JP6406520B2 - Electronic equipment and power control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device and a power control program that intermittently repeats temporary return of power supply to a specific processing apparatus in a power saving state.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus including a first processing device capable of executing processing according to received data and a second processing device capable of executing processing according to received data not supported by the first processing device Is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). The power state of the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 includes at least a temporary state in which processing according to received data can be executed by the second processing device and power supply to the second processing device at least temporarily. And a power saving state in which processing according to received data can be executed by the first processing device. Further, the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is temporarily stored in the power saving state when the temporary return of power supply to the second processing apparatus is intermittently repeated in the power saving state. The time interval from the end of the current temporary return in the power saving state to the start of the next temporary return is determined in accordance with the length of time for the return.

JP 2014-231175 A

  The inventor of the invention of the present application indicates the time interval from the end of the current temporary return in the power saving state to the start of the next temporary return, the length of the time of the current temporary return in the power saving state. We studied reducing power consumption by deciding on other factors. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device and a power control program that can reduce power consumption.

  The electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes a first processing device capable of executing processing according to received data, and a second processing capable of executing processing according to the received data not supported by the first processing device. A power state control means for controlling a power state of the electronic device, wherein the second processing device can execute processing according to the received data in the power state A normal state and a power saving state in which the supply of power to the second processing device is at least temporarily stopped and the processing according to the received data can be executed by the first processing device. The power state control means confirms a specific setting during the temporary return when the temporary return of power supply to the second processing device is repeated intermittently in the power saving state. And confirmed Based on the setting, and determining the time interval between the end of this time the temporary return to the start of the next of said temporary restoration.

  With this configuration, the electronic device of the present invention can be used for the next temporary operation from the end of the current temporary return in the power saving state based on the specific setting confirmed during the current temporary return in the power saving state. Since the time interval until the start of recovery is determined, if the specific setting confirmed during this temporary recovery is a setting that does not require the next temporary recovery to be executed early, this temporary It is possible to lengthen the time interval from the end of a complete return to the start of the next temporary return. Therefore, the electronic device of the present invention can lengthen the time for stopping the supply of power to the second processing apparatus, so that power consumption can be reduced.

  The electronic apparatus of the present invention includes a timer processing unit that intermittently repeats the specific processing by the second processing device according to time, and the timer processing unit performs the specific processing during the temporary return. The second processing apparatus may execute the specific setting, and the specific setting may be a setting of a repetition interval of the specific processing, and the power state control unit may determine the time interval to be equal to or less than the repetition interval.

  With this configuration, the electronic device of the present invention repeats the temporary return in the power saving state at a time interval equal to or shorter than the repetition interval of the specific process. Compared with the case of repeating at a long time interval, a specific process that is repeated intermittently according to time can be appropriately executed during the temporary return in the power saving state.

  In the electronic device of the present invention, the power state control means may determine the time interval to be equal to or greater than an interval from the start to the end of the temporary return.

  With this configuration, the electronic device of the present invention has a power saving state because the total time of the temporary recovery time in the power saving state is equal to or less than the total time of the time other than the temporary recovery time in the power saving state. It is possible to prevent the effect of reducing the amount of power consumption in the case of less than half compared with a case where temporary restoration is not performed in the power saving state.

  In the electronic device according to the aspect of the invention, the power state control unit may be configured to perform the temporary return from the start to the end when the execution timing of the specific process according to the repetition interval arrives during the temporary return. A time obtained by subtracting the interval from the repetition interval may be determined as the time interval.

  With this configuration, the electronic device of the present invention allows the execution timing of the specific process at the repetition interval once during the temporary return, and the execution timing of the specific process after the next time is also during the temporary return. Since it arrives, a specific process can be executed according to the repetition interval.

  The power control program of the present invention includes a first processing device capable of executing processing according to received data, and a second processing device capable of executing processing according to the received data not supported by the first processing device. The electronic device is executed by an electronic device including a processing device and functions as a power state control unit that controls a power state of the electronic device, and the power state is determined according to the received data by the second processing device. A normal state in which the processing can be executed, and a power saving state in which the first processing device can execute the processing according to the received data by at least temporarily stopping the supply of power to the second processing device And the power state control means performs the current temporary recovery when the temporary return of power supply to the second processing device is intermittently repeated in the power saving state. A specific setting is confirmed, and based on the confirmed specific setting, a time interval from the end of the current temporary return to the start of the next temporary return is determined. .

