JP2019121990A - Image forming apparatus and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to start an image forming apparatus in a specific operation mode from a power-off state. An image forming apparatus having a plurality of operation modes, a communication unit that receives operation mode transition information from an external device by short-range wireless communication, and a first control that records the transition information in a storage unit Means, and second control means for activating the image forming apparatus in an operation mode corresponding to the transition information stored in the storage means. [Selection diagram] FIG.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and control method.

  Generally, an MFP (Multi Functional Printer) has a plurality of operation modes. For example, in addition to the normal operation mode in which the user can execute jobs such as Copy and Print, there is a non-public operation mode in which only a user having authority such as a serviceman can operate. There may be multiple private operation modes. Transition to a non-public operation mode can be roughly divided into two patterns. The transition from the state of operating in the normal operation mode and the case of activation in the non-operation mode from the state of power-off of the device. For example, the former is a case where the service person changes various settings of the device in operation, and the latter is a case where software such as an operating system (OS) is updated.

  Various techniques have been developed as a means of transition to a non-public operation mode. For example, there is a technology for determining the combination of hardware button presses on the MFP by software and transitioning to a non-public operation mode. However, in recent years there has been a tendency to eliminate the hardware key on the MFP due to cost reduction, and with the above-described technology, it is not possible to start up in a closed operation mode from the power off state of the device. On the other hand, Patent Document 1 has developed a technology for transitioning to a closed operation mode by remote control from an information processing apparatus.

JP, 2013-101479, A

  However, in the technology of Patent Document 1, the operation mode of the MFP is controlled from the PC using VNC (Vertical Network Computing). For this reason, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) in the MFP needs to be powered on. That is, there is a problem that the MFP can not be activated in the non-disclosed operation mode from the power-off state.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and has an object of activating an image forming apparatus from a power-off state in a specific operation mode.

Therefore, the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a plurality of operation modes, which is a communication unit that receives operation mode transition information from an external device, and a first control unit that records the transition information in a storage unit. And a second control unit configured to start the image forming apparatus in an operation mode corresponding to the transition information stored in the storage unit.
It is characterized by

  According to the present invention, the image forming apparatus can be started in a specific operation mode from the power off state.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus. It is an external view of an operation part. It is a hardware block diagram of an information processing apparatus. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of processing for activating the image forming apparatus in the special mode. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of processing for activating the image forming apparatus in the special mode. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of processing for activating the image forming apparatus in the special mode. It is a flowchart which shows the special mode setting process by an information processing apparatus. 5 is a flowchart showing start-up processing of the image forming apparatus. 5 is a flowchart showing start-up processing of the image forming apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 100 is a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of functions, but as another example, it may be a single function printer. The operation unit 110 has a function of feeding back the operation content from the user to the control of the image forming apparatus 100. The operation unit 110 also includes an arithmetic control unit 111 and a communication unit 112. The communication unit 112 includes a storage unit 113. The communication unit 112 performs wireless communication with an information processing apparatus as an external apparatus. The wireless communication method of the communication unit 112 is assumed to be compliant with the Near Field Communication (NFC) (based on the ISO / IEC 21481 standard or the ISO / IEC 18092 standard). That is, the communication unit 112 performs near field communication. In the present embodiment, the NFC module used in the communication unit 112 behaves as an NFC tag, and the near-field communication I / F of the information processing apparatus described later operates as a reader / writer, but is not limited thereto. Data received from the information processing apparatus by NFC is written to the storage unit 113 and read from the operation control unit 111. The calculation control unit 111 can also write to the storage unit 113, and the written content can be read from the information processing apparatus by NFC. The storage unit 113 is a non-volatile memory such as a ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM).

