JP2011150588A - Management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a management system is inapplicable to the notification of a fault etc. which cannot be detected by a device, though continution of a problem can be decided if no notification is received, since, in the prior art, only a mechanism to automatically decide a cancellation notification has been proposed. <P>SOLUTION: In a method for changing a status relative to a request notification, a mechanism is provided to easily discriminate whether the status is changed by the notification from the device or by manual operation on a management device side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a management method for monitoring and managing the operating status of an image forming apparatus such as a printer.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 discloses a technique in which the operation state or use state of a printer is monitored by a monitoring server arranged on a network according to a conventional technique to facilitate addition, deletion, or change to a monitoring target. In response to a failure notification, a system has been proposed for notifying a failure cancellation when the device is operating normally after a certain period of time, but only a notification mechanism for a state that the device can detect has been proposed. In addition, since there is only a status change by cancellation notification, it is a major premise that a cancellation notification comes, and since it cannot be used unless an abnormality has occurred, notification cancellation for the notification button function that reports for the convenience of the user There were things that were difficult to apply.

JP 2001-250008

  Since the prior art only proposes a mechanism for automatic notification of cancellation, it can be determined that the problem continues if the notification does not come, but there are also problems that cannot be applied to notifications such as failures that the device cannot detect there were.

  Although repair requests are very convenient as a mechanism that allows a user to request repairs from a monitoring company at any time, they cannot be automatically canceled because they are not information that is detected and notified by a device. For this reason, when the problem is solved naturally in response to a repair request, when the problem is solved by a telephone response from a monitoring company, an engineer is dispatched to the site, and the result is repaired or resolved without any action. Exists.

  Furthermore, since it can be determined only by hand that the problem has been resolved after the repair request, the device may be left in a state where the repair request has been made. Therefore, the management device introduces a mechanism that can automatically change the status in response to the cancellation of the repair request from the device and the notification of completion, and the status is manually set so that the response to the notification of the repair request can be handled in various cases such as telephone support. A function that can be changed is provided. By displaying a repair request cancellation and repair request completion notification, it is possible to know that a notification has been received from the device. On the other hand, there are cases where cancellations and completion notifications are notified when the repair request and time are open.When monitoring notification information from many devices, it is troublesome to find both the repair request notification and the cancellation and completion notifications for it. There was a problem.

  In addition, after the repair request notification, there is a problem that if it is difficult to determine what caused the status information to be changed, it is difficult to determine the next action to be taken and which action has solved the problem.

In order to solve the above problems, a management system according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus and a monitoring device that monitors an operating state of the image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus includes an operation state acquisition unit that acquires an operation state, a notification information generation unit that generates information to notify the operation state, and a notification that notifies the management device of the operation information generated by the notification information generation unit. A repair request generating unit that generates repair request information for requesting a repair in addition to an operating state of the image forming apparatus, and a request for the repair request information generated by the repair request generating unit. Repair request means to
The management apparatus includes notification information notified by the notification means of the image forming apparatus, notification information receiving means for receiving a repair request notification, analysis means for analyzing information received by the notification information receiving means, and the analysis means The repair request notification is extracted by the repair request status information updating means for recording and updating the status information based on the status information of the past repair request notification, and the repair request status information updating means based on the information display request of the repair request notification. A repair request search unit that changes a search method according to recorded state information, and a display information generation unit that displays a search result of the repair request search unit.

  According to the present invention, since the status is changed according to the paired notification, it is not necessary to display the notification information of cancellation and completion notified later on the search result screen, and it is convenient to refer only to the repair request notification. Improves.

Device management system overview Typical block diagram of the image forming apparatus 101 Representative block diagram of the management device 102, the monitoring device 103, and the PC 108 Block diagram of each process in image forming apparatus 102 Block diagram of each process in devices 102, 103, 108 Device notification result display example Repair request notification screen for image forming apparatus 101 (selection) Repair request notification screen (notification status) of the image forming apparatus 101 Repair request notification screen of image forming apparatus 101 (cancellation confirmation) Repair request notification screen of image forming apparatus 101 (completion notification) Example of repair request code and table notified from image forming device Flowchart representing repair request notification processing from image forming apparatus 101 Example of device notification result status change specification and repair request notification information table Processing flowchart when receiving a repair request notification in the management apparatus 102 Processing flowchart of the repair request notification detail screen in the management apparatus 102 Display example of repair request details screen (cancellation notification) Display example of repair request details screen (completion notice) Example of repair request details screen (manual status change)

  Embodiments of an information processing apparatus, information processing method, and control program according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Overall configuration of management system]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the device management system in this embodiment.

