JP2016066237A - Information processing device and information processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device that makes an apparatus in which failure has occurred and an apparatus possibly used for substitute belong to the same group when grouping apparatuses.SOLUTION: In an information processing device, acquisition means acquires operation information representing operation of an apparatus when the failure of the apparatus is detected. Identification means identifies other apparatus whose variation in operation information has a negative correlation relationship with variation in the operation information acquired by the acquisition means. Classification means classifies the apparatus identified by the identification means and the apparatus in which the failure has occurred into a same group.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing program.

  Patent Document 1 provides an information processing apparatus that proposes an optimum arrangement of a printer device, a copying apparatus, and a scanner device on a network, an optimum arrangement proposal system, an optimum arrangement proposal method, an optimum arrangement proposal program, and a recording medium. The optimal layout proposal system obtains performance values of a plurality of printing devices connected to the network, and determines a recommended device print number recommended for the printing device based on the performance values and a predetermined coefficient. Calculating the device total actual print number of the printing device, calculating the device print status value for the performance value of the printing device based on the device recommended print number and the device total actual print number, and the device print status A value is compared with a predetermined threshold value set in advance to determine a usage level of the printing apparatus with respect to the performance value, and the network of the printing apparatus is determined based on the usage level It is disclosed that propose the optimum placement in.

  Patent Document 2 has an object to provide a technology in which each printer forms a group independently, and a plurality of printers can execute the following processes: (1) A group using broadcast Sending the creation information, (2) storing the leader flag “1” in response to the fact that the group creation information has been sent by itself, and (3) the member in response to the other printer sending the group creation information. Remember the flag “1”. (4) It is disclosed that management information acquisition processing is executed when the leader flag “1” is stored, and (5) management information provision processing is executed when the member flag “1” is stored. ing.

JP 2009-169664 A JP 2008-250403 A

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing program in which when a device is grouped, a failed device and a device that may be used as a substitute for the device are grouped together. The purpose is to provide.

The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a failure of a device is detected, an acquisition unit that acquires operation information indicating the operation of the device, and an operation information having a negative correlation with a change in the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit An information processing system comprising: a specifying unit that identifies another device that has a fluctuation of a class; and a classifying unit that classifies the device specified by the specifying unit and the failed device into the same group. Device.

  The invention according to claim 2 further comprises a creation means for creating a report on devices belonging to the group for each group according to a predetermined rule. Device.

  The invention of claim 3 belongs to a group different from the group to which the first device belongs when the remaining life of the consumable of the first device is less than or less than a predetermined threshold. And an extraction means for extracting a second device of the same model as the first device, and a control for controlling the installation location of the second device so as to be stored in correspondence with the first device. And an output means for controlling to output the installation location of the second device stored in correspondence with the first device when the consumable of the first device is exhausted. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.

  In the invention of claim 4, when the computer detects a failure of the device, the acquisition means for acquiring the operation information indicating the operation of the device, and the negative correlation with the fluctuation of the operation information acquired by the acquisition means Information processing for functioning as identification means for identifying other devices that have fluctuations in operating information, and for classifying the devices identified by the identification means and the devices in which the failure has occurred into the same group It is a program.

  According to the information processing apparatus of claim 1, when a device is grouped, a device in which a failure has occurred and a device that may be used as a substitute for the device can be grouped. .

  According to the information processing apparatus of the second aspect, it is possible to create a report regarding devices belonging to the group for each group.

  According to the information processing apparatus of the third aspect, when the consumable of the first device is exhausted, the installation location of the second device belonging to a different group from the first device can be output.

  According to the information processing program of claim 4, when a device is grouped, a device in which a failure has occurred and a device that may be used as a substitute for the device can be grouped. .

It is a conceptual module block diagram about the structural example of this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the system configuration example using this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a data structure of a failure monitoring table. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure example of an office / device table. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a data structure of an operation information table. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure example of a group table. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a data structure of an analysis report creation table. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a data structure of a consumables management table. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the computer which implement | achieves this Embodiment.

