JP5870864B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing system, and program - Google Patents

Description

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

  In order to add functions or solve bugs, the firmware is transmitted from the server to the image forming apparatus, and the firmware is upgraded (updated) (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  Also, firmware update results (success or failure) are generally displayed on a display screen unit of the image forming apparatus (see, for example, paragraph 0090 of Patent Document 2).

JP 2006-243905 A JP 2008-279714 A

  By the way, when the control information update service (service) installed in the information processing apparatus is provided, the update instruction is received from the service providing side in addition to the service receiving side. If it can be performed (for example, from a different location from the information processing apparatus), it becomes a problem how the information based on the update result is output in the information processing apparatus. That is, the result of the update output in the information processing apparatus is mainly notified to the service receiving side, so the update instruction is given by the service providing side and the service receiving side is given. Therefore, it is not necessary to make it the same, and there is a possibility that it will be disadvantageous to the side receiving the service by making it the same.

  Therefore, the present invention reduces the disadvantage of the person receiving the service even if the person who provides the update service gives an instruction to update the control information of the information processing apparatus. For the purpose.

[1] An accepting unit that receives an instruction to update control information from an operation unit of the own device or an apparatus different from the own device, a processing unit that performs an update process of the control information based on the instruction, A determination means for determining a person who has given an instruction; and a display means for displaying information based on a result of processing by the processing means, and the person who has given the instruction determined by the determination means has control information The information processing apparatus is characterized in that the information displayed on the display means is different depending on whether the person is the person who provides the update service or the person who is not.
[2] When the accepting unit accepts the instruction from a device different from the own device, the determination unit is a person who provides the control information update service when the instruction is received. The information processing apparatus according to [1], wherein the determination is performed.

[3] An information processing system including an information processing apparatus and a management apparatus, wherein the receiving unit receives an instruction to update control information from the operation unit of the information processing apparatus or the management apparatus, and the control based on the instruction A processing unit that performs a process of updating information, a determination unit that determines a device for which the instruction has been performed, a display unit that displays information based on a result of processing performed by the processing unit,
And an information processing system characterized in that information displayed on the display unit is made different depending on the device determined by the determination unit.

[4] A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing apparatus according to [1].

According to the first, third, and fourth aspects of the invention, even if the person who provides the update service gives an instruction to update the control information of the information processing apparatus, Can reduce the disadvantages
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it can be easily determined that the person who gives the update instruction is the side providing the update service, as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the display condition of the update result by the update processing means. FIG. 4A is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the image forming system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the image forming system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each figure, about the component which has the substantially same function, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and the duplicate description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming system 1 includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses 2a, 2b, and 2c (referred to collectively as “image forming apparatus 2”), a plurality of information servers 3a and 3b, and a management server 4. . The image forming apparatus 2, the information servers 3 a and 3 b, and the management server 4 are connected to each other via the Internet 7. The image forming apparatuses 2 a to 2 c are connected to the Internet 7 through a local area network (LAN) 5 and a firewall 6. Here, the image forming system 1 is an example of an information processing system. The image forming apparatus 2 is an example of an information processing apparatus.

  The purpose of the firewall 6 is to prevent unauthorized access and intrusion from the outside, and a request from the image forming apparatus 2 to the Internet 7 and a response to the request are passed, but the image forming apparatus 2 from the Internet 7 side. The request is not allowed to pass.

  In the present embodiment, the plurality of information servers 3a and 3b and the management server 4 constitute a management device. The information servers 3a and 3b and the management server 4 may be connected to each other via an intranet, or all of them may be physically configured as a single server.

  The management apparatus is an apparatus for a service for updating control information (firmware or the like) of the image forming apparatus 2. The information servers 3a and 3b and the management server 4 exist on the service providing side (for example, the manufacturing and sales company of the image forming apparatus 2). The image forming apparatus 2 exists on a service receiving side (for example, a purchaser / company of the image forming apparatus 2 or a person / company that has received a lease). The plurality of image forming apparatuses 2a, 2b, and 2c may be installed in the same office or the like, for example. Also, each of the image forming apparatuses 2a, 2b, and 2c may be installed in different offices or the like and connected to the Internet 7 through firewalls of the offices. It may be connected. Note that a firewall may not exist between the management apparatus and the image forming apparatus 2.

  The information servers 3a and 3b are software repositories that store control information and the like.