  The arithmetic control unit 111 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a random access memory (RAM), and controls the entire operation unit 110. In addition to the access to the storage unit 113 described above, the operation control unit 111 processes the operation received from the user by the operation unit 110 and communicates the content of the operation to the controller 120. Further, when the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120 writes desired data in the storage unit 113, the data is communicated between the operation control unit 121 and the operation control unit 111. As a communication method between the operation control unit 111 and the operation control unit 301, for example, there is a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter) or the like, but it is not limited to this. The processing of the calculation control unit 111 described later is realized by the CPU reading a program stored in the ROM or the like and executing this program.

  The controller 120 controls the entire image forming apparatus 100. For example, the controller 120 performs image processing on image data input from the reading unit 142, handling of a job received from a Print server or the like connected via a wired LAN (Local Area Network), power control of the system, and the like. The description of each part which comprises the controller 120 is shown below. The arithmetic control unit 121 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and controls the entire controller 120. The arithmetic control unit 121 performs, for example, generation of image data by rendering, processing of data received from a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface of an external interface (not shown), scheduling of a job, and the like. The function and processing of the arithmetic control unit 121 described later are realized by the CPU reading a program stored in the ROM or the like and executing this program.

  The IO expansion unit 122 functions as GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) required for communication in the controller 120. It also functions as an interface with a hard disk drive (HDD) 130. For example, since the reading speed of an image is faster than the printing speed at the time of scan etc., it is used when temporarily storing input image data in the HDD. This control is called Spool (Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line).

  The power control unit 123 controls the power supplied to the controller 120, the reading unit 142, and the imaging unit 152. The NW (Network) controller 124 communicates with a server or PC connected via a wired LAN, and transmits received Print data or the like to the arithmetic control unit 121. The HDD 130 is used for storage of image data and storage of user data at the time of Spool as described above, and storage of an application downloaded from a server via a network. The image processing unit 126 performs image processing such as binarization and expansion / compression of the image data on the image data input from the reading unit 142. In the case of Spooling data after image processing, the data is sent to the IO expansion unit 122. In addition, since it is necessary to draw on the sheet based on the input image data after processing at the time of copying, it is sent to the image forming control unit 151.

  The wireless LAN communication unit 125 is an interface for performing wireless LAN communication with an external device. In the present embodiment, wireless LAN communication is performed between the external device and the operation control unit 121 according to the IEEE 802.11 standard as the wireless LAN communication standard. For example, the image forming apparatus 100 can perform ad hoc communication with an external device via the software AP by activating a software access point. Also, for example, the image forming apparatus 100 can perform wireless communication with an external device via an external access point.

  The reading unit 142 has a function of obtaining an input image from an original placed on a pressure plate or an ADF (Auto Document Feeder). The reading control unit 141 controls the reading unit 142. The image formation control unit 151 controls, based on the image data received from the image processing unit 126, a laser unit, a photosensitive drum, and the like (not shown) included in the image formation unit 152.

  FIG. 2 is an external view of the operation unit 110. The operation unit 110 has a physical button group 201 and a proximity communication unit 202. The physical button group 201 includes a plurality of physical buttons 201a, 201b, and 201c. The physical buttons 201a to 201c are provided for each function. In the example of FIG. 2, the physical button 201a is a Copy function, the physical button 201b is a Scan function, and the physical button 201c is a Print function. The proximity communication unit 202 corresponds to the communication unit 112 shown in FIG. 1 and realizes wireless communication with an information processing apparatus such as a smartphone compatible with NFC and an IC card.

  The following briefly describes how to use the physical button in the operation mode. The user presses the physical buttons 201a to 201c that match the job to be executed. After pressing, since it is necessary to associate the printed product with the user, the proximity communication unit 202 is touched with an NFC-compliant device. At the same time as the touch, the identification information of the user is written to the storage unit 113 from the application operating on the device. The image forming apparatus 100 performs authentication based on the identification information, and reflects, on the image forming apparatus 100, print settings unique to the user and set in advance in the image forming apparatus 100, the identification information being associated with the user. This authentication may be performed by an authentication server connected to the main body of the image forming apparatus 100. Further, at the time of scanning, the image forming apparatus 100 collates the identification information with the address book stored beforehand in the HDD 130 in advance, identifies the user's e-mail address, and specifies the scan data as e-mail by electronic data. Attach and send.

  FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the information processing apparatus 300. As shown in FIG. The arithmetic control unit 301 of the information processing device 300 controls the entire information processing device 300. The processing of the operation control unit 301 described later is realized by reading a control program such as an OS stored in the ROM 302 or the storage 304 and executing this program. The control unit 311 includes an arithmetic control unit 301, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, a storage 304, an operation unit I / F 305, and a camera I / F 306 connected to a bus. The control unit 311 also has a near field communication I / F 308 as an interface for communicating with an external device.

  The arithmetic control unit 301 is a central processing unit, that is, a processor that controls the entire operation of the control unit 311. A RAM 303 is a volatile memory, and is used as a temporary storage area for developing various control programs stored in the ROM 302 and the storage 304. The ROM 302 is a non-volatile memory, and stores a boot program of the information processing apparatus 300 and the like. A storage 304 is a non-volatile memory having a larger capacity than a ROM, and stores an OS and applications that can operate on the OS.

  The arithmetic control unit 301 executes the boot program stored in the ROM 302 when the power is turned on to start up. The boot program reads the OS stored in the storage 304 and deploys it on the RAM 303. When the operation control unit 301 executes the boot program, the operation control unit 301 executes the program of the OS developed on the RAM 303 to realize various functions such as communication.

  The operation unit I / F 305 is an interface that connects the operation unit 309 and the control unit 311. The operation unit 309 has a touch panel capable of detecting a user's touch operation and a display panel for displaying various screens. The operation unit 309 functions as a display unit that displays information and an instruction unit that receives an instruction of the user, and displays various screens provided by the OS and the application. The operation unit 309 also functions as an input device as well as a display, and the user can give an arbitrary operation instruction to the information processing apparatus 300 by performing a touch operation using an object such as a finger. The input can be performed not only from the touch panel, but also by pressing a hardware key provided on the housing.

  The camera I / F 306 connects the control unit 311 and the camera 310. The camera 310 is controlled in accordance with a user's imaging instruction input via an application or the like. The captured image data is stored in a predetermined area of the storage 304.

  The wireless LAN I / F 307 provides, for example, a wireless client function for performing wireless communication conforming to the 802.11 standard. The wireless LAN I / F 307 is connected to an external access point to execute wireless communication conforming to the above-mentioned standard. The near-field communication I / F 308 is an interface that transmits and receives data to / from various types of peripheral devices by wireless near-field communication, and in this embodiment, performs communication conforming to NFC. The NFC module (not shown) mounted on the information processing apparatus 300 also has a reader / writer function.

  The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has a plurality of operation modes such as a copy mode corresponding to the copy function described above. The operation mode of the image forming apparatus 100 includes, for example, an operation mode which can be set only by a specific operator such as a serviceman, that is, an operation mode in which the disclosure is restricted. Such an operation mode is called a special mode. On the other hand, an operation mode other than the operation mode set as the special mode is referred to as a normal mode. The image forming apparatus 100 can be activated in a special mode by user operation. Here, with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, an outline of the user operation for activating the image forming apparatus 100 in the special mode and the operations of the image forming apparatus 100 and the information processing apparatus 300 corresponding to the user operation will be described. .

  First, in FIG. 4A, when the information processing apparatus 300 starts the downloaded application capable of controlling the image forming apparatus 100, as shown in FIG. 4A, the display panel as the operation unit 309 is displayed. The login screen 410 is displayed on the screen. In the example of FIG. 4A, the application is named Canon SST (Service Support Tool). The user can log in to the application by inputting a user unique ID and password in the login screen 410. At the time of login, authentication is necessary in order to link the user with the authority to operate the special mode, but the authentication process is performed by the application server. After login, the screen display changes to the operation screen 420 shown in FIG. 4 (b).

