Information processing device, information processing method, information processing program, and image forming device

Abstract

To enable data of an operation screen of an operating unit to be saved regardless of whether the data can be written to a storage medium on a controller side in an information processing device provided with the operation unit and the controller.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 as an example of an information processing device includes an operation unit 110 and a controller 100. The operation unit 110 and the controller 100 have independent operating systems 115, 116 and can take an independent energy-saving state. The operation unit 110 and the controller 100 are connected by a single interface 114. The controller 100 has an HDD 112 and changes a storage destination of data M from the HDD 112 of the controller 100 to an RAM 118 of the operation unit 110 in accordance with whether the HDD 112 of the controller 100 is writable in storing data (moving image file M) on a panel screen 117 of the operation unit 110.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, an information processing program, and an image forming apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] When a fault occurs in an information processing device such as an image forming device, the fault is generally analyzed by reproducing the fault using the same procedure. However, if the user's report of the reproduction procedure is unclear, the reproduction must be performed based on the obtained log, which can be difficult. One way to solve this problem is to record the operation screen.

[0003] Unlike the small file sizes of previous log-based analysis, recording involves constantly writing huge files. In image forming devices, the operation unit storage is only equipped with NAND flash memory such as eMMC, so recorded data must be written to a large-capacity storage medium such as an HDD on the main unit (controller side). However, depending on the image forming device's energy-saving mode, the HDD may be turned off, making it impossible to save recorded data in that state, necessitating the reliance on log-based analysis.

[0004] Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration that uses both an HDD and an SSD to reduce power consumption, thereby reducing the power consumption of the HDD. This makes it possible to switch between the HDD and the SSD (NAND flash) as the non-volatile storage area for saving data under predetermined conditions. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, conventional methods such as those described in Patent Document 1 have not solved the problem that in devices in which different OSs run on the operation unit and controller sides and which have different energy-saving states, the operation screen of the operation unit cannot be recorded when the controller side is in an energy-saving state.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to enable an information processing apparatus having an operation unit and a controller to store data on the operation screen of the operation unit, regardless of whether data can be written to a storage medium on the controller side. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information processing device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises an operation unit and a controller, wherein the operation unit and the controller have independent OSs and are capable of taking independent energy-saving states, the operation unit and the controller are connected by a single interface, the controller has a storage medium, and when saving data on a panel screen of the operation unit, the storage destination of the data is changed from the storage medium of the controller to the memory of the operation unit depending on whether the storage medium of the controller is writable. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] In an information processing apparatus having an operation unit and a controller, data on an operation screen of the operation unit can be saved regardless of whether it is writable to a storage medium on the controller side. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] A diagram showing the detailed configuration of the operation unit and controller in Figure 1. [Figure 3] Diagram showing the overview of recording process when the controller is powered off [Figure 4] Diagram showing the overview of the recording process when the controller is powered off and then on [Figure 5] Flowchart of video data saving control at the start of recording process [Figure 6] Flowchart of video data saving control during recording to HDD [Figure 7]Flowchart of video data saving control during recording to the operation unit RAM [Figure 8] Flowchart of recording data collection process [Figure 9] List of recording destinations according to the status of each part of the image forming device [Figure 10] Example of the touch panel screen display during recording [Figure 11] Example of the touch panel screen display during recording [Figure 12] An example of a video file collection request screen DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. To facilitate understanding of the description, the same components in the drawings will be denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and duplicated descriptions will be omitted.

[0011] An image forming apparatus 10 will be described as an example of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a controller 100 and an operation unit 110. The controller 100 is mainly provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus 10.

[0012] The controller 100 has a CPU 101 (such as an SoC) as a computing device. A DRAM 103 as a storage device is connected to the CPU 101. The controller 100 also has a USB I / F 106 (USB host function) as an interface (I / F) to the outside, and a USB memory 108 is connected via the USB I / F 106. An operation unit 110 that accepts user operation input is connected to the CPU 101 of the controller 100, but is connected via an interface 114 (see FIG. 2) such as a USB.

[0013] An ASIC 102 for image processing and various I / F functions is connected to the CPU 101. A small-capacity NVRAM 105 is connected to the ASIC 102 as non-volatile memory for managing user data. Software setting values ​​and the like are stored in the NVRAM 105.

