JP3069877B2 - Information transceiver - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information transmitting / receiving apparatus for receiving information transmitted from the outside and transmitting information to the outside, and more particularly, to communication which cannot be recovered by an error recovery procedure when receiving a control program. The present invention relates to an information transmission / reception device that can reuse the original control program information only by providing a nonvolatile storage unit for the storage size of the control program information at the time of power failure during communication or abnormality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus is known as an information transmitting / receiving apparatus for receiving information transmitted from outside and transmitting information to the outside.

The facsimile apparatus transmits information input through an input unit through a dedicated line or a telephone line, and receives information transmitted from another machine through a dedicated line or a telephone line. The output information is output by the output unit.

Here, the processing of inputting the information, transmitting the input information, receiving the transmitted information, and outputting the received information is performed by a control program stored in a ROM. This means that the amount of information in the program is relatively small,
This is advantageous in cost when there is almost no need to make corrections.

However, the functions and the like of this type of facsimile apparatus have been increasingly developed in recent years, and the control program has become large-scale and complicated with this.
Therefore, the possibility that bugs and specification changes occur in this control program is steadily increasing, and if the control program is written in ROM, the above-mentioned bugs and specification changes will occur unless the equipment is brought to the manufacturer. Can not respond. Therefore, it is considered that a nonvolatile memory is used instead of the ROM so that the user can cope with the above-mentioned bug or change of specifications.

On the other hand, recently, when an error occurs in the received information while the information transmitted from the transmitting side is being received, the information is transmitted from the own apparatus to the transmitting side in frame units. It is now possible to provide an apparently so-called error-free communication environment by making it possible to request retransmission in the Internet. In this error-free communication environment, for example, the control program data is transmitted from the transmitting side, and the transmitted control program data is stored in, for example, a non-volatile memory of the own device, thereby upgrading the program of the own device. Various processes of the own device can be performed by a new control program transmitted from the transmitting side instead of the control program stored in the non-volatile memory of the original own device.

[0007] When the control program of the own device is upgraded by the control program data transmitted from the transmitting side, a communication error that cannot be recovered by a procedure for requesting retransmission, for example, a line disconnection or a power failure occurs. Must be considered. Therefore, the conventional facsimile apparatus employs the following two methods. That is, in the first method, a double nonvolatile storage area for storing control program data is prepared, the previous program data is stored in one area, and the received new control program data is stored in one area. The new control program data is stored in the other area, and when the new control program data is completely stored in the other area without any abnormality or the like, various processes of the own machine are performed by the new control program stored in the other area. If an abnormality occurs and new control program data cannot be normally stored in the other area, various processes of the own apparatus are performed by the previous program stored in one area. is there.

In the second method, the control program data transmitted from the transmitting side is temporarily stored in a work area of the RAM, and the transmitted program data is completely stored in the RAM without any abnormality or the like. When the control program data can be stored in the work area, the control program data is stored in the non-volatile memory.
In this method, when new control program data transmitted to the work area of M cannot be normally stored, various processes of the own device are performed by the previous program stored in the nonvolatile memory.

However, in these methods, the capacity of the memory required to store the control program data is reduced.
Furthermore, a capacity twice as large as this capacity must be added.

[0010]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, when a communication error that cannot be recovered by the error recovery procedure of the control program information being received or when the power is cut off during communication, the original control program information is lost. If it is used again, the capacity of the memory required to store the control program information must be increased to twice the capacity of this memory, which increases the storage capacity. There was a problem.

Therefore, the present invention provides a method of reusing the original control program with a minimum storage capacity in the event of a communication error that cannot be recovered by the error recovery procedure when the control program information is being received or a power failure during communication. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information transmitting and receiving device that is enabled.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a nonvolatile storage device in which control program information is stored, and a control program in which the control program information stored in the nonvolatile storage device is loaded. Storage means, backup means for retaining the contents of the main storage means when power is turned off, and transfer program information for transferring the control program information stored in the non-volatile storage means to the main storage means when power is turned on. Sub-storage means for storing, transmitting and receiving means for transmitting information to the outside or receiving information transmitted from the outside in accordance with the control program information, the control program information, the transfer program information, and the reception control program received by the transmitting and receiving means Control means for performing various processes in accordance with the information, And storing the control program information stored in the main storage means in the non-volatile storage means when the reception control program information cannot be normally stored. Features.

