JP2003162399A - Remote monitoring system for electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable service persons or the like to perform efficient measures against failure by collecting information on operating state and failure occurrence or the like at a low cost so as to grasp the change of the state of a whole electronic device and the occurrence of failure. <P>SOLUTION: State information acquired by image forming devices 120, 130 connected to a LAN 150 is edited by a monitoring device 140, and is transmitted to a server 240 at a remote monitoring center 200 via an internet 300. If the state information includes the notice which needs to be responded such as trouble or the like, it is displayed at a client 210 and a person in charge deals with it. If the sufficient counter measures cannot be expected, it is displayed at a client 410 by requesting to a service center 400 by an operation of the person in charge with displaying the related state information, and the person in charge at the service center 400 takes measures such as dispatch of service person. The clients 210, 410 can make a request of communication to a telephone terminal 160 at a customer 100 by the operation of the person in charge in accordance with the operation for the displayed state information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote monitoring system for electronic devices that efficiently monitors the status of electronic devices such as image forming devices having a self-diagnosis function from a remote location.
In particular, the present invention relates to a remote monitoring system for electronic devices that monitors the electronic devices by utilizing communication via a communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many electronic devices, including home electric appliances, which are connected to a network and can exchange information with the outside have appeared. Among them, in particular, a network is increasingly used to construct an environment for using OA equipment. For example, it is widely practiced to connect an image forming apparatus such as a printer to a network and share it with a plurality of workstations that are also connected to the network. Further, in a complex image forming apparatus having many functions such as document scanning, printing, and facsimile transmission, in addition to the operation from the workstation connected to the network as described above, it is the same as the stand-alone apparatus. Also used by direct manipulation.

As a system for maintaining and monitoring such an image forming apparatus, conventionally, a management apparatus installed in an online service center or the like and the image forming apparatus are connected by using a public line for monitoring. There is known a remote monitoring system for performing. This remote monitoring system is realized by an image forming apparatus, an interface apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus, and a management apparatus connected to the interface apparatus via a public line. A modem, for example, is used as the interface device. According to such a remote monitoring system,
A plurality of image forming apparatuses installed at remote locations can be centrally managed by a host machine installed at one location, and can be used for counting the usage status of each image forming apparatus or failure of the image forming apparatus. The occurrence can be monitored.

[0004]

However, in such a remote monitoring system, since the modem and the public line are used, there is a problem that the cost of using the public line for monitoring is incurred. As the number of devices to be monitored increases, the burden on the device increases. Moreover, in such a remote monitoring system,
Connect the image forming device to the local area network,
In an environment where a plurality of workstations connected to the local area network share the same, there is also a problem that the state of the image forming apparatus cannot be efficiently monitored.

By the way, as a conventional maintenance work for electronic devices such as image forming apparatuses, a predetermined time period according to a service manual (every time the count value of the image forming number counter increases by a certain number or every two months). 1
Once every three months, etc.), service personnel visit the installation location of the device for regular maintenance,
When a failure occurs, a service person is dispatched to the customer to carry out recovery work. In such maintenance work, the dispatched service person has no particular means for grasping the status of the components of the apparatus and the status of the apparatus as a whole, the fluctuation of the usage status, the occurrence status of failure, etc.
There is a problem that efficiency is poor because the maintenance of the equipment must be performed by observing the failure status of the equipment and relying on the empirical judgment unique to the service person.