  With this configuration, the electronic device that executes the power control program of the present invention ends the current temporary return in the power saving state based on the specific setting confirmed during the current temporary return in the power saving state. The time interval from the start of the next temporary return is determined, so the specific settings confirmed during this temporary return are settings that do not require the next temporary return to be executed early. In addition, the time interval from the end of the current temporary return to the start of the next temporary return can be increased. Therefore, the electronic device that executes the power control program of the present invention can lengthen the time for stopping the supply of power to the second processing apparatus, so that the power consumption can be reduced.

  The electronic device and the power control program of the present invention can reduce power consumption.

1 is a block diagram of an MFP according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in a normal state. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 in a power saving state. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a time change in power consumption of the MFP illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temporal change in power consumption of the MFP illustrated in FIG. It is a flowchart of operation | movement of the timer processing means shown in FIG. 1 during temporary return. It is a flowchart of operation | movement of the electric power state control means shown in FIG. 1 during temporary return.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) as an electronic apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of MFP 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the MFP 10 includes an operation unit 11 that is an input device such as buttons for inputting various operations, and a display unit 12 that is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) that displays various information. And a scanner 13 that reads an image from a document, a printer 14 that performs printing on a recording medium such as paper, and an external facsimile apparatus (not shown) and a communication line such as a public telephone line A fax communication unit 15 that is a fax device that performs fax communication, a PHY 16 that is a network communication device that communicates with an external device via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a semiconductor memory that stores various information, HDD (Hard Di The storage unit 17 that is a non-volatile storage device such as “sk Drive”, the main controller (MAIN Controller) 18 that is a device that can execute processing according to the received data of all protocols supported by the MFP 10, and the MFP 10 supports The sub-controller (SUB Controller) 19 which is a device capable of executing processing according to received data of only a part of all the protocols to be performed, and transmission / reception of network packets to either the main controller 18 or the sub-controller 19 A switcher (Switcher) 20 that is a switching device is provided.

  The storage unit 17 stores a power control program 17 a for controlling the power of the MFP 10. The power control program 17a may be installed in the MFP 10 at the manufacturing stage of the MFP 10, or may be additionally installed in the MFP 10 from an external storage medium such as an SD card or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or on the network. To the MFP 10 may be additionally installed.

  The storage unit 17 can store a plurality of received data 17b by the PHY 16.

  The storage unit 17 can store a timer processing interval 17c indicating a time interval of timer processing described later for each type of timer processing.

  The storage unit 17 can store a temporary return interval 17d indicating a time interval of temporary return described later.

  The main controller 18 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) storing programs and various data, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a work area of the CPU of the main controller 18 itself. ). The CPU of the main controller 18 executes a program stored in the storage unit 17 or the ROM of the main controller 18.

  Similarly, the sub-controller 19 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and various data, and a RAM that is used as a work area for the CPU of the sub-controller 19 itself. The CPU of the sub controller 19 executes a program stored in the ROM of the sub controller 19.

  The main controller 18 can execute processing according to received data of a protocol not supported by the sub-controller 19. For example, the main controller 18 can execute a printing process by the printer 14 in accordance with received data of a printing protocol such as an LPR (Line Printer Daemon protocol) or a Raw protocol. However, the sub-controller 19 cannot execute the printing process by the printer 14 according to the received data of the printing protocol. That is, the main controller 18 and the sub controller 19 constitute a second processing device and a first processing device of the present invention, respectively.

  Further, the main controller 18 can request the DHCP server to update the lease period of the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the MFP 10 as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) client before the end of the lease period. On the other hand, the sub-controller 19 cannot update the lease period of the IP address of the MFP 10 in terms of performance.

  Further, the main controller 18 indicates a report mail as an e-mail for notifying various states in the MFP 10 such as the remaining amount of toner in the printer 14 and the value of the print counter at a timer processing interval 17c such as every minute. It is possible to transmit at every time interval. On the other hand, the sub-controller 19 cannot execute the transmission of the report mail in terms of performance.

  The sub-controller 19 can execute processing according to received data of a protocol that is frequently transmitted and received in the network, such as ARP (Address Resolution Protocol).

  As described above, the sub-controller 19 has fewer types of processes that can be executed than the main controller 18. Therefore, the performance of the sub controller 19 may be lower than that of the main controller 18. For example, the CPU of the sub controller 19 may have a lower processing capacity than the CPU of the main controller 18. Further, the RAM of the sub-controller 19 may have a smaller storage capacity than the RAM of the main controller 18. When the performance of the sub-controller 19 is low compared to the performance of the main controller 18, the power consumed by the sub-controller 19 is less than the power consumed by the main controller 18.

