JP2015219801A - Maintenance management device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set a maintenance work execution scheduled time so that the picture quality of printing does not change between a plurality of printing units separated from the same printing order as affected by printer maintenance work.SOLUTION: A job schedule management system 130 holds a job schedule 132 indicating a printing job execution schedule in each printer 120, and order correspondence information 134 indicating the correspondence of a printing order from a client to one or more printing jobs corresponding to the order. When a symptom detection system 140 detects the symptom of a trouble event in any printer 120, a maintenance management device 100 plans a maintenance work execution schedule for coping with the event. At this time, the maintenance management device 100 refers to the order correspondence information 134 and ensures that a maintenance work schedule is not included between the scheduled times of a plurality of printing jobs corresponding to the same order.

Description

  The present invention relates to a maintenance management apparatus and a program.

  For example, the following is a conventional technique related to maintenance of a printer.

  The apparatus described in Patent Document 1 checks the printing conditions of each job and predicts the amount of consumable consumption. Then, by appropriately changing the job execution order, the replenishment timings of the same consumables of a plurality of printers or different consumables of the same printer are matched.

  The apparatus described in Patent Document 2 determines whether maintenance is necessary and required before executing a job based on life prediction information such as consumption. The maintenance possible time and the required time for each part are listed, and a maintenance plan is made so that another part with a short required time can be simultaneously maintained during the maintenance work for the long required part.

  By the way, in a printing job, one order may be divided into a plurality of printing units (jobs) for processing efficiency and other reasons. One example is the case where one order that requires a large amount of printing is divided into a plurality of jobs and processed for the convenience of work sharing among operators operating the printer. In some cases, an order is divided into a plurality of printing units and processed in parallel by a plurality of printers.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-084949 JP 2011-039751 A

  Many maintenance operations for printers cause changes in print image quality before and after maintenance operations, such as replacement of a photosensitive drum, replenishment of toner, adjustment of print image quality, and the like. For example, if the replenished toner is from a different production lot than the previous toner, the color of the printed result may be slightly different.

  Therefore, if a plurality of print units divided from one print order are processed separately before and after the maintenance work of the printer, the print image quality may change between the print units due to the influence of the maintenance work.

  It is an object of the present invention to set a scheduled maintenance operation execution time so that the print image quality does not change between a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided correspondence relationship obtaining means for obtaining information on a correspondence relationship between a print order and one or more print units corresponding to the print order, and information on scheduled execution time of each print unit in the printer. If a sign of an event requiring maintenance work for the printer is detected, the scheduled work execution time corresponding to the event indicated by the sign is determined as the scheduled execution time for any printing unit. Maintenance schedule setting means for setting within a free time that does not correspond to the above, and performing the maintenance work between scheduled execution times of a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order indicated in the correspondence information A maintenance management apparatus comprising maintenance schedule setting means for controlling not to set a scheduled time.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the maintenance schedule setting means sets the scheduled maintenance work execution time corresponding to the detected sign for the printer to the scheduled execution time of any printing unit indicated in the processing schedule information. 2. The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance management apparatus is set within a free time that does not correspond to any scheduled maintenance time of any maintenance work that has already been set for the printer.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the schedule acquisition unit corresponds to the same print order as the print unit scheduled to be processed by the printer in which the sign is detected, and the print unit scheduled to be processed by the printer and another printer. The maintenance schedule setting means is processed by the printer and other printers corresponding to the same print order as the scheduled execution time of the printing unit scheduled to be processed by the printer in which the sign is detected. The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control is performed so that the scheduled execution time of the maintenance work is not set between scheduled execution times of each processing unit to be scheduled.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance schedule setting means obtains information on the predicted occurrence time of the event indicated by the sign, and before the maintenance work execution deadline determined based on the predicted occurrence time. The maintenance work scheduled execution time is set within a free time closest to the execution deadline among continuous free time having a length equal to or longer than the work time required for the maintenance work. The maintenance management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance schedule setting means sets the scheduled maintenance time for the maintenance work from a maintenance possible period from the execution deadline of the maintenance work up to a predetermined length. The maintenance management device according to claim 4, wherein an idle time is searched.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the maintenance schedule setting means has a value of 1 or more when a continuous free time having a length equal to or longer than a work time required for the maintenance work is not found within the maintenance possible period. It is tried to form a continuous free time having a length equal to or longer than the length of the work time required for the maintenance work by changing the scheduled execution time of the printing unit within the maintenance possible period. A maintenance management device according to claim 5.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a correspondence relationship acquisition means for acquiring information on a correspondence relationship between a print order and one or more print units corresponding to the print order, and a scheduled execution time of each print unit in the printer. Schedule acquisition means for acquiring information, and when a sign of an event that requires maintenance work for the printer is detected, the scheduled time for the maintenance work corresponding to the event indicated by the sign is determined for any print unit Maintenance schedule setting means for setting within a free time that does not correspond to the time, and the maintenance work is performed between scheduled execution times of a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order shown in the correspondence information. This is a program for functioning as maintenance schedule setting means for controlling not to set the scheduled execution time.