The present invention solves such a problem, and enables a monitoring system for monitoring electronic devices such as image forming devices connected to a network to collect information such as its operating state and trouble occurrence at low cost. The purpose is to do. Another object is to enable a service person or the like to efficiently deal with a failure by making it possible to grasp the change in the state of the electronic apparatus as a whole and the occurrence status of the failure.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a remote monitoring system for an electronic device according to the present invention includes an electronic device, a monitoring device for monitoring the operating state of the electronic device, and
An electronic device including a remote monitoring center device that collects and manages monitoring information from the monitoring device, and a service base device that supports the provision of services such as dispatch of service personnel based on the information managed by the remote monitoring center device In the remote monitoring system, the electronic device is connected to the monitoring device via a network, and a status detection unit for acquiring status information such as an operating status and abnormality occurrence information of the electronic device, and the status information A status notification means for transmitting to the monitoring device via the network, wherein the monitoring device receives the status information transmitted from the electronic device, and a monitoring means for monitoring the content of the status information.
The remote monitoring center device has an editing means for editing the contents of the status information and a status information transmitting means for sending the status information edited by the editing means to the remote monitoring center device through a communication network. , Remote monitoring server means and remote monitoring client means, wherein the remote monitoring server means receives status information transmitted from the monitoring device via the communication network, and responds to requests from other devices. The remote monitoring client means displays the status information received by the remote monitoring server means, and the remote monitoring client means designates the status information displayed by the display means. And a communication request means for making a communication request to the communication destination via the communication network. And service base client means, the service base server means has communication means for exchanging information with the remote monitoring server means of the remote monitoring device, and the service base client means is the service base server means. A display unit for displaying the received status information; and a communication request unit for making a communication request to a designated communication destination via the communication network in accordance with an operation for the status information displayed by the display unit. The remote monitoring center device, when the status information received from the monitoring device includes information indicating an abnormality of the electronic device, means for displaying the fact on the display means of the remote monitoring client means as notification information; When the notification information is displayed by the means, the remote monitoring client means can be operated in accordance with the instruction from the remote monitoring client means. A monitoring client means for displaying the status information received from the monitoring device; and a means for displaying the notification information on the service base client means in accordance with an instruction from the remote monitoring client means. .

In such a remote monitoring system for an electronic device, voice communication for performing voice communication with the remote monitoring client means and the service base client means, respectively, with the communication destination requested by its own communication requesting means. Means, a microphone for inputting the voice to be transmitted by the voice communication means, and a speaker for outputting the voice received by the voice communication means may be provided. Further, the remote monitoring server means and the service base server means may be World Wide Web (WWW) servers. Furthermore, the communication network may be the Internet. Further, transmission control is performed for communication between the electronic device and the monitoring device, communication between the monitoring device and the remote monitoring center device, and communication between the remote monitoring center device and the service base device. The protocol / Internet protocol (TCP / IP) is preferably used.

The transfer of the above-mentioned state information may be carried out by a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or a file transfer protocol (FTP). Further, the remote monitoring center device may be provided with a storage means for storing the status information, and the storage means may be means for storing the status information as information described in a hypertext description language (HTML) format. Furthermore, in the remote monitoring center device or / and the service base device,
It is preferable to provide a search means for searching the state information stored in the storage means.

Further, the remote monitoring center device and / or the service base device provided with the search means is provided with means for transmitting the result of the search by the means to a terminal device registered in advance, and the terminal device is It is preferable to have at least communication means and display means for displaying information received by the communication means. Here, the terminal device may be a portable terminal device such as a notebook personal computer, a mobile phone, or a PHS.
(Personal Handyphone System) and communication means. The display means of the remote monitoring client means and the service base client means display the contents of the status information stored in the storage means on a display screen created according to a file described in HTML format. It is good to have.

The electronic device may be an image forming device such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile device or the like. In such a remote monitoring system for an electronic device, the status detection means detects at least means for detecting an abnormality by a self-diagnosis function, means for detecting a status requiring advance warning, and operation of a remote notification key. Means and means for detecting the usage status of the paper may be provided. The monitoring device may be configured by a general-purpose computer. The remote monitoring server means, the remote monitoring client means, the service base server means, and the service base client means may all be configured by a general-purpose computer.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [System Configuration Example: FIG. 1] First, a configuration of a remote monitoring system for an image forming apparatus, which is an embodiment of a remote monitoring system for an electronic apparatus according to the present invention, will be described. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of the remote monitoring system. This remote monitoring system is based on the customer 100 shown in FIG.
In a and 100b, it is a system for monitoring the image forming apparatuses 120 and 130, which are electronic apparatuses installed and connected to a local area network (LAN) 150, respectively. Customer 100a and customer 1 of FIG.
For 00b, equivalent devices are given the same reference numerals. Further, in the following description, the configurations indicated by reference numerals with subscripts such as a and b will be described by using reference numerals without subscripts as their generic names.

At the customers 100a and 100b, the workstations 110a and 110b and the image forming apparatus 1 are installed.
20, 130 and the monitoring device 140 are connected to the LAN 150. The workstation 110 is a general-purpose personal computer (PC) in which various applications are installed.
A command can be issued to 30 to form an image of a document (including tables, images, etc.) that was created or received from another device. The image forming apparatus 120 includes an image reading unit by a scanner, an electrophotographic image forming unit, and a facsimile communication unit by a public line (not shown), and these are combined to function as a copying machine, a printer, a scanner,
It is a digital multi-function peripheral that can fulfill the functions of a facsimile machine and the like.

