JPH057270A - Image communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately maintain clock informan by using a clock generated by a system clock generator as time reference and providing a means periodically correcting the clock information generated in a clock function part. CONSTITUTION:A clock information correcting function part 120 periodically correcting the clock information generated in a clock function part 130 backed up with the power source of an operation panel part 126 while using the clock generated by a system clock generator 116 as time reference, is provided on a main CPU (main control part) 100. The clock information correction operation is repeatedly performed all time as long as a device power source is ON, and the main CPU 100 (time information correcting function part 120) detects the error of the time information with the clock supplied by the system clock generator 116 used as the time reference and corrects it. In this case, it is not required to make the accuracy and stability of the clock used as the time reference in the clock function part 130 so excellent.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus having a structure in which an operation panel control section independent of the main control section is provided with a clock function, and clock information necessary for the main control section is provided from the operation panel control section. In particular, the present invention relates to correction of clock information generated by the operation panel control unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image communication device such as a facsimile device, communication is automatically executed at a designated date and time, communication date and time information is added to a transmitted image, and the communication status is managed according to the date and time. In addition, it requires clock information (generally time information and calendar information). A timepiece function unit for generating such timepiece information is usually provided on the main control circuit board of the apparatus and backed up by a battery.

However, a power source unit that generates a large amount of heat is often provided near the main control circuit board, and the heat generation affects the clock function unit, making it difficult to maintain the accuracy of the clock information. Should be displayed,
For this reason, a device configuration has been devised in which the clock function is transferred to the control unit of the operation panel that is separated from the power supply unit, and the main control unit acquires necessary clock information from the operation panel control unit. An example of the image communication apparatus having such a configuration is described in detail in the specification and drawings attached to the Japanese Patent Application No. 2-197334 filed by the present applicant.

[0004]

However, by moving the timepiece function to the operation panel control section, it is possible to reduce the influence of heat generation of the power supply section and the like, but it is not always possible to maintain the timepiece information with high accuracy. It was This is because the accuracy and stability of the clock used as the reference for clock information generation were insufficient.

Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem of the accuracy of the clock information by equipping the operation panel control unit with a clock generator of higher precision and high stability, and by backing up the power supply, but this is a considerable problem. There is another problem of increasing costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and maintains the clock information with high accuracy even if the accuracy and stability of the clock, which is the reference for generating the clock information in the operation panel control unit, is relatively low. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image communication device that can be used.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention uses a clock generated by a system clock generator included in an image communication apparatus as a time reference, and uses a clock function unit of an operation panel control unit. The main control unit is provided with a means for periodically correcting the clock information generated in (1).

[0008]

The image communication apparatus has a system clock generator for controlling the timing of the modem and the main control section.
This system clock generator has extremely high accuracy and stability, but it stops the operation at the time of power failure or power off of the device. Therefore, the clock of the clock function unit of the operation panel control unit is supplied from the system clock generator. It is not possible. The system clock generator has a large driving power, so if you try to back up the power supply, you will need a large capacity backup battery,
The cost increase is not very practical.

As described above, the present invention uses the highly accurate and highly stable clock generated by the system clock generator as the time reference by the clock information correcting means provided in the main control unit, and the operation panel control unit. By periodically correcting the clock information generated by the clock function unit, even if the accuracy and stability of the clock of the clock function unit is low, the clock is supplied to the clock function unit from the system clock generator with the power backup. The clock information can be maintained with high accuracy comparable to that when supplied. Further, the accuracy and stability of the clock of the clock function unit requiring the power supply backup may be relatively low, and the power supply backup of the system clock generator is not necessary. The clock information accuracy can be greatly improved without it.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The image communication apparatus described here is CCITT.
Facsimile communication is performed according to the recommended facsimile communication procedure, and the overall structure is as shown in FIG. That is, the original 302 set on the original table 300 is separated by the separator 304 and the paper feed roller 306.
The sheets are separated and fed one by one, and conveyed by passing between the image sensor 314 and the reading roller 316 by the conveying roller 308, the guide plate 310, and the discharging roller 312, and the image sensor 314 reads the image information of the document being conveyed. A pinch roller 324 from the reading mechanism unit 318 and the recording paper roll 322 in the recording paper holder 320.
The recording paper is fed by the discharge roller 326 and is conveyed via the thermal head 328 and the cutter 330.
A recording mechanism section 334 for recording image information such as a received document on a recording sheet with a thermal head 328 and cutting and discharging with a cutter 330 is provided in a central portion of the apparatus, and a main control circuit board 336 and a power source section 338 are provided at a lower portion of the apparatus. An operation panel unit 340 is provided on the upper surface side of the device.

