JP2017117307A - Information processing apparatus, program, information processing system, and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and a method of determining an application that is recommended to be used while reflecting information unique to a user.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus comprises: a first storage part, an acquisition part, a second storage part, a specification part, a determination part, and a transmission part. The first storage part stores association information in which one or more pieces of customer information are associated respectively with apparatus information. The acquisition part acquires, from the apparatus, a screen information request including the apparatus information and requesting screen information. The second storage part stores relationship information indicating the relationship between an application and the customer information and used for determination of use recommended applications. The specification part specifies the customer information corresponding to the apparatus information included in the screen information request. The determination part determines one or more use recommended applications on the basis of the customer information specified by the specification part and relationship information. The transmission part transmits, to the apparatus, screen information indicating the one or more use recommended applications determined by the determination part as a response to the screen information request.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a program, an information processing system, and an information processing method.

  In recent years, with the widespread use of various communication devices such as mobile phones and portable information terminals, development of applications that can be used on communication devices has become active. In order to promote the use of these applications, websites and applications that introduce applications and can be downloaded and installed on communication devices as they are have been developed.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying recommended information such as applications and contents on a terminal owned by a user.

  However, conventionally, there has been no configuration for determining an application recommended for use by reflecting user's unique information (customer information).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides an information processing apparatus, a program, an information processing system, and an information processing method capable of determining an application recommended for use by reflecting user-specific information. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus connected to one or more devices via a network, wherein each device information that identifies the device includes the device. A first storage unit that stores correspondence information that associates one or more pieces of customer information indicating unique information of a user to be used, and the device includes the device information and is recommended for use with the device A second acquisition unit for acquiring a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a recommended usage application, a relationship between the application and the customer information, and storing relationship information used for determining the recommended usage application A storage unit, a specifying unit for specifying the customer information corresponding to the device information included in the screen information request acquired by the acquiring unit, and a specifying unit by the specifying unit A determination unit that determines one or more recommended usage applications based on the received customer information and the relationship information; and one or more usage recommendations determined by the determination unit in response to the screen information request A transmission unit that transmits the screen information indicating an application to the device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to determine an application recommended to be used by reflecting user's unique information.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the server. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functions of the server. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the application information management module. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in the application information DB. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the control unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functions of the customer information management module. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the first information. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the second information. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functions of the recommended application information management module. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the third information. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the fourth information. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the fifth information. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functions of the license management module. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of the sixth information. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the seventh information. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of the eighth information. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the control unit. FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the application download management module. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a modification of the server. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the MFP. FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the MFP. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the operation unit. FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation screen. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of an application list screen. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of an installation instruction screen. FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of an installation confirmation screen. FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of the input screen. FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of information notified from the display control unit to the execution unit. FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating an example of the deletion instruction screen. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of the deletion confirmation screen. FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of information notified from the display control unit to the execution unit. FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system according to the embodiment. FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system according to the embodiment. FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system according to the embodiment. FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating an example of the application list screen. FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating an example of the rank value of each application. FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating an example of the ninth information. FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tenth information. FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrating an example of eleventh information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing apparatus, a program, an information processing system, and an information processing method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, as an example of a device included in the information processing system, a multifunction peripheral (MFP) that is an aspect of the image forming apparatus will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. Note that a multifunction peripheral is a device having a plurality of different functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, a printer function, and a fax function.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a system (information processing system) 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a server 2 and an MFP 4 connected to the server 2 via a network 3 such as the Internet. In the example of FIG. 1, only one MFP 4 is illustrated as an apparatus included in the system 1. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the number and types of apparatuses included in the system 1 are arbitrary. . For example, the system 1 may include a PC (Personal Computer) as a device.

  The server 2 is an example of an “information processing apparatus”, and displays screen information indicating a recommended usage application recommended for the MFP 4 in response to a request from the MFP 4 (hereinafter referred to as “recommended application”). Send to MFP4. Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the server 2 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the server 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the server 2 includes a CPU 301, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, a communication I / F 304, an input device 305, and a display device 306. The CPU 301 comprehensively controls the operation of the server 2. The ROM 302 is a non-volatile memory that stores various data such as programs. A RAM 303 is a volatile memory that functions as a work area (work area) for various processes executed by the CPU 301. The communication I / F 304 is an interface for connecting to the network 3. The input device 305 is a device that is used for input of an operation by a user, and includes, for example, a mouse or a keyboard. The display device 306 is a device that displays various types of information, and includes, for example, a liquid crystal display device.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the server 2 has. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the server 2 includes an application information management module 210, a customer information management module 220, a recommended application information management module 230, a license management module 240, and an application download management module 250. In the example of FIG. 3, only the modules related to this embodiment are illustrated, but the modules that the server 2 has are not limited to these.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the application information management module 210 has. The application information management module 210 includes a storage unit 211, a control unit 212, a screen providing unit 213, and a setting unit 214. In the example of FIG. 4, the functions related to the present embodiment are mainly exemplified, but the functions of the application information management module 210 are not limited to these.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the storage unit 211 includes an application information database (hereinafter referred to as “application information DB”) 307 and a user information database (hereinafter referred to as “user information DB”) 308.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in the application information DB 307. The application information DB 307 stores a plurality of application information. As shown in FIG. 5, each of the plurality of pieces of application information includes an application ID for identifying the application, a license key used for authentication of the use authority (license) of the application, and a version indicating the latest version of the application. This is information in which information, a display name of the application, and a message introducing the application are associated with each other. In the following description, a combination of a display name and a message may be referred to as “application description information” for describing an application.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the description of the storage unit 211 is continued. The user information DB 308 stores information necessary for authentication of a user who has an authority to perform an operation for setting by the setting unit 214 described later, for example.

  Next, functions of the control unit 212 will be described. In response to a request from the MFP 4, the control unit 212 performs control to transmit screen information indicating “recommended application” to the MFP 4. Here, the functions of the control unit 212 are provided by an application interface (API) on the server 2 side.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the control unit 212 has. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the control unit 212 includes an acquisition unit 261, a customer information request unit 262, a recommended application request unit 263, a generation unit 264, a transmission unit 265, and a setting control unit 266. ing.

  The acquisition unit 261 acquires a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a “recommended application” from the MFP 4 that includes a machine number (device information) for identifying the MFP 4.

  When the acquisition unit 261 acquires the screen information request, the customer information request unit 262 uses the MFP 4 identified by the machine number included in the acquired screen information request to the customer information management module 220 described later. Requesting one or more pieces of customer information indicating unique information of a user (which may be an individual or a corporation such as a company). In this example, the customer information request unit 262 includes, for the customer information management module 220 described later, one or more corresponding customer information including the machine number included in the screen information request acquired by the acquisition unit 261. Send request customer information request. And as a response with respect to a customer information request | requirement, one or more customer information is acquired from the customer information management module 220 mentioned later.

  Here, functions of the customer information management module 220 will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the customer information management module 220 has. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the customer information management module 220 includes a first storage unit 221 and a specifying unit 222.

  For each one or more machine numbers, the first storage unit 221 stores correspondence information in which one or more customer information indicating unique information of a user who uses the MFP 4 identified by the machine number is associated. In this example, the correspondence information is information in which a plurality of types of customer information are associated with each of one or more machine numbers, and is a combination of the first information shown in FIG. 8 and the second information shown in FIG. Although configured, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the correspondence information may have a configuration in which one type of customer information is associated with one or more machine numbers.

  As illustrated in FIG. 8, the first information is information in which a tenant ID that identifies a tenant (which may represent an environment in which the MFP 4 is used) is associated with a machine number that identifies the MFP 4. . As shown in FIG. 9, the second information includes tenant ID, customer name (may be an individual or a corporation such as a company), customer information indicating a market segment (market size), and a customer indicating an industry. This is information in which information is associated with customer information indicating the number of locations.

  The description of FIG. 7 is continued. When receiving the customer information request from the customer information request unit 262, the specifying unit 222 refers to the correspondence information and specifies one or more pieces of customer information corresponding to the machine number included in the received customer information request. More specifically, when receiving the customer information request from the customer information requesting unit 262, the specifying unit 222 first refers to the first information described above, and determines the machine number included in the received customer information request. Identify the corresponding tenant ID. Next, the specifying unit 222 refers to the second information described above, and includes three types of customer information corresponding to the specified tenant ID (in this example, customer information that represents a market segment, customer information that represents an industry, and a base) Identify customer information). Then, the identifying unit 222 returns the identified three customer information to the customer information requesting unit 262 as a response to the customer information request. In this example, the function for specifying customer information corresponding to the machine number included in the screen information request acquired by the acquisition unit 261 (“specification unit”) may be considered to correspond to the function of the specification unit 222. It may be considered that it corresponds to a combination of the function of the customer information request unit 262 and the function of the specifying unit 222. The above is the function of the customer information management module 220.