  A plurality of button icons 421 for remotely performing basic control of the image forming apparatus 100 are displayed on the operation screen 420. When the power of the image forming apparatus 100 is turned on and the power state is standby, the button icon 421 enables arbitrary control. Further, it is assumed that it is determined by the authentication on the application server at the time of login that the logged-in user is, for example, a user having authority to control a non-public operation mode such as a serviceman. In this case, the operation screen 420 further displays a special mode button 422 for shifting to the special mode. As described above, when an unauthorized user uses the application, a means for transition to the special mode is not provided, and transition to the special mode is possible only for the authorized user.

  When the special mode button 422 is pressed, the screen display changes to the special mode selection screen 430 shown in FIG. 4C. The special mode selection screen 430 displays a plurality of buttons 431 for setting special modes, such as changing various settings of the image forming apparatus 100 and updating the OS. Furthermore, the auxiliary button 432 is displayed. By pressing the auxiliary button 432, it is possible to return to the previous screen or refer to another item.

  Here, when the download operation mode button 431 which is the special mode is pressed and the OK button 433 is pressed, the information processing apparatus 300 transmits a data packet to the communication unit 112 in accordance with the NFC protocol. In this embodiment, the ISO / IEC 18092 standard is used as the NFC protocol, but another standard defined as the NFC protocol may be used. Further, the above-mentioned data packet may be any one as long as the meaning of the data can be interpreted when the data is read on the receiving side. Therefore, the data packet may be any specific bit sequence defined on the receiving side and the transmitting side. In addition, at the time of writing, it is also assumed that the address of the memory and information indicating that the writing has ended normally are transmitted and received. These communication specifications also conform to the above standards.

  When the download operation mode button 431 is pressed and the OK button 433 is pressed, the screen display changes to a guidance screen 440 shown in FIG. 4D. The user confirms the message shown on the guidance screen 440. Then, according to the message, as shown in FIG. 5, the information processing apparatus 300 is touched on the proximity communication unit 202 (FIG. 2) of the operation unit 110 installed in the case of the image forming apparatus 100. When the information processing apparatus 300 is brought close to the proximity communication unit 202, in the image forming apparatus 100, an electromotive force is generated in the proximity communication unit 202, and power is supplied to the internal communication unit 112 and the storage unit 113. Specifically, the magnetic field generated by the NFC module having the reader / writer function of the information processing apparatus 300 is received by the antenna of the proximity communication unit 202, whereby an electromotive force is generated due to the change in the magnetic field. Further, the image forming apparatus 100 may generate power from an electromotive force generated by bringing the information processing apparatus 300 close to the proximity communication unit 202 using a power supply IC (Integrated Circuit). The image forming apparatus 100 supplies the generated power to the communication unit 112 and the storage unit 113. As a result, read / write is possible from the information processing apparatus 300 to the storage unit 113, and therefore, transition information to the download mode is written.

  In addition, when being touched, the information processing apparatus 300 transmits SSID information (Service Set Identifier) and password written in advance in the storage unit 113 at the same time as transmitting information on transition to the Download mode. The SSID and the password are written in the storage unit 113 by the calculation control unit 111 of the operation unit 110 according to the setting from the user when the power is turned on. Since the arithmetic control unit 111 needs to write in the storage unit 113, the image forming apparatus 100 naturally needs to be powered on. Further, data is written to the storage unit 113 from both the information processing apparatus 300 and the operation control unit 111 of the image forming apparatus 100. Therefore, in the storage unit 113, memory areas to which each can be written are separately provided. The SSID and the password are used for handover to a WLAN (Wireress Local Area Network) connection with the image forming apparatus 100 described later.

  When transmission of the transition information to the Download mode from the information processing apparatus 300 is completed, the information processing apparatus 300 receives, from the proximity communication unit 202, data indicating that the information has been normally received. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6A, the application of the information processing apparatus 300 displays a message 610 indicating that the writing to the information processing apparatus 300 is completed on the display panel as the operation unit 309. After that, when a predetermined time has passed, the information processing apparatus 300 displays a message 620 instructing power on of the image forming apparatus 100 on the display panel as shown in FIG. 6B. When the user turns on the image forming apparatus 100 in accordance with the message 620, the units of the image forming apparatus 100 are turned on.