  According to the first or seventh aspect of the invention, it is possible to set the scheduled maintenance work execution time so that the print image quality does not change between a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, maintenance work corresponding to different signs for the same printer can be prevented from being set at the same time.

  According to the invention of claim 3, even when a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order are processed by a plurality of printers, the maintenance work is performed so that the print image quality does not change between the plurality of print units. The scheduled execution time can be set.

  According to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to set the scheduled maintenance work execution time as close as possible to the maintenance work execution deadline determined from the predicted occurrence time of the event related to the sign.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the scheduled maintenance work execution time from being set too early as viewed from the predicted occurrence time of the event related to the sign.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, even if the printer schedule indicated in the processing schedule information does not have a continuous idle time longer than the length of the maintenance time required for the maintenance work, the available space for the maintenance work is available. You can try to make sure you have time.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of a job schedule. It is a figure which shows an example of order corresponding information. It is a figure which shows an example of precursor information. It is a figure which shows an example of a maintenance execution condition table. It is a figure which shows an example of the schedule setting procedure of the maintenance work corresponding to a sign by the maintenance plan process part. It is a figure which shows the example of the maintenance possible period calculated | required from predictive information, and a maintenance work time. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job schedule when print job groups are grouped into job groups for each order. It is a figure which shows a part of procedure of the setting process of the implementation schedule of a maintenance work. It is a figure which shows the remaining part of the procedure of the setting process of implementation schedule of a maintenance work. It is a figure which illustrates some patterns about schedule setup of maintenance work.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the system configuration of the embodiment. This system includes a maintenance management apparatus 100, one or more printers 120 owned by a user, a job schedule management system 130, and a sign detection system 140.

  The one or more printers 120 are used by, for example, one specific user organization (for example, one company). Each printer 120 includes a control unit 122 that performs control for print processing, and various sensors 126 that detect the state of each unit in the printer 120. The sensor 126 includes a sensor that detects the remaining amount of toner and ink, a sensor that detects the remaining amount of paper, a sensor that detects the density of toner patches generated for image quality adjustment, and the rotational speed and rotational position of the photosensitive drum. There are various types such as an encoder for detecting. The control unit 122 includes one or more counters 124. Each counter 124 counts the number of occurrences of the corresponding event. For example, a counter that counts the number of rotations of the photosensitive drum is reset when the photosensitive drum is replaced with a new one. For example, a signal from an encoder that measures the rotation of the photosensitive drum is used to detect the photosensitive drum after the replacement. Count the number of revolutions of the body drum. The information detected by these sensors 126 and the count value of the counter 124 are such that there is a lack of consumables such as toner and paper, print image quality degradation (color reproduction error exceeds a threshold, etc.), photoconductor drum quality degradation, etc. It is used to detect the occurrence of such troubles and to detect signs of such troubles.

  The job schedule management system 130 manages a print job execution schedule of each printer 120 in the user organization. For this purpose, the job schedule management system 130 holds information called a job schedule 132 that indicates which print job is executed by which printer and at which time (scheduled time when the job is executed). An example of the data content of the job schedule 132 is shown in FIG. The example illustrated in FIG. 2 illustrates a job schedule of a specific printer 120 on a specific day (“June 9, 2014”). In the job schedule shown in FIG. 2, a job with a job ID (identification information) “452021” is executed from 9:00 to 14:00 on the printer 120, and the job is not executed from 14:00 to 15:00 (that is, this time is The job ID “452022” is executed from 15:00 to 17:00.

  Further, the job schedule management system 130 holds order correspondence information 134. The order correspondence relationship information 134 is information indicating a correspondence relationship between an order received from a customer by the system and a print job executed by the printer 120 group. Consider a case where a user organization (for example, a printing service provider) provides a printing service to a customer (a person or organization requesting printing) using the printer 120 group and the job schedule management system 130. When a customer sends an order including print data described in a page description language, print attribute information such as the number of copies to be printed and paper designation, to the user organization, the user organization prints the print data to be ordered. A print job is registered in the job schedule management system 130. At this time, the user organization divides one order into a plurality of print jobs as necessary. As shown in FIG. 3, in the order correspondence information 134, order identification information (“order ID”) and a job ID of a job corresponding to the order are registered. In the example of FIG. 3, the order with the order ID “92334” is divided into three jobs “330221” to “330223”, and the order with the order ID “92335” is not divided and registered as one job “357721”. You can see that.

