JPH04177530A - Managing method for electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the error of a change of a substrate and combination of a ROM mounted on its substrate by holding its history in the substrate, comparing the history of a program memory and the history of the substrate at the time of executing an operation in accordance with the program memory and informing its result to the outside. CONSTITUTION:When a power source is turned on to this device, a value of a history display resistance 15 is read in, and from this resistance value (output value to an A/D converting circuit 20), history of its control substrate is known and whether the own software corresponds to its control substrate or not is compared. In this regard, in a program memory 24 itself, data for showing its own Version is stored, and by comparing it with this value, it is decided. Subsequently, in the case it is decided that the own software does not correspond to the control substrate, a difference of Versions of a software and a hardware is informed to the outside by lighting an alarm lamp 16E, etc., and an electronic apparatus is stopped normally. In such a way, a mistake of the software and the hardware is obstructed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a method for managing electronic equipment.

[Conventional technology]

Along with market demands, the technology of electronic devices has improved year by year, making it possible to increase speed, increase functionality, and make devices smaller. On the other hand, development periods are becoming shorter and shorter, and the current situation is that many types of electronic devices are required to be developed in a short period of time. Therefore, in factories that assemble electronic devices, software (
ROM) and the control board must be handled correctly. Also, improvements may be made to just one piece of electronic equipment assembled at a factory, sometimes requiring modified software and/or modified control boards.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, if the control board is modified, it is necessary to install the wrong software for the control board, but in the past there was a possibility of mistakes occurring just by managing the drawings.In the present invention, Change of board and ROM mounted on that board
The aim is to provide a management method for electronic devices that prevents mistakes in combinations and improves reliability. The present invention has been made in view of the prior art, and provides a management method for electronic equipment that makes it possible to easily determine the confusion between software and hardware that is likely to occur when changing the program ROM mounted on an electronic board or the electronic board. It is intended to provide a method.

[Means and operations for solving the problem] In order to solve this problem, the present invention manages electronic devices as described below. That is, a method for managing a board mounted in an electronic device and a program memory mounted on the board, in which the board retains a history of the board, and when operating according to the program memory, the program memory is The history of the memory and the history of the board are compared, and the results are reported to the outside. 【Example】

