JPH02267647A - Checking method for nonvolatile memory of electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely store the history information on an electronic equipment in order to secure the quick and accurate maintenance of the equipment and at the same time to prevent a trouble of assurance by checking whether the specific data is stored in a specific address of a nonvolatile memory when a power supply is applied. CONSTITUTION:For instance, a control substrate 70 containing a nonvolatile memory 60 which stores the history information on an electronic equipment is replaced with another. When this replacement job is through and a power supply is applied to the electronic equipment, it is checked whether the specific data is stored or not in a specific address of the memory 60. Thus it is possible to confirm whether the memory 60 attached to the substrate 70 before replacement is also contained or not in the substrate 70 after replacement. As a result, the history information on the electronic equipment is surely stored and the quick and accurate maintenance is secured for the electronic equipment. Furthermore a trouble of assurance is also avoided.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a non-volatile memory check method for an electronic device in which a non-volatile memory for storing historical information such as cumulative operating time of the device is removably mounted on a control board. Regarding.

[Conventional technology]

For example, in electronic devices such as various printers and copiers,
In order to be able to inform users or service personnel of the usage status of the equipment, when to replace supplies (photoreceptors, shield plates, ozone filters, chargers, etc.), when abnormalities occur and their details, etc. Some devices are designed to store history information such as cumulative usage time or cumulative number of sheets used in a nonvolatile memory mounted on a control board within the device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in such conventional electronic devices,
If a non-volatile memory that stores history information like the one above is fixed to the control board, if a problem occurs with the control board and the control board is replaced with a new one, the non-volatile memory will also be replaced with a new one. The information will be exchanged and the history information will be lost.

Therefore, if a socket for installing non-volatile memory is provided on the control board, and when replacing the board, the non-volatile memory can be removed from the control board before replacement, and then installed on the control board after replacement, which will solve the above problem. Although this does not occur, there is still a lack of reliability because it is not always possible to erroneously attach a new non-volatile memory to the replaced control board or replace only the non-volatile memory.

Since the manufacturer's warranty for the device is determined based on the above-mentioned history information, if the history of the device becomes unknown, it is natural that troubles regarding warranty issues with the user may occur.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and aims to solve these conventional problems, reliably save history information of equipment, enable prompt and accurate maintenance, and eliminate warranty issues. The purpose is to prevent problems before they occur.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic device in which a control board is removably equipped with a non-volatile memory that stores historical information such as the cumulative operating time of the device. To provide a nonvolatile memory check method for storing specific data and checking whether specific data is stored at a specific address of the nonvolatile memory when power is turned on.

[For production]

According to the non-volatile memory check method for such electronic devices, 1. For example, when replacing a control board equipped with non-volatile memory that stores history information of the device, it is necessary to turn off the power to the electronic device after the replacement work is completed. When it is inserted,
Since it is checked whether specific data is stored in the specific address of the non-volatile memory mentioned above, check whether the non-volatile memory installed in the control board before replacement is installed in the control board after replacement. can do.

Additionally, if it is determined that the non-volatile memory before replacement is not installed in the replaced control board as a result of the above check, the result will be displayed or an alarm will be issued, or the electronic device will be disabled from operating. Good too.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a laser printer which is an embodiment of the present invention.

This laser printer consists of 1 main body 1 and table 2.
The main body 1 is removably equipped with upper and lower two paper feed trays (cassettes) 3.4 each capable of storing 250 sheets of cut paper, and a first paper stacker 6 and a second paper stacker 7 in two stages at the top. A third paper ejection stacker 8 is installed at the rear of the paper ejection port 9.
It is provided so that it can be opened and closed in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

Further, inside the main body 1, a photosensitive drum 10. which constitutes an image forming section of the printer engine. Electric charger 11. Laser writing device 12. Developing device 13. Transfer charger 14. It includes a cleaning unit 15, a fixing device 16, a pair of registration rollers 17, a paper ejection conveyance section 18 comprising a large number of conveyance rollers, a paper guide plate, etc., and a high voltage power supply unit 19.

Furthermore, two control boards, a printer controller 21 and an engine driver 30, which control this laser printer, are installed in the main body 1 as control boards.

On the other hand, the table 2 is equipped with a bulk paper feed tray 5 that can store 1000 sheets of cut paper, and inside is a reversing unit 22 for double-sided printing, which consists of a large number of conveyance rollers and vapor guide plates that make up a double-sided unit. and reversing paper feeding section 2
It is equipped with 3rd class.

Next, the operation of each part mentioned above will be briefly explained.

The control system of this laser printer will be explained later, but the engine driver 30 inputs image data etc. from a host system such as a computer, workstation, or word processor (not shown) via the printer controller 21, After selecting the route and print mode (single-sided print mode, double-sided print mode, etc.), the print operation is started by a print start request signal.

When the print sequence is started, paper is fed from the selected paper feed trays 3 and 4 or mass paper feed tray 5 at a predetermined timing, and the leading edge of the paper is held between the pair of registration rollers 17. pause in the state.

Meanwhile, the photosensitive drum 10 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
The surface charged by the charger 11 is exposed by being irradiated with a laser beam modulated according to video data by the laser writing device 12 while main scanning in the direction of the drum axis, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image.

Developing the latent image with toner from the developing device 13,
The transfer charger 14 transfers the image onto a sheet of paper fed by a pair of registration rollers 17 at a predetermined timing.

The transferred paper is peeled off from the photoreceptor drum 10 and conveyed to the fixing device 1B, where it is fixed and heated, and the paper that has been fixed and heated, that is, the print paper, is sent to a paper discharge section.

