JP2002259312A - Remote management system, system/device for image formation, management device, remote management method and information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote management system, a system/device for image formation, a management device, a remote management method and information recording medium by which difficulty caused by the capacity restriction of an electronic mail (e-mail) can be avoided and prevented in spite of the increase of a data transferring quantity while it is possible to transfer data via the e-mail through a network. SOLUTION: This system includes an image forming device to be managed, the management device for managing the device to be managed through the network, and respective mail servers connected to the network to transmit/ receive the e-mail from one of the image forming device and the management device to the other. Either or both of the management device and the image forming device have an e-mail division means for dividing and transmitting the e-mail based on the request of either of them. Either or both of the management device and the image forming device include an e-mail composing means for composing the divided e-mail based on the reception of the e-mail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a remote management system, an image forming system, an image forming apparatus, a management apparatus, a remote management method, and an information recording medium image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus has a rewritable storage section storing a program, and operates based on the program to form an image on a recording material. In order to upgrade the version of the program of the image forming apparatus, correct a bug, and to grasp the failure status, a service person goes to a place where the image forming apparatus is installed, and
OM replacement or connection of a memory card or personal computer to an image forming apparatus, and rewriting to a program to be rewritten (hereinafter referred to as a “rewriting program”) such as a version-upgraded program or a bug-corrected program of the program Was dealt with.

On the other hand, in recent years, attempts have been made to build a system for upgrading the version of an image forming apparatus using a network and for grasping the state of failure of the image forming apparatus.

A management apparatus having such an image forming apparatus management function, and a remote control for executing a remote diagnosis of an arbitrary number of image forming apparatuses on the user side connected to the management apparatus via a network. When a management system is to be constructed, the data transfer speed is slow if a telephone line is used as the data transfer means.

In addition, communication connection from the management apparatus to the image forming apparatus is difficult because it is usually limited by a firewall (an unauthorized access restriction device) provided in a user network. That is, data communication between the image forming apparatus inside the firewall on the user network side and the file management apparatus outside the firewall is TCP / I, which is a widely used protocol at present.
P (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protco
In the case of 1), access from the file management apparatus to the image forming apparatus becomes particularly difficult due to the restriction by the firewall.

Further, in one or a plurality of image forming apparatuses, even if an attempt is made to access a management apparatus outside the user network by using TCP / IP to transmit emergency information such as a failure of the apparatus, for example, May be limited by the firewall provided in this network depending on the setting status of the network.

[0007] Further, there are various types of networks, and their access conditions are different.

[0008] In view of this, from the viewpoint of improving the data transfer speed and the ease of access, it is conceivable to use electronic mail as the data transfer means.

[0009]

However, when a remote management system using electronic mail is used, the data transfer speed is improved, but the mail capacity is sometimes limited depending on the type of server on the user network. Therefore, the capacity of mail that can be transmitted and received at one time is limited, and large-capacity information cannot be transmitted.

In particular, in recent years, the size of an embedded program has tended to increase, and there has been a possibility that data transfer may become difficult due to the limitation of mail capacity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to enable data transfer by e-mail using a network, and to perform e-mail even if the data transfer amount increases. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote management system, an image forming system, an image forming apparatus, a management apparatus, a remote management method, and an information recording medium which can avoid the difficulty due to the capacity limitation of the image forming apparatus.

[0012]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a managed device to be managed, a management device to manage the managed device via a network, A mail server that is connected to a network and transmits and receives e-mail transmitted from one of the managed device or the management device to the other, and one or both of the management device and the managed device are any Based on the request, the electronic mail has an e-mail division unit that divides and transmits the e-mail, and one or both of the managed device and the management device are divided based on the reception of the e-mail. An electronic mail synthesizing means for synthesizing the electronic mail is included.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, a management apparatus for remotely managing the image forming apparatus,
A network for exchanging information between the image forming apparatus and the management apparatus, and a management apparatus for transmitting and receiving an e-mail transmitted from one of the image forming apparatus or the management apparatus to the other via the network And one or both of the management device and the image forming device have an e-mail dividing unit that divides the e-mail and transmits the divided e-mail. Either one or both of the device and the management device include an e-mail synthesizing unit that receives and synthesizes the divided e-mails.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, a management apparatus for remotely managing the image forming apparatus, and an apparatus for exchanging information between the image forming apparatus and the management apparatus. A network, and each mail server on the side of the management apparatus and the image forming apparatus that transmits and receives an e-mail transmitted from one of the image forming apparatus or the management apparatus to the other via the network, wherein the image forming apparatus includes: First storage means for storing a control program for controlling the image forming apparatus;
A second storage unit that stores version information and various counter information of the image forming apparatus; and the control program of the first storage unit, based on an incoming of the e-mail transmitted from the management device. First rewriting means for rewriting to a new control program for e-mail;
Comparing the first version information of the second storage means with the second version information of the new control program, based on the new control program rewritten by the rewriting means,
If it is determined that the first version information is older than the second version information, a second rewriting is performed to rewrite the counter information in the second storage means and rewrite the first version information to the second version information. Means.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus which is connected to a management apparatus via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management apparatus, and forms an image on a recording material. A transmission means for transmitting information to the management device, and a mail server connected to the user network for transmitting and receiving e-mails transmitted from the management device at predetermined intervals, and stored in the mail server. If there is information, obtaining means for obtaining the information, if the reply information from the management device according to the information transmitted by the transmitting means is sent in a state where the e-mail is divided, It is characterized by including a control unit for controlling the obtaining unit and an electronic mail combining unit for combining the divided electronic mails.

The invention according to claim 24 is an image forming apparatus which is connected to a management apparatus via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management apparatus, and forms an image on a recording material. A transmission means for transmitting information to the management device, and a mail server connected to the user network for transmitting and receiving e-mails transmitted from the management device at predetermined intervals, and stored in the mail server. If there is information, the obtaining means for obtaining the information, when the transmitting means has transmitted the information, the control means for controlling the obtaining means, and when the transmitting means transmits the information, And e-mail dividing means for dividing the e-mail.

According to a twenty-fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus which is connected to a management device via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management device, and forms an image on a recording material. File creation means for creating a file of information to be transmitted to the management device, and a file created by the file creation unit,
Encoding a binary file, as an attached file of an e-mail, a transmitting unit that transmits information to the management device, an e-mail dividing unit that divides one or both of the body of the e-mail and the attached file,
It is characterized by including.

According to a twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a management device which is connected to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material via the Internet and a service network and manages the image forming apparatus. A transmission unit for transmitting information to the image forming apparatus, and a mail server connected to the service network for transmitting and receiving an e-mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus, are accessed at predetermined intervals, and are stored in the mail server. If there is any information, the obtaining unit for obtaining the information and the reply information from the image forming apparatus are sent in a state of being divided by e-mail according to the information transmitted by the transmitting unit. A control unit that controls the obtaining unit; and an email combining unit that combines the divided emails. That.

According to a twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a management apparatus which is connected to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material via the Internet and a service network and manages the image forming apparatus. A transmission unit for transmitting information to the image forming apparatus, and a mail server connected to the service network for transmitting and receiving an e-mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus, are accessed at predetermined intervals, and are stored in the mail server. If there is any information, obtaining means for obtaining the information, control means for controlling the obtaining means when the transmitting means divides and transmits the e-mail, and divides the transmitted e-mail And e-mail dividing means.

According to a twenty-eighth aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus is controlled by transmitting an e-mail from one of the image forming apparatus to a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus via a network or the other. A remote management method for rewriting a program, wherein the management device divides and sends the e-mail including a new control program that newly rewrites the control program based on a program rewrite request from the image forming apparatus. It is characterized by including steps.