  When the power is turned on, the arithmetic control unit 111 in the operation unit 110 checks whether mode transition information is not written in the storage unit 113. When the transition information to the Download mode is written, the operation control unit 111 in the operation unit 110 notifies the operation control unit 121 in the controller 120 that the operation control unit 111 is to be activated in the Download mode. Do. The notification is performed, for example, using GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) connecting the operation control unit 111 and the operation control unit 121. The operation control unit 121 is a boot loader, determines the bit string received from the operation control unit 111, and switches the OS to be activated.

  When the image forming apparatus 100 is powered on, the information processing apparatus 300 performs WLAN connection with the image forming apparatus 100 based on the SSID, the password, etc. read when the proximity communication unit 202 is touched. In the present embodiment, the case where WLAN communication is performed by connecting to software AP activated by the image forming apparatus 100 based on the SSID, password, etc. read at the time of touch is illustrated, but this is limited to this. It is not something to be done. For example, establishing ad hoc communication according to a procedure compliant with "Wi-Fi Direct (registered trademark)" or "Wi-Fi Aware (registered trademark)" formulated by Wi-Fi alliance (registered trademark) as WLAN connection means. You can also. When the WLAN connection is completed, the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120 communicates with the information processing apparatus 300 via the wireless LAN communication unit 125. The operation control unit 121 transmits a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) to the information processing apparatus 300 in accordance with the mode transition information notified from the operation control unit 111. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6C, the information processing apparatus 300 displays a message 630 indicating a URL or a URI on the display panel. When a URL or the like is selected by a user operation, the information processing apparatus 300 can access an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server that the image forming apparatus 100 has. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6D, the information processing apparatus 300 can obtain from the image forming apparatus 100 a special mode screen 640 matching the special mode selected according to the user operation, and can display it.

  The user can select a button 641 on the special mode screen 640 to select where to acquire data desired to be downloaded to the image forming apparatus 100. For example, in a case where a smartphone is used as the information processing apparatus 300, it is assumed that a button written "From smartphone" is selected in an environment where the smartphone and a server storing download data are connected. . In this case, the information processing apparatus 300 transmits the download data acquired by WLAN to the image forming apparatus 100. Further, when it is desired to obtain download data from a storage medium such as a USB memory already connected to the image forming apparatus 100, a button written "from USB memory" is selected. Thus, the information processing apparatus 300 can obtain information from the USB interface (not shown).

  When the download is completed and it is desired to restart the OS, a special mode end button 642 is pressed. The information processing apparatus 300 notifies the image forming apparatus 100 that the special mode end button 642 has been pressed, by wireless communication conforming to IEEE 802.11. When the arithmetic control unit 121 receives, via the wireless LAN communication unit 125, the notification that the special mode end button 642 has been pressed, the arithmetic control unit 121 deletes the mode transition information written in the storage unit 113 to the arithmetic control unit 111. Notify command When the calculation control unit 111 receives this notification, the calculation control unit 111 transmits, to the communication unit 112, a command for deleting the mode transition information in the storage unit 113. This prevents transition to Download mode again after restart and looping endlessly. The above is an outline of the operation of the image forming apparatus 100 and the information processing apparatus 300 corresponding to the user operation and the user operation when starting the image forming apparatus 100 in the non-disclosed operation mode. Hereinafter, processing for activating the image forming apparatus 100 in the non-disclosed operation mode will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the special mode setting process by the information processing apparatus 300. Note that, before the start of the special mode setting process, in the information processing apparatus 300, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the special mode is selected, and the guidance screen 440 shown in FIG. 4 (d) is displayed. It shall be. In response to this, when the user touches the proximity communication unit 202 of the operation unit 110 of the image forming apparatus 100, in step S701, the operation control unit 301 establishes proximity wireless communication with the image forming apparatus 100. Control. Next, in step S702, the operation control unit 301 transmits the special mode transition information set by the application to the proximity communication unit 202 of the image forming apparatus 100 according to NFC. The arithmetic control unit 301 may encrypt and transmit the special mode transition information. In the image forming apparatus 100, when the proximity communication unit 202 receives the special mode shift information, the operation control unit 111 records the special mode shift information in the storage unit 113. This process is an example of a control process.