[0014] The ASIC 102 is also connected to an SD card I / F 107 (SD card slot) as a means for loading optional programs. An SD card 109 is inserted and connected to the SD card I / F 107. The ASIC 102 is also connected to an SSD 104 as a storage destination for a system startup program. The controller 100 is also connected to an HDD 110 as a large-capacity external storage device. The ASIC 102 is also connected to an engine 111 that performs image formation.

[0015] In the image forming apparatus 10, the operation unit 110 has an eMMC 113 and the controller 100 has an HDD 112. The reason for this is that the operation unit 110 is a module that can be directly operated by the user, and therefore for security reasons it has an embedded non-volatile storage area such as the eMMC 113 rather than a removable device such as the HDD 112. On the other hand, the controller 100 cannot be operated by the user, and therefore employs the HDD 112, which has a large capacity and high write resistance.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the detailed configuration of the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 shown in FIG.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 2, the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 are connected via an interface (I / F) 114 such as a USB.

[0018] Furthermore, the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 run on different operating systems 115 and 116, respectively, and the operation unit 110 can be operated independently.

[0019] The OSs 115 and 116 are stored in RAMs 118 and 119 of the operation unit 110 and the controller 100, respectively.

[0020] Therefore, the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 can be in different energy saving states, and the availability of the eMMC 113 and HDD 112 (storage media) connected to them also depends on their energy saving states.

[0021] Furthermore, there is no physical bus for directly writing data from the operation unit 110 to the HDD 112 of the controller 100, and data must be written only after a request to the OS 116 on the controller 100 side.

[0022] The operation unit 110 has a panel 117 and can be operated using a GUI.

[0023] 2 also shows an overview of the process of saving recorded data on panel 117 of operation unit 110, indicated by arrow A. As shown in FIG. 2, the panel 117 of operation unit 110 is recorded via OS 115 of operation unit 110, and the data is written to HDD 112 on the controller 100 side via USB I / F 114. Since eMMC 113 of operation unit 110 basically has a small capacity and is not durable for writing, it is necessary to write the data to HDD 112 on the controller 100 side. As a result, a video file M of the recorded data is saved on HDD 112.

[0024] The problem here is that the image forming apparatus 10 can have the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 each enter an energy saving state independently, and depending on the energy saving state, the power supply to the HDD 112 may be turned off.

[0025] In this case, the video file M cannot be saved to the HDD 112, and therefore the video recorded in the energy saving state cannot be maintained.

[0026] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of the recording process when the power of the controller 100 is off. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of the recording process when the power of the controller 100 is turned on after being turned off. The configurations of Figs. 3 and 4 are the same as Fig. 2.

[0027] 3 shows the operation of the controller 100 when the power is turned off, which solves the above problem. The storage destination is switched depending on the power status of the HDD 112.

[0028] Specifically, when the HDD 112 is turned off or on, the controller 100 notifies the operation unit 110 of this.

[0029] As shown by arrow B in FIG. 3, when the energy-saving management module 120 on the operation unit 110 receives a power-off notification for the HDD 112 from the controller 100, it requests the operation unit OS 115 to save the video file M in a specified directory in the RAM 118 of the operation unit 110, such as tmpfs. The RAM 118 is a volatile memory with a smaller volatile storage area than the HDD 112, which has an unlimited number of write operations, so the writing itself does not pose a problem. When saving to this operation unit RAM 118, a ring buffer format is assumed, and it is guaranteed that the file size will not exceed a specified size. In response to the request from the energy-saving management module 120, the OS 115 saves the video file M of the recorded video data in the RAM 118, as shown by arrow C in FIG. 3.

[0030] However, if the video file M is left in RAM 118 as it is, it will be deleted when the power is turned off.

[0031] 4, when the energy saving management module 120 on the operation unit 110 receives a power ON notification for the HDD 112 from the controller 100 as indicated by arrow D in Fig. 4, the energy saving management module 120 moves the video file M from the operation unit RAM 118 to a predetermined directory on the HDD 112 of the controller 100. This prevents the video file M from being lost when the power is turned off.

[0032] 5 to 8 are flowcharts of the processes described with reference to FIGS.

[0033] 5 is a flowchart of video data storage control at the start of recording processing. As shown in FIG. 5, when the operation unit 110 is started (S11) and recording processing is started, the OS 115 of the operation unit 110 receives a notification from the controller 100 as to whether the HDD 112 is available (S12).

