Image forming apparatus

Abstract

To prevent an increase in the risk of a failure in a storage device in storage of logs in the occurrence of a failure.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus has: a first storage unit that stores data in a storage device; a second storage unit that stores data in a storage device having higher resistance than the storage device of the first storage unit; a reading unit that notifies that it reads image data stored in the first storage unit; and a control unit that, after receiving the notification, changes a storage destination of logs from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, and after the completion of storage of the image data, changes the storage destination of logs from the second storage unit to the first storage unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] In electronic devices and information processing devices such as image forming apparatuses, logs such as communication histories and execution histories are stored in a storage device such as a hard disk (HD) for the purpose of analyzing generated failures and malfunctions. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which, in a device where a main control unit and a sub-control unit communicate, when it becomes impossible to acquire a log by the main control unit due to a failure, the sub-control unit temporarily stores the log in a non-volatile memory (HD, etc.) and transmits the log to the main control unit after recovery.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] However, in the conventional technique, since logs are stored in a storage device of a non-volatile memory with low write endurance at the time of failure occurrence, there is a problem that the risk of failure of the storage device increases. In addition, in order to reduce the risk of failure, preparing a dedicated storage device for storing logs or preparing a storage device of a non-volatile memory with high write endurance poses a problem of increased cost.

[0004] In view of the above problems, an embodiment of the present invention aims to prevent an increase in the failure risk of a storage device in storing logs at the time of failure occurrence.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus comprising: a first storage unit for storing data in a storage device; a second storage unit for storing data in a storage device with higher tolerance than the storage device of the first storage unit; a reading unit for notifying that image data stored in the first storage unit has been read; and a control unit that, after receiving the notification from the reading unit, changes the destination of the log saving request from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, and after the saving of the image data is completed or stopped, changes the destination of the log saving request from the second storage unit to the first storage unit. The image forming apparatus further includes a power supply unit for restarting the power supply, the second storage unit saves a log relating to the communication failure when a communication failure occurs when transmitting the image data to the first storage unit, and the control unit requests the power supply unit to restart the power supply after the saving of the log relating to the communication failure is complete. It is characterized by the following: [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to embodiments of the present invention, when saving logs in the event of a failure, it is possible to prevent an increase in the risk of failure of the storage device. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] This figure shows an example of a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of the hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of a configuration diagram of a functional block in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of a sequence related to the log storage location change process according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of a sequence of steps related to log saving processing during a communication failure (between the control unit and non-volatile memory). [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of a sequence of steps related to log saving processing during a communication failure (between the control unit and volatile memory). [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] Hereinafter, embodiments of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0009] [First Embodiment] <Overview> Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 9 shown in Figure 1 includes an image reading unit, a control unit, a printing unit, a power supply unit, a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, and a battery. The image reading unit reads image data such as faxes received by the image forming apparatus 9, or image data scanned by the scanning function of the image forming apparatus 9, and transmits it to the control unit. The control unit stores the image data received from the image reading unit in a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk. When printing the image data, the control unit transmits the image data stored in the non-volatile memory to the printing unit. The printing unit prints the image data received from the control unit. The power supply unit turns off the power to the image forming apparatus 9 and then turns it back on in response to a restart request received from the control unit, such as when recovering from a failure that occurred in the apparatus.

[0010] In this embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 9 normally stores logs in non-volatile memory such as a hard disk. However, while image data is being transmitted to the non-volatile memory, the control unit changes the log storage location from non-volatile memory to volatile memory. By storing logs and image data in different locations in this way, it is possible to save logs even if a communication failure occurs when transmitting image data to non-volatile memory. Here, volatile memory such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), used as a temporary log storage location, has extremely high resistance to data writing compared to non-volatile memory. Here, resistance refers to functional resistance (durability) to heat and vibration. Therefore, by enabling log storage even in the event of a failure, it is possible to prevent an increase in the risk of failure even if the number of writes to the storage device increases. Furthermore, by temporarily using an area commonly used by functions such as faxing, printing, and scanning as the volatile memory area used for log storage, it is possible to avoid adding or increasing the capacity of volatile memory and the costs associated with doing so. However, since volatile memory requires a continuous power supply to retain the information it stores, in the embodiment of the present invention, a dedicated battery is used to supply power to the volatile memory when a failure occurs or when the power supply is restarted during recovery from a failure.

[0011] Note that the configuration of the image forming apparatus 9 shown in Figure 1 is just one example. For example, the image forming apparatus 9 may be connected to a wired or wireless network, and the image reading unit may be configured to read image data via the network. Also, the image forming apparatus 9 may have all of the functions of fax, printing, scanning, etc., or it may have at least one of those functions.

