JP2018098608A - Information processing apparatus, control method thereof, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism for suppressing detection of an unnecessary event as much as possible without failing to generate and eliminate a necessary event. Upon receiving an event occurrence notification from a peripheral device, the information processing apparatus stores the event in a storage device. At this time, the information processing device discards the occurrence notification, which is an event that has already been stored and has not been resolved, and that multiple events will be recorded. Further, when the information processing apparatus receives the event cancellation notification from the peripheral device, if the event of the received cancellation notification is an event stored in the storage device and is not a predetermined event, the event The resolution is stored in the storage device. On the other hand, if the event is a predetermined event, the cancellation notification is discarded. [Selection diagram]

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that controls an event that occurs due to a change in the state of an installed device, a control method thereof, and a program.

  Information processing apparatuses such as personal computers provide functions to users in cooperation with various devices connected physically or via a network. Examples of connected devices include input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and touch panel, and output devices such as a display, a printer, and a speaker. In recent years, not only personal computers but also IoT (Internet of Things), in which many devices are connected to each other and cooperated to provide services, has attracted attention. With the spread of IoT, home appliances such as air conditioners and lighting fixtures are also subject to cooperation, and cooperation between devices is expected to become increasingly important in the future, and information sent and received will also increase.

  Incidentally, also in an image forming apparatus represented by an MFP, a controller control unit is connected to a printer or a scanner and cooperates to provide many functions such as copying, scanning, and FAX. Parts and consumables constituting these devices may not function normally due to failure or deterioration over time. In this case, the linked information processing apparatus cannot normally provide functions to the user. For this reason, it is necessary to take measures such as receiving an event notification from a device that has detected an abnormality, displaying a message for prompting replacement, or operating in a degraded manner for continued use. For example, regarding the replacement, it is conceivable to notify the user by turning on an LED or displaying the display, or by sending information to a server via a network and notifying a service person. As for the degeneration operation, for example, in the case of an MFP, when the scanner cannot operate, there is a method of disabling the scan function for copying or FAX transmission and enabling only the print function such as printing from a personal computer or FAX reception. .

  Also, some information processing devices store the contents of events as occurrence histories when parts or consumable failures are detected, and store them as event resolution histories when replacement or replenishment maintenance is completed. There is also. These histories are used by the user or service person to determine the maintenance time or the tendency of the apparatus. However, while an event notification from a device that has detected an abnormality improves the convenience of the user by enabling quick maintenance, for example, there are cases in which an abnormality is detected and an event is notified each time the power is turned on. Yes. In other words, excessive notification to the user leads to erroneous ordering of parts and consumables, and increases the load on the network and server.

  In order to solve this problem, for example, in Patent Document 1, control is performed so as not to repeatedly notify the user of an event for replacing a consumable item or a life component of the printing apparatus. This prevents a user from being repeatedly notified of an unsolved event when the occurrence of the event is repeatedly detected.

JP 2009-80629 A

  However, the above prior art has the following problems. For example, there is a case where an event is generated and canceled in a short time while each device needs to monitor various state changes. For example, when the temperature is monitored using an environmental sensor, the occurrence of an event is detected when the temperature exceeds a threshold, and the occurrence of the event is detected when the temperature falls below the threshold. At this time, if the measurement result of the environmental sensor goes back and forth between the event detection thresholds, the occurrence and cancellation of the event are repeatedly detected. As a result, the storage area of the event history becomes tight, and a load on the network or server increases due to a large number of event notifications. In addition, when each device does not detect multiple event occurrences, it is necessary to realize a unified detection method for all devices, and it becomes difficult to maintain consistency in system operation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that suppresses detection of unnecessary events as much as possible without losing the occurrence and cancellation of necessary events.

  The present invention is an information processing apparatus, for example, a receiving unit that receives an event occurrence notification or a cancellation notification from a peripheral device, and when the event occurrence notification is received by the receiving unit, the event is stored in the storage unit. When an event cancellation notification is received by the event registration means to be stored and the reception means, the received cancellation notification event is an event stored in the storage means and is not a predetermined event, An event canceling unit for storing the cancellation of the event in the storage unit.

  According to the present invention, detection of an unnecessary event can be suppressed as much as possible without losing the occurrence and cancellation of the required event.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the event history information which concerns on one Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the cancellation | release exclusion target event list which concerns on one Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of receiving the event generation | occurrence | production notification which concerns on one Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of receiving the event cancellation notification which concerns on one Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. .

