JP2003208485A - Oa equipment maintenance service providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an efficient maintenance service to a customer by saving the labor of a maintenance information transmitting means by using the Internet for the transmission and receiving of information between an OA equipment user and a sales service company. <P>SOLUTION: The user browses the maintenance related information provided by the sales company in the shortage of consumable goods or the occurrence of an equipment abnormality. The user selects a desired consumable good of OA equipment or maintenance service on the basis of the information, and transmits the selection information to the sales company. The maintenance request information is transmitted via Internet by using the OA equipment, a PC or the like as an interface. The sales company which receives it provides a maintenance service such as shipping of the consumable good or despatch of a maintenance staff. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses an OA device capable of communicating on the Internet to provide an OA to a user.
It relates to a method of providing maintenance services such as equipment consumable delivery and repair work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the supply of consumables and maintenance work for OA equipment has been carried out by a salesperson of an OA equipment sales company or a maintenance staff who visits a customer, a user makes a telephone call to the sales company, and the user himself / herself. The main means was to go to a mass retailer, make a purchase, or make a repair request.

In the case of a customer visit by a salesperson, the purpose of the salesperson's patrol is not only a visit for receiving an order for OA equipment and consumables, but also a visit for acquiring a new user,
Moreover, although it is a visit of existing users, there is not always an opportunity to receive an order for consumables.

Also, when there is an abnormality in the user's OA device at the time of the visit, contact the maintenance staff,
It takes time and effort to make an arrangement, and it is difficult to deal with it immediately.

On the other hand, the maintenance staff visits each user at regular intervals to perform maintenance on the OA equipment, so that if there is a sign of abnormality in the user's OA equipment at the time of visit, it can be dealt with on the spot. Is.

However, when the frequency of use of the OA equipment on the user side suddenly increases and the consumable items run out, the maintenance staff must handle the purchase request from the user.
As in the case of a salesperson, it takes time to make arrangements.

[0007] Further, in order for a consumable item to be requested by the user, the sales company must be informed of information such as the type of OA equipment owned by the user and the number of necessary consumable items which are difficult for the user to understand. .

Furthermore, when requesting maintenance work, it is necessary for the user to know the symptom of the OA device to the sales company accurately by ascertaining the component name of the OA device. Because it is difficult.

In recent years, there is already a method for ordering consumable items via the Internet, but it has become possible to quickly contact a sales company and a user. However, since the user voluntarily places an order using a general-purpose personal computer, not only knowledge of the Internet but also the above-mentioned OA device,
Knowledge of the types of consumables is required.

Requests for maintenance work via the Internet are not common yet, and the main method is to contact by telephone.

At the OA equipment sales company, when the user requests the purchase of the consumables, the stock is first confirmed. However, if the company does not have the stock and there is no cooperation system with the related sales company, the manufacturer Most of the time, the consumables will be delayed from being delivered to the user due to the trouble of placing the order.

Looking at the trend of OA equipment in recent years, in the recent multifunctional machines equipped with copying, printer and FAX functions,
A model that can be connected to an information communication network such as the Internet or a LAN has been put on the market, and has a function of reading a document and sending the document as it is by e-mail to a desired partner.

Not only multifunctional printers, but also OA equipments such as ink jet printers and laser beam printers are connected to the Internet without using a general-purpose personal computer and the functions are effectively used.

[0014]

The first problem is that the user of the OA device has conventionally asked the sales company to
When making a purchase request for consumables or requesting maintenance work, we will contact you by phone, etc., but in that case, there may be a person in charge of the sales company side absent, or the sales company may be outside the affected hours or closed One of the reasons is that it doesn't work.

As a second problem, when each request is contacted and the sales company is informed of it, the user cannot know the subsequent process or situation, and if the situation continues for a long time, the user will not know. The point is that a claim may occur.

Further, not only when the consumables of the OA equipment are exhausted, but also when an abnormality occurs in the OA equipment, the user's original work is delayed, and quick recovery is required. Therefore, dispatch of maintenance staff is urgent. Must be done to.