  The main controller 18 is connected to the operation unit 11, display unit 12, scanner 13, printer 14, fax communication unit 15, storage unit 17, sub-controller 19 and switcher 20. The main controller 18 is also connected to the PHY 16 via the switcher 20.

  The sub controller 19 is connected to the operation unit 11, the fax communication unit 15, the storage unit 17, the main controller 18, and the switcher 20. The sub-controller 19 is also connected to the PHY 16 via the switcher 20.

  The main controller 18 executes a power control program 17a stored in the storage unit 17 to execute a power state control unit 18a for controlling the power state of the MFP 10 and a specific process (hereinafter referred to as “timer”) by the main controller 18 itself. It functions as a timer processing means 18b that repeats "processing") intermittently according to time.

  Here, the timer process includes the update of the lease period of the IP address of the MFP 10 described above and the transmission of the report mail described above. Note that the timer processing repetition time interval, that is, the timer processing interval 17 c can be set by the administrator of the MFP 10.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the MFP 10 in a normal state.

  In FIG. 2, the device for which the supply of power is stopped is drawn with black and white reversed. That is, in FIG. 2, the sub controller 19 is stopped from supplying power.

  In the normal state, the switcher 20 switches transmission / reception of network packets to the main controller 18 among the main controller 18 and the sub-controller 19. Therefore, in the normal state, processing according to the received data by the PHY 16 is executed by the main controller 18.

  As described above, when the power consumed by the sub-controller 19 is small compared to the power consumed by the main controller 18, even if power is supplied to the sub-controller 19, the power consumed by the sub-controller 19 is It is thought that it is slight. Therefore, power may be supplied to the sub-controller 19 in the normal state. Of the processes according to the received data by the PHY 16, the processes that can be executed by the sub-controller 19 are executed by the sub-controller 19 instead of the main controller 18 even in the normal state. 19 needs to be supplied with electric power. Even when the main controller 18 is configured to receive data received by the PHY 16 via the sub-controller 19, it is necessary to supply power to the sub-controller 19 in a normal state.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the MFP 10 in the power saving state.

  In FIG. 3, the device for which power supply is stopped is drawn with black and white reversed. That is, in FIG. 3, the main controller 18 is not supplied with power. In the power saving state, supply of power to at least one of various devices connected to the main controller 18 such as the printer 14 in addition to the main controller 18 may be stopped.

  In the power saving state, the switcher 20 switches transmission / reception of network packets to the sub controller 19 among the main controller 18 and the sub controller 19. Therefore, in the power saving state, processing according to the received data by the PHY 16 is executed by the sub-controller 19.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temporal change in power consumption of the MFP 10.

  In FIG. 4, W1 is the power consumption when the power state of the MFP 10 is the normal state. W2 is the power consumption when the power state of the MFP 10 is the power saving state.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the power state control unit 18 a can switch the power state of the MFP 10 from the normal state to a power saving state in which power consumption is smaller than that in the normal state. For example, in the normal state, the power state control unit 18a performs an operation through a portion other than the button for shifting to the power saving state (hereinafter referred to as “Sleep button”) in the operation unit 11, print data, or the like. When there is no specific reception data via the PHY 16 for a specific time or more, the power state of the MFP 10 can be switched to the power saving state. In addition, the power state control unit 18a can switch the power state of the MFP 10 to the power saving state when there is an operation through the Sleep button in the normal state.

  Even when the MFP 10 is in a power saving state, the sub controller 19 can perform a basic network response, so that the network connectivity can be guaranteed.

  The sub-controller 19 can switch the power state of the MFP 10 from the power saving state to a normal state where the power consumption is larger than the power saving state. For example, the sub controller 19 can switch the power state of the MFP 10 to the normal state when there is an operation via the operation unit 11 in the power saving state. In addition, the sub controller 19 can switch the power state of the MFP 10 to the normal state when there is specific received data via the PHY 16 such as print data in the power saving state. When the sub-controller 19 receives specific received data to be processed by the main controller 18 via the PHY 16 in the power saving state, the sub-controller 19 stores the received data in the storage unit 17 as the received data 17b, thereby returning the main data after restoration. The received data 17b can be transferred to the controller 18 via the storage unit 17.

  If the received data is data that cannot be processed by the sub-controller 19 when the power state is the power saving state, the MFP 10 returns the main controller 18 by switching the power state from the power saving state to the normal state, and returns. Since the response is made by the main controller 18 later, the network connectivity can be maintained.

