JP3124803B2 - Electronic device with extension unit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device with an extension unit for transmitting and receiving data by connecting an arbitrary number of extension units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile apparatuses and copiers that use recording paper of a fixed size such as A4 size or B4 size are often used. Generally, in such an apparatus, a paper feeding unit for feeding recording paper of various sizes is optional, and a user can arbitrarily attach a paper feeding unit of a desired size to the apparatus main body. ing.

The paper feeding unit has a function of detecting the presence or absence of recording paper and taking out recording paper one by one. When the paper feeding unit is mounted on the apparatus main body, it is connected to the apparatus main body by a signal line. The main unit performs a predetermined recording operation by inputting the detection data from the attached paper supply unit and outputting control data to the paper supply unit.

[0004] The connection between the apparatus main body and the paper feeding unit is generally performed by a chain connection system or a bus connection system. In the chain connection method, a first unit is connected to an interface unit of the apparatus main body, a plurality of units are sequentially connected to a first unit, a second unit, a second unit, and so on. Is the way. The bus connection method is a method in which a plurality of units are connected in parallel to a signal line of an interface unit of the apparatus main body.

[0005] These connection methods have the advantage that only one interface section of the apparatus main body is required regardless of the number of units to be attached.

However, conventionally, various data are transmitted by parallel signals on the signal line between the apparatus main body and the unit, so that the number of signal lines is increased.

On the other hand, when a plurality of paper feed units are mounted, an ID number is usually set for each unit so that the apparatus main body can identify each additional unit.
This ID number must be correctly set to a different number for each unit.

However, the setting operation of the ID number is troublesome because the operator has to manually set the ID number using a dip switch or the like.

[0009]

As described above, conventional facsimile machines and copiers have a problem that the number of signal lines between the main unit and the paper feed unit is large, and the operation of setting the ID number is troublesome. there were.

[0010] Such a problem is not limited to the facsimile machine and the copying machine, but also applies to various electronic devices in which various units are connected to the main unit.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem, and reduces the number of signal lines between the main unit and the extension unit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data transmission method between an apparatus main unit and an extension unit, which does not require a D number setting operation.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic device with an additional unit for connecting an arbitrary number of additional units to an electronic device main body and transmitting and receiving data between the electronic device main body and each of the additional units. The main body is provided with a parallel / serial conversion circuit for converting parallel data transmitted to the extension unit into serial data, and a serial / parallel conversion circuit for converting serial data received from the extension unit into parallel data. When data is transmitted from the device to each of the extension units, serial data with an identification number assigned to data is configured to be transmitted in parallel to all the extension units, while each of the extension units has A parameter for converting parallel data transmitted to the electronic device main unit into serial data. A serial / serial conversion circuit, an identification number generation circuit, a collation circuit for collating an identification number received together with data from the electronic device body with an identification number generated from the identification number generation circuit, and detecting a match in the collation circuit. And a serial / parallel conversion circuit for converting serial data received from the electronic device main body into parallel data, and an output end of an identification number generation circuit provided in the one extension unit is provided in the other extension unit. By connecting to the input terminal of the identification number generator circuit and the power supply to the input terminal of the first identification number generator circuit, the identification number unique to each identification unit is automatically generated. It is characterized by having done.

[0013]

[0014]

With the above arrangement, the main unit and each extension unit can transmit and receive data serially via a common signal line, thereby reducing the number of signal lines and connecting the extension unit. Alone, the ID number can be automatically generated.

[0015]

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the main body 1
Are arranged on four stacked paper feed units 2. The main body 1 reads a document image and records and outputs the read image on recording paper. The paper feed unit 2 feeds recording paper of various sizes to the main body 1.
In this embodiment, up to four units can be attached.

The main body 1 accommodates one paper feed tray 11, and a paper discharge tray 12 is fixed to a side surface. The copying machine records images by an electrophotographic recording method. Inside a main body 1, a photosensitive drum 13, a latent image forming unit 14, a developing unit 15, three high-voltage chargers 16, and a fixing unit are provided as image recording units. Known devices such as 17 are provided. Further, a transport path 18 for transporting recording paper fed from the paper feed tray 11 or the paper feed unit 2 is formed. Although not shown, a paper feed mechanism for taking out recording paper from the paper feed tray 11, an image reading unit, a control unit, and the like are provided.

