Facilitation of the diagnosis of malfunctions and set-up of a reproduction machine

• US 5,202,726 A
• Filed: 12/18/1991
• Issued: 04/13/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Peck, Lawrence E., Morton, Frederick J., Basley, Jocelyn R., McCulley, DeWayne L., Schneider, Kris A., Cottrill, Alan B., Bright, C. Nelson
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendegrass, Joan H.
• Application Number:
  US07/809,112
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 355/204-208, 355/209, 371/15.1, 371/16.4, 371/29.1, 364/788
• US Class Current: 399/11
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/502 relating to the structure of the control menu, e.g. pop-up menus, help screens
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/55 Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2221 to test input/output devices or peripheral units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/321 Display for diagnostics, e.g. diagnostic result display, self-test user interface

Abstract

A reproduction machine having a user interface facilitates the diagnosis of malfunctions in the machine and set-up of the machine. The user interface includes a display used in a plurality of servicing tasks. A plurality of servicing procedures can be performed on the machine, each of the servicing procedures being displayable. Upon selection of each servicing procedure, the identity of the servicing procedure is retained in storage. The display provides an indication of all of the servicing procedures performed on the machine. Diagrams of machine components and parameters of machine components can be provided via the display to enable identification of defective components. The interface is provided with a plurality of additional features used during servicing of the machine to provide guidance to a service representatitve performing the required servicing task.

Claims

1. A reproduction machine including a user interface for facilitating at least one of diagnosis of malfunctions in the machine and set-up of the machine, said user interface including a display comprising:

identifying means for identifying a particular defective component; and

displaying means for displaying at least one of parameters of selected machine components and diagrams of selected machine components on said display, wherein said user interface further includes;

keyboard means enabling input of information;

touch responsive means enabling any of a plurality of possible programming selections for the machine to be selected for performance by the machine;

mouse means enabling remote selection of any of the plurality of possible programming selections;

selection means for selecting any of a series of servicing procedures for performance during the diagnosis of malfunction in the machine; and

storage means for storing the selected servicing procedures, wherein said display includes servicing procedure display means for providing a dynamic display of all previously selected servicing procedures so that the servicing procedures performed are readily identified.

2. The reproduction machine according to claim 1, wherein said user interface includes disabling means for disabling said touch responsive means.

3. The reproduction means according to claim 1, wherein said machine components include a plurality of printed wiring boards, said identifying means identifying any of said plurality of printed wiring boards which are defective.

4. The reproduction machine according to claim 1, further comprising a non-volatile memory, said non-volatile memory being provided with a parameter having a set-up value during set-up of the machine, wherein said user interface includes a restore means for restoring the non-volatile memory parameter to a previous value.

5. The reproduction machine according to claim 1, wherein said display includes a confirm menu which is displayed in response to selection of one of said programming selections, said confirm menu providing confirmation of the selected programming selection.

6. The reproduction machine according to claim 1, wherein said servicing procedure display means displays the identity of the servicing procedures in the order in which the servicing procedures were selected.

7. A method of servicing a reproduction machine having a user interface with a display screen, said method comprising performing a plurality of servicing procedures and including:

a) displaying possible servicing procedures;

b) selecting one of said servicing procedures;

c) performing the selected servicing procedure;

d) determining whether the selected servicing procedure is effective;

e) selecting another of said servicing procedures and performing said another servicing procedure if said one selected servicing procedure is not effective;

f) repeating steps d) and e) until one of a desired number of servicing procedures are performed and a servicing procedure is determined to be effective;

g) storing the identity of each of the selected servicing procedures; and

h) subsequently displaying all of said selected servicing procedures on said display screen so that steps followed during servicing can be identified.

8. The method according to claim 7, including displaying said selected servicing procedures in selection order.

9. The method according to claim 7, including displaying at least one of a plurality of diagrams of selected machine components on said display screen.

10. The method according to claim 9, including identifying any of said machine components which are defective and displaying the identified machine components on said display screen.

11. The method according to claim 7, including displaying a plurality of programming selections on said display screen and enabling selection of any of said programming selections by operation of at least one of a touch responsive means and a mouse means.

12. The method according to claim 11, including displaying a confirm menu on said display screen in response to selection of any of said programming selections to provide confirmation of the selected programming selection.

13. The method according to claim 7, including storing a parameter having a set-up value during initial set-up of the machine and providing the interface with the capability to automatically reset the parameter to a previous value.

14. A reproduction machine including a user interface having a display screen, said machine comprising:

first display means for displaying possible servicing procedures on said display screen;

selection means for selecting one of said servicing procedures;

servicing procedure performance means for performing the selected servicing procedure;

storage means for storing the identity of selected servicing procedures; and

second display means for displaying all of the selected servicing procedures on said display screen so that servicing procedures performed by said servicing procedure performance means are readily identified.

15. The reproduction machine according to claim 14, wherein said second display means displays selected servicing procedures in order of selection.

16. The reproduction machine according to claim 14, wherein said user interface includes machine component display means for displaying diagrams of selected machine components on said display screen.

17. The reproduction machine according to claim 16, further comprising identifying means for identifying any of said machine components which are defective, wherein said machine component display means displays the identified machine components.

18. The reproduction machine according to claim 14, wherein said user interface includes programming selection display means for displaying a plurality of possible programming selections for said machine on said display screen and programming selection means for selecting any of said programming selections.

19. The reproduction machine according to claim 18, wherein said programming selection means comprises at least one of a touch responsive means enabling any of the plurality of possible programming selections to be identified and a mouse means enabling remote selection of any of the plurality of programming selections.

20. The reproduction machine according to claim 19, wherein said user interface includes disabling means for disabling said touch responsive means.

21. The reproduction machine according to claim 18, wherein said user interface includes a confirm menu which is displayed on said display screen in response to selection of one of said programming selections, said confirm menu providing confirmation of the selected programming selection.

22. The reproduction machine according to claim 14, further comprising a non-volatile memory, said non-volatile memory being provided with a parameter having a set-up value during set-up of the machine, said user interface including a restore means which resets the non-volatile memory parameter to a previous value.

23. A method of performing one of diagnosis of malfunctions in a reproduction machine and set-up of the machine, the machine including a user interface having a display, said method comprising:

identifying any of a plurality of machine components which are defective;

displaying diagrams of selected machine components, said selected machine components comprising the machine components identified as defective;

display a plurality of possible programming selections for the machine;

selecting any of the plurality of possible programming selections for performance by the machine;

selecting any of a series of servicing procedures for performance during the diagnosis of malfunctions in the machine;

storing the selected servicing procedures; and

displaying all of the selected servicing procedures so that steps followed during servicing are readily identified.

24. The method according to claim 23, including displaying the selected servicing procedures in order of selection.

25. The method according to claim 23, including displaying a confirm menu in response to selection of one of said programming selections to provide confirmation of the selected programming selection.

26. The method according to claim 23, including storing a parameter having a set-up value during initial set-up of the machine and providing the interface with the capability to automatically reset the parameter to a previous value.