JPH077598A - Facsimile equipment with printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily support a special mode at the time of initialization by starting a printer controller after it becomes possible to fetch button data by a facsimile engine. CONSTITUTION:Power source supply to the printer controller 3 is controlled through a repeating board 2 to delay the start until it becomes possible to fetch the button data by the facsimile engine 1. Further, when the handshaking between the facsimile engine 1 and repeating board 2 falls into disorder, the repeating board 2 and printer controller 3 are initialized with a software reset command or by CPU resetting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to a facsimile machine with a printer which can be connected to a printer having a different start timing via a relay board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system in which the startup of the facsimile engine and the printer controller is different, if the startup of the facsimile engine is slow, the data of the button (operation port) of the facsimile engine cannot be taken in when the power of the printer controller is turned on, and the initial May not support special modes. On the other hand, as the demand for personal systems including facsimiles and printers increases, multifunctional devices (for example, facsimiles and telephones) are required. This helps to reduce the installation space of the system.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, there are cases where the data of the button cannot be fetched because the start-up of the facsimile engine is slow. An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to start the printer controller after the facsimile engine and printer controller are connected by a relay board and button data can be taken in by the facsimile engine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a facsimile machine with a printer capable of easily supporting a special mode of time. Another object is to prevent the handshake between the relay board and the facsimile engine from being disabled.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the facsimile machine with a printer of the present invention is configured so that the printer controller is started up after the initialization at the startup of the facsimile engine is completed. To control the power supply of the
It is characterized by having a U function and an operation port function of a facsimile engine. In addition, a relay board that connects the printer and the facsimile apparatus, a means (CPU (CPU) for analyzing display data (LCD data, LED data) from the printer controller) and sending it to the facsimile engine.
The facsimile engine is characterized in that it is provided with means (operation port function) for transmitting a reset command by software when display data from the relay board is not accepted for a certain period. Further, if the display data is not accepted for a certain period even if the reset command by software is sent, it is confirmed that the image information is not output to the plotter of the facsimile engine, and then the CPU is reset to the relay board. It is characterized by having a means for operating (operation port function).

[0005]

In the present invention, the power supply to the printer controller is controlled by the relay board so that the button of the facsimile engine can be taken in, and then the power of the printer controller is turned on to take in the button data and set the internal setting. change. This makes it possible to support the mode at the time of initialization even when a printer having a different start-up is connected. If an error occurs in the transfer function of LCD data and LED data on the relay board, a software reset command is sent, and if the reset command does not return, CPU reset is performed to set the relay board and printer controller. By initializing, it is possible to avoid being unable to handshake with the operation port.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus with a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a facsimile engine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a printer controller according to an embodiment of the present invention. Is. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a facsimile engine, 3 is a printer controller, 4 is a personal computer (PC) for instructing a printer to print normally, and 2 is a relay board for connecting the facsimile engine and the printer controller. CPU21 on board 2
It has a DC / DC gonverter 22, a dual port RAM (not shown) and the like. This facsimile engine 1
As shown in FIG. 2, a plotter unit 14 that exchanges control signals with the printer controller 3 and receives image information in synchronization with the control signals, a memory (SAF) 12 for temporarily storing image information, and image information Plotter unit 1 to output
4, a scanner unit 13 for reading image information, a compression / playback unit 16 for compressing image information to be stored / transmitted and playing back the received compressed image information, a RAM 15 for storing data necessary for control of the CPU 19, a network It has an NCU 17 and a modem 18 for controlling communication with the device, a CPU 19 for controlling the entire device, and a power supply 20. The operation port 1
1 includes an operation unit for performing various controls and a relay board 2
A display device (LCD, which displays data indicating the state of the printer controller 3 set from the outside) from
LED). Further, the printer controller 3 is
As shown in FIG. 3, a RAM 31 for storing setting information and status information of the printer controller, a CPU 32 for controlling the entire apparatus, a serial / parallel conversion unit (S / P) for serial / parallel converting image information and transmitting the image information. ) 3
3. Page memory 3 that stores print data in page units
4. It has an interface with the personal computer 4 (Centronics interface unit 35, RS232C interface unit 36). The operation port information includes LCD data and LED data sent from the printer controller 3 to the facsimile engine 1, and button data sent from the facsimile engine 1 to the printer controller 3.

