JPH0589014A - Terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select the communication retry processing or offline processing of processing data turned to error with simple operations when the communication error is generated. CONSTITUTION:When the key input of a clear key is executed at the time communication error is generated in an online mode, the error state is canceled, and the retransmission of the processing data turned to the error is controlled. On the other hand, when the key input of an offline key is executed, the error state is canceled, a communication channel is electrically disconnected, and the mode is automatically switched to an offline mode.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal having a function of transmitting processing data to an external device connected via a communication line, such as a POS (point of sale information management) terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a POS terminal is connected to a host computer via a communication line, and in a normal online mode, it sends the registered product sales data and the like to the host computer in a timely manner. When a communication error occurs during the data communication with the host computer, an error message is displayed and an alarm sound is generated to notify the error. In this state, only the clear key can be input, and when the clear key is pressed, the error notification is stopped and the job in error is cancelled.

If the cause of the communication error is due to a failure of the host computer or the like and recovery is impossible in a short time, the offline mode is selected. By doing so, the communication line is electrically disconnected, and transmission data such as product sales data generated thereafter is stored in the hard disk device. The data thus accumulated in the hard disk device is transmitted to the host computer after the communication line is restored, and is reflected in the data of the host computer.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional terminal of this type, when the communication error occurs, only the clear key can be input, and when the clear key is pressed, the job in error is canceled. Was there. For this reason, since the processed data is lost after the clear key is input, it has been troublesome to restart the operation of the canceled job from the beginning.

In particular, when it is difficult to recover from a communication error for a short period of time and it is necessary to switch to offline processing, it is necessary to input a clear key and then switch to a setting operation to select an offline mode, resulting in poor operability. ..

Therefore, the present invention provides a terminal device capable of selecting communication retry processing or offline processing of processing data in error when a communication error occurs by a simple operation, and improving operability when a communication error occurs. It is what

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a terminal having a function of transmitting processing data to an external device connected via a communication line, a first error canceling command for canceling a communication error is provided. A key and a second error release key, a communication error notifying means for notifying an error when a communication error occurs during processing data communication with an external device, and a first error when the notifying means notifies the communication error. When the release key is keyed, the error notification is stopped and the retry processing means for retransmitting the processing data to the external device, and the second error release key is pressed when the communication error is notified by the notification means. When an input is made, it is equipped with an offline processing means for stopping the error notification and disconnecting the line to switch to offline processing. .

[0008]

According to the present invention having such a configuration, an error is notified when a communication error occurs during processing data communication with an external device. When the first error cancel key is pressed in this state, the error notification is stopped and the processing data in error is retransmitted to the external device. on the other hand,
When the second error release key is pressed, the error notification is stopped, the line is disconnected, and the process is switched to offline processing.

Therefore, when the cause of the communication error is considered to be recoverable for a short time, the first error cancel key is keyed in to retransmit the processed data. On the other hand, when the cause of the communication error is considered to be unrecoverable for a short time, the second error cancel key is keyed in to switch to the off-line processing.
Both cases can be handled with simple key input operation, and the operability is excellent.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a POS terminal will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a POS terminal, in which 1 is a CPU constituting a control unit main body.
(Central processing unit). Then, a ROM (read only memory) 3 in which program data for the CPU 1 to control each unit is stored in the CPU 1 via a bus line 2 and data to be processed by the CPU 1 are temporarily stored. R with various memory areas for
AM (random access memory) 4, keyboard 5
A keyboard controller 6 to which a key signal is input from
A display controller 8 that drives and controls a display device 7 to display characters and the like corresponding to display data, a printer controller 10 that drives and controls a printer 9 that performs receipt printing, and the like.
LAN (Local Area Network), HDLC
(High-level data link control) Communication interface 11 for controlling data communication performed with a host computer connected via a communication line such as a line, hard disk device for storing communication process data by offline processing An HDD (hard disk) interface 13 that controls writing and reading of data, a clock circuit 14 that counts the date and time, and an I / O port 15 are connected to the device 12.

A signal from a mode switch 16 for selecting various business modes such as "registration", "inspection", "payment" and "setting" is input to the I / O port 15. Further, under the control of the CPU 1, a signal for opening the drawer 17 for storing cash and the like and a signal for driving the buzzer 18 are output.

As shown in FIG. 2, the keyboard 5 has a numeral key 5a for inputting numerical data, and a plurality of department keys 5 preset with department codes for classifying each product.
b, a product registration key such as a PLU key 5c for inputting a PLU (price look up) code, a current total key 5d for declaring registration closing due to cash payment, and an instruction for clearing numerical data and error cancellation Clear key 5e
Various function keys such as a (first error cancel key) and an offline key (second error cancel key) for instructing an offline mode are provided.

