IP Library Granted Patent US 12707014
Granted Patent B2
US 12707014 · App. 18/616,416 · Granted Aug 11, 2026

Electronic device, method for controlling electronic device, and image forming apparatus

Inventor: Yo Kawano (Matsumoto, JP)
Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
H04N1/32625H04N1/00037H04N1/00058H04N1/0009H04N1/32694H04N2201/0094
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12707014
App. No.
18/616,416
Granted
Aug 11, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A multifunction peripheral includes: a failure detection unit configured to detect a failure that occurs in a plurality of driven units; and a candidate extraction unit configured to collate, when the failure is detected, audio collection data collected by an audio collection unit with failure audio data and extract a first candidate for a component that causes the failure, to specify a component in a driven state immediately before the failure occurs based on operation history and correspondence data and extract the specified component as a second candidate for the component that causes the failure, and to set a candidate for the component that causes the failure based on the component extracted as the first candidate and the component extracted as the second candidate.

Claims (43)

1 . An electronic device comprising:

an audio collection unit;

an operation unit configured to receive an operation;

a plurality of driven units;

a storage unit configured to store correspondence data associating the operation received by the operation unit with a component of the driven unit that is driven when the operation is received, an operation history that is a history of the operation received by the operation unit, and failure audio data recording failure audio generated when the plurality of driven units are driven;

a failure detection unit configured to detect a failure that occurs in the plurality of driven units; and

a candidate extraction unit configured to

collate, when the failure detection unit detects the failure, audio collection data collected by the audio collection unit with the failure audio data, and extract a first candidate for a component that causes the failure,

specify a component in a driven state immediately before the failure occurs based on the operation history and the correspondence data, and extract the specified component as a second candidate for the component that causes the failure, and

set a candidate for the component that causes the failure based on the component extracted as the first candidate and the component extracted as the second candidate.

2 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of position detection units configured to detect positions of a plurality of components mounted on the plurality of driven units, wherein

the candidate extraction unit

determines whether each component is at a preset position corresponding to an operation of the driven unit on which the component is mounted, based on detection results of the plurality of position detection units, and

when a component that is not at the preset position is included in the component extracted as the first candidate or the second candidate, sets the component that is not at the preset position as the candidate for the component that causes the failure.

3 . The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein

the storage unit stores a failure code for identifying the failure detected by the failure detection unit, and

the candidate extraction unit determines whether the failure detected by the failure detection unit is an unexpected failure caused by a repair operation performed on the electronic device by a user, based on an operation history and the failure code.

4 . The electronic device according to claim 3 , wherein

the candidate extraction unit extracts the component that causes the failure based on the failure code when determining that the failure detected by the failure detection unit is the unexpected failure, and sets the extracted component as the candidate for the component that causes the failure when the extracted component is included in the component extracted as the first candidate or the second candidate.

5 . The electronic device according to claim 3 , wherein

the storage unit stores maintenance information including a replacement date on which the plurality of components provided in the plurality of driven units are replaced and a reference replacement time of the plurality of components, and

the candidate extraction unit extracts a component in which a difference between elapsed time from a previous replacement date and the reference replacement time is within a preset range based on the maintenance information when determining that the failure detected by the failure detection unit is not the unexpected failure, and sets the extracted component as the candidate of the component that causes the failure when the extracted component is included in the component extracted as the first candidate or the second candidate.

6 . The electronic device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of the audio collection units, wherein

the plurality of the audio collection units are provided in the plurality of driven units, respectively.

7 . A method for controlling an electronic device including a plurality of driven units, the method comprising:

detecting a failure that occurs in the plurality of driven units;

collating, when the failure is detected, audio collection data collected by an audio collection unit provided in the electronic device with failure audio data recording failure audio generated when the plurality of driven units are driven, and extracting a first candidate for a component that causes the failure;

specifying a component in a driven state immediately before the failure occurs based on correspondence data, the correspondence data associating an operation received by an operation unit provided in the electronic device with a component of the driven unit that is driven when the operation is received, and an operation history that is a history of the operation received by the operation unit, and extracting the specified component as a second candidate for the component that causes the failure; and

setting a candidate for the component that causes the failure based on the component extracted as the first candidate and the component extracted as the second candidate.

8 . An image forming apparatus comprising:

an audio collection unit;

an operation unit configured to receive an operation;

a plurality of driven units;

a storage unit configured to store correspondence data associating the operation received by the operation unit with a component of the driven unit that is driven when the operation is received, an operation history that is a history of the operation received by the operation unit, and failure audio data recording failure audio generated when the plurality of driven units are driven;

a failure detection unit configured to detect a failure that occurs in the plurality of driven units; and

a candidate extraction unit configured to

collate, when the failure detection unit detects the failure, audio collection data collected by the audio collection unit with the failure audio data, and extract a first candidate for a component that causes the failure,

specify a component in a driven state immediately before the failure occurs based on the operation history and the correspondence data, and extract the specified component as a second candidate for the component that causes the failure, and

set a candidate for the component that causes the failure based on the component extracted as the first candidate and the component extracted as the second candidate.

9 . The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein

the audio collection unit is provided at a relay member disposed between a reading unit and a printing unit provided in the plurality of driven units.