  An image forming apparatus 101 to be managed and a monitoring apparatus 103 that manages them are connected to the customer environment 100 via a network 104, and monitoring information about the image forming apparatus 101 is notified to the monitoring apparatus 103 via the network 104. To do. The image forming apparatus 101 and the monitoring apparatus 103 are connected to the Internet 106 via the network 104 and the gateway device 105 and communicate with the management apparatus 102. The gateway device 106 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like.

  Next, the environment of the monitoring company 107 that provides services based on the processing information of the management apparatus 102 that manages the image forming apparatuses in the customer environment 100 will be described. In the monitoring company environment 107, an information processing apparatus 108 for browsing and processing the processing information of the management apparatus 102 is connected to the network 109. The information processing apparatus 108 is connected to the Internet 106 via the network 109 and the gateway device 110 and communicates with the management apparatus 102. The gateway device 110 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like.

  The management device 102 will be described. The management apparatus 102 is connected to the Internet 106 via the network 111 and the gateway device 112 and communicates with the image forming apparatus 101 and the queen processing apparatus 108. The gateway device 112 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like. The management apparatus 101 receives management information from the image forming apparatus 101 or the monitoring apparatus 103 that monitors it, and performs processing. Further, management is performed using a unique manufacturing number (hereinafter referred to as a management number) prepared in the image forming apparatus 101 so that a plurality of the image forming apparatuses 101 can be processed, and the management information is processed by the information processing apparatus 108. Deliver to.

  Further, since the monitoring function of the monitoring apparatus 103 can be realized by the program of the image forming apparatus 101, it can be incorporated into the image forming apparatus 101. In this embodiment, since monitoring through the monitoring apparatus 103 and the same monitoring function as the monitoring apparatus 103 can be realized in the image forming apparatus 101 itself, the monitoring apparatus 103 will be described as a monitoring function of the image forming apparatus 101 hereinafter.

[Image forming apparatus]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus 101 including the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 101 can be applied to an image forming apparatus such as a digital multi-function peripheral, a facsimile machine, a laser beam printer, an ink jet printer, and a scanner device. The image forming apparatus 101 includes a printing unit 208 including a CPU 201, a RAM 202, a ROM 203, a hard disk device (hereinafter, HDD) 204, a network interface 205, an internal bus 206, a device control 207, a fixing device, and the like.

  The CPU 201 includes a program stored in the ROM 203 (including a program for realizing each process of FIG. 4 described later), and comprehensively controls each device via the internal bus 206. The RAM 202 functions as a memory or work area for the CPU 201. A network interface 305 exchanges data with an external network device or a personal computer (PC) in one or both directions via the local area network 104, and a device control 207 controls the printing unit 208. The CPU 201 executes a program execution process together with the RAM 202 and the ROM 203 and performs a process of recording image data on a recording medium such as the HDD 204. The HDD 204 functions as an external storage device and stores image data and the like, and can store the counter information, system information, and monitoring information in place of the backup RAM 202. As described above, the function of the monitoring apparatus 103 can be replaced with the CPU 201, the RAM 202, the ROM 203, and the HDD 204 as a program.

[Management device]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the management apparatus 102 including the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The management apparatus 102 can be applied to an information processing apparatus such as a PC or a server, for example.

  The management apparatus 102 includes a CPU 301 that executes a program stored in the ROM 303 (including a program that implements each process of FIG. 5 described later), and comprehensively controls each device via an internal bus 306. Devices such as a RAM 302, a ROM 303, an HDD 304, and a network interface 305 are connected to the internal bus 306.

  Also, an input / output interface 307, for example, PS2, Universal Serial Bus (USB interface), an analog or digital display interface is provided. An input / output device 308 such as a keyboard, mouse, CRT, or liquid crystal device can be connected via an input / output interface 307, and management information can be registered and set, and processing information can be referred to. The network interface 305 is connected to the Internet 106 via the local area network 112 and the gateway device 111 and can communicate with the image forming apparatus 101, the monitoring apparatus 103, and the information processing apparatus 108. The gateway device 106 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like. The CPU 301 performs a program execution process together with the RAM 302 and the ROM 303 and performs a process of recording image data on a recording medium such as the HDD 304. The HDD 304 functions as an external storage device, stores management information of the image forming apparatus, and can store system information and processing information instead of the backup RAM 302.

  Since the information processing apparatus 108 can be applied to an information processing apparatus such as a PC or a server in the same manner as the management apparatus 102, the network 112 can be replaced with 109, and the configuration of the management apparatus 102 can be replaced with 108. Although the input / output device 308 has been described as an external device, it is needless to say that the input / output device 308 may be built in the management device 102 or the information processing device 108 as hardware.

[Software module configuration of image forming apparatus]
Reference numeral 400 in FIG. 4 indicates the configuration of a software module that processes the operating state of the image forming apparatus 101. In the figure, reference numerals 401 to 407 in 400 correspond to software modules of the image forming apparatus 101, which are stored in the HDD 204, expanded in the RAM 202 at the time of execution, and processed by the CPU 201.