Further, it is equipped with various sensors and the like for detecting its own operating state and the occurrence of abnormalities, etc., and obtains status information which is information on its own operating state and abnormalities etc. based on the detection results of these sensors and the like. . These sensors are status detection means, at least means for detecting an abnormality by the self-diagnosis function, means for detecting a status requiring a prior warning, means for detecting an operation by the remote notification key, and paper usage status. And means for detecting. Here, the remote notification key is a key for the user to directly make a notification to a remote monitoring center, and is provided on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus 120. Further, the image forming apparatus 120 sends the acquired status information to the monitoring apparatus 140 via the LAN 150.
You can also send it to. This operation can be performed by causing the control unit of the device to function as a status notification unit.

The image forming apparatus 130 is a printer that forms an image in accordance with image data input via the LAN 150, and, like the image forming apparatus 120, has a state detecting unit and a state notifying unit. The monitoring device 140 is
It is a general-purpose PC in which various applications are installed, and has communication means for exchanging information with other devices via the Internet 300, which is a communication network, by FTP and HTTP. In addition, the image forming apparatus 12
It is possible to receive the status information transmitted from 0, 130 via the LAN 150, edit the content, and transmit it to the server 240 of the external monitoring center 200 by the communication means. These processes can be performed by the CPU executing the installed application program. In addition to each of these devices, a telephone terminal 160 connected to the public network 600 is installed at the customer site 100, and communication with the outside by telephone is possible.

Based on the status information sent from the monitoring device 140 of the customer 100, the image forming device 120,
The remote monitoring center 200 monitors 130.
The remote monitoring center 200 has clients 210a, 210b, 2 connected to each other via a LAN 250.
10c and a server 240 are installed, and all of these devices form a remote monitoring center device. Server 24
Reference numeral 0 is a remote monitoring server means, which is the Internet 30.
0 is a device that has a function as a WWW server and can create a screen described in hypertext to provide information to another device.
Can be configured by installing the appropriate application on. Then, the status information sent from the monitoring device 140 is received and stored in the status information database 260 by the storage means such as a hard disk.
Further, when there is a request from another device such as the client 210 or the server 440 of the service base 400, the state information is read from the state information database 260 and transmitted in response to the request.

The client 210 is a terminal operated by an operator who responds to a notification of an abnormality or the like at the remote monitoring center. The client 210 is a remote monitoring client unit in which various applications are installed on a general-purpose PC, and includes a display unit for displaying the status information received by the server 240. Here, the CPU and the display function as the display means. Further, it comprises a communication requesting means for making a communication request to a designated communication destination, and further, a voice communication means for communicating with the communication destination by voice, and a microphone and a speaker as an input / output means for the voice. Is also equipped. The microphone and the speaker are not limited to the built-in ones, and may be external ones. The communication requesting means and the voice communication means are realized by an application that causes the CPU to function as these means.

The above communication request means is the Internet 3
It is a means for causing the IP telephone gateway 700 to request the communication to the telephone number of the telephone terminal 160 of the customer destination 100 designated as the communication destination via 00. Upon receiving the request from the client 210, the IP telephone gateway 700 makes a call to the telephone terminal 160 via the public network 600, establishes communication with the client 210 that has made the communication request, and uses voice. Allows two-way real-time communication.

It is the service base 400 that actually receives the instruction from the remote monitoring center 200 and performs maintenance / recovery work such as dispatch of a service person. This service base 4
00, clients 410a and 410b and a server 440 connected to each other by a LAN 450 are installed, and all of these devices constitute a service base device. The server 440 is a service base server means, and is a general-purpose PC similar to the server 240 connected to the Internet 300 and having a function as a WWW server. Information can be exchanged with the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 via the Internet 300.

The client 410 is a terminal operated by an operator who responds to a notification of abnormality or dispatch of a service person at a service base. This client 41
Reference numeral 0 denotes a service base client unit in which various applications are installed on a general-purpose PC, and includes a display unit for displaying the status information received by the server 440. Here, the CPU and the display function as the display means. Further, similarly to the client 210 of the remote monitoring center 200, a communication request means, a voice communication means,
Equipped with a microphone and speaker. This remote monitoring system is provided with these image forming apparatuses 120 and 130 and the monitoring apparatus 1.
40, remote monitoring center device, service base device. Of these, the monitoring device 140, the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200, and the service base 4
The server 440 of No. 00 is connected via the Internet 300 and can communicate by TCP / IP which is a standard communication protocol of the Internet.