  Incidentally, a plurality of jobs divided from the same order may be scheduled to be executed by the same printer 120, or may be scheduled to be executed separately by a plurality of printers 120. . In the latter case, the plurality of printers 120 to which a plurality of jobs divided from the same order are to be assigned are calibrated so that the print image quality (such as hue) is substantially the same.

  The sign detection system 140 detects a sign of a failure occurring in each printer 120. The sign detection system 140 receives the detection signal of each sensor 126 of each printer 120 and the count value of each counter 124, and detects what kind of trouble event has occurred in which printer 120 from the information. . For example, when it is found from the signal of the toner remaining amount sensor that the remaining amount of toner of a certain color of a certain printer 120 is equal to or lower than a preset threshold level, the sign detection system 140 detects the color toner of the printer 120. It is determined that there is a sign of running out of toner. Further, when the count value of the counter that counts the number of rotations of the photosensitive drum reaches a preset threshold value, it is determined that the performance of the photosensitive drum is a sign of deterioration to a level that requires replacement.

  In addition, the sign detection system 140 obtains a predicted value (occurrence predicted time) of a timing at which a defect related to the detected sign occurs. The predicted value may be a timing after a fixed margin period from when the sign is detected, or may be a variable value according to the usage status (usage frequency, print amount, etc.) of the printer 120. Good. In the former (fixed value) example, for example, when a sign of toner out is detected, it is determined that toner out occurs after a preset margin period (for example, 3 days). In the latter example (variable value), for example, the sign detection system 140 collects information on the recent usage frequency of each printer 120 and the print amount per unit period, and corrects a predetermined reference margin period. . That is, it is determined that the time when the corrected margin period is added to the time when the sign is detected is the time when the trouble event corresponding to the sign occurs. The margin period may be corrected as follows, for example. That is, for example, if the actual printing amount per unit period of the printer 120 is less than the printing amount assumed when the reference margin period is determined, the reference margin period is set to a length corresponding to the difference between the printing amounts. The extended period is set as the corrected margin period.

  When the sign detection system 140 detects a sign of a failure event for any printer 120 in the user organization, the sign detection system 140 notifies the maintenance management apparatus 100 of the sign information. As shown in FIG. 4, the notification information to be notified includes identification information (“prediction ID”) of the prediction, identification information of the printer 120 (“printer ID”) in which the prediction is detected, contents of the prediction, and prediction The predicted value of the occurrence timing of the malfunction event corresponding to ("occurrence predicted time") is included. The information on the contents of the acquired sign is, for example, identification information assigned in advance to the contents of the sign. Since the contents of the sign correspond to the contents of the maintenance work for dealing with the failure event corresponding to the sign, the identification information of the sign contents indicates the contents of the maintenance work corresponding to the sign. For example, the indication content that the toner is out corresponds to the maintenance operation content that is toner replenishment.

  The function of the sign detection system 140 has been illustrated above, but this is only an example. The sign detection system 140 detects any sign of a failure occurrence in each printer 120 from information acquired from each printer 120, and has any function for obtaining a predicted occurrence time of a failure event related to the sign. It may be. As the sign detection system 140, a system having the same kind of function that has been conventionally developed or will be developed in the future can be used.

  The maintenance management apparatus 100 establishes and manages a maintenance work execution schedule for the printer 120 group according to the sign detected by the sign detection system 140. Examples of maintenance work according to the sign include, for example, replacement of a toner cartridge for a sign of running out of toner, replacement of a photosensitive drum for a sign of photoreceptor replacement timing, and the like.

  The maintenance management apparatus 100 devises a maintenance work execution schedule for coping with the sign notified from the sign detection system 140 in consideration of the job schedule of each printer 120 managed by the job schedule management system 130.

  The maintenance management apparatus 100 includes a sign information acquisition unit 102, a schedule information acquisition unit 104, a maintenance plan processing unit 106, a schedule update unit 109, and a storage device 110.

  The sign information acquisition unit 102 acquires sign information notified from the sign detection system 140. The schedule information acquisition unit 104 acquires the job schedule 132 and the order correspondence information 134 from the job schedule management system 130 when, for example, the sign information acquisition unit 102 acquires sign information.

