JP2020066191A - Electronic apparatus, method for recording log electronic apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To solve a problem such as a risk that time information managed by an apparatus is largely different from a standard time when an accurate time cannot be acquired from a server in the device for acquiring time from a server on a network by using a network time protocol (NTP) without mounting an RTC and a battery to reduce product cost.SOLUTION: An electronic apparatus records an event that occurs in the electronic apparatus as a log. A log recorded after time clocked by clocking means for performing clocking by software becomes equal to or more than a prescribed time is corrected on the basis of acquired time information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device, a method for recording a log in the electronic device, and a program.

  An electronic device is generally equipped with a hardware real time clock (RTC) in order to accurately measure time. Then, the current time and elapsed time can be acquired using the time measured by the real-time clock. Further, the real-time clock is supplied with power from a battery mounted in the device so that the time can be measured even when the power of the device is off.

  On the other hand, in order to reduce the cost of the product, an increasing number of devices acquire the time from the time management server on the network by using the network time protocol (NTP) without mounting the RTC and the battery. Further, as described in Patent Document 1, time is also acquired from another device (for example, a time management server) in the same network environment.

JP, 2004-110617, A

  In Patent Document 1 described above, since each of the plurality of clients on the network acquires time information from the time management server, it is conceivable that a time difference between the clients acquires. Further, when the accurate time cannot be acquired from the server, the internal counter (timekeeping by software) of each client is relied upon, and the time information managed by each client may be different from each other.

  An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the problems of the above-mentioned conventional techniques.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of recording a log based on time information close to standard time based on timekeeping by software without mounting a hardware RTC.

To achieve the above object, an electronic device according to one aspect of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
An electronic device,
Recording means for recording the event that occurred in the electronic device as a log,
A timekeeping means for timekeeping by software,
Acquisition means for acquiring time information from an external device,
And a correction unit that corrects the log recorded by the recording unit after the time measured by the time measuring unit exceeds a predetermined time based on the time information acquired by the acquiring unit. .

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that a log based on time information close to standard time can be recorded based on timekeeping by software without mounting a hardware RTC.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The accompanying drawings are included in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a controller of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example in which an electronic device not equipped with an RTC has a difference between the time measured by the device and the standard time. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in which the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment acquires time information. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of acquiring a formal log and a provisional log in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of acquiring standard time in order to correct the time information of the provisional log in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating an error between a time measurement and a standard time by an internal counter and correction of a provisional log in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solving means of the present invention. Not necessarily. An image forming apparatus as an embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 100 includes a scanner 102 that optically reads an image of a document and converts it into a digital image, and a multifunctional processing device (printer) that forms (prints) an image on a sheet (sheet) based on digital image data ( MFP). However, the image forming apparatus 100 may be a printer device having only a printing function.

  The image forming apparatus 100 further receives an operation from the user and presents an operation unit 105 for presenting information to the user, an HDD 106 for storing image data and control programs, and a FAX apparatus 107 for transmitting a digital image to a telephone line or the like. Have. Furthermore, it has the controller (control part) 103 which controls these each part. The controller 103 can also receive and send digital image data and the like from the computer 109 via the LAN 108, and can also issue jobs and instruct devices.

  The scanner 102 includes a document feeding unit 121 that stacks a bundle of documents and can feed the sheets one by one, and a scanner unit 122 that optically scans the documents fed by the document feeding unit 121 and converts them into digital images. The image data that is included and converted is transmitted to the controller 103. The printer 104 includes a paper feeding unit 142 capable of sequentially feeding one by one from a bundle of sheets, a marking unit 141 for printing image data on the fed paper, and a paper ejection unit 143 for ejecting the printed paper. Have.

  The computer 109 also issues an instruction to the controller 103 via the LAN 108 to execute the job. In the embodiment, when the computer 109 outputs an off instruction to the controller 103, the controller 103 executes the off process of the image forming apparatus 100.