[0034] Next, the OS 115 checks the contents of the received HDD availability notification (S13). If the HDD is unavailable, that is, if a power-off notification indicated by arrow B in Fig. 3 has been received, the operation screen 117 is recorded in the operation unit RAM 118 (S14). On the other hand, if the HDD is available, that is, if a power-on notification indicated by arrow D in Fig. 4 has been received, the operation screen is recorded in the HDD 112 of the controller 100 (S15).

[0035] Fig. 6 is a flowchart of video data saving control during recording to an HDD. Fig. 6 shows the process of switching the recording destination when a notification is received during recording to the HDD 112 of the controller 100 that the HDD is unavailable due to a transition to power saving mode, etc. Also shown is a flow for saving data to the operation unit RAM 118 when a notification of unavailable HDD is received but a specified number of retries are exceeded due to a permanent disconnection on the USB I / F 114 with the controller 100 due to some kind of failure during recording to the HDD 112.

[0036] 6, the operation unit 110 has already received a power-on notification from the controller 100, and as shown in FIG. 2, the operation screen 117 is being recorded on the HDD 112 of the controller 100 (S21). Even during this recording, the OS 115 of the operation unit 110 receives a notification from the controller 100 as to whether the HDD 112 is available (S22).

[0037] Next, the OS 115 checks the content of the received HDD availability notification (S23). If the HDD is unavailable, that is, if a power-off notification indicated by arrow B in Fig. 3 is received, the recording destination is switched so that the operation screen 117 is recorded in the operation-unit RAM 118 (S24). On the other hand, if the HDD is available, that is, if a power-on notification indicated by arrow D in Fig. 4 is subsequently received, the process of recording the operation screen 117 in the HDD 112 of the controller 100 continues (S25).

[0038] Furthermore, in step S21, while the operation screen 117 is being recorded on the HDD 112 of the controller 100, some error may occur during the saving on the HDD 112 (S26), and a situation may arise in which recording on the HDD 112 cannot be performed. In this case, it is determined whether or not the recording has failed a specified number of times (S27).

[0039] If the failure has not occurred the specified number of times (NO in S27), the process waits for a specified number of seconds (S28), and then the process of saving to the HDD 112 is retried (S29).

[0040] If the retry of the save process is successful (Yes in S30), the process of recording the operation screen to the HDD 112 of the controller 100 continues (S25). If the retry of the save process is unsuccessful (No in S30), the process returns to step S27, and after waiting until the specified number of times is reached, a retry is performed.

[0041] On the other hand, if the recording has failed the specified number of times (Yes in S27), the recording destination is switched so that the operation screen is recorded in the operation unit RAM 118 (S24). This prevents recording failure even if a permanent disconnection with the controller occurs, such as a hardware defect in the USB I / F 114.

[0042] 7 is a flowchart of video data saving control during recording to the operation unit RAM 118. Fig. 7 shows the switching process when a notification is received that the HDD 112 is available due to recovery from power saving mode or the like during recording to the operation unit RAM 118. It also shows the process to be performed when the operation unit initiates shutdown without receiving a notification that the HDD is available due to some kind of failure. In this case, the video file M on the operation unit RAM 118 is saved to a specified directory in the eMMC 113.

[0043] 7, the operation unit 110 has already received a power-off notification from the controller 100, and is currently recording the operation screen 117 in the operation unit RAM 118 (S31), as shown in FIG. 3. Even during this recording, the OS 115 of the operation unit 110 receives a notification from the controller 100 as to whether the HDD is available (S32).

[0044] Next, the OS 115 checks the content of the received HDD availability notification (S33). If the HDD is unavailable, that is, if a power-off notification indicated by arrow B in FIG. 3 is subsequently received, the OS 115 continues the process of recording the operation screen 117 to the operation-unit RAM 118 (S34). On the other hand, if the HDD is available, that is, if a power-on notification indicated by arrow D in FIG. 4 is received, the OS 115 switches the recording destination so that the operation screen 117 is recorded to the HDD 112 of the controller 100 (S35). Furthermore, as indicated by arrow E in FIG. 4, the OS 115 transfers the video file M stored in the operation-unit RAM 118 to the HDD 112 of the controller 100 (S36).

[0045] Furthermore, while the operation screen 117 is being recorded in the operation unit RAM 118 in step S31, a notification to shut down the operation unit 110 may be received before receiving a power-on notification from the controller 100 (S37). In this case, the moving image file M is transferred from the operation unit RAM 118 to the operation unit eMMC 113 (S38), and after the moving image file M is saved, the operation unit 110 undergoes shutdown processing. This prevents the moving image file M from being lost due to an unexpected shutdown.