  Based on the sign information acquired by the sign information acquisition unit 102, the job schedule 132 and the order correspondence information 134 acquired by the schedule information acquisition unit 104, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 generates a maintenance work schedule corresponding to the sign. Stand up. When a failure sign is detected from a certain printer 120, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 does not affect the job schedule 132 as much as possible with respect to the schedule for performing maintenance work to deal with the failure, and A setting is made so that a plurality of print jobs corresponding to the same order are not processed separately before and after the maintenance work.

  The maintenance plan processing unit 106 refers to the maintenance execution condition table 112 stored in the storage device 110 when planning a maintenance schedule.

  The maintenance execution condition table 112 is a table that defines the maintenance work execution conditions. The execution conditions of the maintenance work are, for example, a standard work time required for the maintenance work corresponding to the predictive contents and a maintainable period length that is a length of a period during which the maintenance work may be performed. Here, the maintenance possible period length is the maximum amount of maintenance work that can be carried out ahead of the deadline when the predicted occurrence time of the failure event is the deadline for the maintenance work corresponding to that event. It is the length which shows. It is desirable to carry out maintenance work as soon as possible as soon as a failure sign is detected. On the other hand, considering the cost of parts replacement and consumable supplies, the maintenance work is carried out too early in terms of the predicted occurrence of a failure event. In some cases, the customer's wishes may not be met. In the present embodiment, the maintenance possible period length is determined from these balances, and the execution of the maintenance work is not permitted before the maintenance work period is traced back by the maintenance possible period length. The maintenance possible period length varies depending on the content of maintenance work (for example, the type of parts / consumables to be maintained, the type of work to be performed, etc.) and the type and model of the printer 120 to be maintained. Note that the standard work time of maintenance work also generally differs for each type of maintenance work and for each type or model of the printer 120.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the data contents of the maintenance execution condition table 112. In this example, in the maintenance execution condition table 112, “work time” and “maintenable time length” corresponding to each “work content” in the printer 120 are registered in association with the printer ID of each printer 120. Is done. In the illustrated table, for example, for the printer 120 having the printer name “PRT01”, the “(photoconductor) drum replacement” work time and the maintainable period length are set to 2 hours and 60 days, respectively. In the example of FIG. 4, the maintenance execution condition is set for each printer 120, but may be for each printer model.

  When the maintenance plan processing unit 106 changes the scheduled execution time of the print job when determining the maintenance schedule, the schedule update unit 109 updates the job schedule 132 according to the change.

  The maintenance plan processing unit 106 includes a maintenance possible period determination unit 107 and a job grouping unit 108. The maintainable period determination unit 107 performs maintenance on the sign based on the predicted occurrence time of the failure event included in the sign information notified from the sign detection system 140 and the maintainable period length set in the maintenance execution condition table 112. Determine the maintenance period during which work can be performed. The job grouping unit 108 groups print job groups divided from the same order into one job group based on the order correspondence information 134. The maintenance plan processing unit 106 refers to the maintenance available period obtained by the maintenance available period determination unit 107 and the job grouping result by the job grouping unit 108, and determines the scheduled maintenance work time for the sign.

  Each component (maintenance management apparatus 100, printer 120, job schedule management system 130, and sign detection system 140) of the system illustrated in FIG. 1 is installed in a user organization that uses the printer 120 group in one example. Is done. In this case, when the maintenance work for dealing with the sign is work content to be performed by a supplier providing the maintenance service of the printer 120, the determined scheduled maintenance work time and maintenance work content information are The maintenance plan processing unit 106 may notify the maintenance service provider's system.

  As another example, a system configuration in which the printer 120 group and the job schedule management system 130 are installed in a user organization and the maintenance management apparatus 100 is installed in a maintenance service provider is also conceivable. In this case, the maintenance management apparatus 100 in the maintenance service provider needs to acquire a job schedule from the job schedule management system 130 in the user organization in order to schedule maintenance work according to the sign. Here, the job schedule information managed by the job schedule management system 130 is confidential to the outside of the user organization, such as attributes of individual print jobs (for example, job name and identification information of the user who submitted the job). May contain the information you want. In consideration of this point, the job schedule management system 130 may omit confidential information items set in advance by the user organization from the job schedule information provided to the maintenance management apparatus 100. Since the maintenance management apparatus 100 only needs information on the scheduled time of each job as the job schedule information, the job schedule management system 130 may provide the maintenance management apparatus 100 with the information as a minimum. In this example, the sign detection system 140 may be installed on the maintenance service provider side or in a user organization.

  An example of a maintenance work schedule setting procedure corresponding to a sign executed by the maintenance plan processing unit 106 is shown in FIG. The procedure shown in FIG. 6 is started when the sign detection system 140 detects the occurrence of a sign of a failure event in any printer 120 and the sign information acquisition unit 102 acquires the sign information from the sign detection system 140.