According to a thirty-third aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus is controlled by transmitting an e-mail from one of the management apparatus or the image forming apparatus to the other which manages the image forming apparatus via a network. A remote management method for rewriting a program, wherein the electronic mail including state information of the image forming apparatus in response to the inquiry is sent to the image forming apparatus based on inquiry information from the management apparatus for inquiring about the state of the image forming apparatus. The method is characterized by including a dividing step in which the device divides and transmits.

The invention according to claim 34 is a combination step in which the management device combines the divided e-mails based on the reception of the divided e-mails; Determining whether to rewrite the control program based on the state information.

According to a thirty-seventh aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus is controlled by transmitting an electronic mail from one of the image forming apparatus to a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus via a network or the other. An information recording medium in which a program for performing remote management by rewriting a program is recorded, and the electronic mail including a new control program for newly rewriting the control program based on a program rewrite request from the image forming apparatus, It is characterized in that the information includes information for performing processing of division and transmission by the management device.

The invention according to claim 41 controls the image forming apparatus by transmitting an e-mail from one of the management apparatus or the image forming apparatus to the other which manages the image forming apparatus via a network. An information recording medium in which a program for performing a remote management by rewriting a program is recorded, and based on inquiry information for inquiring a state of the image forming apparatus from the management apparatus, the information recording medium includes state information of the image forming apparatus in response to the inquiry. The image forming apparatus includes information for performing a process of dividing and transmitting the electronic mail by the image forming apparatus.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment (System Configuration) First, an overall schematic configuration of an image forming system, which is an example of a remote management system of the present embodiment, an image forming apparatus, and a management apparatus are shown in FIG. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating the overall configuration of the image forming system of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment has a storage unit 11 composed of a rewritable nonvolatile memory or the like storing a program, operates based on the program, and is not shown. For example, two image forming apparatuses 1 as managed apparatuses for forming an image on a recording material
0A and 10B, and the two image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B.
B, for example, two management devices 20A and 20B as management devices for remotely managing B, and the image forming devices 10A and 10B.
And a network 50 for transmitting information by TCP / IP.

In the image forming system of the present embodiment, the image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B and the management apparatuses 20A and 20A,
The electronic mail transmitted / received to / from OB is transmitted / received in a state where it is divided into predetermined sizes as necessary. In addition, the size of the division can be automatically or arbitrarily set to an optimal division size or the number of divisions according to the limited capacity of the mail server. The details will be described below.

The image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B operate under the control of the storage unit 11, the control unit 13 for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 based on the program, and Although the details will be described later, the communication controller 14 (transmission means, reception means) functioning as an acquisition unit for acquiring an e-mail, and a mail for processing the e-mail of the management device 20A or the management device 20B ID (identification) data including an address (consisting of an address name, a delimiter, a subdomain, and a domain) and the like for transmitting to the network 50
An ID data storage unit 16 for storing and outputting D data, a file creation unit 17 for automatically creating e-mail information and the like to be transmitted to the management device 20A or 20B in a predetermined format, and a display unit for displaying various information 18, an operation unit 19 for performing a key input operation, and management devices 20A and 20A.
An e-mail synthesizing unit 31 that synthesizes the divided e-mails based on the reception of the divided e-mails from B;
(E-mail combining means), an e-mail dividing unit 32 (e-mail dividing means) for dividing and transmitting the e-mail,
A quota detecting unit 33 (a quota detecting unit) for detecting a quota of the size of an electronic mail relaying the SMTP server 64 or the POP server 83 which is one of the mail servers, and the quota detecting unit 33 detects the quota. A division setting control unit (division size setting unit) for setting the division size or the number of divisions of the e-mail to be transmitted to the management devices 20A and 20B based on the limited capacity; And a network interface 15 functioning as a transmission / reception unit also having a function of receiving.

The electronic mail information can of course be created and changed by a key input operation from the operation unit 19 in the image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B.

The program stored in the storage unit 11 is stored in the image forming apparatus 10A or the image forming apparatus 10A.
In addition to the program for controlling the operation of B, a program for e-mail processing is included.

The control unit 13 is based on the e-mail processing program and is configured to spool received mail provided in the user network 60 via the communication controller 14 via a POP (Post Office Protocol).
The time interval for accessing the server 63 (a storage device and a user server) is changed and controlled as described later.

The above-mentioned ID data refers to the image forming apparatus 1
0A itself, the mail address of the management device 20A or the management device 20B, and the image forming device 10A.
A serial No (number) of A, an authentication PW (password), a host PW (password) for specifying the management device 20A or the management device 20B, and the like are included.

The management device 20A or the management device 20B
Is a storage unit 21 for storing various information including a program for operation of the management device 20A or the management device 20B and a program for e-mail processing, and a program for the operation of the management device 20A or the management device 20B. , A communication controller 24 (transmitting means, receiving means) that performs the same function as the communication controller 14 that operates under the control of the control section 23, and the same as the ID data storage section 16. , An ID data storage unit 26 for storing and outputting ID (identification) data, a file creation unit 27 for automatically creating e-mail information and the like, a display unit 28 for displaying various information, and an operation unit 29 for performing key input operations
And an e-mail dividing unit 4 for dividing and transmitting the e-mail
1 (e-mail division means), image forming apparatuses 10A,
An e-mail synthesizing unit 43 for synthesizing the divided e-mails based on the reception of the divided e-mails from 0B
(E-mail combining means), a quota detecting unit 42 (Limit Detector) for detecting a quota of the size of an e-mail relaying the SMTP server 84 or the POP server 63 which is one of the mail servers, A division setting control unit 44 (division size setting unit) for setting a division size or the number of divisions of an e-mail to be transmitted to the image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B based on the limited capacity detected by the detection unit 33; And a network interface 25 having the same function as the interface 15.

The electronic mail information can of course be created and changed by a key input operation from the operation unit 29 in the management devices 20A and 20B.

Here, the management device 20A or the management device 2
The ID data in 0B is the mail address of the management device 20A or the management device 20B itself, the mail address of the image forming device 10A or the image forming device 10B, and the serial number (number) of the image forming device 10A or the image forming device 10B. , Authentication PW (password), and the like.

Based on the e-mail processing program, the control unit 23 is a storage device that functions as a management device-side server provided in the service network 80 via the communication controller 24, and is a POP (PoE).
(St Office Protocol) The time interval for accessing the server 83 is changed and controlled.

As the data input means to the ID data storage section 16 and the ID data storage section 26, for example, an operation section for performing key input, a portable storage means (Floppy disk, compact disk (CD), MO, DVD, I
D card) and its data reading device.

The network 50 includes a user network 60 composed of a LAN or the like to which the image forming apparatus 10A or 10B is connected via a network interface 15 controlled by the communication controller 14. , Which is a general network used in the management device 20A and the management device 20A and the management device 20B, which are configured by a LAN or the like connected via a network interface 25 controlled by the communication controller 14 to the management device 20B. And a network 80.

Transmission of data on each of these networks is performed by TCP / IP which is widely used.

Further, the user network 60 includes:
SMTP (Simple Mail) functioning as an e-mail transfer server (transmission server) in addition to the POP server 63
Transfer Protocol) server 64 is provided, and a POP server 83 is provided in the service network 80.
Functioning as an e-mail transfer server in addition to SMT
A P server 84 is provided.

The user network 60 is connected to the Internet 70 via a user-side firewall 61.
1 is a user network 60 composed of other computers (not shown) connected to the Internet 70.
Image forming apparatus 10A or image forming apparatus 1 through
Unauthorized access to OB is restricted.

