Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to systems, apparati and methods for restoring current parameters and/or values. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A data processing system, such as an image processing system, generally has one or more logic units and one or more controllers that operate cooperatively to perform the functions of the system. For example, in a copier system, a logic unit may control the overall system. One or more controllers may control the operation of the scanner unit. Likewise, one or more controllers may control the operation of the printer unit. Likewise, one or more controllers may control the operations of the paper trays, one or more controllers may control the display unit and so forth. The logic unit and the various controllers are usually programmable and may require various operating parameters and/or values that dictate and/or optimize the operation of the logic unit and/or one or more of the controllers. For example, the printer controller may require operation parameters and/or values to control printer head alignment, the unit amount of ink or toner to be deposited, print head movement, and so forth. These operating parameters and/or values may be stored in memory from which they may be utilized in the performance of the operation of the logic unit and/or the various controllers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     During manufacture or service of a system, personnel may perform various diagnostic tests to determine the performance of the system, to identify defects in the system, or to adjust the control parameters and/or values that optimize the system&#39;s operation. In one example, personnel may perform the diagnostic test at the controller level, which requires using one or more different operation parameters and/or values that allow the system to be thoroughly tested. In another example, personnel manipulate the various operation parameters and/or values to optimize the system performance. However, when changing the operation parameters and/or values, if any errors are made, it may be difficult to determine which parameters and/or values have been erroneously changed. In many cases, it is difficult to determine the error due to the large number of the parameters and/or values. In many instances, all the operation parameters and/or values would need to be checked and/or re-entered manually because it is not known, nor is it easy to determine, which parameters and/or values caused the system error. In many instances, it may be necessary to resort to the product service manual to determine the affected parameters to identify or even the correct parameters and/or values to be reentered. If the affected operation parameters and/or the values are not corrected, this may result in the system&#39;s performance not being optimized, or may cause the system to malfunction. 
     This invention provides apparati, systems and methods that enable personnel to revert stored system parameters and/or values to a known state in the event of erroneous alterations. 
     This invention provides apparati, systems and methods that enable personnel to revert stored system parameters and/or values to a known state without resorting to a product service manual. 
     This invention provides apparati, systems and methods that allow service time to be decreased. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, the apparati, systems and methods according to this invention restore a set of system parameters and/or values to current parameters and/or values. In various exemplary embodiments, a set of one or more first memory locations for a set of one or more parameters and/or values to be accessed is determined. In various exemplary embodiments, a duplicate of the set of one or more parameters and/or values to be accessed is retrieved. In various exemplary embodiments, a duplicate of the retrieved set of one or more parameters and/or values is stored in a second set of one or more memory locations. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, the stored set of one or more parameters and/or values in the second memory location is retrieved. In various exemplary embodiments, the set of one or more parameters and/or values in the first set of one or more memory locations is replaced with the retrieved set of parameters and/or values of the second set of one or more memory locations. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, storing the duplicate of the set of parameters and/or values includes allocating memory space to store the duplicate set of parameters and/or values. In various exemplary embodiments, the one or more memory addresses of the second set of one or more memory locations containing the duplicate set of parameters and/or values is retained. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, the second set of one or more memory locations containing the duplicate set of parameters and/or values is relinquished if a reset or deallocation signal is received. In various exemplary embodiments, the second set of one or more memory locations containing the duplicate set of parameters and/or values is relinquished if a predetermined amount of time has passed since the duplicate set of parameters and/or values was stored in the second set of one or more memory locations. 
     These and other features and advantages of the invention are described in or are apparent from the following detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the systems, apparati and methods according to this invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in detail with reference to the following figures wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of a first exemplary embodiment of a data processing system that is capable of restoring a set of one or more current parameters and/or values according to this invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a functional block diagram of a second exemplary embodiment of an apparatus that is capable of restoring a set of one or more current parameters and/or values according to this invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart outlining one exemplary embodiment of a method for storing one or more duplicate parameters and/or values according to this invention; and 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart outlining one exemplary embodiment of a method for restoring one or more altered parameters and/or values with one or more stored earlier parameters and/or values according to this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of a first exemplary embodiment of a data processing system  100  that is able to restore a set of current parameters and/or values according to this invention. It should be appreciated that the data processing system  100  shown in  FIG. 1  is an image output system. However, it should be appreciated that this is illustrative only, and any other suitable data processing system could be used in place of the illustrated image output system to implement the data processing system  100 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the data processing system  100  includes a logic unit  110 , a memory  120  and one or more controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180 , interconnected by one or more control and/or data busses and/or application programming interfaces  190 . The number and type of controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180  may vary or change dependent on the device and/or apparatus used to implement the data processing system  100 . In general, the data processing system  100  represents any known or later-developed data processing system, such as a computer, a copier, a printer, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a telecommunication system, a display system and so forth. 