  First, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 acquires the job schedule 132 and the order correspondence information 134 by using the schedule information acquisition unit 104 (S10). When it is not necessary to divide a plurality of jobs as a result of division of one order into a plurality of printers 120 and execute them, in S14, a sign included in the sign information received from the sign detection system 140 is detected. The acquired job schedule of the printer 120 and the order correspondence information 134 may be acquired. If it is necessary to assume that a plurality of jobs that are the division results of one order are divided and executed by a plurality of printers 120, the job schedules of all the printers 120 may be acquired in S14.

  In addition, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 sets the predicted occurrence time of the failure event included in the predictor information received from the predictor detection system 140 as the maintenance work deadline for the failure event (S12). Further, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 specifies the printer ID of the printer 120 in which the sign has occurred and the maintenance work content corresponding to the sign from the identification information of the sign content included in the sign information, and the maintenance execution condition table 112 (FIG. 4), the maintenance work time and the maintainable period length corresponding to the combination of the printer 120 and the maintenance work content are acquired (S14). Note that the processing order of S10 to S14 is not limited to the order shown in the figure. For example, these steps may be executed in parallel.

  Next, the maintenance available period determination unit 107 of the maintenance plan processing unit 106 performs maintenance work for the sign from the maintenance work execution deadline set in S12 and the maintenance available period length corresponding to the content of the maintenance work. The start time and end time of the maintenance available period are obtained (S16). In this case, the maintenance work execution deadline is determined as the end time of the maintainable period, and the time point that extends from the end time by the length of the maintainable period is determined as the start time of the maintainable period. The maintenance possible period and maintenance work time obtained in S16 may be managed as a table in which the maintenance possible period and the maintenance work time are held in association with the sign ID included in the sign information as illustrated in FIG. Good.

  Further, the job grouping unit 108 groups the job group in the job schedule acquired in S10 with reference to the order correspondence information 134 for each order, and the start time of the job group for each order formed by this grouping And end time is calculated | required (S18). In the process of S18, for example, each job ID corresponding to the order ID is obtained from the order correspondence information 134 for each order ID, and the job group corresponding to the obtained job ID is set as the job group corresponding to the order ID. For each order ID, the earliest time among the start times of jobs corresponding to the order ID and the latest time among the end times of jobs corresponding to the order ID correspond to the order ID. The start time and end time of the job group. Even when a plurality of jobs corresponding to the same order are distributedly processed by a plurality of printers 120, the start time and end time of a job group composed of the plurality of jobs are similarly obtained.

  Here, since it is only necessary to determine the scheduled maintenance work time for the printer 120 in which the sign is detected, it is not necessary to target all jobs executed by all the printers 120 in S18. Only jobs belonging to the same order as the jobs included in the job schedule may be grouped for each order.

  Through the process of S18, the job schedule of the printer 120 in which the sign is detected is updated. That is, the scheduled time of each job registered in the job schedule of the printer 120 is updated for the scheduled time (from the start time to the end time) of the job group to which the job belongs. After this update, consecutive times that do not belong to any scheduled time of any job group become free time frames. FIG. 8 shows an example of the updated job schedule based on the result of S18 of the printer 120 in which the sign is detected. In the example of FIG. 8, the start time and end time of each job group are shown for each order ID of the job group. A time that is not included in the scheduled time of any job group is a free time frame, such as from 12:00 to 14:00 on August 7, 2014.

  Next, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 sets a scheduled maintenance work time for the sign based on the information of each job group obtained in S18 (S20). An example of the detailed procedure of S20 is shown in FIGS.

  In the procedure of FIG. 9, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 performs maintenance work from the job schedule (updated to the scheduled time for each job group) based on the processing result of S18 for the printer 120 in which the sign is detected. An empty time frame immediately before the implementation deadline is acquired (S22). When the maintenance work deadline is included in the free time frame, in S22, the portion of the free time frame before the execution deadline is acquired as the “free time frame immediately before the reference deadline”.

  Next, it is determined whether the length of the acquired free time frame is equal to or longer than the maintenance work time acquired in S14 (S24). If the result of this determination is Yes (that is, the length of the vacant time frame is equal to or longer than the work time), the scheduled maintenance work execution time is set within the vacant time frame (S26). For example, the start time of the idle time frame is set as the start time of the maintenance work, and a time frame having a length corresponding to the work time from the start time is set as the scheduled time of the maintenance work.

