JP2020004094A - Remote management system and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a remote management system capable of suppressing unnecessary inquiries and operations by providing detailed maintenance information to a user even when the system is stopped due to maintenance.SOLUTION: A remote management system includes: a user terminal connected to a network; a load distribution device for distributing access from the user terminal; a user operation server for receiving an instruction from a user via the user terminal; and an information notification server for providing maintenance information, which is information related to detailed maintenance for each user, to the user when the user operation server is maintained. The load distribution device switches access from the user terminal to the user operation server to the information notification server at time of maintenance of the user operation server.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote management system and an information processing method for remotely managing an image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral) via a network.

  In a remote management system that remotely manages hundreds to hundreds of thousands of image forming apparatuses, it is necessary to provide detailed information to users even when the system is stopped for system maintenance. is there. If information is not provided, the user will make unnecessary inquiries and operations, and as a result, the operation efficiency of the remote management system will be significantly reduced.

  Conventionally, when the remote management system is stopped for maintenance or the like, a server program for displaying a screen for notifying the user that maintenance is being performed is loaded, and the user is notified that the service is being updated. Was.

  However, in the related art, since only a predetermined fixed phrase is displayed, it has been difficult for the user to specifically grasp what effect will occur on his or her environment.

  On the other hand, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method is proposed in which when a monitoring system of an image forming apparatus goes down, a connection is bypassed to another monitoring base using a load distribution device. Certainly, in this method, even if the system is down due to system update or maintenance, it is possible to transfer a connection to another monitoring site.

JP 2004-118689 A JP 2007-208826 A

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to cope with hot standby such as securing a sufficient capacity of computer resources in preparation for an unexpected downtime and backing up all data on a regular basis.

  Therefore, these resources become excessive for regular and scheduled updates of the management system, which may lead to an increase in operation costs. Further, in this method, there is no mention of means for notifying a user of system operation information.

  Patent Document 2 proposes a method of monitoring the entire monitoring system, aggregating the failure information and notifying the administrator of the failure information. However, this method does not consider how to notify the user of the monitoring system of environmental maintenance information.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote management system and an information processing method capable of suppressing unnecessary inquiries and operations by providing detailed maintenance information to a user even when the system is stopped due to maintenance. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, a remote management system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a user terminal connected to a network, a load distribution device that distributes access from the user terminal, and a user terminal via the user terminal. A user operation server that receives an instruction, and an information notification server that provides a user with maintenance information that is information on detailed maintenance for each user at the time of maintenance of the user operation server; Access to the user operation server is switched to the information notification server during maintenance of the user operation server.

  Therefore, even when the system is stopped due to maintenance, unnecessary inquiries and operations can be suppressed by providing the user with maintenance information.

  To achieve the above object, a remote management system according to an aspect of the present invention further includes a database and a simple database, which are network-connected to the information notification server, wherein the database includes user authentication information, Before the maintenance of the operation server, notification information, which is information announced to a user, is stored, and the maintenance information is stored.The information notification server stores the authentication information before the maintenance of the user operation server and the database. A DB content copy unit for copying the notification information and the maintenance information from the database to the simple database; and performing the user operation using the authentication information on the simple database during maintenance of the user operation server and the database. Authenticate A user authentication unit, at the time of maintenance of the user operation server and the database, accessing the simple database, and acquiring the authentication information, the notification information, and the maintenance information, a simple DB inquiry unit; and the user operation server and the A configuration may be provided that includes a maintenance information providing unit that provides the notification information and the maintenance information to the user during database maintenance.

  According to this configuration, even when the system is stopped due to maintenance, unnecessary detailed inquiries and operations can be suppressed by providing the user with detailed maintenance information.

  In order to achieve the above object, a remote management system according to an aspect of the present invention further includes one or more image forming apparatuses that are remotely managed via the network by the remote management system, and each of the one or more image forming apparatuses May include a maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires the maintenance information from the information notification server, and a maintenance information display unit that provides the user with the maintenance information acquired by the maintenance information acquisition unit.