[0013]

The reception control program information is stored in the non-volatile storage means one by one, and the control program information stored in the main storage means is stored in the non-volatile storage means when the reception control program information cannot be stored normally. .

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an information transmitting / receiving apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the information transmitting / receiving apparatus of the present invention is applied to, for example, a facsimile or the like, and reads image information of a document or prints data supplied from an input / output circuit 9. And a printing mechanism 8, and the data reading mechanism and the printing mechanism 8 are connected to a CPU.
A drive circuit 7 driven based on a control signal supplied from the CPU 1 via a bus 2 (consisting of an address, control and data bus); a data reading and printing mechanism for reading data supplied from the CPU 1 via the bus 2 An input / output circuit 9 for supplying read data of a document supplied to or read by the data reading and printing mechanism 8 to the CPU 1 via the bus 2, the CPU 1, the bus 2, and for performing main processing operations of the information transmitting / receiving device Storage memory (for example, a nonvolatile memory such as a read disk or a flash memory for large-capacity low-speed access) storing program data (facsimile control program data), and control program data stored in the secondary storage memory 3 when the power is turned on. Is stored in the main memory (eg, RAM) 4, and the contents stored in the main memory 4 are A battery 5 that is backed up when the power is turned off, a boot ROM 6 that stores a boot program that writes the control program data stored in the secondary storage memory 3 when the power is turned on to the main memory 4, and the read data is transmitted to a destination via a line. It is configured by connecting a line interface circuit 10 that supplies a transmission signal transmitted from a partner to the CPU 1 via the bus 2.

FIG. 2 shows a memory configuration of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage facsimile control program data and the secondary storage memory updating flag described later are stored in the storage area of the secondary storage memory 3, and the reception area is stored in one storage area of the main memory 4. The facsimile control program data is stored, and the other storage area of the main memory 4 is used as a work area of the CPU 1, and a stack or a communication buffer temporarily used in the processing of the facsimile control program is allocated to the work area, and the boot is performed. Boot program data is stored in the storage area of the ROM 6.

Here, the secondary storage memory updating flag is a flag that is turned on when a power failure occurs during so-called downline loading for receiving facsimile control program data from the transmitting side. If it does, the original facsimile control program data stored in the main memory 4 is stored in the secondary storage memory 3.

Next, the operation of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, referring to FIG.
The operation by the boot program stored in the.

When the information transmitting / receiving device is powered on, the CPU
1 reads the boot program data stored in the boot ROM 6 and starts processing by this boot program. First, in step 100, it is determined whether or not the secondary storage memory updating flag is off. If "YES", the process proceeds to step 110, and if "NO", the process proceeds to step 120. Usually, this flag is off.

In step 110, the facsimile control program data stored in the secondary storage memory 3 is loaded into the main memory 4. Then, the processing shifts to processing by the facsimile control program stored in the main memory 4.

In step 120, the contents of the main memory 4 are
Rewrite to the next storage memory 3. Then, control goes to a step 130. That is, since the secondary storage memory updating flag is ON, the facsimile control program transmitted from the transmission side cannot be normally stored due to the power failure,
At this time, the original facsimile control program data stored in the main memory 4 backed up by the battery 5 is rewritten in the secondary storage memory 3, and thereafter,
Make this original facsimile control program available.

In step 130, the secondary storage memory updating flag is turned off. Then, the processing shifts to processing by the facsimile control program stored in the main memory 4.

Next, the processing operation of the facsimile control program will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 200, it is determined whether or not a downline load is performed.
0, and if “NO”, the process proceeds to step 220. That is, from the information transmitted from the other party through the line interface circuit 10, it is determined whether or not the facsimile control program data to be transmitted is stored in place of the facsimile control program data of its own machine and a downline load for upgrading the version is performed. I do.

In step 210, the secondary storage memory updating flag is turned on. Then, proceed to Step 240,
Move to downline loading process.