The image forming apparatus 1 can execute various jobs. An example is described below.
Copy Function Acquires image data of an image read by the scanner 102, records the image data in the HDD 106, and simultaneously prints using the printer 104.
Image transmission function Image data of an image read by the scanner 102 is transmitted to the computer 109 via the LAN 108.
Image Saving Function The image data of the image read by the scanner 102 is recorded in the HDD 106, and the image data is transmitted and the image is printed as necessary.
Image printing function For example, the page description language transmitted from the computer 109 is analyzed and printed by the printer 104.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the controller 103 of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.

  The controller 103 includes a main board 200 and a sub board 220. The main board 200 is a so-called general-purpose CPU system. The main board 200 includes a main CPU 201 that controls the entire board, a boot ROM 202 that stores a boot program, a memory 203 that the CPU 201 uses as a work memory, a bus controller 204 that has a bridge function with an external bus, and even when the power is turned off. It has a nonvolatile memory 205 in which stored data is not erased. Further, the main board 200 can control a disk controller 206 that controls the HDD 106, a flash disk (SSD or the like) 207 that is a relatively small-capacity non-volatile storage device including a semiconductor device, and a USB memory 209. It has a USB controller 208 and the like. Further, a USB memory 209, an operation unit 105, an HDD 106, etc. are externally connected to the main board 200. Further, the main board 200 has a network interface 210, and is connected to the LAN 108 via this network interface 210.

  The sub board 220 has a relatively small general-purpose sub CPU system and image processing hardware. The sub board 220 has a sub CPU 221 for controlling the entire board, a memory 223 used by the CPU 221 as a work memory, a bus controller 224 having a bridge function with an external bus, and data stored therein is not lost even when the power is turned off. It has a non-volatile memory 225. Further, it has an image processor 227 for performing real-time digital image processing and an engine controller 226. The scanner 1022 and the printer 104 respectively exchange digital image data via the engine controller 226. The sub CPU 221 directly controls the FAX machine 107. Note that this diagram is a block diagram and is simplified. For example, the main CPU 201, the sub CPU 221, and the like include a large number of CPU peripheral hardware such as a chipset, a bus bridge, and a clock generator, but the description is simplified because it is unnecessary for the granularity of the description. The block structure does not limit the present invention.

  Next, as an example of the operation of the controller 103, copying of a document will be described as an example.

  When the user instructs image copying from the operation unit 105, the main CPU 201 sends an image reading command to the scanner 102 via the sub CPU 221. As a result, the scanner 102 optically scans a document, acquires digital image data corresponding to the image of the document, and inputs the digital image data to the image processor 227 via the engine controller 226. The image processor 227 makes a DMA transfer to the memory 223 via the sub CPU 221, and temporarily stores the processed digital image data. When the main CPU 201 can confirm that a certain amount or all of the digital image data has been stored in the memory 223, the main CPU 201 issues an image output instruction to the printer 104 via the sub CPU 221. At this time, the sub CPU 221 notifies the image processor 227 of the address where the image data of the memory 223 is stored. In this way, the image processor 227 reads the image data from the memory 223 according to the synchronization signal from the printer 104 and sends it to the printer 104 via the engine controller 226. In this way, the printer 104 prints an image on a sheet according to the image data. When printing a plurality of copies, the main CPU 201 stores the image data in the memory 223 in the HDD 106, and the second and subsequent copies output the image data from the HDD 106, so that the scanner 102 does not read the original document. Image data can be transmitted to the printer 104 and printed.

  Recently, an electronic device such as an image forming apparatus that does not include an RTC has appeared for cost reduction, and a method of acquiring time in such an electronic device will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an electronic device not equipped with an RTC has a difference between the time measured by the device and the standard time.

In an electronic device that acquires time using an internal counter based on software without using the RTC, the cause of the difference from the standard time is as follows, for example.
(1) When the operation of the electronic device is started, there is already a difference from the standard time. This is due to, for example, a setting error by the user, a time difference due to transportation across time zones, or a restart due to no battery installed. Time may be lost. For example, in FIG. 3, when the operation of the electronic device is started, the device time is (T1 + Te) with respect to the standard time T1, and the error Te has already occurred.
(2) Error due to time measurement of internal counter As described above, the accuracy of time measurement by the internal counter is much lower than that by RTC. In an extreme case, an error of 1 to 5 seconds may occur every hour.

