JP2005258890A - Device including setting information shifting function, and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To update a program, while preserving various present setting situations, when a monitor device program on the market has to be upgraded with the upgrading of a system function, concerning a mechanism for the shift of a setting file in changing a monitor device which includes an information processor in a remote monitoring system. <P>SOLUTION: A device including setting information shifting function comprises: a first transfer means for transferring the program; a preserving means for preserving the transferred program in a performable state; a collecting means for collecting information to hold an environment being operated at present or operation setting; a converting means for converting the collected information into one file; and a second transfer means for performing the processing of collection and conversion in response to an operation instruction, so as to transfer the converted file. A preliminary program includes a means for collecting the setting files of the monitor device, converting the collected various setting files into one file, and transferring the converted file. The preliminary program is previously transferred to the monitor device and performed before upgrading the software of the monitor device, so as to acquire the setting file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a configuration file migration mechanism when a monitoring device comprising an information processing device is replaced in a remote monitoring system.

When replacing the monitoring device or upgrading the internal software, it is necessary to save the setting information of the device to the outside. For this reason, conventionally, as a method for reading out setting information inside a device to the outside, there is a method of incorporating a program for transferring the setting information into the device in advance as disclosed in Patent Document 1. Alternatively, there is a method of directly receiving a command from the outside, specifying the location of the setting information from the outside, and transferring the setting information.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-284449

  However, when a program for reading the setting information to the outside is incorporated in advance, an area for storing a program that is not used until the monitoring device is replaced or the internal software is upgraded is required.

  Further, when it is found that new information is necessary as information to be read at the time of replacement of the device or version upgrade of the internal software, the information alone is insufficient with the program alone. Similarly, depending on the device after replacement and the new version after upgrading, if the necessary setting information is different, either a program that acquires all setting information or a plurality of programs that can read different setting information It is necessary to incorporate it.

  In addition, when a method of operating from the outside is used, it is necessary to incorporate user interface software for operation into the device. In addition, an operation for reading out the necessary software using the user interface is required, which is a burden on the person in charge of replacing the monitoring device or upgrading the internal software.

  In view of the above problems, in the present invention, when the monitoring device is replaced or the internal software is upgraded, the setting files of the monitoring device are collected, the collected various setting files are converted into one file, and the converted files are converted. A program including a means for transferring is transferred to the monitoring apparatus in advance, and the program is executed to obtain a setting file.

  More specifically, it is a mechanism in a remote monitoring system comprising a monitoring device for monitoring office equipment including an image forming device and a monitoring server for exchanging information from the monitoring device via the Internet, and a first transfer means for transferring a program Storage means for storing the transferred program in an executable state, collection means for collecting information that holds the currently operating environment and operation settings, conversion means for converting the collected information into one file, In accordance with operation instructions, it includes a second transfer means that performs collection and conversion processing and transfers the converted file, collects the setting files of the monitoring device, and converts the collected various setting files into one file Then, a preprogram having means for transferring the converted file is transferred in advance to the monitoring device, and the software of the monitoring device is updated. Before Kusuru, executes the preprogrammed, characterized in that to obtain the configuration file.

  With the above configuration, a program including means for collecting setting files of the monitoring device, converting the collected various setting files into one file, and transferring the converted file is prepared in advance. When the internal software is upgraded, the program is transferred to the monitoring device. Thereafter, immediately before the software of the monitoring device is renewed, the program can be executed and the setting file can be acquired.

  In addition, when it is necessary to replace the monitoring device or upgrade the internal software, the setting file to be collected can be determined and a program can be created to read the setting file. It becomes possible to create a program that depends on the new version of. Further, since the program is transferred when the device is replaced or the internal software is upgraded, it is not necessary to keep the program in the monitoring device.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall system diagram in this embodiment. 1 is a network as a predetermined communication line connecting 2 and 9, and 2 is a monitoring device composed of an information processing device. 3 is a network communication processing unit of the monitoring apparatus, 4 is a program receiving unit, and 5 is a storage unit for storing the program. Reference numeral 6 denotes an execution unit that executes a program, and reference numeral 7 denotes a Web-UI processing unit that manages a user interface. 8 is Web page information used in 7. Although 8 and 5 are distinguished from each other in the configuration diagram, 8 may exist inside 5. Note that the monitoring processing mechanism that is the original function of 2 is omitted in this overall view.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the monitoring device 2 shown in FIG. Basically, it has at least the same configuration as a general information processing apparatus. CPU (201), bus (202) for transferring data between components described below, RAM (203) capable of electrically storing and rewriting information, electrically rewritable and no power supply FlashROM (204) capable of storing information, two Network I / Fs (205) (206) for exchanging information with the outside via a network, Serial I / F (207) for exchanging information via RS232c serial communication, and the like 1 includes a serial communication unit used for debugging purposes, Debug I / F (208).

