JPH05188870A - Alarm display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable easy knowing of the generation of an error by flickering the back light of a liquid crystal display device when the abnormality of electronic equipment is detected. CONSTITUTION:A printer control section 3 detects various kinds of the abnormality of a printer, such as data reception error from a host device 2, abnormality in transportation (jam error) of paper for printing and temp. abnormality of a printing head, by an abnormality detecting means 3a. The printer 3 announces the detection of the certain abnormality (alarm) to a CPU 6 of an operation panel 5 when such abnormality is detected by the abnormality detecting means 3a. The CPU 6 controls the flickering of the back light 10 of the liquid crystal display section 8 upon receipt of the signal announcing the generation of the alarm from a printer control section 3. A back light flickering control section 14 instructs the flickering of the back light to a driver 11 for driving the back light in order to flicker the back light under lighting upon receipt of the instruction for the flickering of the back light from the CPU 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an alarm display of electronic equipment such as a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional printer. The printer 1 is connected to a host device 2 such as a personal computer via a line interface. The print data transmitted from the higher-level device 2 is received by an interface control unit (not shown) of the printer control unit 3, the received print data is converted into print data by the printer control unit 3, and the converted print is performed. The data is transferred to the print process unit 4. The print process unit 4 prints out the transferred print data and performs a series of print processing.

The printer control section 3 also indicates the operating states of the printer, such as the operating states of the printer, such as receiving data, editing data, and printing, on the liquid crystal display (L) of the operation panel 5.
CD) 8 to inform the operator of the printer of each operating state of the printer. Further, the printer control unit 3 is
When a data reception error from the host device or a print paper conveyance error (jam error) is detected, the liquid crystal driver is driven to display an error message for notifying the error occurrence, and the error message is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 8. The LED driver 14 is instructed to turn on the light emitting diode (LED) 13, and the light emitting diode (LED) 13 is turned on to notify the operator of the printer that an error has occurred.

The CPU 6 is a microcomputer that organically controls the liquid crystal display portion 8 of the operation panel 5, the light emitting diode (LED) 13 and the like, and is operated by a control program stored in the program memory 7. .. The switch 12 is composed of various switches necessary for operating the printer, and is provided with, for example, an online / offline selection switch, a print font selection switch, and a line feed switch for instructing a line feed.

In the operation panel having the above-mentioned structure, the operator is informed of an error alarm by displaying an error message from a liquid crystal display (LCD) and turning on a light emitting diode (LED).

In addition to the visual error display as described above, there is also a printer that notifies the occurrence of an alarm by hearing such as buzzing.

[0007]

However, in the display of an alarm generated by lighting the light emitting diode and displaying an error message from the liquid crystal display device (LCD), both the light emitting diode and the liquid crystal display device (LCD) have poor directivity. When the operator was away from the printer, it was difficult to recognize the occurrence of the alarm. Also, in the case of auditory alarm notification such as buzzer sounding, multiple other printers are installed and operating at the printer installation location, etc., and the buzzer sound is erased by the sound emitted by those printers, and the alarm occurrence is recognized. It was difficult to do.

[0008]

In an alarm display device of an electronic device having a liquid crystal display device having a backlight function, an abnormality detecting means for detecting an abnormality of the electronic device,
A backlight blinking control means for controlling blinking of the backlight of the liquid crystal display device according to the abnormality detection signal of the abnormality detection means is provided.

[0009]

With the above structure, when the abnormality detecting means detects an abnormality in the electronic equipment, the back light of the liquid crystal display device is controlled to blink to notify the occurrence of the error.

[0010]

1 is a block diagram of a printer equipped with an alarm display device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining control of the alarm display device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, blocks having the same functions as those of the conventional printer will be described with the same reference numerals as in FIG.

Next, the alarm display device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The printer 1 is connected to a host device 2 such as a personal computer via a line interface. The print data transmitted from the higher-level device 2 is received by an interface control unit (not shown) of the printer control unit 3, the received print data is converted into print data by the printer control unit 3, and the converted print is performed. The data is transferred to the print process unit 4. The print process unit 4 prints out the transferred print data and performs a series of print processing.
Further, the printer control unit 3 displays the operating state of the printer, for example, each operating state of the printer such as receiving data, editing data, printing, etc., on the liquid crystal display (LCD) 8 of the operation panel 5, and the printer operator is informed of the printer operation. Of each operating state of. In addition, on the back surface of the liquid crystal display (LCD) 8, EL
Backlight 10 comprising a light emitting element or a fluorescent display tube
Is attached. Further, the printer control unit 3 is
The abnormality detecting means 3a detects various types of printer devices such as a data reception error from a host device, a print paper conveyance error (jam error), and a print head temperature error. When the printer controller 3 detects any abnormality (alarm) by the abnormality detector 3a, it notifies the CPU 6 of the operation panel 5 to that effect.