The above-mentioned two problems are that the purchasing consciousness of the user is weakened and the reliability of the sales company is lost.
Furthermore, the brand image of OA equipment manufacturers may deteriorate.

The third problem is that the user must understand how often the OA equipment is used and which consumable items tend to be used.
The point is that it is necessary to perform complicated work such as collecting receipts.

A fourth problem is that, when the user purchases frequently, it is expected that the user's willingness to purchase will be improved if some service is obtained from the sales company.

[0020]

According to the present invention, since the sales company side and the user side, that is, the server and the general-purpose personal computer of the sales company and the OA device are connected by the Internet, it is possible to always communicate with each other. This solves the first problem described above.

Further, according to the present invention, the stock information of the sales company and the tour information of the maintenance staff can be received by the OA device via the Internet and can be confirmed by the user.
Even if there is no stock or there is no staff near the user, the sales company's arrangement status is also OA.
Since the method is characterized by being able to be confirmed by the user with the device, this solves the second problem.

Further, according to the present invention, information on the type and quantity of consumable items purchased by each user, which is obtained from a database that stores sales history information of each sales company, and transmitted from the OA equipment of each user via the Internet. O
By referring to the copy and print count information of the A device, predicting the frequency of use of the OA device of each user, and transmitting the prediction result to the OA device of each user, which consumable item tends to be lost? This is a method characterized by notifying the user whether or not such a symptom tends to occur, and thereby solves the third problem.

According to the present invention, the OA equipment sales company discounts the price and sends the discount information to the users who frequently use the OA equipment at the next purchase or repair request of the consumable goods via the Internet. Since the method is characterized by making a notification by the image display device of the user's OA equipment, this solves the fourth problem.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an example of a maintenance service providing method for OA equipment using the present invention.

1 is a copy owned by user A, FA
It is an OA device having a printing function such as X, a printer, a communication function to the Internet, etc., and a function of browsing the contents of the Internet by the browser software attached to the device. Various auxiliary functions associated with printing functions such as copy, FAX, and printer are provided in the existing OA equipment, and are not specified in the present invention.

Reference numeral 2 is a database which is shared by each sales company A, B, and C of OA equipment, and which stores information about each OA equipment sold by each sales company, consumables, information such as the number of maintenances and repairs for each user. Is.

Reference numerals 3, 4 and 5 are databases for accumulating inventory information of OA equipment consumables for each OA equipment sales company A and related sales companies B and C.

6 is capable of communicating with the Internet or the like owned by the OA equipment sales company A, and is capable of creating and distributing the contents of the Internet by software. The databases 2, 3, 4, 5 are transmitted via the Internet. , A server with functions that can be operated and managed by software.

Numerals 7 and 8 can operate the databases 2, 3, 4 and 5 by software via the Internet owned by the OA equipment sales company A and the related sales companies B and C, and connected to the server. It is a general-purpose personal computer having possible functions.

9, 10 and 11 are maintenance staffs of the OA equipment sales company A and the related sales companies B and C, respectively. Reference numeral 12 is a consumable item requested by the user, and 13 is a maintenance staff member requested by the user. The OA device 1, the server 6, and the general-purpose personal computers 7 and 8 are connected by the Internet.

In the present invention, each sales company first prepares the following environment. In the database 2, each sales company collects and accumulates information about which OA equipment and consumables were sold, how many times, and how many times maintenance was performed for each user.

It is possible to share customer information by using this via the Internet by the information terminals of the respective companies. In the databases 3, 4, and 5 of each sales company, the inventory information of OA equipment and consumables sold by each company is constantly updated and accumulated.

This database is used for information sharing by using information terminals of sales staff of each company, such as general-purpose personal computers.
It goes without saying that it will be used for sales activities. However, the inventory information database on the sales company side does not have to be provided for each company, and may be constructed as a common database like a customer information database.

In addition, the maintenance staff 9, 10, 11 of each sales company successively informs the sales company of the patrol location,
Make sure that the sales company can confirm the location of the staff. For this contact, existing methods such as telephone and e-mail using information terminals will be utilized. The server 6 of the sales company A creates a dedicated or common home page for each OA device.