Hereinafter, an example of a preferred embodiment for realizing the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a conceptual module configuration diagram of a configuration example of the present embodiment.
The module generally refers to components such as software (computer program) and hardware that can be logically separated. Therefore, the module in the present embodiment indicates not only a module in a computer program but also a module in a hardware configuration. Therefore, the present embodiment is a computer program for causing these modules to function (a program for causing a computer to execute each procedure, a program for causing a computer to function as each means, and a function for each computer. This also serves as an explanation of the program and system and method for realizing the above. However, for the sake of explanation, the words “store”, “store”, and equivalents thereof are used. However, when the embodiment is a computer program, these words are stored in a storage device or stored in memory. It is the control to be stored in the device. Modules may correspond to functions one-to-one, but in mounting, one module may be configured by one program, or a plurality of modules may be configured by one program, and conversely, one module May be composed of a plurality of programs. The plurality of modules may be executed by one computer, or one module may be executed by a plurality of computers in a distributed or parallel environment. Note that one module may include other modules. Hereinafter, “connection” is used not only for physical connection but also for logical connection (data exchange, instruction, reference relationship between data, etc.). “Predetermined” means that the process is determined before the target process, and not only before the process according to this embodiment starts but also after the process according to this embodiment starts. In addition, if it is before the target processing, it is used in accordance with the situation / state at that time or with the intention to be decided according to the situation / state up to that point. When there are a plurality of “predetermined values”, they may be different values, or two or more values (of course, including all values) may be the same. In addition, the description having the meaning of “do B when it is A” is used in the meaning of “determine whether or not it is A and do B when it is judged as A”. However, the case where it is not necessary to determine whether or not A is excluded.
In addition, the system or device is configured by connecting a plurality of computers, hardware, devices, and the like by communication means such as a network (including one-to-one correspondence communication connection), etc., and one computer, hardware, device. The case where it implement | achieves by etc. is included. “Apparatus” and “system” are used as synonymous terms. Of course, the “system” does not include a social “mechanism” (social system) that is an artificial arrangement.
In addition, when performing a plurality of processes in each module or in each module, the target information is read from the storage device for each process, and the processing result is written to the storage device after performing the processing. is there. Therefore, description of reading from the storage device before processing and writing to the storage device after processing may be omitted. Here, the storage device may include a hard disk, a RAM (Random Access Memory), an external storage medium, a storage device via a communication line, a register in a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and the like.

The information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment performs grouping of devices (hereinafter also referred to as devices). As shown in the example of FIG. 1, a device information collection module 105, a device related information storage module 110, a group processing module 115, a report rule storage module 135, a report creation module 140, and a consumables management module 150. Examples of the device include an information home appliance, a copier, a fax machine, a scanner, a printer, and a multifunction machine (an image processing apparatus having any two or more functions such as a scanner, a printer, a copier, and a fax machine). Further, consumables may be used. In the case of an image processing apparatus, examples of consumables include paper, toner (or ink cartridge), and a drum.
Further, the information processing apparatus 100 may be configured as a remote monitoring system for a plurality of devices.

  The device information collection module 105 is connected to the device related information storage module 110. The device information collection module 105 acquires operation information indicating the operation of the device from the device. For example, the device information collection module 105 receives device daily meter information, out-of-toner information, and information when a failure occurs. The received information is stored in the device related information storage module 110.