  The management server 4 manages version information of control information included in each of the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c. That is, the management server 4 holds version information of the control information for each of the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c and for each control unit in the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c. The management server 4 stores the control information to be applied according to the model of the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c, the configuration of the peripheral devices, the version information of the control information, that is, where in the information servers 3a and 3b. Storage location information (for example, URL) indicating whether or not the image is received in response to an update request from the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c.

(Image forming device)
The image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c are, for example, complex machines having a printing function, a copying function, a facsimile transmission / reception function, and a scanning function. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatuses 2a to 2c have different models, peripheral devices such as ADF (automatic document feeder) and finisher (post-processing apparatus), control information such as firmware, version information of control information, and the like. Will be described. The ADF automatically feeds a document. The finisher performs post-processing such as stapling and punching on a recording medium such as paper.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the image forming apparatus 2. The image forming apparatus 2 includes a system control unit 20. The system control unit 20 includes a storage unit 21, an operation display unit 22, an image reading unit 23, an image processing unit 24, a facsimile unit 25, an image output unit 26, a communication unit. The unit 27 is connected.

  The operation display unit 22 has, for example, a touch panel, accepts an input such as an instruction from the operator, and performs display for the operator. The instruction from the operator includes an instruction to update the control information of the image forming apparatus 2 immediately and an instruction to update the control information specifying the update time.

  Here, the operation display unit 22 may be configured to receive authentication information such as an ID and a password, and an instruction may be received after authenticating the operator. At this time, instead of requesting authentication for all instructions, for example, while requiring instructions to be performed by a maintenance person (CE (customer engineer), SE (system engineer), etc.) on the service providing side, authentication is requested. For other instructions, authentication may not be requested. Alternatively, the authentication mechanism may be divided between an instruction to be performed by the maintenance person and an instruction other than that (for example, an instruction to be performed by the maintenance person is authenticated by an ID and a password, while other instructions are performed by a card. Authentication).

  The image reading unit 23 is configured by a scanner, for example, and reads image data from a document. An ADF may be attached to the image reading unit 23. The image processing unit 24 performs image processing such as image compression, decompression, and composition. The facsimile unit 25 transmits and receives data via a telephone network (not shown). The image output unit 26 includes, for example, an image holding member using a photosensitive member, and forms and outputs an image on a recording medium such as paper. A finisher may be connected to the image output unit 26. The system control unit 20, the operation display unit 22, the image reading unit 23, the image processing unit 24, the facsimile unit 25, and the image output unit 26 are each a multi-control unit having a CPU and control information (for example, firmware) for this CPU operation. It becomes the composition of.

  The storage unit 21 includes a ROM, a RAM, an HDD, and the like, and includes a program such as an update control program 210, image data 211 processed by the image forming apparatus 2, setting information 212, control information 213 such as firmware, and a version of the control information 213. Information 214, update time information 215, and the like are stored. The control information 213 for update stored in the storage unit 21 (for example, temporarily) is stored in the system control unit 20, the operation display unit 22, the image reading unit 23, the image processing unit 24, the facsimile unit 25, and the image output unit 26. Of the control information, the control information is used to update the control information to be updated, and is, for example, a so-called patch file (or firmware itself or the like). In addition, the storage unit 21 includes version information 214 of control information respectively included in the system control unit 20, the operation display unit 22, the image reading unit 23, the image processing unit 24, the facsimile unit 25, and the image output unit 26 for each control unit. It is remembered.

  The system control unit 20 includes a CPU, an interface, and the like. The CPU functions as the acquisition unit 200, the determination unit 201, the update processing unit 202, and the like by operating according to the update control program 210.

  When the acquisition unit 200 acquires storage location information (for example, URL) of control information for update from the management server 4 as a result of communicating with the management server 4 via the communication unit 7, the acquisition unit 200 uses the storage location information for update. Control information 213 is acquired.

  Here, communication between the image forming apparatus 2 and the management server 4 is performed based on an instruction from the operator via the operation display unit 22. For example, when the operator instructs immediate update of control information of the image forming apparatus 2, the image forming apparatus 2 inquires of the management server 4 whether or not there is control information for updating to be applied to itself ( When the management server 4 determines that there is control information to be applied to the image forming apparatus 2, the image forming apparatus 2 itself transmits the model of the image forming apparatus 2 itself to the management server 4. The storage information of the control information is transmitted to (as a response to the inquiry).

  In addition, when the operator instructs to update the control information of the image forming apparatus 2 by setting the update time, the image forming apparatus 2 automatically (intervenes the operator) at the specified update time. In other words, the management server 4 is inquired of whether or not there is control information for updating to be applied to itself (the subsequent processing is the same as in the case of immediate updating).

