JP2021144693A - Information processing device, control method thereof, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To transmit apparatus information to the outside more flexibly by providing a plurality of communication means with different communication characteristics and making them selectable.SOLUTION: An information processing device that transmits apparatus management information to the outside can perform first communication with an external device identified by an IP address on a network by using the IP address, and can perform second communication with the external device by a communication method different from the first communication. The information processing device receives selection of any one communication of the first communication and the second communication as communication used to transmit the apparatus management information, and when the second communication is selected as communication used to transmit the apparatus management information, can transmit some types of management information to the outside among multiple types of management information that can be transmitted to the outside when the first communication is selected.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4A

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a control method thereof, and a program.

In information processing devices (hereinafter referred to as MFPs) such as multifunction devices and printers, the MFP can be remotely monitored by periodically transmitting device management information consisting of device configuration information and various status information to an external management server. Equipment management systems for management are widespread. The device management information includes, for example, remaining amount information of consumables such as toner, operator calls such as running out of paper, error occurrence status, and counter information of output paper as an operation history used for billing management. ..

On the other hand, in the field of IoT, a power-saving wide-area wireless system LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) using a frequency in the 920 MHz band is attracting attention as a communication method for realizing long-distance communication with reduced power consumption (for example,). Patent Document 1). Specific examples of LPWA include LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and the like. Communication standards belonging to LPWA have restrictions such as low speed and small data size (payload) that can be transmitted, but they are less dependent on the communication environment using the existing IP communication network, and communication settings on the transmitting terminal side are simple. There is a feature such as.

Further, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a plurality of communication methods including LPWA are switched and the position information of the mobile terminal is transmitted to an external device.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2018-195931

In the information transmission process in the mobile terminal shown in Patent Document 1, when communication with any of a plurality of relay devices (smart meters) is possible for the purpose of monitoring the position of the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal is referred to the relay device. Identification information can be transmitted. This is a technique in which notification processing is actually executed and communication is performed by a communication means that can be used from a plurality of communication means.

Further, in a conventional information processing device such as an MFP, the device management of the information processing device is performed via a network environment in an organization such as a company to which the MFP is connected by using either a wired LAN or a wireless LAN provided in the device. It is known to send information. However, these conventional techniques have a problem that it is difficult to transmit device management information in an environment where the MFP is not connected to an external network such as a WAN. This environment includes, for example, the case where the MFP is installed in an independent environment, and the case where the MFP cannot connect to the outside such as WAN as a user's connection policy due to a security viewpoint.

Here, by providing a communication module such as LPWA in an information processing device such as an MFP, device information can be transmitted even in an information processing device installed in an environment where communication with a WAN cannot be performed via a wired LAN or a wireless LAN. It is conceivable to do. However, for example, depending on the viewpoint of communication cost and the limitation of the amount of data to be notified to the management server, the intention is to use a conventionally known communication network using a wired LAN or a wireless LAN with few restrictions on the data size and speed. You may want to use it as a target. Further, there may be a case where it is intentionally desired to use a communication network such as a wired LAN or a wireless LAN when the LPWA cannot perform suitable communication due to the installation location of the information processing device and the communication area condition of the LPWA.

As described above, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, transmission is attempted on a communication network among a plurality of communication networks. That is, the use case in which the communication network used for transmitting device information is selected in advance in consideration of the installation situation, the operation policy, and the like is not considered. Therefore, in these use cases, it has been difficult to appropriately perform control such as using an appropriately preselected communication network for transmitting device information.

The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the above-mentioned problems. One aspect of the present invention is that as a means for transmitting device management information, the communication speed is high and there are few restrictions on the amount of data that can be communicated, but a communication line that depends on the connection environment used and a connection environment that has a slow communication speed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for transmitting device information to the outside more flexibly by appropriately selecting a communication line having a low degree of dependence. Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for enhancing convenience when transmitting device information to the outside.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example and has the following configuration. That is, it is an information processing device that transmits device management information to the outside.
A first communication means for communicating using an IP address with an external device specified by an IP address on the network.
A second communication means that communicates with an external device by a communication method different from that of the first communication means,
As the communication means used for transmitting the device management information, the device has a first selection means that accepts the selection of either the first communication means or the second communication means. When the second communication means is selected as the communication means used for transmitting the management information, a part of the plurality of types of management information that can be transmitted to the outside when the first communication means is selected. An information processing device is provided, which is characterized in that management information of the above type can be transmitted to the outside.

According to one aspect of the present invention, by providing a plurality of communication means having different communication characteristics and making them selectable, device information can be transmitted to the outside more flexibly. Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, it becomes possible to enhance the convenience when transmitting device information to the outside.

The figure which showed the example of the network configuration. The hardware block diagram of the MFP to which this invention is applied. The hardware block diagram of the wireless controller to which this invention is applied. The software block diagram of the MFP to which this invention is applied. The figure which shows the example of the communication means selection screen in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the communication data selection screen in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the communication data selection screen in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows the frame format example of transmission data. The figure which shows an example of the transmission sequence in the network configuration to which this invention is applied. The flowchart which shows the whole of the transmission procedure of the device management information in 1st Embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the details of step S701. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the details of step S704. The figure which shows the example of the communication means selection screen in 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the communication means selection screen in 2nd Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the transmission procedure of the device management information in 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the communication means selection screen in 3rd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the communication means selection screen in 3rd Embodiment. The flowchart which shows the transmission procedure of the device management information in 4th Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although a plurality of features are described in the embodiment, not all of the plurality of features are essential to the invention, and the plurality of features may be arbitrarily combined. Further, in the attached drawings, the same or similar configurations are given the same reference numbers, and duplicate explanations are omitted.

● System Configuration FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration in which the multifunction peripheral device (MFP) 100 according to the present embodiment is connected to the device management server 111 on the cloud via a plurality of communication interfaces. The MFP 100 may be called an image forming apparatus because it has an image forming function, and may also be called an information processing apparatus because of its information processing function.

The MFP 100 is connected to a local area network (LAN) 101 as an intranet via a router (not shown). The MFP 100 receives a print instruction (or includes print data) from a PC (not shown) which is an external terminal connected to the same network, performs a print process for forming an image on a medium, and transmits a scanned image. Further, the MFP 100 is provided with a wireless LAN (WLAN) interface, is connected to a wireless LAN access point (hereinafter referred to as AP) 104 in a wireless infrastructure mode, and participates in the WLAN 105 via the AP 104.

The gateway 102 functions as a firewall that controls whether or not the LAN 101 and WLAN 105 can communicate with the external network (for example, the Internet) 103. In the present embodiment, a case where transmission to the device management server 111 cannot be performed by this firewall will be described as an example.

The MFP 100 further includes a wireless controller 214 described later, and can be connected to the wide area wireless communication network 106 by, for example, a communication protocol compliant with an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) communication standard.

In the present embodiment, as specific communication standards of LPWA, for example, LoRaWAN (registered trademark), LoRa (registered trademark), SigFox (registered trademark), NB-IoT (Narrowband-IoT, registered trademark) and the like are assumed. There is. The MFP 100 communicates with a plurality of base stations 107 via the wide area wireless communication network 106, independently of the communication control by the gateway 102. The wireless management cloud 110 stores and manages communication data based on the LPWA standard received via the base station 107 in association with an identifier for identifying the wireless controller. The wireless management cloud 110 provides a function such as parsing received data to the device management server 111 described later. The wireless management cloud 110 may be, for example, a server located on the Internet.