  The device related information storage module 110 is connected to the device information collection module 105, the group processing module 115, the report creation module 140, and the consumables management module 150. The device related information storage module 110 stores information received by the device information collection module 105. Moreover, you may memorize | store the information regarding the installation place etc. of a device. For example, a failure monitoring table 400, an office / device table 500, an operation information table 600, and the like are stored.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the failure monitoring table 400. The failure monitoring table 400 includes a monitoring ID column 410, a device ID column 420, a business office code column 430, a failure occurrence date / time column 440, and a monitoring end date / time column 450. The monitoring ID column 410 stores information (monitoring ID: IDentification) for uniquely identifying monitoring information in the present embodiment. The device ID column 420 stores information (device ID) for uniquely identifying a device in the present embodiment. The establishment code column 430 is an establishment where the device is installed, and stores information (an establishment code) for uniquely identifying the establishment in the present embodiment. It is desirable that the office codes are classified at the building level. The failure occurrence date and time column 440 stores the date and time when failure occurred in the device (may be year, month, day, hour, minute, second, second or less, or a combination thereof). The monitoring end date and time column 450 stores the end date and time for monitoring the failure in the device. For example, two weeks after the occurrence of a failure may be set as the monitoring period. When a failure occurs in the device, information is recorded in the failure monitoring table 400 by the device related information storage module 110.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the business office / device table 500. The office / device table 500 includes an office code column 510, a device ID column 520, a model column 530, and an installation location column 540. The business office code column 510 stores business office codes. The device ID column 520 stores a device ID. The model column 530 stores the model of the device with the device ID. The installation location column 540 stores the installation location of the device. The office / device table 500 is preset. It is corrected when a new device is installed or when the installation location of the device is moved.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the operation information table 600. The operation information table 600 has a monitoring ID column 610, a device ID column 620, an acquisition date / time column 630, and a total meter column 640. The monitoring ID column 610 stores a monitoring ID. This corresponds to the monitoring ID column 410 of the failure monitoring table 400. The device ID column 620 stores a device ID. The acquisition date / time column 630 stores the date / time when the monitoring information in the device is acquired. The Total meter column 640 stores a Total meter as an example of operation information (monitoring information). Here, the total meter is, for example, the number of output sheets when the device is a multifunction peripheral or the like, and is acquired as monitoring information each time output is performed. Therefore, the occurrence of this monitoring information means that the device is operating.
For example, specifically, when an entry is added as an entry to the failure monitoring table 400 (if a failure occurs), a failure occurs for each monitoring ID (monitoring ID column 410) in the failure monitoring table 400 and every day within the monitoring period. The operation information table 600 stores the output number of each device in the office where the device is installed. Further, not only the occurrence of a failure as a trigger, but also the daily output number of each device may be stored in the operation information table 600.

The group processing module 115 includes a device failure detection module 120, an operation information acquisition module 125, and a group classification module 130, and is connected to the device related information storage module 110.
The device failure detection module 120 detects a device failure. For example, it may be detected that the failure information is stored in the failure monitoring table 400 in the device related information storage module 110, or the occurrence of the failure information from the device may be detected as an interrupt. Good. Here, the failure includes at least a state where the device is stopped. The “stopped state” includes not only the state where the device is stopped due to the occurrence of a mechanical or electrical trouble, but also the state where the function of the device cannot be exhibited due to the absence of consumables. For example, when the device is a multi-function device, the toner is used up. Of course, the device ID for identifying the device in which the failure has occurred and the date and time of occurrence of the failure are also detected. Although the failure detection may be performed in real time, the occurrence of a past failure may be detected.
When the device failure detection module 120 detects a device failure, the operation information acquisition module 125 acquires operation information indicating the operation of the device. Specifically, the operation information corresponding to the device ID of the device in which the failure detected by the device failure detection module 120 has occurred is acquired from the operation information table 600. Also obtains operation information before and after the date and time when the failure occurred.