Next, the operation of each part of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the CPU 1 of the facsimile engine 1
A system control unit 9 exchanges control signals with the printer controller 3 and receives image information in synchronization with the control signals. The image information and the control signal are sent to the facsimile engine 1 or the printer controller 3 as they are without being controlled by the relay board 2. Further, the relay board 2 controls the power supply to the printer controller 3. That is, 2 of the facsimile engine 1
4V is 5V by the DC / DC converter 22 of the relay board 2
And supply. Therefore, the facility engine 1 can recognize whether the printer controller 3 is supplied with power through the relay board 2. Further, in the relay board 2, when exchanging the operation port information between the printer controller 3 and the facsimile engine 1, the CPU 21 processes and creates the operation port information. The handshake between the facsimile engine 1 and the relay board 2 is performed using a dual port RAM (not shown). In this embodiment, the person who has the transmission right between the facsimile engine 1 and the relay board 2 transmits the data, and the person who does not have the transmission right receives the data depending on whether or not the last data is written. In this case, it is possible to write from before "write start" and after "read end" shown in FIG. 4, and a person who does not have a transmission right from "write end" to "data read start" Can read the data.

In particular, in this embodiment, the CPU reset can be applied to the relay board 2 from the facsimile engine 1. As shown in FIG. 5, the facsimile engine 1 monitors whether or not LED data and LCD data (printer status setting data, etc.) come from the relay board 2 for a certain period of time (steps 501 to 503), and the data is confirmed. If not, the software reset command is forcibly sent in the handshake state (steps 504 and 50).
5,511). If the handshake cannot be performed, the transmission / reception command of the software is sent after the transmission / reception of the handshake is once tried. Furthermore, if the handshake does not recover after monitoring for a certain period of time (step 50
3 to 506), after checking the image information and the control signal and confirming that the image information is not currently output (step 5).
07), reset the CPU 21 of the relay board 2 (steps 508 and 509). This is because resetting cuts off the supply of 5V to the printer controller 3 and invalidates the image information being output.

According to the present embodiment, even when the rising timings of the facsimile engine 1 and the printer controller 3 are different, the internal settings can be changed when the power of the printer controller 3 is turned on and the button data of the operation port 11 can be taken in. The print controller 3 can be started up. Also, LED data, LCD
As a fail-safe in the case where the handshake is disabled due to a failure of the data transfer unit, a software reset command or CPU reset is performed, so that the handshake can be avoided.

[0010]

According to the present invention, even if the initialization times at the time of power-on of the facsimile engine and the printer controller are different, the power supply to the print controller is controlled via the relay board, and the facsimile engine operates the button. By delaying startup until it can be captured, it is possible to support the mode at the time of initial.
Further, even if the handshake between the facsimile engine and the relay board becomes unsuccessful, the relay board and the printer controller can be initialized and restored to normal by applying the software reset command or the CPU reset.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a facsimile machine with a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a facsimile engine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a printer controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a dual port RA according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a timing chart which shows the handshake of M.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a reset operation in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Facsimile Engine 2 Relay Board 3 Printer Controller 4 Personal Computer 11 Opport Portion 12 SAF 13 Scanner Section 14 Plotter Section 15 RAM 16 Compression / Playback Section 17 NCU 18 Modem 19 CPU 20 Power Supply 21 CPU 22 DC / DC Converter 31 RAM 32 CPU 33 Serial / parallel converter 34 Page memory 35 Centronics interface unit 36 RS232C interface unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a facsimile apparatus connected to a printer via a relay board, power supply to the printer controller is controlled so that the printer controller is started after initialization of the facsimile engine at startup is completed. A facsimile machine with a printer, characterized in that the facsimile machine is provided with: 2. A facsimile apparatus connected to a printer via a relay board, wherein the relay board is provided with means for analyzing display data from a printer controller and sending the display data to a facsimile engine. A facsimile machine with a printer, comprising means for transmitting a reset command by software when display data from the relay board is not accepted for a certain period. 3. When the reset command by the software is sent and the display data is not accepted for a certain period, it is confirmed that the image information is not output to the plotter of the facsimile engine, and then the relay board is sent. CP
A facsimile machine with a printer, which is provided with a means for resetting U.