JP3566683B2 - Image forming device with notification function - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, and more particularly to an apparatus having a function of notifying a state of an image forming apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-024644 discloses that in a system including a personal computer and a printer connected by a communication line, when an abnormality such as running out of paper or running out of toner occurs in the printer, a print request is sent through the communication line. There is disclosed a technique of notifying a personal computer that has made it.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-032127 discloses a technique of notifying a predetermined PHS terminal by voice when an abnormality occurs in a printer.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The prior arts are configured to notify only a predetermined device when an abnormality such as running out of paper in a printer or running out of toner occurs. For this reason, in a configuration in which an abnormality is notified to a specific personal computer, there is a problem in that when there is no person in front of the personal computer, the abnormality notification is not immediately transmitted to the user, and the state in which the abnormality has occurred for a long time remains.
[0004]
Also, in the case of transmitting the information to the PHS terminal, if the owner (user) of the PHS terminal is out of the office, for example, even if the user knows an abnormality, he / she cannot return to the office immediately. Must be notified to colleagues in the office.
The present invention has been made under such a background, and when a failure occurs in an image forming apparatus, it is possible to reliably report the failure, and to provide a notification function capable of promptly removing the failure. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus.
[0005]
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of satisfactorily notifying a trouble occurring in the image forming apparatus by using a short-range wireless communication technology, for example, a Bluetooth (Note: trademark) function.
[0006]
Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention
The first aspect of the present invention provides a short-range wireless communication unit, a failure detection unit that detects that a failure has occurred during an image forming operation, and the near-field communication unit that responds to the failure detection unit detecting a failure. A search means for searching for a device that is located within the communication range of the short-range wireless communication means and has a short-range wireless communication means capable of communicating with the short-range wireless communication means; Means for notifying the occurrence and the content of the failure by the short-range wireless communication means.
[0007]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus is connected to a personal computer or a management device via a communication line, and when the failure is not recovered within a predetermined time after the notification is performed by the notification unit, the image communication is performed. Claims characterized by having means for notifying the occurrence of a failure and its contents to a predetermined device such as a personal computer or a management device connected via a line by means different from the short-range wireless communication means. Item 4. An image forming apparatus with a notification function according to Item 1.
[0008]
The invention according to claim 3 further comprises means for notifying a predetermined device of the completion of the image forming operation by the short-range wireless communication means when the image forming operation is completed. The image forming apparatus with the notification function described in the above.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the short-range wireless communication unit receives a signal, it determines whether the received content is a device status confirmation request or not, and transmits the signal when the status confirmation request is received. 4. The image forming apparatus with a notification function according to claim 1, further comprising: means for notifying the status of the apparatus to the device by the short-range wireless communication means.
[0009]
According to the configuration of the first aspect, the failure detection unit detects that a failure has occurred during the image forming operation. The failure has occurred when a paper jam has occurred, the paper has run out, or the toner has run out. When a failure is detected by the failure detection means, all devices that are within the communication range of the short-range wireless communication means and have communicable short-range wireless communication means are searched. For example, all devices having a short-range wireless communication unit, such as another image forming device, a personal computer, a mobile phone, a PHS terminal, etc., within a radius of 10 m around the image forming device are searched.
[0010]
Then, the fact that a trouble has occurred and the content of the trouble that has occurred are reported to all the retrieved devices. Therefore, for example, a user having a mobile phone within a radius of 10 m, a user having a PHS terminal, or a user operating a personal computer or an image forming apparatus is within a range of a mobile phone, a PHS terminal, and the like. Of a failure in the image forming apparatus with which the communication has been performed by the machine, the personal computer, or the image forming apparatus, and the details of the failure. Therefore, one of the users can go to the image forming apparatus in which the failure has occurred, and quickly recover the failure.
[0011]
From the image forming apparatus in which the failure has occurred, the fact that the failure has occurred in all the communicable devices in the communication area and the content of the failure are notified, so to say, the devices that are broadcast-wise can be communicated. The occurrence of a fault can be notified. Therefore, there is an effect that the notification of the failure is reliable, and the user who has no available hands can immediately recover from the failure.
According to the configuration of the second aspect, when no one is around the image forming apparatus in which the failure has occurred, the occurrence of the failure is reported to a predetermined device such as a personal computer or a management device. It is guaranteed that the failure will always be recovered.
[0012]
In the configuration of claim 3, when the image forming operation is completed, a notification of the completion of the operation is sent to a device or the like of the user who has requested the image forming when the image forming operation is completed. The user can be quickly notified of the completion of the operation, and the operation efficiency of the image forming apparatus is improved.
Further, according to the configuration of the fourth aspect, the state of the image forming apparatus can be easily confirmed by the short-range wireless communication means, and when there are a plurality of image forming apparatuses, it is possible to determine which image forming apparatus is vacant by the short-range wireless communication. The system can be easily confirmed by the communication means, and the system can be easily used.
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing a configuration of a system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system includes an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming processing unit 2, a fault detecting unit 3 for detecting a fault occurring in the image forming processing unit 2, and a short-range wireless communication unit (for example, a Bluetooth (Note: trademark) device) 4. And search means 5. The short-range wireless communication unit 4 included in the image forming apparatus 1 can communicate with a predetermined range around the image forming apparatus 1, for example, within a radius of 10 m. In this communication area, for example, other printers 11 and 12 and a personal computer 13 are arranged. Further, the printer 14 and the personal computer 15 are arranged outside the communication area. The image forming apparatus 1, the printers 11, 12, and 14, and the personal computers 13 and 15 are connected to a network via a communication line 16 such as a LAN. Further, a network management device 20 is connected to the communication line 16.