The group classification module 130 identifies other devices that have fluctuations in the operation information that has a negative correlation with the fluctuations in the operation information acquired by the operation information acquisition module 125. Then, the identified device and the device in which the failure has occurred are classified into the same group. Here, the period for detecting the “change in operation information” is a period including at least the date and time when the failure occurred. The length of the period may be a predetermined period.
Here, in addition to what will be described later with reference to the examples of FIGS. 7 to 9, the “negative correlation” may include a change in which the operating status has increased from the date and time when the failure occurred. That is, when a failure occurs in a device, the use of the device is reduced (in the case of a failure that stops, the device does not operate after the failure occurs). In general, other devices will be used instead. In the above example, when the device is a multifunction device, when the multifunction device A stops, the number of output sheets of the multifunction device A becomes zero, and the other multifunction device B is used as an alternative, and the number of output sheets of the multifunction device B. Increases more than usual. The multifunction device A and the multifunction device B should be grouped. That is, there is a high possibility that the same group member (in addition to the group as a formal organization, a group of a plurality of persons having a so-called loose relationship is also included in the group) is used.

The report rule storage module 135 is connected to the report creation module 140. The report rule storage module 135 stores a predetermined rule regarding report creation. For example, an analysis report creation table 1200 is stored. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the analysis report creation table 1200. The analysis report creation table 1200 includes an event column 1210, a parameter column 1220, a calculation logic column 1230, and a valid / invalid column 1240. The event column 1210 stores events. An event is an event that occurs in a device, and is an event that is a starting point for creating a report. The parameter column 1220 stores analysis parameters (variables) for creating a report. For example, specifically, the parameter is registered as a character string in JSON format with the variable name used in the calculation logic as a key and the XPath for extracting data as Value. The calculation logic column 1230 stores calculation logic. For example, specifically, the calculation logic is described in a script language such as JavaScript or BeanShell, and can refer to a parameter obtained by using a JSON key set as a parameter as a variable name. The valid / invalid column 1240 stores information indicating whether to use as a report.
The report creation module 140 is connected to the device related information storage module 110 and the report rule storage module 135. The report creation module 140 creates a report on devices belonging to the group for each group according to a predetermined rule stored in the report rule storage module 135. For example, specifically, after the group is determined by the group classification module 130, a rule in the analysis report creation table 1200 is used by using a device usage status notification (for example, the operation information table 600 may be included). Then, create a report for each group.

  The consumable management module 150 is connected to the device related information storage module 110. The consumable management module 150 belongs to a group different from the group to which the first device belongs when the remaining life of the consumable of the first device becomes less than or less than a predetermined threshold. The second device, which is a model equivalent to the first device, is extracted. Next, the installation location of the second device is controlled so as to be stored in correspondence with the first device. Then, when the consumable of the first device is exhausted, control is performed so as to output the installation location of the second device stored corresponding to the first device. A detailed processing example will be described later using the examples of FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a system configuration example using the present embodiment.
The information processing apparatus 100, the device in Company A's B office 200, and the device in Company C's D office 210 are connected via a communication line 290, respectively. The information processing apparatus 100 remotely monitors the devices in the A company B office 200 and the C company D office 210. The information processing apparatus 100 may be part of the form of cloud computing.
Devices 200A, 200B, 200C, 200D, 200E, and 200F are installed in the A company B office 200. Devices 210A, 210B, 210C, 210D, 210E, 210F, and 210G are installed in Company C's D office 210. These devices transmit their operation information to the information processing apparatus 100. And it is used for every group.
For example, instead of selling a single device, it is required to make proposals to improve the efficiency of customer operations by providing a plurality of devices together in the form of a solution.
However, the current situation is that it is difficult to get into the business issues of customers.
For example, when making a proposal for these customers in units of a plurality of groups, a report created by the information processing apparatus 100 can be used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing example according to the present exemplary embodiment (group processing module 115).
In step S302, the device failure detection module 120 determines whether or not a failure has occurred in the device. If it has occurred, the process proceeds to step S304, and otherwise waits until it occurs.
In step S304, the operation information acquisition module 125 acquires operation information of a device in which a failure has occurred.
In step S306, the operation information acquisition module 125 identifies the target date from the operation information on the failure occurrence date.
In step S308, the operation information acquisition module 125 acquires the operation information on the target date of the device in the office where the failed device is installed.
In step S310, the group classification module 130 extracts devices that have a negative correlation with the transition of the operation information of the device in which the failure has occurred.
In step S312, the group classification module 130 sets the failed device and the device extracted in step S310 as the same group.