In this remote monitoring system, the status information acquired by the image forming apparatuses 120 and 130 is edited into an HTML format file before being transmitted via the Internet 300 as will be described later, and transferred after editing. Is performed by a protocol such as HTTP or FTP that handles multimedia information in which text data and graphic data are mixed. In addition to this, as shown in FIG.
Terminal devices 500a, 5 capable of performing P communication
00b, 500c, 500d may be prepared so that the clients 410a, 410b can transmit information such as status information to these terminal devices. Then, the terminal device 500 is carried by a service person or the like. Further, this terminal device 500 has at least a communication means and a display means such as a display for displaying the information received by the communication means, and is portable by connecting a communication means such as a mobile phone or a PHS to a notebook PC, for example. Can be configured as a possible terminal.

[Operation Example: FIGS. 2 to 5] Next, an operation example of the remote monitoring system will be described. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a data flow in the remote monitoring system, FIG. 3 is another explanatory diagram for explaining a data flow in the remote monitoring system, and FIG. 4 is a data diagram in the remote monitoring system. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the display, and FIG. 5 is a diagram similarly showing a display example of data.
In the remote monitoring system for the image forming apparatus described above, the image forming apparatus 12 to be monitored installed at the customer 100.
0 and 130 are self-diagnosis abnormality information by the state detection means,
When the status information such as the advance warning information, the pressing of the remote notification key, and the information about the used paper size and the number of used sheets is acquired, this status information is transmitted to the monitoring device 140 via the LAN 150, as indicated by an arrow in FIG.

The monitoring device 140 receives this status information and judges whether the received status information is the self-diagnosis abnormality information or the pressing of the remote notification key. Then, if the status information is the self-diagnosis abnormality information or the pressing of the remote notification key, the received status information (including the details of the abnormality) and the status information of the latest operating status are edited into an HTML file.
After that, the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 is requested to connect via the Internet 300. This connection request is issued by the URL (Uniform Resource L) of the server 240.
ocator), and when the connection is established, the state information edited in the HTML format file is transmitted to the server 240 as indicated by the arrow in FIG.

When the state information is the advance warning information, the time at which the warning should be issued is stored, and when the time comes, the state information is transmitted in the same manner as above. If the status information is simply information on the operating status that does not require notification to the remote monitoring center 200, the status information is stored in an external storage device such as a hard disk (not shown) for each type of status information and the next status information is received. Waiting for the image forming apparatus 1
Continue to monitor 20,130. The state information may be stored for each monitoring target. Then, the stored status information is periodically edited into a file in HTML format and transmitted to the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 as the operation information of the image forming apparatuses 120 and 130 as in the case described above.

The server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 is
When the status information is received from the monitoring device 140, the status information database 260 stores and stores the status information as indicated by an arrow. The state information is stored as an HTML file, that is, information created in a language that handles multimedia information provided using WWW. On the other hand, the server 240 determines whether the received status information is a notification of an abnormality or a notification by a remote notification key, and if it is either, as indicated by an arrow,
The client 210 is notified that the notification has been received.

The client 210 includes Internet telephone (IP telephone) software for performing voice communication (telephone communication) via the Internet 300, and the server 2.
Browsing software (software having a WWW browser function, hereinafter referred to as “browser”) for browsing homepage data (HTML file) on 40 is resident, and when the server 240 receives the above notification, it indicates that. WWW
Notify the operator by displaying the page pop-up screen. This screen is, for example, the main screen shown in FIG. 4, and is used to display a message indicating that there has been a notification, and some information for displaying related information such as the details of the notification and the recent operation status of the device that sent the notification. The button is displayed. Here, when the operator clicks a button for displaying the details of the failure by operating the mouse or the like, the client 210 accesses the status information database 260 as indicated by the arrow to acquire detailed information of the failure, and the result is displayed. The failure information screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 5, for example. Note that this access is actually performed via the server 240.

In addition to this, as shown in FIG. 4, a customer information screen, a call detail screen, a call history screen, etc. can be displayed in the same manner by clicking another button. Which screen is displayed? Buttons for doing so may be provided, or the display contents of these screens may be appropriately determined as necessary. For example, when the self-diagnosis abnormality notification is received, the content as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the failure information screen. Table 1 shows the content of each item of this display.