[0046] Fig. 8 is a flowchart of the recording data collection process. In Fig. 8, the process waits until notification that the HDD is available, and when the HDD becomes available, the video file group M stored in a predetermined directory on the HDD 112 of the controller 100 or the eMMC 113 of the operation unit 110 is output to an external medium such as the USB memory 108 or the SD card 107.

[0047] First, when a request to collect video file M is received from a user via panel 117 of operation unit 110 or the like (S41), OS 115 of operation unit 110 checks the content of the current HDD availability notification (S42). As long as the current HDD availability notification is "unavailable," the system continues to wait until a new HDD availability notification is received (S43).

[0048] On the other hand, if the current HDD availability notification is "available," all video files M in a predetermined directory on the HDD 112 (CTL HDD) of the controller 100 are transferred to external media (S44), and all video files M in the predetermined directory that have already been transferred are deleted (S45). Also, all video files M in a predetermined directory on the eMMC 113 of the operation unit 110 are transferred to external media (S46), and all video files M in the predetermined directory that have already been transferred are deleted (S47).

[0049] Fig. 9 is a list of recording destinations according to the state of each part of the image forming apparatus 10. Fig. 9 lists the states of each part as "energy saving state of the operation unit 110," "state of the operation unit RAM 118," "state of the operation unit eMMC 113," "energy saving state of the controller 100," and "state of the HDD 112 of the controller 100," and each state is indicated by ON or OFF. Note that the energy saving state OFF includes both the literal power OFF state and the so-called STR (Suspended To RAM) state.

[0050] 9 lists four types of combination conditions of states [1] to [4]. Condition [1] is when all items on operation unit 110 and controller 100 are in the OFF state, and at this time operation unit 110 is not activated, so recording processing is not required, and therefore the recording destination is also set to "unnecessary." Similarly, condition [2] is when each item on operation unit 110 is in the OFF state and each item on controller 100 is in the ON state, and at this time operation unit 110 is not activated, so recording processing is also not required, and therefore the recording destination is also set to "unnecessary."

[0051] On the other hand, in condition [3], each item on the operation unit 110 is in the ON state, and each item on the controller 100 is in the OFF state. At this time, the HDD 112 of the controller 100 is in the OFF state and recording is not possible, so the operation unit RAM 118 is set as the recording destination and the moving image file M is temporarily saved therein. Furthermore, if a transition to condition [4] occurs, the moving image file M temporarily saved in the operation unit RAM 118 is transferred to the HDD 112 of the controller 100. On the other hand, if a transition to condition [4] cannot occur, the moving image file M is transferred to the eMMC 113 of the operation unit 110.

[0052] Condition [4] is that all items on the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 are in the ON state, and the HDD 112 of the controller 100 is in the ON state and recording is possible, so the HDD 112 of the controller 100 is set as the recording destination and the video file M is saved to the HDD 112.

[0053] 10 and 11 are examples of screen displays on touch panel 117 of operation unit 110 during recording, and a message to that effect is always displayed while recording is in progress. Separate from area 117A where an arbitrary application is displayed, banner area 117B at the top always notifies the user of the save destination. In the example of FIG. 10, the save destination is HDD 112, and in the example of FIG. 11, it is displayed that the save destination is RAM 118 of operation unit 110. In this way, by providing a user interface that displays the save destination of video file M, the user can confirm the recording operation, thereby improving usability.

[0054] Note that saving to the eMMC 113 is an exceptional case that occurs only during shutdown, and since a dialog box indicating that shutdown is in progress is displayed on the front of the touch panel 117 and cannot be confirmed, no new screen is provided.

[0055] FIG. 12 shows an example of a collection request screen 121 for a video file M. This screen 121 is displayed, for example, on the touch panel 117 of the operation unit 110. The user specifies an output destination on the displayed screen 121 and collects a group of files according to the flow of FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 12, a USB memory 108 and an SD card 109 are displayed as external media to which the recording log can be output, and the user can select one of them. In this way, by providing a user interface for collecting saved video data M, the user can easily obtain the log by operating the panel. Furthermore, by providing a user interface that allows the user to select a storage destination for each of the collected video data M, any device the user owns can be used as an output destination, further improving usability.

[0056] As described above, this embodiment makes it possible to record data while minimizing writing to the eMMC and covering all energy-saving states.