  The operating state monitoring processing unit 401 can communicate by connecting to the network interface 205 and the network 104 via the communication processing unit 402. The communication processing unit 402 transmits notification information to the management apparatus 102 and conversely receives a response from the management apparatus 102 in accordance with an instruction from the operating state monitoring processing unit 401. The recording processing unit 403 exchanges information with the recording areas of the RAM 202, the ROM 203, and the HDD 204. Information processed by the operating state monitoring processing unit 401 is recorded in the HDD 204, and setting information stored in the ROM 203 is acquired. The operating state acquisition unit 404 acquires, from the device control 207, a job processing status and failure information, in addition to a counter indicating the number of sheets used, a component counter indicating the usage status of components, and a function counter indicating other usage statuses. The operating state monitoring processing unit 401 can acquire the operating status of the device as necessary, or can instruct the operating status acquiring unit 404 to notify when a change occurs in the operating status. Specific examples of failure information include failure information such as hard disk errors, hard errors such as temperature rise and internal communication interruption, paper jam errors, out of toner, door open, paper tray overload, etc. Including those that can be avoided by the user. Further, the device management unit can handle not only information that can be acquired by the device control 207 but also information that can be acquired by the communication processing unit 401, the device monitoring unit 403, and the setting processing unit 404 as the communication data. When the information is transmitted to the management apparatus, the management apparatus 102 transmits the information unique to the image forming apparatus or setting information (IP address, MAC address, device serial number, product name, product type, etc.) together with the image forming apparatus. Discrimination by unit and individual processing can be performed. The input / output processing unit 405 is an interface for controlling the keyboard, mouse, and display as the input / output device 209 and confirming the setting and status of the image forming apparatus. The repair request management unit 406 manages processing of a function in which a user of the customer environment 100 arbitrarily makes a repair request to the management company 107. As a method for realizing the repair request, for example, a button for transmitting the communication data of the image forming apparatus 101 is displayed on the display panel, and the communication data is transmitted to the management apparatus 102 by using a key on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus 101 as an event. Can be made. Although details will be described later, this allows the management apparatus 102 to be notified of a state that cannot be detected by the image forming apparatus 101. For example, it is possible to notify the management device of an abnormality in a part where no sensor is provided. As a specific example, before reaching the threshold set by the sensor as the detection level, the user can recognize that there is an abnormality and give a notification. In particular, there are many cases where paper jams frequently occur, or when the printing result of an image falls below the user's expectation due to color shift or fading. The repair request management unit 406 is realized by adding repair request information in the communication for notifying the operation state in the same manner as notifying the management device 102 of the operation state of the image forming apparatus 101 acquired by the operation state acquisition unit 404. In the notification information generation unit 407, the repair request management unit 406 responds to the request from the operation state acquisition unit 404 based on the operation status of the image forming apparatus 101, for example, whether it is failure information or a repair request. To generate notification information for transmission via Here, since the monitoring information of the image forming apparatus 101 included in the communication data is processed as necessary based on the communication processing specifications, it can be processed by the management apparatus 102. It is assumed that the communication processing specifications are stored in the ROM 203 and HDD 204 in advance. In transmission, the information and instruction from the operating state monitoring processing unit 401 are received, and it is determined whether the notification is successful or unsuccessful based on the reception information from the management apparatus 102 as well as transmitting communication data based on a predetermined communication processing specification. .

[Software module configuration of management device]
In FIG. 5, reference numeral 500 denotes a software module configuration of the management apparatus 102.