     Each of the controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180  controls at least one corresponding unit  120 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 ,  172  and  182 , respectively, of the data processing system  100 . For example, in the specific embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , a memory controller  130  controls a memory  120 . A printer controller  140  controls a printer  142 , while a scanner controller  150  controls a scanner  152 . An input/output (I/O) controller  160  controls an I/O interface  162 . A display controller  170  controls a display device  172 , while a paper feeder controller  180  controls a paper feeder  182  and so forth. During operation of the data processing system  100 , various applications  122  stored in the memory  120  are executed by the logic unit  110  to control the data processing system  100  and various ones of the controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180  to perform the specific tasks required to operate the corresponding devices  120 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 ,  172  and  182 . 
     The applications  122  may rely on various parameters and/or values  124  stored in the memory  120  during operation of the logic unit  110  and/or the controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  and  180 . As an example, the parameters and/or values  124  may provide one or more of the controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  or  180  with a mode of operation with respect to the corresponding device  120 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 ,  172  or  182 . In another example, the parameters and/or values  124  may provide one or more of the controllers  130 ,  140 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170  or  180  with operational parameters that optimizes the functional features of the device  120 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 ,  172  and  182 . The parameters and/or values  124  may be defined and stored into the memory  120  of the data processing system  100  at the factory or may be stored into the memory  120  by personnel during installation set-up and/or servicing of the data processing system  100 . 
     In many instances, after the parameters and/or values  124  have been defined and stored into the memory  120 , one or more of these parameters and/or values  124  may need to be modified for various reasons. For example, adding new hardware or features to the data processing system  100  may require various ones of the parameters and/or values  124  to be modified to accommodate the new hardware or features. In another example, diagnostic tests are performed on the data processing system  100  to determine whether one or more of the corresponding units  120 ,  142 ,  152 ,  162 ,  172  and/or  182  in the data processing system  100  are malfunctioning and/or requires servicing and/or optimization. In these instances, various ones of the parameters and/or values  124  may be modified to be better suited for the diagnostics or optimization. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, a restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  duplicates and stores a set of one or more of the currently stored parameters and/or values  124 , that is, a duplicate set of one or more of the parameters and/or values  126 , a set of one or more memory locations that is different from the one or more memory locations that store the currently-stored parameters and/or values  124  in the memory  120 . In various exemplary embodiments, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  12  is implemented using an ASIC, a digital signal processor (DSP), a micro-processor or micro-controller, a hardware electronic or logic circuit, such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device, such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA or PAL, a routine, subroutine or independent application executable by the logic unit  110  and stored in the memory  120  or some other memory device, or the like. In various exemplary embodiments, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  is a routine, subroutine or independent application that when invoked or activated by the logic unit  110 , performs various operations described herein. 
     The memory  120  may be implemented using non-volatile memory and/or volatile memory or a combination of the two. In various exemplary embodiments, the current parameters and/or values  124  may be stored in non-volatile memory and the duplicate parameters and/or values  126 , may be stored in volatile memory. In contrast, in various other exemplary embodiments, the current parameters and/or values  124  may be stored in volatile memory and the duplicate parameters and/or values  126  may be stored in non-volatile memory. In yet other various exemplary embodiments, both the current parameters and/or values  124  and the duplicate parameters and/or values  126  may be stored in non-volatile memory, or both may be stored in volatile memory. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, the stored one or more current parameters and/or values  124  are duplicated prior to the one or more current parameters and/or values  124  being accessed by a user. In various exemplary embodiments, prior to accessing the one or more current parameters and/or values  124 , the user, for example, activates the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112 , which prompts the user through, for example, a user interface, which ones of the current parameters and/or values  124  the user is to access. 