In this case, either the first paper ejection stacker 6 or the second paper ejection stacker 7 located at the top of the printer via the paper ejection transport section 18, or the third paper ejection stacker 8 located at the rear of the printer is used as the paper ejection section. The paper is ejected to the selected paper ejection stacker.

Note that normally the first paper discharge stacker 6 and the second stray paper stacker 7
However, in special cases, such as when using paper that easily curls, such as envelopes and postcards, the third paper stacker 8 is selected.

However, as shown in the figure, when the paper ejection port 9 is closed and the paper cannot be ejected, the third paper ejection stacker 8 cannot be selected.

By the way, when double-sided printing is selected, the paper printed on one side is transferred to table 2 by changing the conveyance path.
send to.

Then, after first feeding it into the reversing unit 22 for double-sided printing, the feeding direction is reversed and the sheet is conveyed to the reversing paper feeding unit 23, where it is kept on standby, and then fed into the main body 1 at a predetermined timing, and the same process as described above is carried out. to print on the other side, and then output the paper to one of the paper output stackers.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control section of this laser printer.

Note that this control unit 50 is actually divided into two control boards (printer controller 21 and engine driver 30) as shown in FIG. 2, and is configured independently on each board. , omitting the details here, 1
This is a schematic diagram of a control unit of a laser printer that is organized into two.

The control unit 50 in FIG. 3 has a host interface 52 for connecting to a host system 51 as an interface.
and the laser writing device 12 shown in FIG. Sequence equipment group 53, such as motors, clutches, and solenoids that drive the photoreceptor drum 10, etc. Various switches and sensors 54.
It includes an operation display section 55 for inputting or displaying various information and a connection 1056 for connection.

Moreover, this control unit 50 is a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as r
(abbreviated as cPUJ)57. ROM58°RAM59.
A non-volatile memory (hereinafter abbreviated as "NvM") 60 is provided.

The CPU 57 is a microprocessor and ROM.

It is a general-purpose 16 or 32-bit microcomputer consisting of RAM, Ilo, etc., and is in charge of overall control of the entire control section.

The ROM is a 5-day hard-on memory that stores various control programs for operating the CPU.

The RAM 59 is a random access memory, and image information, image signals, etc. from the host system 51 are temporarily stored therein.

As shown in FIG. 4, the NVM6Q has a control board 70 (printer controller 21 or engine driver
1 is removably mounted on the board) via a socket 61.

The NVM 60 stores history information necessary for determining maintenance timing, such as the cumulative usage (operation) time of this device (laser printer), the cumulative number of sheets used, and the number of times supplies are replaced.

Further, specific data is stored at a specific address of this NVM 60. Note that the specific address and specific data refer to addresses and identification data that are different for each device, and are stored, for example, when the device is shipped from a factory.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be specifically explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing nonvolatile memory check processing by the CPU 57 in this embodiment.

This routine starts at the same time as the power is turned on, and after first accessing the NVM 80, it is determined whether specific data exists at a specific address of the NVM 5Q.

Normally, if the NVM is new, all internal data will be at Hi level or Low level, and if the NVM is not installed in the socket 61 of the control board 70 shown in Fig. 4, it is equivalent to having no data. It can be easily determined whether specific data (based on a combination of Hi level and Low level) exists at an address.

If the specific data does not exist at the specific address of the NVM 60 (No), a busy signal is output, the process returns, and the process ends.

As a result, the host system 51 receives the busy signal and does not send text information or the like to the laser printer (control unit 50).

At this time, the display panel of the operation display section 55 or the display of the host system 51 indicates that the NVM 60 installed in the socket 61 of the control board 70 is not for this printer (a new NVM has been installed in the socket 61, or Alternatively, the NVM itself is not installed) and is displayed to notify the user or service personnel.

On the other hand, if specific data exists at a specific address (Yes
), perform initialization (initial settings), and proceed to other processing.

Thereafter, if there is no particular abnormality, the host system 51 sends a ready signal, and this laser printer becomes ready to start.

According to this embodiment, when the laser printer is powered on after replacing the control board equipped with the NVM that stores history information such as cumulative usage time and number of prints, the specified address of the NVM is It is checked whether specific data is stored or not, and if it is determined that specific data is not stored at the specific address of the NVM, it is installed on the control board of the display panel or host system display as described above. Since the NVM displays that it is not intended for this printer and prevents printing operations, the service person or the like notices this and replaces it with the original NVM.

Therefore, since the history information previously stored in the non-volatile memory (NVM) can be reliably saved, troubles related to warranty issues with the user can be avoided.

Note that this invention is applicable not only to laser printers but also to other types of printers as well as all electronic devices in which a control board is removably equipped with a non-volatile memory that stores historical information such as the cumulative operating time of the device. It is possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, history information of electronic equipment can be reliably saved, maintenance can be performed quickly and accurately, and troubles related to warranty problems can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing nonvolatile memory check processing according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control section thereof, and FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration on a control board thereof. FIG. 1...Laser printer body 21...Printer controller 30...Engine driver 50...Control unit 51...Host system 55...Operation display unit 57...Microcomputer (CPU) 58...・
Read-only memory (ROM) 59...Random access memory (RAM) 60...Non-volatile memory (N
VM) 61...Socket 70...Control board 1st
Figure m4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic device in which a non-volatile memory for storing historical information such as cumulative operating time of the device is removably mounted on a control board, specific data is stored in advance at a specific address in the non-volatile memory. 1. A nonvolatile memory checking method comprising: checking whether specific data is stored at a specific address in the nonvolatile memory when the power is turned on.