JP2003281006A - Device and program for managing electric appliance and recording medium recorded with the program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric appliance management device for remotely managing information household electric appliances. <P>SOLUTION: A home information appliance management system 1 is provided with an operation information DB 13 for recording operation information including a serial number being the identification information of an operating home information appliance and the IP address of the home information appliance, can notify a management start without depending on a paper medium because of recording the operation information including the identification information and the address of the home information appliance in the operation information DB 13 and answering the purport of the management start to the home information appliance if the identification information of the home information appliance is transmitted upon operation start of the electric appliance, and can thereafter perform various notification to the home information appliance as necessary because of recording the address. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric appliance management apparatus for managing information home appliances which are household electric appliances equipped with a communication function, an electric appliance management program for causing the apparatus to execute processing, and a record recording the program. Regarding the medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, home information appliances, which are household electric appliances equipped with a communication function, have been subject to IPv6 (Internet Pro
With the full-scale adoption of tocol version 6), it is expected to spread rapidly to each household.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
Information appliances are clarified by the Specified Household Appliance Recycling Law (common name: Home Appliance Recycling Law) that came into effect from April 1st, as the responsibilities of manufacturers and consumers for the sale and use of home appliances have been clarified. However, its management becomes very important. There is no established technology for managing information appliances, and it is practically difficult to leave these to the user. In addition, there is a strong demand for manufacturers to reduce the management labor and cost.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is an electric equipment management device for remotely managing electric equipment and an electric equipment management for controlling this equipment. It is to provide a program and a recording medium recording the program.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention according to claim 1 is an electric device management apparatus for managing an information home appliance which is a household electric device having a communication function. , Operation information recording means for recording the operation information including the identification information of the information home appliance in operation and the address of the information home appliance, and when the operation start of the information home appliance, the identification information of the information home appliance is transmitted, The operation information recording unit includes a unit that records operation information including the identification information and an address of the information home appliance, and a unit that responds to the information home appliance to start management. The management device is the solution.

The present invention according to claim 2 is provided with an electronic manual in which a guidance sentence corresponding to the identification information of the symptom occurring in the information home appliance is recorded, and when the symptom occurs in the information home appliance, the identification information of the symptom is transmitted. When it is done, the guidance sentence corresponding to the identification information of the said symptom is read from the said electronic manual, and it responds to the said information home appliance.
The electric equipment management device described is the solution.

According to the present invention of claim 3, means for recording identification information for identifying the shipped information home appliance and contact information corresponding to the identification information, and identification information for the information home appliance to be recalled are notified. Then, there is provided means for notifying the contact corresponding to the identification information regarding the recall, and the electric device management apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 is provided as a solution means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the means for recording the periodical maintenance cycle and the notification destination of the notification relating to the periodical maintenance, and the operating time from the start of operation of the information home appliance or the previous maintenance time are described above. 4. The electric device management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for notifying the notification destination regarding the regular maintenance when it is determined that the period is longer than the regular maintenance cycle. Use it as a solution.

According to the present invention of claim 5, means for recording the number of days until the notification of the useful life and the notification destination of the notification are recorded, and the operating life of the information home appliance converted into the number of days is the useful life. 5. The electric device according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit that notifies the notified party of the useful life when it is determined that it is longer than the number of days until the notification is given. The management device is the solution.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, an electric equipment management program for causing the electric equipment management device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects to execute a process is provided as a solving means.

A seventh aspect of the present invention provides a solving means by a recording medium having an electric equipment management program recorded therein for causing the electric equipment management apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects to execute a process.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment of an electric device management apparatus of the present invention. The information home appliance management system 1 is a computer system that remotely manages household electric appliances (hereinafter abbreviated as “information home appliances”) having a communication function,
It corresponds to the electric device management apparatus of the present invention. The information home appliance management system 1 is operated and managed for a business purpose by a service provider other than users, manufacturers, and the like. As information appliances, refrigerators, heaters, air conditioners, rice cookers, microwave ovens, televisions, stereos, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, pots, etc. are about to be put into practical use.