7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams illustrating processing examples according to the present embodiment. In particular, a specific example of processing after step S306 will be described.
For devices installed at the establishments registered in the failure monitoring table 400, for example, in the late-night batch processing, the establishment / device table 500 is used and included in the target establishments that are in the monitoring period. Meter information sent daily from the device to be read is read, and an operation information table 600 is generated.
Next, in order to exclude special situations where the number of output sheets is extremely small or suddenly increases, such as Saturdays, Sundays, and the end of the month, the number of output sheets for the entire office is set in advance on the day of the failure. A day that is a difference within a certain ratio (for example, 5%) is treated as a device group detection target day. In the example shown in FIG. 7, for each device, a graph is shown with the date on the horizontal axis and the number of output sheets on the vertical axis. The period filled in gray is a day other than the target day (in the above example, the difference in the number of output sheets (the difference in the number of output sheets on that day and the number of output sheets on the day of failure) falls within 5% of the number of output sheets on the day of failure occurrence. Day). The example shown in FIG. 8 is a graph excluding days other than the target day.
When it is determined that a certain day is a target day for the group classification process, the counter information is stored in the operation information table 600 (Total meter column 640).

Regarding the operation rate (number of output sheets) of a device in an office, when the operation rate drops for a certain device, the operation rate for other devices may increase. When the change amount is triggered by a failure, those having a negative correlation in the inclination tendency are collected as one group, a group ID is generated as the same group, and a group table 1000 is generated. In the example of FIG. 9, the device shown in FIG. 9A (device ID: NC100376-200210) and the device shown in FIG. 9B (device ID: NC100376-200444) are in the same group, and FIG. The device shown (device ID: NC100376-200379) and the device shown in FIG. 9E (device ID: NC100376-20090) are in the same group. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the group table 1000. The group table 1000 has an office code column 1010, a device ID column 1020, and a group ID column 1030. The office code column 1010 stores an office code. The device ID column 1020 stores a device ID. In the present embodiment, group ID column 1030 stores information (group ID) for uniquely identifying a group. That is, devices belonging to the same group have the same group ID.
Specifically, from the graph (operation information) shown in the example of FIG. 8, the slope of the graph (change in operation information) in the period after (or before) the occurrence of the failure is calculated. Devices that have opposite slopes are grouped together. Furthermore, the difference in the period (that is, the difference between the number of output decreased in the failed device and the number of output increased in the other device (substitute device)) is within a predetermined range. It is good also as conditions.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example according to the present exemplary embodiment (report creation module 140).
In step S1102, the report creation module 140 reads the analysis report creation table 1200.
In step S1104, the report creation module 140 determines whether or not an event that is the starting point of report creation has occurred. If it has occurred, the process proceeds to step S1106, and otherwise waits until it occurs.
In step S1106, the report creation module 140 acquires parameters of devices belonging to the target group according to the analysis report creation table 1200.
In step S1108, the report creation module 140 calculates values in the report according to the analysis report creation table 1200.
In step S1110, the report creation module 140 creates and outputs a report.

When an event is received from a device belonging to some group, each record for analysis is called from the event name in the analysis report creation table 1200 when the event is received. Then, the parameter column is read, and data is extracted as a parameter from event XML (extensible Markup Language) data according to the information of JSON.
The extracted parameter is embedded in the calculation formula of the content of the calculation logic column 1230, read by the script engine, and output results are grouped for each group and output as a report. Note that the script engine can be read by calling an external program by calling an external program, or by using a standard JavaScript processing engine such as Java (registered trademark). May be.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example according to the present exemplary embodiment (consumables management module 150).
In step S1302, the consumables management module 150 determines whether or not the remaining life of the consumables is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. If it is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step S1304. Waits until it falls below a predetermined threshold. Further, as an example of “when the remaining life of the consumables becomes less than or less than a predetermined threshold value”, a signal notifying that the life of the consumables is about to expire may be received from the device.
In step S1304, the consumable management module 150 extracts a device of a model that is a group different from the device A and is equivalent to the device A.