<Schematic configuration of image forming apparatus>
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, an image forming apparatus 1 will be described as an example of an information processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. First, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanner (image reading device) 2, a controller (information processing apparatus) 3, a printer (image forming device) 4, an image processing unit (image processing device) 5, a power supply device 6, an operation unit 8, and a LAN 9. , And a switch 30. Note that the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described as one apparatus including the above-described devices, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the controller 3 that is an information processing apparatus may be connected to an image reading device, an image forming device, an image processing device, and a storage device such as a hard disk 14 to be described later as peripheral devices.

  The scanner 2 is an engine that optically reads an image from a document and converts it into a digital image. The scanner 2 includes a document feeding unit 11 that can automatically and sequentially replace a bundle of documents, and a scanner unit 12 that can optically scan a document and convert it into a digital image. The image data converted by the scanner unit 12 is transmitted to the controller 3.

  The printer 4 is an engine that outputs a digital image to a sheet (recording medium). The printer 4 includes a marking unit 16, a paper discharge unit 17, a paper supply unit 18, a printer controller 50, a temperature sensor 51, and a finisher unit 500. The sheet feeding unit 18 can sequentially feed sheets one by one from the sheet bundle. The marking unit 16 is an image forming unit for printing image data on a fed sheet. The paper discharge unit 17 discharges the printed sheet outside the apparatus. The finisher unit 500 performs post-processing on the discharged sheet. The printer controller 50 monitors the temperature inside the printer 4 with the temperature sensor 51, and when each temperature exceeds a certain temperature, the unit urgently stops each unit and transmits emergency stop information to the controller 3.

  The controller 3 issues an instruction to each connected module, and comprehensively controls the image forming apparatus 1 to execute a job. The controller 3 includes a CPU 13, a hard disk (storage device) 14, a memory 15, an SRAM 40, and a ROM 160. The hard disk 14 stores digital images, control programs, and the like. The SRAM 40 is a non-volatile memory and continuously holds user settings and the like even when the power is controlled to be turned off. The ROM 160 stores a program executed by the CPU 13 of the controller 3. Similar to the SRAM 40, it can be used for the purpose of holding the set value. The image forming apparatus 1 can perform digital image input / output, job issuance, device instruction, and the like from the computer 10 via the LAN 9.

  The controller 3 has a CPU 13 and transmits / receives and stores image data with the scanner 2 and the printer 4. That is, the controller 3 temporarily stores the image data received from the scanner 2 in the memory 15. Thereafter, the image data is stored in the hard disk 14 to complete scanning and saving of the image. The controller 3 can temporarily store the image data from the hard disk 14 in the memory 15 and transmit the image data from the memory 15 to the printer 4 to perform print output.

  The image processing unit 5 includes a general-purpose image processing unit 19. The general-purpose image processing unit 19 performs a process such as reduction on the image data stored in the memory 15. The image data processed by the general-purpose image processing unit 19 is stored in the memory 15 again. The operation unit 8 is a user interface device for operating and displaying the image forming apparatus 1. The operation unit 8 is controlled by the controller 3, and the CPU 13 interprets an operator operation or an instruction from the LAN 9 and can execute various jobs. is there. The operation unit 8 can also display the job status and the status of engines such as the scanner 2 and the printer 4.

  The power supply device 6 is a device that supplies power to the image forming apparatus 1. When the image forming apparatus 1 is powered off, the AC power supply 29 is insulated by the switch 30. That is, the power supply to the image forming apparatus 1 is interrupted by controlling the switch 30 to be OFF. On the other hand, by controlling the switch 30 to be ON, AC power is supplied to the AC-DC converter 20 and DC power is generated. The image forming apparatus 1 can control the power supply of the entire apparatus to four independent systems according to an instruction from the CPU 13. In other words, the switch 21 can be controlled by a signal from the CPU 13 and the power of the controller unit power 25 can be controlled to be OFF / ON. Similarly, the switch 22 can be controlled by a signal from the CPU 13 so that the power supply of the printer unit power 28 can be controlled to be OFF / ON. Further, the switch 23 can be controlled by a signal from the CPU 13 so that the power supply of the scanner unit power 26 can be controlled to be OFF / ON. Further, the switch 24 can be controlled by a signal from the CPU 13 so that the power supply of the general-purpose image processing unit power 27 can be controlled OFF / ON.

  The CPU 13 controls the switches 21 to 24 to appropriately supply power to a necessary place of the image forming apparatus 1. If the switch 30 is controlled to be turned OFF during power supply, the controller 3 completes the system shutdown, and then the AC power supply to the AC-DC converter 20 is stopped. By the way, in the image forming apparatus 1 having advanced functions in recent years, there is a problem that the start-up time from when the switch 30 is controlled to ON until the hardware and software are initialized and used by the user becomes long. is there. As a countermeasure for this problem, when the user controls the switch 30 to be turned off, the memory 15 is left energized, and when the user controls the switch 30 to be turned on, the startup is performed at high speed using the information at the previous activation. There is a way to make it.

