error content display information. Customized screen display means on the second application platform for displaying error content display information;
The normal screen display means, in response to the notification of the error information, determines whether or not the selection information includes an item that matches the error code included in the error information, and makes an affirmative determination. In such a case, the error information is notified to the customized screen display means, and if it is not included, the error content is displayed on the operation panel by itself.
An image forming apparatus. The first application platform includes a Web server, and the plug-in includes an HTML file corresponding to an error code or a Web application that generates an HTML file corresponding to the error code.
The customized screen display means transmits a request message to the Web server in response to the URL, a conversion unit that converts the error information into a URL, and sends an HTML file corresponding to the error code from the Web server. Browser means for receiving a response message including:
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The panel board further refers to the selection information in response to system power-on, and if the selection information includes an error code, sequentially supplies each error code to the customized screen display means. Only when it is determined whether or not a normal response can be obtained from the Web server and all the error codes included in the selection information are positively determined, the customized screen display presence / absence information indicates that the customized screen display is present. Having initialization means for setting on the second application platform;
In response to the notification of the error information, the normal screen display means selects the one that matches the error code included in the error information only when the customized screen display presence / absence information indicates that the customized screen display is present. Determine whether it is included in the information,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. The error information includes an error occurrence location identifier,
The conversion unit includes the error occurrence location identifier in the query string of the URL.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.

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