EP0104090A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Control system reproduction machine having job recovery
Assignee: Xerox Corp
•
Filing: 1983-09-21
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2003-09-21
Abstract
Abstract A multiprocessor (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) control system that allows full job recovery after a machine power down or after a malfunction or software crash or temporary power outage. In particular, essential variables such as the state and status of the machine and the programmed job at the time of the malfunction are maintained in nonvolatile memory. This information in nonvolatile memory is continually updated. Once the control system has reset and reinitialized all the control elements after a malfunction, the control restores or downloads all the relevant variables in the nonvolatile memory to the various control elements to maintain status. In another embodiment, the essential variables are maintained in RAM locations in a master processor and saved for downloading to the control elements.
Inventors
- 👤 Richard T. Ziehm
- 👤 Stephen P. Wilczek
- 👤 George Edward Baker
- 👤 Raymond Robb Husted
- 👤 Glen Allan Dumas
- 👤 Keith Gerard Bunker
- 👤 George H. Place, Jr.
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 01:41
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/50; G03G15/5012
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
97 words
A reproduction machine multiprocessor control, the processors (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) controlling the operation of a machine having a plurality of operating components, at least one of the processors maintaining status information for each of the other processors, the control comprising means (100) to recognize an abnormal condition in any of the processors, means (108) for resetting the 'faulty' processor manifesting said abnormal condition, and means (112) for downloading status information from the processor maintaining status to the faulty processor, whereby the machine operation continues from the point of the recognition of the abnormal condition.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
97 words
A reproduction machine multiprocessor control, the processors (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) controlling the operation of a machine having a plurality of operating components, at least one of the processors maintaining status information for each of the other processors, the control comprising means (100) to recognize an abnormal condition in any of the processors, means (108) for resetting the 'faulty' processor manifesting said abnormal condition, and means (112) for downloading status information from the processor maintaining status to the faulty processor, whereby the machine operation continues from the point of the recognition of the abnormal condition.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
28 words
The machine of claim 1, wherein the processor maintaining status information is a master processor maintaining status for each of the other processors in selected nonvolatile memory locations.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
27 words
The machine of claim 1 wherein the processor maintaining status information is a master processor maintaining status for each of the other processors in selected RAM locations.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
110 words
A method of job recovery after a system malfunctions in a reproduction machinehaving a plurality of control elements (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) including a master control element (70) with a memory storing status information and at least one remote controlled element, comprising the steps of 1) recognizing the existance of a malfunction in the remote controlled element, 2) recognizing the source of the malfunction, 3) initializing the remote controlled element without destroying the contents of the master control element memory storing status information, 4) downloading the status information from the master control memory to the remote controlled element, and 5) continuing machine operation without loss of job status.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
110 words
A method of job recovery after a system malfunctions in a reproduction machinehaving a plurality of control elements (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) including a master control element (70) with a memory storing status information and at least one remote controlled element, comprising the steps of 1) recognizing the existance of a malfunction in the remote controlled element, 2) recognizing the source of the malfunction, 3) initializing the remote controlled element without destroying the contents of the master control element memory storing status information, 4) downloading the status information from the master control memory to the remote controlled element, and 5) continuing machine operation without loss of job status.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the memory storing statds information is a nonvolatile memory.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 5 including the steps of resetting the control elements during machine power up, and downloading the contents of the nonvolatile memory to all the control elements after reset.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 4 wherein memory storing status information is a random access memory.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method of claim 7 wherein the step of initializing the control elements includes the step of reading a flag in nonvolatile memory to save the contents of the RAM storing the status information.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
65 words
The method of any of claims 4-8, wherein a portion of the memory in the master control element storing status information is associated with a particular remote control element, and wherein the step of downloading the status information includes the step of downloading the contents of the master memory associated with a particular remote control element to the memory of that particular remote control element.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of job recovery after a system abnormality in a reproduction machine having a plurality of interconnected processor (70, 72, 74, 78, 82), one of the processors being the master processor (70), including the steps of 1) identifying a particular processor manifesting the abnormality, 2) preventing the destruction of the contents of selected memory locations associated with the processor manifesting the abnormality, 3) resetting the microprocessor manifesting the abnormality, and 4) restoring the processor manifesting the abnormality with the content of the selected memory locations.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of job recovery after a system abnormality in a reproduction machine having a plurality of interconnected processor (70, 72, 74, 78, 82), one of the processors being the master processor (70), including the steps of 1) identifying a particular processor manifesting the abnormality, 2) preventing the destruction of the contents of selected memory locations associated with the processor manifesting the abnormality, 3) resetting the microprocessor manifesting the abnormality, and 4) restoring the processor manifesting the abnormality with the content of the selected memory locations.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the selected memory locations are nonvolatile memory locations controlled by the master processor.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 10 including the step of downloading the contents of the selected memory locations from the master processor to the processor manifesting the abnormality.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 10 including the step of setting a software flag in memory to indicate the processors not manifesting an abnormality.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
152 words
A method of job recovery after a mafunction in a (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) machine control having a plurality of control processors including a master processor with a memory for continually storing machine status information and at least one remote processor, the master processor memory maintaining status information associated with said remote processor, comprising the steps of 1) the master processor recognizing the existence of a malfunction, 2) the master processor identifying the remote processor being the source of the malfunction through a coded transmission from the remote processor, 3) the master processor initializing said remote processor without destroying the contents of the master processor memory storing status information, 4) the master processor downloading the status information from the master processor memory associated with said remote processor to the remote processor after receiving the coded transmission, and 5) continuing machine operation without loss of machine status in the remote processor.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
152 words
A method of job recovery after a mafunction in a (70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 82) machine control having a plurality of control processors including a master processor with a memory for continually storing machine status information and at least one remote processor, the master processor memory maintaining status information associated with said remote processor, comprising the steps of 1) the master processor recognizing the existence of a malfunction, 2) the master processor identifying the remote processor being the source of the malfunction through a coded transmission from the remote processor, 3) the master processor initializing said remote processor without destroying the contents of the master processor memory storing status information, 4) the master processor downloading the status information from the master processor memory associated with said remote processor to the remote processor after receiving the coded transmission, and 5) continuing machine operation without loss of machine status in the remote processor.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.