Similarly, the service network 80 is connected to the Internet 70 via a firewall 81 on the management device side, and the firewall 81 provides a service by another computer (not shown) connected to the Internet 70. The management device 20A or the management device 20B via the network 80
Unauthorized access to is restricted.

FIG. 1 shows a user network 60.
Although an example is shown in which two image forming apparatuses 10A and 10B are connected, the number of image forming apparatuses connected to the user network 60 can be an arbitrary number such as three or five. is there. Similarly, the number of management devices connected to the service network 80 can be an arbitrary number such as three or five.

Here, what is characteristic in the present embodiment is that when the management apparatus 20A transmits the version upgrade program of the program incorporated in the image forming apparatus 10A through the Internet 70, the electronic mail is transmitted. By dividing and sending, the firewall 6
1 and 81, and temporarily the user network 60
Each mail server above, POP server 63, SMTP
Even if the limit of the e-mail capacity by the server 64 is set, a large amount of information can be finally transmitted to the image forming apparatus. Hereinafter, details of the processing will be described.

(Regarding the Processing Procedure) (Processing of the Entire System) Next, the operation of the remote management system of the present embodiment will be described by, for example, one of the management apparatuses 20A and 20B.
A is a case where an electronic mail for remote diagnosis is transmitted from A to, for example, one image forming apparatus 10A of the image forming apparatus 10A and the image forming apparatus 10B. This will be described with reference to the drawings.

Under the control of the control unit 13 of the image forming apparatus 10 A, the communication controller 14 controls the user network 60 via the network interface 15.
(Step, hereinafter referred to as “S” 101, S1)
02).

On the other hand, under the control of the control unit 23 of the management device 20A, the communication controller 24 periodically accesses the POP server 83 provided in the service network 80 via the network interface 25. (S103, S104).

In such a state, the image forming apparatus 10A
Sends a confirmation e-mail periodically to check whether the control program has been upgraded.
A process for transmitting to A is performed (S105).

Then, the confirmation mail is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10A through the SMTP server 64 of the user network 60 (S106), and received by the POP server 83 of the service network 80 (S1).
07).

When the management apparatus 20A accesses the POP server 83 of the service network 80 in the regular reception check, the confirmation mail is obtained (S1).
08).

Next, based on the receipt of the confirmation mail in the regular reception check, the management device 20A
In order for 0A to perform remote management of the image forming apparatus 10A, a file for remote management is created by the file creating section 27 under the control of the control section 23, and one of the ID information of the image forming apparatus 10A is used. S on the service network 80 as an e-mail with a mail address
A process for transmitting to the MTP server 84 is performed.

Here, when the administrator who operates the management apparatus 20A operates the e-mail transmission button of the e-mail software or a command similar thereto after creating the file, the e-mail is divided into a predetermined size. The processing is performed (the details of the division processing will be described later) (S109).

Then, the divided electronic mails are subjected to transmission processing (S110). That is, one divided e-mail is transmitted from the management device 20A through the SMTP server 84 of the service network 80 to the POP server 63 on the user network 60 via the Internet 70 and the firewall 61 on the user network 60 side ( S111). The POP server 63 of the user network 60 acquires and stores the transmitted e-mail (S112).
In this case, the e-mail data can pass through the firewall 61 without any trouble, and the unauthorized access restriction function of the firewall 61 does not work.

On the other hand, another divided electronic mail is sent from the management apparatus 20A to the SMT of the service network 80.
Is transmitted to the P server 84 (S113), and received by the POP server 63 of the user network 60 (S113).
114). In this way, each of the divided electronic mails is transmitted. As a result, even if the mail volume is restricted by the SMTP server 84 or the POP server 63, it can be easily avoided.

Next, the PO on the user network 60
After or before and after the P server 63 obtains each divided e-mail for remote management from the management apparatus 20A to the image forming apparatus 10A, the P server 63 transmits the e-mail to the POP server 63 on the user network 60 from the image forming apparatus 10A. In response to the first access (S115),
The communication controller 14 of the image forming apparatus 10A
Some or all of the divided electronic mails are obtained from the OP server 63.

When all of the divided electronic mails have been obtained (received), the image forming apparatus 10A performs processing for synthesizing the electronic mails (details of the synthesizing processing will be described later), and attaches an attached file, a binary file (binary number). Encoding of the file (S116).

As described above, the image forming apparatus 10A
When a version upgrade file (new control program) of the attached file is received in the periodic reception check, the divided files are combined and the new control program is uploaded.

Then, the image forming apparatus 10A performs a version upgrade process of the control program (S1).
17).

By such an operation, the management device 20A sends the firewall 6 on the network 50
E-mail is efficiently transmitted to more than one image forming apparatus 10A, and serviceability to the user can be improved by improving management efficiency of remote diagnosis for the image forming apparatus 10A.

The attached file can be converted from a binary file into text data and transmitted on the network 50, and the data can be compressed. Therefore, the data amount of the reply mail to be transmitted is reduced and the transmission efficiency is improved. can do.

(Division Processing on Transmission Side) Next, a processing procedure when an electronic mail is divided and transmitted / received in the image forming system having the above configuration will be described.

In this embodiment, the management apparatus 20A performs the division processing at the time of transmission, and the image forming apparatus 10A performs the synthesis processing at the time of reception.
A, the division processing in any of the image forming apparatus 10A,
The combining process can be performed.

First, the processing on the transmitting side will be described with reference to FIG. First, a data division number X is calculated from the data amount of the original file (step 201). In this step 201, the size per transmission is set to, for example, 100 KB.
And For example, if the data amount of the original file is 75
If it is 0 KB, the division number X is X = 8.

Next, a divided file is generated based on the number of divisions (S202). In this step 202, for example, the file to be divided has the file name EX5. bin
In the case of the original file (binary format), since the number of divisions X is 8 and the data amount N of the original file is 750 KB, EX5-1. bin (100 KB) ... first divided file EX5-2. bin (100 KB) ... second divided file EX5-3. bin (100 KB) ... third divided file ~ EX5-7. bin (100 KB) ... seventh divided file EX5-8. bin (50 KB)... Eighth division file Generates each division. That is, one transmission (the division size per signal (MK
B), and the X-th divided file is N- (M × (X
-1)) KB. Note that the division size M and the division number X
The management apparatus 20A side and the image forming apparatus 1
Any side of 0A can be set arbitrarily.

Further, the size of each divided file can be arbitrarily set for each divided file. That is, not only the equal division but also the unequal division may be configured by the user.

In this case, the e-mail division unit 41 of the management apparatus 20A (or the e-mail division unit 32 of the image forming apparatus 10A) includes a division size setting unit, a division number setting unit, an undivided mode, and an undivided mode. It has a mode setting unit for switching between modes and a divided file size setting unit for setting the size of each divided file in the uneven division mode.

Next, the divided files are transmitted in the attached file format (S203). In this step, for example, each file name of the first to eighth divided files may be transmitted as the title of the mail.

Here, the title of the mail is defined as original file name: division number / division number X. In the above example, EX5. bin: 1/8 to EX5. bi
n: 8/8. The title of each of these mails is automatically generated based on the original file name. A processing program for performing this processing can constitute, for example, a divided file name generation unit in the e-mail division unit.

As an example of a method for identifying the divided file, the identification is performed by changing the title of the mail. However, other methods can be used as long as a signature can be added in the header portion. It does not matter.

(Receiving Side Combining Process) Next, the receiving side process will be described with reference to FIG. First, the number of data divisions X is determined and stored based on the title of the received mail (S30).
1). In this step, for example, an electronic mail is received and the attached file EX5. bin: Analyzes 1/8 (obtains the division number information based on file header information)
And X = 8. A processing program for performing this processing can constitute, for example, a division number analysis unit.