[0028]

[Table 1]

The operator confirms the content of the notification and the related information on the screen for notifying the details of the notification as described above, and judges whether or not it is necessary to make a telephone contact with the customer 100 for contacting the first aid. To do. Here, on the screen for notifying the details of the notification, information about the communication destination such as the telephone number of the customer 100 and a button or link for making a communication request to the communication destination are displayed. For example, in FIG.
It is the contact person's name shown in. Then, when the operator determines that it is necessary to make a telephone contact with the customer 100 and clicks the button or link, the client 210 activates the resident IP telephone software to activate the telephone function. . Then, the server 240 is queried for the IP address of the IP telephone gateway 700 to be connected, using the clicked communication destination (here, the telephone number) as a parameter.

The server 240 responds to the inquiry from the client 210 by an appropriate IP telephone gateway 70.
0 (for example, an IP telephone gateway in the same area as the telephone number of the customer 100) is selected and the IP address is returned. The client 210 that receives the reply sends the reply to the customer 10
The calling packet is transmitted with the telephone number of 0 as a parameter. Upon receiving the call packet, IP telephone gateway 700 makes a call to public network 600 using the telephone number described in the call packet. Then, the telephone terminal 160 of the customer destination 100 connected to the public network 600 rings. When the other party answers the call, IP telephone gateway 700 sends a connection packet to client 210.

As a result, as shown by the arrow, the client 210-IP telephone gateway 700-telephone terminal 1
A two-way real-time voice communication is established between the 60 and the operator of the client 210, and the HTML of the browser
Public network 600 while browsing the status information in file format
It is possible to interact with the person in charge of the customer site 100 who has appeared on the telephone terminal 160 connected to the. On the client 210 side, a microphone and a speaker connected to the client 210 are used for this dialogue. If the fault or the like that caused the notification is resolved in this dialog, the communication with the telephone terminal 160 is disconnected, and then the processing for the notification is ended. In this case, it is advisable to add information to that effect to the status information received as a notification after the operator's end instruction, and accumulate it in the status information database 260 as a notification history.

Even when the trouble or the like is not resolved by the dialogue, or when the operator of the client 210 determines that the dialogue is not necessary, the person in charge at the service base can be requested to take a countermeasure. Here, on the screen that informs the details of the notification, the service base 4 in charge of the customer 100 is displayed.
A button or a link (for example, SO in FIG. 5) for requesting the service base 400 to respond to the notification is displayed together with the name 00. Then, when the operator of the client 210 clicks the button or the link, a request contact request is generated. Then, when the client 410 of the service base 400 receives this request contact request, detailed information of the notification is transmitted to the client 410.

Client 410 of service base 400
Similarly to the client 210, the IP telephone software and the browser of the HTML file are made resident, and when the request contact request is received via the server 240 and the server 440 of the service base 400 as indicated by the arrow, the client 410 of the service base The operator of the client 410 is notified by the popup screen of the WWW page. The screen in this case is the client 2 as shown in FIG.
The same as in the case of 10. The client 410, which has received the request contact request, uses a browser to access the WWW page of the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 as shown by an arrow A in FIG. When the authentication is completed, the client 410 extracts the model and model number of the image forming apparatus of the notification source from the detailed information of the notification received by the client 410, and requests the server 240 to search for information regarding the apparatus. In response to this request, the server 240 accesses the state information database 260 as indicated by arrow B, searches using the model and machine number as keys, and finds the hit data.
The file is edited into an HTML file that can be browsed by a browser and is sent to the client 410 as indicated by arrow A.

The client 410 displays the contents of this file by the browser, and the operator judges the status of the device as the report source from the displayed data. When it is determined that it is necessary to communicate with the customer 100, who is the source of the report, by telephone, and how to provide first aid measures, the same as in the case of the client 210, the screen for notifying the details of the report is displayed. Click the button or link to request the customer to communicate. When this click is made, the client 410-
Bidirectional real-time voice communication (arrow C) can be established between the IP telephone gateway 700 and the telephone terminal 160. However, the inquiry about the IP address is made to the server 440.

By such processing, the client 41
The operator of 0 can interact with the person in charge of the customer's 100 who has appeared on the telephone terminal 160 connected to the public network 600 while browsing the HTML file format status information on the browser. If the fault or the like that caused the notification is resolved in this dialog, the communication with the telephone terminal 160 is disconnected, and then the processing for the notification is ended. In this case, after the operator gives a termination instruction, it is preferable to add information to that effect to the received status information, transmit it to the server 240 as a notification history, and store it in the status information database 260.