The information home appliance management system 1 is connected to a maker terminal 2 of each maker that manufactures and ships information home appliances via a dedicated network or the like (not shown). The maker terminal 2 transmits information at the time of shipment of information home appliances,
It is used for receiving and displaying information transmitted from the information home appliance management system 1.

The information home appliance management system 1 is also
It is always connected to the router 30 of the user network 3 configured in each user's home via the Internet.
The information home appliance 31 shipped from the manufacturer is connected to the user network 3.

The information home appliance management system 1 is an IP
Information can be sent to the home information appliances and displayed by designating an address. In addition, the information home appliance management system 1 can send an e-mail to an e-mail terminal (for example, a mobile phone) used by a user via the Internet. In addition, voice can be transmitted to a telephone terminal (eg, a mobile phone) used by a user via a mobile communication network, a fixed telephone network, or the like.

The information home appliance management system 1 includes a shipping product information DB 11 (DB is used as an abbreviation for a database in this embodiment), a customer information DB 12, an operation information DB 13, and a manual DB 14.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of the shipping product information DB 11. The shipping product information DB 11 is a database in which individual information of information home appliances shipped as products from each manufacturer is accumulated as shipping product information.

The shipping product information includes the serial number of the information home appliance, the manufacturer name, the model number which is the identification information in the manufacturer, and the general name of the information home appliance (eg, refrigerator,
General name symbol abbreviated (TV, etc.) (type in the figure) Version information indicating the version of the firmware (version in the figure), manufacturing date, shipping date, maintenance cycle, notification that the useful life is almost over (below) , The number of days until the notification that the service life is near) (the number of days until the notification is shown in the figure), recall information indicating whether there is a recall,
A telephone number of a contact at the time of recall, a manual ID that is identification information of a maintenance manual, and the like are recorded. Although not shown, a plurality of sets of identification information and names of maintenance parts are recorded in the shipping product information. The serial number is configured to include, for example, identification information of the manufacturer so that the serial numbers do not overlap even if they are different manufacturers.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the structure and contents of the customer information DB 12. The customer information DB 12 is a database that stores individual customer information as customer information. The customer information is customer I, which is the customer identification information.
D, customer name, address, telephone number and e-mail address to be contacted, contact means indicating which contact to contact, or direct contact to information appliances, notification indicating what content you want to notify The desired information, the IP address of the router, etc. are recorded. As the notification request information, ALL that is desired to be contacted or information corresponding to a combination of all the selectable contacts is recorded.

Although not shown, the customer information also records the connection form to the Internet (information for identifying cable television / ADSL / analog modem, etc.), communication speed, and identification information for the Internet service provider. .

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of the operation information DB 13. The operation information DB 13 is a database that stores operation information indicating the operation status of each information home appliance. The operation information includes the serial number, IP address, date and time of start of use of the installed information home appliance, date and time of occurrence of a failure or similar symptom (hereinafter referred to as “fault”), fault ID which is identification information of the fault, date and content of maintenance. is there. A plurality of fault dates and times, fault IDs, maintenance dates and contents can be recorded.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic manual stored in the manual DB 14. Manual DB1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a database that stores electronic manuals for maintenance (hereinafter referred to as electronic manuals), which have manual IDs as labels. In each electronic manual, the mail addresses of the manufacturer and the store are recorded. Also, in association with each fault ID,
The guidance text to be responded to when the fault ID arrives, and the necessity of contacting the manufacturer and the necessity of contacting the selling point at that time are recorded.