  The function of the specifying unit 222 described above can be realized by the CPU 301 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 302. Further, the first storage unit 221 described above can be realized by an auxiliary storage device such as the ROM 302 or the HDD.

  Returning to FIG. 6, the description of the function of the control unit 212 of the application information management module 210 will be continued. When one or more pieces of customer information are acquired by the customer information request unit 262, the recommended application request unit 263 requests a “recommended application” from the recommended application information management module 230 described later. In this example, the recommended application request unit 263 includes one or more pieces of customer information acquired by the customer information request unit 262 and requests a “recommended application” to the recommended application information management module 230 described later. Send app request. Then, as a response to the recommended app request, one or more “recommended apps” are acquired from the recommended app information management module 230 described later.

  Here, the functions of the recommended application information management module 230 will be described. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the recommended application information management module 230 has. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the recommended application information management module 230 includes a second storage unit 231 and a determination unit 232.

  The second storage unit 231 indicates the relationship between the application and customer information, and stores relationship information used for determining a “recommended app”. In this example, the relationship information is information in which the cumulative installation number is associated with each combination of a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications. In the present embodiment, the relationship information includes the third information shown in FIG. 11, the fourth information shown in FIG. 12, and the fifth information shown in FIG.

  The third information shown in FIG. 11 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing a market segment (customer information representing a market segment “KG”, customer information representing a market segment “MA”, and a market segment “L”. For each combination of multiple types of applications (app A, app B, app C, app D, app E, etc.) Information. For example, the cumulative installation number “45” associated with the combination of the app A and the customer information representing the market segment “MA” is the number of customers belonging to the market segment “MA” (the market segment “MA”). This indicates that “application A” has been installed 45 times in total in the MFP 4 of the customer corresponding to the customer information that represents. Others can be considered in the same way.

  The fourth information shown in FIG. 12 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing a business type (customer information representing a business type “medical”, customer information representing a business type “education”, and a customer representing a business type “construction”. Information, customer information representing an industry of “finance”, etc.) and information in which the cumulative installation number is associated with each combination of a plurality of types of applications (app A, app B, app C, app D, app E, etc.) It is. Further, the fifth information shown in FIG. 13 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing the number of bases (customer information representing the number of bases “1”, customer information representing the number of bases “2 to 10”, “10 or more "Customer information indicating the number of sites") and information on the cumulative installation number associated with each combination of multiple types of applications (application A, application B, application C, application D, application E, etc.).

  In this example, when the application is installed (it may be considered that the license state is valid), the recommended information management module 230 receives a count described later from the application information management module 210. Since the up-update request is sent, the recommended application information management module 230 increases the cumulative installation number of the corresponding application by one. For example, when the application A is installed by the customer's MFP 4 corresponding to a combination of customer information representing the market segment “MA”, customer information representing the industry “education”, and customer information representing the number of locations “1”. Is assumed. In this case, the cumulative installation number “45” associated with the combination of the app A and the customer information representing the market segment “MA” increases to “46”, indicating the business category of the app A and “education”. The cumulative install number “170” associated with the combination with the customer information increases to “171”, and the cumulative install number “170” associated with the combination of the app A and the customer information indicating the number of locations “1”. “160” increases to “161”.

  The description of FIG. 10 is continued. Upon receiving the recommended application request from the recommended application request unit 263, the determination unit 232 includes customer information included in the received recommended application request (can be considered as customer information specified by the “specification unit”). Based on the relationship information stored in the second storage unit 231, one or more “recommended apps” are determined. More specifically, the determination unit 232 selects an application with the largest cumulative installation number from among a plurality of types of applications associated with customer information included in the recommended application request received from the recommended application request unit 263. “Recommended apps”. In this example, for each of a plurality of types (three types in this example) of customer information included in the recommended application request received from the recommended application request unit 263, the determination unit 232 includes a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information. The application having the largest number of cumulative installations associated therewith is determined as the “recommended application”.

  Now, for example, three types of customer information included in the recommended application request received from the recommended application request unit 263 include customer information representing a market segment of “L”, customer information representing an industry of “construction”, and “3 ”Is assumed to be customer information indicating the number of locations.

  In this case, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described third information, and the associated cumulative installation number is selected from among a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information representing the market segment “L”. The most “application D” is determined as the “recommended application” corresponding to the customer information representing the market segment “L”. In addition, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fourth information, and has the largest cumulative installation number associated with a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information representing the industry type “construction”. “App B” is determined as a “recommended app” corresponding to customer information representing the industry “construction”. Further, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fifth information and corresponds to customer information indicating the number of bases “3” (corresponding to customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10” in this example). The “application D” having the largest number of associated cumulative installations is determined as the “recommended application” corresponding to the customer information representing the industry of “construction” from the plurality of types of applications attached.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 232 includes a plurality of types of customer information included in the recommended application request received from the recommended application request unit 263 (three types in this example) associated with the customer information. From the types of applications, a predetermined number of applications are selected in descending order of the associated cumulative installation number, and the selected predetermined number of applications are determined as “recommended applications”. In the above case, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described third information, and from among a plurality of types of applications associated with customer information representing the market segment “L”, the cumulative number of installations associated Three applications (application D, application B, application E) are selected in descending order, and each of the selected three applications is determined as a “recommended application”. At this time, the order can also be determined. Similarly, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fourth information, and the associated cumulative installation number is large from among a plurality of types of applications associated with customer information representing the type of industry “construction”. Three applications (application B, application E, application C) are selected in order, and each of the selected three applications is determined as a “recommended application”. At this time, the order can also be determined. Similarly, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fifth information, and adds customer information indicating the number of bases “3” (corresponding to customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10” in this example). Three applications (application D, application C, application E) are selected from the plurality of associated applications in descending order of the cumulative installation number associated with them, and each of the three selected applications is selected as “recommended”. Decide as “App”. At this time, the order can also be determined.

  Then, the determination unit 232 responds to the recommended application request as a “recommended application” for each of the three types of customer information (three types of customer information included in the recommended application request) determined as described above (this example). Then, three “recommended apps”) are returned to the recommended app request unit 263 for one piece of customer information. In this example, the function for determining one or more “recommended apps” based on the customer information specified by the “specification unit” and the relationship information (“determination unit”) corresponds to the function of the determination unit 232. It may be considered that it corresponds to the combination of the function of the recommended application request unit 263 and the function of the determination unit 232. The above is the function that the recommended application information management module 230 has.

  In the present embodiment, the above-described screen information request includes an application ID (an example of “application identification information”) that identifies an application that has been installed in the MFP 4 that requested the screen information request. If there is an application that matches the application identified by the application ID included in the screen information request among the one or more “recommended applications”, the recommended application request unit 263 excludes the application from the “recommended applications”. To do. The function of the recommended application request unit 263 corresponds to an “exclusion unit”.

  The function of the determination unit 232 described above can be realized by the CPU 301 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 302. Further, the second storage unit 231 described above can be realized by an auxiliary storage device such as the ROM 302 or the HDD.

  Returning to FIG. 6, the description of the function of the control unit 212 of the application information management module 210 will be continued. The generation unit 264 generates screen information indicating the “recommended application” acquired by the recommended application request unit 263. In this example, the generation unit 264 displays display information indicating “recommended apps” (three “recommended apps” for one customer information) for each of the three types of customer information acquired by the recommended app request unit 263. Screen information including information corresponding to each of the nine “recommended apps” in total (information that is the basis of the screen). In the present embodiment, the generation unit 264 specifies settings controlled by the setting control unit 266 described later to the screen providing unit 213 and stores application information corresponding to “recommended apps” (stored in the application information DB 307). Application information) is requested to generate screen information, and the screen providing unit 213 that receives this request generates screen information and passes it to the generating unit 264.

  The display information included in the screen information of the present embodiment includes application detailed information in which detailed information indicating the details of the “recommended application” is associated with each “recommended application”. The detailed information includes a license key, version information, application description information, and the like.

  An example of a command included in the screen information of the present embodiment is an installation instruction. The installation instruction indicates an instruction to install an application.

  The description of FIG. 6 is continued. The transmission unit 265 transmits the screen information generated by the generation unit 264 to the MFP 4 as a response to the screen information request. That is, the transmission unit 265 has a function of transmitting to the MFP 4 screen information indicating one or more “recommended apps” determined by the “determination unit” as a response to the screen information request.

  The setting control unit 266 causes the setting unit 214 to set layout information indicating application description information, arrangement of display components on the screen, and the like in accordance with a user operation.

  The functions of the control unit 212, the screen providing unit 213, and the setting unit 214 described above can be realized by the CPU 301 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 302. The storage unit 211 described above can be realized by an auxiliary storage device such as the ROM 302 or the HDD.