  Reference numerals 501 to 509 in the figure correspond to software modules of the management apparatus 102, which are stored in the HDD 304, expanded in the RAM 302 at the time of execution, and processed by the CPU 301. A communication information management processing unit 501 is a processing unit that performs processing such as determination, processing, and recording of notification information notified from the image forming apparatus in the management apparatus 102. The communication information management processing unit 501 includes a communication processing unit 502, a recording processing unit 503, a search processing unit 504, a display information generation unit 505, an input / output processing unit 506, a communication information generation unit 507, a notification determination processing unit 508, and a repair request status process. Part 509 is controlled. The communication processing unit 502 is connected to the network 111 via the network interface 305 and can receive notifications and requests from the image forming apparatus 101 and the information processing apparatus 108. The communication processing unit 502 receives information and instructions from the communication information management processing unit 501, and transmits or receives communication data based on a predetermined communication processing specification. The processed notification information is stored in the ROM 303 and HDD 304 as a history via the recording processing unit 503. The stored information can be searched for history by the search processing unit 504, converted into information that can be displayed by the display information property western part 505, and referred to. When displaying on the keyboard, mouse, or display of the input / output device 307, the display is converted into a displayable format via the input / output processing unit. Since the information processing apparatus 108 in the environment of the monitoring company may connect via the Internet to refer to the information of the image forming apparatus, the information processing apparatus 108 converts the information into an HTML format that can be processed by the browser. It goes without saying that other formats suitable for the device to be displayed can be prepared in addition to the HTML format. In order for the information processing apparatus 108 to refer to the HTML format information, the communication processing unit 502 is provided with a WWW server function. In addition, the notification information stored in the storage area can be referred to as a history, and the state implemented by the monitoring company as management information or memorandum can be added or updated as information to the notification information. The mechanism for adding and updating is as follows. Although either the communication processing unit 502 or the input / output processing unit 506 may be used, a request is made to add or update state information to the history of notification information already recorded. The notification information management processing unit 501 receives a request from the communication processing unit 502 or the input / output processing unit 506, adds status information via the recording processing unit 503, and updates it. The changed information can be referred to and confirmed using the display method described above as history information. The method for requesting via the communication processing unit 502 receives a request as a response in the HTML format provided to the information processing apparatus 108, or updates the status information by regarding the notification information of the image forming apparatus 101 as a request. You can also. Through these processes, the monitoring company 107 not only knows that the image forming apparatus 101 has failed or the user has notified the management apparatus 102 based on the information notified and processed by the management apparatus 102, but also requires repair. If you can, you can dispatch engineers. Furthermore, by recording the status information of the user and the image forming apparatus 101 in the information processed by the management device, it is possible to manage the status of the failure or measure that has occurred.

  A method for managing the state information will be described later. The communication analysis processing unit 507 analyzes information included in the notification information from the image forming apparatus 101, specifies information such as a serial number that identifies the image forming apparatus, a code that indicates an operation status, a repair request, and the like. To the notification information management processing unit 501. The notification information management processing unit 501 confirms whether or not the image forming apparatus is registered via the recording processing unit 503 from the received serial number. If registered, start processing based on the code. If the code is a code corresponding to the repair request, the notification determination processing unit 508 determines the repair request processing. As will be described later, since a plurality of codes are defined in the repair request, and the action status of the repair request that has been notified last time is also set as a condition for processing branching, the notification determination processing unit 508 sends the action status to the repair request status processing unit 509. Inquire.

  The repair request status processing unit 509 inquires about the status of the repair request recorded via the notification information management processing unit 501 and the recording processing unit 503 in response to the measure status inquiry, and processes the repair request based on the determined branch condition. Do.

[Example of screen provided by management device]
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a screen provided to the information processing apparatus 108 by the communication processing unit 501 in FIG. FIG. 6 shows a notification information screen 601 for displaying a processing result of management information notified from the image forming apparatus 101 (one or a plurality) that is monitored by the management apparatus 102 and an example icon 602 displayed on the notification information screen. Yes.

  Of the information notified from the image forming apparatus 101, the notification information screen 601 is a product name, a product ID (in this case, a serial number), a reception date and time, notification contents, and details on a detailed screen that displays detailed information of each notification. Show button. When the display is accessed for the first time, new notification information is displayed at the top, and old notification information is displayed at the bottom. The product ID indicates the serial number, is notified from the image forming apparatus 101, and is displayed by associating the serial number registered in the ROM 304 and HDD 305, which are storage areas, with the product name information as a management target in advance. The reception date / time displays the date / time (year / month / day / minute) when the management apparatus 102 received the management information. This is sufficient when a communication method such as HTTP communication is used, but when a communication method including a possibility of delay such as SMTP is adopted, the generation time is obtained by applying the date and time at the time when the image forming apparatus 101 transmits. The order can be made appropriate. The notification content is information that allows a person who refers to the information to easily know the category of the notification. In the example of FIG. 6, “Jam frequent occurrence” indicating that paper jams frequently occur, or “Repair request” that indicates a notification of a repair request that is not detected as an image forming apparatus but is notified by the user and notified. "There is an" error "indicating a failure. Each notification is represented by two lines. Taking the notification information at the top of FIG. 6 as an example, a paper jam occurred at 15:32 on November 12, 2009 from the image forming apparatus 101 having the serial number CP300. Indicates that there was a notification indicating that it occurred frequently. Code information for knowing where a paper jam has occurred, for example, 090001 (preliminary code 00000000) is also displayed, and the paper jam frequently occurs in which part of the image forming apparatus 101 referred to by the information processing apparatus 108. You can know what you are doing.

  In addition, there is a status area at the top of each notification. If only notifications have been made and no response measures have been taken, no response is available. This refers to the case where the problem is solved by instructing the user by telephone. Like the other icons 602, the icons are switched by providing information for switching the icon display regarding the correspondence to the information notified to the storage area ROM 304 and the HDD 305 in advance. For example, in the case of a repair request notification, even if it is a repair request notification icon, and a failure (error), a failure that can be dealt with by having the user turn the power off and on can be changed to a telephone compatible icon. Similarly, it is possible to send an engineer to the site and display an icon that requires on-site repair for a fault that requires replacement of the failed part. Icon switching is realized by providing information for switching icon display in the ROM 303 and HDD 304 together with code information.

