JP2003196516A - Expendable item managing system and expendable item managing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an expendable item managing system with more flexibility recognizing the state regarding expendable items of an apparatus such as an OA apparatus and carrying out an automatic ordering process at need. <P>SOLUTION: The expendable item managing system has a means for receiving a notice of apparatus information including the state of the expendable item from the apparatus having a means of detecting the state of the set expendable item, a means for retrieving a replenishment product on the basis of the apparatus information, a means of retrieving a supplier of the replenishment product, a means for sending an approval request regarding automatic ordering to the retrieved supplier of the replenishment product to a terminal of an apparatus manager, a means for acquiring a response to the approval request from the apparatus manager, and a means for communicating with the supplier and executing ordering of the replenishment product when approval is acquired as the response. <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 consumables management system and apparatus for managing consumables of OA (office automation) equipment such as printers and copiers, and more particularly to management of consumables via a network. , A consumables management system and apparatus for automatic ordering.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, there have been the following techniques for managing consumables of equipment such as office automation equipment. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-284654, when the remaining amount of the consumable item becomes low, the LED is turned on to inform the user. In addition, the technology “network terminal device” disclosed in JP 2000-187698 A and JP 2000
In the "automatic ordering system" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 194767-94, the consumable item is automatically ordered by FAX or e-mail.

The automatic ordering system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-194767 mentioned above indicates the status information of the consumables set in the equipment and the inventory of the consumables (here, it indicates what has been purchased in the equipment use environment. ) From the information,
The amount of consumables to be supplied is calculated, and automatic order processing is performed for consumables that are likely to run out. Furthermore, the amount of consumables to be supplied is calculated using statistical information such as the processing history of the device.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned automatic ordering system, the type of consumables set in the equipment and the setting of the ordering party are fixed, and there are cases where the user's request cannot be met. For example, the quality (general-purpose paper, recycled paper, high-quality paper, etc.) or quantity (number of sheets or number of packs) of printing paper requested by the user may be different depending on the situation, that is, may dynamically change. Also, in stores that handle products (consumables),
The inventory status and prices may be different. Also,
There may be cases where the urgency of purchasing is different.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is a more flexible consumable product that recognizes the state of consumable products of equipment such as office automation equipment and performs automatic order processing as necessary. The purpose is to provide a management system.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 provides device information including a status of a consumable item from a device having a means for detecting a status of a consumable item set. Notification receiving means for receiving notifications, product type searching means for searching supplementary products based on device information, ordering party searching means for searching a supplier of supplementary products, and automatic ordering of the searched supplementary products and ordering parties Administrator's notification means for sending the approval request of the device to the terminal of the device administrator, order approval means for receiving a response to the automatic order approval request from the device administrator, and communication with the supplier when the approval is obtained as a response. An order execution means for executing an order for a replenishment product,
It is characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, further comprising a purchase history management means for recording and managing a history relating to the ordering and purchase processing of consumables, the product type searching means and the ordering destination. The search means is characterized in that the history is used as information in the search processing.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The invention described in (1) is characterized by further comprising a product survey means for surveying the stock and price status of the supplier regarding the supplementary product and reflecting it as information for search processing.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, it further comprises a shop position searching means for searching a shop position of an ordering party.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 4, it further comprises an administrator position searching means for searching the position of the device administrator.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a notification receiving unit that receives a notification of device information including the state of the consumable item from a device having a unit for detecting the state of the set consumable item, and replenishment based on the device information. Product type searching means for searching products, supplier searching means for searching supplier of supplementary products,
An administrator notification means for sending an approval request for the retrieved replenishment products and an automatic order to the supplier to the terminal of the equipment administrator, and an order approval means for obtaining a response to the automatic order approval request from the equipment manager, and a response And an order execution means for communicating with a supplier and executing an order for a supplementary product when the approval is obtained.

The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to claim 6, further comprising a purchase history management means for recording and managing a history relating to ordering and purchase processing of consumables, the product type searching means and the ordering destination. The search means is characterized in that the history is used as information in the search processing.