  Next, in S703, when the transmission of the special mode transition information is completed, the operation control unit 301 receives a write completion notification, and further reads the SSID and the password from the storage unit 113 (YES in S703), the processing is performed in S704. Go to In S704, the arithmetic control unit 301 searches for an access point existing around the information processing device 300. In step S705, the operation control unit 301 determines whether there is an access point that matches the SSID read out in step S703. If there is an access point that matches the read SSID (YES in step S705), the operation control unit 301 advances the process to step S706.

  In step S706, the arithmetic control unit 301 performs control to establish direct wireless communication using the password acquired in step S703. If there is no access point matching the read SSID in S705 (NO in S705), the image forming apparatus 100 is not powered on, and the access point is not launched. Therefore, the arithmetic control unit 301 advances the process to step S704 and stands by until the access point is launched.

  After the process of S706, in S707, the operation control unit 301 receives the URL of the special mode screen received from the wireless LAN communication unit 125 of the image forming apparatus 100 by WiFi. In response to pressing of the received URL, the arithmetic control unit 301 acquires a special mode screen from the HTTP server and displays it. Next, in S708, the arithmetic control unit 301 determines whether or not the special mode end button displayed on the special mode screen is pressed. The arithmetic control unit 301 waits until the special mode end button is pressed (NO in S708), and ends the processing when the special mode end button is pressed (YES in S708).

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing start processing of the image forming apparatus 100 by the calculation control unit 111 of the operation unit 110. The start-up process is performed at the timing when the arithmetic control unit 111 is powered on. When the user turns on the image forming apparatus 100, the arithmetic control unit 111 determines whether mode transition information is written in the storage unit 113 in step S801. The storage unit 113 is divided in units called sectors or blocks, and it is assumed in advance with the information processing apparatus 300 which sector or block in which mode transition information is to be written. If the mode transition information has been written (YES in S801), operation control unit 111 advances the process to S802. If the mode transition information is not written (NO in S801), the operation control unit 111 advances the process to S805.

  In S802, the arithmetic control unit 111 transmits, to the arithmetic control unit 121 of the controller 120, a special mode start notification for activating the OS corresponding to the mode transition information written in the storage unit 113. It is assumed that the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120 can use BootLoader to determine whether or not the notification has been received. Next, in S803, the operation control unit 111 determines whether a special mode end notification has been received from the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120. Note that when the special mode end button 642 is pressed in the information processing apparatus 300, the arithmetic control section 121 receives a special mode end notification from the information processing apparatus 300, and transmits this to the arithmetic control section 111. When the end of the special mode is detected, the special mode end notification is transmitted to the arithmetic control unit 111. Operation control unit 111 waits until the special mode end notification is received (NO in S803), and when the special mode end notification is received (YES in S803), advances the process to S804.

  In step S804, the arithmetic control unit 111 transmits an erase command to the communication unit 112 to control to erase (delete) the mode transition information stored in the storage unit 113. Thus, the boot process is completed. On the other hand, in step S805, the operation control unit 111 transmits, to the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120, a normal mode start notification indicating that the OS used in the normal mode is to be started. Thus, the boot process is completed.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing start-up processing of the image forming apparatus 100 by the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120. After power-on of the image forming apparatus 100, the boot loader performs various controls by the operation control unit 121 of the controller 120. In step S901, the operation control unit 121 receives a special mode start notification from the operation control unit 111 of the operation unit 110. It is determined whether or not it has been received. Specifically, when the special mode activation notification transmitted from the arithmetic control unit 111 of the operation unit 110 is input to a predetermined input port during the boot loader operation, the arithmetic control unit 121 transmits the special mode activation notification. It is determined that it has been received. If the arithmetic control unit 121 receives the special mode start notification (YES in step S901), the operation control unit 121 advances the process to step S902. If the arithmetic control unit 121 has not received the special mode activation notification (NO in S901), the operation control unit 121 advances the process to S909.