  In the example, the repair request is highlighted by coloring the code information field as information that the user has consciously notified. Thereby, the monitoring company referring to the information processing apparatus 108 can easily find the repair request information notified.

[Example of repair request notification function of image forming apparatus]
A flow and mechanism for sending a repair request notification from the image forming apparatus 101 to the management apparatus 102 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10 show examples in which display and operation are performed using the input / output control 209 of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 11 illustrates the type and notification contents of the repair request notification, and FIG. 12 illustrates the operation order and flow of each screen.

  The repair request notification process in FIG. 12 will be described from the case where the user using the image forming apparatus 101 requests the repair request screen in FIG.

  In step S1201, it is determined whether or not there is a request on the repair request / cancel screen 701 in FIG. When the user issues a repair request notification, this screen is prepared to call and operate a dedicated screen. When there is no request in S1201, the repair request / cancel screen 701 is not called. Next, when there is a request in S1201, it is determined in S1202 whether the repair request management unit 406 is already in a repair request state before requesting the repair request screen to the input / output processing unit. A plurality of repair requests cannot be notified at the same time in the image forming apparatus, and if there is a repair request being notified, it is necessary to indicate that notification is in progress. The repair request notification state is stored in the storage area ROM 204 or the HDD 204, and the state is changed or updated according to the processing content of the repair request. The repair request status is acquired via the recording processing unit 403, and it is determined whether to proceed to S1203 or S1206.

  As a result of checking the repair request notification state in S1202, if it is determined that there is no repair request being notified, the process proceeds to S1203 and the input / output control 209 displays the repair request / cancel screen 701. The repair request / cancel screen 701 is provided with a close button 706 for stopping the repair request operation, and when the close button is pressed, the process returns to S1201. Buttons for an image defect 702, a paper jam 703, and other malfunctions 704 are prepared as notification contents of the repair request. Each button is highlighted when it is pressed once, and returns to a non-selected state when pressed again. While one or more buttons are selected, a button 705 for requesting the management apparatus 102 to send a repair request notification can be pressed. A plurality of buttons for an image failure 702, a paper jam 703, and other operation failures 704 can be selected, and one to a maximum of three pieces of repair request information can be notified with one code. FIG. 11 shows notification information codes to the management apparatus 102 for combinations of button selection states. There are seven types of repair request notification information codes 370001 to 370007.

  After selecting the contents to be notified of the repair request in S1203, the notification processing to the management apparatus 102 is started by pressing the button for requesting S1204. The image forming apparatus 101 records the code and the information in the code description in the repair request code table in the HDD 204, and selects the code according to the purpose of the notification. Further, the management apparatus 102 stores a code, a description of the code, icon information, and message information (character string) in the HDD 304 for display as a message. As for the icon information, 3 is defined when the repair request icon is displayed as described above. If set to zero, no icon is displayed because there is no target icon.

  In S1204, the repair request management unit 406 requests the notification information generation unit 407 to generate a code of the alarm code table 1101 in accordance with the selected notification button. The notification information generation unit 407 notifies the management apparatus 102 of the generated notification information of the repair request via the communication processing unit 402. In step S1205, it is determined whether a repair request notification to the management apparatus 102 has been appropriately performed. It is assumed that the repair request notification is not successful due to a network problem, convenience of the image forming apparatus, or a problem of the management apparatus 102. The operation information monitoring processing unit 401 detects whether or not the notification is successful. If the notification is unsuccessful, an error message is displayed via the input / output processing unit 405, and the process returns to the original S1201 before the repair request. The message may indicate in detail the reason for not being able to notify, or may urge the monitoring company to be contacted by another means (for example, telephone or e-mail). If the notification to the management apparatus 102 is successful in S1205, the process proceeds to S1206.

  In step S1206, the repair request / cancellation screen 801 shown in FIG. 8 is displayed to indicate that the repair request notification to the management apparatus has been successful. At the same time, the repair request management unit 406 records the repair request notification status in the storage area in the recording processing unit 403. At that time, the date and time of notification and the content of notification, for example, notification of only image failure are displayed on the screen. In the embodiment, as shown in 802, the color of the character area of the image defect is changed to indicate that the image defect repair request has been made. As described above, since only one repair request can be notified at a time for each image forming apparatus, the button 803 for repair request for calling up a screen for preparing a repair request button cannot be selected. In this screen, a request cancel 804 and a close button 805 are prepared.