  Next, functions of the license management module 240 will be described. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the license management module 240 has. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the license management module 240 includes a storage unit 241, a control unit 242, and a license issuance unit 243. In the example of FIG. 14, the functions related to the present embodiment are mainly exemplified, but the functions of the license management module 240 are not limited to these.

  As illustrated in FIG. 14, the storage unit 241 includes a license information database (hereinafter referred to as “license information DB”) 244 and a user information database (hereinafter referred to as “user information DB”) 245.

  The license information DB 244 stores information related to the use authority (license) of the application in association with each of the plurality of applications. In the present embodiment, the license information DB 244 stores sixth information shown in FIG. 15, seventh information shown in FIG. 16, and eighth information shown in FIG.

  As illustrated in FIG. 15, the sixth information includes an application ID, a license type indicating a license type, and a license type indicating a license type (in this example, one of paid, free, and trial). This is information in which the expiration date indicating the period during which the license is valid is associated with the number of volumes indicating the number of licenses that can be granted. As shown in FIG. 16, the seventh information includes the license type, the license key, the number of used licenses indicating the number of used licenses, and the number of used licenses indicating the number of used licenses. Is information associated with each other. Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the eighth information is information in which a license key, a machine number, an expiration date, and valid state information indicating whether the license is valid or invalid are associated with each other. .

  Returning to FIG. 14, the description of the storage unit 241 is continued. The user information DB 245 stores information necessary for user authentication that can perform an operation for issuing a license, for example. This user information DB 245 may be common with the user information DB 308 of the application information management module 210.

  Next, functions of the control unit 242 will be described. Here, the function of the control unit 242 is provided by an application interface (API) on the server 2 side. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the control unit 242 has. As illustrated in FIG. 18, the control unit 242 includes a registration control unit 246, a license validation unit 247, and a license invalidation unit 248.

  The registration control unit 246 performs control to register information related to the license issued by the license issuing unit 243 in the storage unit 241 (license information DB 244). In the present embodiment, when the license issuing unit 243 receives an operation for selecting an application ID and a license type of an application for which a license is to be issued from a user who has an authority to perform an operation for issuing a license. A license key corresponding to the application ID and license type selected by the accepted operation is issued. The registration control unit 246 performs control to register information indicating the license key issued by the license issuing unit 243 and the license type corresponding to the license key in the license information DB 244. More specifically, when the registration control unit 246 receives a license key and a license type corresponding to the license key from the license issuing unit 243, the registration control unit 246 receives the license key in the seventh information shown in FIG. A new record including the license key and the license type (in this example, unit information for each row) is added.

  The license validation unit 247 performs control for validating the license in response to a request from the MFP 4. In this example, the license activation unit 247 stores at least the application ID, the license key, and the machine number, and stores the activation request for requesting the activation of the license from the MFP 4 and is stored in the license information DB 244. In the seventh information (see FIG. 16), it is confirmed whether or not the license key included in the received activation request exists. When the confirmation result is affirmative, the license validation unit 247 refers to the sixth information (see FIG. 15) stored in the license information DB 244 and associates it with the application ID included in the received validation request. Identify the expiration date given. Then, in the eighth information shown in FIG. 17, a new record in which the license key and machine number included in the received activation request, the specified expiration date, and the valid state information indicating validity is associated ( In this example, unit information for each line) is added. In addition, the license validation unit 247 increments the number of in-use licenses associated with the license key included in the validation request received from the MFP 4 by “1” with reference to the seventh information shown in FIG. Update. Then, the license validation unit 247 transmits to the MFP 4 that the license status is valid as a response to the validation request. Upon receiving this notification, the MFP 4 can use the application identified by the application ID included in the validation request.

  For example, in the information stored in the license information DB 244, when the license key included in the activation request received from the MFP 4 does not exist, or the number of volumes corresponding to the license key included in the activation request received from the MFP 4 If the license has already reached the upper limit, the license validation unit 247 returns an error in response to the validation request from the MFP 4.

  In addition, the license validation unit 247 notifies the application information management module 210 of the application ID whose license status is valid and the device number included in the validation request. Upon receiving the notification, the application information management module 210 requests the customer information management module 220 to specify three pieces of customer information corresponding to the notified machine number, and uses the three pieces of customer information as the customer information management module 220. Get from. The application information management module 210 includes, for the recommended application information management module 230, three pieces of customer information acquired from the customer information management module 220 and the application ID notified from the license validation unit 247, and Send a count-up update request that requests a count up of the cumulative number of installations. The recommended application information management module 230 that has received the count-up update request counts up (increments) the cumulative number of installations by “1” for each combination of the three customer information and the application ID included in the received count-up update request. )

  The license invalidation unit 248 performs control for invalidating the license in response to a request from the MFP 4. In this example, the license invalidation unit 248 includes at least an application ID, a license key, and a machine number, and stores an invalidation request for requesting the license invalidation stored in the license information DB 244 when received from the MFP 4. With reference to the eighth information (see FIG. 17), the valid state information associated with the combination of the license key and the machine number included in the received invalidation request is changed to information indicating invalidity. Also, referring to the seventh information (see FIG. 16) stored in the license information DB 244, the number of in-use licenses associated with the license key included in the invalidation request received from the MFP 4 is decremented by “1”. Then, the number of used licenses is incremented by “1” and updated. Then, as a response to the invalidation request, the license invalidation unit 248 transmits to the MFP 4 that the license status is invalid. The MFP 4 that has received this notification cannot use the application identified by the application ID included in the invalidation request.

  Also, the license invalidation unit 248 notifies the application information management module 210 of the application ID whose license status is invalid and the device number included in the invalidation request. Upon receiving the notification, the application information management module 210 requests the customer information management module 220 to specify three pieces of customer information corresponding to the notified machine number, and uses the three pieces of customer information as the customer information management module 220. Get from. The application information management module 210 includes, for the recommended application information management module 230, three pieces of customer information acquired from the customer information management module 220 and the application ID notified from the license invalidation unit 248, and Send a countdown update request to request a countdown of cumulative installations. The recommended application information management module 230 that has received the countdown update request counts down (decrements) the cumulative number of installations by “1” for each combination of the three customer information and the application ID included in the received countdown update request.

  The functions of the control unit 242 and the license issuance unit 243 described above can be realized by the CPU 301 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 302. The storage unit 241 described above can be realized by an auxiliary storage device such as the ROM 302 or the HDD.

  Next, functions of the application download management module 250 will be described. FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions that the application download management module 250 has. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the application download management module 250 includes an application storage 251 and a download unit 252. In the example of FIG. 19, the functions related to the present embodiment are mainly exemplified, but the functions of the application download management module 250 are not limited to these.

  The application storage 251 stores a plurality of applications to be provided to the MFP 4. In this example, the application storage 251 stores a data file including an application main body in association with each of a plurality of application IDs. The download unit 252 performs control to transmit (download) any application stored in the application storage 251 to the MFP 4 in response to a request from the MFP 4. In this example, when the download unit 252 includes at least an application ID and receives a download request for requesting download of an application from the MFP 4, the download unit 252 transmits an application corresponding to the application ID included in the received download request to the MFP 4. To do. More specifically, the download unit 252 refers to the application storage 251, specifies a data file corresponding to the application ID included in the download request received from the MFP 4, and transmits the specified data file to the MFP 4.

  The function of the download unit 252 described above can be realized by the CPU 301 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 302. The application storage 251 described above can be realized by an auxiliary storage device such as the ROM 302 or the HDD.

  The above is the configuration of the server 2. The server 2 may be configured from a plurality of servers. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 20, the server 2 may be configured by an application server 270 and a database server 280. For example, the application server 270 may be configured to include the control unit 212, the screen providing unit 213, the setting unit 214, the specifying unit 222, the determining unit 232, the control unit 242, the license issuing unit 243, and the download unit 252 described above. For example, the application server 270 includes a plurality of servers, and includes the above-described control unit 212, screen providing unit 213, setting unit 214, specifying unit 222, determination unit 232, control unit 242, license issuance unit 243, and download unit 252. Each of these may be distributed and installed in any server.

  Further, for example, the database server 280 may include the storage unit 211, the first storage unit 221, the second storage unit 231, the storage unit 241, and the application storage 251 described above. Further, for example, the database server 280 includes a plurality of servers, and each of the storage unit 211, the first storage unit 221, the second storage unit 231, the storage unit 241, and the application storage 251 is any server. It may be in the form of being distributed and mounted on.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the MFP 4 will be described with reference to FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 21, the MFP 4 includes a main body 10 that can realize various functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, a fax function, and a printer function, and an operation unit 20 that receives a user operation. Note that accepting a user operation is a concept including accepting information (including a signal indicating a coordinate value of a screen) input according to the user operation. The main body 10 and the operation unit 20 are connected via a dedicated communication path 30 so that they can communicate with each other. The communication path 30 may be, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard, but may be of any standard regardless of wired or wireless.