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the setting file held by the monitoring device 2. There is a conf directory directly under the root. One setting file used for monitoring exists under the conf directory. This file has monitoring processing execution timing and whether or not individual functions are operating.

  Further, a device directory exists under the conf directory. There are as many subdirectories as the number of devices monitored from DEV00 to DEV10 under the device directory. Under each DEV (DEV00 to DEV10) directory, there are a file indicating the characteristics of the monitoring target device and a file having the current monitoring status. There is also a directory, tmp, for temporarily storing transfer files immediately under the root. In addition, a Web directory for storing information for Web exists directly under the root, and a directory having a file for CGI (Common Gateway Interface) for Web exists.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for collecting the setting files. The name of the program that implements this flowchart is file_transfer. Let it be bin. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for storing the program in a specific place. The name of the program that implements this flowchart is “install. Let sh. Further, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the program receiving unit 4.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. When acquiring the setting file, the service person collects the setting file of the monitoring apparatus in advance, converts the collected various setting files into one file, and transfers the converted file with a pre-program, that is, a pre-program. Somewhere, file_transfer. bin and install. After archiving sh, a compressed file is generated. Actually, the processing in the monitoring device is executed in the order of FIGS.

  The service person accesses the monitoring device from a PC on the same network as the network to which the monitoring device is connected. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the monitoring device mounts a Web server, and a service person accesses the server and operates the device. FIG. 7 shows a user interface screen for transferring a file such as a web browser provided by the server.

  The compressed file which is the pre-program created earlier is transferred from the screen shown in FIG. When the transfer is completed, the Web UI unit 7 calls the program receiving unit 4. When receiving the transferred file, the program receiving unit 4 decompresses the received file (601). If the decompression is successful (602), the received file is expanded (603). These files are stored in the tmp directory shown in FIG.

  If the deployment is successful (604), the install. Call sh (605). If decompression or expansion fails, the process is terminated. Subsequently, the installed install. The movement of sh is shown. install. When sh is called, file_transfer. Check if there is a bin (501). If the file exists, it is checked whether the / web / cgi directory exists (502). If the directory exists, the access right of the directory is changed (503) to enable writing. After that, file_transfer. Move bin (504). After the movement, the access right is restored (505).

  Subsequently, the service person can display location information, for example, http: // <IP> / cgi / file_transfer. Enter bin. The program execution unit 6 is instructed to execute the program by an input through the Web UI unit. The program execution unit 6 includes file_transfer. Execute bin. file_transfer. When bin is executed, it is checked whether the / tmp directory exists (401). Subsequently, it is checked whether there is a / conf directory (402). If neither directory exists, an error message is returned as an html document (410), and the process ends. If the directory exists, the directory is moved (403). In this directory, management. If there is info (404), the file is copied to / tmp (405). If there is a device directory in the directory (406), each directory including files and subdirectories in the directory is copied to / tmp (407). After that, the data under / tmp is archived (408). In response to the archived file as file data, the process ends (409). On the PC used by the service person, when the response document is an HTML document, the Web browser displays the document on the screen, and when it is file data, the storage destination is automatically selected. An example of a screen for selecting the storage destination is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 8, the serviceman's PC is stored, and the version of the monitoring device (or the version of the setting information) is also held in the setting information file supplied from the serviceman PC to the monitoring device again.