The paper feed unit 2 is provided with a paper feed tray 21, a transport path 22, and a paper feed mechanism (not shown). Recording paper of various sizes is stored in the paper supply tray 21, and the recording paper taken out of the paper supply tray 21 is conveyed to the image recording unit via the conveyance path 22 and the conveyance path 18. Has become.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a portion for controlling the paper feed unit 2 in the main body 1. As shown in FIG. In the figure, control data from a control unit 102, a clock signal to a clock signal terminal CLK, and a latch signal to a latch signal terminal LAT are input to a parallel input terminal PIN of a P / S (parallel / serial) conversion circuit 101, respectively. ing. Serial output terminal SOU of P / S conversion circuit 101
The output signal of T is output to the sheet feeding unit 2 as the downstream data signal DL.

S / P (serial / parallel) conversion circuit 1
The serial data input terminal 03 receives an upstream data signal DU from the paper feed unit 2 side. The output signal of the parallel output terminal POUT of the S / P conversion circuit 102 is input to the control unit 102. The clock signal from the control 102 is input to the clock signal terminal CLK of the S / P conversion circuit 102, and the latch signal is input to the latch signal terminal LAT.

The clock signal is output from the control unit 102 to the paper feed unit 2 as the clock signal CK, and the latch signal LT is output in the same manner.

FIG. 3 shows a block configuration of the sheet feeding unit 2 and a connection with the main body 1. In the figure,
The paper feeding unit 2 is connected in parallel to four signal lines of a downstream data signal DL, an upstream data signal DU, a clock signal CK, and a latch signal LT which are input and output by the main body 1.

The downlink data signal DL is input to the terminal D of the D-type flip-flop 201 and the serial input terminal SIN of the S / P conversion circuit 202. Clock signal CK
Are directly input to the clock signal terminals C of the D-type flip-flops 201 and 203 and the clock signal terminals CLK of the S / P conversion circuit 202 and the P / S conversion circuit 204, respectively. Further, the D-type flip-flop 206 and the D-type flip-flop 206
It is input to the clock signal terminal C of the type flip-flop 207.

The latch signal LT is supplied to the reset terminals R of the D-type flip-flops 201, 203, 206 and 207, one input of the AND circuit 208, and P /
The signal is input to the latch signal terminal LAT of the S conversion circuit 204, respectively.

The output terminals Q of the D-type flip-flops 201 and 203 are connected to two terminals of the A-side input of the matching circuit 209, respectively. One end of each of the switches S1 and S2 is pulled up by the resistors R1 and R2 and connected to two terminals of the B-side input of the matching circuit 209. The other ends of the switches S1 and S2 are grounded. The output of the matching circuit 209 is input to the input terminal D of the D-type flip-flop 210.

The input terminal D of the D-type flip-flop 206
Is applied with a constant voltage + V. Its output terminal Q
Is connected to the input terminal D of the D-type flip-flop 207 and is also input to one input terminal of the AND circuit 211. The inverted input * Q of the D-type flip-flop 207 is input to the other input terminal. The output of the AND circuit 211 is a D-type flip-flop 210
Is invertedly input to the clock terminal C.

Output terminal Q of D-type flip-flop 210
Is one input terminal of the AND circuit 208 and the driver 2
And twelve control signal terminals. The input terminal of the driver 212 is connected to the serial output terminal SOUT of the P / S conversion circuit 204, and the output terminal is connected to the signal line of the upstream data signal DU. The output of the AND circuit 208 is input to the latch signal terminal LAT of the S / P conversion circuit 202.

The signal at the parallel output terminal POUT of the S / P conversion circuit 202 is input to a drive unit (not shown) provided in the paper feed unit 2. P / S conversion circuit 20
A detection signal from a sensor unit for detecting the presence or absence of recording paper and the mounting state of the paper feed tray 21 is input to the parallel input terminal 4.

When the copying machine of the present embodiment is used with the above configuration, up to four paper feeding units 2 are mounted as required, and a predetermined connection with the main body 1 is made. As a result, the main body 1 and the paper feed unit 2 are connected as shown in FIGS. Also, the attached paper feed unit 2
, Different ID numbers are set. This setting is set as a binary number by the switches S1 and S2.

The main body 1 has a paper feed unit 2 attached thereto.
Is used, the control unit 102 executes a predetermined control operation to input detection data from the paper feeding unit 2 and output various control data to the paper feeding unit 2.

FIG. 4A shows one operation in which the main body 1 accesses one sheet feeding unit 2 as described above. That is, in the initial state, the D-type flip-flops 201, 203, 206, and 207 are each reset.

