JP2000148431A - Device and method for network device management and unit and method for network device control - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display error information from a network printer together with a message corresponding to characteristic environment. SOLUTION: A character string corresponding to an error ID is stored in a programmable state in the interface card 150 of a printer. This character string can be rewritten through a LAN 100. If an error occurs, the interface card 150 retrieves the character string corresponding to the error and sends it to the LAN 100.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a control device and method for a network device connected to, for example, a computer network, and a network printer management device and method for managing the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computers can be interconnected by a local area network (LAN). Local area networks can be interconnected for incorporation into larger systems spanning a building floor or entire building, a group of buildings (premises), an area, or even a larger area, up to a global system. Each LAN may have a variety of hardware interconnect technologies and a number of network protocols.

[0003] A simple LAN separated from the others can be managed by individual users. In other words, the user can change devices, install software,
And diagnose problems.

On the other hand, large and complex LANs and large interconnected LAN groups require "management". "Management" means management by both a human network administrator and the software used by that administrator. In the present application, "management" means management by software for managing the entire system, and "user" means a person who uses network management software. This user is typically the system administrator. By using the network management software, the user can obtain management data on the network and change the data.

[0005] Large-scale network systems are usually dynamic systems that require constant addition and removal of equipment, software updates, and problem detection. Generally, there will be different systems owned by different people and supplied by different vendors.

[0006] One of the network devices managed by such network management software is a printer. The network management software monitors the printer connected to the network, and if an error occurs, an error occurs in the printer on the terminal device on which the network management software is running or on the terminal device that is the user of the printer Display that it has been done and inform the user.

[0007]

As described above, the conventional network management program can notify a user of an error that has occurred in a network device by display or the like. However, the content of the notification is limited to the name of the device in which the error has occurred and the content of what error has occurred. FIG. 16 shows an example of the error display window 901. In the window 901, a device in which an error has occurred and a location in which the error has occurred are graphically displayed in an image window 902, and a message 903 indicating a method for coping with the error is displayed.

[0008] However, the conventional network management program can acquire general information on errors and how to deal with them, but how to solve them in the environment where the user is located. Couldn't show. For example, even if you see the window 901 and the message 903 in FIG.
If you do not know where to supply the paper to be replenished, the error cannot be cleared. In this way, although the occurrence of an error can be notified by a predetermined versatile error message, it is possible to provide each system with all information for clearing the error, including unique information. could not.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example. When an error occurs in a network device, a message that can be set for each individual system is output in addition to a general-purpose error message, so that each individual device is output. It is an object of the present invention to provide a network device control apparatus and method capable of providing a user with information suitable for a system, and a network printer management apparatus and method for managing the same.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an error associated information including a character string which is programmable by a user is stored in a network device in association with an error identifier, and Occurs, the error identifier and the error accompanying information are transmitted to the network management device and output in response to a request from the network device management device.

Alternatively, the present invention is a network device management apparatus for managing a network device capable of storing error accompanying information including a desired character string in association with an error identifier. Receiving means for receiving error accompanying information corresponding to the error identifier; and output means for outputting a character string included in the error accompanying information as information relating to an error that has occurred in the network device.

[0012] Alternatively, the present invention is a network device control apparatus for controlling a network device connected to a network, wherein the storage device rewritably stores a desired character string in association with an error identifier. Output means for outputting an error identifier corresponding to the generated error and the character string to a network.

Alternatively, according to the present invention, storage means for storing a desired character string in a rewritable manner in association with an error identifier, and an error identifier corresponding to an error occurring in the network device and the character string are output to a network. A network device control device comprising: output means; receiving means for receiving, from the network device, error information including an error identifier; and error accompanying information corresponding to the error identifier; and a character string included in the error accompanying information. And an output unit for outputting the information as an error related to the error generated in the network device.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) An example of a network system managed by a network management program will be described below.

[Configuration of Network] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a case where a network board (NEB) 101 for connecting a printer to a network is connected to a printer 102 having an open architecture. NEB1
01 is a local area network (LAN) 100
For example, an Ethernet interface 10Base-2 having a coaxial connector or a 10Base having an RJ-45
They are connected via a LAN interface such as e-T.

A plurality of personal computers (PCs) such as PC 103 and PC 104 are also connected to 100, and these PCs can communicate with NEB 101 under the control of a network operating system. One of the PCs, for example, the PC 103 can be designated to be used as the network management unit. PC
Alternatively, a printer such as the printer 105 connected to the PC 104 may be connected.