When the operator of the client 410 determines that a service person needs to be dispatched to the customer 100, the customer is requested to click a button displayed on the page viewed by the browser or activate a dedicated software. The information of the service person who is visiting near the destination 100 is searched. This search is based on PHS location information, GPS
It can be performed by using position information by (Global Positioning System) or registered schedule information. This search process may be performed by the server 440. If there is a serviceman hit in the search, the server 44
An HTML including information of the service person registered in 0 and a button or link for instructing a communication request to the communication apparatus such as a mobile phone of the service person.
A file of the format is created and displayed by the browser as a page. Here, as for the information of the service person, only the service person who is the closest may be displayed, or some candidates may be displayed.

When the operator of the client 410 clicks a button or link corresponding to a service person who wishes to make a call, the client 410-IP telephone gateway 700-service person is processed by the same processing as in the case of the telephone terminal 160 described above. It is possible to establish bidirectional real-time voice communication (arrow D) between the mobile phones and the like. By such processing, the client 41
The operator of 0 can interact with the service person who has answered the mobile phone connected to the public network 600 while browsing the status information in the HTML file format with the browser. Then, the service person can be informed of information such as the customer name, model number, installation location, reason for the report, etc., in which an abnormality has occurred, by dialog, and the dispatch can be arranged. If the service person is unable to deal with the report due to some reason, contact another service person in the same manner. When the dispatch arrangement for the service person is completed, the processing for responding to the notification on the spot at the service base is completed. In this case, after the operator gives an end instruction and after the serviceman finishes the handling, the operator adds the information of the result and transmits it as a notification history to the server 240, and the status information database 2
It is better to store the data in 60.

When the service person needs detailed information on the image forming apparatus that is the source of the notification, the terminal device 500 possessed by the arrow E accesses the server 240 of the remote monitoring center 200 for authentication. By receiving the information, the state information database 260 can be searched by the server 240, the hit information can be converted into an HTML file and transmitted, and can be displayed and browsed by a browser included in the terminal device 500. As a result, the service person can accurately grasp the status of the image forming apparatus that is the source of the notification based on the information obtained through the dialogue with the operator of the client 410 and the information obtained from the server 240, and the appropriate countermeasure for the failure can be obtained. You can take action.

According to such a remote monitoring system for the image forming apparatus, the remote monitoring center 200 centrally manages the status information acquired by the image forming apparatuses 120 and 130 of the customer 100, who is the monitoring target, and also has a failure. Remote monitoring center 2 when it is necessary to take action such as occurrence of an alarm or notification from the user
Since it is possible to immediately notify the operator of the client 00 of No. 00, it is possible to take prompt action. Further, even if the remote monitoring center 200 cannot handle the problem, it is possible to immediately notify the operator of the service base 400 of the request and at the same time notify the content of the notification and the operating state of the device, so that the service base 400 can dispatch a service person. In the case of supporting the recovery, it is possible to grasp the change of the state of the target device and the occurrence state of the failure, and it is possible to efficiently deal with the situation.

Further, the client 210 of the remote monitoring center 200 or the client 410 of the service base 400 and the telephone terminal 160 of the customer 100 can communicate with each other by operating the notification content display screen. It enables quick communication with the person in charge, and can respond promptly and appropriately. Furthermore, by transmitting and receiving such information using a communication network, it is possible to reduce the equipment cost and operation cost of the entire system when monitoring many devices. In addition, as described in this embodiment, WWW, Internet, T
If you use existing technologies such as CP / IP, HTTP, FTP, HTML, etc. to send and receive and display data,
By utilizing the existing infrastructure, it is possible to reduce system equipment and design costs and shorten the construction process. Clients 210, 410, servers 240, 4
The same effect can be obtained by using a general-purpose PC as the monitoring device 40 and the monitoring device 140.