  Further, communication between the image forming apparatus 2 and the management server 4 is automatically performed from the image forming apparatus 2 regularly (for example, once a day at a time set for the image forming apparatus 2). The reason for periodically communicating from the image forming apparatus 2 is that if the firewall 6 exists between the image forming apparatus 2 and the management server 4, communication cannot be started from the management server 4. This is because there is a case where it is desired to request processing from the image forming apparatus 2 (from the providing side). That is, when the image forming apparatus 2 periodically inquires of the management server 4 whether there is a request for itself, if the request for the image forming apparatus 2 is registered in the management server 4, the management server 4 (response to the inquiry) The request is transmitted from the management server 4 to the image forming apparatus 2 by transmitting the contents of the request to the image forming apparatus 2.

  Here, as one of the requests from the service providing side, there is a request for updating the control information of the image forming apparatus 2 in which the time is specified. When the update request specifying the time is registered in the management server 4, the management server 4 transmits (responds) the information (including information) of the update time in response to the inquiry from the image forming apparatus 2. (The processing after the image forming apparatus 2 acquires the update time information is the same as the case where the operator determines and instructs the update time).

  The determination unit 201 determines a person who has given an instruction to update the control information 213. The update processing unit 202 performs control information update processing based on the control information update instruction, determines an update result (success or failure), and determines the update result as a result of the determination by the determination unit 201 and the updated control. Output according to the content of the information. As an output mode, in addition to displaying on the operation display unit 22, the update result may be output by print output by the image output unit 26, sound, lighting, or the like.

(Determination process of the determination unit 201)
The determination process of the determination unit 201 will be described. In this embodiment, the type of the person who gives an instruction to update the control information 213 to be determined (classified) by the determination unit 201 is different from the image forming apparatus 2 among the persons on the service providing side (for example, Service such as a person who gives an update instruction from the management server 4) [also referred to as “administrator on the service providing side” for convenience] and a maintenance person (CE (customer engineer), SE (system engineer), etc.) Among the persons who provide the service, those who give an update instruction from the image forming apparatus 2 (the operation display unit 22 thereof) [for convenience, also referred to as a “maintenance person on the service providing side”] and those who receive the service Although three types are assumed, such as a person [for convenience, also referred to as “a manager who receives a service”], it is not limited to such a classification. For example, there may be two types, a person who provides the service and a person who does not, or two types, a person who gives instructions from a device different from the image forming apparatus 2 and a person who does not. Good. Alternatively, there may be two types, a person who gives an instruction from the management device 4 and a person who does not. Further, a person who gives an instruction from the place where the image forming apparatus 2 is installed (for example, a person who gives an instruction from the image forming apparatus 2 or an apparatus different from the image forming apparatus 2 in the office where the image forming apparatus 2 is installed [ A person who gives an instruction from a computer connected to the image forming apparatus 2] and a person who gives an instruction from a place different from the place where the image forming apparatus 2 is installed (for example, a place managed by a service providing side) It may be of two types: a person who gives an instruction from the installed management device 4).

  The determination unit 201 performs determination based on, for example, the location and method where the update instruction is given. Specifically, when an update request is received from the management server 4 via the communication unit 27, it is determined that an instruction has been given by an administrator on the service providing side; from the operation display unit 6 of the image forming apparatus 2 When an instruction for updating is given, it is determined whether the instruction is given by the manager of the service providing side or the manager of the service receiving side according to the authentication mode in the operation display unit 6 described above. .

  In addition, when determining who is instructed from an apparatus different from the image forming apparatus 2 and who is not, it can be determined based on, for example, whether an update request has been received via the communication unit 27. Further, when determining who is instructed from the management apparatus 4 and who is not, for example, information transmitted from the management apparatus 4 to the image forming apparatus 2 indicates that the information is from the management apparatus 4. Information may be included and the determination may be made based on the presence or absence of the information. In addition, when determining the person who gives an instruction from the place where the image forming apparatus 2 is installed and the person who does not, the determination may be made based on whether or not the instruction is made through the firewall 6.

  Furthermore, in the case of an immediate update instruction, the person who gives the instruction may not be determined, and the person who gives the instruction may be determined only in the case of the instruction for which the update time is specified, and the display of the update result may be controlled. .