The file server 10 is connected to the LAN 100.
6, which manages access to files stored on a large-capacity (for example, 10 billion bytes) network disk 107. Print server 108
Causes a printer such as the connected printers 109a and 109b or the printer 105 at a remote location to perform printing. Further, other peripheral devices (not shown) may be connected to the LAN 100.

More specifically, the network shown in FIG. 1 can use network software such as Novell or UNIX software in order to efficiently communicate between various network members. Although any network software can be used, for example, Novell NetWare (trademark of Novell) software can be used. A detailed description of this software package is provided in the online documentation included with the NetWare package. It can be purchased from Novell with the NetWare package.

In brief, the file server 106
Functions as a file management unit that receives, stores, queues, caches, and transmits data files between LAN members. For example, PC10
3 and the PC 104 are sent to the file server 106. The file server 106 arranges these data files in order, and sends the arranged data files to the printer 109a according to a command from the print server 108. I do.

Each of the PC 103 and the PC 104 generates a data file and a LAN of the generated data file.
It is composed of a normal PC capable of transmitting data to the LAN 100, receiving a file from the LAN 100, and displaying and / or processing such a file. FIG.
Although personal computer equipment is shown in FIG. 1, other computer equipment may be included as appropriate to execute the network software. For example, U
If you are using UNIX software, UNIX
Workstations may be included in the network, and these workstations may be used with the illustrated PC under appropriate circumstances.

Typically, a LAN, such as LAN 100, provides services to a somewhat local group of users, such as a group of users on one floor or multiple consecutive floors in a building. For example, a wide area network (WAN) may be created as one user moves away from another user, such as when the user is in another building or another prefecture. A WAN is basically an aggregation formed by connecting several LANs with a high-speed digital line such as an integrated high-speed service digital network (ISDN) telephone line. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
, LAN 110 and LAN 120 are modulated / demodulated (M
ODEM) / transponder 130 and backbone 140 to form a WAN. These connections are simple electrical connections with several buses. Each LAN includes a dedicated PC and, although not necessarily, usually includes a file server and a print server.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Are the PC 111, the PC 112, and the file server 11
3, a network disk 114, a print server 115, a printer 116 and a printer 117. In contrast, LAN 120 has PC 121 and PC 122
Including only. LAN 100, LAN 110, LAN
The device connected to the LAN 120 can access functions of other LAN devices via a WAN connection.

As a method for managing devices on a network constituting a large-scale network system as described above, several attempts have been made by many standard organizations so far. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has established OpenSystem Interconnection,
A generic reference framework called the OSI) model was provided.

The OSI model of the network management protocol is based on the Common Management Information Protocol (Common Management Information Protocol).
formation Protocol (CMIP). CMIP
Is a common European network management protocol.

In the United States, as a more common network management protocol, a simple network management protocol (Simple Network Management Protocol, SN)
There is a variant of a protocol related to CMIP called MP) (Marshall T. Rose, The Simple Book, Prentice
-Hall, 1991).

According to the SNMP network management technology,
A network management system includes at least one network management station (NMS), a number of managed nodes, each including an agent, and a network management protocol used by the management stations and agents to exchange management information. The user can obtain data on the network and change the data by communicating with the agent software on the managed node using the network management software on the NMS.

An agent is software that runs as a background process for each target device. When a user requests management data from a device on the network, the management software sends the object identification information in a management packet or frame to the target agent. The agent interprets the object identification information, extracts data corresponding to the object identification information, puts the data in a packet, and sends it back to the user. Occasionally, a corresponding process is called to retrieve the data.

The agent holds data on its own state in the form of a database. This database is called MIB (Management Information Base)
Call. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the MIB. As shown in FIG. 4, the MIB has a tree-structured data structure, and all nodes are uniquely numbered. In FIG. 4, the number written in parentheses is the identifier of the node.

For example, in FIG. 4, the identifier of the node 401 is 1. The identifier of the node 402 is
Since it is 3 below, it is written as 1.3. Similarly, the identifier of the node 403 is described as 1.3.6.6.2. The object identifier is the identifier of this node
(OBJECT IDENTIFIER).

This MIB has a management information structure (SM
I: Structure of Management Information) and RFC1155 Structure and Identification of Manage
ment Information for TCP / IP-based Internets.