[0014]
Further, it is assumed that a mobile phone 17 and a PHS terminal 18 owned by the user exist in the communication range of the short-range wireless communication unit 4 provided in the image forming apparatus 1.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 of FIG. Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 will be described according to the flow of FIG.
In the image forming apparatus 1, when a failure is detected by the failure detection unit 3 (YES in step S <b> 1), the search unit 5 uses the short-range wireless communication unit 4 to perform communication within the communication range of the short-range wireless communication unit 4. A device having a possible short-range wireless communication means is searched (step S2). For example, in FIG. 1, the short-range wireless communication means 4 sends a signal to the mobile phone 17 and the PHS terminal 18 to determine whether the mobile phone 17 and the PHS terminal 18 have a short-range wireless communication function. I do. If provided, the mobile phone 17 and the PHS terminal 18 are communicable devices.
[0015]
Similarly, it inquires of the printers 11 and 12 and the personal computer 13 located in the communication area, and searches for whether or not they have a short-range wireless communication means with which they can communicate. If the printers 11 and 12 and the personal computer 13 are equipped with the same short-range wireless communication means as the image forming apparatus 1, that is, a Bluetooth (Note: trademark) device or the like, these are all communicable devices. .
If there is a device that can communicate (YES in step S3), the occurrence of the failure and the contents thereof are notified to all the devices that can communicate by the short-range wireless communication means (step S4). That is, the image forming apparatus 1 notifies all the communicable devices within the communication range of the short-range wireless communication unit 4 that a failure has occurred. As a result, for example, when the user owning the mobile phone 17 receives the failure occurrence and the content thereof, the mobile phone 17 inquires the image forming apparatus 1 of the image forming apparatus 1 for more detailed content by short-range wireless communication. Is possible. The image forming apparatus 1 can also respond to the inquiry (steps S5 and S6).
[0016]
As described above, the occurrence of a failure and its contents are reported to all communicable devices within the communication area around the image forming apparatus 1, so that the failure can be reported reliably and quickly. . Also, the notification range is limited to the communication range of the short-range wireless communication means, and therefore does not extend over a wide range.
The image forming apparatus 1 performs the above-described notification until the failure is recovered, and if the failure is not recovered after the elapse of a predetermined time (YES in step S8), the image forming apparatus 1 requests a predetermined device, for example, image formation. The occurrence of the failure and its contents are notified to the personal computer 5 and the network management device 20 via the communication line 16 (step S9).
[0017]
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing another usage pattern of the system shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation. FIG. 3 shows a configuration in which print data is transmitted from the personal computer 15 located outside the communication range of the image forming apparatus 1 to the image forming apparatus 1, and a notification of printing completion is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 1 to the mobile phone 17 located within the communication range. ing.
As shown in FIG. 4, the operation in this configuration first sets a notification destination after printing is completed from the personal computer 15 to the image forming apparatus 1 (step P1), and selects the image forming apparatus 1 from the personal computer 15 to perform printing. Execution is performed (step P2). When the output is completed in the image forming apparatus 1 (YES in step P3), the completion is confirmed by a program built in the image forming apparatus 1 (step P4), and printing is performed using the short-range wireless communication unit 4. The completion information is transmitted to the mobile phone 17.
[0018]
Further, FIG. 5 shows that the state of the image forming apparatus 1 is checked from the mobile phone 17 within the communication range of the image forming apparatus 1, and the user of the mobile phone 17 returns to his / her personal computer 15 after obtaining the status notification. 1 shows a configuration for transmitting print data to the image forming apparatus 1.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the configuration of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, first, a state confirmation is transmitted from the mobile phone 17 to the image forming apparatus 1 (step Q1). Then, the status information is returned from the image forming apparatus 1 to the mobile phone 17 (step Q2). Then, the user of the mobile phone 17 looks at the information and knows whether or not the image forming apparatus 1 can perform printing (step Q3). If printing is possible, the user returns to the personal computer 15 and selects the image forming apparatus 1. Printing is executed (step Q4).
[0019]
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing the configuration of a system having an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing another operation of the system shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the configuration of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing another operation in the system shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the configuration diagram of FIG. 5;
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 image forming apparatus 2 image forming processing unit 3 obstacle detecting means 4 short-range wireless communication means 5 searching means 11, 12, 14 printer (image forming apparatus)
13, 15 PC 16 LAN (communication line)
17 Mobile phone 18 PHS terminal 20 Network management device

Claims (4)

Short-range wireless communication means;
Failure detection means for detecting that a failure has occurred during the image forming operation;
Search means for searching, in response to the detection of a failure by the failure detection means, a device having a short-range wireless communication means in the communication range of the short-range wireless communication means and capable of communicating with the short-range wireless communication means. When,
Means for notifying, by means of the short-range wireless communication means, that a failure has occurred and the content of the failure, for all devices searched by the search means,
An image forming apparatus with a notification function, comprising: The image forming apparatus is connected to a personal computer or a management device via a communication line,
If the failure does not recover within a certain period of time after the notification by the notification means, if a predetermined device such as a personal computer or a management device connected via the communication line is different from the short-range wireless communication means, 2. The image forming apparatus with a notification function according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying the occurrence of the failure and the contents thereof by means. 3. The image forming apparatus with a notification function according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying a predetermined device of the completion of the operation by the short-range wireless communication means when the image forming operation is completed. . When the short-range wireless communication means receives a signal, means for determining whether the received content is a device status confirmation request,
At the time of the status confirmation request, a means for notifying the status of the device to the device that sent the signal by the short-range wireless communication unit,
The image forming apparatus with a notification function according to claim 1, further comprising:

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