The functional structure of the image communication apparatus is as shown in FIG. First, for the main control circuit board 336,
A circuit for performing control and processing for operation and communication of the entire device is mounted on this. The main components are a main CPU 100 that constitutes a main control unit, an I / O control unit 102 for input / output thereof, a ROM 104 that stores system programs and other fixed information, variable information such as transmission / reception data and communication management information. RAM 106 for storing, NCU (network control unit) 108 for controlling communication line L, modem 11 for modulating / demodulating transmitted / received signals
0, a code decoding unit 11 for coding or decoding image information
2, a reading / recording control unit 114 for controlling the reading mechanism unit 318 and the recording mechanism unit 334, a system clock generator 116 of high precision and high stability for supplying an operation clock to the modem 110 and the main CPU 100, and for backup. There is a battery 118. The battery 118 is floatingly charged by the power supply unit 338. The operating power for the other parts is supplied from the power supply unit 338. The stored contents of at least a part of the area in the RAM 106 are backed up by the battery 118 even when the power supply from the power supply unit 338 is cut off.

The main CPU 100, which is a main control unit, has a clock information correction function unit 1 in addition to its original control and processing functions.
Equipped with 20. In this embodiment, the main CPU
100 is a reference timer (internal counter or RAM1
Software timer that uses 06 specific area)
And the clock information correction program 122 stored in the ROM 104 realizes the clock information correction function unit by software.

The operation panel unit 340 includes an operation panel control unit 1 for controlling key operation input and panel display output.
26 is provided, which comprises a panel CPU 128 and a clock function unit 130. The clock function unit 130 generates clock information (time information + calendar information) based on an internally generated clock, and its power source is the battery 1
Backed up by 18. Therefore, even when a power failure or the power switch of the device is turned off, the clock function unit 1
The operation of 30 is maintained. The clock generated inside the clock function unit 130 is also used as the operation clock of the panel CPU 126. The clock function unit 130 may be realized as an internal circuit of the panel CPU 128. In this case, for the clock function unit 130, the battery 118
Must be able to back up.

The clock information generated by the clock function unit 130 is the operation panel unit 3 under the control of the panel CPU 128.
It is displayed on 40 display panels (not shown). In addition, from the main CPU 100 for a certain time (for example, 500 m
When the clock information transfer is requested to the panel CPU 128 at intervals of s), the clock information generated by the clock function unit 130 under the control of the panel CPU 128 is the main CPU 10.
0 and is temporarily stored in the internal register of the main CPU 100 or the RAM 106. Main CPU
100 uses this stored clock information for timer transmission and the like. Further, when information such as a key operation of the operation panel unit 340 is input from the panel CPU 128, the main CPU 100 accordingly responds to the operation information of the device, the state of the device, and R.
Panel CP for communication management information saved in AM106
Transfer to U128 and display on the display panel.

Since the operation related to the image communication of the present image communication apparatus is similar to that of the conventional apparatus of the same kind, the clock information correcting operation directly related to the gist of the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 2 is a flow chart of this clock information correction operation.

When the power switch of the apparatus is turned on, when the clock is set on the operation panel section 340, or when the apparatus is reset, the main CPU 100 causes the clock correction function section 12 to operate.
Start or restart 0. First, the main CPU 100
Sets a specific internal timer (called T1 timer, which operates based on the clock supplied from the system clock generator 116) to 100 ms, and every time this T1 timer counts 100 ms. (Every 100 ms elapses), a clock information transfer request command is transmitted to the panel CPU 128 to transmit the clock function unit 1
When the second value is 00, the process of receiving the clock information generated in 30 and determining whether the second value of the time of this clock information is 00 seconds is performed.
Repeat until seconds (S1, S2, S3). Second value is 0
When it reaches 0 seconds (S3, YES), the reference timer is restarted (S4). Up to this point, the preparation operation.