The dedicated home page collects information about consumable items for each device, such as ink, toner, drums, and paper, from the inventory information database 2 of each sales company,
The inventory information is displayed.

When the user A makes a purchase request for a consumable item, the user A can select which consumable item to purchase. Further, inventory information is collected and displayed from the databases 3, 4, and 5 of each sales company for each type of consumable item.

As a common homepage, it is constructed such that the tour information of each staff can be displayed based on the contact of the maintenance staff 9, 10, 11 of each sales company. This home page allows User A to select staff to visit around him.

As a common home page, a page for displaying how often each user uses the OA equipment from the customer information in the database 2,
Create a display that shows the purchase history of consumables for each user.

An image of a home page for OA equipment is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, an order list of consumables for each OA device is displayed, and consumables required by the user can be selected from the list.

Similarly, since the list of maintenance staff is displayed, it is possible to select the maintenance staff that is convenient for the user. In addition, in the server 6 of each sales company and the general-purpose personal computers 7 and 8,
The customer information database 2 can be referred to by using software.

Regarding the stock information database of each company,
In terms of security, it is desirable to set the company's own database so that information can be updated and operated by using software, and the inventory information of other sales companies can only be referenced.

In addition, each server and general-purpose personal computer must have a function of allowing each sales company to receive the information transmitted from the OA device owned by the user. Further, it has a function of transmitting the above-mentioned tour information of each staff to the server 6 via the general-purpose personal computers 7 and 8 via the Internet.

On the other hand, on the side of the user A, the OA device owned by the user A is connected to the telephone line or the like so that the user can be connected to the Internet. FIG. 3 shows a flow of providing consumables and a maintenance service using the present invention.

In the OA equipment sales company A, the above-mentioned home page is created by the server 6 based on the stock information database of each sales company and the patrol information from the maintenance staff, and is distributed via the Internet.

On the user A side, by using the OA equipment 1 purchased from the OA equipment sales company, consumables such as ink, drums, toner and paper are consumed. Similarly,
When the OA device is used, a physical abnormality occurs such that the original printing, print, or FAX function cannot be performed due to abnormality of the OA device itself, for example, deterioration, damage, dirt, or foreign matter of the component parts. .

At this time, the user A is warned by the error message or the alarm sound of the image display device of the OA equipment that the product is out of supplies or needs to be repaired. You will be asked whether or not to request a repair.

When the user A purchases a consumable item or desires repair, the OA device 1 automatically connects to the Internet. After the connection, the OA device 1 transmits the device identification information to the OA device sales company A.

After that, the OA equipment sales company A selects a home page including inventory information of consumables according to the type of OA equipment and staff tour information based on the information,
Send on the Internet.

The user A receives the information transmitted from the OA equipment sales company A via the Internet. The user A browses and operates the received information on the image display device of the OA device 1, and if the request is for a consumable item, confirms and selects the desired consumable item inventory.

In the case of a repair request, the staff traveling around the user A is confirmed and selected. At this time, if there is no stock or there is no corresponding staff, the manufacturer is requested to procure and a new staff is arranged.

After that, this selection information is transmitted via the Internet to the stocked OA equipment sales company or the OA equipment sales company to which the staff member selected by the user belongs. If there is no stock or if there is no corresponding staff, send to the OA equipment sales company that can send.

On the side of the OA equipment company to which the selection information has been sent, if the request is for a consumable item, the user supplies the expendable item desired by the user, and if it is a repair request, the selected staff member is arranged. If there is no stock, we will procure consumables from the manufacturer, and if there is no corresponding staff, we will dispatch our own staff.

At this time, the status of procurement of consumable goods to the manufacturer and the arrangement of staff is transmitted to the server 6 via the Internet, and the server 6 creates a home page showing the status and delivers it to the user. .

In the case of consumables procurement, information indicating each process from the sales company request, confirmation of the inventory to the manufacturer, shipping of consumables, etc., to the user's hand is described on the home page. Similarly, if the staff arranges, the time to dispatch the staff to the user, detailed information of the staff, etc. are described on the home page.

