JP6464948B2 - License management system and license management method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a license management system and a license management method for managing a license for performing maintenance or the like of an image forming apparatus.

  Manufacturers of copiers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs), printers, etc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as image forming apparatuses) have a management system for centrally managing image forming apparatuses installed at customer sites. We have made various efforts such as building and providing

  For example, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, a customer's image forming apparatus is not managed at each service store, but is centrally managed by including a center, including the usage status of the image forming apparatus and its peripheral devices. Provide information to the service store to manage maintenance schedules. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the man-hours for managing customer equipment at the service store.

  Further, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, customer information and product information of a customer who has traded a product at a store are acquired by a server, and another customer having the same attribute as that of the traded customer is extracted and extracted. The product information of the traded product is provided from the server to the dealer in charge of the customer.

JP 2002-269460 A JP 2004-272387 A

  Conventionally, a license contract for maintaining and managing an image forming apparatus installed at a site of an end customer by a management system is charged, and the license fee increases as the number of image forming apparatuses subject to the license contract increases. As a sales company and a sales agent serving as a user, there is no motivation to register more image forming apparatuses in the management system, and the number of image forming apparatuses registered in the management system has not increased.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a license management system and a license management method in which a motivation for registering an image forming apparatus in a management system is given to a sales company and a sales agent.

  To achieve the above object, a license management system according to an aspect of the present invention manages an image forming apparatus installed at an end customer site and a license for performing a service such as remote maintenance on the image forming apparatus. A license management server, wherein the license management server represents a license management DB storing information related to the license for the image forming apparatus, a group to which the license is assigned, and a group to which the image forming apparatus belongs The group management DB that stores information on the content and the contents of the license granted to the group occupy the image forming apparatus provided by the organization providing the service among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group As the ratio increases, the image forming apparatus is registered in the group. The image forming apparatus provided by an organization that provides the service among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group by using the table that is defined and described so as to be advantageous to the user and the group management DB A group management unit that calculates a proportion occupied by the license, and a license management unit that refers to the table based on the calculated proportion and discounts the usage fee of the service. Therefore, a motivation for registering the image forming apparatus in the management system is given to the sales company and the sales agent (user).

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management system according to an aspect of the present invention, the table includes a total number of the image forming apparatuses managed for each group, and a usage fee for the service for each total number. The group management unit counts the number of the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group using the group management DB, and the license management unit determines the number of the image forming apparatuses counted. The service may be discounted by referring to the table.

  To achieve the above object, in the license management system according to an aspect of the present invention, the table defines a license contract period and a service usage fee for each contract period, and the license management unit May be configured to refer to the table and discount the service usage fee based on the contract period of the license.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management system according to an aspect of the present invention, the table includes a total of counter values of the image forming apparatuses managed for each group and a list of the services for each total. A usage fee may be determined, and the license management unit may refer to the table and discount the usage fee of the service based on the total of the counter values.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management method according to an aspect of the present invention, the group management unit stores information on a license for performing a service such as remote maintenance on the image forming apparatus installed at the end customer site. Represents an organization to which the license managed by the stored license management DB is given, and among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group using the group management DB storing information on the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs, The ratio of the image forming apparatus provided by the organization that provides the service is calculated, and the license management unit includes the content of the license assigned to the group, among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group, Proportion of the image forming apparatus provided by the organization providing the service Increases more, it determined the image forming apparatus in favor of the user to be registered in the group, with reference to the table that is described, based on the ratio calculated, discounting a use fee of the service.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a motivation for registering an image forming apparatus in the management system is given to a sales company and a sales agent.

1 is an overall view for explaining an overall image of an environment in which a license management system 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention operates. It is a figure for demonstrating the concept of a group. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of a group. It is a block diagram in case the license management server 10 is comprised by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the company ratio charge table 17c. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of license adjustment processing in the license management server 10; It is a block diagram in case the license management server 10a is comprised with a general computer. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the management total number charge table 17d. It is a figure which shows the other specific example of the management total number charge table 17d. It is a block diagram in case the license management server 10b is comprised by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the system use period charge table 17e. It is a block diagram in case the license management server 10c is comprised by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the counter charge table 17f.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
First, the first embodiment will be described.