  In the example of FIG. 3, when the electronic device operates for ΔT time in the standard time, the device time is (T1 + Te + Tc) at the time point (T1 + ΔT) in the standard time. Here, Te is the time difference in the initial state, and the time difference between Tc and ΔT is due to the error caused by the internal counter.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in which the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment acquires time information.

  Here, the image forming apparatus 100 is equipped with not only a connection to the Internet using a wired LAN or a wireless LAN but also a short-range wireless communication (NFC) or Bluetooth (Bluetooth (registered trademark)). The image forming apparatus 100 can obtain the time by communicating with the time management server 401 on the network. It is also possible to communicate with a mobile device (for example, a smartphone or a laptop computer 402) using NFC and Bluetooth. The smartphone or the laptop computer 402 corrects the time by communicating with the time management server 401 through the mobile Internet (for example, 3G, LTE), and also has a real-time clock inside the device, so that the standard time can always be acquired.

  In summary of FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 100 can acquire the standard time from the time management server 401, the smartphone or the notebook computer 402 through NFC or Bluetooth. Even when the standard time cannot be acquired, the image forming apparatus 100 can acquire the time measured by the internal counter 403.

  When the log recorded by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment is transferred to the server, the difference between the time measured by the server and the time measured by the image forming apparatus 100 is acquired, and based on the time difference. Then, the time of the provisional log acquired so far is corrected. In that case, first, the time of the device is adjusted to the standard time, and the time of the device at the time of the event occurrence is calculated using the time measurement by the internal counter.

On the other hand, when calculating the past event time, the time counted by the internal counter is traced back from the current time. However, as mentioned above, there is a large difference between the actual time and the time measured by the internal counter, so if the time measured by the internal counter is long (for example, not connected to the network or connected to a server with standard time). Error), the error between the time of the device and the standard time becomes very large.
Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment, it is estimated that when the time measured by the internal counter exceeds a predetermined time in a state where time information cannot be acquired from the network, the error in the time measured by the internal counter becomes large. In that case, the time information is acquired from the connected server or electronic device. Then, if the time information is successfully acquired, the time information of the log (temporary log) acquired in the time zone in which the internal time counter seems to have a large error is updated with the time information of the successful acquisition. To do. As a result, the time information of the log acquired in the time zone in which the error of the time measured by the internal counter seems to be large can be updated with the time information closer to the standard time. Thus, an example will be described below in which even an image forming apparatus that does not have an RTC can record a log based on time information closer to standard time.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the acquisition process of the formal log and the provisional log in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the main CPU 201 executing the program loaded in the memory 203.

  As a premise of this processing, it is assumed that the main CPU 201 acquires standard time (hereinafter, start time) before an event occurs (several hours or days). Then, the main CPU 201 saves the start time in the memory 203 and clears the internal counter 403 (the value is zero). After the image forming apparatus 100 starts operating, the time of the apparatus is calculated using the following equation (1).

Device time = start time + (timed time by internal counter 403) Equation (1)
Since the start time is the initial time acquired by communicating with the external device as described above, it is almost equal to the standard time. On the other hand, since the time measured by the internal counter 403 is measured by the internal counter 403 with low accuracy, the error from the standard time increases with time.

  First, in step S501, the main CPU 201 acquires the time counted by the internal counter 403, and acquires the device time based on the above equation (1). Next, proceeding to S502, the main CPU 201 acquires the time elapsed from the time (start time) obtained by communicating with the external device last time based on the time counted by the internal counter 403, and the elapsed time is a fixed time. It is determined whether or not. If the time is equal to or less than the predetermined time, the time error of the device is within the predetermined range, and the process advances to step S <b> 503. The main CPU 201 regards the device time as the standard time and uses the time of the device to log (official log). Record and end this process.

