JP2006011718A - Error monitor, error monitoring system and error processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an error monitor capable of reducing a load on a network, an external server or the like when an error of electronic equipment occurs. <P>SOLUTION: For example, a home server 10 in a home LAN detects the error occurrence according to an error code outputted from the electronic equipment 20, and retrieves an error solution method from log data 100D of a database 100. When the home server 10 cannot specify the error solution method, the home server 10 accesses an external error solution server via the Internet 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an error monitoring apparatus that monitors an error of an electronic device, and more particularly to a system and method for realizing an automatic error solving function.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, systems for controlling AV equipment, home appliances, and the like connected to a home LAN (local area network) by a home server are being put into practical use in ordinary homes. Hereinafter, AV equipment, household electric appliances, and the like are collectively referred to as electronic equipment.

Such a system is required to include an error monitoring device that monitors errors of various electronic devices. Conventionally, when an abnormality (error) such as an operation failure occurs in an electric appliance for home use, an external server or service center connected to the Internet receives the abnormality information to deal with the abnormality. An abnormality monitoring system is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-92786 A

  In the abnormality monitoring system of the prior art document, since abnormality information is transmitted from, for example, a home server in each household, there is a high possibility that the communication load on the network and the load on an external server or service center will be excessive.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an error monitoring apparatus that can reduce the load on a network or an external server when an error occurs in an electronic device.

  An aspect of the present invention is an error monitoring apparatus provided in, for example, a home LAN or an in-house LAN, and includes an error monitoring function of an electronic device and a limited error resolution function. .

  An error monitoring apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a receiving unit that receives error information from an electronic device that outputs error information for identifying an error content that has occurred; and a network that is connected to a network. A communication unit connected to an error solving server having an error solving unit for solving the error, a determination unit that determines whether an error that has occurred in the electronic device can be solved based on the error information, When the determination result of the determination means is resolvable, an output means for outputting information indicating an error solution method; and when the determination result of the determination means is not resolvable, the error via the communication means And a means for requesting the solution server to provide the error solution method.

  According to the present invention, when an error occurs in an electronic device, there is a possibility that the error can be solved without using an external error solving server. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the load on the error solving server and the network.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(System configuration)
1 and 3 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the system of the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the present embodiment is a system including a home server 10 that manages and controls a home LAN, and various electronic devices 20 (201 to 204) connected to the home LAN.

  The home LAN is composed of a wired cable 11 and a radio 12. The electronic device 20 is, for example, a digital AV (audio / video) device 201 or a personal computer 204.

  The home server 10 also operates as an error monitoring device that monitors the occurrence of errors in various electronic devices 20 (201 to 204) connected to the home LAN with a computer as a main element. The home server 10 according to the present embodiment receives an error code (error information) output from the electronic device 20 when an error (abnormality) occurs, and executes error detection and error resolution processing as described below.

  That is, in this embodiment, the electronic device 20 is assumed to be an electronic device having a function of outputting an error code corresponding to a predetermined error content when an error occurs. For example, some digital AV (audio / video) devices 201 display the error code on a display when an error occurs.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the home server 10 manages a database 100 necessary for error detection and error solution processing, and accumulates error monitoring log data (hereinafter simply referred to as log data) 100D. The database 100 includes hardware including a disk drive and database software. The log data 100D includes items such as an error code, error contents, and information indicating an error solution method.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the home server 10 is connected to the Internet 30 and has a configuration for accessing an error solving server 40 connected on the Internet 30. Specifically, the error resolution server 40 means a plurality of servers 401 to 403 prepared for each type of the electronic device 20, and constitutes an error monitoring system together with the home server 10. The error resolution server 40 includes a database in which information indicating an error resolution method for dealing with an error of the corresponding electronic device 20 is accumulated.

  Further, the error resolution server 40 has a function of communicating with the support center 50 (501 to 503) corresponding to the corresponding electronic device 20. The support center 50 includes a computer that communicates with the error resolution server 40 and a worker who supports error handling of the corresponding electronic device 20.

(Operational effect of this embodiment)
Next, the error monitoring operation in the home server 10 and the error monitoring system in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, when receiving an error code output from the electronic device 20 from the home LAN (via the wired 11 or wireless 12), the home server 10 detects that an error has occurred in the electronic device 20. (Step S1). The error code also includes identification information indicating the type of the electronic device 20. Thereby, the home server 10 detects that an error has occurred in the digital AV device 201, for example.

  The home server 10 searches the database 100 and determines whether log data 100D corresponding to the received error code is stored (steps S2 and S3). As will be described later, the database 100 stores log data 100D corresponding to errors that have occurred in the past.