The invention according to claim 8 is claim 6 or 7
The invention described in (1) is characterized by further comprising a product survey means for surveying the stock and price status of the supplier regarding the supplementary product and reflecting it as information for search processing.

The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that, in the invention according to any one of claims 6 to 8, it further comprises a shop position searching means for searching a shop position of an ordering party.

The invention according to a tenth aspect is the sixth to ninth aspects.
In the invention described in any one of the above items, it is characterized by further comprising a manager position searching means for searching the position of the device manager.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a consumable item management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The consumables management system 100 is configured such that elements including a central system 1, a device 2, an administrator terminal 3, and a computer system 4 of an ordering party (seller) are connected by a predetermined communication means and a network. Take
The central system 1 is responsible for central processing for realizing the present invention. This may be configured as one piece of hardware (device) or a combination of a plurality of components. Further, the central system 1 may be configured to be included in the device 2. Central system 1 and equipment 2
Are connected via an in-house LAN, for example. The central system 1 and the administrator terminal 3 are connected by, for example, a wireless communication system. The central system 1 and the supplier system 4 are connected by a predetermined service on the Internet, for example.

The consumables management system 100 manages a device 2 such as an OA device and manages the consumables 20 used by the device 2. The consumables 20 to be managed include recording paper and toner. The device 2 has a communication function 21. Further, the administrator 30 of the device 2 has a predetermined communication means such as a mobile terminal, and this is the administrator terminal 3.

The device 2 to be managed is an OA device such as a printer or a copying machine. The device 2 is connected to the central system 1 via a network such as a LAN and communicates with the communication function 21. The device 2 has a function 22 of knowing its own model information. Further, a detecting means 23 for detecting the state of the consumable item 20 used (set) by itself, particularly the state of the remaining amount (or life time).
have. Further, the communication function 21 performs a process of notifying the notification receiving unit 12 of the central system 1 as the device information together with the model information about the detected consumable item status. The device 2 managed by the system 100 may be plural. Further, when the system 100 manages a plurality of devices 2 and there are a plurality of device managers 30 corresponding to each device 2, information (a communication address of the device manager terminal 3 and the like) about the plurality of device managers 30 is provided. to manage.

The central system 1 includes equipment 2 and consumables 20.
The device information including the status information of is acquired, and based on the acquired information, it is determined from the remaining amount of consumables whether replenishment is necessary,
For consumables that need to be replenished, search for the type of product to be replenished and its supplier. Then, for the device manager terminal 3,
An approval request for the automatic ordering of the consumable item 20 including the state of the consumable item 20 of the device 2, information on the above-mentioned searched replenishment product type and its ordering party, etc. is transmitted. When "approval" is received from the device manager 30 as a response to the approval request, communication is performed with the computer system 4 of the ordering party (seller) 40 searched for, and the product ordering process is performed.

The device manager 30 has a manager terminal 3 having a communication function 31 for receiving a message requesting approval of an automatic order from the central system 1 and transmitting "approval" / "reject" as a response. This device is, for example, a mobile phone. An example of the approval request message is shown in FIG. The example of the approval request message indicates an approval request for automatic ordering of the consumable item B of the device A. Further, the current remaining amount of the consumable item B is C, D, E, and F are searched as candidates for the supplementary product, and information of the ordering party and the like is presented as G, H, and I, respectively. Further, during the search process, it is shown that the product D is the most important among the supplementary product candidates. The device manager 30
Read such a message and reply approval / rejection.
Further, when the device manager 30 determines that another candidate product is better as the product to be ordered, the device manager 30 selects from the candidates and returns the order approval for the product.

Consumables management system 100 of the first embodiment
The central system 1 in is a control unit 11 and a communication reception unit 1.
2, a product type search unit 13, an order destination search unit 14, a manager notification unit 15, an order approval unit 16, and an order execution unit 17.

The control unit 11 is a control device such as a CPU and controls the entire system by reading a program for realizing the processing of the present invention from the main storage device and sequentially executing it. Each unit other than the control unit 11 is a functional module including a predetermined program and necessary hardware.