When this preparatory operation is completed, the operation after step S5 for actually correcting the clock information is started. T
When one timer counts 100 ms (S5, YE
S), the main CPU 100 transmits a clock information transfer request command to the panel CPU 128 and at the same time counts up the reference timer by 100 ms to determine whether the value of the reference timer has reached 1 minute (S6, S7, S8).
When the value of the reference timer matches 1 minute (S8, YE
S), the reference timer is restarted (S9), and when the value of the reference timer is less than 1 minute (S8, NO), the second of the clock information transferred from the panel CPU 128 is performed without restarting the reference timer. It is determined whether the value is 00 seconds (S10), and if the second value is not 00 seconds, the process returns to step S5.

When the second value of the clock information matches 00 seconds (S
10, YES), the main CPU 100 obtains the error of the time information of the clock information generated by the clock function unit 130, that is, the amount of delay / advance with reference to the reference timer (S1).
1). The delay or advance amount is indicated by the value of the reference timer at that time. Further, the distinction between the delay and the advance can be determined by, for example, referring to the flag information indicating whether or not the reference timer is restarted in step S9.

When the error of the time information is delayed by n seconds, the correction value + n seconds is set as a parameter, and when the error is advanced by n seconds, the correction value -n seconds is set as a parameter, and the time correction command is issued by the panel CPU.
Is issued (S12 to S15), the reference timer is restarted (S16), and the process returns to step S5. The panel CPU 128 which has received the time correction command executes the operation of increasing the time information of the clock information by the correction value designated by the parameter to the clock function unit 130, thereby advancing or returning the time information by the error amount.

The above clock information correction operation is always repeated as long as the power source of the apparatus is on. The main CPU 100 (clock information correction function unit 120) detects an error in the clock information with the clock supplied from the system clock generator 116 with high accuracy and high stability as a time reference, and corrects it. The accuracy can be maintained. Further, since it is not necessary to make the accuracy and stability of the clock used as the time reference in the clock function unit 130 so good, the clock generator is inexpensive and can be used in time. When the clock function unit 130 is realized as an internal circuit of the panel CPU 128, an inexpensive panel CPU 128 can be used.

The clock information correction operation shown in FIG.
It may be realized in the form of interrupt processing triggered by the 100 ms count of the T1 timer.

[0023]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the image communication device is provided for timing control of the modem and the main control unit by the clock information correction unit added to the main control unit of the image communication device. Since the clock generated by the highly accurate and highly stable system clock generator is used as the time reference, the clock information generated by the clock function unit of the operation panel control unit is periodically corrected, so that the cost is low. It is possible to obtain highly accurate clock information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a clock information correction operation in the image communication apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall structure of the image communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Main CPU (Main Control Unit) 102 I / O Control Unit 104 ROM 106 RAM 108 NCU 110 Modem 112 Code Decoder 114 Reading / Recording Control Unit 116 System Clock Generator 118 Backup Battery 120 Clock Information Correction Function Unit 122 Clock Information Correction program 126 Operation panel control unit 128 Panel CPU 130 Clock function unit 318 Reading mechanism unit 334 Recording mechanism unit 336 Main control circuit board 338 Power supply unit 340 Operation panel unit

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An operation panel control section for controlling an operation panel section, which is independent of a main control section for controlling the overall operation of the apparatus, and also generates a clock for the operation of the apparatus. An image communication device that has a system clock generator, and the operation panel control unit includes a clock function unit whose power is backed up, and the main control unit acquires clock information necessary for control from the clock function unit. An image communication, characterized in that the main control unit has means for periodically correcting clock information generated by the clock function unit by using a clock generated by the system clock generator as a time reference. apparatus.