As an example of mounting an agent, it is conceivable to mount the agent on a network board for connecting a printer to a network. Thus, the printer can be managed by the network management software. The user can obtain information on the printer to be controlled using the network management software and change the status. More specifically, for example, a character string displayed on a liquid crystal display of a printer can be obtained, or a default paper cassette can be changed.

An embodiment in which a network board (NEB) on which an agent is mounted is connected to a printer will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, NEB1 is preferably used.
01 is built in the internal expansion I / O slot of the printer 102, and the NEB 101 is an "embedded" network node having the processing and data storage functions described below.

The configuration of the NEB 101 provides an advantage of having a characteristic auxiliary function for controlling and managing a large multi-area WAN network. These auxiliary functions include, for example, printer control and status monitoring from a remote location on the network (such as the network administrator's office), and a guaranteed initial environment for the next user after each print job. Includes printer logs or usage statistics that can be accessed through a network to automatically manage printer configuration and characterize printer load or schedule toner cartridge replacement.

An important factor in the NEB design is that the NEB10 is controlled via a bidirectional interface such as a shared memory.
This is a function for accessing the printer control status from the printer 1. In addition to the shared memory, an interface such as a SCSI interface can be used. As a result, the printer operation information can be sent to the NEB 101 or the external network node so that many convenient auxiliary function programs can be created. The block of print image data and control information is constituted by a microprocessor on the NEB 101, described in a shared memory, and read by the printer 102. Similarly, printer status information is sent from the printer 102 to the shared memory, where it is read by the NEB processor.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state in which the NEB 101 is installed in the printer 102. As shown in FIG. 2, the NEB 101 is a printed circuit board 101a provided with a face plate 101b for network connection.
And is connected to the printer interface card 150 via the connector 170. The printer interface card 150 is used for the printer 102.
Directly control the printer engine. The print data and the printer status command are transmitted from the NEB 101 to the connector 17.
0, and is input to the printer interface card 150, and printer status information is also obtained from the printer interface card 150 via the connector 170. The NEB 101 transmits this information to the LA through the network connector of the face plate 101b.
Communicate on N100. At the same time, the printer 102 has a serial port 102a and a parallel port 102a.
b, print data can be received.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical connection between the NEB 101, the printer 102, and the LAN 100.
The NEB 101 is directly connected to the LAN 100 via a LAN interface and to the printer 102 via a printer interface card 150. The microprocessor 151 accesses the data with the NEB 101 by using the shared memory 20 installed in the NEB 101.
Through 0. The microprocessor 151 is also in communication with the printer engine 160 that actually drives the printing mechanism.

On the other hand, the PC on which the network management software operates will be described below.

[Configuration of PC] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a PC on which network management software can operate.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 500 denotes a PC on which network management software operates, and 1 in FIG.
Equivalent to 03. The PC 500 executes a network management program stored in the ROM 502 or the hard disk (HD) 511 or supplied from the floppy disk drive (FD) 512.
01, and comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 504.

Reference numeral 503 denotes a RAM, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 501. Reference numeral 505 denotes a keyboard controller (KBC).
9 and an instruction input from a pointing device (not shown) or the like. 506 is a CRT controller (CRTC)
Controls the display on the CRT display (CRT) 510. A disk controller (DKC) 507 controls access to a hard disk (HD) 511 and a floppy disk controller (FD) 512 that store a boot program, various applications, editing files, user files, a network management program, and the like. A network interface card (NIC) 508 exchanges data with an agent or a network device via the LAN 100 in two directions.

The hard disk (HD) 511 stores a network management software program according to the present invention, as will be described later with reference to a flowchart. In the flowcharts described below, the main body of execution is the CPU 501 on hardware. On the other hand, the subject of control on software is network management software stored in a hard disk (HD) 511. In the present embodiment, the OS is assumed to be, for example, Windows 95 (manufactured by Microsoft), but is not limited to this. The hard disk 511 also stores error accompanying information described later. The error accompanying information can be prepared for each error information to which a code or the like is added in advance. The user sets the content of the error accompanying information as necessary. The correspondence between the error information prepared in advance and the error accompanying information can be realized by the error code given to the error information.

[Configuration and Operation of Network Management Program] Next, the configuration of the network management software of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 6 is a module configuration diagram of the network management software according to the present invention.