Then, the process waits until the X number of electronic mails arrive (S302). In this step, for example, X
= 8, each of the attached files EX5. bin: 1/8 to EX5. bin: 8/8
The processing is in a standby state until is received. A processing program that performs this processing can constitute, for example, a divided file collection unit.

When all the e-mails have been received and each attached file has been accepted, the processing of the next step is started. That is, the attached files of all the mails are expanded to obtain the divided files (S303). In the above example, EX5.
bin: 1/8 to EX5. bin: 8/8.

Next, the original files are obtained by combining the divided files in the order of the division numbers (S304). In this step, for example, it is assumed that “division number / division number X” is removed from the title of the received mail. For example, EX5. bin:
1/8 to EX5. bin: 8/8, EX5. b
An original file is generated with "in" as the original file name.

When the same file is retransmitted on the transmitting side, there is a possibility that the receiving side cannot determine which mail is set. Therefore, the following steps are performed on the receiving side.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not a set is set based on the transmission date and time of the received mail (S40).
1).

Alternatively, on the transmitting side, a signature indicating that the file is a file set is added to the mail title (S5).
01). The signature includes, for example, date and time, a serial number, and the like.

By doing so, the source file and the retransmission file can be identified.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a large amount of data can be transmitted and received without being affected by the upper limit of the mail capacity that can be received or transmitted at one time.

The process of dividing the e-mail may be any of dividing the attached file of the e-mail, dividing only the body of the e-mail, and dividing the attached file and the body of the e-mail. The user may also be able to make these settings. Of course, in this case, it goes without saying that processing corresponding to the combination is also performed on the combining side on the receiving side. In this case, the e-mail division unit includes an e-mail text division processing unit,
An e-mail attachment file division processing unit, a division processing unit for dividing both of them, a setting processing unit for setting any of a text and an attached file, and the e-mail synthesis unit includes an e-mail text synthesis processing unit, an e-mail An attachment file combining unit and a combining unit that combines both are provided.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the following, description of substantially the same configuration of the first embodiment will be omitted, and only different portions will be described. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram schematically illustrating functions of the image forming apparatus in the image forming system of the present embodiment.

In the image forming system of this embodiment, the image forming apparatus performs a rewriting process based on the new control program transmitted from the management apparatus by the above-mentioned divided e-mail or the e-mail when the division is not performed. An example of the case is shown.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the image forming apparatus 100 is connected to an external network 200, and includes a communication unit 104 for communicating with the external network 200 and a control program. A storage unit 101 (first storage unit) such as a ROM, an I / O unit 104 for performing input / output processing with various interfaces, and an NVRAM
(A non-volatile memory) such as a storage unit 102 (second storage unit), and a CPU 1 as a control unit for controlling these units.
03 is included. Also, the I / O unit 10
4, various devices 120 such as a motor, a sensor, a heater, and various loads are connected.

The storage unit 101 stores the control program 101
a and a communication program 101b for separately receiving the new control program 105 from the external network 200 via the communication unit 104.

The storage unit 102 stores the control program 101
a version information 102a and various counter information 10
2b is stored. Various counter information 102b
The various types of counter information 102b include, for example, the total value of the developing device rotation distance, the total value of the photoconductor rotation distance, and the fixing temperature setting value.

In the image forming apparatus 100 configured as described above, normally, the CP is executed in accordance with the control program 101a.
The U 103 controls the I / O unit 104 to perform an image forming operation. When the U 103 receives the new control program 105 through the external network 200 via the communication unit 104, the U 103 divides and receives the new control program 105 according to the communication program 101b, and synthesizes. Then, after erasing the control program 101a, the combined new control program 105 is stored in the storage unit 10
1 is newly written. This rewriting process is called
For example, it can be configured as first rewriting means.

When the writing operation is completed, the CPU 103
Operate according to the new control program 105.

Here, in this example, the new control program 10
5 first checks the control program version information 102a stored in the storage unit 102, and if the content indicates the old version, rewrites the initial values of the various counter information 102b according to the new control program 105.

After rewriting the various counter information 102b, the CPU 103 rewrites the control program version information 102a to a new version (latest version information). The processing for performing each of these rewriting processes can be configured as, for example, a second rewriting unit.

As described above, in this example, information obtained when each mechanism is operated by the new control program is written into the storage unit 102.

Note that, in addition to the control program (embedded program) for the image forming apparatus, the management apparatus includes a command (first request command) for requesting the current ROM version of the image forming apparatus, and a command (first request command) for requesting verify information. The request is transmitted to the image forming apparatus together with the second request command). Then, the image forming apparatus returns the current ROM version information to the management apparatus, and also returns the ROM verification information when the version is changed to the new version (E-mail division is also preferably performed in this reply as well). in this case,
The management device includes a first request command generation unit for generating the first request command to be added to the new control program in the electronic mail, and a second request command generation unit for generating the second request command. Both of them are not shown).

As described above, when the NVRAM setting change instruction information (third request command) is included in the information from the management apparatus, the setting of the NVRAM is simultaneously changed when the ROM of the image forming apparatus is upgraded. Perform processing. As a result, the latest information is always registered in the image forming apparatus. Also, a processing program for automatically confirming in advance whether or not the image forming apparatus can support the new version of the new control program is transmitted from the management apparatus together with the new control program, so that the management apparatus manages the processing program. Saves time.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing procedure in the image forming system of the present example.

The configuration of the image forming system in this example is as follows.
This is the same as the case of the first embodiment described above, and in this example, the emergency information which is any transmission event on the image forming apparatus 10A or 10B side (for example, failure of the document scanning unit, image forming unit, etc. Etc.) occurs,
This emergency information is sent as an e-mail to the management device 20A or 2
0B, and the processing is performed when the management device 20A or 20B makes an inquiry about the emergency information.
Basically, the details of the process of dividing and synthesizing an e-mail are almost the same as those of the first embodiment, so that the detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the flow of the entire process will be omitted. This will be mainly described.

The emergency information will be further described. An electrical failure such as a power supply circuit failure which must be immediately transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10A to the management apparatus 20A, etc. Emergency information is information that cannot be dealt with by the user or that requires maintenance by maintenance personnel, including various information such as mechanical or mechanical failures, material shortage, and information on the life of parts such as rollers and clutches.

For example, information that a failure has occurred in the image forming apparatus 10A (in this case, in particular, information that a failure has occurred that prevents the operation of the image forming apparatus 1A from continuing).
But urgency is high. The emergency information further includes information from a user using the image forming apparatus 10A to the management apparatus 20.
There is information for calling A.

Hereinafter, the processing of the present example will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the sequence diagram of the present example shown in FIG.

For example, in the image forming apparatus 10A, the communication controller 1 is controlled by the control unit 13.
4 accesses the POP server 63 provided on the user network 60 via the network interface 15 at predetermined time intervals.

On the other hand, in the management device 20A, under the control of the control unit 23, the communication controller 24
The POP server 83 provided in the service network 80 is accessed at predetermined time intervals via the network interface 25. Similarly, the control unit 23 of the management device 20B accesses the POP server 83 at the interval A.

In this state, it is assumed that emergency information as described above has occurred in the image forming apparatus 10A (S
601).

At this time, the controller 13 of the image forming apparatus 10A
The management device 20A or the management device 20B
An e-mail including the emergency information with the e-mail address is created. A processing program for performing this processing can constitute, for example, an event information adding unit.

Next, a process of dividing the electronic mail is performed by pressing a transmission button (not shown) for transmitting the electronic mail (S602).