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiment, a printer will be described as an example of an electronic device. FIG. 1 shows a block configuration diagram of a printer in an embodiment. In the figure, a microprocessor-type CPU 21 is connected to a host device 14 via an interface 22, and according to command signals and recorded information signals read into a data memory 23 from a controller in the host device 14, , controls the recording operation based on the program in the program memory 24 and print command data. To give a specific example, the CPL 121 controls the carriage motor 7 and the sheet feed motor 4 via the output boat 26 and the motor driver 27, and also controls the head control circuit 29 based on recorded information stored in the data memory 23. The recording head 9 is controlled via the recording head 9 to perform recording. Outputs from each operation key 16A to 16D on an operation panel (not shown) provided outside the device are transmitted to the CPU 21 via the input boat 32, and the alarm lamp 1
A control signal is supplied to the warning lamps 16 such as 6E and power lamp 16F via the output port 36. Reference numeral 33 in FIG. 1 is a DIR switch provided on the bottom of the exterior of the device for setting various operation modes, and its output is sent to the CPU via an input port 34.
21. In addition, in the same figure, from the power supply circuit 28, a logic drive voltage VCC (for example, 5V) for operating the control logic circuit and various motor drive voltages VM (for example, 30V) are supplied.
, RESET voltage RESET, heat voltage VH(
For example, a backup voltage VDDH for protecting the recording head 9 is output. The heat voltage VH is applied to the recording head 9, and the backup voltage VDDH is applied to the head control circuit 29 and the recording head. In this embodiment, the history display of the board is indicated by a history display resistor 15, and is read by an A/D conversion circuit 20. A specific example of the relationship between the A/D conversion circuit 20 and the history display resistor 15 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the A/D conversion circuit has 8 channels of 8-bit A/D converters built into one chip MPU, and its output is connected to the internal bus. It is set according to the history of changes, etc., as shown in Figure 2, for example. In Figure 2, for example, Version 1, 10,
In the control board of Re1ease4, a 2643Ω resistor is mounted on the board as a history display resistor. The operation of the embodiment with the above structure will be explained with reference to FIG. Note that the program related to this flowchart is, of course, stored in the program memory 24. First, when the device is powered on, the value of the history display resistor 15 is read in step S1. The history of the control board is known from this resistance value (output value to the A/D conversion circuit 20), and in step S2, it is compared to see if its own software is compatible with the control board. still,
The program memory 24 itself contains its own version.
Data indicating this is stored, and judgments are made by comparing with this value. If the software is compatible with the control board, the process proceeds to step S3, where the device is initialized and the process proceeds to a normal printing process routine. Also. If it is determined that the own software is not compatible with the control board, the process proceeds to step S4, and the difference between the software and hardware versions is notified to the outside by lighting the alarm lamp 16E, etc., and the electronic device is operated normally. make it stop. <Description of Other Embodiments> In the first embodiment described above, the resistance value is detected as a method of knowing the history of the control board, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the second embodiment, this is achieved by cutting a pattern on the substrate. In Figure 5, eight signal lines b0 to b7 are connected to Vcc (5■
), and each terminal is pulled down with a predetermined resistance value. Input ports are each signal line b0
-b7 level is input and supplied to the internal bus at the request of CPU2i. If a pattern is cut on the board according to the correspondence table shown in Figure 6 for these eight signals, the terminals bz, t)o will be pulled down (voltage value is "O"), so
The value read from the input port is “111110” in binary
10" will be supplied to the internal bus. The relationship between the cutting method and the history of the board is shown in Figure 5 (
If so, in the state shown in Figure 5, Version 2.00,
It can be seen that it is Re1ease6. That is, by providing such a mechanism in place of the A/D conversion circuit 20 in FIG. 1, it becomes possible to know the history of the board. As explained above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent confusion between software and hardware, which is likely to occur when the control board of an electronic device or its software is changed, resulting in unnecessary confusion when assembling the electronic device. It is possible to avoid this. Although the embodiments have been described using a printer as an example of an electronic device, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this. Furthermore, in the embodiment, prevention of confusion between one piece of hardware and one piece of software was explained as an example, but in the case of a device in which multiple boards are installed to perform one function, it is necessary to record the history status on each board. It is perfectly acceptable to determine the correlation between the respective substrates by holding them. [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily determine whether software and hardware are mistaken, which is likely to occur when the program ROM mounted on an electronic board or the electronic board is changed. It becomes possible to avoid unnecessary confusion in assembling electronic equipment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block configuration diagram of the blink in the first embodiment, Figure 2 is a correspondence diagram between the history display resistance value and history in the first embodiment, and Figure 3 is the A/D in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation at the initial power-on time in the first embodiment; FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram for knowing the board history in the second embodiment; FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the correspondence between input data and board history in the second embodiment. In the figure, 4... Sheet feed motor, 7... Carriage motor, 9... Print head, 14... Host device,
15...Resistor for history display, 16A-16D...Operation key, 16E...Alarm lamp, 16F...Power supply switch, 20...A/D conversion circuit, 21...CPU
, 22... Interface, 23... Data memory, 24... Programming memory, 25... Working memory, 26. 36... Output board, 27 Motor driver, 28... Power supply circuit, 29. ...Drive device, 32.34...Input boat, 33...Date switch. Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Yasunori Otsuka (1st name) Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for managing a board mounted in an electronic device and a program memory mounted on the board, wherein the board retains a history of the board, and when operating according to the program memory, the program memory is A method for managing electronic equipment, comprising comparing a history in a memory with a history in the board, and reporting the result to the outside.