JP2003030009A - Growing store system with self diagnostic function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inform a user of a system of properness of the system and to hold the system as proper by enabling change of combination software components to constitute a small-scale store system according to business functions, embedding a self diagnostic means in the respective software components themselves, storing and analyzing operation data of itself. SOLUTION: The software component 1 is provided with an application area to store an executing mans of business and a diagnostic region 3 to store the self diagnostic means of an operation state of the executing means, the diagnostic region 3 is provided with a criterion data setting means 33, an operation information storage means 34 to sample and store the operation data of the software component 1, an analyzing means 35 to determine whether or not the operation state is proper based on the operation data and the reference data, an output means 36 to output a decision result in the store, a criterion data storage 41 to register the reference data and an operation information storage 42 to store the operation data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a store system, and more particularly to a small-scale store system including software components having a self-diagnosis function of operating conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-265301, this publication is an invention relating to self-maintenance of a client in a client / server system.
The server has the information necessary to repair / update the software of the client, the client has a self-diagnosis means of whether the software of itself needs to be repaired / updated, the client inquires of the server, When it is within a predetermined condition, the server is requested to repair / update the software and automatically maintained by the server. However, when the store system is small, it is usual that there is no other person, such as a server, who has the information required to repair / update the software and assists the automatic repair / update. Therefore, a small-scale store system is required to have a self-diagnosis of the operating status for each business unit and notify a predetermined department of the operating status to take preventive measures.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-44669 describes that the function of the POS terminal is updated by changing the environment of the POS terminal from the management device. In this publication, since it is premised that the management device manages the POS terminal, it is different from that the POS terminal diagnoses its own function. Therefore, it cannot be applied to a small-scale store system.

[0004]

In the conventional small-scale store system, it has been difficult to appropriately enlarge or reduce the software or hardware configuration in accordance with increase or decrease in sales of the store and to add or delete the configuration. The reason is that the operating condition of the store system is not monitored, and the information for determining the connectivity between software and the timing of system configuration change is not presented. Of course, as described in the above publications, this is not a problem in a system in which the operating status can be monitored by the server or management device of the store system. Since the operation status cannot be monitored in a small-scale store system, data for predicting the occurrence of a trouble is not provided, and it is a problem that preventive measures cannot be taken. For small-scale store systems, the software components that make up the system are
According to the growth of the store (expansion of scale, expansion of function, change of management method), it can be changed and combined, and each software component itself self-diagnoses the operating status, and accumulates and analyzes its own operating data. , It is necessary to inform users of the need to change the system configuration and provide information that enables them to take preventive measures.

An object of the present invention is to provide a software component constituting a store system with built-in means for monitoring its own operating condition and self-diagnosing whether it is in an appropriate operating condition, outputting operating data, To watch.

Still another object is to send operating data to a maintenance department or a management department to prevent the maintenance of the store system and optimize the processing function.

[0007]

Therefore, according to the present invention,
In a store system in which software parts corresponding to business functions are installed, the software parts are provided with self-diagnosis means for diagnosing the operating status of the software parts.

Further, the software component is characterized by comprising an application area for storing a business function executing means, and a diagnostic area for storing a self-diagnosing means for diagnosing an operating condition of the executing means.

Further, the application area includes a POS function which is a business function of the store system, sales management,
It is characterized in that execution means for inventory management, customer management, receipt / shipment management, reservation management, etc. are made into parts, and any one of them is set.

Further, the diagnostic area has a judgment reference data setting means for setting reference data for judging the operation status of the software component, an operation information storage means for collecting and storing operation data of the software component, and the operation data. And analysis means for determining whether or not the operating status of the software component is appropriate based on the reference data,
It is characterized by including an output means for outputting the result of the determination into the store, a determination reference data storage for registering the reference data, and an operation information storage for accumulating the operation data.

Further, in the diagnostic area, a notification destination information setting means for setting a remote notification destination for notifying the operating status,
It is characterized by comprising a transmitting means for remotely notifying the result of the judgment and a notification destination information storage for registering the notification destination.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a software component 1 monitors an application area 2 that stores a business execution means and the operating status of the means, collects and stores operating data, and determines whether the operating status is appropriate. A diagnostic area for storing self-diagnostic means. The execution means and the diagnosis means operate as a self-contained business function for each software component and its diagnosis function.

Referring to FIG. 2 exemplifying the relationship between the store system and the software component group, the software component group accommodating section 71 for accommodating the software component has a POS 72 which is a software component corresponding to the store business, a sales management 73 Inventory management 74, customer management 75, receipt / shipment management 76,
Reservation management 77 is accommodated. Software component 72
The software component 77 is composed of areas 721 to 771 of execution means for store operations and areas 712 to 772 of self-diagnosis means. Each of the store systems 81, 82, and 83 is implemented by distributing software components from the housing unit 71 according to required store operations. The store system 82 includes three POSs 72, which are software components, but three independent POSs 72 are provided.
Corresponds to having an S terminal.

Referring to FIG. 3, the software component diagnostic means 30 according to the first embodiment includes a determination reference data setting means 33 for setting reference data for determining whether or not the operating condition is proper, and a store. Operation information accumulating means 34 for collecting and accumulating operation data by monitoring the operation status of the business execution means
Then, referring to the reference data, an analysis unit 35 for analyzing and determining whether or not the operation data is appropriate, an output unit 36 for outputting the analysis result, and a determination reference data storage unit 41 for storing the reference data. And an operation information storage unit 42 for accumulating the collected operation data.