  On the other hand, if the main CPU 201 determines in S502 that the elapsed time has exceeded the certain time, the process proceeds to S504. In step S <b> 504, the main CPU 201 determines that the difference between the device time and standard time is not negligible, records the provisional log in the memory 203 using the device time, and at the same time, the device time and provisional log at that time. Record that

  The fixed time is set based on the error of the internal counter 403 and the allowable error time. For example, when the allowable time is 10 seconds and the error of the internal counter 403 is 1 second in 1 hour, it can be recorded as a formal log until 10 hours have elapsed. When 10 hours or more have passed, it is recorded as a provisional log.

  Since the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment is not always connected to the Internet or can communicate with a smartphone or a laptop computer, the image forming apparatus 100 is described in the embodiment in which the number of times of communication is minimized. However, the standard time may be acquired each time an event occurs, or if the standard time can be acquired even if the predetermined time has not elapsed, an embodiment in which the standard time is acquired is also possible. In any case, when the standard time is acquired, if there is a provisional log recorded until then, the time information of the provisional log will be corrected.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for acquiring standard time in order to correct the time information of the provisional log in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the main CPU 201 executing the program loaded in the memory 203.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment, the time of the device clocked by the software deviates from the standard time due to the error of the time counting by the internal counter. Therefore, when the time counted by the internal counter exceeds a certain time, the log is not an official log. Record as a provisional log. Then, when the time measured by the internal counter exceeds a predetermined time, the standard time is acquired from the external device, the time information of the provisional log is corrected based on the time information, and the temporary log is saved as the official log.

  First, in step S601, the main CPU 201 determines whether the image forming apparatus 100 is connected to the Internet. If it is determined that the image forming apparatus 100 is connected to the Internet, the process proceeds to step S603, and if not, the process proceeds to step S602. In step S602, the main CPU 201 determines whether the main CPU 201 is connected to the smartphone, the personal computer 402, or the like via NFC or Bluetooth. If it is determined in S602 that the connection is not made, the process proceeds to S601. If not, the process proceeds to S605, where the main CPU 201 acquires time information from the smartphone or the personal computer via NFC or Bluetooth and proceeds to S606.

  When it is determined in S601 that the Internet is connected, the process proceeds to S603, and the main CPU 201 determines whether or not the time counted by the internal counter has exceeded a predetermined time. If it is determined that the predetermined time or more has not elapsed, the process proceeds to S601, but if not, the process proceeds to S604. In S604, the main CPU 201 acquires the standard time from the time management server via the Internet, and proceeds to S606. It should be noted that the predetermined time compared here in S603 and the constant time in FIG. 5 may be the same or may be different from each other.

  In S606, the main CPU 201 clears the time counted by the internal counter, and sets the time information acquired in S605 or S604. Then, the processing proceeds to S <b> 607, and the main CPU 201 updates the time information of the above-mentioned provisional log with the time information set at S <b> 606 and then proceeds to S <b> 601.

  Here, as in the case of log recording, if the time measured by the internal counter has not exceeded the specified time, it is considered that the difference between the time measured by the internal counter and the standard time is within a relatively small allowable range. To be Therefore, when the time measured by the internal counter in S603 has not reached the predetermined time, the standard time is not acquired.

  In this process, when standard time is acquired from the time management server via the Internet, in order to avoid frequent access to the time management server, standard time is not acquired until the time counted by the internal counter reaches a predetermined time or more. I am trying. On the other hand, in the case of a smart phone or a laptop computer connected via NFC or Bluetooth, since it is not an access to a communication line, time information (standard time) is acquired as much as possible.

  Next, a method of correcting the provisional log into the official log will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an error between the time measured by the internal counter and the standard time in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment, and the correction of the provisional log.