Through the above flow, the user can deliver consumables from the OA equipment company, arrange maintenance staff, supplement the consumables, and repair the abnormal condition. On the other hand, the OA equipment sales company accumulates and updates the information in the customer information database after the sales or the provision of the maintenance service.

At the same time, from the service provision history up to now,
Statistical values such as the frequency of use of OA equipment by users and the frequency of service transfer are taken, and consumables that are likely to disappear next time, signs of abnormal conditions, etc. are predicted.

For a user who consumes a large amount of consumables or a user who owns an OA device that requires a large number of maintenances, a certain threshold is set for the amount of consumption and the number of maintenances.

When the threshold value is exceeded, when the user requests a consumable item or receives a maintenance service next time, the discount is automatically set. The server 6 creates and delivers a home page containing the above-mentioned statistical values, forecast information, and discount information for each user, and when the user next time connects to the Internet with the OA device, the OA device automatically To be able to receive.

Based on the above information, what consumables the user tends to consume, what kind of symptoms the user's OA equipment tends to have, and how much later the consumables are used It becomes possible for the user side to grasp the information that the discount will be given.

In FIG. 1, the user A owns an OA device that can connect to the Internet and can send and receive information by the OA device alone, but a general-purpose personal computer connected to the OA device is used. It is also possible to do so.

For example, when the consumable item is exhausted or the OA device is abnormal, information may be transmitted from the OA device to the general-purpose personal computer and automatically processed. It may also be displayed as a warning code on the control panel of the OA device.

The same applies when desired information is extracted by inputting this code into the attached application.

Further, it is not necessary to configure the database and server of each sales company, the general-purpose personal computer, and the contact method of the maintenance staff as described above.
Each sales company can share customer information, inventory information, and maintenance staff patrol information, and can create contents including the contents of the above-mentioned homepage, and send it to the OA device owned by the user via the Internet. All you need is a possible environment.

[0064]

According to the present invention, for the user side,
When the consumables of the OA device are consumed or an abnormality occurs, the OA device's Internet connection function allows
There is no need for complicated work such as telephone contact with the device sales company, and the effect is that contact can be made anytime.

Since the user can grasp the stock status of the consumables of the OA equipment sales company and the patrol status of the maintenance staff, the user can request the consumables desired by the user and the staff who travel around the user. It becomes possible to do.

Furthermore, if the user does not have a desired inventory of consumables, or if there is no staff traveling around the user, the status of consumables procurement conducted by the OA equipment sales company and the arrangement of staff. It is possible to understand the situation.

Even if the consumable item is not purchased or repaired, the user can similarly grasp the current purchase, repair history, future consumption tendency, and abnormal tendency.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, on the OA equipment sales company side, it is possible to automate the ordering of consumables for OA equipment and the arrangement of maintenance staff, and the work efficiency can be improved.

By sharing customer information among affiliated sales companies, the type of OA equipment owned by the customer, the years of use of the OA equipment, the frequency of use, etc. can be known, so that sales activities can be targeted to the customer. Becomes Similarly, by sharing inventory information, inventory adjustment becomes possible, and it is not necessary to have a wasteful inventory.

In order to improve the cash flow, it is important to optimize the inventory adjustment, and the above object can be achieved by managing the information and the inventory among the sales companies. From the above, there is an effect of promoting the activation of business activities between sales companies.

Further, since the work on the user side can be saved, the image of the user of the OA equipment maker can be improved, and the product of the maker can be expected to be continuously used. By notifying the user of the discount information, For users who consume a large amount or users who have a lot of abnormalities in OA equipment, it can be expected to have an effect of improving the willingness to purchase.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a maintenance service providing method for OA equipment using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an image diagram of a home page for OA equipment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for providing a consumable item and a maintenance service using the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 OA equipment with Internet connection function 2 Internet information network 3 Inventory information database of sales company A 4 Sales company B inventory information database 5 Inventory information database of sales company C 6 Sales company A server 7 General-purpose PC of sales company B 8 General-purpose PC of sales company C 9 Sales company A maintenance staff 10 Maintenance company B sales staff 11 Sales company C maintenance staff 12 Consumables selected by User A 13 Maintenance staff selected by User A