  Note that the power consumption in the power saving state is W2 mainly as shown in FIG. However, in actuality, the temporary return of power supply to the main controller 18 in the power saving state (hereinafter referred to as “temporary return”) is repeated intermittently, so that it is not always W2.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temporal change in power consumption of the MFP 10 in the power saving state.

  In FIG. 5, W3 is the power consumption in the temporary return state. W3 is equal to or less than W1 in FIG. When the power supply state to the various devices in the MFP 10 is the same in the normal state and the temporary return state, W3 is equal to W1. On the other hand, when the supply of power to a device such as the printer 14 to which power is supplied in the normal state is stopped in a temporary return state, W3 is smaller than W1.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the sub-controller 19 repeats temporary return intermittently in the power saving state. Here, the time interval t1 from the start of the temporary return to the end is usually extremely short compared to the time interval t2 from the end of the temporary return to the start of the next temporary return. For example, the time interval t1 is about 100 to 200 milliseconds, but the time interval t2 is often about 3 to 30 seconds.

  Next, the operation of the MFP 10 will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the timer processing means 18b during the temporary return.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the timer processing means 18b corrects the clock by the CPU of the main controller 18 by a real time clock (not shown) by temporary return (S51).

  Next, the timer processing means 18b determines whether or not the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c has elapsed since the previous execution of the timer processing based on the clock by the CPU of the main controller 18 (S52). .

  If the timer processing means 18b determines in S52 that the time has elapsed, it executes timer processing (S53) and ends the operation shown in FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined in S52 that the timer processing unit 18b has not elapsed, the timer processing unit 18b ends the operation shown in FIG. 6 without executing the timer processing.

  The timer processing means 18b repeats the processing of S52 and S53 for each type of timer processing.

  For example, the timer processing unit 18b requests the DHCP server to update the lease period of the IP address of the MFP 10 at the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c, such as when half of the lease period of the IP address of the MFP 10 has elapsed. .

  In addition, the timer processing unit 18b transmits a report mail at a time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c, such as every minute.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the operation of the power state control means 18a during the temporary return.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the power state control unit 18a checks the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c (S61).

  Next, the power state control means 18a sets a time interval equal to or less than the time interval confirmed in S61 as the temporary return interval 17d (S62), and ends the operation shown in FIG.

  Here, when the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c is 1 minute, the temporary return interval 17d is set to a time interval of 1 minute or less. The temporary return interval 17d is set to a time interval of 30 minutes or less when the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c is 30 minutes.

  However, when the temporary return interval 17d becomes less than the time interval t1 from the start to the end of the temporary return, the total time of the temporary return in the power saving state is greater than the total time of the time other than the temporary return time in the power saving state. Since it becomes longer, the effect of reducing the power consumption in the power saving state is reduced to less than half compared to the case where temporary restoration is not performed in the power saving state. Therefore, the temporary return interval 17d is preferably set to be equal to or longer than the time interval t1 from the start to the end of the temporary return. When the temporary return interval 17d is set to be equal to or greater than the time interval t1, the MFP 10 has a total time of the temporary return in the power saving state that is equal to or less than the total time other than the time of the temporary return in the power saving state. It can be prevented that the effect of reducing the power consumption in the power saving state is reduced to less than half compared with the case where the temporary return is not performed in the power saving state.

  When different time intervals are indicated by the plurality of timer processing intervals 17c, the temporary return interval 17d is a time equal to or shorter than the shortest time interval among the time intervals indicated by each of the plurality of timer processing intervals 17c. Set to interval.

  From the viewpoint of reducing power consumption, the longer power consumption W2 is better, so the longer the temporary return interval 17d is, the better. For example, the temporary return interval 17d may be a time interval equal to the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c.

  When the execution timing of the timer process according to the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c arrives during the temporary return, the power state control unit 18a sets the time interval t1 from the start to the end of the temporary return to the timer The time subtracted from the time interval indicated by the processing interval 17c is determined as the temporary return interval 17d. With this configuration, when the timing of execution of the timer process according to the time interval indicated by the timer processing interval 17c comes once during the temporary recovery, the MFP 10 also receives the timing of execution of the timer processing after the next time during the temporary recovery. Therefore, the timer process can be executed according to the time interval indicated by the timer process interval 17c.

  After the operation shown in FIG. 7, the sub-controller 19 sets the time interval t2 from the end of the current temporary return to the start of the next temporary return to the time interval indicated by the temporary return interval 17d.