When the main body 1 accesses the paper feeding unit 2, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, it outputs a clock signal CK and a downstream data signal DL. In this case, eight pulses of the clock signal CK are output, and the downlink data signal D
For L, 8-bit data is output as a serial signal in synchronization with the pulse. The first two bits I1,
I2 indicates an ID number for selecting the paper feed unit 2 to be accessed, and the other bits D1 to D6 are control data.

In the paper feeding unit 2, when the clock signal CK is input, the D flip-flops 206 and 2
07 are sequentially set, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the output of the AND circuit 211 becomes “H” (high level) at the second pulse of the clock signal CK. At this time, the data of the first two bits I1 and I2 of the downlink data signal DL are set in the D-type flip-flops 201 and 203. The collation circuit 209 collates the 2-bit data of I1 and I2 with the ID number set by the switches S1 and S2.

Now, one sheet feeding unit 2 of interest
It is assumed that the data of the two bits I1 and I2 coincide with the ID number. In this case, the output of the matching circuit 209 becomes “H”, and then the D-type flip-flop 210
Is set, and the output also becomes "H" as shown in FIG. According to the output signal, the driver 212
Is enabled, that is, an input signal is output.

The P / S conversion circuit 204 receives 6-bit detection data D1 to D6 from a sensor unit (not shown). When the clock signal CK is input, the detection signal is sequentially output from the serial output terminal SOUT one bit at a time in synchronization with the signal pulse, as shown in FIG. The output signal is output to the main unit 1 via the driver 212 as an uplink data signal DU. Thus, for example, information such as the presence or absence of recording paper in the paper feed tray 21 is notified to the main body 1.

On the other hand, the S / P conversion circuit 202 inputs each data of the downlink data signal DL in synchronization with the clock signal CK. When the transmission of the downlink data signal DL for 8 bits is completed, the main body 1 then outputs one pulse signal as the latch signal LT, as shown in FIG.

Now, since the output of the D-type flip-flop 210 is "H", the pulse is input to the S / P conversion circuit 202 via the AND circuit 208 as shown in FIG. Is done. Thereby, the S / P conversion circuit 2
02 outputs data of bits D1 to D6 of the downlink data signal DL from the parallel output terminal POUT. The 6-bit data is control data from the main body 1 and is input to a driving unit (not shown). Thereby, the sheet feeding unit 2
However, for example, a predetermined operation such as taking out one recording sheet from the sheet feed tray 21 and conveying the recording sheet to the main body 1 via the conveyance path 22 is executed.

The main body 1 repeats transmission and reception of the above-described signals as necessary. Here, it is assumed that the bits I1 and I2 indicating the ID number of the downlink data signal DL output as shown in FIG. In this case, in the one sheet feeding unit 2 noted above, the ID numbers do not match, and the output signal of the matching circuit 209 remains “L”. Then, as shown in FIG. 4D, the output signal of the D-type flip-flop 210 becomes “L” when the output signal of the AND circuit 211 falls.
become. As a result, the signal output of the driver 212 is also turned off.

In this case, another sheet feeding unit 2 having the same ID number executes signal transmission and reception.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the ID numbers are set for the paper feed units 2, respectively, while the downstream data signals DL,
The clock signal CK, the latch signal LT, and the upstream data signal DU are connected in parallel by four signal lines. Then, the main body 1 sends an ID number and transmission data to the paper feeding unit 2 side by a serial signal, and the paper feeding unit 2
Upon receiving the signal, if the received identification number matches the identification number of the own unit, the received data is read, and predetermined transmission data is transmitted by a serial signal.

In the present embodiment, the main body 1 transmits 8-bit data including the ID number to the paper feeding unit 2. However, when transmitting 8-bit data by a parallel signal as in the conventional case, , At least eight signal lines are required. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, data transmission can be performed with only four signal lines including signals for other timings. Further, since the plurality of paper feed units 2 are connected in parallel using the four signal lines as a bus, the number of signal lines does not increase regardless of the number of paper feed units 2.

As described above, the main body 1 and the paper feeding unit 2
Since data is transmitted as a serial signal on a common signal line,
The number of signal lines can be reduced.

Next, another embodiment of the paper feed unit 2 will be described.

FIG. 5 shows a portion of the sheet feeding unit 2 according to the present embodiment which is different from FIG. That is,
In this embodiment, the switches S1 and S2 and the resistors R1 and R2 in FIG. 3 are eliminated, and the ID number generation circuit 2
13 are provided.