[overall structure]
First, an overall image of an environment in which the license management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention operates will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall view for explaining the overall environment in which the license management system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention operates.

  The license management system 100 includes a license management server 10 in the management cloud 1 and an image forming apparatus 40 in which the license management server 10 manages licenses.

  The management cloud 1 includes a configuration server 30 that manages the configuration of the image forming apparatus 40 managed by the management cloud 1 with a license, and a maintenance server 20 that maintains the image forming apparatus 40.

  Also, the cloud administrator accesses the management cloud 1 from the management terminal 50 that manages the management cloud 1 and manages the management cloud 1.

  The image forming apparatuses 40 installed in the end customers X, Y, and Z that use the image forming apparatus 40 are managed remotely from the management cloud 1 via the network.

  A serviceman (may include a salesman) of the sales company A and the sales agent B becomes a user of the management cloud 1 and performs the maintenance of the image forming apparatus 40 of each end customer via the service terminal 60. The management cloud 1 is accessed, and remote maintenance or the like of the image forming apparatus 40 installed at each end customer site is performed.

  The overall image of the environment in which the license management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention operates has been described above.

[group]
Next, the concept of groups will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the concept of groups.

  In the license management server 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, for example, the concept of a group can be used to manage licenses for performing maintenance or the like of the image forming apparatus 40.

  Groups are hierarchized in a tree structure.

  A group is a unit to which a license is granted and basically assumes one independent company organization. The above-mentioned user can belong to a group.

  The image forming apparatus 40 to be managed belongs to the group.

  The hierarchy in the vertical direction in FIG. 2 basically represents the inclusion relation of the target area.

  The group concept has been described above.

[Specific examples of groups]
Next, specific examples of groups will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of a group.

  For example, sales company A in the uppermost layer is one group, and sales agent company B, company A branch A-1, and company A branch A-2, which are other groups, are arranged under the group.

  The license granted to sales agent B is based on a contract between sales company A and sales agent B.

  The sales agent company B has a B company branch B-1 and a B company branch B-2 as subordinate groups.

  Company A branch A-2 has customer A-2-1.

  In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted in FIG. 3, the customer which the branch manages is hanging under each branch, and may be represented by another group.

  The specific example of the group has been described above.

[License Management Server Configuration]
Next, the configuration of the license management server 10 will be described. The license management server 10 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram when the license management server 10 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the license management server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an operation input unit 14, a communication unit 15, a display unit 16, And a storage unit 17, and these blocks are connected via a bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, various data, a group management DB (Database) 17a for managing groups, a license management DB 17b for managing licenses, and a company ratio charge table 17c.

  The group management DB 17a stores information for managing groups.

  The license management DB 17b stores information for managing the assigned license.

  The in-house ratio fee table 17c includes information on the image forming apparatuses 40 that are manufactured by the company (meaning that the organization that provides the management system 1 provides) among the image forming apparatuses 40 that belong to the group (registered). It is a table that is referred to in order to adjust (discount) the content (service fee) of a license granted to a group according to the proportion occupied. Details of the table will be described later.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the maintenance server 20, the configuration server 30, the image forming apparatus 40, the management terminal 50, and the service terminal 60.

  The CPU 11 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 14 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 or the storage unit 17 in the RAM 13, and the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 17 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 11 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized in the CPU 11 of the license management server 10 are a group management unit 11a and a license management unit 11b.

  The group management unit 11a manages groups using the group management DB 17a. Further, the group management unit 11a calculates the proportion of the image forming apparatus 40 manufactured by the company among the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group, and notifies the license management unit 11b.

  The license management unit 11b manages licenses assigned to groups using the license management DB 17b.

  In addition, the license management unit 11b automatically refers to the company ratio fee table 17c using the ratio of the image forming apparatus 40 manufactured by the company notified from the group management unit 11a, and automatically determines the license fee to be granted to the group. adjust.