In the first embodiment, since the electronic mail is divided on the management apparatus side, the division processing is performed by electronic mail software installed on a PC server or the like constituting the management apparatus. , But in this example,
In order to perform the division processing on the image forming apparatus side, in addition to performing an operation of creating an e-mail directly from the touch panel or the like of the image forming apparatus and performing a transmission processing from the touch panel, a transmission button of a hard key or the like When the transmission process is performed by pressing, the division process is preferably performed automatically.

When an operation is performed from the touch panel, the screen for setting the divided file size and the number of divisions as described in the first embodiment is replaced by a menu screen (or an e-mail transmission / reception screen). It is needless to say that the configuration may be such that it can be provided and set in a specific hierarchy.

Then, the image forming apparatus 10A transmits each of the divided electronic mails to the SM on the user network 60.
A process for transmitting each to the TP server 64 is performed (S60).
3).

Of course, in this example, an example in which the electronic mail is divided and transmitted is described. However, the division processing in transmitting the electronic mail from the image forming apparatus 10A to the management apparatus 20A is indispensable. Instead of the process, the user can set whether to transmit by dividing or transmitting without dividing according to the capacity by setting of the predetermined setting unit.

Thereafter, the controller 13 of the image forming apparatus 10A
Controls the access interval to the POP server 63 and prepares for reception of a reply mail from the management device 20A or 20B.

The SMTP server 64 transmits each of the divided e-mails from the image forming apparatus 10A to the POP server 83 on the service network 80 via the Internet 70 and the firewall 81, respectively.

The POP server 83 obtains each transmitted e-mail, determines its e-mail address, and if the e-mail address belongs to the management device 20A, sends it to the management device 20A. And send each. If the e-mail address is that of the management device 20B, it is transmitted to the management device 20B (S604). The processing program for performing this processing can constitute, for example, an acquisition unit.

Here, the following description will be made assuming that the mail address is that of the management device 20A.

The management apparatus 20A performs a process of receiving each of the divided electronic mails from the image forming apparatus 10A which has been transmitted (S605). Then, the combining processing of the divided electronic mails is performed (S606).

Further, under the control of the control unit 23, a more detailed inquiry process for the emergency information contained in the electronic mail is started (S607). Therefore, a reply e-mail including the inquiry contents and the mail address of the image forming apparatus 10A is created. Then, when the operation of transmitting the e-mail is performed, the e-mail is divided automatically (S60).
8).

Then, S on the service network 80
Each of the divided e-mails is transmitted to the MTP server 84.

The SMTP server 84 transmits each of the divided electronic mails to the POP server 63 on the user network 60 via the Internet 70 and the firewall 61 on the user network 60 side.

Thereafter, the control unit 23 controls the change of the interval of access to the POP server 83 provided in the service network 80 to control the image forming apparatus 1.
In preparation for the reception of the subsequent e-mail from 0A, the subsequent e-mail including the answer to the inquiry from the image forming apparatus 10A can be promptly obtained, and the user can be promptly provided with the trouble countermeasure processing, the management efficiency, etc. To improve serviceability.

POP on the user network 60
The server 63 acquires and stores the transmitted divided e-mails.

In this manner, the user network 60
After the above POP server 63 obtains each of the divided e-mails including the content of the inquiry about the emergency information to the image forming apparatus 10A from the management apparatus 20A, the control section 13 of the image forming apparatus 10A executes the processing on the user network 60. In response to the first access to the POP server 63, the image forming apparatus 10A sequentially obtains each divided e-mail from the POP server 63. The processing program for performing this processing can constitute, for example, an acquisition unit.

Then, a process of synthesizing each of the divided electronic mails is performed (S609).

Thereafter, the control section 13 controls the interval of access to the POP server 63 provided in the user network 60 to the interval C (interval C> interval D), and returns to the steady state.

By such an operation, the image forming apparatus 10
From the transmission of an e-mail when emergency information is generated from A to the management device 20A, the image forming device 10A
In the process up to the acquisition of the reply e-mail including the inquiry information for the urgent information, the process of dividing the e-mail is performed so that even in the case of transmission from the image forming apparatus side, each mail server, that is, the SMTP
It is possible to clear and limit the capacity of the e-mail in the server 64 and the POP server 83 without any difficulty, and it is useful especially when the amount of transmission events is enormous, thereby improving the serviceability to the user.

[Fifth Embodiment] Next, a fifth embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing procedure in the image forming system of the present example.

In the present embodiment, for example, one of the management devices 20A and 20B is used for remote diagnosis from one of the management devices 20A and 20B to one of the image forming devices 10A and 10B. In the case of sending an e-mail or vice versa, a quota of a mail server is detected in advance, an optimal division size is calculated based on the quota, and the divided e-mail is transmitted.

Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the sequence diagram shown in FIG.

Under the control of the control unit 13 of the image forming apparatus 10A, the communication controller 14 controls the user network 60 via the network interface 15.
Access to the POP server 63 provided at a predetermined time interval.

On the other hand, under the control of the control unit 23 of the management device 20A, the communication controller 24 accesses the POP server 83 provided on the service network 80 via the network interface 25 at predetermined time intervals. are doing.

In this state, in order for the management apparatus 20A to remotely manage the image forming apparatus 10A, a file for remote management is created by the file creating section 27 under the control of the control section 23. An e-mail with an e-mail address, which is one of the ID information of the image forming apparatus 10A, is created.

By pressing a transmission button (not shown) of the e-mail, the following processing is performed.

First, prior to the division processing of the electronic mail, the SMTP server 84 of the service network 80 and the POP server 6 of the user network 60 are executed.
A command for inspection or a dummy e-mail is transmitted in order to acquire the e-mail quota such as 3 (S
701). As a result, the SMTP server 84 and the PO
Based on the information returned from the P server 63, the limit capacity of each server is detected (S702). And
After detecting the quota, the optimum number of divisions is determined based on the value of the e-mail and a value slightly lower than the minimum value of the quota, which is the minimum quota, as in the example of the first embodiment. Then, based on the number of divisions, processing for dividing the electronic mail is performed (S703). Since the specific processing of the division processing is the same as that of the first embodiment, the detailed description is omitted. As a result, the division and the transmission / reception processing of the e-mail are efficiently performed, and the number of divisions is extremely large. I can do it.

Then, processing of transmitting each of the divided electronic mails to the SMTP server 84 on the service network 80 is performed (S704).

The SMTP server 84 transmits each of the divided e-mails to the POP server 63 on the user network 60 via the Internet 70 and the firewall 61 on the user network 60 side. After this, the communication controller 24
Controls the interval of access to the POP server 83 provided in the service network 80 to the interval B.
(For example, one minute) (interval B <interval A) to prepare for acquisition of a reply mail.

The POP server 63 acquires and stores each of the divided electronic mails transmitted. In this case, the data of each of the divided e-mails can pass through the firewall 61 without any trouble, and the unauthorized access restriction function of the firewall 61 does not work. Further, since each e-mail is divided, the quota can be easily cleared.

In this way, the user network 6
The first access to the POP server 63 on the user network 60 from the image forming apparatus 10A after the POP server 63 on the server 0 obtains the e-mail for remote management for the image forming apparatus 10A from the management apparatus 20A. Accordingly, the communication controller 14 of the image forming apparatus 10A sequentially obtains each of the divided e-mails from the POP server 63.

The image forming apparatus 10A that has obtained each of the divided electronic mails performs a synthesizing process of the electronic mails (S705). Note that the synthesizing process is the same as that in the first embodiment, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

A reply process according to the content of the e-mail, that is, a mail message for reply to the management device 20A by the file creation unit 17 under the control of the control unit 13, and a binary file (if necessary) An attached file is created by encoding the file (binary format file), and an electronic mail is created as a reply mail with the mail address of the management device 20A.