The device management server 111 functions as a cloud that stores and manages device management information collected from a plurality of MFPs (not shown) including the MFP 100. The device management server 111 stores device management information in association with a serial number (SN) that identifies each MFP. Here, the device management server 111 collects the device management information directly from the MFP via the Internet 103 by a protocol such as HTTP, and also acquires the device management information via the wireless management cloud 110.

● Configuration diagram 2A of the MFP is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the MFP 100. The control unit 200 including the CPU 201 controls the operation of the entire MFP 100. The CPU 201 reads and executes a control program stored in the ROM 203 or the HDD 204, and performs various controls such as communication control and image processing. The RAM 202 is used as a temporary area such as a main memory of the CPU 201 and a work area, and also includes an NVRAM for storing set values and the like. The HDD 204 is a non-volatile storage means for storing various user data, programs for executing functions, and the like, and also stores job history information such as printing and copying, counter information of output paper as operation history, and the like. The counter is an example of information indicating the printing record. In addition, for example, information on the remaining amount of consumables such as toner, operator calls such as out of paper, and error occurrence status may be recorded. Information including the past or present state of the MFP 100 is called device management information.

The printer interface (I / F) 206 connects the printer engine 211 (hereinafter referred to as a printer) and the control unit 200. The printer 211 forms an image on the sheet fed from the paper cassette based on the image data input via the printer I / F 206. Subsequently, the MFP 100 discharges a sheet on which an image as an output is formed in a paper discharge tray (not shown). The MFP 100 updates the counter information indicating the printing record according to the paper ejection operation. The image forming method may be an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method. Further, a heat-sensitive method, a sublimation method, or the like may be adopted.

The scanner I / F 207 connects the scanner 212 and the control unit 200. The scanner 212 reads the document placed on the platen and generates image data. The image data generated by the scanner 212 can be printed by the printer 211, stored in the HDD 204, and transmitted to an external device on the network via the wired LAN I / F 208 or the wireless LAN I / F 209.

The operation unit I / F 205 connects the operation unit 210 and the control unit 200. The operation unit 220 is an LCD panel that receives various setting instructions of the MFP 100 and also serves as a display unit that displays various states of the device.

The CPU 201 realizes communication with a device on a LAN or WLAN via a wired LAN I / F208 or a wireless LAN I / F209 which is a first communication unit.

The wireless controller 214, which is the second communication unit, conforms to the LPWA communication standard with the base station 107 shown in FIG. 1 based on the transmission / reception instruction received from the CPU 201 of the control unit 200 via the wireless controller I / F 213. Perform compliant communication.

● Configuration of wireless controller FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the wireless controller 214 that performs transmission control. The CPU 221 in the figure reads and executes a control program as a wireless controller stored in the ROM 223 to control LPWA communication by the LPWA module 224 including the 920 MHz wireless antenna. Here, the control program read into the CPU 221 is configured to perform transmission / reception control based on the LPWA standard by using a communication instruction received from the control unit 200 of the MFP 100 via the wireless controller I / F 213 as a trigger.

The RAM 222 is a main memory and a work area of the CPU 221 and is also used as an area for temporarily storing a data frame to be transmitted / received by LPWA communication.

In the present embodiment, the wireless controller 214 controls transmission / reception based on the communication instruction from the control unit 200, but the wireless controller 214 may be configured to independently perform LPWA communication. good.

● Software configuration diagram 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of software executed by the control unit 200 of the MFP 100 and the wireless controller 214. The software executed by the control unit 200 is realized by the CPU 201 reading the program stored in the ROM 203 or the HDD 204 and executing the software. Further, the software executed by the wireless controller 214 is realized by the CPU 221 reading and executing the program stored in the ROM 223.

When the operation control unit 304 displays a screen image for the user on the operation unit 210. At the same time, the input instruction by the user operation is detected from the pressed state of the operation button or the like displayed on the screen, and the input of the set value associated with the screen component such as the operation button or the execution instruction of various processes is received.

The device setting management unit 305 stores the data of the set value received from the operation control unit 304 in the RAM 202, and reads out the set value based on the request from each of the other control units. For example, when the user wants to change some device setting, the operation control unit 304 detects the content input by the user to the operation unit 210, and the device setting management unit 305 stores it in the RAM 202 as a set value at the request from the operation control unit 304. do.

The job control unit 306 processes each function such as print, copy, and fax as a job, and the job control unit 306 notifies the device information storage unit 302 of the status information of each job. By doing so, device management information consisting of updated counters and error information is stored. A part of the HDD 204 or the RAM 202 is allocated to the storage of the device management information as an area managed by the device information storage unit 302.

The communication I / F determination unit 303 reads the set value stored in the device setting management unit 305, and determines the communication means to be used as the communication means of the device management information according to the flow of FIG. 7B described later.

The device information management unit 301 reads out the device management information stored in the device information storage unit 302, and instructs the communication control management unit 307 to transmit the device management information. At this time, the device information management unit 301 determines the device management information to be transmitted based on the communication means determined by the communication I / F determination unit 303, and instructs the communication control management unit 307 to output the device information management unit 301.

The communication control unit management unit 307 uses either IP communication by wired LAN or wireless LAN or LPWA communication according to the instruction contents from the job control unit 306 which is a higher-level application and the device information management unit 301. Perform communication control. In the present embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the communication control unit management unit 307 provides a communication function by RAW / LPR / IPP for the job control unit 306, HTTP / HTTPS for the device information management unit 301, and LPWA. It shall be provided. Then, the communication control unit management unit 307 switches the lower communication control unit according to the content of each instruction.

Further, the communication control unit management unit 307 makes various settings necessary for IP communication according to the network setting values related to TCP / IP such as the IP address stored in the device setting management unit 305.

The IP communication control unit 308 is a network library group that provides APIs for performing IP communication, and in this embodiment, it supports a communication function using WebAPI by HTTP / HTTPS and various printing protocols required for job control. It is assumed that Further, the IP communication control unit 308 determines the interface to be transmitted / received based on the contents specified via the communication control management unit 307 and the setting values stored in the device setting management unit 305. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a wired LAN is assigned to the main line and a wireless LAN is assigned to the sub line, and the network shown in FIG. 1 is constructed.

The wired LAN driver 309 and the wireless LAN driver 310 are device drivers that control the wired LAN and the wireless LAN hardware, respectively. The wired LAN driver 309 and the wireless LAN driver 310 form a part of the protocol stack for realizing IP communication as a part of the OS that collectively controls the control unit 200.

The wireless controller I / F unit 311 is a library group called when the communication means designated by the communication control management unit 307 is an LPWA. The line controller I / F unit 311 is called from both sides to send / receive data between the control unit 200 and the wireless controller 214, receive an instruction to execute processing, and receive a processing result.

The wide area wireless control unit 320 of the wireless controller 214 is a control unit that performs LPWA communication using the LPWA module 224 by controlling the wide area wireless driver 321 based on the transmission instruction received from the control unit 200.

● Example of transmission method selection screen FIG. 4A shows an operation screen for selecting a line to be used as a transmission method (or transmission means, communication method, or communication means) of device management information displayed on the operation unit 210. It is a figure which showed an example. In this embodiment, an initial setting mode that is executed once at the time of initial installation of the MFP 100 is prepared. When the user (serviceman) selects "remote monitoring service setting" which is one item of the initial setting mode, the setting screen 400 is displayed on the operation unit 210. In the initial setting mode, in addition to the "remote monitoring service setting", settings necessary for IP communication such as an IP address for the main line or the sub line shall be made. Further, settings such as a date and a time zone may be accepted. As described above, the initial setting mode is used when the initial setup (or also referred to as the initial setup process) of the MFP 100 is performed. When the MFP 100 receives a user operation such as an administrator or a maintenance engineer, the MFP 100 controls to reset (restore) the operation setting value of the MFP 100 to the factory default state (initial state). The initial setting mode is also called when these reset controls are performed. In the reset control, the operation setting value is reset, but various counters are not reset.