  In step S902, the operation control unit 121 activates an OS according to the content of the received special mode activation notification. For example, when the start notification in the Download mode is received, the operation control unit 121 starts the OS for operating the image forming apparatus 100 in the Download mode. After the OS activation, in step S903, the operation control unit 121 launches the software access point based on the SSID and the password. When performing ad-hoc communication based on Wi-Fi Direct or Wi-Fi Aware between the information processing apparatus 300 and the image forming apparatus 100, the activation process based on the standard is performed. Next, in S904, the operation control unit 121 waits for reception of a screen request relating to access to the HTTP server from the WLAN-connected information processing apparatus 300 (NO in S904), and when a screen request is received (S904) YES), the process proceeds to S905.

  In S 905, the operation control unit 121 transmits screen information corresponding to the screen request to the image forming apparatus 100. Note that the screen information and the functions provided by the screen information are different for each operation mode. Next, in S906, the operation control unit 121 determines whether a special mode end instruction has been received. The arithmetic control unit 121 receives a special mode end instruction from the image forming apparatus 100 when the special mode end button is pressed in the image forming apparatus 100. Operation control unit 121 waits until the special mode end instruction is received (NO in S906), and when received (YES in S906), advances the process to S907.

  In S 907, the arithmetic control unit 121 transmits a special mode end notification to the arithmetic control unit 111 of the operation unit 110. Thus, the mode transition information stored in the storage unit 113 is erased. Next, in S908, the arithmetic control unit 121 starts restarting the system for switching the OS to the normal mode. Thus, the process ends. The restart process is not an essential process because it depends on the configuration of the OS. On the other hand, in step S909, the arithmetic control unit 121 activates the OS used in the normal mode. The process ends here.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment can be activated in the special mode even when the power is off. Furthermore, by setting a specific operation mode as a special mode, the image forming apparatus 100 can be activated in the specific operation mode. That is, the image forming apparatus 100 can start the image forming apparatus in a specific operation mode from the power off state.

<Other Embodiments>
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media. Then, the computer (or CPU or MPU or the like) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes the program.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and various modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims.・ Change is possible.

100 image forming apparatus 111 operation calculation unit 112 communication unit 113 storage unit 300 information processing apparatus

Claims (7)

An image forming apparatus having a plurality of operation modes,
Communication means for receiving operation mode transition information from an external device by near field communication;
First control means for recording the transition information in storage means;
An image forming apparatus having a second control unit configured to start the image forming apparatus in an operation mode corresponding to the transition information stored in the storage unit; The transition information is information on transition to an operation mode whose use is restricted,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second control unit activates the image forming apparatus in an operation mode in which the use is restricted.   The second control means is characterized in that, in the case where the transition information is not stored in the storage means, the second control means is activated in a normal operation mode other than the operation mode in which the use is restricted. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first control unit deletes the transition information from the storage unit when the start of the image forming apparatus is completed.   The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the communication unit performs close proximity wireless communication.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the communication unit generates an electromotive force due to a change in magnetic field from the external device, and writes and reads transfer information to the storage unit. A control method executed by an image forming apparatus having a plurality of operation modes, the control method comprising:
A communication step of receiving operation mode transition information from an external device by near field communication;
A first control step of recording the transition information in storage means;
And D. a second control step of activating the image forming apparatus in an operation mode corresponding to the transition information stored in the storage means.

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