  The main body 10 can perform an operation corresponding to the operation received by the operation unit 20. The main body 10 can also communicate with an external device such as a client PC (personal computer), and can also perform an operation according to an instruction received from the external device.

  First, the hardware configuration of the main body 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 21, the main body 10 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, an HDD (hard disk drive) 14, a communication I / F (interface) 15, a connection I / F 16, and an engine unit 17. These are connected to each other via a system bus 18.

  The CPU 11 comprehensively controls the operation of the main body 10. The CPU 11 controls the overall operation of the main body 10 by executing a program stored in the ROM 12 or the HDD 14 or the like using the RAM 13 as a work area (work area), and the above-described copy function, scanner function, fax function, printer function, etc. Implement various functions.

  The communication I / F 15 is an interface for connecting to the network 3. The connection I / F 16 is an interface for communicating with the operation unit 20 via the communication path 30.

  The engine unit 17 is hardware that performs processing other than general-purpose information processing and communication for realizing a copy function, a scanner function, a fax function, and a printer function. For example, a scanner (image reading unit) that scans and reads an image of a document, a plotter (image forming unit) that performs printing on a sheet material such as paper, and a fax unit that performs fax communication are provided. Further, a specific option such as a finisher for sorting printed sheet materials or an ADF (automatic document feeder) for automatically feeding a document can be provided.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the operation unit 20 will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 21, the operation unit 20 includes a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a flash memory 24, a communication I / F 25, a connection I / F 26, and an operation panel 27, which are a system bus 28. Are connected to each other.

  The CPU 21 comprehensively controls the operation of the operation unit 20. The CPU 21 uses the RAM 23 as a work area (work area) and executes a program stored in the ROM 22 or the flash memory 24 to control the operation of the entire operation unit 20 and information (image) according to the input received from the user. Various functions described later such as display of) are realized.

  The communication I / F 25 is an interface for connecting to the network 3. The connection I / F 26 is an interface for communicating with the main body 10 via the communication path 30.

  The operation panel 27 receives various inputs according to user operations and displays various types of information (for example, information according to received operations, information indicating the operation status of the MFP 4, information indicating a setting state, etc.). . In this example, the operation panel 27 is configured by a liquid crystal display device (LCD) having a touch panel function, but is not limited thereto. For example, an organic EL display device equipped with a touch panel function may be used. Further, in addition to or instead of this, an operation unit such as a hardware key and a display unit such as a lamp may be provided.

  Next, the software configuration of the MFP 4 will be described. FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the MFP 4. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the main body 10 includes an application layer 101, a service layer 102, and an OS layer 103. The entities of the application layer 101, the service layer 102, and the OS layer 103 are various software stored in the ROM 12, the HDD 14, and the like. Various functions are provided by the CPU 11 executing these software.

  The software of the application layer 101 is application software for operating a hardware resource to provide a predetermined function (in the following description, it may be simply referred to as “application”). For example, examples of the application include a copy application for providing a copy function, a scanner application for providing a scanner function, a fax application for providing a fax function, a printer application for providing a printer function, and the like.

  The software of the service layer 102 is software that is interposed between the application layer 101 and the OS layer 103 and provides an interface for using hardware resources included in the main body 10 for the application. More specifically, it is software for providing a function of accepting an operation request for a hardware resource and arbitrating the operation request. As an operation request received by the service layer 102, a request such as reading by a scanner or printing by a plotter can be considered.

  Note that the interface function by the service layer 102 is provided not only to the application layer 101 of the main body 10 but also to the application layer 201 of the operation unit 20. That is, the application layer 201 (application) of the operation unit 20 can also realize a function using hardware resources (for example, the engine unit 17) of the main body 10 via the interface function of the service layer 102.

  The software of the OS layer 103 is basic software (operating system (OS)) for providing a basic function for controlling hardware included in the main body 10. The software of the service layer 102 converts a hardware resource use request from various applications into a command interpretable by the OS layer 103 and passes the command to the OS layer 103. Then, when the command is executed by the software of the OS layer 103, the hardware resource performs an operation according to the request of the application.

  Similarly, the operation unit 20 includes an application layer 201, a service layer 202, and an OS layer 203. The application layer 201, the service layer 202, and the OS layer 203 included in the operation unit 20 have the same hierarchical structure as that of the main body 10 side. However, the functions provided by the applications in the application layer 201 and the types of operation requests that can be accepted by the service layer 202 are different from those on the main body 10 side. The application in the application layer 201 may be software for operating a hardware resource included in the operation unit 20 to provide a predetermined function, but mainly includes functions (copy function, scanner function, fax function) included in the main body 10. , Printer function) and software for providing a UI (user interface) function for performing an operation and display related to a function for updating a license file of an installed application. In this example, the application of the application layer 201 provides an application for providing a browser function (sometimes referred to as a “browser application”) and a function for executing a command included in the above-described screen information. Applications (sometimes referred to as “installers”).

  In this embodiment, the software of the OS layer 103 on the main body 10 side and the software of the OS layer 203 on the operation unit 20 side are different from each other in order to maintain the independence of functions. That is, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate independently of each other with different operating systems. For example, Linux (registered trademark) can be used as software for the OS layer 103 on the main body 10 side, and Android (registered trademark) can be used as software on the OS layer 203 on the operation unit 20 side.

  As described above, in the MFP 4 according to the present embodiment, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate on different operating systems. Therefore, communication between the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 is performed by inter-process communication within a common apparatus. Rather, it is performed as communication between different devices. An operation (command communication) for transmitting information (instruction content from the user) received by the operation unit 20 to the main body 10, an operation in which the main body 10 notifies the operation unit 20 of an event, and the like correspond to this. Here, the function of the main body 10 can be used when the operation unit 20 performs command communication with the main body 10. The event notified from the main body 10 to the operation unit 20 includes the execution status of the operation in the main body 10 and the contents set on the main body 10 side.

  In the present embodiment, since the power supply to the operation unit 20 is performed from the main body 10 via the communication path 30, the power control of the operation unit 20 is performed separately from the power control of the main body 10 (independently). Can do).

  FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of functions of the operation unit 20 according to the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 23, the operation unit 20 includes an activation unit 411, a display control unit 412, and an execution unit 413. In the example of FIG. 23, the functions related to the present embodiment are mainly exemplified, but the functions of the operation unit 20 are not limited to these.

  The activation unit 411 activates a browser application that provides a browser function in response to a user operation. For example, when the operation screen shown in FIG. 24 is displayed on the operation panel 27 and the pressing of the icon 5 named “App Market” is received, the activation unit 411 indicates the location of the server 2 on the network 3. And control to start the browser application.

  The activated browser application includes a machine number identifying the MFP 4 with respect to the server 2 specified by the URL received from the activation unit 411, and one or more application IDs identifying the application installed in the MFP 4, and The screen information request for requesting the screen information is transmitted, and the screen information is received from the server 2 as a response to the screen information request. In this example, the MFP 4 holds application management information indicating an application installed in the MFP 4.

  Then, the browser application performs control to display a screen corresponding to the screen information received as a response to the screen information request on the operation panel 27 (display unit). Here, the function of the display control unit 412 is provided by a browser application. Further, as described above, in this example, the display control unit 412 generates a screen corresponding to the screen information received from the server 2, and displays the generated screen on the operation panel 27. The display control unit 412 may store the screen information received from the server 2 in a storage device such as the flash memory 24, read the screen information as necessary, and generate a screen using the read screen information. it can.

  In this example, the display control unit 412 specifies a command selected according to a user operation on the screen (screen corresponding to the screen information) displayed on the operation panel 27, and sends the specified command to the execution unit 413. You can be notified. For example, the display control unit 412 can specify a command selected by the user via an extended JavaScript (registered trademark), a custom scheme, or the like.

  The execution unit 413 executes a command (command notified from the display control unit 412) selected according to a user operation among commands included in the screen information. Here, the function of the execution unit 413 is provided by an application interface (API) on the MFP 4 side.

  As described above, examples of commands included in the screen information received from the server 2 include an installation instruction. Hereinafter, a case where an installation instruction is selected in accordance with a user operation on a screen corresponding to the screen information received from the server 2 will be described as an example. In this case, the display control unit 412 notifies the execution unit 413 of the installation command selected according to the user's operation, and the execution unit 413 executes the installation command notified from the display control unit 412. More specifically, it is as follows. In this example, when the display control unit 412 receives screen information from the server 2 as a response to the screen information request, first, using the received screen information, the application list screen showing a list of “recommended apps” to the MFP 4. Is displayed on the operation panel 27. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of an application list screen. In the example of FIG. 25, the application list screen displays three display parts corresponding to three applications (recommended applications) and one-to-one for each of the three types of customer information (a total of nine display parts are displayed). Each display component includes at least an application name and an application selection button 421 for selecting the application. It should be noted that the three applications displayed for each type of customer information may be displayed in a ranked format (ranking format).