[0023] The guidance text is "Please press the reset button on the back of the product and then turn on the power again.""Intake filter is clogged. Clean or replace the filter.""This product is tilted. If it is tilted more than 25 degrees, the safety device will work and the power will be turned off automatically. "," Part A must be replaced for repair. Please contact our service window. "

Next, the information home appliance 31 will be described. The information home appliance 31 stores its own serial number and IP address when shipped from the manufacturer. Then, various guide texts transmitted from the information home appliance management system 1 are displayed on the display unit provided in the self.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

(At the time of shipment) First, the operation at the time of shipment of the information home appliance will be described. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the operation at the time of shipping. When the information home appliance is shipped as a product from the maker, the maker terminal 2 of each maker stores the serial number, maker name, model number, general name symbol, manufacturing date of the information home electric appliance as information on each shipped product. Notify the home information management system 1 of the shipment date, maintenance cycle, service life, recall information, contact telephone number at the time of recall, identification information and name of maintenance parts, and send the electronic manual of this product ( Step S1). The recall information at this time naturally indicates that no recall has occurred in the past.

The information home appliance management system 1 adds a manual ID to each piece of notified information, and further obtains the number of days from the notified useful life to the notification that the useful life is close, and ships these products. The information is stored in the shipping product information DB 11 as information. In addition, a manual DB1 is created by attaching the manual ID to the transmitted electronic manual.
Store in 4.

(At the start of use) Next, the operation at the start of use will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing the operation at the start of use. When the information home appliance 31 is connected to the user network 3, the information home electric appliance 31 is connected to the IP of the information home appliance 31.
It becomes possible to communicate with the home information appliance management system 1 specified by the address.

The information home appliance management system 1 acquires the serial number recorded in the information home appliance 31 and further acquires the IP address of the router 30 (step S3).

Then, the information home appliance management system 1
Is the IP address of the information home appliance 31 and the IP of the router
The address, the serial number, and the date and time of start of use (that is, the current date and time) are recorded in the operation information DB 13 as operation information (step S5).

Next, using the serial number as a key, the manufacturer name and model number are read from the shipping product information DB 11, a guide text including them is generated as a guide text for user registration, and this is sent to the information home appliance 31 for display. Allow (Step S
7).

(When Fault Occurs) Next, the operation when a fault occurs will be described. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the operation when a fault occurs. When a fault occurs due to a user's operation error or breakdown, the information home appliance 31 transmits a fault ID corresponding to the fault to the information home appliance management system 1 (step S11). Then, the information appliance management system 1 first searches the operation information DB 13 for operation information including the IP address of this information appliance 31, and in the operation information, the current date and the fault ID are recorded as the history of the fault. Is recorded (step S1
3).

Further, the serial number included in the operation information is used as a key to store the manual ID from the shipping product information DB 11
Is searched, an electronic manual labeled with this manual ID is searched from the manual DB 14, and it is determined whether or not this fault ID exists in this electronic manual. That is, it is determined whether or not there is a guidance sentence corresponding to the fault ID (step S15). When it is determined that the fault ID exists, the guidance sentence corresponding to the fault ID is read out and transmitted to the information home appliance 31 to be displayed (step S17).

When it is recorded that it is necessary to contact the maker or the store in association with the fault ID, the guide text is mailed to the maker or the store posted in the electronic manual. Also send to the address.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S15 that the fault ID does not exist in the electronic manual, the fault ID and the mail indicating that the corresponding guidance text does not exist in the electronic manual of the manufacturer or the dealer. It is sent to the address and displayed (step S19). When the guidance message corresponding to this fault ID is transmitted from the maker terminal 2 (step S21), the information home appliance management system 1 transmits it to the information home appliance 31 and displays it (step S23).

(When Recall Occurs) Next, the operation when a recall occurs will be described. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when a recall occurs. When the shipped product becomes a recall target, the manufacturer terminal 2 of the manufacturer notifies the intelligent home appliance management system 1 of the recall and the model number of the target product (step S31). When the version can be specified, version information indicating the version is also notified. In addition, the identified manufacturing date or shipping date may be notified.

The information home appliance management system 1 searches the shipping product information DB 11 for all shipping product information including the notified information, and the recall information of the shipping product information indicates that there is a recall. (Step S33). Then, a recall guide text including the notified information and the telephone number of the contact at the time of recall recorded in the shipping product information is generated (step S35). Then, the destination of the recall guidance text is obtained (step S37), and the guidance text is transmitted to the destination and displayed (step S39).

