Image Forming Apparatus Program Update Recovery Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image forming apparatuses face issues during remote program updating, where power interruptions can destroy files and cause operational failures, and increased memory usage can lead to insufficient memory space, resulting in abnormal operation.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves an updating process that stores a program prior to updating, generates an updating program, and sets it as a boot target, with a boot judging mechanism to verify successful booting and a restoring mechanism to revert to the previous program if booting fails, ensuring the updating process is executed appropriately.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If remote program updating is performed in the background, then updating efficiency is improved, but the risk of power interruption causing file destruction increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating a backup of the original program before the updating process begins. This backup is stored in advance in case the updating process is interrupted by power failure or other issues. The boot judging part then verifies whether the updated program can boot successfully before completing the update, ensuring that file integrity is maintained even when updating efficiency is prioritized through background processing.
2Speed
If the updated program is set as boot target without verification, then updating speed is improved, but the risk of boot failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback through the boot judging part that verifies whether the updated program can boot successfully. After the updating part completes the program update and sets the updated program as boot target, the boot judging part attempts to boot the system and judges whether the boot was successful. Based on this feedback, the restoring part either completes the update or restores the original program, ensuring reliable booting while maintaining efficient updating speed.
3Adaptability or versatility
If memory space is allocated for updated program, then program functionality is improved, but available memory space for other operations decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by separating the storage of the original program and the updated program into different storage locations or time periods. The updating part stores the backup program in a designated backup area before updating, and only after successful verification does it allocate memory for the updated program. This segmentation allows the system to maintain both program versions without permanently reducing available memory space, balancing program functionality with memory availability.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus which executes a program and updates the program, and is provided with an updating part configured to store a program prior to updating or a copy of the program prior to the updating and to generate an updating program by executing an updating process of the program, to thereby set the updating program as a boot target, a boot judging part configured to judge whether or not a booting of the updating program was successful and to record information indicating a result of judgement in a storage part, and a restoring part configured to confirm whether or not the booting of the updating program was successful based on the information, and to set the stored, program prior to the updating, as the boot target, if the booting of the updating program failed.