The network management software according to the present invention is stored in the hard disk 511 in FIG. At that time, CP
U501 uses the RAM 503 as a work area.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a module called a device list, which displays a list of devices connected to the network. Reference numeral 602 denotes overall control, which controls other modules based on instructions from the device list. Reference numeral 603 denotes a module called a configurator, which performs a special process related to the network setting of the agent. A module 604 is called a search module and searches for a device connected to the network. Devices searched by this module are displayed as a list in a device list 601. 605 indicates the status of the print job by NetWare API
This module is obtained from the network server using 616. As for the NetWare API, for example, "NetWare Programmer's Guid" issued by Novell
e for C "etc. This book is available for purchase from Novell, Inc. 606 and 607 are modules for displaying a device details window showing detailed information of a managed device, and displaying detailed information. There is a module for each target model to be controlled.Control modules 608 and 609 are modules for performing control specific to the target model for obtaining detailed information, and these modules are also provided for each target model for displaying detailed information. Modules 608 and 609 are MIB modules 6
10 to obtain MIB data from the device to be managed and pass it to the module 606 or 607 for displaying a device details window.

The MIB module 610 is a module that converts between an object identifier and an object key. Here, the object key is a 32-bit integer corresponding to the object identifier on a one-to-one basis. Object identifiers are variable-length identifiers and are cumbersome to implement in network management software, so the network management software according to the present application internally uses fixed-length identifiers that correspond one-to-one with object identifiers. ing. MIB module 610
The higher-level module handles MIB information using this object key. This makes it easier to implement network management software.

Reference numeral 611 is called an SNMP module.
It transmits and receives NMP packets. A common transport module 612 is a module that absorbs a difference between lower protocols for transporting SNMP data. In practice, depending on the protocol selected by the user during operation, the IPX handler 613 or the UDP handler 61
4 has a role of transferring data. Note that U
The DP handler uses WinSock 617 as an implementation. For WinSocK, for example, Windows SocketAPI vl.
It is described in the specification of 1. This document is available from multiple sources, but is included with, for example, Visual C ++, a Microsoft compiler.

The current protocol 615 used by the configurator 603 indicates either the IPX protocol or the UDP protocol selected by the user during operation.

Next, in a large-scale network system having a configuration as shown in FIG. 1, a case in which a network management program running on the PC 500 manages a printer to be managed (for example, the printer 102) will be described.
This will be described in more detail.

(Display of Error Detailed Information and Error Associated Information) FIG.
6 is a flowchart of a processing procedure by a network management program and a printer managed by the network management program, which is started by activating (network management program). In FIG. 7, the procedure of the network management program is shown on the left side, and the procedure of the printer is shown on the right side.

The network management program executed according to this flowchart is stored in the hard disk (HD) 511. The subject of execution of this network management program is C on the hardware
PU501. On the other hand, the subject of control on software is a network management program stored in a hard disk (HD) 511. In this embodiment, O
S is, for example, Windows 95 (manufactured by Microsoft)
However, the present invention is not limited to this.

For a printer, this program is stored in a ROM (not shown) on the printer interface card 151 in FIG. The subject of execution of this program is the microprocessor 151 on hardware.

In the drawing, solid arrows indicate the transition of processing in any of the devices, and dotted lines indicate messages sent from one process to the other. In the figure, the reception of the message is also incorporated in the series of steps, but in order not to waste the waiting time for receiving the message, when waiting for the message, the process is interrupted at that time, and the other It may be configured such that the effective time is given to a process (not shown).

In FIG. 7, in step S701, the error management program acquires detailed error information from a device to be managed (here, a printer) according to the procedure shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. FIG. 10 shows an example of the data format of the error detail information. In FIG.
Reference numeral 801 is the error detailed information itself. The error detailed information 801 includes an error total number storage area 802 and an error ID string storage area 803. Reference numeral 802 denotes a total error storage area for storing the total number of errors occurring in the managed device. Reference numeral 803 denotes an error I for storing an error ID uniquely indicating the type of error for the total number of errors indicated by the total error storage area 802.
D column storage area.

Next, in step S702, the network management program issues an acquisition request for error accompanying information to the device to be managed. The error accompanying information is indicated by reference numeral 1201 in FIG.
02 (or error ID column) and error extended information 12
03 (or error extension information sequence). Error ID
Reference numeral 1202 has the same meaning as the error ID shown in FIG. The error extension information 1203 contains the error I
The extended information for D1202 can be set by the user in association with the error ID.