(Update processing of update processing means 202)
The update processing unit 202 outputs and displays the update result on the operation display unit 22 according to the determination result of the determination unit 201 and the content of the update. An example of the display conditions is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of display conditions such as an update result in the image forming apparatus 2 by the update processing unit 202. If the person instructing the update is the administrator who provides the service, if the update result is successful, the update result is displayed according to the content of the update, and if the update result is unsuccessful, the update result (failure) Is not displayed. For example, if the content of the update is a function addition, if the update is successful, the added function will be displayed, but if the content of the update is a minor defect correction, the update is successful Even so, no display is made. Notifying the customer of information such as failure to update due to temporary communication failure or correction of minor bugs for updates not instructed by the service recipient (customer) may be annoying to the customer, May cause misunderstandings (such as a fatal situation), but if a new function is added due to an update, it is assumed that the customer may not know the function, and the significance of notifying the customer Because it is big. In addition, when the update result is unsuccessful, the update result is not displayed, but when the update result is successful (even if the update content is a defect correction), the update result and the update content may be displayed.

  On the other hand, when the person who instructed the update is a manager who receives the service, the update result (success or failure) is displayed both when the update result is successful and when the update result is unsuccessful. In addition, when the update result is successful, the contents of the update (functions added by the update, contents of the defect solved by the update, etc.) are also displayed. Even if the update result is successful, the content of the update need not be displayed.

  Also, if the person who instructed the update is a maintenance person who provides the service, if the update result is successful, only the update result (success) is displayed (the contents of the update are not displayed), and the update result is unsuccessful Displays the update result (failure). Since the maintenance person who provides the service is considered to be near the image forming apparatus 2 when performing the update, the maintenance person is displayed by displaying the update result (success or failure) on the image forming apparatus 2. This is because the result can be notified, and it is considered that the maintenance person grasps the contents of the update.

The failure of the update process includes the following cases, but is not limited thereto.
(A) Stop due to the reserved update time being in use of the image forming apparatus (b) Stop due to an error in downloading (c) Stop due to detection of failure in the update process

  Note that the acquisition unit 200, the determination unit 201, and the update processing unit 202 are partially or entirely reconfigurable circuits (FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), and the like. You may comprise by the hardware circuit of.

(Operation of this embodiment)
Next, an example of the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4A and 4B. Here, a case where the image forming apparatus 2a updates control information will be described.

(1) Reservation of update time When an administrator on the side of providing a service reserves an update time, update reservation information is set in the management server 4. The management server 4 holds the set update reservation information as response information. The update reservation information includes the identification information of the image forming apparatus 2a to be updated and the update time.

  The acquisition unit 200 of the image forming apparatus 2a makes an inquiry by polling to the management server 4 at a preset polling time. The management server 4 transmits response information including update reservation information to the image forming apparatus 2a as a response to the inquiry.

  Upon receiving the response information, the acquisition unit 200 of the image forming apparatus 2 a acquires the update time 215 included in the update reservation information and stores it in the storage unit 21.

  When an administrator who receives the service, for example, an administrator of the image forming apparatus 2 reserves the update time, the administrator operates the operation display unit 22 to input the update time to be reserved. The operation display unit 22 outputs the input update time to the system control unit 20. The acquisition unit 200 of the system control unit 20 stores the output update time information 215 in the storage unit 21. The image forming apparatus 2 can also be instructed to be updated by an administrator on the service receiving side so as to perform immediate updating (immediate updating).

  When the maintenance person on the service providing side reserves the update time, the maintenance person inputs authentication information such as his / her ID and password by operating the operation display unit 22, and after the authentication is established, the maintenance person Enter the update time you want to reserve. The operation display unit 22 outputs the input update time to the system control unit 20. The acquisition unit 200 of the system control unit 20 stores the output update time information 215 in the storage unit 21. The image forming apparatus 2 can also be instructed to be updated by a maintenance person on the service providing side so that the update is performed immediately.

(2) Inquiry for Update When the acquisition unit 200 of the image forming apparatus 2a detects that the update time 215 of the control information has been reached (S1), the acquisition unit 200 updates the management server 4 via the LAN 5, the firewall 6, and the Internet 7. An inquiry is made as to whether control information to be present exists (S2). The inquiry includes identification information of its own image forming apparatus 2a.

  The management server 4 creates response information and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 2a (S3). The response information includes version information of control information to be updated and storage location information (for example, URL) of control information to be updated.

(3) Acquisition of control information for update When the image forming apparatus 2a receives response information from the management server 4 (S4), the acquisition unit 200 includes version information of control information for update in the response information. It is determined whether or not to perform (S5). If the version information of the control information for update does not exist (S5: No), the process ends here (S6). If the version information of the control information for updating exists, it is compared with the version information of the control information of the image forming apparatus 2a itself, and if the version of its own is low, it is determined that there is control information that can be updated ( (S5: Yes), the storage information of the control information is acquired from the response information (S7). Note that the storage location information may be acquired from the response information immediately without comparing the version information.