Further, if a means for searching the state information database 260 for accumulating state information is provided, the operating state of the image forming apparatus in which an abnormality has occurred and the situation at the time of occurrence of a failure can be grasped quickly and accurately. Based on this, it is possible to detect the sign of failure occurrence and to carry out appropriate preventive maintenance inspections, and to allow service personnel to visit efficiently to reduce maintenance costs. Also, if the searched information can be sent to a service engineer's terminal and displayed, it is possible to obtain qualified information when repairing or performing maintenance, etc. Can perform specific tasks. A means for detecting an abnormality in the image forming apparatus to be monitored by a self-diagnosis function, a means for detecting a state requiring a prior warning, a means for detecting an operation by a remote notification key, and a means for detecting the usage status of paper. By providing the device, it is possible to quickly and appropriately grasp the operating state of the device and the situation at the time of occurrence of a lifetime, and it is also possible to detect a symptom of a failure and perform an appropriate preventive maintenance inspection.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, the client 210 of the remote monitoring center 200 and the service base 4 are provided.
The client 410 of 00 is the IP telephone gateway 7
The example has been described in which bidirectional real-time voice communication is performed with the telephone terminal 160 of the customer 100 via 00. By doing so, it is possible to smoothly communicate with each other between the person in charge of monitoring and the person in charge of the customer, and it is possible to improve the efficiency of operation and the productivity. However, this configuration is not essential. For example, an email address may be designated as a communication destination, and a message may be transmitted to the monitoring device 140 of the customer 100 by email. Further, even when performing voice communication, the IP telephone software is made resident in the monitoring device 140 at the customer's side and a microphone and a speaker are provided.
Communication may be performed between the clients 210 and 410 and the monitoring device 140. In this case, there is no need to go through the IP telephone gateway 700 and the public network 600, and the cost for communication can be further reduced. Further, the servers 240 and 440 may be provided with means for responding to a telephone communication request from the monitoring device 140 or the telephone terminal 160 of the customer 100. In this case,
In practice, the response may be forwarded to the clients 210, 410 and made by the operator.

Although the remote monitoring center 200 and the service base 400 are separately provided and the server and the client are provided on both of them, this is not always necessary, and the remote monitoring center 200 and the service base are not necessarily required. 400 and 400 may be provided in the same place and the apparatus may be shared. Also, an example has been explained in which the server and client are each configured with a general-purpose computer. However, a system in which all information processing and application execution is performed by the server and only input and output (by screen display or sound) are performed on the client side It may be configured.
In the above embodiments, the remote monitoring system for the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an image reading apparatus such as a scanner or a home appliance connectable to a network. Of course, it can be similarly applied to the monitoring system of other electronic devices including products and the like.

[0044]

As described above, according to the remote monitoring system for electronic devices of the present invention, the remote monitoring center centrally manages the status information acquired by the customer's device to be monitored. When a countermeasure is required such as occurrence of a failure or notification from the user, the person in charge at the remote monitoring center can be immediately notified, so that a prompt response can be taken. In addition, even if the remote monitoring center is not able to respond, it is possible to immediately contact the person in charge at the service base with the request, and at the same time inform the content of the report and the operating status of the device, so that the service base can dispatch or repair the service person. In the case of providing support, it is possible to grasp the change in the state of the target device and the occurrence state of the failure, and it is possible to efficiently deal with the situation. Also, since it is possible to communicate between the client of the remote monitoring center and the client of the service base and the telephone terminal of the customer, it becomes possible to promptly communicate with the person in charge at the customer, and to respond promptly and appropriately. It can be performed. Furthermore, by transmitting and receiving such information using a communication network, it is possible to reduce the equipment cost and operation cost of the entire system when monitoring many devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a configuration of a remote monitoring system for an image forming apparatus, which is an embodiment of a remote monitoring system for an electronic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a data flow in the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 3 is another explanatory diagram for explaining a data flow in the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining display of data in the remote monitoring system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of data in the same manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

100, 100a, 100b: Customer destination 110a, 110b: workstations 120, 130: image forming apparatus 140: monitoring apparatus 150, 250, 450: LAN 160: Telephone terminal 200: Remote monitoring center 210a, 210b, 210c: Client 240: server 260: status information database 300: Internet 400: Service base 410a, 410b: Client 440: Server 500a, 500b, 500c, 500d: Terminal device 600: Public network 700: IP telephone gateway

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/60 138 G06F 17/60 138 502 502 G08B 25/04 G08B 25/04 D // B41J 29/46 B41J 29/46 ZF Term (Reference) 2C061 AP01 BB10 HV02 HV19 HV35 2H027 DA46 EJ08 EJ09 EJ13 EJ15 EK01 GA19 GA48 GB01 HA01 HA06 HA08 HA11 ZA07 5B021 AA01 AA02 AA05 AA19 BB10 A25 AA01 AA02 A0 A5 AA19 BB10 A25 AA02 A002 EE05 FF01 FF04 FF19 FF20 GG07 GG11 GG18 GG21