Then, the following processing is performed by pressing an e-mail transmission button (not shown).

First, prior to performing the e-mail division processing, the SMTP server 64 of the user network 60 and the POP server 8 of the service network 80 are executed.
A command for inspection or a dummy e-mail is transmitted in order to acquire the e-mail quota such as 3 (S
706). As a result, the SMTP server 64 and the PO
Based on the information returned from the P server 83, the limited capacity of each server is detected (S707). And
After detecting the quota, the optimum number of divisions is determined based on the value of the e-mail and a value slightly lower than the minimum value of the quota, which is the minimum quota, as in the example of the first embodiment. Then, a process of dividing the e-mail is performed based on the division number (S708). Since the specific processing of the division processing is the same as that of the first embodiment, the detailed description is omitted. As a result, the division and the transmission / reception processing of the e-mail are efficiently performed, and the number of divisions is extremely large. I can do it.

Then, a process of returning each of the divided e-mails to the SMTP server 64 on the user network 60 is performed (S709). A processing program that replies to such an e-mail and performs the process of dividing the e-mail
For example, a reply division unit can be configured.

[0138] The SMTP server 64 transmits each of the divided electronic mails for reply to the POP server 83 on the service network 80 via the Internet 70 and the firewall 81, respectively.

The POP server 83 acquires and stores each of the divided electronic mails from the image forming apparatus 10A.

In response to the first access from the communication controller 24 of the management device 20A thereafter, the communication controller 24 obtains each of the divided e-mails from the POP server 83.

Next, the management device 20A performs a process of synthesizing each of the divided e-mails (S710). The combined email is processed by the control unit 23 of the management device 20A, such as a process of receiving the email body or a process of decoding an attached file in the email (S
711), the received e-mail is stored in a memory (not shown).

Thereafter, the control unit 23 of the management device 20A
Sets the access interval B to the POP server 83,
Control is performed to return to the above-described interval A before sending an e-mail.

By such an operation, the management device 20A sends the firewall 6 on the network 50.
In processing from transmission of an e-mail to the image forming apparatus 10A beyond 1 to acquisition of a reply e-mail from the image forming apparatus 10A across the firewall 81 on the network 50, the e-mail Split, and the size of each split email is
Optimum values are set according to the capacity limit of each mail server, so transmission / reception, division, and synthesis processing can be performed efficiently, shortening the time required for remote diagnosis and improving serviceability to users by improving management efficiency. .

Further, the attached file of the electronic mail is
Since a binary file can be converted into text data and transmitted over the network 50, and data can be compressed, the amount of e-mail data to be transmitted can be reduced and transmission efficiency can be improved.

It is needless to say that an electronic mail from the management apparatus 20A to the image forming apparatus 10A can be transmitted including an attached file obtained by converting a binary file into text data.

In addition to the above-described remote diagnosis of the image forming apparatus 10A by the management apparatus 20A, the remote diagnosis of another image forming apparatus 10B by the management apparatus 20A, and the remote diagnosis by the management apparatus 20B. When performing remote diagnosis of the image forming apparatus 10A or the image forming apparatus 10B, the efficiency of the remote diagnosis can be improved by the same processing as described above, and the serviceability to the user can be improved.

In the above-described example, an example has been described in which the optimal division size and the optimal number of divisions are calculated in accordance with the electronic mail capacity of each mail server to divide the electronic mail.
In addition, a configuration may be employed in which the size and the number of divided files are calculated in real time in accordance with the load of each mail server and the communication traffic when there is no capacity limit. In this case, a detection unit that detects the load on each mail server may be configured.

Although the apparatus and method according to the present invention have been described according to some specific embodiments thereof,
Those skilled in the art can make various modifications to the embodiments described in the text of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the remote management system, the image forming system, the image forming apparatus, the processing program processed in the management apparatus, the described processing,
A configuration in which the entire data or each part is recorded on the information recording medium may be used. Further, the above processing program is
It also includes an electronic mail software that can be operated on a general personal computer or a portable terminal, or an information recording medium on which the embedded electronic mail software is recorded.

As this information recording medium, for example, RO
M, RAM, a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory, an integrated circuit, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic recording medium, etc. may be used. Further, a CD-ROM, hard disk, CD-R, CD-RW, FD, DVDRAM, DV
The information may be recorded on a DROM, MO, ZIP, magnetic card, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, IC card, or the like for use.

Still further, examples of the medium include a wireless or infrared transmission channel between a computer and another device, a computer-readable card such as a PCMC.
An IA card, a network connection to another computer or device on a network, and the Internet or an intranet that includes e-mail transmission and information recorded on a website or other.

By using this information recording medium in a system or apparatus other than the system according to each of the above-described embodiments, the system or the computer reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium, and thus the above-described information recording medium can be used. A function equivalent to that of the embodiment can be realized, and an equivalent effect can be obtained.

In addition, O running on the computer
S, when the RTOS or the like on the image forming apparatus performs a part or all of the processing, or when the program code read from the storage medium is a computer, an extended function board or computer inserted into the image forming apparatus, or the image forming apparatus After being written into the memory provided in the extended function unit connected to the CPU, based on the instruction of the program code, even when the CPU or the like provided in the extended function board or the extended function unit performs part or all of the processing, The same functions as those of the above embodiments can be realized, and the same effects can be obtained.

Specifically, the information recording medium controls the image forming apparatus by transmitting an e-mail from one of the image forming apparatus to a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus via a network or the other. This is a program that records a program for remote management by rewriting the program. The information recording medium stores information for performing processing for the management apparatus to divide and transmit the electronic mail including a new control program for newly rewriting the control program based on a program rewrite request from the image forming apparatus. Including.

[0154] Further, the information recording medium may further include information for performing a process of combining the divided e-mails by the image forming apparatus based on reception of the divided e-mails, and the new information of the combined e-mails. Information for performing a process of rewriting the control program based on the control program.

Further, the information recording medium includes information for performing a process of calculating the number of divisions based on the data amount of the new control program, information for performing a process of generating each divided file based on the number of divisions, And information for performing a process of giving a mail title to the divided file.

Further, the information recording medium has information for extracting the number of divisions based on the title of each e-mail including each divided file, and information for collecting each e-mail for the number of divisions. And information for performing a process of synthesizing each e-mail in the order of the division number.

Further, the information recording medium is configured to, based on the inquiry information for inquiring about the status of the image forming apparatus from the management apparatus, send the electronic mail having the status information of the image forming apparatus in response to the inquiry to the image forming apparatus. The information includes information for performing the process of the device being divided and transmitted. Further, the control program is rewritten based on information for performing processing for the management device to combine the divided e-mails based on reception of the divided e-mails and the state information of the combined e-mails. It is preferable that the information includes information for performing a process of determining whether or not to perform the determination.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the image forming apparatus has been described as an example of the managed apparatus in the remote management system. However, the managed apparatus is not limited to this example. It may be a server, a mobile phone, a terminal having a communication function capable of communicating e-mail, for example, an EWS, a notebook computer, a PDA, a mobile information terminal, or the like.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the image forming apparatus directly accesses the host (management apparatus). However, the image forming apparatus itself directly accesses the host (management apparatus) to execute the rewriting program. May be downloaded indirectly at a sub-host of the user network without downloading.