  If the determination result in S24 is No, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 acquires from the job schedule the empty time frame immediately before the empty time frame to be determined in S24 (S28). Next, it is determined whether or not the free time frame acquired in S28 is within the maintenance possible period (whether it is not before the start time of the maintenance possible period) (S29). In this determination, it is determined whether or not the reference point of the vacant time frame (for example, the end time of the vacant time frame) is within the maintenance possible period. If entered, the determination result in S29 is Yes, and if not, No. If the determination result in S29 is Yes, the process proceeds to the determination in S24. If the determination result is No in S24, the process proceeds to S28 again.

  If a free time frame longer than the maintenance work time is found within the maintenance possible period while repeating the processing loop of S24, S28, and S29 (the determination result in S24 is Yes), the maintenance work is performed within the free time frame. Is set (S26). That is, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 determines the scheduled time for maintenance work within the free time frame, and stores information indicating the scheduled time, the printer ID of the target printer for the maintenance work, and the content of the maintenance work in the storage device 110. Register in the maintenance schedule 114 held. In this example, the maintenance work schedule is registered in the maintenance schedule 114, but instead or in addition, the maintenance work may be registered in the job schedule management system 130 as a kind of job. In this case, the schedule of the maintenance work is registered in the job schedule of the printer that is the maintenance work target.

  If the determination result in S29 is No in the repetition of the processing loop, the process proceeds to the procedure of FIG. In the procedure of FIG. 10, it is tried whether a free time frame for the maintenance work time can be secured by changing the scheduled time of the job group.

  In the procedure of FIG. 10, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 acquires a free time frame immediately before the maintenance work deadline from the job schedule based on the processing result of S18 for the printer 120 in which the sign is detected (S30). ). Next, it is determined whether or not the length of the vacant time frame can be made longer than the maintenance work time by changing the scheduled time of the job group before and after the vacant time frame (S32).

  For example, the scheduled time of the job group is changed by moving the scheduled times of the jobs belonging to the group by the same time.

  As another example, the scheduled time of the job group may be changed by reducing the interval between jobs in the job group. For example, in order to delay the start time of the job group immediately after the vacant time frame, the scheduled time of the first job in the job group may be moved in the backward (future) direction. If the length of the free time frame does not reach the maintenance work time even if the scheduled time of the first job in the job group is delayed until it touches the scheduled time of the job immediately after that, by delaying the scheduled time of the immediately following job, Try to further expand the free time frame by allowing the scheduled time of the first job to move further later. If the length of the free time frame still does not reach the maintenance work time, the scheduled time for the subsequent job is further delayed so that the scheduled time for the head and the next job in the job group can be further delayed. It is examined whether the length of the free time frame can be extended beyond the maintenance work time by repeating such a procedure. As described above, the case where the start time of the job group immediately after the vacant time frame is delayed has been described as an example, but the same idea can be applied to the case where the end time of the job group immediately before the vacant time frame is advanced.

  Here, the change of the scheduled time of the job group in S32 is limited to a place where the scheduled time of the job group is in contact with the scheduled time of the job group immediately before or immediately after the job group, or to the change range of the scheduled time. You may restrict | limit within the limits of predetermined restrictions, such as providing an upper limit. Further, the attribute of whether or not the scheduled time can be changed can be set for the job group (order), and the change of the scheduled time may not be attempted in S32 for the job set to be unable to change the scheduled time. In addition, it is possible to set the attribute of the final delivery date for an order (job group), and for a job group for which the final delivery date is set, change of the scheduled time after the final delivery date is not allowed. May be. Further, the job group attempting to change the scheduled time in S32 may be limited to either before or after the vacant time frame of interest. Further, the number of job groups to be subjected to the scheduled time change is not limited to one before and after the vacant time frame, but may be two or more determined in advance.

  If the available time frame does not reach the length of the maintenance work time even if the scheduled time of the preceding or succeeding job group is changed to the maximum in S32, the determination result in S32 is No. In this case, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 acquires the previous free time frame in the job schedule (S34), and the free time frame is the maintenance possible period from the maintenance work deadline, as in S29 of the procedure of FIG. It is determined whether it is within (S36). If this determination result is Yes, the determination process of S32 is performed for the empty time frame.

  If the determination result in S36 is No in the repetition of the processing loop of S32 to S36, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 notifies that a sufficient free time frame cannot be secured within the maintenance possible period. A notification is sent to the administrator of the maintenance management apparatus 100 (S38), and the series of processing ends. Upon receiving this notification, the administrator performs a measure such as ensuring a sufficiently long free time frame by requesting the job submitter in the job schedule to change the scheduled job time.