  Specifically, when the switch is controlled to be OFF, the state shifts to an S3 state defined by ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface), and then the method is started at a high speed when the switch is controlled to be ON. The S3 state maintains power supply to some loads (devices) of the image forming apparatus 1 even when the switch 30 is turned off. For example, the energized state of the volatile memory is maintained, and the image forming apparatus This is a state in which energization to other components such as one CPU is stopped. The volatile memory stores a program or the like that has been executed in the image forming apparatus 1 before the switch 30 is turned off. Even after the switch 30 is turned off, these pieces of information continue to be held in the volatile memory. Therefore, when the switch 30 is subsequently turned on, it takes less time than starting from the so-called shutdown state (ACPI S5 state). The user can return to a usable state. Hereinafter, the ACPI-S3 speed-up method is referred to as quick activation. In addition, an operation that shifts to the S3 state when the switch 30 is turned off is referred to as quick OFF. Unlike the S3 state, the shutdown state (S5 state) is a state in which power supply to a part of loads (devices) of all the image forming apparatuses 1 is interrupted.

  The user can switch according to the setting whether the image forming apparatus 1 is to be quickly turned off (second operation) or shut down (first operation) in response to an OFF operation of the switch 30. However, as described later, even when the image forming apparatus 1 is set to be quickly turned OFF in response to the OFF operation of the switch 30, if the state of the image forming apparatus 1 satisfies a predetermined state, the switch There is a case where the system is shut down in response to the 30 OFF operation. That is, when the user controls the switch 30 to be turned off, whether or not the system performs quick turning off for the purpose of high-speed activation is selectively performed depending on the operation status of the image forming apparatus 1. For example, in the case where some abnormality that needs to be restarted occurs in the printer 4 or the scanner 2 and cannot operate normally, the image forming apparatus 1 is not shut off but shut down. In addition, when the user changes a setting that needs to be restarted to reflect the data, the image forming apparatus 1 is similarly shut down instead of quick-off. The operation status of these image forming apparatuses 1 is determined according to the history information of events that occur in each load.

<Event history information>
Next, event history information held by the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, as an example, the event history information 201 stored in the hard disk 14 when the CPU 13 receives an event detected by the printer controller 50 will be described.

  The event history information 201 is a record including an event code 202 indicating the content of the event, an event occurrence time 203, and an event elimination time 204. The event code 202 is predetermined for each device (load), and indicates a specific state such as an abnormality of the printer 4 or the scanner 2, for example. The unit may be further subdivided. For example, an event may be generated and stored when an abnormality or the like occurs at the level of the marking unit 16 or the paper feeding unit 18. When an event occurs, the event is stored in the hard disk 14 and notified from the LAN 9 to the server (computer 10) via the network. The generated event is resolved by detecting the recovery from the cause.

  For example, an event that occurs due to a low amount of toner remaining can be resolved by replacing a toner bottle with a new one. In addition, an event that occurs when the temperature in the image forming apparatus 1 measured by the temperature sensor 51 exceeds the threshold value is dissipated and is eliminated when the temperature falls below a specified temperature. When an event is resolved in this way, the occurrence of a new event can be accepted and registered (stored). With these mechanisms, the occurrence and cancellation of events can be managed by the server, and it is possible to apply such as automatically determining the maintenance timing and delivering consumables.

  In the example of FIG. 2, an event having an event code 0003 is generated and canceled twice, and events 1001 and 1004 are generated and cannot be canceled. The event history information 201 may be stored in the SRAM 40. In other words, according to the present embodiment, even if the event 0003 occurs a plurality of times, until the event registered in the event history information 201 is resolved, the event 0003 having the same event code is used. Is not registered in the event history information 201.

<Events targeted for elimination>
Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the elimination exclusion target event list 301 held in the hard disk 14 will be described. When the event cancellation request received by the CPU 13 from the printer controller 50 is the event code 302 included in the cancellation exclusion target event list 301, the event cancellation request is discarded. As a result, subsequent occurrence notifications of unresolved events are discarded, and new events cannot be registered. In addition, since these events remain in an unresolved state, they are automatically resolved once upon restart. Alternatively, it may be canceled after a predetermined time has elapsed since registration. The event list 301 in FIG. 3 indicates that events 1001 and 1004 are to be excluded from elimination. The elimination exclusion target event list 301 may be configured to be stored in the SRAM 40 in the same manner as the event history information 201.