  According to this configuration, maintenance information can be provided to a user who uses the image forming apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing method according to an aspect of the present invention includes a user terminal connected to a network, a load distribution device that distributes access from the user terminal, and a user terminal via the user terminal. A user operation server for receiving an instruction, an information notification server for providing the user with maintenance information that is information on detailed maintenance for each user at the time of maintenance of the user operation server, a user authentication information, and maintenance start of the user operation server An information processing method in a remote management system including a notification information, which is information previously announced to a user, a database storing the maintenance information, and a simple database, wherein a DB content of the information notification server is copied. Section from the database To the easy database, the authentication information, the notification information, and the maintenance information are copied, the load distribution device switches access from the user terminal to the user operation server to the information notification server, and the user operation server and Starting maintenance on the database, the user accesses the information notification server via the user terminal and the load distribution device, the user authentication unit of the information notification server performs authentication of the accessing user, The simple DB inquiry unit of the information notification server inquires the simple database based on the authentication information of the user to obtain the maintenance information and the notification information, and the maintenance information providing unit of the information notification server is obtained. The maintenance information and the communication To provide information to the user.

  As described above, according to the present invention, unnecessary inquiries and operations can be suppressed by providing detailed maintenance information to the user even when the system is stopped due to maintenance.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example in which maintenance information common to all users, not individual users, is provided to users. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which desired maintenance information can be obtained by inputting a PIN assigned to each group on a screen provided from an information notification server. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram when the information notification server 90 is configured by a general computer. 6 is a flowchart for describing a flow of processing when providing maintenance information in the remote management system 100. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a modification.

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

[overall structure]
First, the overall configuration of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The remote management system 100 includes a load balancer 50 (50 is a generic name of 50A and 50B; the same applies hereinafter), a user operation server 60, a remote maintenance server 10, a DB (database) 70, and a simple DB 80 connected to a network. , An information notification server 90, a connection server 30, and one or more image forming apparatuses 20.

  The endpoints viewed from the Internet side are a load distribution device 50A for distributing access from the user terminal 40 to the user operation servers 60A and 60B, and a load distribution device for distributing access from the image forming device 20 to the remote maintenance servers 10A and 10B. The device 50B and the connection server 30.

  The load distribution device 50A distributes the access from the user terminal 40 to the user operation servers 60A and 60B. At the time of maintenance of the remote management system 100, the load distribution device 50A distributes the access from the user terminal 40 to the information notification servers 90A and 90B. Here, "at the time of maintenance of the remote management system 100" refers to a state where the user operation server 60, the remote maintenance server 10, and the DB 70 cannot be accessed due to maintenance.

  The user operation server 60 receives an instruction from the user input from the user terminal 40.

  The load distribution device 50B distributes the access from the image forming device 20 to the remote maintenance servers 10A and 10B.

  The remote maintenance server 10 remotely maintains the image forming apparatus 20 under management. For example, it collects daily operation information (toner consumption, number of prints, etc.) and stores it in the DB 70, or updates the firmware of the image forming apparatus 20.

  The DB 70 stores daily operation information.

  The connection server 30 is a server that makes a management connection with the image forming apparatus 20 to send a management command to the image forming apparatus 20 under the management of the remote management system 100. The management connection is continued until the power of the image forming apparatus 20 is turned off.

  The image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network first connects to the remote maintenance server 10 via the load distribution apparatus 50B, and obtains a response with which connection server 30 to establish a management connection. Thereafter, the connection with the remote maintenance server 10 is cut off, and the connection to the designated connection server 30 is established, thereby establishing a management connection.

  When the user accesses the user operation server 60 via the user terminal 40 and instructs to change the setting value of the specific image forming apparatus 20, the remote maintenance server 10 detects the instruction to change the setting value, and instructs the person concerned to change the setting value. To the effect. Then, the remote maintenance server 10 transmits a setting value change command to the image forming apparatus 20 via the connection server 30, and changes the setting value of the image forming apparatus 20.