[0012] <Example Hardware Configuration (Image Forming Apparatus)> Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 9 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 2, the image forming apparatus 9 (or referred to as an MFP, Multifunction Peripheral / Product / Printer) includes a controller 910, a short-range communication circuit 920, an engine control unit 930, an operation panel 940, a network interface 950, and a power supply 960.

[0013] Of these, the controller 910 includes the main components of the computer: the CPU 901, system memory (MEM-P) 902, northbridge (NB) 903, southbridge (SB) 904, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 906, local memory (MEM-C) 907, HDD controller 908, and HD 909, with the NB 903 and ASIC 906 connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921.

[0014] Of these, the CPU 901 controls the entire image forming apparatus 9. The NB 903 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 901 with the MEM-P 902, SB 904, and AGP bus 921, and includes a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 902, as well as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master and an AGP target.

[0015] MEM-P902 consists of ROM902a, which is a memory for storing programs and data that realize the various functions of the controller 910, and RAM902b, which is used for program and data deployment and drawing during memory printing. The programs stored in RAM902b may be configured to be provided as installable or executable files recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, or DVD.

[0016] SB904 is a bridge for connecting NB903 with a PCI device and a peripheral device. ASIC906 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications, which has hardware elements for image processing and serves as a bridge for connecting an AGP bus 921, a PCI bus 922, a HDD 908, and a MEM-C 907 respectively. This ASIC906 consists of a PCI target and an AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) forming the core of the ASIC906, a memory controller for controlling MEM-C 907, a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) for performing operations such as rotation of image data by means of hardware logic, etc., and a PCI unit for performing data transfer via the PCI bus 922 between a scanner unit 931 and a printer unit 932. Note that interfaces for USB (Universal Serial Bus) or IEEE1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) may be connected to the ASIC906.

[0017] The short-distance communication circuit 920 has a card reader 920a for reading user authentication information etc. stored in an IC card or the like.

[0018] The operation panel 940 has a touch panel 940a for receiving inputs from the user and a numeric keypad 940b. Also, the touch panel 940a displays an application screen etc. executed by the image forming apparatus 9.

[0019] The power supply 960 supplies power to the entire image forming apparatus 9 and executes power on / off and restart (off / on) according to an instruction or request from the controller 910. Also, when the power supply 960 is restarted in case of a failure etc., the battery 961 supplies power to the MEM-C 907 to hold information such as logs stored in the MEM-C 907.

[0020] <Regarding functions> FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration diagram of functional blocks in an image forming apparatus 9 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 9 includes a reading unit 10, a control unit 11, and a power supply unit 12. Each of these units is a function or means realized by the CPU 901 executing instructions included in one or more programs installed in the image forming apparatus 9. The first storage unit 14 and the second storage unit 15 can be realized by storage devices such as an HD 504 and a local memory (MEM-C) 907 included in the image forming apparatus 9, respectively.

[0021] The reading unit 10 reads image data acquired by a fax function, a scan function, or the like. Further, when the reading unit 10 saves the read image data in a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk, the reading unit 10 notifies the control unit 11 of the transmission of the image data.

[0022] While transmitting and saving the image data to the non-volatile memory, the control unit 11 changes the log storage destination from the non-volatile memory to the volatile memory. Further, the control unit 11 requests the first storage unit 14 and the second storage unit 15 to save the log as necessary. Also, when a communication failure occurs or the like, the control unit 11 requests the power supply unit 12 to restart the power supply in order to recover from the failure.

[0023] The power supply unit 12 executes a restart of the power supply (turning off the power and then turning it on) in response to a request from the control unit 11.

[0024] The first storage unit 14 saves the log in a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk in response to a request from the control unit 11.

[0025] The second storage unit 15 saves the log in a volatile memory such as a DRAM in response to a request from the control unit 11. Further, the second storage unit 15 switches to power supply by the battery 961 when the power supply from the power supply unit 12 stops, such as when restarting the power supply during recovery from a failure.

[0026] <Log storage location change process> Figure 4 shows an example of a sequence relating to the log storage location change process according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this sequence, the image forming apparatus 9 changes the log storage location from non-volatile memory to volatile memory while transmitting image data to non-volatile memory. The processing of each step in Figure 4 will be described below.

[0027] Step S20: The reading unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 9 reads image data acquired by a fax function or a scanning function. Furthermore, when the reading unit 10 saves the read image data to the first storage unit 14, which is a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk, it sends a message to the control unit 11 notifying it of the transmission of the image data. Here, when saving image data to the first storage unit 14, for example, it may be temporarily saved when the image data reading speed is faster than the printing speed during printing, or it may be saved for the purpose of long-term retention. The reading unit 10 may also send a message when the size of the image data is greater than or equal to a predetermined size, or it may include information about the size of the image in the message.