  As described above, the MFP 10 confirms during the current temporary return in the power saving state (S61) from the end of the current temporary return in the power saving state based on the specific setting, that is, the timer processing interval 17c. Since the time interval t2 until the start of the next temporary return is determined (S62), if the specific setting confirmed during the current temporary return is a setting that does not require the next temporary return to be executed early, this time The time interval t2 from the end of the temporary return to the start of the next temporary return can be increased. Therefore, the MFP 10 can lengthen the time for stopping the supply of power to the main controller 18, thereby reducing the power consumption.

  Since the MFP 10 repeats the temporary return in the power saving state at a specific process, that is, the timer processing repetition interval, that is, the time interval equal to or shorter than the timer processing interval 17c, the temporary return in the power saving state is performed at the timer processing interval 17c of the timer processing. Compared with the case of repeating at a longer time interval, timer processing that is repeated intermittently according to time can be appropriately executed during the temporary return in the power saving state.

  In the present embodiment, the specific setting of the MFP 10 is the timer processing interval 17c, but settings other than the timer processing interval 17c may be adopted as the specific setting.

  In the MFP 10, the power control program 17 a and the timer processing interval 17 c are used only by the main controller 18 among the main controller 18 and the sub-controller 19. It may be stored in a storage device dedicated to the main controller 18 such as a storage device having a sex. The power supply to the storage device dedicated to the main controller 18 is executed in the same manner as the power supply to the main controller 18.

  The electronic apparatus of the present invention is an MFP in this embodiment, but may be an image forming apparatus other than an MFP, such as a copy-only machine, a printer-only machine, a FAX-only machine, or a scanner-only machine, or a PC (Personal) Electronic devices other than the image forming apparatus such as a computer may be used.

t2 time interval (time interval from the end of this temporary return to the start of the next temporary return)
10 MFP (electronic equipment)
17a Power control program 17c Timer processing interval (specific setting)
17d Temporary return interval (time interval from the end of the current temporary return to the start of the next temporary return)
18 Main controller (second processing unit)
18a Power state control means 18b Timer processing means 19 Sub-controller (first processing device)

Claims (5)

A first processing device capable of executing processing according to received data;
An electronic device comprising: a second processing device capable of executing processing according to the received data that is not supported by the first processing device;
Comprising power state control means for controlling the power state of the electronic device,
The second processing device includes a timer processing unit that intermittently repeats the specific processing by the second processing device according to time,
The power state includes
A normal state in which processing according to the received data can be executed by the second processing device;
A power saving state in which the supply of power to the second processing device is at least temporarily stopped and the first processing device can execute processing according to the received data,
The power state control means performs a specific setting during the temporary return when the temporary return of power supply to the second processing apparatus is intermittently repeated in the power saving state. Based on the confirmed specific setting, the time interval from the end of the temporary return this time to the start of the next temporary return is determined to be equal to or less than the repetition interval of the specific process ,
The specific setting is a setting of the repetition interval,
The timer processing unit causes the second processing device to execute the specific process during the temporary return when the repetition interval has elapsed since the previous execution of the specific process. And electronic equipment.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the power state control unit determines the time interval to be equal to or greater than an interval from the start to the end of the temporary return.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the power state control unit determines the time interval as the repetition interval. The power state control means determines the interval from the start to the end of the temporary return from the repeat interval when the execution timing of the specific process according to the repeat interval arrives during the temporary return. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the subtracted time is determined as the time interval. A first processing device capable of executing processing according to received data;
Executed by an electronic device including a second processing device capable of executing processing according to the received data that is not supported by the first processing device;
Causing the electronic device to function as power state control means for controlling the power state of the electronic device;
Causing the second processing device to function as a timer processing unit that intermittently repeats specific processing according to time by the second processing device;
The power state includes
A normal state in which processing according to the received data can be executed by the second processing device;
A power saving state in which the supply of power to the second processing device is at least temporarily stopped and the first processing device can execute processing according to the received data,
The power state control means performs a specific setting during the temporary return when the temporary return of power supply to the second processing apparatus is intermittently repeated in the power saving state. Based on the confirmed specific setting, the time interval from the end of the temporary return this time to the start of the next temporary return is determined to be equal to or less than the repetition interval of the specific process ,
The specific setting is a setting of the repetition interval,
The timer processing unit causes the second processing device to execute the specific process during the temporary return when the repetition interval has elapsed since the previous execution of the specific process. A power control program.

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