JPH0630146A - On-line monitoring service method for copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the user and the sales/service agent of a copying machine to cope efficiently and optimizingly with countermeasures against a fault or the like by devising the method such that a monitoring information communication destination representing a state of the copying machine in use is selected. CONSTITUTION:A state of a copying machine component group 1 sensed by a sensor group 2 is stored in a memory 3. A state discrimination processing section 4 evaluates totally each state in terms of the software by a central processing unit(CPU) or the like, evaluates the state as the whole copying machine by categories (wear, fault, damage and deterioration or the like) and outputs the result to a communication processing section 5 as a maintenance emergency level. Furthermore, the communication processing section 5 makes communication to a most suitable point among contact locations registered in advance in response to the installed location of the copying machine according to the received emergency level. That is, the processing section 5 makes communication to a general-purpose computer 7 installed at the service/sales location of the copying machine connected through a public telephone line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a public telephone line between a copying machine in service and a communication terminal device installed at a base selling and servicing the copying machine to improve the status of the copying machine. The present invention relates to an online monitoring method for realizing remote monitoring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of online monitoring, a copying machine is connected to a terminal device such as a general-purpose computer installed at a certain sales / service site through a public telephone line via a modem. There is.

[0003]

In the conventional example, since there are a plurality of communication destinations for the monitoring data (information) from the copying machine side, the user of the copying machine has to input the communication destination of the monitoring data. However, it has a drawback that it is not the best mode in terms of responsiveness to an event occurring on the copying machine side. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to
In view of the above points, it is an object of the present invention to provide an online monitoring service method for a copying machine, which is capable of quickly and automatically transmitting monitoring information to a specific base.

[0004]

In order to achieve such an object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a plurality of copying machines installed at a plurality of bases for providing a service to the copying machine. In an online monitoring service method for a copying machine, which transmits monitoring information obtained by monitoring the copying machine to a communication terminal apparatus, correspondence between the type of the monitoring information and the communication terminal apparatus to which the monitoring information is communicated A relationship is predetermined, the copying machine determines the type of the monitoring information, selects a communication terminal device corresponding to the result of the determination based on the correspondence relationship, and monitors the communication terminal device of the selection. It is characterized by automatically transmitting information.

A second aspect of the invention is obtained by monitoring the copying machine from a copying machine to a plurality of communication terminal devices installed at a plurality of bases for providing services to the copying machine. In an online monitoring service method for a copying machine that transmits monitoring information, a correspondence relationship between a type of the monitoring information and a communication terminal device that is a communication destination of the monitoring information is determined in advance, and the copying machine selects a plurality of communication terminal devices. The specific communication terminal device that has transmitted the monitoring information to a specific communication terminal device in the medium, and has received the monitoring information, determines the type of the monitoring information, and based on the correspondence, the result of the determination. Select another compatible communication terminal device and transfer the received monitoring information to the selected communication terminal device. And wherein the door.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the copying machine selects the communication terminal device corresponding to the type of the monitoring information and automatically transmits the monitoring information to the communication terminal device.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a specific communication terminal device distributes monitoring information to other communication terminal devices.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a specific embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a group of copying machine components in which a consumable item and a defect in the copying machine are expected to occur, and 2 is a group of sensors for sensing the state value of each copying machine component 1. Three
Is a memory for storing the state value of each component sensed by the sensor group 2, and 4 is a state determination process for outputting the state of the entire copying machine in the form of urgency of maintenance according to the state value from each component. It is a department. A communication processing unit 5 has a function of switching the communication destination according to the urgency of maintenance output from the state value determination processing unit 4. Reference numeral 6 is a modem connected to a copying machine via a cable. Reference numeral 7 is a general-purpose computer installed at a service / sales base of a copying machine connected through a public telephone line.

The state values of the copying machine component group 1 detected by the sensor group 1 are stored in the memory 3. The state value determination processing unit 4 comprehensively evaluates each state value by software using a central processing unit (CPU) or the like, and classifies and evaluates the state values of the entire copying machine according to categories (wear, failure, damage, deterioration, etc.). Then, it is output to the communication processing unit 5 as the urgency level of maintenance. The communication processing unit 5 communicates with the most suitable base among the contacts registered in advance according to the service location of the copying machine according to the input urgency level.

FIG. 2 shows a state value determination processing unit 4 and a communication processing unit 5.
The processing flow of is shown. The collected monitoring data is branched depending on the presence / absence of an error signal, evaluated in the categories of wear, failure, damage, and deterioration, and leveled from 0 to 2 for maintenance urgency. When a normal error signal is transmitted from the copying machine side, the state is classified into the following items for each predetermined type of monitoring data and leveled.

Consumable product type 1 (paper feeding, toner, oil, etc.) Consumable product type 2 (halogen lamp, drive system, etc.) Failure classification 1 (paper jam, etc.) Failure classification 2 (part damage, etc.) Consumable product type 1, failure classification 1 Basically, it can be dealt with by the user using the copying machine. Consumable product type 2 and failure classification 2
Requires the contact and request of specialized maintenance personnel.