  That is, after saving the setting information, the monitoring device is upgraded, and the setting information file saved in FIG. 8 is uploaded from the service person PC to the monitoring device by the upload function. Upon receiving this upload, the upgraded monitoring apparatus expands the saved setting information file and checks the version information. Since the setting items of the setting file differ depending on the function for each version, based on the version information obtained here, a specified value is set for items not defined in the setting file. Even if the setting value is defined, if there is a change in the meaning of the setting value, the setting information of the old version is converted to the setting information of the new version by performing a conversion process or the like. The processing performed for the storage processing transition in FIG. 8 is the same in the second embodiment.

  In the first embodiment, the screen of the Web browser is used as means for transferring the compressed file. In this embodiment, an example of transfer by mail reception is shown. The configuration of this example is shown in FIG. The configuration from 1 to 8 is the same as that of the first embodiment. However, there is no interface from 7 to 4, and mail reception processing 91 is added. The mail receiving process 91 is described in detail according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  91 is periodically activated from the system. Although not described in detail in the present embodiment, 91 is connected to a pre-registered POP server (100), and after logging in, the received mail is confirmed (1002). If there is a received mail, the header of the mail is received (1003). Although not described in the present embodiment, when the header portion is not a predefined character string (1004), the processing proceeds to the next mail. If the headers match, the mail is received (1005). If there is an attached file after reception (1006), the attached file is extracted (1007) and passed to 4 (1008). Then, the next mail processing is started. If there is no attached file, the process proceeds to the next mail processing. When there are no more unprocessed mails, the process ends. The subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

  As described above, in a remote monitoring system comprising a monitoring device for monitoring office equipment including an image forming device and a monitoring server for exchanging information from the monitoring device via the Internet, means for transferring a program, and the transferred program can be executed. A means for storing the information in a stable state, a means for collecting setting information for holding the currently operating environment and operation information, a means for converting the collected information into one file, and when receiving instructions from the user, By collecting and converting, and by providing means to transfer the converted file, collect the setting file of the monitoring device, convert the collected various setting files into one file, and transfer the converted file Prepare a program with a means to do this, and when the monitoring device is replaced or the internal software is upgraded, To transfer the beam to the monitoring device. Thereafter, immediately before the software of the monitoring device is renewed, the program can be executed and the setting file can be acquired.

  In particular, the first embodiment shows an example in which the program is transferred locally. In the second embodiment, the program is transferred from a remote place in advance. According to the procedure shown in the first embodiment, it is possible to select and use a program that depends on the replaced device or the new version after the upgrade.

  In particular, the procedure shown in the second embodiment is effective for reducing service time for a service person unaccustomed to program transfer and on-site work.

First embodiment configuration diagram Hardware block diagram Example directory structure Collection processing flowchart Saving process flowchart Reception processing flowchart Program transfer screen Setting file acquisition screen Second embodiment configuration diagram Mail reception process flowchart

Claims (4)

A remote monitoring system comprising a monitoring device for monitoring office equipment including an image forming device and a monitoring server for exchanging information from the monitoring device via the Internet,
First transfer means for transferring a program;
A storage means for storing the transferred program in an executable state;
A collection means for collecting information that holds the currently operating environment and operation settings;
A conversion means for converting the collected information into one file;
A second transfer means for performing collection and conversion processing in accordance with an operation instruction and transferring the converted file;
Collecting a setting file of the monitoring device, converting the collected various setting files into one file, transferring a preprogram including means for transferring the converted file to the monitoring device in advance, Before the new software is updated, the pre-program is executed to obtain a setting file. A processing method in a remote monitoring system comprising a monitoring device for monitoring office equipment including an image forming device and a monitoring server for exchanging information from the monitoring device via the Internet,
A first transfer step of transferring a program;
A save step to save the transferred program in an executable state;
A collection step for collecting information that holds the current operating environment and operation settings;
A conversion step of converting the collected information into a single file;
A second transfer step for performing collection and conversion processing in accordance with an operation instruction and transferring the converted file;
Collecting a setting file of the monitoring device, converting the collected various setting files into one file, transferring a preprogram including means for transferring the converted file to the monitoring device in advance, Before the new software is updated, the pre-program is executed to obtain a setting file.   A program for causing a computer to execute the processing method according to claim 2. A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 3.

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