JPH0784890A - Doubling system for control information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically restore control information in a short time by writing control information of a backup memory in a main memory when the control information is abnormal. CONSTITUTION:Once a printer device 1 is powered ON, a CPU 7 executes a check program in a ROM 5 to check control information in a RAM 3. If it is judged that there is an error in the control information in the RAM 3 as a result of the check, control information stored in an EEPROM 6 is overwritten in the area of a ROM 3 where the control information is written. In this case, the EEPROM 6 is stored with the latest backup data at the time of last actuation. Thus, the latest control information is stored in the EEPROM 6 at all times, so even if a noise is generated in the RAM 3 and its data are destroyed, or if a battery is dead and data are lost, the control information in the RAM 3 can easily be restored.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to protection of control information in a control device having a plurality of storage means, and more particularly to a control information duplication system optimal for automatically recovering control information required for the control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a general computer system, a system program is loaded from an internal ROM or an external storage device. At that time, the state of the system,
The system is started up while referring to the control information set according to the operating environment peculiar to the system, whereby the setting of the most suitable state for the system is realized.

As described above, since the control information has a very important meaning for the system, it is necessary to avoid the loss of the control information caused by an accident or a failure.

As an example of such a technique, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-262895, the setting information held in the RAM backed up by a battery can be electrically written when the battery is inspected.
A method is disclosed in which the setting data is surely preserved by saving it in the PROM.

[0005]

However, in such a data backup method, there is a problem that the inspection work must be notified in advance, and the data loss due to an unexpected accident or failure cannot be dealt with at all. In the event of such an accident or failure, a repair work by the operator is required to reset the computer system that has lost control information to the previous operating environment. In general, it took a lot of time and effort, and in some cases it could never be recovered.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to prevent loss of control information in the event of an accident, and to control the control information in which the operating environment and state of the system are set to a state before being destroyed by an accident or failure in a short time. Moreover, it is to provide a duplication method of control information that can be automatically restored.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, in a control device for controlling information equipment,
It has a main memory that holds control information for information equipment by a battery and a backup memory for the control information that is a non-volatile memory that does not require a battery. If it is normal, the control information is written in the backup memory, and if there is any abnormality in the control information in the above check, the control information in the backup memory is written in the main memory.

[0008]

When the control device is on standby, the main memory is constantly checked, and if the control information in the main memory is abnormal,
By transferring the control information stored in the backup memory to the main memory, it is not necessary to re-input the control information required by the operator when the control information is destroyed.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram when the present invention is applied to a printer device.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a printer device, 2 is a control unit for performing various controls in the printer device, and 3 is
It is a main storage unit (hereinafter referred to as RAM 3) that stores a control program and control information of the printer device and has a work area for work and is readable and writable at any time. 4 is RAM3
This is a battery power supply unit for holding the stored contents of the above. The battery power supply unit 4 does not lose the contents stored in the RAM 3 even when the power of the printer device is turned off.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a read-only storage unit (hereinafter referred to as ROM 5) that stores an initial setting program that checks each unit when the printer apparatus 1 starts up and makes it operable. EEPRO
A backup storage unit including a non-volatile storage element such as M that does not require a battery power supply unit (hereinafter,
EEPROM 6). Reference numeral 7 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU 7) that executes an execution process according to various programs.
Is.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a printing unit having a print head, a rubber roller and the like for performing a printing process, and 9 for inputting operation information of the printer device 1 and control information such as control change or environment setting. Is the input part of
It is a display unit for confirming the control information input from the input unit 9 and the current operation status. Reference numeral 11 denotes an interface unit for inputting / outputting data to / from the outside, which is connected to a host device of 13 by a connection cable of 12.

The printer device 1 receives the print data sent from the host device 13 and prints it.
It is also possible to change control information such as the setting of the operating environment of the printer device 1 from the host device 13.

The control information set from the input unit 9 or the higher-level device 13 is held in the RAM 3, the control program is modified based on this control information, and the printer device 1 is changed according to its use environment. Various settings are possible.

Further, the control information in the RAM 3 includes a printing section 8
The number of times of printing in is counted, and maintenance information such as the number of times of use of the print head and the rubber roller obtained by the counting is also stored, and the replacement time of the head and the rubber roller is managed by this.

As described above, since the control information is very important for the printer device 1, the RAM 3 is always held by the battery power source 4 so that the RAM 3 is not easily lost. Even if you turn it off, the data will not be lost. However, this alone cannot prevent the loss of control information due to noise or the battery power of the battery power source 4 running out. Therefore, in the present invention, the EEPROM 6 that does not require a battery is used as a backup memory to further improve safety. I am raising.

Next, the operation relating to the control information in the printer unit 1, particularly in the control unit 2, will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the printer device 1 is powered on, R
The CPU 7 executes the check program stored in the OM 5 to check the control information stored in the RAM 3 (step 201). The check program may be, for example, a checksum method or a parity check method with the same effect. And as a result of checking, RA
When it is determined that the control information of M3 has an error (step 202), the control information stored in the EEPROM 6 is overwritten in the area of the RAM 3 where the control information is written (step 203). In this case, the EEPROM
6 stores the last backup data at the time of the previous startup.

If there is no abnormality in the control information in RAM 3, C
The PU 7 executes the initialization program of the ROM 5 and puts the printing apparatus 1 in a standby state.

In this standby state, if no print instruction is issued from the host device 13 and no input operation is performed on the input unit 9, the idle time of the CPU 7 is used (step 204) to check the control information of the RAM 3 as needed. (Step 205). If the control information in the RAM 3 is abnormal, it is determined that the control information is destroyed (step 206), and the control information stored in the EEPROM 6 is overwritten in the area in which the control information in the RAM 3 is written. However, if there is no abnormality in the control information of the RAM 3 (step 207), the control information is set to EEPR.
Store in OM6 (step 208). In this way, the free time of the CPU 7 is used to repeat the check and backup of the control information.

Since the latest control information is always stored in the EEPROM 6, even if the data is destroyed due to noise in the RAM 3 or the data is lost due to battery exhaustion, the control information in the RAM 3 can be easily stored. Can be restored.

In the above embodiment, the EEPROM is used as the memory for backing up the control information, but it goes without saying that this may be another rewritable nonvolatile memory.

As a second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of non-volatile memories such as an EEPROM 6 are prepared in the control unit 2, and different control information is stored for each user and each usage environment. In this way, by switching the control information so as to properly use a plurality of operating environments, for example, different environments can be used by one device for each user. The same applies when one non-volatile memory is divided into a plurality of areas by addresses.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the control information stored in the rewritable non-volatile memory is operated by the program referring to the control information, and the control information is destroyed when the power is turned on. If the control information is not destroyed (hereinafter referred to as area A), the program can refer to it during normal processing (hereinafter referred to as area B).
When the control information in the area B is destroyed for some reason, the control information is automatically transferred from the area A to the area B. As a result, the startup time at the time of memory destruction is shortened, which has a great effect on the improvement of processing capacity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration form of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process flowchart after turning on the power of the device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer device 2 Control part 3 RAM 4 Battery power supply part 5 ROM 6 EEPROM 7 CPU 8 Printing part 9 Input part 10 Display part 11 Interface part 12 Connection cable 13 Upper device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control device for controlling information equipment, comprising: a main memory in which control information for the information equipment is held by a battery; and a backup memory for the control information, which is a non-volatile memory that does not require a battery. Check the control information of the main memory during standby, and if the data is normal, write the control information to the backup memory, and if there is any abnormality in the control information in the above check, control information of the backup memory A control information duplication method characterized by writing data to the main memory.