  When the display control unit 412 accepts the pressing of any application selection button 421, the display control unit 412 uses the screen information received from the server 2 to indicate the detailed contents of the corresponding application and install for accepting an installation execution instruction. Control to display the instruction screen on the operation panel 27 is performed. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of an installation instruction screen. In the example of FIG. 26, the installation instruction screen displays application explanation information of a corresponding application and an installation button 431 for instructing execution of installation. In this example, an installation command is pasted to the installation button 431 in a URI format (for example, a URL format may be used). In this example, pressing the install button 431 means selecting an installation command pasted on the install button 431 (which may be considered to be selection of an application to be installed).

  In this example, the display control unit 412 performs control to display an installation confirmation screen for finally confirming execution of the installation on the operation panel 27 when the pressing of the installation button 431 is accepted. FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of an installation confirmation screen. In the example of FIG. 27, the installation confirmation screen displays a confirmation button 441 for instructing that the execution of the installation is finally accepted. When the pressing of the confirmation button 441 is accepted, the display control unit 412 notifies the execution unit 413 of the installation command pasted on the corresponding installation button 431. Then, the execution unit 413 executes this installation instruction.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the display control unit 412 applies to the application that is the target of the installation command selected according to the user's operation among the application detailed information in the display information included in the screen information received from the server 2. If the corresponding detailed information does not include a license key for authenticating the right to use the application, control is performed to display an input screen for prompting the input of the license key, and the license key is included. In this case, the license key and the installation command are notified to the execution unit 413. More specifically, when the display control unit 412 accepts pressing of the confirmation button 441 described above, the display control unit 412 refers to the screen information received from the server 2 and displays the application detailed information in the display information included in the screen information. Among these, it is confirmed whether or not the license key is included in the detailed information corresponding to the application that is the target of the installation command pasted on the install button 431 pressed by the user. If the license key is not included, the display control unit 412 performs control to display an input screen for prompting the input of the license key, and notifies the execution unit 413 of the input license key and the selected installation command. To do. FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of the input screen. FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of information notified from the display control unit 412 to the execution unit 413 in this case.

  Further, the display control unit 412 according to the present embodiment performs control for displaying, on the operation panel 27, a deletion instruction screen for receiving an application deletion instruction for each application installed in the MFP 4 in accordance with a user operation. You can also. FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating an example of the deletion instruction screen. The deletion instruction screen displays a deletion instruction button 451 for accepting an application deletion instruction for each application installed in the MFP 4. In this example, a deletion instruction indicating an instruction to delete an application corresponding to the deletion instruction button 451 is pasted to each deletion instruction button 451. When the display control unit 412 receives pressing of the deletion instruction button 451, the display control unit 412 performs control to display a deletion confirmation screen on the operation panel 27 for finally confirming execution of uninstallation. FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of the deletion confirmation screen. The deletion confirmation screen displays a confirmation button 461 for instructing that the uninstallation is finally accepted. When the pressing of the confirmation button 461 is accepted, the display control unit 412 notifies the execution unit 413 of the uninstall command pasted on the corresponding delete instruction button 451. FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of information notified from the display control unit 412 to the execution unit 413 in this case.

  The functions of the startup unit 411, the display control unit 412, and the execution unit 413 described above can be realized by the CPU 21 executing a program stored in a storage device such as the ROM 22 or the flash memory 24.

  FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system 1 according to the present embodiment. As described above, when the activation unit 411 receives a press of the icon 5 named “App Market” on the operation screen (Step S1), the activation unit 411 sends a server together with the activation command to the display control unit 412 (browser application). 2 URL is transmitted (step S2). The activated display control unit 412 that has received the activation command transmits the above-described screen information request to the server 2 (step S3). As described above, the screen information request includes a machine number for identifying the MFP 4 and an application ID for identifying an application installed in the MFP 4, and requests screen information indicating a “recommended application” to the MFP 4. Information.

  When the application information management module 210 of the server 2 acquires the screen information request from the MFP 4, the application information management module 210 includes the machine number included in the acquired screen information request to the customer information management module 220 and has one or more corresponding ones. The above-described customer information request for requesting customer information is transmitted (step S4). When the customer information management module 220 receives the customer information request from the application information management module 210, the customer information management module 220 refers to the above-described correspondence information and obtains one or more pieces of customer information corresponding to the machine number included in the received customer information request. Specify (step S5). The specific contents are as described above. Then, the customer information specified in step S5 is returned as a response to the customer information request (step S6).

  Next, the application information management module 210 includes the one or more pieces of customer information received from the customer information management module 220 in step S6 to the recommended application information management module 230 and requests the “recommended application”. A recommended application request is transmitted (step S7). When receiving the recommended application request from the application information management module 210, the recommended application information management module 230 receives one or more “recommended applications” based on the customer information included in the received recommended application request and the above-described relationship information. Is determined (step S8). The specific contents are as described above. Then, the “recommended app” determined in step S8 is returned as a response to the recommended app request (step S9).

  Next, the application information management module 210 includes an application that matches the application identified by the application ID included in the screen information request from the MFP 4 among the one or more “recommended applications” received in step S9. Performs a process of excluding the application from the “recommended applications” (step S11). Next, the application information management module 210 generates screen information indicating “recommended application” (step S10), and transmits the screen information generated in step S11 to the MFP 4 as a response to the screen information request (step S12). The MFP 4 generates a screen corresponding to the screen information received in step S12, and displays the generated screen on the operation panel 27 (step S13). In this example, the display control unit 412 stores the screen information received as a response to the screen information request in a storage device such as the flash memory 24, and uses the received screen information to display the application list screen shown in FIG. Is generated first. Then, control is performed to display the generated application list screen on the operation panel 27.

  FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system 1 when one of the application selection buttons 421 displayed on the application list screen illustrated in FIG. 25 is pressed. As described above, the display control unit 412 performs control to display the above-described installation instruction screen (see FIG. 26) on the operation panel 27 when any of the application selection buttons 421 is pressed (Step 21). Next, when the display control unit 412 receives pressing of the install button 431, the display control unit 412 performs control to display the above-described installation confirmation screen (see FIG. 27) on the operation panel 27 (step S22). Next, when the display control unit 412 accepts pressing of the confirmation button 441 displayed on the installation confirmation screen, the display control unit 412 refers to the screen information received from the server 2 and displays the application in the display information included in the screen information. Of the detailed information, the license key is included in the detailed information corresponding to the application that is the target of the installation command selected according to the user's operation (install command pasted on the pressed installation button 431). It is confirmed whether it is (step S23).

  If the license key is not included as a result of the confirmation in step S23 described above (that is, if the application targeted for the installation command is a paid application), the display control unit 412 displays the input screen on the operation panel 27. Display control is performed (step S24), and an input of a license key from the user is accepted. Here, it is assumed that the user knows in advance the license key corresponding to the purchased application. For example, the license key may be notified from the application manager to the user who purchased the application by mail or email.

  Next, the display control unit 412 notifies the execution unit 413 of the installation command selected according to the user's operation and the license key (the license key of the application targeted by the selected application command) (step S25). ). The execution unit 413 executes the installation instruction notified from the display control unit 412 using the license key notified from the display control unit 412. More specifically, it is as follows. First, the execution unit 413 transmits to the server 2 the above-described download request that includes at least the application ID of the application that is the target of the installation instruction and requests the download of the application (step S26). Receiving the download request, the server 2 (download unit 252) selects an application corresponding to the application ID included in the received download request (step S27), and transmits the selected application to the MFP 4 (step S28).

  Next, the execution unit 413 transmits to the server 2 the above-described validation request that includes at least the application ID, the license key, and the machine number and requests license validation (step S29). The server 2 (license validation unit 247) that has received the validation request performs control to validate the license (step S30), and then returns a response to the validation request to the MFP 4 (step S31). The specific contents of step S30 are as described above. When the license validation unit 247 receives the above-described validation request from the MFP 4, the license included in the received validation request in the license information DB 244. Check whether the key exists. If the license key exists, the license validation unit 247 updates the information stored in the license information DB 244 as described above. Further, the license validation unit 247 issues a license file that defines a license (use authority) such as an expiration date of the application identified by the application ID included in the validation request received from the MFP 4, and responds to the validation request. In addition to the fact that the license status is valid, the license file can be transmitted. On the other hand, if the license key included in the received activation request does not exist in the license information DB 244, an error is transmitted as a response to the activation request.