FIG. 12 shows an error ID in the PC 500.
FIG. 9 shows an example of a dialog box for linking the error extension information 1203 and the error extension information 1203 and creating the error accompanying information 1201. In FIG. 12, 1301
Is an error accompanying information edit dialog box. The error information list display unit 1302 is a list of errors that may occur in the managed device. The error accompanying information editing unit 1303 is an area that can be edited by the user,
The character string set by the user in 1303 is the error extended information 1203 in FIG. A link control unit 1304 links an arbitrary error in the error information list display unit 1302 with a character string input to the error accompanying information editing unit 1303. Reference numeral 1305 denotes an OK button.
When the user presses an OK button 1305,
The information edited in the error accompanying information editing dialog box 1301 is transmitted to the managed device, and stored in the managed device in the form of the error accompanying information 1201 shown in FIG. Reference numeral 1306 denotes a cancel button.
By pressing this button, the operation performed on the error accompanying information edit dialog box 1301 is canceled. In FIG. 12, the method of setting one piece of error accompanying information in the printer has been described.
01 may be provided.

Returning to FIG. 7, the description will be continued.

When the device to be managed receives the error accompanying information acquisition request from the network management program in step S 710, in step S 711,
Check whether the error accompanying information is retained.

If the error accompanying information is held, the error accompanying information is transmitted to the network management program in step S713. On the other hand, if the error accompanying information is not held, step S712
Thus, information meaning "no error accompanying information" is transmitted to the network management program.

When the network management program receives a response to the error accompanying information acquisition request to the device to be managed in step S703, the process proceeds to step S704.
Thus, the error accompanying information is stored in the memory.

Next, it is determined in step S705 whether or not the error accompanying information has been obtained.

If the error accompanying information cannot be obtained, step S706 is executed and the present flow chart is terminated. In step S706, the error ID is converted into an error display character string or the like, and these are displayed, followed by terminating the present flowchart. This display method is the same as the conventional display method shown in FIG.

If the error accompanying information can be obtained, step S708 is executed. In step S708, the error accompanying information 1 held in step S704
201 is analyzed, and it is checked whether or not the error ID column 803 of the error detailed information 801 held in step S701 includes the error ID 1202 of the error accompanying information.

If the error ID column 803 contains the error ID 1
If 202 is included, the process proceeds to step S709.

If the error ID column 803 contains the error ID 1
If not included, the process proceeds to step S706.

In step S1119, the detailed error information 801 and the error accompanying information 1201 are associated with each other, and the flow advances to step S706.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the error detailed information and the error accompanying information displayed in step S706. In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1401 denotes an error detailed information display window, 1402 denotes an error position information display bitmap, and 1403 denotes an error detailed information character string. The error detailed information character string 1403 is obtained by joining the character string created by analyzing the error ID of the error detailed information received from the printer with the character string included in the error accompanying information corresponding to the error ID. It is a thing. Therefore, for example, if a user can understand a method of coping with an error that occurs in the management target device, the user creates an error accompanying information character string in a form including the method of coping with the error. For example, in response to the error “paper is missing” as in the error detailed information character string 903 in FIG. 16, a countermeasure such as “please supply paper to the first cassette” is provided as error accompanying information. Created by the dialog box shown in FIG. In this manner, the error handling information specific to each network device can be indicated to the user by the error accompanying information.

(Acquisition of Detailed Error Information) FIG. 8 shows an error (or failure) on a printer which is a device to be managed.
7 is a flowchart showing a process from when the network management program detects an error state of the device to be managed, obtains detailed error information, and displays the information on the network management program after the occurrence of the error. This procedure corresponds to step S701 in FIG.

First, in step S801, the network management program determines whether an error has occurred in the device to be managed to determine whether an error has occurred.
Issue a none information acquisition request to the managed device.

When the device to be managed receives the request for information on the presence / absence of an error from the network management program, the device checks whether an error has occurred in itself, and transmits the result of the check to the network management program (step S1). S808).

The network management program receives the error presence / absence information issued from the device to be managed in step S808 in step S702.

Next, in step S803, the network management program analyzes the error presence / absence information received in step S802, and determines whether an error has occurred in the management target device.

If it is determined in step S803 that there is no error, the process returns to step S701. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S803 that there is an error, the process proceeds to step S804.

In step S804, the network management program issues a request for acquiring detailed information of an error occurring in the managed device to the managed device.

When the device to be managed receives the error detailed information acquisition request from the network management program,
It collects information on errors occurring in itself, collects it as detailed error information, and sends it to the network management program (step S809).