Each of the buttons 401 to 403 displayed on the setting screen 400 is an option for selecting a method of transmitting device management information, and is configured so that any one of them can be exclusively selected. By detecting the pressing operation of the OK button 406 while any of the transmission methods is selected, the selected item is stored in the device setting management unit 305. Here, the display control of the menu screen and the detection of the button press are performed by the operation control unit 304.

The button 401 is a button for selecting HTTPS (main line) as the transmission method, and the device management information is transmitted via the wired LAN 101 assigned to the main line.

Similarly, the button 402 is a button for selecting HTTPS (sub line) as the transmission method, and the device management information is transmitted via the wireless LAN 104 assigned to the sub line. If the interface is not assigned to the sub line, the button 402 is grayed out and the display is controlled so that it cannot be selected.

Button 403 is a button for selecting a dedicated line (wide area radio) as a transmission method, and device management information is transmitted by LPWA communication without using a main line and a sub line. The figure shows a state in which a dedicated line (wide area radio) is selected.

The button 404 is a button for transitioning to a screen for selecting data to be transmitted as device management information and a transmission cycle according to the selection result of the transmission method, and these screen transitions are also performed by the operation control unit 304. ..

In this way, as one of the initial setup processes, the selection process of the communication method used for transmitting the device management information is performed. In the present embodiment, when the dedicated line (wide area radio) is selected as the transmission method, the screen 401 of FIG. 4B is displayed, and when the HTTPS (main line) is selected, the screen 402 of FIG. 4C is displayed. .. In the present embodiment, the content of the device management information to be transmitted and the initial selection state are changed according to the protocol characteristics or the communication speed of the selected transmission method. Note that when HTTPS (sub line) is selected as the transmission method, it is the same as when HTTPS (main line) is selected, so the figures and description will be omitted.

● Example of transmission data selection screen In the transmission data selection screen 401 shown in FIG. 4B, it is shown that "dedicated line (wide area wireless)" is selected as the transmission method, and the transmission data is pressed by buttons 410 to 412. The transmission cycle can be selected by 413 to 415. It should be noted that a plurality of transmission data can be selected at the same time, and one of the options can be exclusively selected for the transmission cycle.

By selecting the button 410, three predetermined counters, which will be described later, among the counter information are selected as transmission targets. In the figure, the button is highlighted and is in the selected state.

Similarly, by selecting the button 411, a status code in which the stator information indicating the operator call or the service call is defined in advance is selected as the transmission target. In the present embodiment, a maximum of three statuses in the unreleased state shall be transmitted, and the history information that has been released shall not be included.

By selecting the button 412, the toner remaining amount information having the highest reference frequency among the consumables information is selected as the transmission target. Details of the transmitted data will be described later with reference to FIG.

In the present embodiment, only the main counter 410 is set as the selected transmission data in the initial state, and the operator (serviceman or the like) can increase the data to be transmitted according to the use of the device management information. ..

Regarding the transmission cycle, in the present embodiment, one of 413, 1 week, 414, and January 415 can be selected, and January is selected by default, but the transmission cycle is not limited to this. ..

As for the selection result, when the operation control unit 304 detects the pressing operation of the OK button 417, the selected item is stored in the device setting management unit 305 as a setting value, but the pressing of the cancel button 416 is detected. If so, the screen returns to screen 400 without updating the set value.

On the transmission data selection screen 402 shown in FIG. 4C, it is shown that "HTTP (main line)" is selected as the transmission method, and the transmission data is selected by the buttons 420 to 422 and the transmission cycle is selected by the buttons 423 to 425. You can do it. The same description as in FIG. 4B will be omitted.

When "HTTP (main line)", which is IP communication, is selected as the transmission method, the transmission data options include the detailed counter 420, the detailed status 421 including the history, the remaining amount of toner, and replacement parts other than toner. All consumables information 422 can be selected. Since the content of each transmission data may be the same as that transmitted as existing device management information, detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, when HTTP (main line) is used, there is no restriction on the transmission data. Therefore, in the present embodiment, all of the above three items are selected in the initial state and included in the data to be transmitted.

The transmission cycle can be selected from 8 hours 423, 1 day 424, 1 week 425, which is more frequent than LPWA communication, and 8 hours is selected by default. That is, in the present embodiment, the shortest cycle when information is transmitted on the communication path using IP communication by the main line and the sub line is compared with the interval of the shortest cycle when information is transmitted on the communication path using LPWA communication. It is configured so that the interval between the two is short.

In this way, the selection of data to be transmitted that can be selected in the user interface is restricted according to the selected transmission method. Specifically, when a wide area radio with a lower communication speed is selected, only limited data such as a main counter, the latest status, and the remaining amount of toner can be selected as transmission data. On the other hand, when a main line or a sub line having a higher communication speed is selected, larger detailed data can be selected as transmission data rather than larger detailed counter, detailed status, and consumables information.

● LPWA Frame Format Next, with reference to FIG. 5, a frame format indicating device management information transmitted by LPWA communication in the present embodiment will be described.

In the figure, 501 and 503 are a header part and a footer part defined by the LPWA communication standard, and are added by the wireless controller 214 at the time of transmission, respectively. In the present embodiment, the header unit 501 is composed of 10 bytes of data, and includes at least the data size 504 (1 byte) and the radio identifier 505 (4 bytes) of the payload unit 502 described later. However, it suffices if the configuration conforms to the LPWA communication standard to be adopted. The radio identifier 505 is an individual identifier (DeviceID) assigned to each LPWA controller in advance, and the radio management cloud 110 can uniquely identify the LPWA module by the radio identifier 505.

It is assumed that the footer portion is composed of 4 bytes including a code for error detection, but like the header, the footer portion may have a configuration conforming to the LPWA communication standard to be adopted.

The payload unit 502 is an actual data unit having a maximum of 12 bytes including the substance of the device management information, and the data content and format to be transmitted are defined by the data type 506 assigned to the first 3 bits. The four types of data to which the value of each bit is assigned are shown below. (Data type)
000: Main counter 001: Status information 010: Toner remaining amount information 011: Device identification ID (serial number S / N)
100-111: Reserve.

In the present embodiment, the frame formats to be transmitted as the data types are as follows, and each of the data (1) to (4) is stored in the payload of 12 bytes (96 bits) in total together with the 3 bits of the data type 506. Be done.

(1) Main counter (data type = 000)
・ Number of counters: 1 for monochrome machines, 3 (2 bits) for color machines
The monochrome machine includes only the following counter totals, and the color machine includes all the following three counters.
-Counter total: Number of prints (30 bits) counted regardless of paper size, including all prints / copies / faxes
-Total (monocolor): The number of prints (30 bits) that counts only monocolor printing, including all prints / copies / faxes, regardless of the paper size.
-Total (BW): The number of prints (30 bits) that counts only black-and-white prints, including all prints / copies / faxes, regardless of the paper size.

(2) Status information (data type = 001)
・ Number of statuses: Maximum 3 (2 bits)
-Status code: Door open / No paper / Toner low / No toner / Predetermined code assigned to each of various service calls: (30 bits x number).

(3) Toner remaining amount information (data type = 010)
-Number of toner containers: Maximum 2 for monochrome machines (K and waste toner containers), maximum 5 for color machines (CMYK colors and waste toner) (4 bits)
-Toner remaining amount: Stores the remaining amount of CMYK color toner and waste toner container in unit% (8 bits x number of toner containers).