[0028] Step S21: When the control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 receives a message from the reading unit 10 notifying it of the transmission of image data to be stored in the first storage unit 14, it changes the log storage location from the first storage unit 14 to the second storage unit 15. Alternatively, if the received message contains information about the image size, the control unit 11 may change the log storage location if the image size is larger than a predetermined size.

[0029] Step S22: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the second storage unit 15 requesting that the log be saved. The message contains information about the log to be saved. Thereafter, whenever a predetermined event occurs, such as when the log save location is changed, when functions such as printing, scanning, or faxing are performed, or when a failure occurs, the control unit 11 sends a message to the second storage unit 15 requesting that predetermined information be saved as a log.

[0030] Step S23: The second storage unit 15 of the image forming apparatus 9 saves the received log and sends a message to the control unit 11 notifying it that the log saving is complete.

[0031] Step S24: The reading unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 9 transmits the image data to the control unit 11. The image data to be transmitted may be divided into individual images, or it may consist of multiple files.

[0032] Step S25: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message requesting the storage of image data, along with the image data, to the first storage unit 14.

[0033] Step S26: The first storage unit 14 of the image forming apparatus 9 stores the received image data and sends a message to the control unit 11 notifying it that the storage of the image data is complete.

[0034] Step S27: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the second storage unit 15 requesting the transmission of the stored log in order to move the log, which was temporarily stored in the volatile memory, to the non-volatile memory, which is the normal storage location, while transmitting the image data.

[0035] Step S28: The second storage unit 15 of the image forming apparatus 9 transmits the saved log to the control unit 11.

[0036] Step S29: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the first storage unit 14 requesting that the log received from the second storage unit 15 be saved. The message contains the log received from the second storage unit 15. The first storage unit 14 saves the received log according to the message it received.

[0037] Step S30: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the second storage unit 15 requesting the deletion of the saved log. The second storage unit 15 deletes the saved log in response to the received message.

[0038] Step S31: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 changes the log storage location from the second storage unit 15 to the first storage unit 14.

[0039] Through the above process, the image forming apparatus 9 can change the log storage location from non-volatile memory to volatile memory while transmitting image data to non-volatile memory.

[0040] <Log saving process during communication failure (between the control unit and non-volatile memory)> Figure 5 shows an example of a sequence related to log saving processing in the event of a communication failure (between the control unit and non-volatile memory). This sequence demonstrates that even if a communication failure occurs between the control unit and non-volatile memory while the image forming apparatus 9 is transmitting image data to the non-volatile memory, the log can still be saved. The processing of each step in Figure 5 will be explained below, but steps that show the same processing as shown in Figure 4 will not be explained.

[0041] Steps S20 to S25 execute the same process as shown in Figure 4. At this point, a communication failure occurs between the control unit 11 and the first storage unit 14, making it impossible to send and save image data from the control unit 11 to the first storage unit 14. However, since the log storage destination was changed to the second storage unit 15 in step S21, log saving is still possible.

[0042] Step S40: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the second storage unit 15 requesting the saving of logs related to communication failures, image data transmission, etc.

[0043] Step S41: The second storage unit 15 of the image forming apparatus 9 saves the received log and sends a message to the control unit 11 notifying it that the log saving is complete.

[0044] Step S42: The control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 sends a message to the power supply unit 12 requesting a power restart of the image forming apparatus 9 in order to recover from the communication failure. Here, it is assumed that the communication failure that occurred can be recovered by restarting the power supply. The power supply unit 12 of the image forming apparatus 9 performs a power restart (turning the power off and then on) in response to the received request message. As a result, the image forming apparatus 9 recovers from the communication failure. In addition, the second storage unit 15 switches to power supply from the battery 961 when the power supply from the power supply unit 12 stops in order to retain the information stored in the volatile memory.

[0045] After the communication failure is resolved, the logs stored in the second storage unit 15 are moved to the first storage unit 14 and saved there by performing the same process as steps S27 to S31 shown in Figure 4, thereby changing the log storage location from the second storage unit 15 to the first storage unit 14.

[0046] Through the above process, even if a communication failure occurs between the control unit and the non-volatile memory while the image forming apparatus 9 is transmitting image data to the non-volatile memory, the log can still be saved because the log's storage location is changed to a different location than the image data's storage location before the image data is transmitted. Therefore, the log saved when the communication failure occurs can be used to investigate the cause of the failure.