  At the time of maintenance of the remote management system 100, the information notification server 90 provides maintenance information (information indicating what kind of maintenance is performed and what the operation resumption date and time is) to the user.

  The simple DB 80 is a DB that stores user authentication information, affiliation information, notification information (information announced to the user before the start of maintenance), and maintenance information, and is accessed from the information notification server 90 during maintenance. . The authentication information, the affiliation information, the notification information, and the maintenance information of the user are copied from the DB 70 to the simple DB 80 before the maintenance starts.

  As shown in FIG. 1, during normal times other than maintenance of the remote management system 100, connection from the user terminal 40 to the remote management system 100 is made to the user operation server 60 via the load distribution device 50A. You.

  During maintenance of the remote management system 100, the path from the load distribution device 50A is switched from the user operation server 60 to the information notification server 90. By causing the information notification server 90 to perform access from the user, maintenance information indicating that the remote management system 100 is under maintenance is provided to the user terminal 40.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when providing maintenance information common to all users, not individual users, as shown in FIG. 2, it is sufficient to prepare one Web page. However, when providing detailed maintenance information for each user in the information notification server 90, it is necessary to refer to the contents of the DB 70. For this reason, when the DB 70 cannot be accessed for maintenance, it is impossible to provide detailed maintenance information for each user to the user.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the simple DB 80 is provided, and the notification information, the authentication information, the affiliation information, and the maintenance information are copied from the DB 70 to the simple DB 80 before the maintenance is started. As a result, even during maintenance, the information notification server 90 can access the user-specific maintenance information on the simple DB 80, so that the information notification server 90 can provide the user with the user-specific maintenance information. It becomes possible.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the remote management system 100, by appropriately providing maintenance information related to maintenance that involves interruption of system operation according to each user, erroneous operation by a user during system suspension and This has the effect of suppressing an increase in inquiries. Therefore, efficient operation of the remote management system 100 is realized.

  The overall configuration of the remote management system 100 has been described above. In the figure corresponding to the above description, for example, the number of the remote maintenance servers 10 is two, but this is merely an example, and there may be any number of remote maintenance servers.

[Use of PIN]
Next, the use of a PIN (Personal Identification Number) in the remote management system 100 will be described.

  Due to the increasing awareness of information security in recent years, it has become difficult to copy user identification information and authentication information without taking measures. Therefore, in the present invention, instead of copying the authentication information of the user from the DB 70 to the simple DB 80, when managing the user in the remote management system 100, the PIN assigned to each group to which the user belongs is used as the authentication information. Is also good.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the user can obtain desired maintenance information by inputting a PIN assigned to each group on a screen provided from the information notification server.

  The use of the PIN in the remote management system 100 has been described above.

[Configuration of Information Notification Server]
Next, the configuration of the information notification server 90 will be described. The information notification server 90 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram when the information notification server 90 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the information notification server 90 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 91, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 92, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 93, an operation input unit 94, a communication unit 95, a display unit 96, And a storage unit 97, and these blocks are connected via a bus 98.

  The ROM 92 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 93 is used as a work area of the CPU 91, and temporarily stores an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 97 is, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, or another nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 97 stores an OS, various applications, and various data.

  The communication unit 95 is connected to a network for exchanging information with devices and the like on the network.

  The CPU 91 expands a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 94 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 92 and the storage unit 97 in the RAM 93, and according to the expanded program, displays the display unit 96 and the storage unit. 97 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 94 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 96 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 91 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized in the CPU 91 of the information notification server 90 are a DB content copy unit 91a, a user authentication unit 91b, a simple DB inquiry unit 91c, and a maintenance information providing unit 91d.

  The DB content copy unit 91a copies the user authentication information, affiliation information, notification information, and maintenance information from the DB 70 to the simple DB 80 before the maintenance of the remote management system 100.

  The user authentication unit 91b authenticates a user using the authentication information on the simple DB 80 during maintenance of the remote management system 100.