In step S1306, the consumables management module 150 extracts a device B that has a stock of consumables to be processed in the devices extracted in step S1304. For example, using the consumable management table 1400, the device B having the largest consumable stock is extracted. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the consumables management table 1400. The consumable item management table 1400 has a device ID column 1410, a consumable item A quantity column 1420, a consumable item B quantity column 1430, and a consumable item C quantity column 1440. The device ID column 1410 stores a device ID. The consumable item A quantity column 1420 stores the quantity of consumable item A stock in the device. The consumable item B quantity column 1430 stores the quantity of consumable item B stock in the device. The consumable item C quantity column 1440 stores the quantity of consumable item C stock in the device.
Further, the device B having a small number of output sheets may be selected.

In step S1308, the consumable management module 150 stores the installation location of the device B in association with the device A.
In step S1310, the consumable management module 150 determines whether or not the consumable that is the target of the device A has been exhausted. If there is no consumable, the process proceeds to step S1312, and otherwise waits.
In step S1312, the consumables management module 150 causes the device A to display a message including the location of the device B on the display of the device A.

Specifically, within the same establishment, the detection was made with a device (or the same model as the detected device) with a low output number (or usage frequency) within a predetermined period before the date of Yes in step S1302. A device belonging to a group different from the group to which the device belongs is specified, and the installation location (floor, location, etc.) where the device B exists is acquired from the office / device table 500.
Note that the device C (substitute device) in the same group as the device A that has become Yes in step S1302 until the consumable of the device A runs out and a new consumable is replaced (for example, the toner runs out and the toner is replaced. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the function from being disabled while replacing the function. Therefore, the location of devices in other groups is guided.
Then, the acquired location information of the device B is set for the device A, and the device A holds the location without displaying it. Originally, it is a principle to replenish the consumables of the device A, so that consumables of other devices are not easily used.
At the timing when the life of the consumable item comes, the device A notifies the information processing apparatus 100 that the consumable item has been exhausted. Then, the location of the device B or the device C is displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display provided in the device A. If it is urgently necessary, the message is sent to the location of device B. For example, the message “Use the next device (device C). Or the second-floor device (device B) has toner stock (consignment).” Is displayed.

  A hardware configuration example of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The configuration shown in FIG. 15 is configured by a personal computer (PC), for example, and shows a hardware configuration example including a data reading unit 1517 such as a scanner and a data output unit 1518 such as a printer.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1501 is the various modules described in the above-described embodiment, that is, the device information collection module 105, the group processing module 115, the device failure detection module 120, the operation information acquisition module 125, and the group classification module 130. The control unit executes processing according to a computer program describing an execution sequence of each module such as the report creation module 140 and the consumable management module 150.

  A ROM (Read Only Memory) 1502 stores programs used by the CPU 1501, calculation parameters, and the like. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 1503 stores programs used in the execution of the CPU 1501, parameters that change as appropriate during the execution, and the like. These are connected to each other by a host bus 1504 including a CPU bus or the like.

  The host bus 1504 is connected to an external bus 1506 such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect / Interface) bus via a bridge 1505.

  A keyboard 1508 and a pointing device 1509 such as a mouse are input devices operated by an operator. The display 1510 includes a liquid crystal display device or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), and displays various types of information as text or image information.

  An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 1511 includes a hard disk, drives the hard disk, and records or reproduces a program executed by the CPU 1501 and information. The hard disk stores device-related information, a failure monitoring table 400, an office / device table 500, an operation information table 600, a group table 1000, and the like. Further, various computer programs such as various other data processing programs are stored.

  The drive 1512 reads out data or a program recorded on a removable recording medium 1513 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, and the data or program is read out as an interface 1507 and an external bus 1506. , To the RAM 1503 connected via the bridge 1505 and the host bus 1504. The removable recording medium 1513 can also be used as a data recording area similar to the hard disk.

