JP2004318225A - Department management system for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the department management control system of an image forming apparatus for managing the processing quantity of each department by using a storage medium in the image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The department management system of the image forming apparatus using a storage device in the image forming apparatus is provided with a setting information inputting part for inputting management setting information 31 and 32 selected by a manager from the number of counters or the number of departments, a set information arithmetic part 24 for calculating the optimal number of departments or the number of counters based on the management setting information selected by the manager, a means for preparing a classification reference table 39 for storing/holding the management setting information selected for each department and the calculated number of departments or number of counters and a storage device control part 25 for performing access to the counter area of each classification stored in the classification reference table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a department management control system for an image forming apparatus connected to a network in an office or the like, and more particularly to a department management control system for an image forming apparatus that manages a processing amount of each department using a storage medium in the image forming apparatus. About.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an office or the like, a computer PC or a printing device used by each user is connected via a LAN (Local Area Network), and file sharing and printing device sharing are commonly performed. In addition, high-performance and high-performance image forming apparatuses having a copier function, an image scanner function, a facsimile function, and the like in addition to the printer function have been increasingly used. These image forming apparatuses, when used by a plurality of users, particularly, the number of sheets output to paper when using printing functions such as a printer function and a copier function, from the viewpoint of budget, environmental load, and the like. A system called department management has been introduced to prevent unlimited output to prevent wasteful consumption of paper and toner, and to accumulate billing information according to the amount of use performed by an administrator.
[0003]
As such department management, a method of retaining department management information using a storage device in the image processing apparatus, a method of retaining department management information on a network server, and the like are known. In the method of storing the department management information on the network server, since a plurality of image processing apparatuses are generally centrally managed, a relatively large-capacity storage device is used from the beginning. Further, it is easy to collect different data other than the number of prints (see Patent Document 1). However, when the department management is performed by storing the department management information in the storage device in the image forming apparatus, the department management function must be realized within the limited storage capacity of the storage device.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-63008 (Claims, paragraph [0002])
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
That is, on the other hand, some customers have requested that detailed information relating to the type of paper used in the printing process, such as for each paper size or color / monochrome, or other detailed information relating to management of jobs to be charged or the like be held. On the other hand, detailed information such as the type of paper is unnecessary, but there is also a request to secure and manage a large number of departments. However, in the non-volatile storage medium mounted on the image forming apparatus, the capacity that can be used for department management is limited, so that the administrator has to compromise within the range of the fixedly provided department management function. .
[0006]
Accordingly, the present invention also provides a department management control system for an image forming apparatus that manages the processing amount of each department using a storage medium in such an image forming apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a department management system for an image forming apparatus, which enables setting of department management information such as the number of departments, thereby enabling limited non-volatile storage media to be used effectively.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following configurations. That is, in the department management system for an image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, in the department management system for an image forming apparatus using a storage device in the image forming apparatus, at least one administrator including the number of counters and the number of departments is provided. A setting information input unit for inputting the selected department management setting information, a setting information calculation unit for calculating an optimal counter number or department number from the department management setting information selected by the administrator, A means for creating a type reference table holding the department management setting information and a storage control unit for accessing a counter area for each type stored in the type reference table are provided.
[0008]
The department management system of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the department management setting information is at least one of black-and-white / color information and paper size information set for each department. .
[0009]
In addition, in the department management system for an image forming apparatus according to claim 3, the setting information calculation unit is configured to use the setting input information input from the setting information input unit and a usable capacity of a storage medium of the image processing apparatus. , The number of counters is calculated from the number of departments, or the number of departments is calculated from the number of counters.
[0010]
The department management system for an image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the number of departments and the number of counters in the setting information input section is selected from a pattern table prepared in advance. I do.
[0011]
Further, in the department management system of the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, the setting information calculation unit is configured to refer to the type reference table when a request to increase or decrease the counter is input from the setting information input unit. A means for identifying a counter area to be used.
[0012]
[Action]
According to such a department management system for an image forming apparatus of the present invention, for example, when department management setting information is input from an administrator via a panel or utility of an image forming apparatus, an image that can be used for department management is provided. The maximum possible number of departments or the number of counters is calculated from the relationship with the capacity of the storage device (usually composed of a non-volatile storage medium) of the forming apparatus. The department management system is initialized based on the department management setting information thus obtained, and at this time, a correspondence table between the paper type selected by the administrator and the counter area is created and used for controlling the storage device. Since the capacity of a storage device composed of a non-volatile storage medium of an image forming apparatus is limited, if the number of departments is to be secured, the number of counters is reduced, and if the number of counters is to be increased, the number of departments is increased. Is formed, a trade-off relationship is formed. Such a relational expression can be prepared in the system side in the form of a table in advance, and the administrator can select a department management method most suitable for the organization and the business form.