  Further, as described above, the license validation unit 247 notifies the application information management module 210 of the application ID whose license status is valid and the device number included in the validation request. Upon receiving the notification, the application information management module 210 requests the customer information management module 220 to specify three pieces of customer information corresponding to the notified machine number, and uses the three pieces of customer information as the customer information management module 220. Get from. The application information management module 210 includes, for the recommended application information management module 230, three pieces of customer information acquired from the customer information management module 220 and the application ID notified from the license validation unit 247, and Send a count-up update request that requests a count up of the cumulative number of installations. The recommended application information management module 230 that has received the count-up update request counts up (increments) the cumulative number of installations by “1” for each combination of the three customer information and the application ID included in the received count-up update request. )

  When the MFP 4 (execution unit 413) receives that the license status is valid as a response to the validation request, the MFP 4 (execution unit 413) performs control to install the application downloaded from the server 2 in step S28 (step S32). After the installation is completed, the execution unit 413 updates the above-described application management information by adding the application for which the installation has been completed (step S33).

  FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the system 1 when an application already installed in the MFP 4 is uninstalled. First, the display control unit 412 performs control to display the above-described deletion instruction screen on the operation panel 27 in accordance with a user operation (step S41). Next, when the display control unit 412 receives pressing of any one of the deletion instruction buttons 451, the display control unit 412 performs control to display the above-described deletion confirmation screen (see FIG. 31) on the operation panel 27 (step S42). Next, when the display control unit 412 receives pressing of the confirmation button 461 displayed on the deletion confirmation screen, the display control unit 412 is pasted on the uninstallation instruction (deleted instruction button 451 pressed) selected according to the user's operation. (Uninstallation instruction) is notified to the execution unit 413 (step S43).

  The execution unit 413 executes the uninstall command notified from the display control unit 412. More specifically, it is as follows. First, the execution unit 413 sends to the server 2 the above-described invalidation request that includes at least the license key corresponding to the application that is the target of the uninstall command and the machine number, and requests the license to be invalidated. Transmit (step S44). Upon receiving the invalidation request, the server 2 (license invalidation unit 248) performs control for invalidating the license (step S45), and then responds to the invalidation request (in this case, the license state is invalid). Is returned to the MFP 4 (step S46). The specific contents of step S45 are as described above. When the license invalidation unit 248 receives the invalidation request from the MFP 4, the received invalidation request among the information stored in the license information DB 244. The number of licenses in use associated with the license key included in the received invalidation request by changing the validity status information associated with the combination of the license key and machine number included in Is decremented by “1” and the number of used licenses is incremented by “1”.

  Further, as described above, the license invalidation 248 notifies the application information management module 210 of the application ID whose license status becomes invalid and the device number included in the invalidation request. Upon receiving the notification, the application information management module 210 requests the customer information management module 220 to specify three pieces of customer information corresponding to the notified machine number, and uses the three pieces of customer information as the customer information management module 220. Get from. The application information management module 210 includes, for the recommended application information management module 230, three pieces of customer information acquired from the customer information management module 220 and the application ID notified from the license invalidation unit 248, and Send a countdown update request to request a countdown of cumulative installations. The recommended application information management module 230 that has received the countdown update request counts down (decrements) the cumulative number of installations by “1” for each combination of the three customer information and the application ID included in the received countdown update request.

  When the MFP 4 (execution unit 413) receives that the license status is invalid as a response to the invalidation request, the MFP 4 performs control to uninstall the application corresponding to the license key included in the invalidation request (step S47). ). After the uninstallation is completed, the execution unit 413 updates the application management information by deleting information corresponding to the application for which the uninstallation has been completed from the above-described application management information (step S48).

  As described above, the server 2 according to the present embodiment includes, for each one or more machine numbers, one or more pieces of information unique to the user who uses the device identified by the machine number (in this example, the MFP 4). A first storage unit 221 that stores correspondence information associated with customer information; and a second storage unit 231 that stores relationship information indicating a relationship between the application and the customer information. When the server 2 acquires the above-described screen information request from the MFP 4, the server 2 specifies customer information corresponding to the machine number included in the acquired screen information request, the specified customer information, the above-described relationship information, Based on the above, one or more “recommended apps” are determined, and as a response to the screen information request from the MFP 4, screen information indicating the determined one or more “recommended apps” is transmitted to the device (MFP 4). In other words, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine an application recommended to be used for a device by reflecting information specific to the user who uses the device.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described. Description of parts common to the above-described first embodiment will be omitted as appropriate. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the above correspondence information is information in which a plurality of types of customer information is associated with each machine number, and the “determination unit” is a plurality of types of customers specified by the “specification unit”. For each information, after identifying the cumulative number of installations associated with each of a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information, for each of the plurality of types of applications (a plurality of types of applications included in the relationship information), “ A cumulative sum indicating the sum of a plurality of types of customer information identified by the “specific section” and a plurality of cumulative installations corresponding one-to-one is obtained, and an application having the largest cumulative sum is determined as a “recommended application”. . More specifically, the “determination unit” selects a predetermined number of applications in descending order of the cumulative sum value from a plurality of types of applications, and determines the selected predetermined number of applications as “recommended applications”. .

  Now, for example, the three types of customer information included in the above-mentioned application request include customer information representing the market segment “L”, customer information representing the industry “construction”, and customer representing the number of locations “3”. Assume the case of information.

  In this case, the determination unit 232 that has received the above-described recommended application request from the recommended application request unit 263 refers to the above-described third information, and determines the customer information representing the market segment “L” and a plurality of types of applications. For each combination, the associated cumulative installation number is specified. Also, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fourth information, and identifies the cumulative number of installations associated with each combination of customer information representing the type of industry “construction” and a plurality of types of applications. Also, the determination unit 232 refers to the above-described fifth information, and identifies the cumulative number of installations associated with each combination of customer information representing the number of locations of “3” and a plurality of types of applications.

  Then, the determination unit 232 includes, for each of a plurality of types of applications, three types of customer information (in this example, customer information indicating a market segment “L”, customer information indicating an industry type “construction”, and “3”). Customer information representing the number of bases) and three cumulative installation numbers corresponding one-to-one. Hereinafter, “application A” will be described as an example with reference to FIGS. In this example, the cumulative install number corresponding to the customer information representing the market segment “L” (the cumulative install number corresponding to the combination of “application A” and customer information representing the market segment “L”) is “10”. (See FIG. 11), and the cumulative number of installations corresponding to the customer information representing the industry “construction” (the cumulative number of installations corresponding to the combination of the customer information representing the industry “application A” and “construction”) is “10” (see FIG. 12), the cumulative installation number corresponding to the customer information representing the number of bases “3” (the cumulative number corresponding to the combination of “application A” and customer information representing the number of bases “3” The number of installations is “10” (see FIG. 13). Therefore, the cumulative sum indicating the sum of these three cumulative installation numbers is “30”.

  As described above, the determination unit 232 obtains the value of the cumulative sum for each of a plurality of types of applications (a plurality of types of applications included in the above-described relationship information), and determines an application having the largest cumulative sum value. Decide as a “Recommended App”. In this example, the app D is determined as the “recommended app”.

  In the present embodiment, the determination unit 232 selects three applications (application D, application B, and application E) in descending order of the cumulative sum from a plurality of types of applications, and the selected three Decide the application as a “Recommended App”. At this time, the order can also be determined. Subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment. The generation unit 264 of the present embodiment can create screen information corresponding to an application list screen as shown in FIG. 36, for example.

(Modification of the second embodiment)
For example, a predetermined weight is set for each type of customer information, and the determination unit 232 sets, for each of a plurality of types of applications, a plurality of types of customer information (“specification unit” included in the application request received from the recommended application request unit 263. "Multiple types of customer information specified by") and a weighted addition of a plurality of cumulative installation numbers corresponding one-to-one, and the application with the largest cumulative sum obtained by weighted addition is defined as a "recommended application" It can also be determined. For example, the determination unit 232 selects a predetermined number of applications in descending order of the cumulative sum obtained by weighted addition from a plurality of types of applications, and determines the selected predetermined number of applications as “recommended applications”. You can also At this time, the order can also be determined.

  For example, customer information indicating the number of bases may be regarded as the most important, and the number of bases → market layer → business type may be set in descending order of importance. In this case, for example, a weighting factor of “2” is set for customer information representing a market segment, a weighting factor of “1” is set for customer information representing a business type, and the customer information representing the number of locations is displayed. On the other hand, a form in which a weighting factor of “3” may be set.