The notification accepting unit 12 accepts a notification of device information including the model information (device ID) of the device 2 and the status information of the consumable item 20 from the device 2 to be managed. This can be configured using a known technique (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-
Automatic ordering system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 194767). The notification receiving unit 12 listens to the network and waits for notification of device information from the device 2. When the device information notification is received, a processing request is issued to the product type search unit 13 or the like.

Note that the notification receiving unit 12 is not in the form of receiving the notification from the device 2 and acquiring the device information, but the notification receiving unit 1
The system 100 may be configured so that the device information is acquired from the device 2 to the device 2 to acquire the device information.

The product type searching unit 13 recognizes the state of the consumable item 20 from the model information and the consumable item state information based on the reception of the device information notification in the notification accepting unit 12, and replenishes (orders) from the remaining amount state. Perform the process to determine the necessity. When it is determined that the consumable item 20 that is likely to be out of stock needs to be replenished, a process for searching for a product type that can be a replenishment target is performed. Here, the “product that can be a replenishment target” is a candidate for replenishment (ordering) including a product different from the type of the consumable item 20 set in the device 2 at that time. Product type search section 1
This search procedure in 3 is, for example, the product information 131.
Can be configured as a procedure for retrieving information from a database (such as a database on the Web) in which is described.

The process of determining the necessity of replenishment (ordering) may be performed by a device other than the product type search unit 13. For example, device 2
The side may go. Further, the state of the consumable item 20 is acquired from the device 2, but at the same time, it is conceivable to obtain and consider the inventory information (information on the consumable item of the purchased part (stock)) in the device utilization environment.

The supplier search unit 14 is the product type search unit 13 described above.
In conjunction with the search process of (1), the process of searching for the ordering party (seller) of the product to be supplemented (ordered) is performed. This processing can be configured, for example, as a procedure for searching information from a database in which the correspondence between the product information 131 and the supplier information 141 is described.

The manager notifying section 15 requests the device manager 30 to approve the automatic ordering of the replenishment product for the consumable item 20 which is likely to be out of stock. The approval request message includes the status information of the consumable item 20 of the device 2, the result of the search process in the product type search unit 13 and the ordering party searching unit 14, that is, the information of the candidate of the supplementary product and the ordering party thereof. After the search processing in each of the search units 13 and 14, the administrator notification unit 15 sends an approval request message to the terminal 3 of the device manager 30 to notify it. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire the device manager address information 151 in the communication with the device manager 30. This notification processing in the administrator notification unit 15 is performed by, for example, the administrator terminal 3 using the email technology.
It can be configured as a procedure for sending a notification email to (a mobile phone, etc.).

The order approval section 16 obtains a response (“approve” / “reject”) from the equipment manager 30 to the transmission of the approval request to the equipment manager 30 (administrator terminal 3) by the manager notifying section 15. Perform processing. The order approval unit 16 waits for a response from the device manager 30, and when an affirmative response, that is, an order approval is obtained, requests the order execution unit 17 to perform order processing. When a negative response, that is, an order rejection is obtained, the system 100
Will cancel the ordering process or suspend it. Further, the order approval unit 16 uses a predetermined authentication technique to perform an authentication process on the response from the device manager 30.

The order execution unit 17 executes the order processing based on the acquisition of the order approval from the device manager 30 in the order approval unit 16. This can be configured using a known technique (for example, the automatic ordering system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-194767). For order processing,
The product information 131 about the product to be ordered and the order destination information 141 are acquired and the order is executed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the consumable item management system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. First, the device 2 detects the state of the consumable item 20 of itself by the detection means 23 at a predetermined timing. The model information acquisition unit 22 also acquires its own model information. The device 2 notifies the notification accepting unit 12 of the central system 1 as the device information about the detected consumable state and the model information of itself by the communication unit 21. The notification receiving unit 12 of the central system 1 acquires device information from the device 2 (step S1).

When the notification receiving unit 12 of the central system 1 acquires the device information from the device 2, the product type searching unit 13 determines the necessity of replenishing (ordering) the consumable item 20, and determines whether the consumable item has a small remaining amount. The product information 131 and the like are searched for a supplementary product (step S2). Further, the supplier search unit 14 searches the supplier information 141 and the like for the supplier of the supplemental product (step S3).