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 HQ17 HV13                       HV14 HV26 HV35                 5B021 AA01 AA19 NN00 NN17                 5B089 GA12 GA21 GB02 HA10 JA40                       JB22

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Each OA device user has means for transmitting maintenance request information detected in the OA device to the outside, and the maintenance request information is transmitted to the OA device,
Alternatively, it is characterized by using a general-purpose personal computer as an interface and transmitting via the Internet. Also, O
The service company that sells and maintains the A equipment is a database that stores information about the sold OA equipment and consumables, which is shared by each sales company, and information about maintenance for each user, and the consumables of the OA equipment. It is provided with a database for accumulating inventory information, a server for sharing information of the database group for providing maintenance services to users between sales companies, and a general-purpose personal computer. In the above environment, the OA device sales company and the related sales company return only the information unique to the user and based on the request information based on the maintenance request information. Further, the reply means is the Internet. On the other hand, each OA device user can browse the reply information by using the OA device or a general-purpose personal computer.
Using the above means, the maintenance information of OA equipment
A method of transmitting and receiving between a device sales company and a user. 2. In the environment according to claim 1, when a user runs out of consumables of an OA device owned by the user or when an abnormality occurs, the user can access the Internet from the OA device or a general-purpose personal computer to which the OA device is connected. By O
The identification information of the A device is transmitted to the OA device sales company. OA
On the equipment sales company side, the information in the inventory information database,
Based on the patrol information from the maintenance staff belonging to the OA device sales company, and further, based on the device identification information received from the user, the contents of the Internet unique to the user and the contents of the Internet indicating the location of the staff are displayed on the OA device. Created automatically on the server of the sales company and sent to the user. Further, the user receives and browses the information by the Internet connection function of the OA device. A maintenance method characterized in that the above-mentioned means allows the user to know which sales company has the stock and which staff are traveling around the user. 3. The user browses the information indicating the inventory and the location of the staff transmitted from each sales company according to claim 2 on the OA device or the general-purpose personal computer, and , Select the sales company to which the staff traveling around the user belongs. Then, the consumables and repair request information are transmitted to the server and general-purpose personal computer of each sales company to the selected sales company using the Internet. Upon receipt of the information, the sales company provides the user with various services such as sales and maintenance based on the information. A maintenance method characterized in that the user can select a sales company or staff by the above-mentioned means. 4. When the user browses the information indicating the stock and the location of the staff of each sales company described in claim 2 through the Internet, when the desired consumable goods are not in stock, or If there is no staff traveling around the user, a sales company makes a purchase request for a consumable item or a repair request on the OA device. Upon receiving the information, the sales company transmits the procurement status of the consumables desired by the user and the arrangement status of the staff to the OA device of the requested user or the general-purpose personal computer through the Internet. A method in which the OA device sales company notifies the user of the situation until the service is realized by the means. 5. The OA device sales company uses the customer information database according to claim 1 to transmit OA devices and consumables sold to users in the past, and OA devices of each user via the Internet. The OA device usage frequency of each user is predicted based on the OA device usage information. A method characterized in that the prediction result is transmitted to a user's OA device or a general-purpose personal computer via the Internet to notify the user of information related to the purchase and maintenance of consumables. 6. The OA equipment sales company, based on the consumption rate and the abnormality occurrence rate for each OA equipment obtained by the method according to claim 5, the next consumption of the user who owns the OA equipment having a high frequency. Discount the price when purchasing or repairing an item. Then, the discount information is notified to the user by using the Internet to an OA device or a general-purpose personal computer owned by the user. 7. A user can connect to an external information terminal via the Internet, can receive and browse contents such as a homepage on the Internet by an attached image display device, and can further transmit information to the outside. By using an OA device having a function capable of performing, maintenance request information transmission and information browsing from an OA device sales company as described in any one of claims 1 to 6 can be performed without using a general-purpose personal computer. , A method that can be directly performed by the OA device alone.