(4) Device identification ID (data type = 011)
-Device identification ID: A device identification ID for uniquely identifying the MFP, and in the present embodiment, a serial number (S / N) (92 bits) stored in the ROM 203 in advance.

Here, the device identification ID is transmitted to the device management server 111 in order to manage the device management information transmitted from the MFP in units of the MFP, and is registered together with the radio identifier 505 for uniquely identifying the LPWA module. .. This process is executed once at the time of initial installation of the MFP before selecting the transmission method, and will be described later using steps 701-3 to 701-5 of FIGS. 10 and 7A. The above is the information transmitted in the packet shown in FIG.

When the main line or the sub line is selected as the transmission method, the data selected from the detailed counter, the detailed status, and the consumables information can be transmitted instead of the above data. In addition to the main counters described above, the detailed counter may include detailed counters such as the number of prints for each sheet size, the number of prints for both sides / single side, and the number of prints for each copy / print. Of course, these are just examples. In addition to the current status, the detailed status may include a history of errors, replacement of consumables, and the like. Further, the consumables information may include the remaining amount of paper in addition to the remaining amount of toner. Therefore, when the main line or the sub line is selected, the amount of data to be transmitted is, for example, several times larger than that when the wide area radio is selected.

● Identification ID registration procedure FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence until the MFP 100 registers the device identification ID in the device management server 111 by LPWA communication. In the figure, the device information management unit 301 of the MFP 100 generates transmission data having a data type of 011 (device identification ID), and instructs the communication control management unit 307 to output the data (601).

The base station 107 checks the CRC included in the footer unit 503 of the received data to confirm whether or not there is a data error. If there is no error in the data, the base station 107 transmits the data to the wireless management cloud 110, and if there is an error, the base station 107 transmits the reception error information (602).
The wireless management cloud 110 identifies the wireless controller and confirms the data requirements based on the LPWA standard based on the parameters including the wireless identifier 505 included in the header section 501. Then, if the wireless controller can be identified and confirmed as normal data, a message including the wireless identifier 505 and the device identification ID which is the data in the payload is generated and transmitted to the device management server 111 (603).

Finally, when the data type of the received packet is the device identification ID, the device management server 111 is identified by the device identification ID and generates a management entry for device management information having the radio identifier 505 as a key (604). .. Then, for the message received from the MFP 100 thereafter, an entry including the same key as the radio identifier 505 included in the message is searched, and the message content is registered in the found entry. By doing so, it is possible to manage the device management information of the uniquely identified MFP.

The procedure for registering the wireless identifier 505 in the wireless management cloud 110 and activating the wireless controller 214 to enable LPWA communication is pre-registered as part of the MFP manufacturing process in the present embodiment. do. Therefore, it is assumed that the wireless controller 214 is already registered in the wireless management cloud 110 when the MFP 100 is installed.

An entry for the MFP 100 is created in the device management server 111 by the above procedure, and the data transmitted from the MFP 100 is registered in the entry for the MFP 100.

● Transmission setting procedure Hereinafter, using the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 to 9, the device information management unit 301 and the communication I / F determination unit 303 perform transmission methods and transmission data based on the settings of the remote monitoring service setting screens 400 to 402. , The procedure for determining the transmission cycle and performing transmission will be described. Here, the processes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are realized by the CPU 201 reading the program stored in the ROM 203 or the HDD 204 into the RAM 202 and then executing the process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the entire procedure for transmitting device management information according to the present embodiment, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the details of step S701 of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 shows the details of step S704 of FIG. It is a flowchart. The flowchart shown in FIG. 7 shall be executed when the power of the MFP is turned on after the operation of resetting the MFP to the initial state of factory shipment or the factory default value is performed.

First, FIG. 7 will be described. The communication I / F determination unit 303 determines the transmission method and the transmission cycle as initial settings, and performs the initial settings (S701). Details of S701 will be described later with reference to FIG. Then, after the initial setting is completed, the device information management unit 301 periodically transmits the device management information by repeating the steps after S702 based on the determined transmission cycle. That is, by reading the time when the device management information was previously transmitted from the RAM 202 (S702), acquiring the current time using the timer provided in the OS, and comparing the time, the transmission cycle set according to the transmission means has elapsed. (S703). Then, when it is determined that the transmission cycle has elapsed from the previous transmission time, the transmission data is determined according to the selected transmission method, and the communication control management unit 307 is instructed to transmit (S704). In S702, the transmission time is set to zero, which indicates that the transmission has not been performed when the power is turned on for the first time, as an initial value, and in S703, the device information management unit 301 determines that the transmission cycle has elapsed. back.

On the other hand, when the device information management unit 301 determines in S703 that the transmission cycle has not elapsed, the device information management unit 301 returns to S703 after setting a predetermined weight.

Finally, the device information management unit 301 updates the transmission time according to the current time (S705), and ends one transmission process. The process of FIG. 7 may be repeatedly executed periodically, and if it is configured as such, it may branch to S702 after S705. In that case, it is premised that a plurality of programs including the processing program of FIG. 7 can be executed in parallel. If this is not the case, for example, after executing S705, a timer set with a transmission cycle or a shorter time may be started to end the process once. Then, the execution may be started from S702 with the expiration of the timer as a trigger.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 8 shows the detailed procedure of S701 in FIG. 7, and in this embodiment, the processing is performed only once when the MFP 100 is started for the first time. Therefore, in the device setting management unit 305, the setting value of the transmission method (hereinafter, transmission setting) is "none", and the device identification ID registration process is "not yet" (that is, not executed). It is assumed that it is possessed as a factory shipment value (S801). In the following description, the setting value of the transmission method set by the operation of the remote monitoring service setting screen 400 and stored in the device setting management unit 305 is referred to as "transmission setting". On the other hand, when the MFP 100 is operating, the operation mode for transmitting the device management information according to the transmission cycle is referred to as a "transmission method".

The communication I / F determination unit 303 reads the transmission setting, and if the set value is "none", determines that the transmission method has not been set, and displays the remote monitoring service setting screen 400 on the operation control unit 304. Is instructed and the operator accepts the selection of the transmission method (S802). If the initial setting is completed, the process of FIG. 8 may be completed and the process may be branched to S702 of FIG.

Then, the communication I / F determination unit 303 receives the selection result of the transmission method by the operation control unit 304, and determines the transmission method and the transmission cycle in the subsequent steps. For the sake of simplicity, in this embodiment, one of HTTPS (main line) 401 to dedicated line (wide area radio) 403 is selected as the transmission setting.

When the transmission setting is set to the wide area radio 403 (S803: Yes), the communication I / F determination unit 303 checks whether the device identification ID has been registered (S804). For this determination, the information indicating whether or not the device type ID has been registered, which is set in S805, may be referred to. If it has already been registered, the transmission method is determined to be wide area radio as indicating the current operation mode (S806). Then, the set value of the transmission cycle selected on the transmission data selection screen 401 is read out, and the transmission cycle is determined as indicating the current operation mode (S807).

On the other hand, when the power is started for the first time, since the value indicating "not yet" is set as the initial value in the device identification ID registration process, S804 is always determined as No, and the device identification ID (S / N) is shown in FIG. Is registered in the device management server 111 according to the sequence of (S805). In addition, for the sake of explanation, the registration of the device identification ID is always successful, but if a registration failure is detected, the remote monitoring service setting screen 400 is displayed again and another transmission method is performed. It may be configured to display a message or the like prompting to select.