In step 220, it is determined whether or not a facsimile operation is performed. If "YES", the flow shifts to step 230. That is, it detects whether or not a request for performing a facsimile operation is made based on information supplied from the other party through the line interface circuit 10. In step 230, a facsimile operation is performed. That is, original data and the like transmitted from the other party via the line interface 10 shown in FIG. 1 according to the facsimile processing program of the facsimile control program stored in the main memory 4 via the bus 2 and the input / output circuit 9. The data is supplied to the data reading and printing mechanism 8, and the data reading and printing mechanism 8 is driven via the drive circuit 7, and the supplied document data and the like are printed on paper, for example. When transmitting the read data from the own device to the other party, the data reading and printing mechanism 8 is driven via the drive circuit 7 to read the information of the original, and the data obtained by this reading is input / output circuit 9 The data is supplied to the line interface circuit 10 via the bus 2 and data is supplied from the line interface circuit 10 to the other device via a line (not shown).

Here, the downline loading process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 300, for example, data of one frame is received via a line. Then, the process proceeds to step 310.

In step 310, it is determined whether or not there is an error in the data of one frame received from the other party in step 300. If "YES", step 32
0, and if “NO”, the flow proceeds to step 340.

In step 320, it is determined whether or not retransmission is possible. If "YES", the flow shifts to step 330, where "N"
If "O", the process proceeds to step 360. Note that an error that cannot be retransmitted is, for example, a line disconnection. If the line is disconnected, communication with the other party cannot be performed.

In step 330, a retransmission request is made. That is, a request is made to the destination device via the line interface circuit 10 to transmit data again. Here, resending means requesting the same data again from the other party. For example, in the case of a G3 machine for a telephone network, the error control mode and the IS
In the case of a G4 machine for a digital network such as a DN, this is performed in a high-level data link procedure. This makes it possible to receive data in an apparently error-free communication environment.

In step 340, the received data, that is, the received facsimile control program data is written in the secondary storage memory 3. Then, control goes to a step 350. In step 350, it is determined whether the reception is completed or not, and "Y
If "ES", the process exits from this processing routine. If "NO", the process returns to step 300 again.

In step 360, the result is determined to be abnormal, and the process exits from this processing routine.

Returning to FIG. 4, after the downline loading process shown in FIG.
In step 250, it is determined whether the result of the downline loading process is normal. If "YES", the process proceeds to step 260, and if "NO", the process proceeds to step 270.

At step 260, the secondary storage memory updating flag is turned off. Then, the processing shifts to the processing of the boot program shown in FIG.

At step 270, the contents of the main memory 4 are
Rewrite to the next storage memory 3. Then, control goes to a step 280.

In step 280, the secondary storage memory updating flag is turned off. Thereafter, the processing shifts to processing by the boot program.

As described above, in this embodiment, the facsimile control program data of its own machine is stored in the main memory 4, and the facsimile control program data transmitted from the partner device is written in the secondary storage memory 3.
For example, when this writing cannot be performed normally due to a power failure during communication or a line disconnection, the original facsimile control program data stored in the main memory 4 is again stored in the secondary storage memory 3.
The original facsimile control program must be used again with a minimum storage capacity in the event of a communication error that cannot be recovered by the error recovery procedure when the facsimile control program is being received or a power shutdown during communication. Can be.

[0041]

As explained above, according to the present invention,
The reception control program information is stored in the non-volatile storage means one by one, and the control program stored in the main storage means is stored in the non-volatile storage means when the reception control program information cannot be stored normally. Therefore, in the event of a communication error that cannot be recovered by the error recovery procedure when the control program information is being received or a power failure during communication, the original control program can be used again with a minimum storage capacity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of an information transmitting / receiving device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a storage area of the information transmitting / receiving device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the information transmitting / receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Bus 3 Secondary storage memory 4 Main memory 5 Battery 6 Boot ROM 7 Drive circuit 8 Data reading and printing mechanism 9 Input / output circuit 10 Line interface circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00 G06F 9/445

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A non-volatile storage unit storing a control program, a main storage unit loaded with control program information stored in the non-volatile storage unit, and a storage content of the main storage unit held when power is turned off. A backup unit that stores a transfer program that transfers the control program information stored in the non-volatile storage unit to the main storage unit when power is turned on; and transmits information to the outside according to the control program information. Or a transmission / reception unit that receives information transmitted from the outside, and a control unit that performs various processes according to the control program information, the transfer program information, and the reception control program information received by the transmission / reception unit. Storing information in the nonvolatile storage means one by one, An information transmission / reception device, wherein the control program information stored in the main storage means is stored in the non-volatile storage means when the information cannot be stored normally.