When the detailed error information is transmitted from the device to be managed in step S809, the network management program receives the detailed error information in step S805.

Next, in step S806, the network management program holds the detailed error information on the memory.

The flow chart shown in FIG. 8 is to know the error occurrence status of the device to be managed by periodically requesting the acquisition of the information on the presence / absence of the error from the network management program. By using, it is also possible to know the error occurrence status of the managed device. This is a method using a mechanism called TRAP in the above-described SNMP protocol.
FIG. 9 shows the procedure. The procedure in FIG.
701 may be used.

First, in step S901, an error occurs in the device to be managed. Then, in step S902, the management target device transmits SNMP-TRAP to the network management program.

The network management program operates in step S904.
Receives SNMP-TRAP from the managed device, and knows that an error has occurred in the managed device.

[0097] Subsequent steps S905 to S905
907 and step S903 correspond to step S80 in FIG.
4 to Steps S806 and S809.

According to the above procedure, when displaying the error information generated in the network device to the user by the network management program, it is possible to also display the error accompanying information set for each device by the user. For this reason, by setting information corresponding to a user-specific environment in the error accompanying information, it is possible to instruct a more specific countermeasure for an error occurring in each device.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 14 is a flow chart of a processing procedure when an error occurs by a network management program and a printer according to a second embodiment. The execution subject of this flowchart is the same as that of the first embodiment.

In FIG. 14, steps S1401 to S1405 and S1409 correspond to steps S801 to S804 and S804 in FIG.
Same as 808.

In step S1410, when the printer receives a request for obtaining detailed error information from the network management program, the printer collects information on the error that has occurred in the printer 102 and collects the error information on the RAM.

Thereafter, in step S1411, R
It is determined whether or not error accompanying information exists on the AM.

In step S1411, if it is determined that the error accompanying information is present, step S1411 is executed.
Proceed to 1412. On the other hand, when it is determined that the error accompanying information does not exist, the process proceeds to step S1414.

In step S1412, of the error accompanying information stored in the RAM, the information that matches the error ID in the error detailed information created in step S1410 is extracted. In step S1413, the error detailed information created in step S1410 and the error accompanying information extracted in step S1413 are combined, and this is stored in the RAM as new error detailed information.

In step S1414, the printer
The detailed error information stored on M is transmitted to the network management program.

Steps S1406 to S1408 on the network management program side are the same as steps S804 to S806 in FIG. .

As described above, even if the printer combines the detailed error information and the additional error information and sends it to the network management program as new detailed error information,
The same effect as that of the embodiment can be obtained. Further, in the present embodiment, the network management program does not need to consider the existence of the error accompanying information. Therefore, even if the network management program is a conventional procedure, the printer only needs to execute the procedure for synthesizing the error accompanying information.

The error detail information acquisition processing S shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 illustrates steps 1401 to S1405 and step S1409.
Steps S901-902 and S904-9
Even if it is replaced with 05, detailed error information can be obtained.

In the first and the present embodiments, the processing on the printer side has been described as being performed in the printer interface card 150. This may be executed in the NEB 101 of the printer. FIG.
5 shows the configuration of the NEB 101. In FIG. 15, C
The PU 304 executes the program stored in the ROM 305 to execute the processing on the printer side in FIG. 7 to FIG. 9 or FIG. The RAM 306 is used not only as a work area but also for storing error accompanying information received from the host computer. NIC
301 is a network interface card,
The printer interface control unit 303 connects to the printer interface card 150. The timing control unit 302 is located between the NIC 301 and the printer interface card 303 and adjusts the timing of an exchanged signal.

In the above configuration, NEB 101 is configured as shown in FIGS.
The procedure described as the process on the printer side in FIG. 9 or 14 may be executed.

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus including a single device can be used. (For example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a system or an apparatus with a storage medium storing a program code including the procedures shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 and 14 for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment. It is also achieved by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

Examples of a storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, and CD.
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided on a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, The case where the CPU of the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing.

[0102]

As described above, when error information generated in a network device is output to a user by the network management program, error accompanying information set by the user for each device can also be output. It is now possible. For this reason, by setting information corresponding to a user-specific environment in the error accompanying information, it is possible to instruct a more specific countermeasure for an error occurring in each device.