When the communication I / F determination unit 303 determines that the transmission setting is not set to the wide area radio 401 (S803: No), the communication I / F determination unit 303 checks whether the transmission setting is set to the main line (S808). When it is determined that the main line is set, it is checked by using, for example, a ping command whether the IP communication setting is completed and communication with the device management server 111 is possible (S809). If there is no error in the communication confirmation with the device management server 111, the transmission method is determined to HTTPS (main line) as indicating the current operation mode (S810), and the transmission cycle is determined in the same manner as in S807 (S811). When confirming the communication of S809, the device identification ID (S / N) is registered in the device management server 111 as in the case where the transmission setting is wide area radio.

On the other hand, when communication with the device management server 111 cannot be performed in S809, the communication I / F determination unit 303 displays the IP address, subnet, DHCP, or other IP communication setting screen (not shown) with respect to the operation control unit 304. Instruct the display (S812). Then, after the IP communication setting is completed on the display screen, the system returns to S808 to confirm the communication again, but it may be configured to return to S802 to reselect the wide area radio.

On the other hand, when it is determined in S808 that the transmission setting is not the main line 401, it means that the sub line 402 is selected as the transmission setting. Therefore, the transmission method and the transmission cycle are determined in the steps after S813, but the description thereof will be omitted because these processes may be the same as those of the main line 401.

By the above processing, the transmission method and the transmission cycle are determined as indicating the current operation mode.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the details of step S704 of FIG. 7, and shows a procedure in which the device information management unit 301 transmits device information as one transmission cycle. Further, in the present embodiment, the procedure corresponding to the case where the transmission data shown in FIG. 4B is selected will be described.

In the figure, the device information management unit 301 examines the current transmission method in S901, and if the transmission method is wide area radio (S902: Yes), the transmission data for giving a transmission instruction to the wide area radio control unit 320. Is generated (S903). Here, from the selection contents shown in FIG. 4B, the number of transmitted data (N) = 1 and the transmitted data 1 = main counter are set. As for the data type to be transmitted, it is assumed that the set values corresponding to 410 to 412 selected in FIG. 4B are stored in the device setting management unit 305.

Then, after initializing the number of transmitted data (i) to 0 (S904), the device information management unit 301 generates transmission data until i becomes equal to N, that is, the number of transmission data set as the transmission target. (S905 to S906). The device information management unit 305 reads the device management information stored in the device information storage unit 302 in association with the data type 507, and converts the target transmission data into a predetermined format to be stored in the payload 502. It is generated by.

After the transmission data is generated for the number of transmission targets, the device information management unit 301 instructs the communication control management unit 307 to output the transmission data (S907), and completes one process.

On the other hand, the device information management unit 301 confirms whether IP communication has been established when the transmission method is not wide area wireless (S908 to S910), and instructs the IP communication control unit 308 to transmit only when it is determined that communication is possible. Is generated (S911). To confirm the establishment of IP communication, first, the link-up state is checked, and it is confirmed that the data link layer such as Ethernet is in a communicable state (S908). When it is confirmed that the link is established, the confirmed state of the IP address is checked, and it is confirmed that the communication as the IP layer is possible (S909). Finally, the error occurrence status in the communication application layer is investigated (S910), and if a state in which communication is not possible is detected in any of them, error processing (S912) is performed to end the processing. The content of the error processing may be stored in the log information generated by the MFP 100 or an error message may be displayed on the operation unit 210, but the present embodiment is not particularly limited.

When all of S908 to S910 are satisfied, it can be determined that IP communication has been established. In that case, the device information management unit 301 is selected for the number of transmission data (N) = 3 and the transmission data 1 to 3, respectively, based on the selection result shown in FIG. 4C, as in the case of wide area radio selection. Set the data type (S911). As for the data type to be transmitted, it is assumed that the set values corresponding to 420 to 422 selected in FIG. 4C are stored in the device setting management unit 305, and the output processing after S904 may be the same as in the case of wide area radio. The explanation is omitted. However, when branched from S911, the number of transmitted data is 3, and packets according to IP communication are generated and transmitted for each data.

By providing a plurality of communication means having different communication characteristics according to the configuration and procedure described above and making it selectable as a transmission method of device management information, it does not depend on the configuration of the connection environment of the information processing device and is more than before. It is possible to provide an environment for flexibly transmitting device management information.

Further, by making it possible to select the transmission data and the transmission frequency suitable for the selected communication means, it is possible to perform data transmission suitable for the communication characteristics of the selected transmission method.

Furthermore, by configuring the transmission method for the remote monitoring service to be set at the time of initial setting of the device, it is possible to participate in the remote monitoring service using the desired transmission method immediately after the start of operation of the device.

Further, according to the above embodiment, the data to be transmitted is determined according to the communication speed or bandwidth provided by the selected communication method. Specifically, when a communication method with a low communication speed or a narrow bandwidth is selected, the transmission data is determined and transmitted so as to include basic data with a smaller amount of data to be transmitted. NS. On the contrary, when a communication method having a high communication speed or a wide bandwidth is selected, the transmission data is determined and transmitted so that the amount of data to be transmitted is larger and the detailed data is included.

Furthermore, in addition to the transmission method that may have restricted connection with the outside like LAN, by adding a transmission method with less restrictions to the options, data transmission can be performed without changing the communication environment such as connection restrictions. It will be possible.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the device management information to be transmitted and the transmission cycle are configured to be selected by the operator on the MFP100 side regardless of which transmission method is selected. On the other hand, when the device management information is transmitted by IP communication, the device management server 111 may have a configuration that can be set in detail. When using wide area wireless communication such as LPWA, it is necessary to avoid inquiring transmission data and transmission cycle to the device management server side in order to reduce the number of communications and the amount of communication data as much as possible. On the other hand, in IP communication, there are few bandwidth restrictions, so it is desirable to have a configuration that allows detailed selection via the website provided by the device management server.

10A and 10B are diagrams showing an example of a remote monitoring service setting screen displayed on the operation unit 210 in the second embodiment. Those having the same configurations as those shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 10A shows a case where a dedicated line (wide area radio) 403 is selected as the transmission method. In this case, transmission data 1001 to 1003 and transmission cycles 1004 to 1006 can be selected on the same screen, and the screen configuration is such that FIG. 4B is arranged at the bottom of FIG. 4A.

On the other hand, FIG. 10B shows a case where HTTPS (main line) 401 is selected as the transmission method. In this case, the operation control unit 304 grayed out all the transmission data and transmission cycle options so that they cannot be selected. Further, a message may be displayed to the operator to the effect that the transmission data and the transmission cycle can be set on the device management server 111 side.

Subsequently, the procedure for transmitting the device management information will be described, but the description will be omitted because the entire transmission flow may be the same as the flowchart shown in FIG. 7.

The device information management unit 301 shown in the present embodiment outputs device management information according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, the initial setting value (S1101), the step of displaying the transmission method selection screen (S1102), and the transmission procedure (S1103 to S1107) when the transmission setting is wide area radio are described in S801 and 802 of FIG. 8, respectively. Since it is the same as 803 to 807, the description thereof will be omitted.

When the transmission setting is HTTPS (main line) or HTTPS (sub line), steps S1111 and S1116 for acquiring transmission data and transmission cycle from the device management server 111 are added as comparison with the first embodiment.

As the type of transmission data acquired by the device information management unit 301 from the device management server 111 in S1111, a configuration capable of specifying detailed device management information in which the operation of the operation control unit 304, which is an LCD panel, is complicated and difficult to set. Can be. For example, additional items related to consumables include a pre-delivery notice notified when a predetermined remaining amount is reached for use in the pre-delivery service, a replacement completion notice indicating when the consumables are replaced, and the like. In addition, regarding consumables information, for example, various devices such as the model number and serial number of consumables, the unit of remaining amount (%, days, internal unit, etc.) as long as the type of transmission data is supported in advance by the MFP100. Management information can be targeted.