Further, when no error signal is transmitted, when the observed value of the monitoring data deviates from the expected steady value range, it is judged that the component parts deteriorate with age, and the urgency level of maintenance is set to a high level. According to this level, communication processing is performed via a modem to a telephone number registered in advance according to the service location. On the side of the site, it becomes possible to grasp the state of the copying machine from the data sent from the copying machine in service, and take appropriate action promptly. According to the discrimination criteria of such monitoring information,
The operation of the copying machine for selectively transmitting the monitoring data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The memory 3 stores the detection data of the sensor group 2 in an internal corresponding storage area at a constant cycle or at a predetermined timing (step S1). After acquiring (sampling) all the detection data, the state determination processing unit 4 sequentially reads the detection data from the memory 3 and performs a comparison determination with a threshold value set for the type of the detection data to determine an error. Presence / absence determination (step S2 → S)
3).

When the error determination is obtained, the type of the read data from the memory 3 for which the error determination is obtained is determined. An example of the determination method will be introduced. A method can be used in which the storage addresses of data in the memory 3 are collected for each type of data, and the type of detected data is identified by the value indicated by the storage address (read address).

In this way, the state determination processing unit 4 determines that the detection data indicating an error is the consumable items 1 or 2 or the fault classification 1
It is identified whether it is 2 (steps S10 to S30), and level information is given to the error detection data based on the identification result (steps S11, S21, S31).

The level information is information indicating whether or not the monitor information (detection data) is transmitted, and also indicating the transmission destination.

The detection data indicating that the level information is "1" is transmitted to the site B in the destination selection process of steps 41 and 50 described later. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no error in step S3, the state determination processing unit 4 checks whether or not the detection data is a steady value (abnormal variation) (steps S3 → S4). When the abnormal change is detected here, the level information of "2" is given to the detection data.

From the detection data obtained by the error determination or the abnormal variation determination as described above, the data to be transmitted to the plurality of bases A and B and the transmission destination of the data to be transmitted are determined in step S41. Selection is performed by the determination processing of S50. That is, in this embodiment, the level information is "2".
Is sent to the communication processing unit 5 as monitor information to be transmitted to the site A. Also, the level information is "1"
Is sent to the communication processing unit 5 as monitor information to be transmitted to the site B.

In the communication processing unit 5, a telephone number is selected and set in correspondence with the destination (level information) of the delivered detection data, and the monitor information is transmitted to the (communication) terminal device at the base via the modem 6. To do.

It goes without saying that the communication processing unit 5 may select the detection data based on the level information.

<Other Embodiments> FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration of another embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 8 is a group of copying machine components in which a consumable item or a defect in the copying machine is expected to occur, and 9 is a group of sensors for sensing the state value of each copying machine component 8. 10 is a memory in which the state value of each component sensed in 9 is stored, 1
1 is a communication processing unit A that transfers the sensed data periodically.
And, here, communication is performed to a specific fixed base. Reference numeral 12 is a modem connected to the copying machine via a cable, and 13 is a general-purpose computer installed at a service / sales base of the copying machine connected via a public telephone line. Reference numeral 14 denotes a state value determination processing unit that stores and evaluates the monitoring data transferred from each in-use copying machine and determines the maintenance urgency level of each copying machine.
4 is a communication processing unit B for performing communication / contact with a general-purpose computer 17 installed in another base via a dedicated communication line 16 according to the urgency level in 4.

In this embodiment, all data or selected data monitored from the copying machine is transferred to the general-purpose computer 13 installed in a fixed sales / service base A, and the status judgment on the copying machine side of the first embodiment is carried out. The state determination processing unit 14 and the communication processing unit 15 on the general-purpose computer 13 respectively perform the state value determination processing of data and the communication processing according to the level thereof similar to the processing unit 4 and the communication processing unit 5.
As a result, regarding the received data, sales / service base A
If the contact information other than the above is appropriate, communication / data transfer to other sites registered in advance according to the level is performed through the dedicated communication line 16.

[0025]

As described in the above embodiments, by switching the monitoring information communication destination indicating the status of the copying machine in service, the user on the copying machine side can perform the conventional instruction input operation of the communication destination. Since it is unnecessary and the service provider on the base side receives only necessary information, it is possible to streamline and optimize the copier user and the sales / service of the copier on the base side.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,8 Component group 2,9 Sensor group 3,10 Memory 4 State determination processing unit 5 Communication processing unit 6 Modem 11 Communication processing unit A 16 Dedicated communication line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A copying machine transmits monitoring information obtained by monitoring the copying machine to a plurality of communication terminal devices installed at a plurality of sites for providing services to the copying machine. In the online monitoring service method of the copying machine, the type of the monitoring information and the correspondence relationship between the monitoring information and the communication terminal device of the communication destination are predetermined, and the copying machine determines the type of the monitoring information, An online monitoring service method for a copying machine, characterized in that a communication terminal device corresponding to the result of the discrimination is selected based on the correspondence, and the monitoring information is automatically transmitted to the selected communication terminal device. 2. A copying machine transmits monitoring information obtained by monitoring the copying machine to a plurality of communication terminal devices installed at a plurality of sites for providing services to the copying machine. In the online monitoring service method of a copying machine, the correspondence relationship between the type of the monitoring information and the communication terminal device of the communication destination of the monitoring information is determined in advance, and the copying machine specifies a specific one of the plurality of communication terminal devices. The specific communication terminal device that has transmitted the monitoring information to the communication terminal device and has received the monitoring information determines the type of the monitoring information, and based on the correspondence relationship, determines whether another result corresponding to the determination result is obtained. The communication terminal device is selected, and the received monitoring information is transferred to the selected communication terminal device. Online monitoring service method of a copying machine to.