  In this way, the license management unit 11b automatically adjusts the license fee according to the proportion of the image forming apparatus 40 made by the company among the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group. Each time the number of image forming apparatuses 40 to be registered increases or decreases, it is possible to reduce the trouble of re-signing a license agreement with the provider of the management system 1.

  The service fee (billing amount) is not simply determined based on the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group, but a specific manufacturing company (manufacturer, in this case, the management cloud 1 is provided). As the ratio of the image forming apparatus 40 of the organization) to the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group increases, the charge amount is automatically adjusted so as to be advantageous for the user who is a service user, thereby making an image made by another company. This can lead to “transfer” from the forming apparatus 40 and promotion of new sales of the image forming apparatus 40 made in-house.

  The configuration of the license management server 10 has been described above.

[Specific example of table]
Next, a specific example of the company ratio fee table 17c described above will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of the in-house ratio fee table 17c.

  As shown in the figure, of the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 registered and managed in the group, the ratio of the number of company-made (own-made) image forming apparatuses that provide the management cloud 1 is from 0% to 25%. In this case, the license fee granted to the group is 350 yen per unit.

  When the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses 40 manufactured in-house exceeds 25% and reaches 50%, the price is 300 yen per unit.

  If the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses 40 manufactured in-house exceeds 50% and reaches 75%, the price is 250 yen per unit.

  When the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses 40 manufactured in-house exceeds 75% and reaches 100%, it is 200 yen per unit.

  In the above description, the charge amount per unit for the image forming apparatus 40 made by another company is constant. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and similarly to the charge amount per unit for the image forming apparatus 40 made in-house, By changing the charge amount according to the ratio of the image forming apparatuses 40 made by other companies in the total number of managements in the group, the superiority of the charge amount due to the increase of the in-house image forming apparatuses 40 can be further increased.

  In the above description, the ratio of in-house production is based on the number of units, but it may be based on the sales amount of the image forming apparatus 40.

(Effects of table settings)
As described above, in each of the above-described tables, it is determined that the content of the license becomes more advantageous to the user as the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 registered in the group increases.

  Therefore, a motivation for registering the self-made image forming apparatus 40 in the management system 1 can be given to the sales company and sales agency to which the user belongs.

  The image forming apparatus 40 registered in the management system 1 by the sales company and the sales agent company is mainly sold by the sales company or sales agent company that registers the image forming apparatus 40 in the management system 1 to the final customer. If the in-house image forming apparatus 40 registered in the management system 1 can be motivated to increase, the in-house image forming apparatus 40 sold to the end customer can also be motivated.

  When the management system 1 is constructed on the public cloud, when the number of image forming apparatuses 40 registered in the management system 1 increases, the image forming apparatus 40 must be retained on the public cloud in order to maintain it. Unnecessary data increases and public cloud usage charges increase.

  However, if the number of image forming apparatuses 40 manufactured in-house increases, the increased public cloud costs can be covered by the profits obtained from the sales.

(a formula)
When the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus 40 belonging to the group is not distinguished, the charge amount for the user (sales company or sales agent) is calculated by the following calculation formula.

Billing amount = (billing amount per in-house image forming apparatus) x (number of in-house image forming apparatuses)
+ (Charged amount per image forming apparatus made by another company) x (number of image forming apparatuses made by another company)

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the term (charge amount per in-house image forming apparatus) in the above formula is the ratio of the in-house image forming apparatuses to the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed as a group. Based on the decision.

  The specific example of the in-house ratio fee table 17c has been described above.

[Process flow]
Next, the flow of license adjustment processing in the license management server 10 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the license adjustment process in the license management server 10.

  First, the group management unit 11a searches the group management DB 17a, counts the number of image forming apparatuses 40 registered in one group as the total number of management, and notifies the license management unit 11b of the count result (step S1). .

  Next, the group management unit 11a searches the group management DB 17a, and acquires manufacturer data that is an attribute of the image forming apparatus 40 counted in step S1 (step S2).