[0047] <Log saving process during communication failure (between control unit and volatile memory)> Figure 6 shows an example of a sequence related to log saving processing in the event of a communication failure (between the control unit and volatile memory). This sequence illustrates the log saving process when a communication failure occurs between the control unit and volatile memory while image data is being transmitted to non-volatile memory. The following describes the processing of each step in Figure 6, but the explanation of the same processing as shown in Figure 4 will be omitted.

[0048] Steps S20 to S25 execute the same process as shown in Figure 4. At this point, a communication failure occurs between the control unit 11 and the second storage unit 15, making it impossible to save the log. However, it is possible to send image data from the control unit 11 to the first storage unit 14 for storage. Therefore, in step S26, when the control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 9 receives a message from the first storage unit 14 notifying it that the image data saving is complete, it executes the same process as in step S42 shown in Figure 5 (request to restart the power supply) in order to recover from the failure.

[0049] After the communication failure is resolved, the logs stored in the second storage unit 15 are moved to the first storage unit 14 and saved there by performing the same process as steps S27 to S31 shown in Figure 4, thereby changing the log storage location from the second storage unit 15 to the first storage unit 14. In addition, the second storage unit 15 switches to power supply from the battery 961 when the power supply from the power supply unit 12 stops in order to retain the information it stores.

[0050] As the above processing shows, if a communication failure occurs between the control unit and the volatile memory while the image forming apparatus 9 is transmitting image data to the non-volatile memory, it is impossible to save the log while the failure is occurring. However, outside of the period when the failure is occurring (before and after the failure), it is possible to save the log to the volatile memory, and the saved log can be used to investigate the cause of the failure. Furthermore, while transmitting image data to the non-volatile memory, it is considered that failures are more likely to occur in the communication between the control unit 11 and the non-volatile memory than in the communication between the control unit 11 and the volatile memory. Therefore, while transmitting image data to the non-volatile memory, changing the log storage location from non-volatile memory to volatile memory is considered to reduce the opportunities to save logs that would be lost due to communication failures, that is, to increase the frequency of saving logs.

[0051] <Main effects> According to an embodiment of the present invention, by changing the log storage location from non-volatile memory to highly write-tolerant volatile memory while image data is being transmitted to non-volatile memory, it is possible to prevent an increase in the risk of storage device failure when saving logs in the event of a failure. Here, the period while image data is being transmitted to non-volatile memory may be from the start of image data transmission until the completion or cessation of image data storage. Furthermore, by temporarily using an area commonly used by functions such as fax, printing, and scanning as the volatile memory area used for saving logs, it is unnecessary to add or increase the capacity of volatile memory, and the costs associated with doing so.

[0052] Although several embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited in any way to these embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0053] For example, the example of the functional block configuration diagram in Figure 3 is divided according to its main function to facilitate understanding of the processing performed by the image forming apparatus 9. The present invention is not limited by the way the processing units are divided or their names. The processing in the image forming apparatus 9 can be further divided into many more processing units depending on the processing content. Furthermore, one processing unit can be divided to include even more processing.

[0054] Furthermore, each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Hereinafter, "processing circuit" as used herein includes processors programmed to execute each function by software, such as processors implemented by electronic circuits, as well as devices such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), DSPs (digital signal processors), FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), and conventional circuit modules designed to execute each of the functions described above.

[0055] Furthermore, the described apparatus represents only one of several computing environments for carrying out the embodiments disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the image forming apparatus 9 includes multiple computing devices, such as a server cluster. The multiple computing devices are configured to communicate with each other via any type of communication link, including a network or shared memory, and to perform the processing disclosed herein. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0056] 9 Image forming apparatus 10. Reading section 11 Control Unit 12 Power supply section 14 1st memory section 15 2nd memory section [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0057] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2019-142095

Claims

1. A first storage unit that stores data in a storage device, A second storage unit that stores data in a storage device with higher tolerance than the storage device of the first storage unit, A reading unit that notifies that image data to be stored in the first storage unit has been read, A control unit that, after receiving the notification from the reading unit, changes the destination of the log saving request from the first storage unit to the second storage unit, and after the saving of the image data is completed or stopped, changes the destination of the log saving request from the second storage unit to the first storage unit, An image forming apparatus having, The system further includes a power supply unit for restarting the power supply of the image forming apparatus, The second storage unit saves the log relating to the communication failure if a communication failure occurs when transmitting the image data to the first storage unit. The control unit requests the power supply unit to restart the power supply after the saving of the log relating to the communication failure is complete.

2. The second storage unit stores the log in an area that is commonly used by the functions of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

3. If the power supply is stopped due to the restart, the second storage unit has a battery for supplying power to the storage device. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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