[0013]
According to the configuration described above, a department management system which has been largely restricted by the administrator's request to the department management specifications of the printing apparatus can be provided. It is also effective in the case where the department management function cannot be used in the past due to a change in organization or a change in business form, and it can be said that one of the features is the long-term operational convenience. In addition, since the storage capacity used for department management is optimized according to a request, there is an advantage of saving system resources.
[0014]
(Example 1)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a setting process of department management information, and FIG. 3 is a setting information calculation unit of a department management information control unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining processing to be performed. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of counters determined by a setting information calculation unit and the number of departments. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the image processing apparatus of the present invention. It is a flowchart of a department management system.
[0015]
The image processing apparatus 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11 and a main storage device (RAM) 12 connected to a system bus 13 to constitute a general information processing system capable of performing arbitrary information processing. . Further, a nonvolatile storage device 14 for use in department management is mounted on the system bus 13, and various settings for department management are separately provided via the front panel 15 of the image processing apparatus 10 or each input / output interface 16. It can be performed using a tool such as a utility from a user's computer PC connected to a network (not shown). Further, the front panel 15 includes at least a touch panel type input unit, and also has a function of inputting an administrator ID, a section ID, and the like, a selecting unit of various operations, and a display function of various setting information.
[0016]
The “department management” in the present invention means not only the case of managing the use in an organization composed of a plurality of members such as a “department” unit, a “group” unit, and a “section” unit, but also for each person. This includes the case where an ID (password) is individually assigned and personally managed.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, the administrator inputs or selects setting information to the setting information input unit 20 via the front panel 21 or the utility 22. The setting input information is transmitted to the section management information control unit 23. The setting information calculation unit 24 calculates the optimal number of departments and the number of counters in consideration of the capacity of the storage device.
[0018]
The thus obtained control information such as the number of departments and the number of counters is notified to the storage device control unit 25. Further, the number of departments and the number of counters are notified as display information to the setting information display unit 26 and fed back to the administrator through the front panel 27 and the utility 28. Further, by holding a table indicating the relationship between the number of departments and the number of counters in advance, it is possible to select optimal setting information without performing arithmetic calculations.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 3, the setting information calculation section 24 of the section management information control section 23 is notified of the counter number 31 or the section number 32 selected by the administrator. When the notified number is the number of counters 31, the maximum number of possible sections 34 is calculated by the number-of-sections calculating section 33. On the other hand, when the number of sections 32 is notified, the maximum possible number of sections by the counter-number calculating section 35 is calculated. The counter number 36 is calculated. The information calculated as described above is transmitted to the storage device control unit 25 as the department management setting information 37.
[0020]
The storage device control unit 25 creates a correspondence table 39 between the control ID and the charging target such as the paper type selected by the administrator. For example, consider a case where a counter-up request for seven sheets of Size-K paper has been issued to department A. The storage device control unit 25 searches for the department A41 from the department management area 40 on the storage device, and performs an operation of incrementing by seven counters to the position of ID = 2 corresponding to Size-K. By creating / referencing the correspondence table 40, it is possible to customize different charging targets for each administrator.
[0021]
FIG. 4 shows an example in which the setting information calculation unit 24 determines the number of counters and the number of departments. Since the department management area on the storage device is finite, and the area occupied by one department depends on the type of the billing object held therein, a relational expression between the number of counters and the number of departments can be derived. When this relationship is represented in a drawing and a table, it is as shown in FIG. 4 (A) and FIG. 4 (B). For example, in response to a request to secure 100 departments, only one counter can be provided. When ten counters are required, 32 sections can be secured from the calculation result of the setting information calculation unit 24.
