JP2016099807A - License management server, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a license management server, method, and program, which facilitate management of licenses for managing maintenance of a number of image forming devices residing at a client site.SOLUTION: A license management server includes; a license management DB 17b that stores information on a license for performing remote maintenance and the like on one or more image forming devices installed at a client site; a group management DB 17a that stores information on a group representing an organization with a contract to obtain the license and a group type indicative of a type of the group; a group identification unit 11a that extracts the group from the group management DB 17a; and a license management unit 11b that determines a group type of the extracted group and provides the extracted group with the license based on the determined group type.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a license management server, a license management method, and a license management program for managing a license for performing maintenance or the like of an image forming apparatus.

  Manufacturers of copiers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs), printers, etc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as image forming devices) manage various types of image forming devices installed at customer sites. I've been devised.

  For example, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, a customer's image forming apparatus is not managed at each service store, but is centrally managed by including a center, including the usage status of the image forming apparatus and its peripheral devices. Provide information to the service store to manage maintenance schedules. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the man-hours for managing customer equipment at the service store.

  Further, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, customer information and product information of a customer who has traded a product at a store are acquired by a server, and another customer having the same attribute as that of the traded customer is extracted and extracted. The product information of the traded product is provided from the server to the dealer in charge of the customer.

JP 2002-269460 A JP 2004-272387 A

  Conventionally, a license contract for maintaining and managing an image forming apparatus installed at a customer site is concluded for each image forming apparatus, and each image forming apparatus has a unique license.

  Therefore, the management of licenses is complicated and complicated at sales companies, sales agents, sales agents, etc. that manage and maintain a large number of image forming apparatuses at customer sites.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a license management server, a license management method, and a license management program that can easily manage licenses for maintaining and managing a large number of image forming apparatuses at customer sites. There is.

  To achieve the above object, a license management server according to an aspect of the present invention stores a license management DB that stores information related to a license for performing remote maintenance or the like for one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site. A group management DB that stores information representing an organization that concludes a contract for obtaining the license and a group type that indicates the type of the group, a group recognition unit that extracts the group from the group management DB, and an extraction A license management unit that determines the group type of the determined group and grants the license based on the determined group type. Therefore, it is possible to easily manage licenses for maintaining and managing a large number of image forming apparatuses at customer sites.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management server according to an aspect of the present invention, the group may have a tree structure.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management server according to an aspect of the present invention, the hierarchy in the tree structure may be configured to represent a regional inclusion relationship.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the license management method according to an aspect of the present invention, the group recognition unit obtains a license for performing remote maintenance or the like on one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site. Extracting the group from the group management DB storing the group representing the organization and the group type information indicating the group type, and the license management unit determines the group type of the extracted group, The license is granted based on the determined group type.

  To achieve the above object, a license management program according to an aspect of the present invention is an organization that concludes a contract for obtaining a license for performing remote maintenance or the like for one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site. The group is extracted from the group management DB storing information indicating the group and the group type indicating the type of the group, the group type of the extracted group is determined, and based on the determined group type, A computer is caused to execute a procedure for granting the license.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily manage licenses for maintaining and managing a large number of image forming apparatuses at customer sites.

1 is an overall view for explaining an overall image of an environment in which a license management server according to an embodiment of the present invention operates. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the concept of a group. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of a group. It is a figure for demonstrating the grant method of the license by the license management server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram in case the license management server 10 is comprised by a general computer. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of a license grant process in the license management server 10.

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

[overall structure]
First, an overview of an environment in which a license management server according to an embodiment of the present invention operates will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall view for explaining an overall image of an environment in which a license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention operates.

  The image forming apparatuses 40 installed in customers X, Y, and Z that use the image forming apparatus 40 are managed remotely from the management cloud 1 via a network.

  The management cloud 1 includes a configuration server 30 that manages the configuration of the image forming apparatus 40 of each customer, a maintenance server 20 that supports maintenance of the image forming apparatus 40 of each customer, and maintenance in each of the image forming apparatuses 40 of each customer. A license management server 10 that manages licenses is included.

  A cloud administrator who manages the management cloud 1 performs management by accessing each server on the management cloud 1 from the management terminal 50.

  A serviceman (may include a salesman) of the sales company A and the sales agent B becomes a user of the management cloud 1 and manages via the service terminal 60 in order to perform maintenance of the image forming apparatus 40 of each customer. Access to the cloud 1 and perform remote maintenance of the image forming apparatus 40 installed at each customer site.

  The overall image of the environment in which the license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention operates has been described above.

[group]
Next, the concept of groups will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the concept of groups.

  In the license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the concept of a group (represented by Group 1 to Group 7 in the figure) is used to manage licenses for performing maintenance or the like of the image forming apparatus 40. .

  Groups are hierarchized in a tree structure.

  A group is a unit to which a license is granted and basically assumes one independent company organization.

  The purpose of establishing a group is that the license is set based on a contract between companies, and the contract content (which function of the management cloud 1 can be used) is appropriate as the license management unit This is because it is reflected in

  As other purposes for providing a delegation group, the number of licenses becomes enormous due to license grants in units of image forming apparatuses 40 or in units of users, or the image forming apparatus 40 or users are frequently added to or deleted from the management cloud 1. If it is done, it can also be prevented that the number of man-hours for management increases.

  The hierarchy in the vertical direction in FIG. 2 basically represents the inclusion relation of the target area.