  If the corresponding log data 100D is stored in the database 100, the home server 10 acquires the log data 100D and executes an error solution process as described later (YES in step S3). On the other hand, if the corresponding log data 100D does not exist in the database 100, as will be described later, the external error resolution server 40 is requested for support (NO in step S3).

  Hereinafter, the operation of the error monitoring system will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  As described in the flowchart of FIG. 2, when the home server 10 detects the occurrence of an error in the electronic device 20, if the corresponding log data 100 </ b> D exists in the database 100, the home server 10 executes a predetermined error solution process (step S11 YES). That is, the home server 10 executes a process of notifying the user of information indicating the error solving method included in the log data 100D (step S12).

  As a specific example, information indicating an error solving method is transmitted by e-mail to a personal computer 204 connected to a home LAN. Alternatively, control for displaying information indicating an error solving method on the display of the electronic device 20 in which the error has occurred is executed. The user can take measures for recovering the electronic device 20 in which the error has occurred normally by checking the information indicating the error solving method.

  On the other hand, when the log data 100D corresponding to the database 100 does not exist, the home server 10 selects the optimum error resolution server 40 corresponding to the electronic device 20 in which an error has occurred and accesses it via the Internet 30 ( NO in step S11, S13). Specifically, for example, if the electronic device 20 in which an error has occurred is a digital AV device 201, the corresponding error resolution server 401 is selected. Information for selecting such an error resolution server 401 is stored in the database 100 in advance.

  The home server 10 transmits an error message including the error code received from the electronic device 201 to the selected error resolution server 40 (401) via the Internet 30 (step S14).

  The error resolution server 40 (401) searches a database prepared in advance for an error resolution method corresponding to the error code of the corresponding electronic device 20 (201) according to the received error message. The error resolution server 40 (401) selects an optimal error resolution method from the database (YES in step S15, S16).

  Here, if the error content of the corresponding electronic device 20 (201) is a matter related to the software set in the device, the error resolution server 40 (401) performs an error solution method by updating the software. Select (YES in step S17). Specifically, the error resolution server 40 (401) returns the software (program) to the home server 10 via the Internet 30 (step S18).

  The home server 10 updates the software set in the corresponding electronic device 20 (201) with the received software. Further, the home server 10 stores the error solution method (software update) returned from the error solution server 40 (401) in the database 100 as log data 100D together with the error code (step S23).

  On the other hand, when the error solving method is unrelated to the software, the error solving server 40 (401) sends information indicating the error solving method (for example, error handling related to hardware) to the home server 10 via the Internet 30. A reply is made (NO in step S17). At this time, the error resolution server 40 (401) may reply to the user by e-mail (step S19). The home server 10 stores the error solution method (software update) returned from the error solution server 40 (401) in the database 100 as log data 100D together with the error code (step S23).

  If the error resolution server 40 (401) cannot retrieve the error resolution method from the database, the error resolution server 40 (401) transfers the received error message to the support center 50 (501) corresponding to the electronic device 20 (201) (step S15). NO, S20). At this time, the error resolution server 40 (401) may execute a process of contacting the contact information of the support center 501 by mail to the home server 10 and the user (step S21).

  In accordance with the transferred error message, the support center 50 (501) notifies the user of an error solution method (including a notification that the worker actually performs error handling work) (step S22). Even in this case, the home server 10 stores information indicating that the error has been resolved by the support center 50 (501) from the error resolution server 40 (401) together with the error code in the database 100 as log data 100D (step S23). ).

  As described above, in the error monitoring system of the present embodiment, when an error code is output from the electronic device 20 due to a failure or the like, the home server 10 automatically detects the occurrence of an error and proceeds to error solution processing. If the home server 10 cannot identify the error solution method, it can request the external error solution server 40 and finally the support center 50 to notify the error solution method.

  Since the home server 10 stores the finally selected error solving method as the log data 100D, there is a high possibility that the optimum error solving method is specified without depending on the external error solving server 40 and the support center 50. Become. In other words, it is possible to monitor errors for each electronic device 20 in the home LAN and present an error solution method to the user.

  Therefore, in the system according to the present embodiment, it is highly possible that the home server 10 can specify an error solving method when an error occurs in the electronic device 20, and thus the load on the Internet 30 and the error solving server 40 is reduced. It becomes possible. In addition, since it depends on the support center 50 only when it cannot be resolved by the error resolution server 40, the load on the support center 50 can be reduced.