When the CPU 6 receives from the printer control unit 3 a signal indicating the occurrence of an alarm (step 1), the backlight 10 of the liquid crystal display unit 8 is controlled to blink. The blinking of the backlight 10 is controlled as follows. CPU
Reference numeral 6 instructs the backlight blinking control unit 14 to blink the backlight 10. The backlight blinking control unit 14 is a CPU
When the backlight blinking instruction from 6 is received, the backlight driving driver 11 is instructed to extinguish the backlight 12 in order to extinguish the lit backlight (step 2). Then, the backlight driving driver 11 is instructed to extinguish the backlight 10 and a timer (not shown) is started to measure the extinguishing time of the backlight. At this time, the CPU 6 sends an error message to display the content of the error on the liquid crystal display section 8 via the liquid crystal display driver 9 (step 3). When the timer finishes measuring the predetermined time, the timer notifies the backlight blinking control unit 14 of the time up. Note that this timer may count the system clock with a counter included in the CPU 6, or a dedicated timer may be provided in the backlight blinking control unit 14.

When the backlight blinking control unit 14 is notified of the time-up, it instructs the backlight driving driver 11 to turn on the backlight 10 and turns on the backlight 10 (step 4). Further, the backlight blinking control unit 14 instructs the backlight driving driver 11 to turn on the backlight 10 and activates the timer to measure the lighting time of the backlight. Then, when the timer finishes measuring the predetermined time, the timer notifies the backlight blinking control unit 14 of the time-up.

When the abnormality detected by the abnormality detecting means 3a is restored or canceled, the printer control section 3 notifies the CPU 6 to that effect, and when the CPU 6 receives the restoration or cancellation of the abnormality, the CPU 6 notifies the backlight blinking control section 14. Instruct to stop blinking. Therefore, the backlight blinking control unit 14
The backlight 10 repeats blinking with a fixed cycle by repeating steps 2 and 4 until it receives a signal instructing to stop blinking.

Next, by the backlight blinking control unit 14, when the backlight 10 repeats blinking with a constant cycle, the backlight blinking control unit 14 controls the CP.
A case where a signal for recovering or canceling an abnormality is received from U6 will be described. The backlight blinking control unit 14 uses the CP
When the end of blinking of the backlight 10 is instructed by the signal from U6 (step 5), the timer is not started and the backlight 10 is kept in the lighting state, and the display of the liquid crystal display section is displayed from the error message display to the printer. Is displayed (for example, a status display such as online / offline), and the display shifts to a normal status (step 6).

By controlling as described above, for example, an online operation is instructed by the switch 12, "online" is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 8 and the paper jam is detected when the backlight 10 is turned on. When an error occurs, the display message switches from “online” to “paper jam occurred”, and the backlight 10 blinks. Therefore, even when the operator is away from the printer, the entire display portion blinks, and the occurrence of an error can be easily known. When the operator knows that "paper jam has occurred" and the jammed paper is removed and the cause of the error is removed, the backlight 12 remains lit and the display changes to the "online" display that is the original status display of the printer. Switch.

In the above description, the backlight blinking control is performed when the printer status is displayed, that is, when the backlight 10 is lit, but nothing is displayed on the display unit. If there is no error, that is, if an error occurs when the backlight 10 is in the extinguished state, the backlight 10 is turned on, an error message is displayed, and then the backlight 10 blinks.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the backlight of the liquid crystal display section blinks while the error message is displayed, even if the operator is away from the printer,
Since the entire display section blinks, it is possible to easily know the occurrence of an error.

Further, unlike the conventional case, no special part such as a light emitting diode is required for displaying an error, so that a place for mounting a special part such as a light emitting diode is not necessary, and the device can be downsized. Play.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of backlight blinking control of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer 3a Abnormality Detection Section 8 Liquid Crystal Display Section 10 Backlight 14 Backlight Flashing Control Section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An alarm display device for an electronic device having a liquid crystal display device having a backlight function, comprising: an abnormality detecting means for detecting an abnormality of the electronic device; and a backlight of the liquid crystal display device according to an abnormality detection signal of the abnormality detecting means. An alarm display device comprising: a backlight blinking control means for controlling blinking of a light.