In this case, the sub-host is connected to the inside of the firewall 61 and is a management device for managing the image forming apparatus (other plural image forming apparatuses).
The rewriting program for the managed image forming apparatus is acquired from the hosts (management apparatuses) 20A and 20B via the firewalls 61 and 81 and the Internet 70 and stored. More specifically, the sub-host grasps the state of the image forming apparatus managed by the sub-host. In this example, the state of the image forming apparatus is managed by managing the state (version, etc.) of the program of the image forming apparatus. While recognizing, the rewriting program of the image forming apparatus managed by itself is acquired from the hosts (management apparatuses) 20A and 20B and stored. This sub-host has a display unit, an operation unit, a storage unit, a control unit, a communication controller, an ID data storage unit, a file creation unit, an e-mail division unit, a limited capacity detection unit, an e-mail synthesis unit, a division setting control unit, and the like. are doing.

The ID data storage unit stores information on the sub-host (such as a serial number for uniquely specifying the sub-host), a password for authentication performed when communicating with the image forming apparatus, and a host In addition to the password for authentication performed when performing the communication of the sub-host, the serial number of the image forming apparatus managed by the sub-host, various program information of the image forming apparatus managed by the sub-host, rewriting program information (date information on when the program was created) ,
(Information on the date when the program is stored, version information of the program, history information of the program, image forming apparatus model information for specifying the model of the image forming apparatus to be rewritten, etc.).

In such a configuration, transmission / reception of e-mail between the sub-host and the host and transmission / reception of e-mail between the sub-host and the image forming apparatus can be performed separately.

It is needless to say that the embodiments described above and examples of combinations of any of the components or the whole of the embodiments and the modifications are also included.

[0164]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the mail volume is restricted by each mail server, it can be easily avoided, and the upper limit of the mail volume that can be received or transmitted at one time is set. Large amounts of data can be transmitted and received by e-mail without being affected.

In particular, the processing required for rewriting the rewriting program of the image forming apparatus in the image forming system can be performed efficiently.

Further, the division and the transmission / reception processing of the e-mail are efficiently performed, and the number of divisions is extremely large, so that it is possible to prevent a situation in which it takes a wasteful time to receive, divide, and combine the e-mails, and to quickly perform the processing. Processing can be performed.

Further, the latest information is always registered in the image forming apparatus. Also, since a processing program for automatically confirming in advance whether the image forming apparatus can support the new version of the new control program is transmitted from the management apparatus together with the new control program,
The trouble of managing on the management device side can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for rewriting a rewriting program of the image forming system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure on a transmission side in the image forming system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure on the receiving side in the image forming system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in the image forming system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus in an image forming system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating transmission / reception processing between an image forming apparatus and a management apparatus when an event occurs in an image forming system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating transmission / reception processing between an image forming apparatus and a management apparatus in an image forming system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 image forming system 10A image forming apparatus 10B image forming apparatus 11 storage unit 13 control unit 14 communication controller 15 network interface 16 ID data storage unit 17 file creation unit 20A management device 20B management device 21 storage unit 23 control unit 24 communication controller 25 network Interface 27 File creation unit 31, 43 E-mail synthesis unit 32, 41 E-mail division unit 33, 42 Quota detection unit 34, 44 Division setting control unit 50 Network 60 User network 63 POP server 64 SMTP server 70 Internet 80 Service network 83 POP server 84 SMTP server

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kenichi Ozawa 2970 Ishikawa-cho, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo Konica Stock Exchange In-house F-term (reference) 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB04 CC05 EE01 5K030 GA19 HA06 HB19 HC01 HD03 JT06 LE14 MC09

Claims (40)