The display 7 is provided with a large screen of CRT or liquid crystal, and displays a sales registration screen as shown in FIG. 3 in the "registration" mode. Incidentally, "online" 7a in FIG. 3 is a message indicating that the communication state with the host computer connected to the communication interface 11 via the communication line is the electrically connected online state. Also"*
“Communicating *” is a message indicating that data communication work with the host computer is being executed.

When it is time to send the processed data to the host computer, the CPU 1
The program is set to execute the processing shown in FIG. That is, the communication interface 11 is controlled to transmit the communication processing data to the host computer via the communication line.

When a communication error occurs during this communication processing, the buzzer 18 sounds an error sound and causes the display 7 to display an error message. (Communication error notification means)

In this state, the clear key 5e and the off-line key 5f of the keyboard 5 are permitted to be input. When the clear key 5e is pressed, the buzzer 1
The error message of 8 is stopped and the error message on the display 7 is cleared. Thereafter, the communication interface 11 is controlled to retransmit the processing data in error to the host computer. (Retry processing means)

On the other hand, when the off-line key 5f is pressed, the buzzer 18 also stops sounding an error sound and clears the error message on the display 7. Then, the communication line connected to the communication interface 11 is electrically disconnected, and the mode is automatically switched to the offline mode to continue the processing. (Offline Processing Means) When no communication error occurs in the communication processing, the processing is continued in the online mode.

In the present embodiment having such a configuration, normally, when a sale product is registered by key input in the "registration" mode, the sale data of the sale product is controlled by the communication interface 11 and sent to the host via the communication line. Sent to the computer. At this time, the display screen of the display 7 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, a message “online” 7a indicating that the online mode is in effect and a message “* in communication” 7b indicating that data is being transmitted are displayed.

When a communication error occurs during this communication processing, an error sound is emitted by the buzzer 18 and an error message "* Communication error occurred" 7c is displayed on the display screen of the display 7 as shown in FIG. 5 (a). Is displayed.

Therefore, the operator first considers that the communication error can be recovered in a short time due to the noise on the line or the like, and inputs the clear key 5e. Then, the error sound stops and the error message display disappears. Further, the processed data in error is retransmitted without being lost. When the processing data is normally transmitted to the host computer by this retransmission, the processing in the online mode is continued.

On the other hand, if a communication error occurs even during retransmission, the operator considers the communication error to be unrecoverable in a short time due to a failure of the host computer or the like, and inputs the offline key 2f. Then, the error sound stops and the error message display disappears. In addition, the communication line is electrically disconnected and automatically switches to the offline mode. Then, the processed data in error is written in the hard disk device 12. At this time, a message "offline" 7d indicating the offline mode is displayed on the display screen of the display 7 as shown in FIG. 5 (b).

After that, the processing is continued in the off-line mode, and the communication processing data is sequentially transferred to the hard disk device 12.
Accumulated in. The data accumulated in the hard disk device 12 in this way is transmitted to the host computer after the line is restored and is reflected in the data before the line is disconnected.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when a communication error occurs during data communication with the host computer, the clear key 5e is pressed to cancel the error state and retransmit the processing data. Done. Therefore, since the processed data having the communication error is retransmitted without being lost, a troublesome re-operation for data retransmission is unnecessary.

Further, when a communication error occurs, by pressing the offline key 2f, the error state is released, the communication line is disconnected, and the mode is automatically switched to the offline mode. Therefore, a complicated operation for selecting the off-line mode is not required, and the off-line processing can be started in a short time.

The present invention is not limited to the POS terminal, but can be applied to all terminals having a function of transmitting processing data to an external device connected via a communication line.

[0027]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when a communication error occurs, it is possible to select communication retry processing or off-line processing of processing data having an error by a simple operation, and to improve operability when a communication error occurs. A terminal device that can be improved can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a POS terminal that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a key arrangement of a keyboard in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an online mode display screen of the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the main processing of the CPU in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when a communication error occurs in the display and when the offline mode is switched in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 5e ... Clear key (first error cancel key), 5f ... Offline key (second error cancel key), 7 ... Display, 11 ... Communication interface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A terminal having a function of transmitting processing data to an external device connected via a communication line, wherein a first error cancel key and a second error cancel key for instructing cancellation of a communication error, respectively. And a communication error notifying means for notifying an error when a communication error occurs during processing data communication with the external device, and the first error release key is keyed in when the communication error is notified by the notifying means. And a retry processing means for stopping the error notification and retransmitting the processing data to the external device, and the second error cancel key is keyed in when a communication error is notified by the notification means. ,
An offline processing means for stopping the error notification and disconnecting the line to switch to offline processing.