In this embodiment, the transmission data and the transmission cycle are the same for the main line and the sub line, so only S1111 will be described below. Further, since the communication confirmation with the device management server 111 has been completed in advance in S1109, the description of error handling at the time of reception failure is omitted here, but when an error is detected, the initial setting when wide area wireless communication is selected. The transmission data and transmission cycle may be the same as those of.

Since other processing procedures may be the same as those in FIG. 8 of the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.
In the present embodiment, when the device management information is transmitted by IP communication, a configuration is prepared in which the data type and transmission cycle of the transmission target can be set on the device management server 111 side, and the MFP 100 sets the set value from the device management server 111. The configuration is to acquire and execute. With this configuration, it is possible to provide an environment in which detailed settings can be made more easily.

[Third Embodiment]
In the first to second embodiments, the transmission data and the transmission cycle suitable for the selected transmission method are selected from the options after selecting the transmission method of the device management information. On the contrary, the transmission data and the transmission cycle are selected. It is also possible to select the transmission method according to the selection result of.

Hereinafter, an example of an operation screen for selecting a transmission method from the transmission data of the device management information to be transmitted will be described with reference to FIGS. 12A and 12B.

In the figure, the description of the button having the same configuration as that of FIGS. 4A to 4C will be omitted. The main counter 1201 to the consumables information 1206 are options as transmission data. The main counters 1201 to the remaining toner amount 1203 correspond to the main counters 410 to the remaining amount of toner 412 in FIG. 4B, and the detailed counters 1204 to the consumables information 1206 correspond to the detailed counters 420 to the consumables information 422 in FIG. 4C, respectively. Further, the options of the transmission method HTTPS (main line) 1207 to the dedicated line (wide area radio) 1209 correspond to the options of the HTTPS (main line) 401 to the dedicated line (wide area radio) 403 of FIG. 4A, respectively.

When only the main counter 1201 to the remaining toner amount 1203 are selected as the transmission data, the operation control unit 304 shown in the present embodiment uses all of HTTPS (main line) 1207 to dedicated line (wide area radio) 1209 as the transmission method. Control to be selectable. The user interface at this time is shown in FIG. 12A. When only the main information is selected as the transmission data in this way, there is no restriction on the transmission method that can be selected. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 12B, when any one of the detailed counter 1204 to the consumables information 1206 is selected as the transmission data, the dedicated line 1209 is controlled so as not to be selected as the transmission method. In FIG. 12B, the leased line 1209 is displayed in a mode in which it cannot be selected. When any of the detailed information is selected as the transmission data in this way, the transmission method that can be selected is limited to the high-speed or wideband transmission method.

Further, when a dedicated line is selected as the transmission method, it is possible to control graying out so that the transmission data of the detailed counter 1204 to the consumables information 1206 cannot be selected. Alternatively, it may be configured to display that the dedicated line is not suitable as the transmission method at the time of selection and exclude it from the selection target.

The same applies to the transmission cycle. For example, when a transmission cycle having a frequency exceeding a predetermined degree is selected, only a high-speed or wideband transmission method (for example, main line or sub line) can be selected as the transmission method for the operator. A user interface may be presented. For example, on the screen of FIG. 12A or FIG. 12B, a control for selecting a transmission cycle is displayed as shown in FIG. 4B or FIG. 4C. Then, if a high-frequency option, for example, "8 hours" is selected, the dedicated line (wide area radio) 1209 may be displayed in a non-selectable manner as the transmission method.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the communication means suitable for the characteristics of the communication means is surely selected by excluding the options that do not match the characteristics of the communication means based on the transmission data amount and the transmission frequency of the device management information to be transmitted. You can choose.

[Fourth Embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the operator selects the device management information and the transmission cycle to be transmitted by the dedicated line (wide area radio) has been described. In the fourth embodiment, in consideration of the communication cost of wide area radio and the urgency of the information to be transmitted, a mechanism for efficiently transmitting necessary data while suppressing the communication cost will be described. Since the hardware configuration and the software configuration in the fourth embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

Generally, in LPWA data communication contracts, the amount of data communication and the number of transmissions are fixed until they exceed a certain value. In many cases, a pay-as-you-go charge system is adopted. When an LPWA data communication contract is made with such a charge system, if the data to be transmitted using the LPWA is sent without limitation, a charge exceeding a fixed amount will occur, which causes a problem in terms of cost. In order to suppress the occurrence of costs due to this pay-as-you-go billing, it is necessary to control communication within a limited number of times and within a size range. In view of this, in the present embodiment, when the device management information is transmitted using the LPWA which is a wide area radio, the transmission data is classified into priority transmission data and other transmission data, and transmission control according to the classification is performed. conduct.

The priority transmission data will be described. The vendor of the image forming apparatus may provide the customer with maintenance services including a delivery service for delivering consumables such as toner to the customer. It is necessary to deliver consumables at an appropriate time so that the delivery service does not become unable to print or copy due to lack of consumables. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly monitor the usage status of consumables such as the remaining amount of toner. In particular, irregular event information (hereinafter tentatively referred to as "toner LOW notification") indicating that the remaining amount of toner has become less than a specific threshold value in the monitoring of the remaining amount of toner delivers consumables such as toner. It is important information that triggers and should be sent with priority. In addition, in order to prevent users from being unable to print or copy, alarm notifications that detect equipment failures and notify that inspection is required are also important information in maintenance services. .. Another business form of the image forming apparatus is to lease the image forming apparatus to the user and collect the usage fee according to the printing performance. In the case of this lease form, the counter information indicating the number of times of use such as copying and printing is the information for calculating the usage fee. Therefore, the counter information required to calculate the usage fee for a certain period such as January is information that should be notified periodically at predetermined intervals such as once a month.

The above-mentioned information is information having a higher priority or urgency of notification than other device management information to be notified. In the present embodiment, the above-mentioned information is classified into priority transmission data, and other device management information is classified into other transmission data. Information classified into other transmission data includes, for example, the state of parts in the device (current degree of wear, number of sheets to be passed, etc.) and information indicating which function in the image forming apparatus the user is using. There is. In addition, alerts and the like indicating a specific warning are also classified into other transmitted data.

In the present embodiment, when the device management information designated as the transmission target in the first to third embodiments is transmitted, the priority transmission data and the other transmission data are controlled differently to perform pay-as-you-go billing. Provide a mechanism to control the cost associated with the occurrence of. This will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 is realized by the CPU 201 reading the program stored in the ROM 203 or the HDD 204 into the RAM 202 and then executing the program. The flowchart of FIG. 13 is executed when an event (that is, an event) for transmitting information to the management server 111 occurs, or when the time for transmitting periodic device management information is reached.

In S1301, the communication I / F determination unit 303 determines whether or not the transmission setting is set to wide area radio. If the transmission setting is set to wide area radio, the process proceeds to S1303, and if the transmission setting is not set to wide area radio (that is, the transmission setting is set to the main line or sub line), the process is performed. Proceed to S1302. The process is the same as the process of S803.

In S1302, the device information management unit 301 generates transmission data, and transmits the generated transmission data to the management server 111 in cooperation with the IP communication control unit 308.

In S1303, it is determined whether or not the data to be transmitted is the priority transmission data. If it is determined that the data is priority transmission data, the process proceeds to S1304, and if it is determined that the data is not priority transmission data, the process proceeds to S1308.