Specifically, the information home appliance management system 1 searches all serial numbers of the information home appliances to be recalled from the shipping product information DB 11 using the notified information as a key,
The following processing is performed for each.

That is, the IP address of the router of the operation information including the serial number is read from the operation information DB 13. Then, the customer information is retrieved from the customer information DB 12 using the IP address of the router as a key. When the contact means for the customer information indicates contact by e-mail, the recall guide text is sent to the e-mail address in the customer information. On the other hand, when the contact means of the customer information indicates that the contact is made by telephone, a call is sent to the telephone number included in the customer information to notify the recall guidance text by voice. On the other hand, when the contact means of the customer information indicates the contact to the information home appliance, the guidance message of the recall is transmitted and displayed to the information home appliance whose IP address is recorded in the operation information.

(Regular Maintenance) Next, the operation for notifying the regular maintenance guidance will be described. Figure 10
[Fig. 6] is a flowchart showing an operation when notifying the guidance of regular maintenance.

The information home appliance management system 1 sequentially performs the following processing for each piece of operation information in the operation information DB 13 during activation, for example, every hour on the hour.

First, the notification request information is read from the operation information, and it is determined whether the notification request information indicates that the user wants to be informed of regular maintenance (step S4).
1). If YES is determined here, the use start date and time (or the date and time of the last maintenance recorded as the maintenance history) is read from the operation information, and the time length from that time to the present (called the operation time) is read. Is calculated (step S43). Further, the maintenance cycle is read from the shipping product information retrieved from the shipping product information DB 11 using the serial number of the operation information as a key (step S45). Then, it is determined whether or not the obtained operating time is longer than the maintenance cycle time-converted (step S47). When it is determined to be YES (long), notification of regular maintenance is notified (step S49). Note that step S41 or step S
When NO is determined in 47, the process ends.

The notification in step S49 will be described. First,
Generate a maintenance guide. That is, the manufacturer's name and model number are read from the shipping product information retrieved from the shipping product information DB 11 using the serial number of the operation information as a key, and a maintenance guide text including these is generated. Then, the maintenance guide text is notified. That is, the router ID is read from the operation information, and the customer information is retrieved from the customer information DB 12 using this ID as a key. When the contact means of the customer information indicates the contact by e-mail, the maintenance guide text is transmitted to the e-mail address in the customer information. On the other hand, when the contacting means of the customer information indicates the contact by telephone, the maintenance information is notified to the telephone number in the customer information by voice. On the other hand, when the contact method of the customer information indicates the contact to the information home appliance, the operation information includes IP
The maintenance guidance text is transmitted and displayed on the information home appliance 31 in which the address is recorded.

When the maintenance is performed, the date and time of the maintenance and the contents thereof are recorded in the operation information as a maintenance history. In addition, in the operation information, the total operation time until maintenance is recorded.

(Notification that Service Life is Near) Next, the operation for notifying that service life is close will be described. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the operation when notifying that the service life is near.

The information home appliance management system 1 sequentially performs the following processing for each piece of operation information in the operation information DB 13 during activation, for example, every hour on the hour.

First, the notification request information is read from the operation information, and it is determined whether the notification request information indicates that the notification request indicates that the service life is close (step S5).
1). Here, when it is determined to be YES, the use start date and time is read from the operation information, and thereby the operation time up to the present is obtained (step S53). Further, the number of days until the notification that the useful life is near is issued is read from the shipping product information retrieved from the shipping product information DB 11 using the serial number of the operation information as a key (step S55).

Then, it is judged whether or not the calculated operating time converted into the number of days is longer than the number of days until the notification of the useful life is given (step S57). YES here
If it is determined to be (long), a notification that the useful life is near is issued (step S59). If NO is determined in step S51 or step S57, the process ends.