[Claims] 1. A managed device to be managed, a management device that manages the managed device via a network, and an electronic device connected to the network and transmitted from one of the managed device or the management device to the other And a mail server that sends and receives mail. Either or both of the management device and the managed device has an e-mail dividing unit that divides and transmits the e-mail based on any request. A remote management system, wherein one or both of the managed device and the management device includes an email combining unit that combines the divided emails based on the reception of the email. 2. The management device or the managed device, comprising: a quota detecting unit that detects a quota of an e-mail size relaying the mail server; and a quota detected by the quota detecting unit. The remote management system according to claim 1, further comprising: division size setting means for setting a division size of the e-mail to be transmitted. 3. The remote management system according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail dividing unit divides one or both of a body and an attached file of the e-mail. 4. An image forming apparatus, a management apparatus for remotely managing the image forming apparatus, a network for exchanging information between the image forming apparatus and the management apparatus, and the image forming apparatus or management. And a mail server on the image forming apparatus side, which transmits and receives e-mail transmitted from one of the apparatuses to the other via the network, and either or both of the management apparatus and the image forming apparatus Has an e-mail dividing unit for dividing and transmitting the e-mail, and one or both of the image forming apparatus and the management apparatus receive and combine the divided e-mails to form an e-mail. An image forming system comprising means. 5. The image according to claim 4, wherein the management device has an adding unit that adds inquiry information for inquiring about a state of the image forming apparatus to information transmitted by the electronic mail. Forming system. 6. The inquiry information includes a first request command for acquiring current ROM version information of the image forming apparatus, and the management device generates a first request command. 6. The image forming system according to claim 5, further comprising one request command generation unit. 7. The inquiry information includes a second request command for obtaining verification information of the image forming apparatus, and the management apparatus generates a second request command for generating the second request command. The image forming system according to claim 5, further comprising a command generation unit. 8. The image forming apparatus, based on an incoming e-mail from the management device, divides an e-mail including status information indicating the status of the image forming device and replies to the management device. The image forming system according to claim 4, further comprising a reply division unit. 9. The electronic mail transmitted from the management apparatus includes a rewriting control program for controlling the image forming apparatus, wherein the electronic mail dividing unit of the management apparatus includes a rewriting control program for controlling the image forming apparatus. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the control program is divided and transmitted based on an incoming e-mail including a request. 10. The management device, wherein: a quota detecting unit that detects a quota of an e-mail size relaying the mail server; and the electronic device that transmits the electronic mail based on the quota detected by the quota detecting unit. The image forming system according to claim 4, further comprising: a division size setting unit configured to set a division size of the mail. 11. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a quota detecting unit that detects a quota of an e-mail size relaying the mail server; and transmitting the quota based on the quota detected by the quota detecting unit. The image forming system according to claim 4, further comprising: a division size setting unit configured to set a division size of the e-mail. 12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an event information adding unit configured to add event information of the image forming device itself to information transmitted by the electronic mail. The image forming system according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the control program is divided and transmitted based on an incoming electronic mail including the event information. 13. The event information includes failure information of an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus, and the electronic mail dividing unit of the management device divides the control program based on the failure information of the image forming unit. The image forming system according to claim 12, wherein the image is transmitted. 14. The event information includes failure information of a document scanning unit of the image forming apparatus, and the electronic mail dividing unit of the management device divides the control program based on the failure information of the document scanning unit. 14. The image forming system according to claim 12, wherein the image is transmitted after being transmitted. 15. The network includes a user network to which the image forming apparatus is connected, a service network to which the management apparatus is connected, and the Internet via the user network and the service network. 15. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the image forming system is connected to the user network or the service network. 16. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein ID information of the image forming apparatus or the management apparatus is added to at least one of a body and an attached file of the electronic mail. The image forming system according to claim 1. 17. The network according to claim 17, wherein the network includes: a user network to which the image forming apparatus is connected to a sub-host; and a general network to connect the user network to the management apparatus. Includes a mail server for each sub-host that sends and receives e-mail transmitted from one of the managed device or the sub-host to the other, the sub-host accesses the management device via the general network, An electronic mail including the control program is obtained, and the managed device obtains a control program from the sub-host via the user network. The image forming system as described in the above. 18. The network according to claim 18, wherein the network includes: a user network to which the image forming apparatus and a sub-host are connected; and a general network to connect the user network to the management apparatus. Includes a mail server for each sub-host that sends and receives e-mail transmitted from one of the managed device or the sub-host to the other, the sub-host accesses the management device via the general network, 18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: acquiring an e-mail including the control program; and acquiring the e-mail including the control program from the subhost via the user network.
The image forming system according to claim 1. 19. The network includes a service network to which the management device is connected, and the Internet. The service network is connected to a mail server that sends and receives e-mail, and a plurality of the management devices. The mail server selects a management device to be transmitted based on the ID information of the image forming apparatus added to the electronic mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus, and transmits the electronic mail via the service network. The image forming system according to any one of claims 4 to 18, wherein is transmitted to the selected management device. 20. An image forming apparatus, a management apparatus for remotely managing the image forming apparatus, a network for exchanging information between the image forming apparatus and the management apparatus, and the image forming apparatus or management A management device and each mail server on the image forming device side for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail transmitted from the one device to the other device via the network, wherein the image forming device controls the image forming device. A first storage unit for storing a program, a second storage unit for storing first version information of the control program, and various counter information of the image forming apparatus, and the e-mail transmitted from the management device First rewriting means for rewriting the control program in the first storage means to a new control program for the e-mail based on the incoming call; Comparing the first version information of the second storage unit with the second version information of the new control program based on the new control program rewritten by the first rewriting unit; When the first version information is determined to be older than the second version information, the second version information is rewritten by rewriting the counter information of the second storage means and the second version information. An image forming system comprising: 21. The image forming system according to claim 20, wherein the image forming apparatus includes a synthesizing unit that synthesizes the new control program divided on the management apparatus side in advance. 22. An image forming apparatus which is connected to a management apparatus via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management apparatus, and forms an image on a recording material, and transmits information to the management apparatus. Transmitting means for transmitting and receiving an e-mail transmitted from the management device connected to the user network,
If there is information stored in the mail server, accessed at predetermined intervals, if there is information stored in the mail server, an obtaining means for obtaining the information; and reply information from the management device in accordance with the information transmitted by the transmitting means, An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the acquisition unit when an email is sent in a divided state; and an email combining unit that combines the divided emails. 23. An image forming apparatus that is connected to a management apparatus via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management apparatus, and forms an image on a recording material, and transmits information to the management apparatus. Transmitting means for transmitting and receiving an e-mail transmitted from the management device connected to the user network,
An access unit that accesses at predetermined intervals and obtains the information stored in the mail server if there is information stored therein; and a control unit that controls the obtainment unit when the transmission unit transmits the information. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an e-mail dividing unit that divides the e-mail when the transmitting unit transmits the information. 24. An image forming apparatus which is connected to a management apparatus via the Internet and a user network, is managed by the management apparatus, and forms an image on a recording material. An information file transmitted to the management apparatus. File creation means for creating a file, a file created by the file creation unit, a binary file encoded, a transmission means for sending information to the management device as an attached file of an e-mail, the text of the e-mail And an e-mail dividing unit for dividing one or both of the attached files. 25. A management device that is connected to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material via the Internet and a service network and manages the image forming apparatus, and transmits information to the image forming apparatus. A transmitting unit, and accessing a mail server connected to the service network for transmitting and receiving the electronic mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus at predetermined intervals, and if there is information stored in the mail server, Acquiring means for acquiring the information, and controlling the acquiring means when reply information from the image forming apparatus is sent in a state of being divided by e-mail in accordance with the information transmitted by the transmitting means. And a means for synthesizing the divided e-mails. 26. A management device connected to the image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material via the Internet and a service network to manage the image forming apparatus, and transmits information to the image forming apparatus. A transmitting unit, and accessing a mail server connected to the service network for transmitting and receiving the electronic mail transmitted from the image forming apparatus at predetermined intervals, and if there is information stored in the mail server, Acquiring means for acquiring, when the transmitting means divides and transmits the e-mail,
A management device comprising: a control unit that controls the acquisition unit; and an electronic mail division unit that divides the transmitted electronic mail. 27. A remote management method for rewriting a control program of an image forming apparatus by transmitting an e-mail from one of the management apparatus or the image forming apparatus to the other to manage the image forming apparatus via a network. Based on a program rewrite request from the image forming apparatus,
A remote management method, comprising a dividing step in which the management device divides and transmits the e-mail provided with a new control program for newly rewriting the control program. 28. A combining step in which the image forming apparatus combines the divided e-mails based on reception of the divided e-mails, and the control based on the new control program for the combined e-mails. 28. The remote management method according to claim 27, comprising: rewriting a program. 29. The dividing step includes: calculating a division number based on a data amount of the new control program; generating each division file based on the division number; 28. The remote management method according to claim 27, further comprising: providing. 30. The synthesizing step, wherein each e-mail including each divided file is based on a title,
29. The remote management method according to claim 28, further comprising: a step of extracting the number of divisions; a step of collecting each e-mail corresponding to the number of divisions; and a step of combining each e-mail in the order of division number. . 31. A remote management method for rewriting a control program of an image forming apparatus by transmitting an electronic mail from one of the image forming apparatus to a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus via a network or the other of the image forming apparatus. A dividing step in which the image forming apparatus divides and transmits the e-mail including the state information of the image forming apparatus in response to the inquiry based on inquiry information from the management apparatus for inquiring about the state of the image forming apparatus. A remote management method comprising: 32. A combining step in which the management device combines the divided e-mails based on the reception of the divided e-mails. The control program executes the control program based on the state information of the combined e-mails. 32. The remote management method according to claim 31, further comprising: determining whether or not to rewrite. 33. The dividing step includes: calculating a division number based on a data amount of the new control program; generating each division file based on the division number; 32. The remote management method according to claim 31, comprising: providing. 34. The synthesizing step, wherein each e-mail including each divided file is based on a title,
33. The remote management method according to claim 32, comprising: extracting the number of divisions; collecting each e-mail corresponding to the number of divisions; and combining each e-mail in the order of division number. . 35. A management device for managing an image forming apparatus via a network or a program for transmitting an electronic mail from one of the image forming apparatuses to the other, thereby rewriting a control program for the image forming apparatus and performing remote management. An information recording medium on which, based on a program rewrite request from the image forming apparatus,
An information recording medium comprising information for performing a process in which the management device divides and transmits the e-mail provided with a new control program for newly rewriting the control program. 36. Based on reception of the divided e-mail, information for performing a process of combining the divided e-mails by the image forming apparatus, and based on the new control program of the combined e-mails. 36. The information recording medium according to claim 35, comprising: information for performing a process of rewriting the control program. 37. Information for performing processing for calculating the number of divisions based on the data amount of the new control program; information for performing processing for generating each divided file based on the number of divisions; 36. The information recording medium according to claim 35, comprising: information for performing a process of adding 38. Information for performing processing for extracting the number of divisions based on the title of each e-mail including each divided file, information for performing processing for collecting each e-mail corresponding to the number of divisions, 37. The information recording medium according to claim 36, further comprising: information for performing a process of synthesizing in order of division numbers. 39. A management device for managing an image forming apparatus via a network or a program for transmitting an electronic mail from one of the image forming apparatuses to the other, thereby rewriting a control program for the image forming apparatus and performing remote management. An information recording medium on which the electronic mail including status information of the image forming apparatus in response to the inquiry is sent to the image forming apparatus based on inquiry information from the management apparatus for inquiring about the status of the image forming apparatus. An information recording medium comprising information for performing a process of dividing and transmitting by an apparatus. 40. The control device according to claim 26, wherein the control unit performs information processing for combining the divided e-mails by the management device based on reception of the divided e-mails, and the status information of the combined e-mails. 40. The information recording medium according to claim 39, comprising: information for performing a process of determining whether to rewrite a program.