In S1304, the device information management unit 301 refers to the transmission log and determines whether or not data showing the same contents as the data to be transmitted has been transmitted within a predetermined period. Specifically, when the transmission log contains data showing the same content and stores information indicating that the transmission was successful, the content is the same as the data to be transmitted. It is determined that the data indicating the above has been transmitted within a predetermined period.

When the device information management unit 301 determines that the data showing the same contents as the data to be transmitted has been transmitted within a predetermined period, the device information management unit 301 ends a series of processes without transmitting the data to be transmitted. On the other hand, if it is determined that the data showing the same contents as the data to be transmitted has not been transmitted within a predetermined period, the process proceeds to S1305. For example, a failure alarm notification is generated many times when the power of the device is turned on / off. By performing the process of S1304, it is possible to prevent data showing the same contents from being retransmitted.

In S1305, the device information management unit 301 generates transmission data, cooperates with the wireless controller I / F unit 311 to transmit the generated transmission data, and transmits the generated transmission data to the wireless management cloud 110. In addition, the device information management unit 301 generates a transmission log including information indicating the transmission content, the transmission date and time, and the transmission result. At this stage, blank or unknown information is stored as the information indicating the transmission result. The data received by the wireless management cloud 110 is transferred to the management server 111.

In S1306, the device information management unit 301 determines whether or not the data transmission has been successful. If it is determined that the data transmission is successful, the process proceeds to S1397. On the other hand, if it is determined whether or not the data transmission is successful, a series of transmission processes are terminated. Specifically, the device information management unit 301 waits for a response indicating that the management server 111 has received the data for a certain period of time. When a response indicating that data has been received within this fixed time is received, it is determined that the data transmission has been successful. On the other hand, if no response is received even after a certain period of time has passed, it is determined that it is unknown whether the data transmission was successful.

In S1307, the device information management unit 301 stores information indicating success in transmission in the transmission log corresponding to the data transmitted in S1306. In S1310, the device information management unit 301 updates the number of transmissions. The number of transmissions is reset to zero at the timing when the data communication volume of wide area wireless communication is reset (for example, at the beginning of the month).

On the other hand, in S1308, the device information management unit 301 determines whether or not the number of transmissions using the wide area radio exceeds the threshold value. If it is determined that the number of transmissions using the wide area radio is less than or equal to the threshold value, the process proceeds to S1309, and if it is determined that the number of transmissions using the wide area radio exceeds the threshold value, the data to be transmitted is transmitted. Ends a series of transmission processes without.

In S1309, the device information management unit 301 generates transmission data, cooperates with the wireless controller I / F unit 311 to transmit the generated transmission data, and transmits the generated transmission data to the wireless management cloud 110. Continue to generate a transmission log.

In this embodiment, as an example of a method in which the transmission amount is counted and compared with the threshold value, a method of counting the number of transmissions and determining whether or not the number of transmissions exceeds the threshold value is illustrated. However, the determination method is not limited to this, and for example, the transmitted data size may be counted to determine whether or not the transmitted data size exceeds the threshold value.

With the above procedure and configuration, necessary data can be efficiently transmitted while suppressing communication costs. In particular, if the telecommunications company has a contract in which a flat-rate charge is applied up to a certain amount of data and a pay-as-you-go charge is applied beyond that amount, priority transmission data can be transmitted within the range of the fixed amount of data. Therefore, it contributes not only to cost reduction but also to the ease and certainty of cost estimation.

● Threshold setting A method of selecting the threshold value referred to in step S1308 will be described. The threshold value of this embodiment is selected based on the following factors 1 to 4. Element 1 is a constraint condition based on the contract system of the wide area communication service (for example, the number of transmissions and the data size within a fixed amount). Element 2 is the number of times priority transmission data (for example, counter information) that is periodically generated occurs within a predetermined period and the data size required for transmission of the information. Element 3 is a predicted value of the occurrence frequency of event notifications that occur irregularly and the data tying required for transmission of the notifications. Element 4 is a predicted value of the frequency and data size at which other transmitted data occurs within a predetermined period.

For example, among the data set as the transmission target on the setting screens of FIGS. 4B and 4C, when there is a large amount of priority transmission data to be transmitted periodically in element 2, or when the data size to be transmitted is large, priority transmission is performed. Therefore, the amount of reserved data that should be secured preferentially increases.

Further, the element 3 is an element that varies depending on the frequency of use of the user and the characteristics of the device, in addition to whether or not the setting transmission target is set. For example, in the case of a device having a large number of prints, the amount of reserved data to be secured for toner LOW notification becomes large. The frequency with which device failure alert notifications occur is predicted, for example, for each type of device.

The element 4 is a value indicating how much other transmission occurs, that is, how much data communication amount due to other data communication different from the priority transmission occurs.

Specifically, the number of transmissions and the data size obtained by subtracting the number of transmissions and the data size to be reserved for the priority transmission corresponding to the elements 2 and 3 from the number of transmissions and the data size of the element 1 are selected as the threshold value. NS. That is, by setting the remaining amount obtained by subtracting the predicted data amount to be the target of priority transmission from the upper limit data amount of the fixed amount as the threshold value referred to in step S1308, the priority transmission data is transmitted within the fixed amount frame. At the same time, non-priority transmission data is also transmitted at a fixed rate as much as possible, and the amount exceeding the fixed amount is not transmitted. It should be noted that it is also possible to select a threshold value obtained by further subtracting a predetermined value so that even if the notification of the element 3 occurs slightly more than the predicted value, it can be dealt with. By doing so, even if the amount of priority data increases due to fluctuations in the usage status of the user, the threshold value can be set so as not to exceed the amount of data that can be transmitted with a fixed amount.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the threshold value that is assumed that priority transmission can be performed without any problem in a general installation environment is appropriately selected by the business operator and set as the factory shipment value of the MFP 100. On the other hand, the above-mentioned element 3 differs greatly depending on the frequency of use. Therefore, it can be configured so that a user such as a service engineer can change the threshold value. In this case, a user such as a service engineer can be configured to select a threshold value suitable for the environment. Further, the MFP 100 is configured to derive a predicted value indicating the number of transmissions corresponding to the elements 2 and 3 and the expected amount of data size generation based on the history information, and derive a threshold candidate based on the predicted value. May be good. The history information assumes, for example, the occurrence history of notifications and the printing record. In this case, the MFP 100 derives a threshold candidate by subtracting a predicted value from the number of transmissions of element 1 and the data size. The MFP 100 automatically changes the threshold value at the beginning of the month or the like based on the derived threshold value candidates.

Further, the threshold value may be configured so that a change instruction can be transmitted from the management server 100 to the MFP 100 so that the threshold value can be changed. The instruction for the change may be given by IP communication or wide area wireless communication. When the setting is changed by using the wide area wireless communication, the management server 111 includes the threshold value change instruction in the response indicating that the data has been received. The change instruction includes information indicating that the instruction indicates that the threshold value has been changed, and the threshold value after the setting has been changed. Upon receiving the response including the threshold value change instruction, the MFP 100 changes the threshold value setting based on the change instruction. If the wide area wireless communication supports server push, the change instruction may be given by server push.

(Modification example)
In the above-described embodiment, the method of transmitting the device management information and the transmission cycle have been described as an example of setting when the MFP 100 is installed, but the present invention is not limited to this. A setting menu may be provided on the setting screen accessible by the administrator or the maintenance screen accessible by the service engineer so that the setting can be changed at any time after installation, that is, the setting change may be accepted at any time. .. For example, in this case, the transmission method and the transmission cycle may be input in the above-mentioned setting menu.