     Once the user indicates the set of one or more of the current parameters and/or values  124  that are to be accessed, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  requests, for example, the memory controller  130  to allocate memory space to store a duplicate set  126  of at least the indicated set of one or more of the current parameters and/or values  124 . It should be appreciated that the indicated set of one or more of the current parameters or values  124  may be only a portion of, or may be all of, the current parameters and/or values  124 . Once the memory controller  130  has allocated the requested memory space in the memory  120 , the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  controls the memory controller  130  to store the duplicate set of at least the indicated current set of one or more of the parameters and/or values  112  in the memory space allocated to the duplicate set of parameters and/or values  126 . The memory space may be allocated in the memory  120  or in some other memory device of the data processing system  100 . The restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  126  retains the one or more addresses of the one or more memory locations allocated to the duplicate set of parameters and/or values  126 . 
     The user then accesses the currently-stored parameters and/or values  124  and may modify one or more of the currently-stored parameters and/or values  124  for various reasons. If the user should erroneously change one or more of the current parameters and/or values  124 , the user may require the values of at least some of the current parameters and/or values  124  to be placed back to their previous parameters and/or values. In various exemplary embodiments, the user at least causes the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  to restore at least the erroneously modified ones of the current parameters and/or values  124  with the corresponding ones of the duplicate parameters and/or values  126 . 
     When activated, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  “looks up” the corresponding one or more memory locations and retrieves the corresponding one or more of the duplicate parameters and/or values  126  from those memory locations. The restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  112  then replaces the at least the one or more erroneously modified ones of the current parameters and/or values  126  with the corresponding one or more duplicate parameters and/or values  126 . As a result, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  12  restores these ones of the current parameters and/or values to their previous parameters and/or values. The user may then re-access the restored parameters and/or values  124  or the user may exit the data processing system  100 . 
       FIG. 2  shows a functional block diagram of a second exemplary embodiment of an apparatus  200  that is able to restore current parameters and/or values according to this invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the apparatus  200  includes a logic unit  210 , a memory  220 , a display  230 , an input/output (I/O) interface  240 , and a restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250 , interconnected by one or more control and/or data busses and/or application programming interfaces  260 . The apparatus  200  generally corresponds to any known or later-developed device that the systems, apparati and methods according to this invention are usable with. The apparatus  200  may correspond, for example, to test equipment, stationary or portable computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones and the like. In various exemplary embodiments, the I/O interface  240  of the apparatus  200  may be coupled to an I/O interface  410  of a remote system  400  through a link  300  which provides a communication channel between the apparatus  200  and the remote system  400 . 
     In various exemplary embodiments, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  accesses a set of one or more of the current parameters and/or values  420  stored in the remote system  400  to create a duplicate set of those one or more parameters and/or values  222 , and stores that duplicate set  222  to one or more memory locations of the memory  220  of the apparatus  200 . In various exemplary embodiments, before the user accesses one or more current parameters and/or values  420  stored in the remote system  400 , the user executes the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250 . In response, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  prompts the user, for example, through a user interface displayed using the display  230 , to identify or select a particular set of one or more stored parameters and/or values stored at the remote system  400  the user wishes to access. 
     Once the user indicates the particular set of one or more parameters and/or values  420  to be accessed, the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  causes the apparatus  200  to communicate with the remote system  400  to move a copy of the specified set of the stored one or more parameters and/or values  420  to the apparatus  200 . On receiving the specified set, which forms the duplicate set of one or more parameters and/or values  222 , the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  stores the duplicate set of one or more parameters and/or values  222  in the memory  220 . The user may then proceed to modify various ones of the parameters and/or values  420  of the system  400  to perform, for example, diagnostics or optimization. For example, the user may use the apparatus  200  to issue commands to the remote system  400  that modify the one or more current parameters and/or values  420 . 