The judgment reference data setting means 33 includes a threshold value which is a limit value for properly maintaining performance such as frequency of use of software parts, input / output information amount, processing time and the value of its allowable range (for example, use per day). Reference data such as frequency and numerical value (processing time per data) for determining the adequacy of the operating status of the software component is set in the determination reference data storage 41. The reference data to be set is previously determined for each software component.

The operation information storage means 34 collects operation data for grasping the operation status of the software parts and stores it in the operation information storage 42. The items of operation data to be collected and accumulated are decided in advance for each software component.
The criterion data setting means 33 uses the criterion data storage 41.
Of course, the data items set in are included.

The analyzing means 35 stores the judgment reference data storage 31.
The reference data set in (1) and the operation data stored in the operation information storage unit 42 are collated to determine the appropriateness of the operation status of the software component and analyze the operation status at that time. The output unit 36 supplies the determination result and the operation status to an output device (not shown) in the store. In the first embodiment, the software parts as shown in FIG. 2 are made into parts on a business unit basis, so that a self-diagnosis means is added.
In some cases, the self-diagnosis means may not be added to software components such as only computation.

Next, the operation of the diagnostic means 30 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. 4 (a) and 4
The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4A, first, the judgment reference data setting means 33 sets the reference data for analyzing the operating condition of the software component in the judgment reference data storage 41 (FIG. 4).
(A) Step 51). During the operation of the software component, the operation information acquisition means 34 accumulates the operation data of the application execution means in the operation information storage 41 (step 52). The analyzing means 35 stores the criterion data storage 41.
And each item in the operation information storage 42 are compared to determine whether or not they are appropriate (step 53). The output means 34 outputs the result to the output device (step 54). The user reads this information, and if a preventive action is required, acquires the required software component from the software component accommodating portion 71 of FIG. 2 and adds the software component to expand the store system. Further, when the value is below the appropriate standard and the system scale is excessive, measures such as reducing the size of the store system are implemented (step 56).

The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. Diagnostic means 3 of the second embodiment shown in FIG.
1, the transmitting means 37 for notifying the diagnosis means 30 of FIG. 3 to the maintenance center or management center outside the store of the determination result of the operating status through the network, the notification destination information setting means 32 for setting the notification destination, and the notification The notification destination information storage 40 for registering the destination is added.

The notification destination information setting means 32 sets beforehand the mail address of the maintenance center or the management center, which is the destination of the judgment information or the operation information, the computer address, etc. in the notification destination information storage 40 (FIG. 6 (a)). ) Step 50). The transmission unit 43 transmits the determination result and the operation data to the destination set in the notification destination information storage 40 through the network (step 55 in FIG. 6A).
The system is optimized based on this result (Fig. 6).
(B) Step 56).

[0021]

The first effect of the present invention is that the store system can cope with the combination of software parts. The reason is that the business of the store system is made into software parts and the input / output information is standardized, so that the business functions can be added and expanded and the business performance can be improved by combining them.

Further, the second effect is that the operating status of the store system is collected for each business unit, so that the store system can be optimized. The reason is that the self-diagnosis means built in the software component points out the degree of suitability of the operating status, and can be utilized as analysis data of the system operation plan.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing software components in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between software parts and a store system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a diagnostic means of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the diagnostic means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 software parts 2 application areas 3 diagnosis area 30 Diagnostic means 31 Diagnostic means 32 Notification destination information setting means 33 Judgment standard data setting means 34 Operation information storage means 35 Analytical means 36 Output means 37 Transmission means 40 Notification destination information storage 41 Judgment standard data storage 42 Operation information storage

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A growth type store system with a self-diagnosis function, comprising a self-diagnosis means for diagnosing the operating status of the software component in a store system equipped with software parts according to business functions. 2. The software component comprises an application area for storing a business function executing means, and a diagnostic area for storing a self-diagnosing means for diagnosing an operating condition of the executing means. Growth type store system with self-diagnosis function described in 1. 3. The application area is divided into execution means such as a POS function, which is a business function of the store system, sales management, inventory management, customer management, receipt / shipment management, reservation management, and the like. The growth type store system with a self-diagnosis function according to claim 2, wherein one of them is set. 4. The diagnostic area includes a determination reference data setting unit for setting reference data for determining the operating status of the software component, an operating information storage unit for collecting and storing operating data of the software component, and the operating data. Based on the reference data and the reference data, an analysis unit that determines whether the operating status of the software component is appropriate, an output unit that outputs the result of the determination to the store, and a determination that registers the reference data. The growth type store system with a self-diagnosis function according to claim 2, further comprising: reference data storage; and operation information storage for accumulating the operation data. 5. The diagnostic area includes notification destination information setting means for setting a remote notification destination for notifying the operating status, transmission means for remotely notifying the determination result, and notification destination for registering the notification destination. 5. The growth type store system with a self-diagnosis function according to claim 4, further comprising: information storage. 6. The growth type store system with a self-diagnosis function, wherein the remote notification destination is a mail address of a maintenance center or a management center. 7. The self-operating system according to claim 4, wherein the operation data includes a capacity of a memory or an external storage device of the store system, a processing amount per hour, a processing amount per day, a turn-around time, and the like. A growth-type store system with a diagnostic function.