  The simple DB inquiry unit 91c accesses the simple DB 80 at the time of maintenance of the remote management system 100, and obtains user authentication information, affiliation information, notification information, and maintenance information.

  The maintenance information providing unit 91d provides the user with notification information and detailed maintenance information for each user when the remote management system 100 is maintained.

  The configuration of the information notification server 90 has been described above.

[Processing flow]
Next, the flow of processing when providing maintenance information in the remote management system 100 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing when providing maintenance information in the remote management system 100.

  First, the DB content copy unit 91a of the information notification server 90 copies the user's authentication information, affiliation information, notification information, and maintenance information from the DB 70 to the simple DB 80 (Step S1).

  Next, the load distribution device 50A switches access from the user terminal 40 to the user operation server 60 to the information notification server 90, and maintenance for the user operation server 60, the remote maintenance server 10, and the DB 70 is started (step S2).

  Next, the user accesses the information notification server 90 via the user terminal 40 and the load distribution device 50A (Step S3).

  Next, the user authentication unit 91b of the information notification server 90 authenticates the accessing user (step S4).

  Next, the simple DB inquiry unit 91c of the information notification server 90 inquires the simple DB 80 based on the authentication information of the user, and acquires maintenance information and the like (step S5).

  Next, the maintenance information providing unit 91d of the information notification server 90 provides the user with the maintenance information and the like acquired in the previous step (step S6).

  The flow of the processing when providing the maintenance information in the remote management system 100 has been described above.

<Modification>
Next, a modified example will be described. In the above description, the maintenance information is provided to the user who has accessed the information notification server 90 via the user terminal 40. On the other hand, in the modified example, an application program for displaying maintenance information is introduced into the image forming apparatus 20 under the management of the remote management system 100.

  In this case, the information notification server 90 transmits the maintenance information of the remote management system 100 to the image forming apparatus 20 via the management connection to the image forming apparatus 20 held by the connection server 30 with respect to the simple DB 80. . The image forming apparatus 20 that has received the maintenance information displays on the display unit 26a that the remote management system 100 is under maintenance.

[Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus]
Next, a configuration of an image forming apparatus 20 according to a modified example will be described. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus 20 according to a modification.

  The image forming apparatus 20 includes a control unit 21. The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a dedicated hardware circuit, and the like, and controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 20.

  The control unit 21 is connected to the document reading unit 22, the image processing unit 23, the image memory 24, the image forming unit 25, the operation unit 26, the display unit 26a, the facsimile communication unit 27, the communication unit 28, the storage unit 29, and the like. . The control unit 21 controls the operation of each of the connected units and transmits and receives signals or data to and from each unit.

  The control unit 21 controls operation of each function such as a scanner function, a print function, a copy function, and a facsimile transmission / reception function in accordance with a job execution instruction input from the user via the operation unit 26 or a network-connected PC or the like. Controls the driving and processing of the mechanisms required to execute.

  The control unit 21 has a maintenance information acquisition unit 21a and a maintenance information display unit 21b. The maintenance information acquisition unit 21a and the maintenance information display unit 21b are functional blocks that are implemented by the CPU executing the above-described application programs loaded from the ROM or the like into the RAM.

  The maintenance information acquisition unit 21a acquires maintenance information of the remote management system 100 from the information notification server 90 via a management connection between the connection server 30 and the image forming apparatus 20.

  The maintenance information display unit 21b provides the user with the maintenance information acquired by the maintenance information acquisition unit 21a (displays the information on the display unit 26a).

  The document reading unit 22 reads an image from a document.

  The image processing unit 23 performs image processing on the image data of the image read by the document reading unit 22 as necessary. For example, the image processing unit 23 performs image processing such as shading correction to improve the quality of an image read by the document reading unit 22 after the image is formed.

  The image memory 24 is an area for temporarily storing document image data obtained by reading by the document reading unit 22 and temporarily storing data to be printed by the image forming unit 25.

  The image forming unit 25 forms an image of the image data and the like read by the document reading unit 22.