  The connection port 1514 is a port for connecting the external connection device 1515 and has a connection unit such as USB and IEEE1394. The connection port 1514 is connected to the CPU 1501 and the like via an interface 1507, an external bus 1506, a bridge 1505, a host bus 1504, and the like. The communication unit 1516 is connected to a communication line and executes data communication processing with the outside. The data reading unit 1517 is a scanner, for example, and executes document reading processing. The data output unit 1518 is, for example, a printer, and executes document data output processing.

  Note that the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 15 shows one configuration example, and the present embodiment is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 15, and the modules described in this embodiment are executed. Any configuration is possible. For example, some modules may be configured with dedicated hardware (for example, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.), and some modules are in an external system and connected via a communication line In addition, a plurality of systems shown in FIG. 15 may be connected to each other via communication lines so as to cooperate with each other. Further, it may be incorporated in a copying machine, a fax machine, a scanner, a printer, a multifunction machine (an image processing apparatus having any two or more functions such as a scanner, a printer, a copying machine, and a fax machine).

The program described above may be provided by being stored in a recording medium, or the program may be provided by communication means. In that case, for example, the above-described program may be regarded as an invention of a “computer-readable recording medium recording the program”.
The “computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded” refers to a computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded, which is used for program installation, execution, program distribution, and the like.
The recording medium is, for example, a digital versatile disc (DVD), which is a standard established by the DVD Forum, such as “DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM,” and DVD + RW. Standard “DVD + R, DVD + RW, etc.”, compact disc (CD), read-only memory (CD-ROM), CD recordable (CD-R), CD rewritable (CD-RW), Blu-ray disc ( Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc), magneto-optical disk (MO), flexible disk (FD), magnetic tape, hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable and rewritable read-only memory (EEPROM (registered trademark)) )), Flash memory, Random access memory (RAM) SD (Secure Digital) memory card and the like.
The program or a part of the program may be recorded on the recording medium for storage or distribution. Also, by communication, for example, a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wired network used for the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, or a wireless communication It may be transmitted using a transmission medium such as a network or a combination of these, or may be carried on a carrier wave.
Furthermore, the program may be a part of another program, or may be recorded on a recording medium together with a separate program. Moreover, it may be divided and recorded on a plurality of recording media. Further, it may be recorded in any manner as long as it can be restored, such as compression or encryption.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Information processing apparatus 105 ... Device information collection module 110 ... Device related information storage module 115 ... Group processing module 120 ... Device failure detection module 125 ... Operation information acquisition module 130 ... Group classification module 135 ... Report rule storage module 140 ... Report creation Module 150 ... Consumables management module 290 ... Communication line

Claims (4)

An acquisition means for acquiring operation information indicating the operation of the device when a failure of the device is detected;
Identifying means for identifying other devices that have fluctuations in operating information having a negative correlation with fluctuations in operating information acquired by the acquiring means;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a classifying unit that classifies the device specified by the specifying unit and the device in which the failure has occurred into the same group. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a creating unit that creates a report on devices belonging to the group for each group according to a predetermined rule. When the remaining life of the consumable of the first device falls below or below a predetermined threshold, the first device belongs to a group different from the group to which the first device belongs, and the first device Extraction means for extracting a second device that is equivalent to the model;
Control means for controlling the installation location of the second device so as to be stored in correspondence with the first device;
An output means for controlling to output the installation location of the second device stored in correspondence with the first device when the consumable of the first device is exhausted; The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is characterized. Computer
An acquisition means for acquiring operation information indicating the operation of the device when a failure of the device is detected;
Identifying means for identifying other devices that have fluctuations in operating information having a negative correlation with fluctuations in operating information acquired by the acquiring means;
An information processing program for causing a device specified by the specifying unit and a device in which the failure has occurred to function as a classifying unit that classifies the device into the same group.

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