(4) Update Processing The update processing means 202 of the image forming apparatus 2a downloads (acquires) update control information 213 by accessing the information servers 3a and 3b based on the storage location information acquired by the acquisition means 200. And it memorize | stores in the memory | storage part 21 (S8). The update processing unit 202 updates the control information 213 stored in the storage unit 21 among the control information of the system control unit 20, the operation display unit 22, the image reading unit 23, the facsimile unit 25, and the image output unit 26. The target control information is updated (S9).

(5) Display of update result The update processing unit 202 determines the update result (success, failure, etc.) and the content of the update (function added by update, problem solved by update, etc.), then the update result, etc. Is displayed (S10), and an update result or the like is displayed according to the result (S11) or is processed so as not to be displayed (S12). A detailed flow of whether to display the update result or the like will be described later.

(6) Notification of version information The update processing unit 202 notifies the management server 4 of version information of the updated control information (S13). The management server 4 receives the version information and holds the version information corresponding to the image forming apparatus 2a (S14).

(Example of details of update result display flow)
As shown in FIG. 4B, the determination unit 201 determines who is the person who instructed the update (including the person who reserved the update time) (S21).

  If the determination result by the determination unit 201 in step S21 is an administrator on the service providing side, the update processing unit 202 determines whether the update process has been successful (S22). If the update process is successful (S22: Yes), it is determined whether the content of the update needs to be displayed (S23). If the content needs to be displayed (S23: Yes), the update result (Success) is displayed (S24).

  If the update process has failed in step S22 (S22: No), and if the content does not need to be displayed in step S23 (S23: No), the update result (failure) is not displayed (S25).

  The update processing unit 202 displays the update result regardless of the update result and the content of the updated update if the determination result by the determination unit 201 in step S21 is a maintenance person on the service side (S24).

  The update processing unit 202 determines whether or not the update process is successful if the determination result by the determination unit 201 in step S21 is a service receiving administrator (S26). If the update process is successful (S26: Yes) ), The update result (success) is displayed together with the content of the update (S27). If the update process has failed (S26: No), the update result (failure) is displayed (S24).

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and implementations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the control information is downloaded at the reserved update time. However, the control information may be downloaded before the reserved update time, and the control information may be updated at the reserved update time. In addition, setting information related to the control information may be downloaded when the control information is downloaded, and the setting information may be updated together with the control information.

  Further, for example, it is possible to omit or change some of the constituent elements of the above-described embodiment within a range not changing the gist of the present invention. For example, the update processing unit may determine whether or not to output an update result of the control information based only on the person who issued the update instruction. For example, the present invention may be applied not only to the image forming apparatus but also to other apparatuses.

  In the flow of the above embodiment, steps can be added, deleted, changed, replaced, and the like. The program used in the above embodiment can be provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming system 2, 2a-2c ... Image forming apparatus, 3a, 3b ... Information server, 4 ... Management server, 5 ... Local area network (LAN), 6 ... Firewall, 7 ... Internet, 20 ... System control , 21 ... storage section, 22 ... operation display section, 23 ... image reading section, 24 ... image processing section, 25 ... facsimile section, 26 ... image output section, 27 ... communication section, 200 ... acquisition means, 201 ... determination means 202 ... update processing means, 210 ... update control program, 211 ... image data, 212 ... setting information, 213 ... control information for update, 214 ... version information, 215 ... update time information

Claims (4)

Receiving means for receiving an instruction to update control information from an operation unit of the own machine or a device different from the own machine;
Processing means for performing processing for updating the control information based on the instruction;
A determination means for determining a person who has instructed the update;
Display means for displaying information based on the result of processing by the processing means;
Have
The information displayed on the display means is different depending on whether the person who gives the instruction determined by the determination means is a person who provides the control information update service or not. An information processing apparatus characterized by the above.   When the receiving unit receives the instruction from a device different from the own device, the determining unit determines that the person who has given the instruction is a person who provides the control information update service. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. An information processing system comprising an information processing device and a management device,
Receiving means for receiving an instruction to update control information from the operation unit of the information processing apparatus or the management apparatus;
Processing means for performing processing for updating the control information based on the instruction;
Determining means for determining a device for which the instruction has been made;
Display means for displaying information based on the result of processing by the processing means;
Have
An information processing system characterized in that information to be displayed on the display unit is made different depending on the device determined by the determination unit. A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

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