The administrator notifying section 15 is the search section 13.1.
4 and the communication address information of the device manager 30 of the device 2 to which the consumable item is to be replenished, and the state information of the consumable item 20 and the search result information described above are automatically acquired for the replenished product An approval request message regarding the order is transmitted to the device manager terminal 3 via the communication means in a predetermined expression format (step S4).

The device manager 30 receives this message at the manager terminal 3. The device manager 30 confirms this message and determines approval / rejection as a response to the approval request for the automatic order. When the device manager 30 approves as a response, the device manager 30 confirms or selects the ordered product and the order destination from the above message, and sends an approval message to the order approval unit 16 of the central system 1. When rejecting the order request, a rejection message is returned.

The order approval unit 16 waits for a response message from the terminal 3 of the device manager 30 (step S5), and when the approval message is received, requests the order execution unit 17 to execute the order processing (step S5). S5 / approval acquisition).
When the rejection response message is received (step S5, rejection acquisition), the central system 1 cancels or temporarily stops the ordering process (step S).
7).

The order execution unit 17 acquires the ordered product information and the order destination information based on the order processing request, communicates with the order destination by a predetermined communication means, and executes the order processing (step S6). .

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a consumable item management system according to the second embodiment. The consumables management system 200 according to the second embodiment has the purchase history management unit 201 in addition to the configuration of the consumables management system 100 according to the first embodiment.
Have. The purchase history management unit 201 records and manages a history of order processing and purchase processing based on this order processing. The product type search unit 12 uses the history information managed by the purchase history management unit 201 to search for supplementary products. For example, it is reflected in the importance assigning process or the narrowing down process of the candidates.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flow of the consumable goods management system 200 in the second embodiment. In addition to the processing procedure of the consumable goods management system 100 in the first embodiment, the history search processing of step S8 and the history recording processing of step S9 are added.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a consumable item management system according to the second embodiment. The consumable goods management system 300 of the third embodiment is the consumable goods management system 10 of the first embodiment.
In addition to the configuration of 0, it further has a product research section 301.
The product research purchase 301 performs a process of investigating the status of product inventory and price of the ordering party (seller) and acquiring it as information. The acquired information is the product information 131 of the product type search unit 13.
To reflect. This information is taken into consideration during the search process to determine candidates for supplementary products.

The product research section 301 can be configured by using a known technology (for example, an agent technology or a Web service technology is used. As the agent technology, there is a service such as “Shopbot”.
"bot" is a purchase support technology that performs processing such as searching a website for a specified product and creating a list of prices, etc.). The product research unit 301 performs a process for supporting a consumable item such as from which dealer or store the replenishment product is to be purchased at what price.

FIG. 7 shows a processing flow of the consumable goods management system 300 in the third embodiment. In addition to the processing procedure of the consumables management system 100 in the first embodiment, the inventory processing and price investigation processing of the ordering party in step S10 is added. It should be noted that this survey processing may be performed at any time, and the system may be configured in such a manner that it is prepared as information in advance.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 shows the configuration of a consumable item management system according to the fourth embodiment. The consumable item management system 400 according to the fourth embodiment is the consumable item management system 10 according to the first embodiment.
In addition to the configuration of 0, a store position search unit 401 is further included. The store position search unit 401 performs a process of searching the geographical position of a store of a trader who provides products (consumables). The geographical position of this store is acquired, for example, as map information.
The position information retrieved by this processing is the supplier information 14
Reflect as 1. By obtaining the store position information as the order destination information, the device manager 30 can use the information to perform the purchase process when the product needs to be urgently purchased.

FIG. 9 shows a processing flow of the consumable goods management system 400 in the fourth embodiment. In addition to the processing procedure of the consumable goods management system 100 in the first embodiment, the store position search processing of step S11 is added.