In this case, the transmission procedure after S702 shown in FIG. 7 may be executed in a state where the transmission setting and the device identification ID are not registered (corresponding to before the execution of S701). Therefore, for example, in step S803 of FIG. 8, it is determined whether the transmission setting is wide area radio, and if it is not wide area radio (S803: No), before step S808, the transmission setting is either the main line or the sub line. Add a step to check if it is set to. If the transmission setting is neither the main line nor the sub line, the processing may be terminated without performing error processing. Alternatively, a process for checking the transmission setting may be added immediately before S702, and if the transmission setting is "none", it may be controlled not to perform the process after S702. Specifically, this can be realized by starting the MFP 100 without starting the process for transmitting device information.

By adopting the configuration of this modification, it is possible to change the setting of the device management information transmission method and the transmission cycle at an arbitrary timing after the MFP 100 is installed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the information processing device, a case where device management information of a printing device for printing an image on a sheet is transmitted has been illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it can also be applied to the transmission of device management information of a 3D printer that models a three-dimensional shaped object using a modeling material. In this case, as the device management information to be transmitted by a dedicated line such as LPWA, the main total counter information such as the usage amount of the modeling material, the information indicating the cumulative total number of layers, and the information indicating the printing record is transmitted. .. On the other hand, when the device management information is transmitted by a high-speed or wideband transmission method, in addition to the information transmitted by the dedicated line, the amount of modeling material used for each job, the number of laminated layers for each job, the number of objects, etc. are more determined. Detailed management information can be sent.

● Summary of Embodiments and Modifications In the above embodiments and modifications, the transmission method and the transmission target data that can be transmitted by the selected transmission method are associated in advance. Then, when the transmission method or the transmission target data is selected, the transmission target data or the transmission method associated with the selected transmission method or transmission target data can be selected. That is, the first transmission method and the first transmission target data are associated with each other, and similarly, the second transmission method and the second transmission target data are associated with each other. The same applies even if there are three or more transmission methods. In the present embodiment, the difference between the first transmission method and the second transmission method appears in the communication speed or the bandwidth. It also appears in power consumption. Based on the difference, the data to be transmitted is associated with the transmission method.

Therefore, the data to be transmitted that can be transmitted by each of the first transmission method and the second transmission method is mainly determined according to the size. For example, data that can be transmitted by the slower transmission method can be transmitted without any problem even by the faster transmission method. Therefore, the transmission target data associated with each transmission method has an inclusion relationship, and there is data that can be transmitted by the higher transmission method, but transmission is not permitted by the lower transmission method.

By doing so, it is possible to select a plurality of transmission methods having different communication characteristics and transmission target data suitable for each transmission method, and it is possible to provide an environment for transmitting flexible device management information.

Further, in the fourth embodiment, in addition to the control of the first to third embodiments, the data communication cost in the second communication method is suppressed, and the device information having high priority and urgency is surely obtained. An environment for transmitting can be provided.

[Other Examples]
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by the processing to be performed. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, a claim is attached to make the scope of the invention public.

100 MFP (information processing device), 107 wide area radio base station, 110 wireless management cloud, 111 device information management server, 214 wireless controller, 301 device information management unit, 303 communication I / F determination unit, 506 data type

Claims (18)

An information processing device that transmits device management information to the outside.
A first communication means for communicating using an IP address with an external device specified by an IP address on the network.
A second communication means that communicates with an external device by a communication method different from that of the first communication means,
As the communication means used for transmitting the device management information, the device has a first selection means that accepts the selection of either the first communication means or the second communication means. When the second communication means is selected as the communication means used for transmitting the management information, a part of the plurality of types of management information that can be transmitted to the outside when the first communication means is selected. An information processing device characterized in that the type of management information can be transmitted to the outside. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the second communication means is a communication means that communicates with an external device by wireless communication based on an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) standard. The wireless communication based on the LPWA standard is a wireless communication based on any one of the SigFox (registered trademark), LoRaWAN (registered trademark), and NB-IoT (registered trademark) standards. The information processing device described. The claim is characterized in that the bandwidth of the communication path when communicating using the second communication means is narrower than the bandwidth of the communication path when communicating using the first communication means. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1 to 3. The first selection means accepts the selection of the device management information to be transmitted from one or more device management information associated with the communication means selected as the communication means used for transmitting the device management information. Further having 2 selection means,
When the second communication means is selected as the communication means used for transmitting the device management information in the first selection means, the transmission target is compared with the case where the first communication means is selected. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein there are few types of device management information that can be selected as. It has an initialization means for resetting the operation settings set in the information processing device and resetting the information processing device to the initial state.
As one of the initial setup processes executed when the information processing apparatus is started in the initial state, the first selection means performs the selection process of the communication means used for transmitting the device management information. The information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. Further, it has a display means for displaying a setting screen for selecting a communication means used for transmitting the device management information when a predetermined user operation is accepted.
The first selection means selects the communication means selected as the communication means used for transmitting the device management information by the user operation via the setting screen as the communication means used for transmitting the device management information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which is characterized. It further has a third selection means that accepts the selection of the transmission cycle for transmitting the device management information, and when the second communication means is selected as the communication means used for transmitting the device management information, the transmission cycle is set. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the selectable shortest cycle interval is longer than the selectable shortest cycle interval when the first communication means is selected. Information processing equipment. The information processing apparatus is a printing apparatus, and the management information that can be transmitted when the second communication means is selected includes at least information indicating a printing record, according to claims 1 to 8. The information processing apparatus according to any one of the above items. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a printing means for printing an output based on print data received from an external terminal on a network via the first communication means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the printing means is a printing means for printing an image on a sheet, and the information indicating the printing result is counter information indicating the number of printed sheets. The printing means according to claim 10, wherein the printing means is a 3D printer that forms a three-dimensional shaped object based on print data, and the information indicating the printing record is information indicating the amount of the modeling material used. Information processing equipment. When the second communication means is selected as the communication used for transmitting the device management information and an event to transmit the management information occurs, the management information to be transmitted is preferentially transmitted. The first means of determining whether or not the information should be managed,
When it is determined by the first determination means that the management information to be transmitted is not the management information to be transmitted with priority, the actual result of data transmission executed by the second communication means within a predetermined period is a threshold value. A second means of determining whether or not the information has been exceeded,
When it is determined by the second determination means that the threshold value has been exceeded, the information processing apparatus does not transmit the management information to be transmitted to the outside even when the event occurs. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12. When the management information to be transmitted is determined to be the management information to be transmitted with priority by the first determination means, whether or not the actual result of data transmission executed within the predetermined period exceeds the threshold value. The information processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the management information to be transmitted is transmitted to the outside by the second communication means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising a changing means for changing the threshold value. A predictive means for predicting the expected amount of management information data transmission that should be prioritized based on historical information,
The invention according to any one of claims 13 to 15, further comprising a derivation means for deriving the threshold value based on the predicted communication amount and the constraint condition regarding the data communication amount in the second communication means. Information processing device. A program for operating a computer as the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 16. In an information processing device that transmits device management information to the outside
The first communication using the IP address can be performed to the external device specified by the IP address on the network.
The second communication can be performed with the external device by a communication method different from the first communication.
As the communication used for transmitting the device management information, the selection of either the first communication or the second communication is accepted.
When the second communication is selected as the communication used for transmitting the device management information, a part of the plurality of types of management information that can be transmitted to the outside when the first communication is selected. A control method for an information processing device, characterized in that various types of management information can be transmitted to the outside.

Images