  The image forming apparatus 100 calculates the time of the device based on the timekeeping by the internal counter. At the initial timing T1, the image forming apparatus 100 acquires the standard time and sets it to 0 seconds. At this timing T1, the error between the standard time and the time measured by the internal counter is "0". Here, the time interval at which the internal counter counts up is 0.01 seconds. Then, at the timing T3 when 1000 seconds have elapsed from T1 in the standard time, the count value by the internal counter is "100500" and the time measured by the internal counter is "1005 seconds", and an error of 5 seconds occurs at this time.

  Here, if the above-mentioned predetermined time is 1000 seconds, the standard time is acquired from the time management server or the personal computer at this timing T3. As a result, it can be seen that the error is +5 seconds because the time measured by the internal counter is 1005 seconds, compared to the standard time of 1000 seconds. As a result, it is possible to calculate that the error of the time counting by the internal counter is + 0.5%.

  Based on the error thus obtained, the time information of the provisional log can be corrected and saved as a formal log. For example, when the log of the event that occurred at the timing T2 is recorded as the provisional log, the count value of the internal counter at the timing T2 is “60,300”, so the time information of the provisional log shows that time. The device time "603 seconds" is recorded. However, since it is known that the timing error of the internal counter is + 0.5% at the timing T3, the correction of the device time “603 seconds” gives “600 seconds”.

  By correcting the time information of the provisional log recorded at timing T2 in this manner with time information closer to the standard time, the provisional log can be recorded as the official log.

  Although the time information is acquired via the Internet, NFC, or Bluetooth in the above-described embodiment, the time information may be acquired from a personal computer connected by a cable (for example, a USB cable).

  Also, when acquiring time information from a personal computer or smartphone, it is unknown how accurate the time information is. For example, since it is not known when a personal computer or a smart phone has acquired the time information from the time management server, it is desirable to add information indicating when the time information was updated to the time information and transmit it to the image forming apparatus 100.

  If the standard time cannot be obtained for a long time, for example, if it is not connected to the Internet or connected to a smartphone or PC, the error of the time calculated by the internal counter calculated in the past is used to save the temporary log. The time information may be corrected.

  Since the standard time is not acquired immediately after the image forming apparatus 100 is started, it is recorded as a provisional log immediately after the start. After that, the standard time is acquired, the time difference by the internal counter is calculated, and the time information of the provisional log is corrected and recorded as the official log.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that implements 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. It can also be realized by the processing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, in order to make the scope of the present invention public, the following claims are attached.

  100 ... Image forming apparatus, 102 ... Scanner, 103 ... Controller (control unit), 201 ... Main CPU, 401 ... Time management server, 402 ... Smartphone, personal computer

Claims (9)

An electronic device,
Recording means for recording the event that occurred in the electronic device as a log,
A timekeeping means for timekeeping by software,
Acquisition means for acquiring time information from an external device,
A correction unit that corrects the log recorded by the recording unit after the time measured by the time measuring unit exceeds a predetermined time based on the time information acquired by the acquiring unit,
An electronic device comprising:   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit corrects the time information recorded in the log. The recording means is
The event is recorded as a formal log until the time measured by the time measuring means reaches a certain time, and after the certain time has elapsed, the event is recorded as a provisional log,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit corrects the provisional log.   The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the acquisition unit acquires time information indicating standard time from an external device via a network.   The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the time information from the external device when the acquisition unit determines that the counted time is equal to or longer than a predetermined time.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires time information from an external device via short-range wireless communication.   The correcting means obtains an error of the time measured by the time measuring means based on the difference between the time measured by the time measuring means and the time information acquired by the acquiring means, and the error is recorded by the recording means. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the log is corrected by correcting time information of the log based on the error. A method of recording a log of events that occurred in an electronic device,
A recording step of recording the event that occurred in the electronic device as a log,
A timekeeping process that performs timekeeping by software,
An acquisition process for acquiring time information from an external device,
A correction step of correcting the log recorded in the recording step after the time measured in the time measuring step becomes a predetermined time or more, based on the time information acquired in the acquisition step,
A method comprising:   A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the method according to claim 8.

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