  On the other hand, if the processing loop of S32 to S36 is repeated, if it is known that a free time frame longer than the maintenance work time can be created by changing the scheduled job time during the maintenance work possible period (determination in S32). If the result is Yes), the maintenance plan processing unit 106 actually changes the scheduled time of one or more jobs before and after the vacant time frame to extend the length of the vacant time frame to a length longer than the maintenance work time. (S40). At this time, the schedule update unit 109 sends to the job schedule management system 130 a schedule change instruction including information on the job ID of the job whose schedule time has been changed and the scheduled time after the change. In response to this instruction, the job schedule management system 130 changes the scheduled time of the job corresponding to the job ID in the job schedule 132.

  By S40, an empty time frame having a length necessary for the maintenance work is secured. The maintenance plan processing unit 106 proceeds to S26 of the procedure of FIG. 9, and sets the maintenance work schedule to be performed in the empty time frame.

  In the procedures of FIGS. 9 and 10 described above, the scheduled job time is changed only when a sufficient free time cannot be secured unless the scheduled time of the existing job is changed. The impact on the schedule is kept to a minimum.

  A maintenance work schedule setting pattern according to the processes shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 exemplifies several typical cases regarding the setting status of the scheduled time of a job group in a job schedule of a printer, and how maintenance work schedules are set in each case. Show. In FIG. 11, the flow of time is from left to right.

  In FIG. 11, jobs a-1, a-2, b, etc. indicate the scheduled times for executing individual print jobs, and groups A, B, C, etc. indicate the scheduled times of job groups corresponding to orders. For example, the group A is composed of two jobs a-1 and a-2 which are division results of one order. Group B is composed of one job b. In this example, the order is managed as one job without being divided.

  In the case (a) shown in FIG. 11, the execution deadline of the maintenance work is within the free time frame, and the continuous free time between the execution deadline and the end time of the job group A immediately before that is to cope with the sign. The maintenance work is longer than the maintenance time. In this case, the scheduled time for the maintenance work is determined so that the execution deadline becomes the end time of the maintenance work within the free time.

  In case (a), the maintenance work execution deadline is within the free time frame, but the free time between the execution deadline and the end time of the job group A immediately before it is shorter than the maintenance work work time. Instead, the free time frame between job group A and the immediately preceding job group B is longer than the work time, and the free time frame is included in the maintenance possible period. In this case, a maintenance work schedule is set within an empty time frame between the job group A and the previous job group B.

  In the case (c), the maintenance work is performed within the scheduled time of the job group A, and the free time frame between the job group A and the previous job group B is longer than the work time. The time frame is included in the maintenance period. In this case, a maintenance work schedule is set within an empty time frame between the job group A and the previous job group B.

  In case (d), there is no continuous free time frame that is longer than the maintenance work time within the maintenance possible period. In this case, in the illustrated example, the scheduled time of job group A is delayed to expand the vacant time frame with the previous job group B, and the maintenance work schedule is set within the expanded vacant time frame. ing.

  As described above, in the processing procedure shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, since a maintenance work schedule is not set between the start time and end time of one job group, a plurality of print units belonging to the same order are set. Is not divided before and after maintenance work.

  Now, after a maintenance work schedule for dealing with a certain sign is set, another sign may be detected before the maintenance work is performed. In such a case, the maintenance management apparatus 100 sets a maintenance work schedule for coping with a sign detected later so that it does not overlap with a maintenance work schedule that has already been set according to another sign.

  For this reason, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 performs not only the execution schedule of the print job group registered in the job schedule 132 but also the maintenance schedule in the processing (procedures of FIGS. 9 and 10) for setting the scheduled maintenance work time. The maintenance work schedule registered in 114 is also taken into consideration. That is, the maintenance plan processing unit 106 acquires the job schedule 132 and the maintenance schedule 114 in S10 of the procedure of FIG. In steps S22 and S28 of the procedure of FIG. 9 and steps S30 and S34 of FIG. 10, a continuous free time that does not belong to any scheduled time of the print job or the maintenance work is acquired as a free time frame. Further, in S32 of FIG. 10, it is checked whether or not the vacant time frame is equal to or longer than the maintenance work time by attempting to change one or more job groups before and after the vacant time frame and the scheduled maintenance time. In the maintenance schedule 114, for example, when the maintenance work execution deadline (obtained in S12) is set as an attribute for the maintenance work execution schedule, and the attempt is made to change the scheduled maintenance work time, the schedule Limit the change so that the end time of the time does not come after the due date for the maintenance work.