     Should the user err while altering one or more of the parameters and/or values  420  of the remote system  400 , at least some of the parameters and/or values  420  may have to be reconfigured or reset to place the remote system  400  back into a known configuration. Accordingly, the user may execute the restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  of the apparatus  200 . The restore parameters and/or values circuit, routine or application  250  then retrieves the stored duplicate set of one or more of the parameters and/or values  222  from the memory  220  and instructs the remote system  400  to replace at least some of the modified current parameters and/or values  420  accessed by the user with one or more of the duplicate one or more of parameters and/or values  222 . Once the at least some of the accessed set of the stored parameters and/or values  420  have been replaced with the corresponding ones of the duplicate parameters and/or values  222 , the user may re-access those replaced parameters and/or values or the personnel may terminate the operation. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart outlining one exemplary embodiment of a method for storing duplicate parameters and/or values according to this invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , operation begins in step S 100 , and continues to step S 110 , where a memory containing the current parameters and/or values is accessed. Next, in step S 120 , one or more memory locations of the current parameters and/or values are determined. The memory location or locations of all the parameters and/or values may be determined. Alternatively, the memory location or locations for only a portion of the parameters and/or values to be accessed may be determined. Then, in step S 130 , a duplicate set of one or more of the parameters and/or values from the determined memory location or locations is created. Operation then continues to step S 140 . 
     In step S 140 , one or more memory locations are allocated to contain the duplicate set of the one or more of the parameters and/or values. In one exemplary embodiment, the memory location may be in the same physical memory. In various other exemplary embodiments, the memory location may be in a different physical memory. Next, in step S 150 , the duplicate set of the one or more parameters and/or values are stored in the allocated one or more memory locations. Then, in step S 160 , one or more memory addresses of the one or more memory locations in which the duplicate set of the one or more parameters and/or values are stored are retained. Operation then continues to step S 170 . 
     In step S 170 , a determination is made whether a parameter and/or value altering the operation has been terminated. If so, operation jumps directly to step S 190 . Otherwise, the operation continues to step S 180 , where a determination is made whether a predetermined amount of time had passed since the duplicate set of the one or more parameters and/or values were stored in the one or more memory locations. If the predetermined amount of time had passed, operation continues to step S 190 . Otherwise, operation returns to step S 110  to repeat the operation. In step S 190 , the one or more memory locations for the duplicate set of the one or more parameters and/or values are relinquished and that memory space is reallocated. Operation then continues to step S 200 , where operation of the method terminates. 
     In various exemplary embodiments, step S 170  may be omitted, and no reset takes place. In various exemplary embodiments, the step S 180  may be omitted, and no time out takes place. In various exemplary embodiments, the current and the duplicate parameters and/or values may be in the same memory, such as memory  120 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . In alternative embodiments, the current and the duplicate parameters and/or values may be in different memories, such as the memory in the system  400  and the memory  220  of apparatus  200 , respectively, as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart outlining one exemplary embodiment of a method for replacing one or more current parameters and/or values with one or more corresponding duplicate parameters and/or values according to this invention. Operation of the method begins in step S 300 , and continues to step  5310 , where one or more memory locations of a memory in which the one or more duplicate parameters and/or values are stored are determined. Then, in step S 320 , one or more memory locations of the current parameters and/or values to be replaced are determined. Next, in step S 330 , the one or more current parameters and/or values are replaced with the one or more corresponding duplicate parameters and/or values. Operation then continues to step S 340 , where operation of the method terminates. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the memory can be implemented using any appropriate combination of alterable volatile or nonvolatile memory. The alterable memory, whether volatile or nonvolatile, can be implemented using any one or more of static or dynamic RAM. The alterable memory can also be a floppy disk and disk drive, a writeable or rewriteable optical disk and disk drive, a hard drive, a flash memory or the like. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the link  410  can be any known or later-developed device or system for connecting the remote system  400  to the apparatus  200 , including a wired connection, a wireless connection, a connection over a wide area network, a local area network or a storage area network, a connection over an intranet, a connection over an extranet, a connection over the Internet, or a connection over any other distributed processing network or system. In general, the link can be any known or later-developed connection system or structure usable to connect the apparatus  200  to the remote system  400 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the system  100  and the apparatus  200  are, in various exemplary embodiments, implemented using a programmed general purpose computer. However, the system  100  and the apparatus  200  can also be implemented using a special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA or PAL, or the like. In general, any device, capable of implementing a finite state machine that is in turn capable of implementing the flowcharts shown in  FIGS. 3  and/or  4 , can be used. 
     While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of the invention, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Category: g