JPS6247722A - Starting method for terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the abnormal operations by setting a flag into a memory and writing a specific pattern in response to said flag when a service interruption occurs. CONSTITUTION:A terminal equipment is constituted of a CPU 1, the 1st and 2nd memories 2 and 3, a battery 4, a floppy disk 5, an input port 6, a switch 7 and a display device 10. Here a flag is set to the memory 2 and the memory 3 includes the 1st and 2nd areas 8 and 9. When the terminal equipment has a service interruption, a CPU 1 detects this interruption and writes the patterns III and II to the area 8 of the memory 3 backed up by the battery 4 when the value of the flag in the memory 2 is equal to '0' and '1' respectively. The flag of the memory 2 is kept at '1' in a working mode. Furthermore the ON/OFF state of a switch 7 is detected when the application of the power supply is started. Then a pattern I is written to the area 8 when the switch 7 is kept off. If these patterns I-III are not detected, the voltage drop of the battery 4 is displayed 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method for activating terminals such as PO8 terminals used in general retail stores 4 and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Generally, when a POS terminal or the like is turned on and operated, it is not possible to unambiguously decide how to operate the terminal. That is, various conditions must be considered, such as whether the startup was due to a power outage during data processing last time, whether it was started the next day after all the previous day's work was completed, or whether it was started when the terminal was installed.

Conventionally, as a means of dealing with the above, a memory backed up by a battery is provided, a 1-bit power failure flag is provided in the memory, and 1'' is written to the flag only when there is a power failure during data processing. A separate switch was provided so that when the power was turned on, if the switch was on, the flag was cleared and 0'' was written. In this way, if you press the startup switch when installing the terminal and turn on the power,
The flag is forcibly set to 0'' to perform normal operation, and from then on, when the power is turned on, the content of the flag is referenced and the
If it was 0'', normal operation was performed, and if it was 1'', power outage processing was performed. As a power outage process, the data being processed is stored in area A in a battery-backed memory, and if the flag is "1" when the power is turned on, the contents of area A are stored in a non-volatile memory, e.g. Such a process of writing to a floppy disk has been conventionally used.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, if the content of the flag is for some reason, for example, the battery is exhausted, the flag may be set to "1" even though there is no power outage.In this case, power outage processing is performed. The contents of the area A are unconditionally written to the floppy disk, but
In this case, there is no guarantee that there will be correct data in area A; rather, since the battery has run out, incorrect and erroneous data will be written to the floppy disk, and correct operation cannot be guaranteed.

Also, it is not possible to determine whether the startup occurred after all operations were completed normally except for a power outage, or whether it started when the terminal was installed.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention includes a memory backed up by a battery, a circuit section including a microprocessor, a switch, and a power failure detection means, and also has a flag in the memory, so that when a power failure occurs, the above-mentioned If the flag is “1”, a specific pattern ■ is written in the predetermined area ■ in the memory, and if the flag is “0#”, the pattern ■ is written in the predetermined area,
When the power is turned on and the operation starts, the on/off state of the switch is detected, and if it is on, a pattern ■ is written in the predetermined area, and if it is off, the pattern is checked in the predetermined area, thereby determining the initial operating state of the terminal. It is intended to help determine the

There are two main types of power outage situations at operating terminals: cases in which the operator turns off the power after finishing work on -day in preparation for the next day's operations, and cases in which a power outage occurs during work. There is. Therefore, we have a flag in the memory, and if the value of the flag is 0, then the work is finished, if it is 1#, the work is in progress, and when a power outage occurs, we look at the flag value and if it is 0#, it means that the work is in progress. Write the pattern ■ into the specified area of the backed up memory. If it is "1", write the pattern ■ which is different from pattern I.Next, when the operation starts immediately after the power is turned on, the operation of the terminal is as follows. There are two actions depending on whether it is the first operation immediately after installation or startup after a power outage.To make this determination, if the switch installed on the terminal is on immediately after power is turned on, the operation after installation is , write specific pattern I in the predetermined area.If the switch is not on, check the contents of the predetermined area.If pattern ①, it is determined that the power has started up after a previous power outage during work, and necessary measures are taken. If it is pattern ■, it can be determined that the previous work has been completed completely, and the operation will be performed accordingly.If it is any other pattern, it means that some abnormality has occurred in the terminal.

In this way, control at the time of startup is performed.

Examples Specific examples of the present invention will be described below. 1st
In the figure, when a power outage occurs in the terminal, a power outage detection circuit operates and the CPU 1 knows that a power outage has occurred. The power failure detection circuit itself is well known, and when a power failure is detected, it refers to the value of the flag in the first memory 2, and if it is 10'', the first area in the second memory 3 backed up by the battery 4 is detected. 8 (8 bytes in this case), write the pattern ■ shown in Figure 4. If the value of the flag is "1", write the pattern ■ shown in Figure 4. The time for this writing is As shown in Figure 3, after a power outage occurs, the time T (generally 10 to 2 ohms) from when the power outage detection output is output until the DC power supply that operates the CPU, memory, etc. drops is sufficient to process the flag. As mentioned in the previous section, the value is '1' if the work is in progress, and '0' if the work is finished.
″.Also, when writing the pattern ■ above,
Due to a power outage during work, I have 6 floppy disks.
A power outage may occur during data writing. Therefore, in this case, before writing data to the floppy disk 5, the data is written to a second area 9 in the second memory 3, which is different from the first area 8.

Next, when the power is turned on to start operation, if the operation is on, it is determined that this is the first operation after installation of the terminal, and pattern I is written in the first area 8 of the second memory 3.

After that, it transitions to normal operation. If it is determined that the switch 7 is off, the CPU 1 checks the pattern in the first area 8.

If it is pattern 2, it can be determined that the work in the previous power outage has been completely completed, and control will shift to a predetermined operation.

If it is pattern ■, the last power outage was during business hours. At this time, the value in the second area 9 of the second memory 3 is written to the floppy disk 5, and then normal operation is started.

If it is pattern (■), the power failure detection circuit determines that it is defective and displays it. If the pattern is not one of patterns I, II, and III, it is presumed that the malfunction is due to a voltage drop in the battery 4. For this reason, the display section 10 displays, for example, a "battery check" message.
7 display and stop operating the terminal. The above operations are stored as a program in the first memory 2, and control is transferred as shown in FIG.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention provides the following effects.

1. Even if the battery voltage drops abnormally during periods when the terminal is not in use, for example at night, this can be detected when the terminal is turned on, so abnormal operation can be prevented.

2 A more complete power outage handling system can be realized with simple means.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a program configuration diagram of a terminal device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing main signal waveforms of the terminal, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing patterns written in the memory of the terminal. 1... CPU, 2... First memory, 3
...Second memory, 4...Battery, 5...
...Floppy disk, 7°゛゛°° switch,
8...First area, 9...Second area Q Name of agent Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person 1st
Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A battery, a memory backed up by the battery, a circuit section including a microprocessor, a switch, a power outage detection means, and a flag in the memory, so that when a power outage occurs, a memory in the memory backed up by the battery is provided. It is configured to write a specific pattern in a predetermined area according to the value of the flag, and when the operation starts, detects the on/off state of the switch, and if it is on, writes a pattern different from the specific pattern in the predetermined area; If it is off, a pattern check is performed in the predetermined area and the operation of the terminal is determined based on the result.