  For example, when Group1 covers the whole of Europe, Group2 targets only the UK, Group3 targets only France, and Group4 targets only Germany.

  Group 5 covers only Scotland in the UK, Group 6 covers only England, and Group 7 covers only Bavaria in Germany.

  The group type of Group 1 is A type, the group type of Group 2 and Group 4 is B type, and the group type of Group 3, Group 5, Group 6, and Group 7 is C type.

  The group concept has been described above.

  In the above description, the vertical hierarchy in the figure is a regional inclusion relationship, but is not limited thereto, and may be an inclusion relationship of functions of a management cloud permitted to be used by a contract. That is, it is permitted to use more functions at higher levels.

[Specific examples of groups]
Next, specific examples of groups will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of a group.

  For example, the group in the uppermost layer is sales company A, and has the group type “sales company”. Immediately below, there are B company whose group type is “sales agent”, C company whose group type is “sales agent”, and D company whose group type is “sales agent”. .

  The sales agent company B is under the control of company E and company F whose group type is “sales agent”.

  Sales agent company D has company G, whose group type is “sales agent”, under its control.

  The specific example of the group has been described above. It should be noted that the hierarchy of the tree structure may be in a regional inclusion relationship, similar to that described in the group concept section.

[License unit]
Next, a license grant method by the license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a license grant method by the license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The license management server 10 grants a license based on the group type of the group.

  For example, a license that can use the functions X, Y, and Z of the management cloud 1 is given to the company A whose group type is “sales company”.

  The licenses that can use the functions X and Y of the management cloud 1 are given to the B company and the D company whose group type is “sales agency”.

  The licenses that can use the function X of the management cloud 1 are given to the C company, the E company, the F company, and the G company whose group type is “sales agent”.

  As described above, in the license management server 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the type of license to be assigned for each group type can be switched, it is possible to easily control the function for each group type.

  Heretofore, the license grant method by the license management server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described.

[License Management Server Configuration]
Next, the configuration of the license management server 10 will be described. The license management server 10 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 5 shows a configuration diagram when the license management server 10 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the license management server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an operation input unit 14, a communication unit 15, a display unit 16, And a storage unit 17, and these blocks are connected via a bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, various data, a group management DB (Database) 17a for managing groups, and a license management DB 17b for managing licenses.

  The group management DB 17a stores information for managing groups.

  The license management DB 17b stores information for managing the assigned license.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the maintenance server 20, the configuration server 30, the image forming apparatus 40, the management terminal 50, and the service terminal 60.

  The CPU 11 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 14 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 or the storage unit 17 in the RAM 13, and the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 17 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 11 will be described.

  Functional blocks implemented in the CPU 11 of the license management server 10 are a group recognition unit 11a and a license management unit 11b.

  The group recognition unit 11a searches the group management DB 17a to find a group.

  The license management unit 11b uses the license management unit 11b to determine the group type of the group found by the group recognition unit 11a, and grants a license corresponding to the group type based on the group type.

  The configuration of the license management server 10 has been described above.

[Process flow]
Next, the flow of the license grant process in the license management server 10 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the license grant process in the license management server 10.

  First, the group recognition unit 11a searches the group management DB 17a to find a group (step S1).

  Next, the license management unit 11b determines the group type of the group found in step S1 (step S2).

  Next, the license management unit 11b grants a license to the discovered group based on the determined group type (step S3). The fact that the license has been granted is stored in the license management DB 17b.

  The flow of the license grant process in the license management server 10 has been described above.

  In the above description, the group is unconditionally found from the group management DB 17a, and then the license is assigned to the found group. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and whether the group is licensed in the group management DB 17a. It may be configured that information on whether or not is stored in advance, the group recognizing unit 11a extracts only the group to which the license has not been granted from the group management DB 17a, and the license managing unit 11b grants the license.

[Additional notes]
In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 ... management cloud 10 ... license management server 11 ... CPU
11a ... Group recognition unit 11b ... License management unit 12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Operation input part 15 ... Communication part 16 ... Display part 17 ... Memory | storage part 17a ... Group management DB
17b ... License management DB
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 18 ... Bus 20 ... Maintenance server 30 ... Configuration server 40 ... Image forming apparatus 50 ... Management terminal 60 ... Service terminal

Claims (5)

A license management DB storing information related to a license for performing remote maintenance or the like for one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site;
A group management DB storing information on a group representing an organization that concludes a contract for obtaining the license and a group type indicating the type of the group;
A group recognition unit for extracting the group from the group management DB;
A license management server comprising: a license management unit that determines the group type of the extracted group and assigns the license based on the determined group type. The license management server according to claim 1,
The group is a hierarchical license management server. The license management server according to claim 2,
The hierarchy in the tree structure is a license management server that represents regional inclusion relationships. A group that represents an organization that concludes a contract for obtaining a license for performing remote maintenance or the like for one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site, and a group type information that represents the type of the group Extracting the group from the group management DB storing
A license management method, wherein a license management unit determines the group type of the extracted group, and grants the license based on the determined group type. Group management that stores a group representing an organization for signing a contract for obtaining a license for performing remote maintenance on one or more image forming apparatuses installed at a customer site, and group type information indicating the type of the group Extracting the group from the DB;
A license management program for determining a group type of the extracted group and causing a computer to execute a procedure for assigning the license based on the determined group type.

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