  The operation unit 26 includes a touch panel unit and an operation key unit that receive instructions from a user regarding various operations and processes that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 20. The touch panel unit includes a display unit 26a such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) provided with a touch panel.

  The facsimile communication unit 27 includes an encoding / decoding unit, a modulation / demodulation unit, and an NCU (Network Control Unit) (not shown), and performs facsimile transmission using a public telephone line network.

  The communication unit 28 includes a communication module such as a LAN board, and transmits and receives various data to and from a device on the network (such as the connection server 30) via a LAN or the like connected to the communication unit 28.

  The storage unit 29 stores a document image and the like read by the document reading unit 22. The storage unit 29 is a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD.

  The configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 has been described above.

  The modification has been described above.

[Supplementary information]
In addition, the present invention is not limited only to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Remote maintenance server 20 ... Image forming apparatus 21 ... Control part 21a ... Maintenance information acquisition part 21b ... Maintenance information display part 22 ... Original reading part 23 ... Image processing part 24 ... Image memory 25 ... Image forming part 26 ... Operating part 26a ... display unit 27 ... facsimile communication unit 28 ... communication unit 29 ... storage unit 30 ... connection server 40 ... user terminal 50 ... load distribution device 60 ... user operation server 70 ... DB
80… Simple DB
90… Information notification server 91… CPU
91a: DB content copy unit 91b: User authentication unit 91c: Simple DB inquiry unit 91d: Maintenance information providing unit 92: ROM
93… RAM
94 ... operation input section 95 ... communication section 96 ... display section 97 ... storage section 98 ... bus 100 ... remote management system

Claims (4)

A user terminal connected to a network, a load distribution device for distributing access from the user terminal, a user operation server for receiving an instruction from a user via the user terminal, and details for each user during maintenance of the user operation server An information notification server for providing the user with maintenance information that is information related to maintenance.
The load distribution device,
A remote management system for switching access from the user terminal to the user operation server to the information notification server during maintenance of the user operation server. The remote management system according to claim 1, wherein
Further comprising a database and a simple database network-connected to the information notification server,
The database stores user authentication information, notification information that is information that is announced to the user before the start of maintenance of the user operation server, and the maintenance information,
The information notification server,
Before the maintenance of the user operation server and the database, the authentication information, the notification information, and a DB content copy unit that copies the maintenance information from the database to the simple database,
At the time of maintenance of the user operation server and the database, a user authentication unit that authenticates the user using the authentication information on the simple database,
At the time of maintenance of the user operation server and the database, a simplified DB inquiry unit that accesses the simplified database and acquires the authentication information, the notification information, and the maintenance information,
A maintenance information providing unit that provides the notification information and the maintenance information to the user when the user operation server and the database are maintained. The remote management system according to claim 1 or 2,
The remote management system further includes one or more image forming apparatuses remotely managed via a network,
Each of the one or more image forming apparatuses includes:
A maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires the maintenance information from the information notification server,
A maintenance information display unit that provides the maintenance information acquired by the maintenance information acquisition unit to the user. A user terminal connected to a network, a load distribution device for distributing access from the user terminal, a user operation server for receiving an instruction from a user via the user terminal, and details for each user during maintenance of the user operation server Notification server that provides the user with maintenance information that is information related to proper maintenance, user authentication information, notification information that is announced to the user before maintenance of the user operation server is started, and the maintenance information An information processing method in a remote management system including a database storing
A DB content copy unit of the information notification server copies the authentication information, the notification information, and the maintenance information from the database to the simple database,
The load distribution device switches access to the user operation server from the user terminal to the information notification server,
Start maintenance on the user operation server and the database,
The user accesses the information notification server via the user terminal and the load distribution device,
A user authentication unit of the information notification server performs authentication of an accessing user,
A simple DB inquiry unit of the information notification server inquiring the simple database based on the authentication information of the user to acquire the maintenance information and the notification information;
An information processing method, wherein a maintenance information providing unit of the information notification server provides the user with the acquired maintenance information and the notification information.

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