[0022]
As described above, the number of counters and the number of departments have a trade-off relationship, but there is an advantage that the administrator can freely customize the department management area for each image processing apparatus. Further, a pattern table as shown in FIG. 4C is prepared in advance without performing the arithmetic calculation every time, and when at least one of the number of departments and the number of counters is selected in the setting information input unit, the pattern table is prepared. More selection may be made, and furthermore, a mode in which arithmetic calculation is performed each time and a mode in which a pattern is selected from a prepared pattern table may be switchable. Therefore, it is possible to provide the administrator with a degree of freedom that a department management tool such as a utility can consider an optimal department management method via a simple interface.
[0023]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the department management system of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. First, in step S1, the setting information selected by the administrator is passed from the setting information input unit to the department management information control unit. Next, in step S2, the optimized counter number or department number is calculated by the setting information calculation unit of the department management information control unit. The setting information calculation unit determines whether or not the setting target is the number of departments in step S3. If the setting target is the number of departments, the maximum number of departments is determined in step S4. In S5, the maximum count is determined. The number of departments and the number of counters determined in this way are notified to the storage device control unit in step S6, and the department management area is initialized. At this time, the counter position for the charging target type specified by the administrator in step S7 Is created in advance. Further, in step S8, the number of counters and the number of counters are displayed on the setting information display section so that the administrator can confirm them.
[0024]
(Example 2)
The first embodiment is an example in which the department management system of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to one image processing apparatus, but is applied to a system having a plurality of image processing apparatuses. Example 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0025]
The plurality of image forming apparatuses 51, 52, and 53 are connected to computers 55, 56, and 57 of each user corresponding to each department via a network 54. The same department management system is mounted on each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 51, 52, and 53. Here, a description will be given assuming that a different administrator exists for each image forming apparatus.
[0026]
In general, when the same department management system is installed, the capacity of the nonvolatile storage medium that stores the department management information is fixed and fixed, so that the chargeable information that can be stored there is also fixed. Normal. However, in Example 2, for example,
(A) The administrator A wants to provide and manage color / monochrome counters in addition to the total print number counter.
(B) The administrator B wants to provide and manage a counter for managing and monitoring the number of prints for each paper size of A3, A4, A5, B4, and B5.
(C) The administrator C does not need detailed counter information such as color / monochrome or paper size. Rather, the administrator C secures as many counters as possible to manage the number of prints in as many departments as possible. Want to manage
If there is a request different for each administrator or for each image forming apparatus, an example of the type reference table for each administrator is as shown in FIGS. 6B to 6D. Can be.
[0027]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a department management setting can be flexibly changed, and a department management system that can respond to a variety of manager requests can be realized. In a single image forming apparatus, a plurality of managers can manage from different viewpoints.
[0028]
In addition, for a printing device that uses little or no department management information, the extra storage device can be provided for other uses. From the above, in the long-term operation, the maintenance performance when the department management setting is changed is improved, and the storage capacity is secured in a form optimized for the administrator's request. Savings can also be expected.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a setting process of department management information.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process performed by a setting information calculation unit of a department management information control unit;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the number of counters determined by a setting information calculation unit and the number of departments;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a department management system of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration including a plurality of image processing apparatuses according to a second embodiment;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 20 setting information input section 23 section management information control section 24 setting information calculation section 25 storage device control section 26 setting information display section 31 request counter number 32 request section number 33 section number calculation section 35 counter number calculation section 39 billing target and control ID Table 40 of storage unit management area

Claims (5)

In a department management system for an image forming apparatus using a storage device in an image forming apparatus, a setting information input unit for inputting management setting information selected by an administrator based on the number of counters or the number of departments; A setting information calculation unit that calculates an optimal number of departments or counters based on the selected management setting information; and stores and holds the selected management setting information and the calculated number of departments or counters for each department. A department management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising: means for creating a type reference table to be executed; and a storage control unit for accessing a counter area for each type stored in the type reference table. The department management system according to claim 1, wherein the department management setting information is at least one of black-and-white / color information and paper size information set for each department. The setting information calculation unit is configured to optimize the number of counters from the number of departments or the number of departments from the number of counters based on the management setting information input from the setting information input unit and the available capacity of the storage device of the image processing apparatus. The department management system for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a value is calculated. 3. The image according to claim 1, wherein the setting information calculation unit can be further selected from a prepared pattern table when selecting the number of departments or the number of counters in the setting information input unit. 4. Department management system for forming equipment. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the setting information calculation unit includes means for identifying a corresponding counter area by referring to the type reference table when a request to increase or decrease the counter is input from the setting information input unit. 2. A department management system for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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