Next explained is the fifth embodiment of the invention. FIG. 10 shows the configuration of a consumable item management system according to the fifth embodiment. The consumable goods management system 500 of the fifth embodiment is the consumable goods management system 1 of the first embodiment.
In addition to the configuration of 00, an administrator position search unit 501 is further included. The manager position search unit 501 searches the geographical position of the device manager 30. At the same time, a process of acquiring the communication address information of the terminal 3 of the device manager 30 may be performed. As a result, even when the device manager 30 moves, the system 500 can grasp the position and send a message such as an approval request to make contact. As a conventional technique, the search processing of the geographical position is performed by GPS (Global Positio).
ning System) and the like.

FIG. 11 shows a processing flow of the consumable goods management system 400 in the fifth embodiment. In addition to the processing procedure of the consumable goods management system 100 in the first embodiment, the manager position search processing of step S12 is added.

The above-mentioned embodiment shows an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It is possible.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, it is possible to flexibly perform the automatic ordering process of the consumables according to the dynamic change of the user's device utilization status. .

Further, by managing the purchase history, it is possible to assign importance to or narrow down the candidates of supplementary products.

Further, by conducting a product survey such as inventory and price from the Web or the like, the product can be purchased in a timely and inexpensive manner.

Further, by searching the store position and providing it as information, it is possible to deal with the urgency of purchase.

Further, by searching the device manager position, it is possible to deal with the case where the manager is moving.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a consumable item management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an approval request message.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the consumable item management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a consumable item management system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the consumable item management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a consumable item management system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of the consumable item management system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a consumable item management system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation of the consumable item management system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of a consumable item management system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an operation of the consumable item management system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Consumables Management System 1 Core system 2 equipment 3 administrator terminal 4 Supplier (distributor) system 20 consumables 21 Communication means 22 Model information acquisition method 23 Detection means 30 Device manager 31 Communication means 11 Control unit 12 Communication reception section 13 Product Search Department 14 Supplier Search Section 15 Administrator notification section 16 Approval acceptance section 17 Order Execution Department 201 Purchase History Management Department 301 Product Research Department 401 Store location search section 501 manager position search unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A notification receiving unit that receives a notification of device information including the status of the consumable item from a device having a unit for detecting the status of the set consumable item, and a replenishment product is searched based on the device information. Product type searching means, ordering party searching means for searching an ordering party for the supplementary product, and an administrator who sends an approval request for the searched supplementary product and an automatic order to the ordering party to the terminal of the administrator of the device Notification means, order approval means for obtaining a response to the automatic order approval request from the equipment manager, and order for communicating the order recipient and executing an order for the supplementary product when the response is approved. Execution means,
A consumables management system comprising: 2. A purchase history management unit that records and manages a history relating to the ordering and purchase processing of the consumables, wherein the product type searching unit and the order destination searching unit are provided when the history is searched. The consumables management system according to claim 1, which is used as information. 3. The product survey means according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a product survey means for surveying the stock and price status of the supplier regarding the replenished product and reflecting it as information for the search processing. Consumables management system. 4. The consumable item management system according to claim 1, further comprising a store position searching unit that searches for a store position of the order destination. 5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a manager position search means for searching the position of the device manager.
Item 4. The consumable item management system according to any one of items 1 to 4. 6. Notification receiving means for receiving notification of device information including the status of the consumables from a device having means for detecting the status of the set consumables, and searching for a supplementary product based on the device information. Product type searching means, ordering party searching means for searching for an ordering party for the supplementary product, and an administrator who sends an approval request for the retrieved supplementary product and an automatic order to the ordering party to the terminal of the administrator of the device Notifying means, order approval means for obtaining a response to the automatic order approval request from the device manager, and order for communicating the order recipient and executing an order for the replenishment product when approval is obtained as the response Execution means,
A consumables management device comprising: 7. A purchase history management unit that records and manages a history relating to the ordering and purchase processing of the consumables, wherein the product type searching unit and the ordering destination searching unit are provided when the history is searched. The consumables management device according to claim 6, which is used as information. 8. The product survey means according to claim 6, further comprising a product survey means for surveying the stock and price status of the supplier regarding the replenishment product and reflecting it as information for the search processing. Consumables management device. 9. The consumable item management apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a store position search unit that searches for a store position of the order destination. 10. The consumables management device according to claim 6, further comprising a manager position search means for searching the position of the device manager.