  In step S1207, determination processing of a cancel request 804 button for canceling the repair request notification and a close button 805 for returning to normal use of the image forming apparatus is performed. Similar to the above-described repair request notification, the repair request management unit 406 and the notification information generation unit 407 generate and notify the notification of repair request cancellation.

  First, a case where the close button 805 is pressed will be described. The user confirms the contents of the repair request, contacts the monitoring company, or presses the close button 805 when the repair is required, and the image forming apparatus 101 can be printed or scanned, or a screen displaying these processes. return. In the following cases, the user may cancel the repair request notification. This may be the case when the content of the repair request notification is insufficient or large, or when the problem is solved by a person in charge of the user environment and the monitoring company is no longer required.

  Since it is necessary to cancel the repair request notification once to change the contents of the repair request, the user presses the request cancel button 804. When the cancel button is pressed, a screen 901 for confirming that there is no problem even if the request is canceled in FIG. 9 is displayed in S1208. If a “No” button 903 is pressed, nothing is done and the screen returns to the repair request / cancel screen 801 in FIG. If the “Yes” button 902 is pressed, it is confirmed whether or not the management apparatus 102 has been correctly notified of the cancellation of the repair request in S1209 as in the notification. If the cancellation notification fails, the process proceeds to S1211 to display a message indicating that the repair request cancellation notification has failed to the user, and returns to the original S1201 before the repair request. The message may indicate in detail the reason for not being able to notify, or may urge the monitoring company to be contacted by another means (for example, telephone or e-mail). If the cancellation notification is successful, the repair request is canceled in S1210, and it is recorded in the storage device ROM 304 or HDD 305 that the repair request has not been made. In the repair request cancellation, the management apparatus 102 is notified of the code 371000 indicating that the repair request cancellation button in FIG. 11 has been pressed, and the management apparatus 102 can grasp that the repair request has been canceled.

  In the description so far, the screen that can be operated by the user in the customer environment has been described. In actual operation, it may not be guaranteed that the repair request will be canceled. In addition, the repair request completion code for the engineer to cancel the repair request from the site to the management device 102 and notify the completion of the work so that the management device 102 can determine the notification method of the repair notification when the engineer works locally 372000 is available. This code is an image forming apparatus that can be notified from a special screen so that the user cannot send it (for example, a password is provided in a menu managed by the management company, prepared on a screen dedicated to engineers, and cannot be selected without special operation) Prepare for 101. This is a case where an engineer goes to the site and repairs the image forming apparatus 101 and the trouble is solved, or it is found that there is no problem as a result of checking on the site. A method is needed. By giving a completion notification that the user cannot operate, the management apparatus 102 can grasp that the engineer has solved the problem and confirmed it locally.

  In the repair request completion notification screen 1001 of FIG. 10, a repair request completion notification can be transmitted to the management apparatus 102 by pressing the completion button 1002. If the notification is successful at the same time, the notification state of the repair request is returned from the notification state to the no notification state. Thereby, the user can make a repair request again thereafter. A close button 1003 on the repair request completion notification screen 1001 is prepared for a case where the engineer does not send a completion notification.

[Repair request notification processing]
The mechanism of the repair request notification from the image forming apparatus 101 has been described. Next, the repair request notification process of the management apparatus 102 will be described. FIG. 13 illustrates the conditions under which the status item described in FIG. 6 can be changed. FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 are flowcharts showing processing when a repair request notification is received. 16 to 18 show how information is displayed on the information processing apparatus 108 by the processes of FIGS. 13 to 15.

  First, the status changing method described with reference to FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 illustrates a status change specification in a repair request notification and a table 1302 that the management apparatus 102 records as a repair request notification history.

  An example of the status is described on the notification information screen 601 in FIG. 6. Specifically, the status type in FIG. 13 is prepared. Numbers are defined for each status, and numbers are stored in the table according to the status. There are five statuses for the notification information: unsupported, currently being supported, supported (telephone), supported (dispatch), and unsupported. The status has the same meaning as well as the repair request. Here, the repair request is described as an example. In the case of non-correspondence, the repair request request of the repair request notification codes 370001 to 370007 in FIG. 11 is notified, and after the reception and storage processing is performed by the management apparatus 102, nothing is done to the image forming apparatus requested by the monitoring company. Indicates that no action has been taken. The monitoring company calls the user or dispatches an engineer to change the status manually when taking any action, and refers to the status to prevent double calls, Used to understand and manage During handling, it means that we are responding by telephone or dispatching engineers as described above. However, it includes those that have responded but have not been able to resolve local problems, or that they do not have the parts necessary for repair as a result of dispatching engineers, and are scheduled to be resolved at the next visit. Corresponding to these statuses (telephone) and responding (dispatch) indicate that the problem at the site has been solved by telephone correspondence or dispatch of an engineer. Corresponding (telephone) indicates an artificial state to the last, and indicates that the user who responded by telephone has reported that there is no problem in use or that further correspondence is unnecessary, and the image forming apparatus 101 It is not linked with notification information from. No action required represents a case where the user withdraws the request for repair after that although the user has notified the repair request. Unlike other supported statuses, the monitoring company does not take any action. This state is also set when the user issues a repair request cancellation notification from the image forming apparatus 101 or when the user informs the monitoring company that there is no need to respond by telephone or e-mail.