<Register event>
Next, a processing procedure when the CPU 13 registers the occurrence of an event from the printer controller 50 in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The process described below is realized by the CPU 13 of the controller 3 executing a program stored in the ROM 160, for example. Here, an event occurrence from the printer controller 50 will be described as an example, but the present invention can be similarly applied to an event occurrence from another device, for example, a control unit (not shown) of the scanner 2. Alternatively, an event may be generated from the hard disk 14. In the processing of this flowchart, the CPU 13 is an example of an event receiving unit and an event registration unit.

  In step S <b> 101, the CPU 13 determines whether an event occurrence notification has been received from the printer controller 50. If it is determined that an event occurrence notification has been received, the process proceeds to S102. If it is determined that an event occurrence notification has not been received, the process continues to wait for reception. In S102, the CPU 13 determines whether the event code of the received event notification (occurrence notification) is an unresolved event using the event code 202 and the event resolution time 204 included in the event history information 201. If it is determined that the event code of the received event notification is an unresolved event, the process ends because multiple event occurrence histories are not stored.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the event code of the received event notification is an already resolved event, the process proceeds to S103. In S103, the CPU 13 adds a record to the event history information 201, stores (registers) it together with the event code 202 and the event occurrence time 203, and proceeds to S104. Here, the CPU 13 may notify the computer 10 which is a server via the LAN 9 that the record of the event has been added. Or you may make it notify after the process of S104 or S105. In this case, information on whether or not the event is a cancellation exclusion target is also notified. In step S <b> 104, the CPU 13 determines whether the event code of the received event notification is an event to be eliminated by using the elimination exclusion target event list 301. When it is determined that the event code of the received event notification is an event to be eliminated, the process proceeds to S105. On the other hand, if it is determined that the event code of the received event notification is an event to be resolved, the process ends without skipping S105 and selecting an operation when the switch 30 is controlled to be OFF.

  In S105, the CPU 13 selects the image forming apparatus 1 to be shut down instead of quick OFF as an operation when the switch 30 is controlled to be OFF, and ends the processing. As a result, the event history information is initialized by restart after shutdown, and it is possible to avoid a situation in which the event is not cleared at all after the occurrence of the event to be eliminated, and the event can be stored only once.

  As described above, the event history information is initialized not only at the time of restart after shutdown, but only when a predetermined time elapses after the event to be eliminated is registered. That is, the event history information may be deleted. In addition, initialization at the time of restart after shutdown may be performed by initializing only a record of a predetermined event code. For example, an event that has occurred due to the remaining amount of toner remaining may remain in the event history information until the toner cartridge is replaced.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the control for selecting the operation at the time of power-off only in the case of the event to be eliminated is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the event at the time of power-off is also the event to be eliminated. It may be controlled to select the operation. In this case, the quick OFF operation is selected, and the power is turned off while the power supply to some of the loads is maintained.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the same event can be stored as event history information multiple times, and notification to the server can be avoided.

<Release event>
Next, a processing procedure when the CPU 13 receives an event cancellation notification from the printer controller 50 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The process described below is realized by the CPU 13 of the controller 3 executing a program stored in the ROM 160, for example. In the process of this flowchart, the CPU 13 is an example of an event receiving unit and an event canceling unit.

  In step S <b> 201, the CPU 13 confirms whether an event cancellation notification is received from the printer controller 50. If it is determined that the event cancellation notification is received, the process proceeds to S202. If it is determined that an event resolution notification has not been received, it continues to wait for reception. In S202, the CPU 13 determines whether or not the event code of the received event resolution notification is a resolution exclusion target using the resolution exclusion target event list 301. If it is determined that the event code of the received event resolution notification is a target for exclusion, the process ends without storing the event resolution in the history. That is, here, for the event to be excluded from elimination, the event elimination is controlled not to be stored as a history. Thereby, in the case where the same event occurs immediately after the event is resolved, it is possible to avoid frequent occurrence of storage of the event and notification to the server.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the event code of the received event resolution notification is an event to be resolved, the process proceeds to S203. The determination as to whether the event code is a cancellation exclusion target event code may be a method of confirming whether a predetermined specific bit is valid, instead of referring to the cancellation exclusion target event list 301. In S203, the CPU 13 refers to the event history information 201 and stores the event resolution time 204 of the record that matches the event code 202. Then, the process ends.