  Next, the license management unit 11b acquires the company ratio fee table 17c for adjusting the contents of the license (service fee) from the storage unit 17 (step S3).

  Next, the license management unit 11b calculates the ratio of the in-house image forming apparatus 40 based on the count result (total number of management) of the image forming apparatus 40 notified from the group management unit 11a and the manufacturer data, and the in-house ratio charge The contents of the license (service fee) are adjusted with reference to the table 17c (step S4).

  Note that the total amount and breakdown of the adjusted service charges may be notified to the service provider and user of the management cloud 1 periodically (for example, every month) by the report generation function provided by the management system 1.

  The flow of the license grant process in the license management server 10 has been described above.

  The first embodiment has been described above.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment is an extension of the first embodiment, and the charge amount per unit for the image forming apparatus 40 manufactured in-house is set to the total management number and total management number of the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group. This is determined by the ratio of the in-house image forming apparatus 40 to be occupied.

  Note that the license management server 10a of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the company ratio fee table 17c is only replaced with the total management fee table 17d (see FIG. 7), so that the configuration and processing flow are related. Description is omitted.

[Specific example of table]
Next, a specific example of the above-described total management fee table 17d will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of the total management charge table 17d.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 1 to 50, and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 to the total number of management is 0% to 50%, the self-made image The charge per unit for the forming apparatus 40 is 350 yen.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 1 to 50, and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 in the total number of management exceeds 50% and reaches 100%, it is made in-house The charge amount per image forming apparatus 40 is 300 yen.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 51 or more and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 to the total number of management is 0% to 25%, the self-made image forming apparatuses 40 The charge per car is set at 350 yen.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 51 or more, and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 to the total number of management exceeds 25% to 50%, the self-made image forming apparatuses The charge per unit for 40 is 300 yen.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 51 or more and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 to the total number of management exceeds 50% to 75%, the self-made image forming apparatuses The charge per car for 40 is 250 yen.

  When the total number of image forming apparatuses 40 managed in the group is 51 or more and the ratio of the number of self-made image forming apparatuses 40 in the total number of management exceeds 75% to 100%, the self-made image forming apparatuses The charge per unit for 40 is 200 yen.

In the above description, the charge amount is changed according to the proportion of the image forming apparatus 40 made by the company. However, the charge amount is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. You may let them.
The second embodiment has been described above.

<Third Embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment will be described. The third embodiment is different from the above-described embodiment in that the service fee determined by the license agreement is adjusted based on the usage period of the management system 1.

  In the following description, only differences from the above embodiment will be described.

[Constitution]
In the license management server 10b according to the third embodiment, the table stored in the storage unit 17 is a system usage period fee table 17e instead of the company ratio fee table 17c or the total management fee table 17d. (See Figure 10)

[Specific example of table]
Next, a specific example of the above-described system usage period fee table 17e will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of the system usage period fee table 17e.

  As shown in the figure, if the period of a license contract in a certain group is within one year, the fee for the license granted to that group is 500 yen per unit.

  If the period of the license agreement is longer than one year and less than two years, the license fee granted to the group is discounted by 10% to 450 yen per unit.

  If the duration of the license agreement is more than 2 years and less than 3 years, the license fee granted to the group is discounted by 20% to 400 yen per unit.

  If the duration of the license agreement is more than 3 years and less than 4 years, the license fee granted to the group will be discounted by 30% to 350 yen per unit.

  The specific example of the system usage period fee table 17e has been described above.

  The third embodiment has been described above. In this way, by discounting the service fee according to the usage period of the management system 1, an incentive to prolong the period of using the management system 1 and increase the usage fee works for users such as dealers and dealers. Become.

<Fourth Embodiment>
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The fourth embodiment is the same as the third embodiment in that the service fee is discounted based on the system usage, but the system usage is the sum of the print counters in the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group. The difference is that the amount is used.

  In the following description, only differences from the third embodiment will be described.