[0057] Thus, according to the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment, when saving data (video file M) of the panel screen 117 of the operation unit 110, the saving destination of the data is changed from the HDD 112 to the RAM 118 of the operation unit 110 depending on whether the HDD 112 of the controller 100 is writable or not. With this configuration, in an information processing apparatus including the operation unit 110 and the controller 100, it is possible to save data (video data M) of the operation screen 117 of the operation unit 110 without depending on the energy saving state of the controller 100 (i.e., whether writing to the HDD 112 is possible or not).

[0058] In the above embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 is illustrated as an example of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. However, the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment is not limited to the image forming apparatus 10, as long as it includes an operation unit 110 and a controller 100, and the operation unit 110 and the controller 100 can operate independently and can be in different energy-saving states. The information processing apparatus may be, for example, a multifunction peripheral such as an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral / Printer / Product), an output device such as a PJ (Projector), an IWB (Interactive White Board: a white board with an electronic blackboard function that allows mutual communication), or a digital signage, a HUD (Head Up Display) device, industrial machinery, an imaging device, a sound collecting device, a medical device, a network home appliance, an automobile (Connected Car), a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a game console, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a digital camera, a wearable PC, a desktop PC, or the like.

[0059] The present embodiment has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific examples. Design modifications to these specific examples made by a person skilled in the art as appropriate are also included within the scope of the present disclosure as long as they comprise the features of the present disclosure. The elements of the above-described specific examples, as well as their arrangement, conditions, shape, etc., are not limited to those exemplified and can be modified as appropriate. The elements of the above-described specific examples can be combined in various ways as appropriate, as long as no technical contradictions arise. [Explanation of symbols]

[0060] 10 Image forming device (information processing device) 100 Controllers 110 Operation section 112 HDD (controller storage medium) 113 eMMC (operation unit storage medium) 114 Interface 115 Operation unit OS 116 Controller OS 118 Operation unit RAM (memory) M Video file (data) [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0061] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-022440

Claims

1. An operation unit; a controller; The operation unit and the controller have independent operating systems and are capable of taking independent energy-saving states, and the operation unit and the controller are connected by a single interface; the controller has a storage medium; an information processing device that, when saving panel screen data of the operation unit, changes the saving destination of the data from the storage medium of the controller to a memory of the operation unit depending on whether the storage medium of the controller is writable or not.

2. automatically changing the storage destination of the data to the memory of the operation unit depending on the power supply state of the storage medium of the controller; The information processing device according to claim 1 .

3. The data is a video file recording the panel screen.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1.

4. the data stored in the memory is transferred from the memory to the storage medium when the power supply of the storage medium of the controller is turned on; The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. the operation unit has a storage medium with a limited number of write operations, If a shutdown process is started without a notification from the controller to the operation unit that the power supply of the storage medium of the controller is in an on state, the data stored in the memory is moved to the storage medium on the operation unit. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. when detecting a permanent disconnection with the controller while the data is being saved in the storage medium of the controller, changing the save destination of the data from the storage medium to the memory of the operation unit; The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. the operation unit has a user interface that displays a destination where the data is saved; The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. the operation unit has a user interface for collecting the plurality of stored data; The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. the operation unit has a user interface that allows selection of a destination for saving each of the plurality of collected data. The information processing device according to claim 8 .

10. An operation unit; a controller; An information processing method using an information processing device in which the operation unit and the controller have independent OSs and are capable of taking independent energy-saving states, and the operation unit and the controller are connected by a single interface, a changing step of changing a storage destination of the data from the storage medium of the controller to a memory of the operation unit, depending on whether the storage medium of the controller is writable or not, when saving data of a panel screen of the operation unit; An information processing method including:

11. An operation unit; a controller; The information processing device in which the operation unit and the controller have independent OSs and can take independent energy-saving states, and the operation unit and the controller are connected by a single interface, a change function for changing the destination of the data from the storage medium of the controller to the memory of the operation unit, depending on whether the storage medium of the controller is writable or not, when saving panel screen data of the operation unit; An information processing program to achieve this.

12. An operation unit; a controller; The operation unit and the controller have independent operating systems and are capable of taking independent energy-saving states, and the operation unit and the controller are connected by a single interface; the controller has a storage medium; when saving panel screen data of the operation unit, changing a save destination of the data from the storage medium of the controller to a memory of the operation unit depending on whether the storage medium of the controller is writable or not; Image forming device.

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