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device, a monitoring device for monitoring an operating state of the electronic device, a remote monitoring center device for collecting and managing monitoring information by the monitoring device, and information managed by the remote monitoring center device. A remote monitoring system for an electronic device comprising a service base device supporting the provision of a service such as dispatch of a service person based on the electronic device, the electronic device being connected to the monitoring device by a network, It has a state detection unit that acquires state information such as an operating state and abnormality occurrence information, and a state notification unit that transmits the state information to the monitoring device via the network, and the monitoring device is transmitted from the electronic device. Means for receiving the status information, monitoring means for monitoring the contents of the status information, editing means for editing the contents of the status information, and Status information transmitting means for transmitting the edited status information to the remote monitoring center apparatus via a communication network, the remote monitoring center apparatus comprising remote monitoring server means and remote monitoring client means, The monitoring server means includes means for receiving status information transmitted from the monitoring device via the communication network, and means for transmitting the status information in response to a request from another device. The client means, in accordance with the display means for displaying the status information received by the remote monitoring server means, and the operation for the status information displayed by the display means,
Communication request means for making a communication request to a designated communication destination via the communication network, the service base apparatus includes a service base server means and a service base client means, and the service base server means Has a communication means for exchanging information with the remote monitoring server means of the remote monitoring device, and the service base client means displays the status information received by the service base server means, and the display means. The remote monitoring center device receives the status information received from the monitoring device by the remote monitoring center device according to the operation on the status information displayed by If the information indicating an abnormality of the electronic device is included in the display information of the remote monitoring client means, Means for displaying the status information received from the monitoring device on the remote monitoring client means in accordance with an instruction from the remote monitoring client means when the notification information is displayed by the means, A remote monitoring system for an electronic device, comprising: means for displaying the report information on the service base client means in accordance with an instruction from the client means. 2. The remote monitoring system for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring client means and the service base client means communicate by voice with a communication destination requested to communicate by its own communication requesting means. A remote management system for an electronic device, comprising: a voice communication unit for performing the above; a microphone for inputting a voice transmitted by the voice communication unit; and a speaker for outputting a voice received by the voice communication unit. 3. The remote management system for an image device according to claim 1, wherein the remote monitoring server means and the service base server means are World Wide Web (WWW) servers. 4. The remote management system for electronic devices according to claim 1, wherein the communication network is the Internet. 5. Communication between the electronic device and the monitoring device, communication between the monitoring device and the remote monitoring center device, and communication between the remote monitoring center device and the service base device 5. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the remote management system is performed by a transmission control protocol / Internet protocol (TCP / IP). 6. The remote management of the electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer of the status information is performed by a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or a file transfer protocol (FTP). system. 7. The remote monitoring center device comprises storage means for storing the status information, and the storage means is means for storing the status information as information described in a hypertext description language (HTML) format. 7. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the remote management system is for an electronic device. 8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the remote monitoring center device and / or the service base device has a search unit that searches the state information stored in the storage unit. Remote management system. 9. The remote monitoring center device and / or the service base device provided with the search means has means for transmitting a result of the search by the means to a terminal device registered in advance, and the terminal device is 9. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 8, further comprising at least a communication unit and a display unit for displaying the information received by the communication unit. 10. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 9, wherein the terminal device is a portable terminal device. 11. The terminal device comprises a notebook personal computer, a mobile phone or a PHS (Personal).
11. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 9, wherein the remote management system is configured by a communication means using a Handyphone System). 12. The display means of the remote monitoring client means and the service base client means respectively display the contents of the status information stored in the storage means,
12. The remote management system for electronic devices according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying by a display screen created according to a file described in HTML format. 13. The electronic device is a printer, a copier,
13. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the remote management system is an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine. 14. The status detection means at least means for detecting an abnormality by a self-diagnosis function, means for detecting a status requiring advance warning, means for detecting operation of a remote notification key, and use of paper. 14. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 13, further comprising means for detecting a situation. 15. The remote management system for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device comprises a general-purpose computer. 16. The remote monitoring server unit, the remote monitoring client unit, the service base server unit, and the service base client unit are all configured by a general-purpose computer. The remote management system for electronic devices according to any one of claims.