  Next, specifications and conditions for changing the status will be described. It is possible to manually change all of the five types that are not supported, currently being handled, handled (telephone), handled (dispatched), and not required.

  On the other hand, there are two types of statuses that are automatically changed in response to a repair request notification from the image forming apparatus 101: correspondence (dispatch) and correspondence unnecessary. Corresponding (dispatch) is changed from unsupported only when a repair completion notification is received from the image forming layer apparatus 101 when the status is not supported. If the status has been manually changed to a status other than unsupported before receiving a repair request completion notification, status change processing is not performed. “Not required” is changed from “Not supported” only when a repair completion notification is received from the image forming layer apparatus 101 when the status is “Not supported”. If the status has been manually changed to a status other than unsupported before receiving a repair request completion notification, status change processing is not performed.

  Next, the display of the flowcharts of FIGS. 14 and 15 and the display results will be described with reference to the display examples of FIGS.

  FIG. 14 illustrates a flow in which the management apparatus 102 receives and processes a repair request notification from the image forming apparatus 101.

  The management apparatus 101 receives a repair request notification in S1401. Whether or not it is a repair request notification is determined based on the aforementioned code. When the communication processing unit 502 receives a notification from the image forming apparatus 101, the communication analysis processing unit 507 determines whether it is a repair request notification. In S1402, when a repair request notification is received, information recorded in the procedure of the repair request information table 1302 is referred to and it is determined whether or not to process as a new repair request notification. This means that the target 0 and non-target 1 are recorded in the processing, and a repair request cancellation notification or repair request completion notification has been received in the past, or the status has been changed manually. . If the measure is zero, the progress status is processed as unsupported in S1403. In this process, the communication information management processing unit 501 of the module determines a code and determines an unsupported status, and stores it in the HDD 304 as a recording device via the recording processing unit 503.

  In step S1404, the status of the stored repair request notification information is determined. The repair request status processing unit 509 performs processing. In the case of the processing up to S1403, since the status is not supported, it is displayed as unsupported as shown in the status item of the repair request notification in FIG. This means that no action has been taken at the monitoring company due to the request for repair. Since it is not supported, the status is changed after judging whether to respond to the phone or dispatch an engineer to the site. In the status change step of S1404, the notification determination processing unit 508 determines whether the communication processing unit 502 or the communication analysis processing unit 507 determines whether the change is a manual change from the screen or a repair request cancellation / completion notification.

  If there is no request, the process waits in step S1405.

  In step S1405, in the case of a repair request cancellation or a repair request completion notification from the image forming apparatus 101, it is determined whether the repair request is canceled or the repair request is completed. If it is determined in S1405 that the repair request has been completed, the change information in the repair request information table 1302 is changed to 1 in S1406, and the status is set to 3 and a display request is displayed (dispatch). In the case of canceling the repair request, the change information in the repair request information table 1302 is changed to 1 in S1407, and the status is set to 4, indicating that no response is required when there is a display request. The status that can be changed by either the repair request cancellation notification or the repair request completion notification from the image forming apparatus 101 is limited to responded (dispatch) and not required. Although it is limited, in the case of a repair request completion notification, the engineer dispatched to the site will notify when the repair is complete, so even if the status can only be changed to the dispatched status, it is the correct measure.

  In addition, the repair request cancellation notification is a notification that is sent when the user wants to request another repair from the device that requested the repair, or because the user wants to cancel the repair request. Taking corrective action or making it unnecessary is also a correct measure.

  If it is determined in S1404 that it is a manual change, the status that can be changed from the unsupported status follows the correspondence table of the change target and manual change by the notification from the device in FIG. A manual status change can be changed from an unsupported status to any other status. This is a function to make it easier to grasp the status of the measure by changing to a fine status state for the convenience of the monitoring company.

  Next, a process of displaying what causes the status change of the repair request notification will be described with reference to FIG.

  As described with reference to FIG. 14, the repair request can be manually changed in status, and can also be changed in response to a request from the image forming apparatus 101. As described above, manual status change may be preferable due to various circumstances, and is flexible. On the other hand, it may be difficult to understand what kind of measures have been taken because the cause of the status change cannot be identified. There is also a method of displaying a cancellation or completion notification from the image forming apparatus 101 as one notification on the notification information screen of FIG. However, it is highly anticipated that it will be displayed apart from the first notification information, and it may not be easy to understand because there are cases where a cancellation or completion notification may be made despite the manual status change. Needless to say, it is difficult to search for a cancellation or completion notice if it is not received immediately.