  In addition, when the scheduled maintenance work time is changed, the maintenance worker's schedule needs to be changed. To avoid this, the scheduled maintenance work time may not be changed.

  The embodiment described above is merely an example of a system that embodies the present invention. Various modifications and improvements are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

  Further, the maintenance management apparatus 100, the job schedule management system 130, and the sign detection system 140 exemplified above may be realized, for example, by causing a general-purpose computer to execute a program representing processing of each functional module of the apparatus. . The computer referred to here includes, for example, a microprocessor such as a CPU, a memory (primary storage) such as a random access memory (RAM) and a read only memory (ROM), an HDD (hard disk drive), and an SSD (solid state drive). ), A secondary storage controller for controlling secondary storage such as a flash memory, various I / O (input / output) interfaces, a network interface for controlling connection to a wireless or wired network, etc. via, for example, a bus Connected to each other. In addition, various standards such as a disk drive and a flash memory for reading and / or writing to a portable disk recording medium such as a CD, a DVD, and a Blu-ray disk are connected to the bus via, for example, an I / O interface. A memory reader / writer for reading from and / or writing to the nonvolatile recording medium may be connected. A program in which the processing content of each functional module exemplified above is described is stored in a secondary storage device such as a flash memory via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication means such as a network, and the computer To be installed. The program stored in the secondary storage device is read into the RAM and executed by a microprocessor such as a CPU, thereby realizing the functional module group exemplified above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Maintenance management apparatus, 102 Predictive information acquisition part, 104 Schedule information acquisition part, 106 Maintenance plan process part, 107 Maintenance possible period determination part, 108 Job grouping part, 109 Schedule update part, 110 Storage device, 112 Maintenance execution condition table , 114 maintenance schedule, 120 printer, 122 control unit, 124 counter, 126 sensor, 130 job schedule management system, 132 job schedule, 134 order correspondence information, 140 sign detection system.

Claims (7)

Correspondence acquisition means for acquiring information on the correspondence between a print order and one or more print units corresponding to the print order;
Schedule acquisition means for acquiring information on the scheduled execution time of each printing unit in the printer;
When a sign of an event that requires maintenance work of the printer is detected, the scheduled maintenance work execution time corresponding to the event indicated by the sign is within the free time that does not correspond to the scheduled execution time of any printing unit. A maintenance schedule setting means for setting the maintenance work schedule time to not be set between scheduled execution times of a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order indicated in the correspondence information. Maintenance schedule setting means,
A maintenance management device comprising: The maintenance schedule setting means does not correspond to the scheduled execution time of maintenance work corresponding to the sign detected for the printer, and does not correspond to the scheduled execution time of any printing unit indicated in the processing schedule information, and the printer Set within the free time that does not correspond to the scheduled maintenance time of any maintenance work that has already been set,
The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 1. The schedule acquisition means acquires a scheduled execution time of a print unit scheduled to be processed by the printer and another printer corresponding to the same print order as the print unit scheduled to be processed by the printer in which the sign is detected,
The maintenance schedule setting means executes each processing unit scheduled to be processed by the printer and another printer corresponding to the same print order as the scheduled execution time of the printing unit scheduled to be processed by the printer in which the sign is detected. Control not to set the scheduled maintenance time between scheduled times,
The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The maintenance schedule setting means obtains information on the predicted occurrence time of the event indicated by the sign, and the work time required for the maintenance work before the maintenance work execution deadline determined based on the predicted occurrence time Setting the scheduled maintenance work execution time within a free time closest to the execution deadline among consecutive free times having a length equal to or longer than
The maintenance management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The maintenance schedule setting means searches for a free time for setting the scheduled operation time of the maintenance work from a maintenance possible period from the execution deadline of the maintenance work to a predetermined length.
The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: The maintenance schedule setting means changes the scheduled execution time of one or more printing units when a continuous free time having a length equal to or longer than the length of the work time required for the maintenance work is not found within the maintenance possible period. To try to form a continuous free time having a length equal to or longer than the work time required for the maintenance work within the maintenance possible period,
The maintenance management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: Computer
A correspondence acquisition means for acquiring information on a correspondence between a print order and one or more print units corresponding to the print order;
Schedule acquisition means for acquiring information on the scheduled execution time of each printing unit in the printer,
When a sign of an event that requires maintenance work of the printer is detected, the scheduled maintenance work execution time corresponding to the event indicated by the sign is within the free time that does not correspond to the scheduled execution time of any printing unit. A maintenance schedule setting means for setting the maintenance work schedule time to not be set between scheduled execution times of a plurality of print units corresponding to the same print order indicated in the correspondence information. Maintenance schedule setting means,
Program to function as.

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