  Now, for example, the three types of customer information included in the above-mentioned application request include customer information representing the market segment “L”, customer information representing the industry “construction”, and customer representing the number of locations “3”. Assume the case of information. Similarly to the above, the determination unit 232 that has received the above-mentioned recommended application request from the recommended application request unit 263 has three types of customer information (in this example, a customer representing a market segment of “L”) for each of a plurality of types of applications. Information, customer information indicating the type of industry “construction”, and customer information indicating the number of bases “3”), and three cumulative installation numbers corresponding one-to-one. Hereinafter, “application A” will be described as an example with reference to FIGS. In this example, the cumulative installation number corresponding to the customer information representing the market segment “L” is “10” (see FIG. 11), and the cumulative installation number corresponding to the customer information representing the industry type “construction” is “ 10 ”(see FIG. 12), and the cumulative installation number corresponding to the customer information indicating the number of bases“ 3 ”is“ 10 ”(see FIG. 13). In this example, a weighting factor of “2” is set for customer information representing the market segment, a weighting factor of “1” is set for customer information representing the type of business, and the customer information representing the number of locations is displayed. On the other hand, since a weighting factor of “3” is set, the cumulative sum obtained by weighted addition of the three cumulative installation numbers is 10 × 2 + 10 × 1 + 10 × 3 = 60. As described above, the determination unit 232 can obtain the value of the cumulative sum for each of a plurality of types of applications.

(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described. Description of parts common to the above-described first embodiment will be omitted as appropriate. In the present embodiment, the correspondence information described above is information in which a plurality of types of customer information is associated with each machine number, and the relationship information described above is provided for each combination of a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications. On the premise that the cumulative number of installations is associated with the information, the “determination unit” determines, for each of a plurality of types of customer information identified by the “specification unit”, a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information. After assigning rank values representing the ranks in order of the cumulative number of installations to each, a plurality of types of customer information (one or more types of applications included in the relationship information) are assigned one-to-one with a plurality of types of customer information. A rank sum indicating a sum of a plurality of corresponding rank values is obtained, and an application having the smallest rank sum value is determined as a “recommended application”. More specifically, the “determination unit” selects a predetermined number of applications from the plurality of types of applications in ascending order of the rank sum value, and determines the selected applications as “recommended applications”.

  Now, for example, the three types of customer information included in the above-mentioned application request include customer information representing the market segment “L”, customer information representing the industry “construction”, and customer representing the number of locations “3”. Assume the case of information.

  In this case, the determination unit 232 that has received the above-described recommended application request from the recommended application request unit 263 refers to the above-described third information, and determines the customer information representing the market segment “L” and a plurality of types of applications. For each combination, the associated cumulative installation number is specified, and a rank value indicating the rank is assigned in descending order of the cumulative installation number. In this example, as shown in FIG. 37, a rank value “5” is assigned to a combination of the application A and customer information representing a market segment “L”. Similarly, a ranking value indicating “2” is assigned to a combination of the app B and customer information representing the market segment “L”. Similarly, a ranking value indicating “4” is assigned to the combination of the application C and customer information representing the market segment “L”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “1” is assigned to a combination of the application D and customer information representing a market segment “L”. Similarly, a ranking value indicating “3” is assigned to a combination of the application E and customer information representing the market segment “L”.

  In this example, as shown in FIG. 37, a rank value “5” is assigned to the combination of the application A and customer information representing the type of industry “Architecture”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “1” is assigned to a combination of the application B and customer information representing the business type “architecture”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “3” is assigned to the combination of the application C and customer information representing the business type “architecture”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “4” is assigned to a combination of the application D and customer information representing the business type “architecture”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “2” is assigned to a combination of the application E and customer information representing the business type “architecture”.

  Furthermore, in this example, as shown in FIG. 37, “5” is set for the combination of the application A and customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10” (corresponding to the number of bases “3”). The ranking value shown is assigned. Similarly, a ranking value “4” is assigned to the combination of the app B and customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “2” is assigned to a combination of the application C and customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “1” is assigned to a combination of the application D and customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10”. Similarly, a rank value indicating “3” is assigned to a combination of the application E and customer information indicating the number of bases “2 to 10”.

  Then, the determination unit 232 sets three pieces of customer information (in this example, customer information representing a market segment “L”, customer information representing an industry type “construction”, and “3” for each of a plurality of types of applications. The rank sum indicating the sum of the customer information representing the number of locations) and the three rank values corresponding one-to-one. In the example of FIG. 37, the rank sum of application A is “15”, the rank sum of application B is “7”, the rank sum of application C is “9”, the rank sum of application D is “6”, The rank order of the application E is “8”. In this example, the determination unit 232 determines the app D having the smallest rank sum as a “recommended app”. In addition, the determination unit 232 selects three applications (application D, application B, and application E) from the plurality of types of applications in ascending order of the order sum, and selects the selected three applications as “recommended applications”. ". At this time, the order can also be determined. Subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

(Modification of the third embodiment)
For example, a predetermined weight is set for each type of customer information, and the determination unit 232 sets, for each of a plurality of types of applications, a plurality of types of customer information (“specification unit” included in the application request received from the recommended application request unit 263. "Multiple types of customer information specified by") and weighted addition of multiple ranking values corresponding one-to-one, and the application with the smallest ranking sum obtained by weighted addition is determined as the "recommended app" You can also Further, for example, the determination unit 232 selects a predetermined number of applications from the plurality of types of applications in ascending order of the rank sum obtained by weighted addition, and determines the selected predetermined number of applications as “recommended applications”. You can also At this time, the order can also be determined.

  For example, customer information indicating the number of bases may be regarded as the most important, and the number of bases → market layer → business type may be set in descending order of importance. In this case, for example, a weighting factor of “2” is set for customer information representing a market segment, a weighting factor of “1” is set for customer information representing a business type, and the customer information representing the number of locations is displayed. On the other hand, a form in which a weighting factor of “3” may be set.

  Now, for example, the three types of customer information included in the recommended application request described above represent customer information representing the market segment “L”, customer information representing the industry “construction”, and the number of locations “3”. Assume the case of customer information. Hereinafter, as an example, a method for calculating the rank sum corresponding to the application A will be described as an example. In this case, as shown in FIG. 37, an order value indicating “5” is assigned to the combination of the app A and customer information representing the market segment “L”, and the app A and “architecture” are called. A rank value indicating “5” is assigned to a combination with customer information representing a business type, and “5” is assigned to a combination of application A and customer information representing the number of bases “2 to 10”. The ranking value shown is assigned. In this example, a weighting factor of “2” is set for customer information representing the market segment, a weighting factor of “1” is set for customer information representing the type of business, and the customer information representing the number of locations is displayed. On the other hand, since a weighting factor of “3” is set, the rank sum obtained by weighted addition of the three rank values is 5 × 2 + 5 × 1 + 5 × 3 = 30. As described above, the determination unit 232 can obtain the value of the rank sum for each of a plurality of types of applications.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. Description of parts common to the above-described first embodiment will be omitted as appropriate. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the above-described correspondence information is information in which a plurality of types of customer information is associated with each machine number, and the above-described relational information includes a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications. This is information in which attribute information indicating availability is associated with each combination.

  In the present embodiment, the relationship information includes ninth information shown in FIG. 38, tenth information shown in FIG. 39, and eleventh information shown in FIG.

  The ninth information shown in FIG. 38 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing a market segment (customer information representing a market segment “KG”, customer information representing a market segment “MA”, and a market segment “L”. Attribute information is associated with each combination of a plurality of types of applications (application A, application B, application C, application D, application E, etc.). Information. In this example, the attribute information indicating “TRUE” indicates that the corresponding application can be used, and the attribute information indicating “FALSE” indicates that the corresponding application cannot be used.

  Further, the tenth information shown in FIG. 39 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing a business type (customer information representing a business type “medical”, customer information representing a business type “education”, and a customer representing a business type “construction”. Information in which attribute information is associated with each combination of a plurality of types of applications (application A, application B, application C, application D, application E, etc.). is there. Furthermore, the eleventh information shown in FIG. 40 includes a plurality of pieces of customer information each representing the number of bases (customer information representing the number of bases “1”, customer information representing the number of bases “2 to 10”, “10 or more "Customer information indicating the number of sites") and attribute information for each combination of a plurality of types of applications (application A, application B, application C, application D, application E, etc.).

  When receiving the recommended application request from the recommended application request unit 263, the determination unit 232 according to the present embodiment selects, for each customer information included in the recommended application request, from a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information. One or more applications associated with attribute information indicating availability (attribute information indicating “TRUE” in this example) are selected, and the application with the largest number of selected applications is determined as the “recommended application”. In this example, the determination unit 232 selects a predetermined number of applications from a plurality of types of applications (a plurality of types of applications included in the relationship information) in descending order of the number selected, and the selected predetermined number of applications As a “Recommended App”.