  As described above, when receiving an event occurrence notification from a peripheral device, the information processing apparatus (image forming apparatus) according to the present embodiment stores the event in the storage device. At this time, the information processing apparatus discards an occurrence notification that records an event in a multiple manner for an event that has already been stored and has not been resolved. Further, when the information processing apparatus receives an event cancellation notification from a peripheral device, the received information of the cancellation notification is an event stored in the storage device and is not a predetermined event, the event The resolution is stored in the storage device. On the other hand, in the case of a predetermined event, the cancellation notification is discarded. As described above, in the present embodiment, when there is a possibility of repeatedly detecting and notifying the occurrence and cancellation of a device abnormality event as in the environment sensor, by discarding the received event resolution notification, , Discard the subsequent occurrence notification of unresolved events. Thereby, multiple occurrences of events can be avoided, and the capacity required for storing event occurrence history can be reduced. In addition, it is not necessary to avoid multiple detection in each device that detects an event, and it is possible to uniformly suppress multiple storage of events. As a result, the increase in program capacity can be suppressed and the consistency of the system operation can be maintained. Furthermore, in the case where the operation of notifying the event occurrence to the server is performed, it is possible to reduce the load on the network and the server due to an increase in traffic.

  In the present embodiment, the printer controller 50 is configured to detect an event. However, the event may be detected by monitoring the state of a device to which the controller 3 is connected. Further, the controller 3 may be configured to monitor its own state.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

  1: image forming apparatus, 2: scanner, 3: controller, 4: printer, 5: image processing unit, 6: power supply device, 8: operation unit, 9: LAN, 10: Computer, 29: AC power supply, 30: Switch

Claims (13)

An information processing apparatus,
Receiving means for receiving an event occurrence notification or cancellation notification from a peripheral device;
When an event occurrence notification is received by the receiving means, an event registration means for storing the event in a storage means;
When an event cancellation notification is received by the receiving means, if the received cancellation notification event is an event stored in the storage means and is not a predetermined event, the cancellation of the event is stored in the storage. An information processing apparatus comprising: an event canceling unit that is stored in the unit.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the event cancellation unit discards the cancellation notification if the event of the cancellation notification received by the receiving unit is the predetermined event. A switch for cutting off power supply to the information processing apparatus and peripheral devices;
The event registration means includes:
When storing the event in the storage means, as an operation of shutting off the power supply of the information processing apparatus when the switch is operated, if the event is the predetermined event, the information processing apparatus and the peripheral A first operation for cutting off the power supply of the device is set, and when the event is not the predetermined event, the power supply to at least a part of the information processing apparatus and the peripheral device is maintained and the other part is The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a second operation for cutting off power supply is set.   When the event registration is received by the receiving unit and the event is already stored in the storage unit, the event registration unit does not newly store the event in the storage unit. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the information processing apparatus is characterized in that:   The event registration means is configured such that when the event occurrence notification is received by the receiving means, even if the event is already stored in the storage means, the event cancellation means cancels the event. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the event is newly stored in the storage unit if stored in the storage unit.   6. The event registration unit according to claim 1, wherein when the event is stored in the storage unit, the stored event information is notified to a server via a network. The information processing apparatus described.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the storage unit is initialized when the information processing apparatus restarts after power supply is interrupted in the first operation.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the storage unit maintains the power supply when the power supply is interrupted in the second operation.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the storage unit stores a list of the predetermined events in advance.   10. The peripheral device is at least one of an image forming device that forms an image, an image reading device that reads an image from a document, an image processing device that processes an image, and a storage device. The information processing apparatus according to any one of the above. The information processing apparatus is an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit as the peripheral device,
10. The predetermined event is an event that occurs when a temperature measured by a temperature sensor provided in the image forming unit exceeds a threshold value. Information processing device. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus,
A receiving step in which a receiving means receives an event occurrence notification or a cancellation notification from a peripheral device; and
When the event registration unit receives an event occurrence notification in the reception step, the event registration step stores the event in the storage unit;
When the event cancellation means receives an event cancellation notification in the receiving step, if the received cancellation notification event is an event stored in the storage means and is not a predetermined event, the event And an event canceling step of causing the storage means to store the cancellation of the information. A program for causing a computer to execute each step in a control method for an information processing apparatus, wherein the control method includes:
A receiving step in which a receiving means receives an event occurrence notification or a cancellation notification from a peripheral device; and
When the event registration unit receives an event occurrence notification in the reception step, the event registration step stores the event in the storage unit;
When the event cancellation means receives an event cancellation notification in the receiving step, if the received cancellation notification event is an event stored in the storage means and is not a predetermined event, the event An event canceling step for causing the storage means to store the cancellation of the event is executed.

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