In the notification of step S59, first,
Generates a guidance sentence that the service life is near. That is, the shipping product information DB 11 using the serial number of the operation information as a key
The manufacturer name and model number are read out from the retrieved shipping product information, and a guidance sentence including these and the date when the useful life is reached (guidance sentence indicating that the useful life is near) is generated. And
Notify this guidance sentence. That is, the router ID is read from the operation information, and the customer information is read from the customer information DB using this ID as a key. That is, when the contact means of the customer information indicates the contact by electronic mail, the guide text indicating that the service life is close is transmitted to the electronic mail address included in the customer information. On the other hand, when the contact means of the customer information indicates a contact by telephone, a guidance message indicating that the service life is near is notified by voice to the telephone number in the customer information. On the other hand, when the contact means of the customer information indicates the contact to the information home appliance, the information home appliance 31 whose IP address is recorded in the operation information is transmitted to display the guidance message indicating that the service life is near. .

As described above, according to the information home appliance management system 1 of the present embodiment, the operation information including the serial number as the identification information of the information home appliance in operation and the address of the information home appliance is recorded. When the operation information recording unit, that is, the operation information DB 13 and the identification information of the information home appliance are transmitted when the operation of the information home appliance is started, the operation information recording unit includes the operation information including the identification information and the address of the information home appliance. Means for recording information (step S5
(Corresponding to step S7) and a means (corresponding to step S7) for responding to the information home appliance about the start of management, it is possible to notify the start of management without depending on a paper medium, and to record the address. Therefore, after that, various notifications can be given to the information home appliance as needed.

Further, an electronic manual in which a guidance sentence corresponding to the symptom occurring in the information home appliance, that is, the fault identification information (ID) is recorded, and when the symptom occurs in the information home appliance, the identification information of the symptom is transmitted. Then, the guide text corresponding to the identification information of the symptom is read from the electronic manual and responded to the information home appliance, so that the maker or the like does not have to deal with it. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the labor and cost for handling the user.

Further, the means for recording the identification information for identifying the shipped information home appliance and the contact information corresponding to the identification information is composed of the shipping product information DB 11 and the customer information DB 12, and the information home appliance to be recalled When the identification information is notified, a means (corresponding to steps S37 and 39) for notifying the contact corresponding to the identification information about the recall is provided. Therefore, the notification of the recall by the publication activity performed by the manufacturer or the like is provided. Is unnecessary, and the recall can be reliably transmitted to the user. Therefore, the product can be reliably repaired and recovered.

Further, the means for recording the periodic maintenance cycle and the notification destination of the notification relating to the regular maintenance is constituted by the shipping product information DB 11 and the customer information DB 12, and from the start of the operation of the information home appliance or the previous maintenance. Means for notifying the notification destination of the regular maintenance when it is determined that the operating time of is longer than the periodic maintenance cycle (steps S47, 49).
(Corresponding to the)), it is possible to automatically and surely notify the regular maintenance.

The means for recording the number of days until the notification of the useful life and the notification destination of the notification are the shipped product information D.
When it is determined that the number of operating hours of the information home appliance converted into days is longer than the number of days until the notification of the useful life is made up, which is configured by B11 and the customer information DB 12, the notification destination is notified of the useful life. Means (step S
57, 59), it is possible to automatically and reliably notify the service life.

Therefore, according to the information home appliance management system 1 of the present embodiment, the information home appliances can be managed remotely, so that the management labor and cost for both the user and the maker can be reduced.

In particular, the following items are listed as the merit on the maker side. First, by using the information of the purchasing user registered in the information appliance management system,
Follow-up investigation of shipped products becomes easy, and when a product defect (recall etc.) occurs, the fact that a repair / replacement request has been made can be displayed and notified on a liquid crystal display, etc. attached to a home appliance. Further, the desired user can be notified from the information home appliance management system by e-mail or telephone, and reliable customer response and manufacturing responsibility (recall / PL law compliance, etc.) can be observed.

In addition, the information home appliance management system accumulates operation information (power on / off, etc.) autonomously transmitted from the information home appliances connected to the network, so that new products can be delivered in a timely manner when the useful life of the product is exceeded. We can provide direct customer service such as introduction of and replacement of worn parts.