[Constitution]
In the license management server 10c according to the fourth embodiment, the table stored in the storage unit 17 is a counter fee table 17f instead of the system usage period fee table 17e. (See Figure 12)

[Specific example of table]
Next, a specific example of the counter fee table 17f described above will be described. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a specific example of the counter fee table 17f.

  As shown in the figure, if the total amount of annual usage (annual counter value) of the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to a certain group is 10,000 or less, the license fee granted to that group is 500 yen per unit. .

  If the sum of the annual counter values of the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group is more than 10,000 and less than or equal to 25,000, the license fee granted to the group is reduced by 10% to 450 yen per unit.

  If the total of the annual counter values of the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group is more than 25000 and less than or equal to 50000, the license fee granted to the group is discounted by 20% to 400 yen per unit.

  If the sum of the annual counter values of the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group exceeds 50000 and is equal to or less than 75000, the license fee granted to the group is discounted by 30% to 350 yen per unit.

  The specific example of the counter fee table 17f has been described above.

  The fourth embodiment has been described above. In this way, by discounting the service fee based on the license according to the usage amount of the image forming apparatus 40 managed by the management system 1, the period of using the management system 1 can be extended for users such as dealers and dealers. And incentives to increase usage fees.

[Additional notes]
As described above, the license management system 100 according to the present invention includes the image forming apparatus 40 installed at the end customer site and the license management server that manages the license for performing services such as remote maintenance for the image forming apparatus 40. The license management server 10 represents a license management DB 17b that stores information related to the license for the image forming apparatus 40 and an organization to which the license is granted, to which the image forming apparatus 40 belongs. The group management DB 17a storing information related to the group, and the content of the license granted to the group provided by the organization providing the service among the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group As the proportion of 40 increases, the image shape The service is provided among the image forming apparatuses 40 belonging to the group by using the table 17c and the group management DB 17a which are defined and described so as to be advantageous to the user who registers the apparatus 40 in the group. A group management unit 11a that calculates the proportion of the image forming apparatus 40 provided by the organization, and a license management unit 11b that refers to the table 17c based on the calculated proportion and discounts the usage fee of the service. With.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Management cloud 10, 10a, 10b, 10c ... License management server 11 ... CPU
11a ... Group management unit 11b ... License management unit 12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Operation input part 15 ... Communication part 16 ... Display part 17 ... Memory | storage part 17a ... Group management DB
17b ... License management DB
17c ... In-house ratio charge table 17d ... Total management charge table 17e ... System usage period charge table 17f ... Counter charge table 18 ... Bus 20 ... Maintenance server 30 ... Configuration server 40 ... Image forming device 50 ... Management terminal 60 ... Service terminal 100 ... License management system

Claims (2)

An image forming apparatus installed at a final customer site, and a license management server that manages a license for performing services such as remote maintenance for the image forming apparatus,
The license management server
A license management DB storing information on the license for the image forming apparatus;
A group management DB that represents an organization to which the license is granted and stores information about a group to which the image forming apparatus belongs;
The content of the license granted to the group increases the proportion of the image forming apparatus provided by the service providing organization among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group, and the image forming apparatus A table defined and described to be advantageous to users registering with the group;
A group management unit that calculates a ratio of the image forming apparatuses provided by the organization that provides the service among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group using the group management DB;
A license management unit that refers to the table based on the calculated ratio and discounts a usage fee for the service;
License management system. A license management method performed by a license management server including a group management unit and a license management unit,
The group management unit represents an organization to which the license managed by the license management DB storing information related to a license for performing a service such as remote maintenance on the image forming apparatus installed at the end customer site is given. The ratio of the image forming apparatus provided by the organization providing the service out of the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group using a group management DB storing information about the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs. Calculate
The license management unit, the contents of the license granted to the group, among the image forming apparatus belonging to the group, the more the proportion of the image forming apparatus provided by the organization providing the service is increased A license management method for discounting a usage fee of the service based on the calculated ratio by referring to a table that is defined and described so as to be advantageous to a user who registers the image forming apparatus in the group.

Images