  Now, for example, the three types of customer information included in the recommended application request described above represent customer information representing the market segment “M2”, customer information representing the industry “finance”, and the number of locations “3”. Assume the case of customer information.

  In this case, the determination unit 232 that has received the above-described application request from the recommended application request unit 263 refers to the above-described ninth information, and includes a plurality of types associated with the customer information representing the market segment “M2”. An application associated with attribute information indicating “TRUE” is selected from the applications. Further, the determination unit 232 refers to the tenth information described above, and associates attribute information indicating “TRUE” from among a plurality of types of applications associated with customer information representing the industry “finance”. Selected applications. In addition, the determination unit 232 refers to the eleventh information described above, and attribute information indicating “TRUE” is supported from among a plurality of types of applications associated with customer information indicating the number of bases “3”. Select the attached application. For each of a plurality of types of applications, three types of customer information (in this example, customer information indicating a market segment of “M2”, customer information indicating an industry of “finance”, and the number of bases of “3” are represented. The number selected over the customer information) is identified, and the application with the largest number selected is determined as the “recommended application”.

  In this example, the application B having the selected number “3” is determined as the “recommended application”. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 232 selects a predetermined number of applications (numbers up to the third place in this example) from the plurality of types of applications in descending order (in this example, the application B). , App A, app D, app E) are selected, and the predetermined number of selected apps are determined as “recommended apps”. At this time, the ranking can also be determined (1st place: application B, 2nd place: application A, application D, 3rd place: application E). Subsequent operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Although the embodiments according to the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  In the above-described embodiment, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate independently of each other in separate operation systems. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate in the same operation system. Form may be sufficient. That is, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 may be integrated.

  The programs executed by the system 1 (server 2, MFP 4, etc.) of the above-described embodiment are files in an installable format or executable format, and are CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD. (Digital Versatile Disk), USB (Universal Serial Bus), etc. may be recorded and provided on a computer-readable recording medium, or may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. May be. Various programs may be provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

1 System 2 Server 3 Network 4 MFP
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body 20 Operation part 210 Application information management module 211 Storage part 212 Control part 213 Screen provision part 214 Setting part 240 License management module 241 Storage part 242 Control part 243 License issue part 244 License information DB
245 User information DB
246 Registration control unit 247 License validation unit 248 License invalidation unit 250 Application download management module 251 Application storage 252 Download unit

JP 2013-120567 A

Claims (18)

An information processing apparatus connected to one or more devices via a network,
A first storage unit that stores correspondence information in which one or more pieces of customer information indicating information unique to a user who uses the device is associated with each piece of device information for identifying the device;
An acquisition unit that acquires a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a usage recommendation application that includes the device information and recommends the device to be used, from the device;
A second storage unit that indicates a relationship between the application and the customer information, and stores relationship information used to determine the usage recommended application;
A specifying unit for specifying the customer information corresponding to the device information included in the screen information request acquired by the acquiring unit;
A determination unit that determines one or more recommended usage applications based on the customer information identified by the identification unit and the relationship information;
As a response to the screen information request, a transmission unit that transmits the screen information indicating the one or more usage recommended applications determined by the determination unit to the device,
Information processing device. The relationship information is
For each combination of a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications, it is information that associates the cumulative number of installations,
The determination unit
From among a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information identified by the identifying unit, determine the application with the largest cumulative installation number as the usage recommended application.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The determination unit
From a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information identified by the identifying unit, a predetermined number of applications are selected in descending order of the cumulative number of installations, and the selected predetermined number of applications are selected as the recommended usage application. As determined,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2. The correspondence information is
It is information that associates a plurality of types of customer information for each device information,
The determination unit
For each of a plurality of types of customer information identified by the identifying unit, an application having the largest number of associated cumulative installations is determined as the recommended usage application from among a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information. To
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2. The determination unit
For each of a plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit, a predetermined number of applications are selected from the plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information in descending order of the cumulative installation number associated with the customer information, Determining the selected predetermined number of applications as the recommended usage application;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. The correspondence information is
It is information that associates a plurality of types of customer information for each device information,
The determination unit
For each of the plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit, after identifying the cumulative number of installations associated with each of the plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information, for each of the plurality of types of applications, A cumulative sum indicating the sum of a plurality of types of customer information identified by the identifying unit and a plurality of cumulative installations corresponding one-to-one is obtained, and an application having the largest cumulative sum value is determined as the usage recommended application. decide,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2. The determination unit
Selecting a predetermined number of applications in descending order of the cumulative sum value from a plurality of types of applications, and determining the selected predetermined number of applications as the recommended application for use;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6. A predetermined weight is set for each type of customer information,
The determination unit performs weighted addition of a plurality of cumulative installation numbers corresponding to the plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit for each of a plurality of types of applications, and is obtained by the weighted addition. The application with the largest cumulative sum is determined as the recommended use application,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 6. The correspondence information is
It is information that associates a plurality of types of customer information for each device information,
The relationship information is
For each combination of a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications, it is information that associates the cumulative number of installations,
The determination unit
For each of a plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit, after assigning a rank value representing a rank in order of the cumulative installation number to each of a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information For each of a plurality of types of applications, a rank sum indicating the sum of the plurality of types of customer information and the plurality of rank values corresponding one-to-one is obtained, and an application having the smallest rank sum value is used as the recommended application. decide,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The determination unit
From a plurality of types of applications, a predetermined number of applications are selected in ascending order of the rank sum value, and the selected application is determined as the recommended usage application.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9. A predetermined weight is set for each customer information,
The determination unit performs weighted addition of a plurality of rank values corresponding to the plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit for each of a plurality of types of applications, and is obtained by the weighted addition. Determining the application with the smallest rank sum as the recommended application,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 10. The correspondence information is
It is information that associates a plurality of types of customer information for each device information,
The relationship information is
For each combination of a plurality of types of customer information and a plurality of types of applications, it is information that associates attribute information indicating availability of use,
The determination unit
For each of a plurality of types of customer information specified by the specifying unit, one or more applications associated with the attribute information indicating availability are selected from a plurality of types of applications associated with the customer information. And determining the application with the most selected number as the recommended application for use,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The determination unit
A predetermined number of applications are selected from the plurality of types of applications in descending order, and the selected predetermined number of applications is determined as the recommended usage application.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 12. The screen information request includes application identification information for identifying an application installed in the device that requested the screen information request,
When there is an application that matches the application identified by the application identification information included in the screen information request among the one or more recommended usage applications, an exclusion unit that excludes the application from the recommended usage application In addition,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13. In a computer mounted on an information processing apparatus connected to one or more devices via a network,
An acquisition step for acquiring a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a recommended use application that includes device information for identifying the device and recommends the device from the device;
The device included in the screen information request acquired by the acquisition step with reference to correspondence information in which one or more pieces of customer information indicating unique information of a user who uses the device is associated with each device information A specific step of identifying the customer information corresponding to the information;
One or more recommended use applications are determined based on the customer information specified in the specifying step and the relationship information indicating the relationship between the application and the customer information and used for determining the recommended use application A decision step to
As a response to the screen information request, a program for executing a transmission step of transmitting the screen information indicating the one or more recommended application applications determined in the determination step to the device. An information processing system connected to one or more devices via a network and including one or more information processing devices,
A first storage unit that stores correspondence information in which one or more pieces of customer information indicating information unique to a user who uses the device is associated with each piece of device information for identifying the device;
An acquisition unit that acquires a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a usage recommendation application that includes the device information and recommends the device to be used, from the device;
A second storage unit that indicates a relationship between the application and the customer information, and stores relationship information used to determine the usage recommended application;
A specifying unit for specifying the customer information corresponding to the device information included in the screen information request acquired by the acquiring unit;
A determination unit that determines one or more recommended usage applications based on the customer information identified by the identification unit and the relationship information;
As a response to the screen information request, a transmission unit that transmits the screen information indicating the one or more usage recommended applications determined by the determination unit to the device,
Information processing system. The device is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium.
The information processing system according to claim 16. An information processing method by an information processing system connected to one or more devices via a network and including one or more information processing devices,
An acquisition step for acquiring a screen information request for requesting screen information indicating a recommended use application that includes device information for identifying the device and recommends the device from the device;
The device included in the screen information request acquired by the acquisition step with reference to correspondence information in which one or more pieces of customer information indicating unique information of a user who uses the device is associated with each device information A specific step of identifying the customer information corresponding to the information;
One or more recommended use applications are determined based on the customer information specified in the specifying step and the relationship information indicating the relationship between the application and the customer information and used for determining the recommended use application A decision step to
Transmitting the screen information indicating the one or more recommended application applications determined in the determination step to the device as a response to the screen information request,
Information processing method.

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