Self-diagnois and repair system for image forming apparatus
First Claim
1. A self-repairing system for an image-forming apparatus which includes a plurality of interrelated elements, the interrelated elements including actuator elements which control operations carried out by the elements of the apparatus, and sensor means for sensing conditions in the apparatus and providing condition data indicative thereof, said system comprising:
- memory means for storing characteristic data representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelationship knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge;
diagnostic means for determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data and the diagnostic knowledge;
selection means, responsive to a determination by the diagnostic means that the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, for selecting one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus based upon the characteristic data and the interrelationship knowledge; and
actuator control means for controlling an actuator means selected by the selection means to influence the one operation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system according to the invention has a plurality of sensors, a system control circuit and a plurality of actuators. State data, supplied from the sensors, is compared with characteristic data in the system control circuit. From this comparison, it is judged whether a fault has occurred depending upon whether the state data is relatively lower or higher. If a fault has occurred, fault inference fault is made on the basis of a comparison between qualitative data and fault diagnosis knowledge which are stored in the system control circuit. Then a judgement is made as to which of the elements in an image forming apparatus is abnormal. An actuator operating signal thereafter is generated as a result of this judgement.
27 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A self-repairing system for an image-forming apparatus which includes a plurality of interrelated elements, the interrelated elements including actuator elements which control operations carried out by the elements of the apparatus, and sensor means for sensing conditions in the apparatus and providing condition data indicative thereof, said system comprising:
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memory means for storing characteristic data representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelationship knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge; diagnostic means for determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data and the diagnostic knowledge; selection means, responsive to a determination by the diagnostic means that the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, for selecting one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus based upon the characteristic data and the interrelationship knowledge; and actuator control means for controlling an actuator means selected by the selection means to influence the one operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A self-repairing system for an image-forming apparatus which includes a plurality of interrelated elements, the interrelated elements including actuator elements which control operations carried out by the elements of the apparatus, and sensor means for sensing conditions in the apparatus and providing condition data indicative thereof, said system comprising:
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a memory for storing characteristic data representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelationship knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge; diagnostic means for determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data and the diagnostic knowledge; a selector, responsive to a determination by the diagnostic means that the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, for selecting one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus based upon the characteristic data and the interrelationship knowledge; a controller for controlling an actuator means selected by the selection means to influence the one operation and thereby return the apparatus to its normal condition; and updating means for updating certain of the characteristic data based upon condition data provided by the sensor means after the apparatus has been returned to its normal condition. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A self-repairing system for an image-forming apparatus which includes a plurality of interrelated elements, the interrelated elements including actuator elements which control operations carried out by the elements of the apparatus, and sensor means for sensing conditions in the apparatus and providing condition data indicative thereof, said system comprising:
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memory means for storing characteristic data which includes repair knowledge representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelationship knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge including function evaluation knowledge, and fault cause knowledge; diagnostic means for determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data, and the function evaluation knowledge, and for inferring possible fault causes based upon the interrelationship knowledge when the apparatus is determined to be in an abnormal condition; and repair plan inference means, responsive to a determination by the diagnostic means that the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, for applying the interrelationship knowledge and the repair knowledge to infer a repair plan by which to control one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A self-repairing image-forming apparatus comprising:
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interrelated elements including actuator elements which control operations in the apparatus; sensor means for sensing conditions in the apparatus and providing condition data indicative thereof; memory means for storing characteristic data representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelationship knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the various elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge; diagnostic means for determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data and the diagnostic knowledge; selection means, responsive to a determination by the diagnostic means that the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, for selecting one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus based upon the characteristic data and the interrelationship knowledge; and actuator control means for controlling an actuator means selected by the selection means to influence the operation. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A self-repairing method for an image-forming apparatus which has a plurality of interrelated elements, the interrelated elements including actuator elements for carrying out operations in the apparatus, sensor means for sensing conditions of the actuator elements, and memory means which stores characteristic data representative of various characteristics of the apparatus, interrelation knowledge representative of the interrelationships of the elements of the apparatus, and diagnostic knowledge, said method comprising the steps of:
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determining whether the apparatus is in a normal or an abnormal condition based upon condition data from the sensor means, the characteristic data and the diagnostic knowledge; if the apparatus is in an abnormal condition, selecting one of the actuator elements to influence one of the operations in the apparatus based upon the characteristic data and the interrelationship knowledge; and controlling the selected one of the actuator elements to influence the one operation. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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- 32. A method of self-repair as claimed in 31, wherein the characteristic data comprises reference value data and said method further comprises the step of updating the stored reference value data based upon the symbolic data after the apparatus has been returned to its normal condition.
Specification