Further, by combining the error accompanying information and the error detailed information in the printer, the network management program does not need to deal with the error accompanying information, and the error accompanying information can be output only by the network device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a network system including a printer and a host computer.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a printer including a network board on which an agent is mounted.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical connection between a network board, a printer, and a LAN.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of an MIB.

FIG. 5 shows a P on which network management software can operate.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of C.

FIG. 6 is a module configuration diagram of network management software.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a procedure for displaying detailed error information according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a first procedure in which a network management program acquires detailed error information from a printer.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a second procedure in which a network management program acquires detailed error information from a printer.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data format of error detailed information.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a data format of error accompanying information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an error accompanying information editing dialog box.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a display example of error detailed information having error accompanying information.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a procedure for displaying detailed error information according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an MIB.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display example of conventional error detail information.

[Explanation of symbols]

102 Printer 103 Personal computer 801 Error detailed information data format 901 Error detailed information display window 1201 Error accompanying information data format 1301 Error accompanying information edit dialog box 1401 Error detailed information display window with error accompanying information

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A network device management apparatus for managing a network device capable of storing error accompanying information including a desired character string in association with an error identifier, comprising: an error information including an error identifier; A network device, comprising: a receiving unit that receives error accompanying information corresponding to an identifier; and an output unit that outputs a character string included in the error accompanying information as information relating to an error that has occurred in the network device. Management device. 2. The reception means, after receiving the error information, requests the network device for error accompanying information corresponding to an error identifier included in the error information, and receives the error accompanying information as a response to the request. The network device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 3. The network device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit receives the error accompanying information together with the error information. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising input means for inputting a desired character string and storing the character string in the network device in association with a desired error identifier. A network device management apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The network device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the network device is a printer. 6. A network device control apparatus for controlling a network device connected to a network, wherein the storage device stores a desired character string in a rewritable manner in association with an error identifier, and an error generated in the network device. And an output unit for outputting an error identifier corresponding to the character string and the character string to a network. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the output unit searches for a character string corresponding to the error identifier, and outputs the character string if found, and does not output if it is not found. Network device control unit. 8. An apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an input unit for inputting the character string from the network, wherein the input character string is rewritably stored in association with an error identifier by the storage unit. Or the network device control apparatus according to 7. 9. Receiving data from the network,
9. The network device control device according to claim 6, further comprising a printing unit that prints an image based on the data. 10. A network device management method for managing a network device capable of storing error accompanying information including a desired character string in association with an error identifier, the method comprising: receiving error information including an error identifier from the network device; A network device, comprising: a receiving step of receiving error accompanying information corresponding to an identifier; and an output step of outputting a character string included in the error accompanying information as information relating to an error that has occurred in the network device. Management method. 11. The receiving step, after receiving the error information, requests error accompanying information corresponding to an error identifier included in the error information to the network device,
The network device management method according to claim 10, wherein the error accompanying information is received as a response to the request. 12. The network device management method according to claim 10, wherein the receiving step receives the error accompanying information together with the error information. 13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an inputting step of inputting a desired character string and storing the character string in the network device in association with a desired error identifier. The described network device management method. 14. A network device control apparatus for controlling a network device connected to a network, wherein the error identifier corresponding to an error occurring in the network device is rewritably stored in association with the error identifier. A method for controlling a network device, comprising: an output step of outputting a character string to a network. 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein in the output step, a character string corresponding to the error identifier is searched, and the character string is output if found, and not output if not found. Network device control method. 16. The apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising an input step of inputting the character string from the network, wherein the input character string is rewritably stored in association with the error identifier. Network device control method. 17. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program for managing a network device capable of storing error-associated information including a desired character string in association with an error identifier, wherein the program comprises: Receiving the error information including the error identifier and the error accompanying information corresponding to the error identifier, and outputting a character string included in the error accompanying information as information relating to an error that has occurred in the network device. A storage medium comprising an output step. 18. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for controlling a network device connected to a network, the program comprising: an error identifier corresponding to an error occurring in the network device; A storage medium comprising an output step of outputting a rewritable character string associated with an error identifier to a network. 19. A storage unit for storing a desired character string in a rewritable manner in association with an error identifier, and an output unit for outputting an error identifier corresponding to an error occurring in the network device and the character string to a network. A network device control apparatus comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive, from the network device, error information including an error identifier, and error accompanying information corresponding to the error identifier; and a character string included in the error accompanying information. A network device management apparatus comprising: an output unit configured to output information regarding an error that has occurred in the network device.