The ID number generating circuit 21 of each paper feed unit 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes the same circuit for inputting and outputting two signals. Two input signals are input to an exclusive OR circuit 213a, and one signal is input to an inverter 213b. The output signals of the exclusive OR circuit 213a and the inverter 213b are input to the matching circuit 209 as ID number signals.

A voltage + V is applied to two inputs of the first ID number generation circuit 213, and the output of the first ID number generation circuit 213 is sent to the second ID number generation circuit 213. Has been entered. Each output is sequentially input to the next circuit, such that the second output is input to the third output.

When the paper feed unit 2 is attached to the main body 1, the above-described connection is performed by a predetermined operation.

In this configuration, it is assumed that four paper feed units 2 are now mounted. In this case, one of the paper feed units 2
In the second ID number generating circuit 213, the outputs of the exclusive OR circuit 213a and the inverter 213b are both "
In the second device, the output of the exclusive OR circuit 213a is "L" and the output of the inverter 213b is "H." In the third device, the output of the exclusive OR circuit 213a is "".
H ", the output of the inverter 213b becomes" L ", and in the fourth device, both outputs become" H ".
As a result, the ID numbers are set for the four paper feed units 2 respectively.

As described above, in this embodiment, the ID number generating circuit 213 is provided in the paper feeding unit 2 and a predetermined ID number is set only by performing the connection operation. This eliminates the need for the operator to set the ID number each time the paper feed unit 2 is mounted.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the data for identifying the ID number of the sheet feeding unit 2 is set to 2 bits, and the maximum number is set to four. It goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to the above.

Although the case where the paper feed unit is attached to the copying machine has been described as an example, the present invention can be widely applied to the case where the paper feed unit is attached to the facsimile machine or the case where various extension units are added to various electronic devices. Is natural.

[0053]

As described above, according to one aspect of the present invention, an extension unit is provided with an ID number, and a common signal line for transmitting and receiving signals is provided between the apparatus body and each extension unit. The main unit sends the ID number of the extension unit and the transmission data in the form of a serial signal. Each extension unit receives the signal and receives the signal when the received identification number matches the identification number of its own unit. Since predetermined transmission data is transmitted by a serial signal while reading data, the number of signal lines in the signal line can be reduced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the ID number of the extension unit is automatically set, so that the operation of setting the ID number becomes unnecessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main body.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a sheet feeding unit.

FIG. 4 is a time chart of each signal during operation.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a sheet feeding unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Paper feed unit 101, 204 P / S conversion circuit 102 Control part 202 S / P conversion circuit 201, 203, 206, 207, 210 D-type flip-flop 205, 213b Inverter 208, 211 AND circuit 209 Matching circuit 212 Driver 213 ID number generation circuit 213a Exclusive OR circuit S1, S2 Switch

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-63-264769 (JP, A) JP-A-61-73446 (JP, A) JP-A-1-116567 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 131977 (JP, A) JP-A-2-136274 (JP, A) JP-A-2-231178 (JP, A) JP-A-2-236614 (JP, A) JP-A-3-286887 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 H04L 12/28-12/417 H04L 12/44-12/46 G03G 15/00 G03G 15/00 550 G03G 15/36 G03G 21/00 370-540 B41J 29/00-29/70

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic device with an additional unit for connecting an arbitrary number of additional units to an electronic device main body and transmitting and receiving data between the electronic device main body and each of the additional units, wherein the electronic device main body includes: A parallel / serial conversion circuit for converting parallel data to be transmitted to serial data, and a serial / parallel conversion circuit for converting serial data received from the extension unit to parallel data are provided, and data is transmitted from the electronic device to each of the extension units. Is transmitted, serial data with an identification number added to data is transmitted in parallel to all extension units, while each of the extension units is transmitted to the electronic device main unit. A parallel / serial conversion circuit that converts parallel data to serial data A number generation circuit, a collation circuit for collating an identification number received together with data from the electronic device main body with an identification number generated from the identification number generation circuit, and detecting a match in the collation circuit to receive from the electronic device main body. And a serial / parallel conversion circuit for converting serial data to be converted into parallel data, and an output terminal of an identification number generation circuit provided in the one additional unit is connected to an input terminal of an identification number generation circuit provided in the other expansion unit. By connecting the power supply to the input terminal of the first identification number generating circuit.
An electronic device with an extension unit, wherein an identification number unique to each identification unit is automatically generated. 2. The electronic device main body is a device having at least a function of recording an image while recording, while the extension unit is a device having a function of feeding recording paper to the electronic device main body. The electronic device with an extension unit according to claim 1.