  The flow chart of FIG. 15 will explain the display screen when the failure information details (repair request) screen 1601 of FIG. The failure information details (repair request) screen 1601 is roughly divided into a repair request corresponding status setting area 1604 and a notification history area 1609. In the repair request completion / cancellation status display area 1602, the date and time notified by the image forming apparatus is displayed as the occurrence date and time 1605. The code 1606, details 1607, and counter 1608 display code information and counter information notified as a repair request cancellation notification or repair request completion notification, and display messages stored in the ROM 303 and HDD 304 in advance based on the codes. Similarly, a notification history area 1609 also displays a repair request notification requesting detailed information at the top, and a result of searching for history information older than that. As with the repair request completion / cancellation status display area 1602, the occurrence date / time, code, details, and counter, which are information to be displayed, display the information that has been notified. The occurrence date and time is used in search and display, and on the failure information details (repair request) screen 1601, an arbitrary repair request for which details have been selected and notification information notified before the repair request notification are displayed in order. . As a result, the monitoring company that manages the image forming apparatus 101 using the information processing apparatus 108 can grasp the situation such as the failure notified before the selected repair request notification in time series.

  Finally, at the bottom of the screen, a status selection radio button group 1610 and a status save button 1611 are prepared and a mechanism for setting and updating the status in detail is prepared. The status selection radio button group 1610 can be prepared with the status described with reference to FIG. 13, and the setting can be updated with the status save button 1611.

  In S1501, a process when the detail button of the repair request notification in FIG. 6 is pressed will be described. In step S1501, when the detail button is pressed, the communication information management processing unit 501 prepares display information by requesting the detail processing screen from the recording processing unit 503, the search processing unit 504, and the display information generation unit 505. Return to device 108 or the like. In S1502, the status of the repair request specifying the detailed information is determined, and the process is separated.

  First, the case where the status is changed manually will be described. If it has been changed manually, the search processing unit 504 searches the history of notification information older than the currently selected repair request notification in step S1503 and collects the information. Further, N / A is displayed in the occurrence date / time, code, and counter to indicate that the status has been manually changed in the repair request completion / cancellation status area of FIG. This indicates N / A that there is no information to display because there is no notification. In detail, a manual status change message indicating that the change has been made manually is displayed. Thus, the repair request can know that the status has been changed manually.

  Next, a case where a repair request cancellation notification or a repair request completion notification is notified from the image forming apparatus 101 will be described. In step S1505, it is determined that there has been a status change from the image forming apparatus, and the search processing unit 504 searches for a history of notification information older than the currently selected repair request notification and collects information in the same manner as in manual operation. . In step S1506, a future history is retrieved from the repair request notification in order to display the cancellation or completion notification notified from the image forming apparatus 101 in the repair request completion / cancellation status area.

  In S1507, as shown in the display examples of FIGS. 16 and 17, notifications corresponding to the occurrence date, code, and counter to indicate that the status has been changed by the notification from the image forming apparatus 101 in the repair request completion / cancellation status area. Display information. Specifically, in the case of a repair request cancellation notification, a message of the building where the repair request has been canceled is displayed. In the case of a repair request completion notification, a message indicating that the repair request completion notification is displayed as shown in FIG.

  Finally, a case where the detail button is pressed while the status is unprocessed will be described. This state indicates that no change request has been made either manually or from the image forming apparatus 101. Therefore, nothing is displayed in the repair request completion / cancellation status area of the detail screen. Details, N / A is displayed for all counters.

(Other examples)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (1)

In a management system comprising an image forming apparatus and a monitoring device that monitors the operating state of the image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
An operation state acquisition means (401) for acquiring the operation state;
A notification information generating unit (404) for generating information for notifying the operating state;
Notification means (402) for notifying the management device of the operation information generated by the notification information generation unit;
The notification means includes a repair request generation means (406, S1204) for generating repair request information for requesting a repair in addition to the operating state of the image forming apparatus,
Repair request means (401) for requesting the notification means for repair request information generated by the repair request generation means;
The management device
Notification information notified by the notification means of the image forming apparatus, notification information receiving means (502) for receiving a repair request notification;
Analyzing means (507) for analyzing the information received by the notification information receiving means;
Repair request status information updating means (508, S1406, S1407, S1408) for extracting a repair request notification by the analysis means and recording and updating status information based on the status information of the past repair request notification;
Repair request search means (504) for changing the search method according to the status information recorded by the repair request status information update means based on the information display request of the repair request notification;
A management system comprising a display information generation unit (505, S1502 to S1507) for displaying a search result of the repair request search means.

Images