Further, by using the product data provided from each manufacturer at the same time as the shipment of the product and the data monitoring the operating status of the home electric appliances of the purchase users, various data (failure occurrence rate / function) (Normality, wear rate of parts, etc.) can be analyzed.

By providing various data (fault occurrence rate, normality of function, parts wear rate, etc.) to the manufacturer from the information home appliance management system according to the availability or desired content of the information provision contracted with each manufacturer in advance. , Comparative analysis with other companies' products and existing products of our company becomes easy.

Further, the following items can be cited as the merit on the user side. First, the user can obtain information on the maintenance (filter replacement, etc.) time and renewal time from the information home appliance management system by displaying the liquid crystal display attached to the information home appliance. In addition, important notifications such as recall information can be received by e-mail or telephone by making a desired registration.

In addition, the information home appliance management system,
If a trusted third party collectively manages, personal information will not be directly known to a plurality of manufacturers or retailers, thus protecting privacy. In addition, it is possible to select only the necessary items from direct mails and various notifications from the manufacturer or the purchase store.

Further, the warranty period is clarified, and even if there is a move or transfer of a product, the dealer's warranty / manufacturer's warranty within the period can be surely received without self-management of the purchase period and the use period.

The computer program for causing the information home appliance management system to execute the above-described processing corresponds to an electric equipment management program, and includes a semiconductor memory,
It can be widely distributed by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic tape, or transmitted via a communication network such as the Internet.

[0064]

As described above, according to the electric equipment management apparatus of the present invention, since information home appliances can be managed remotely, it is possible to reduce management labor and cost for both users and manufacturers. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment of an electric device management apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration and contents of a shipping product information DB 11.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration and contents of a customer information DB 12.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration and contents of an operation information DB 13.

5 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic manual stored in a manual DB 14. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation at the time of shipping.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an operation at the start of use.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when a fault occurs.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an operation when a recall occurs.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation when notifying of a regular maintenance guide.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation when notifying that a service life is near.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Information appliances management system 2 Manufacturer terminal 3 user network 11 Shipment product information DB 12 Customer information DB 13 Operation information DB 14 Manual DB 30 routers 31 Information appliances

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electric appliance management apparatus for managing an electric home appliance, which is an electric home appliance having a communication function, wherein operation information including identification information of the electric home appliance in operation and an address of the electric home appliance is provided. When the operation information recording means to be recorded and the operation start of the information household appliance are transmitted, the operation information including the identification information and the address of the information household appliance is transmitted to the operation information recording means. An electric device management apparatus comprising: a recording unit; and a unit that responds to the information home appliance indicating that management is started. 2. An electronic manual in which a guidance sentence corresponding to identification information of a symptom that occurs in an information home appliance is recorded, and when the identification information of the symptom is transmitted when the symptom occurs in the information home appliance, the electronic manual is transmitted. The electric device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a guidance sentence corresponding to the identification information of the symptom is read from the manual and responds to the information home appliance. 3. A means for recording the identification information for identifying the shipped information home appliance and the contact information corresponding to the identification information, and the identification information for the information home appliance to be recalled when notified. 3. The electric device management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for notifying a contact address corresponding to the above regarding a recall. 4. The means for recording the periodic maintenance cycle and the notification destination of the notification relating to the periodic maintenance, and the operating time from the start of operation of the information home appliance or from the last maintenance is longer than the periodic maintenance cycle. 4. The electric device management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the notification destination of the periodic maintenance when the determination is made. 5. A means for recording the number of days until the notification of the useful life and the notification destination of the notification, and the number of days until the notification of the useful life is obtained by converting the operating hours of the information home appliance into the number of days. When it is judged to be longer,
5. The electric device management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the notification destination of a useful life. 6. An electric device management program for causing the electric device management apparatus according to claim 1 to execute a process. 7. A recording medium recording an electric device management program for causing the electric device management apparatus according to claim 1 to execute a process.