  On the other hand, since the user is automatically presented with an error solving method from the home server 10 or the error solving server 40, a troublesome work of checking the error solving method in the manual of the electronic device 20 in which the error has occurred is unnecessary. Further, when the home server 10 or the error resolution server 40 cannot solve the problem, the support center 50 can automatically receive a notification necessary for error resolution, for example, by Internet mail.

  In the present embodiment, the software is provided from the error resolution server 40 when the software update process is valid as an error resolution method. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the home server 10 or the user is involved. Then, a method of acquiring the software from a server different from the error resolution server 40 via the Internet 30 may be used.

  Furthermore, although this embodiment assumed the home LAN managed by the home server 10, it is not restricted to this, For example, it is applicable to the error monitoring system of the various electronic devices in corporate LAN. In this case, a server in the LAN that replaces the home server 10 operates as an error monitoring device.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

The block diagram for demonstrating the structure of the system regarding embodiment of this invention. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the home server regarding this embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the structure at the time of applying the system regarding this embodiment to home LAN. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the system regarding this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Home server, 11 ... Wired cable, 12 ... Wireless, 20 ... Electronic equipment,
30 ... Internet, 40 ... Error resolution server, 50 ... Support center.

Claims (10)

Receiving means for receiving the error information from an electronic device that outputs error information for identifying the error content that has occurred;
A communication means connected to a network and connected to an error solving server having an error solving means for solving an error occurring in the electronic device;
Determination means for determining whether or not an error that has occurred in the electronic device can be solved based on the error information;
If the determination result of the determination means can be resolved, an output means for outputting information indicating an error solution method;
An error monitor comprising: a means for requesting the error resolution server to provide the error resolution method via the communication means when the determination result of the determination means cannot be resolved; apparatus. Storage means for storing information associating the error information with the error solving method;
When the information indicating the error solution corresponding to the error information received by the receiving unit is stored in the storage unit, the determining unit determines that the information can be solved, and the information is not stored The error monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error monitoring apparatus is configured to determine that the problem cannot be resolved. Storage means for storing information associating the error information with the error solving method;
2. The error monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit is configured to search and output information indicating an error solution method corresponding to the error information from the storage unit. Storage means for storing information associating the error information with the error solving method;
The information according to claim 1, further comprising: means for storing information indicating an error solution provided from the error resolution server via the communication unit in the storage unit in association with corresponding error information. Error monitoring device. An error monitoring server that detects an error occurrence of the electronic device connected to the electronic device that outputs error information for identifying the error content that has occurred;
An error resolution server connected to a network and providing information indicating an error resolution method corresponding to the error information;
In an error monitoring system having communication means for connecting the error solving server and the error monitoring server,
The error monitoring server is:
Based on the error information received from the electronic device, determination means for determining whether or not an error that has occurred in the electronic device can be resolved;
If the determination result of the determination means can be resolved, an output means for outputting information indicating an error solution method;
If the determination result of the determination means is unsolvable, the error resolution server via the communication means, the means for requesting the provision of an error solution method corresponding to the error information,
The error resolution server is:
An error monitoring system comprising means for returning information indicating an error solving method corresponding to the error information requested from the error monitoring server to the error solving server via the communication means. The error resolution server is:
Database means for storing information relating the electronic device type, error information, and error solution method,
6. The error monitoring system according to claim 5, further comprising means for retrieving information indicating a corresponding error solving method from the database means based on the type of the electronic device and the error information. The error resolution server is:
Based on the error information, when an error occurs due to software of the electronic device, the error monitoring method is configured to return information instructing update of the software to the error monitoring server. The error monitoring system according to claim 5, wherein the error monitoring system is one of the following.   The error resolution server is configured to transfer the error information to a predetermined system and request the error resolution when the error resolution method requested from the error monitoring server cannot be specified. The error monitoring system according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the error monitoring system is provided. An error processing method applied to an error monitoring apparatus connected to an error solving server having an error solving means for solving an error occurring in the electronic device by connecting to the electronic device and performing error monitoring. There,
Receiving error information for identifying the error content from the electronic device in which the error has occurred, and detecting the error occurrence;
Determining whether or not an error occurring in the electronic device can be resolved based on the error information;
If the determination result of the determination means is resolvable, outputting information indicating an error solution method;
An error processing method configured to execute a procedure including a step of requesting the error solving server to provide the error solving method when the determination result of the determining means cannot be resolved. In the error solving server,
In the case where an error occurs due to the software of the electronic device based on the error information, the method further includes a step of returning information instructing the update of the software to the error monitoring server as the error solving method. The error processing method according to claim 9.

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