JP6063831B2 - Device management system and device management program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device management system and a device management program.

  In a remote operation system, the operation screen of the image forming apparatus can be browsed by a remote terminal device or the like (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

JP 2006-140898 A JP 2011-238006 A

  However, when a remote service person provides a maintenance service while viewing the operation screen of the image forming apparatus, the remote service person may not understand the language used for the operation screen of the image forming apparatus. is there. In that case, it becomes difficult to provide a maintenance service by a remote service person.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and even if the language used on the operation screen of the image forming apparatus is a language that cannot be understood by the remote service person, the maintenance service by the remote service person is provided. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a device management system and a device management program that can provide the above.

The device management system according to the present invention selects any one of a plurality of languages, acquires an electronic device that displays an operation screen using character string data in the selected language, and acquires screen data of the operation screen of the electronic device. An agent unit; a remote maintenance server that acquires screen data of the operation screen of the electronic device from the agent unit; and a service terminal device that displays an image of the operation screen of the electronic device to a service person. The remote maintenance server notifies the agent unit of the language selected by the service person in the service terminal device from the plurality of languages, and the agent unit corresponds to (a1) character string data in the screen data. Read the character string data of the notified language from the electronic device, (a2) transmit the screen data and the read character string data to the remote maintenance server, and the remote maintenance server (b1) Receiving character string data and the screen data; (b2) generating image data of the operation screen image of the electronic device from the received character string data and the screen data; and (b3) generating the generated image data. Transmitted to the service terminal device, the service terminal device Receiving the image data, based on the image data received, and displays an image of the operation screen of the electronic device to the service person. Further, the agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person. Thereafter, a notification of the language selected by the service person is received from the remote maintenance server.

The device management program according to the present invention is an agent unit that acquires screen data of an operation screen of an electronic device that selects a computer from a plurality of languages and displays an operation screen using character string data of the selected language. To function as. The agent unit reads (a) character string data in a language selected by a service person from the plurality of languages corresponding to the character string data in the screen data from the electronic device, and (b) the screen data and The read character string data is transmitted to a remote maintenance server that generates image data of the operation screen image of the electronic device from the character string data and the screen data. Further, the agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person. Thereafter, a notification of the language selected by the service person is received from the remote maintenance server.

An apparatus according to the present invention includes an agent unit that selects any one of a plurality of languages and acquires screen data of the operation screen of an electronic device that displays an operation screen using character string data of the selected language. The agent unit reads (a) character string data in a language selected by a service person from the plurality of languages corresponding to the character string data in the screen data from the electronic device, and (b) the screen data and The read character string data is transmitted to a remote maintenance server that generates image data of the operation screen image of the electronic device from the character string data and the screen data. Further, the agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person. Thereafter, a notification of the language selected by the service person is received from the remote maintenance server.

  According to the present invention, even if the language used on the operation screen of the image forming apparatus is a language that cannot be understood by the remote service person, it is possible to provide a maintenance service by the remote service person.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 in FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote maintenance server 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining device management processing according to the first embodiment (1/2). FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for explaining device management processing according to the first embodiment (2/2). FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote maintenance server 1 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating device management processing according to the second embodiment.

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

Embodiment 1 FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 are installed on each customer side of the maintenance service. A remote maintenance server 1 is installed on the maintenance service provider side. The remote maintenance server 1 acquires screen data of operation screens of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 for maintenance service.

  The remote maintenance server 1 is connected to the network 2. The image forming apparatus 101 is connected to the network 2, the image forming apparatus 201 is connected to the terminal device 202 connected to the network 2, and the image forming apparatus 301 is connected to the network 2. It is not a stand-alone. However, in the vicinity of the image forming apparatus 301, there is a mobile terminal apparatus 302 that can wirelessly communicate with the image forming apparatus 301 by short-range wireless communication, and the mobile terminal apparatus 302 can be wirelessly connected to the network 2. The mobile terminal device 302 is carried by a field service person who visits a customer site.

  The image forming apparatus 101, the terminal apparatus 202, and the mobile terminal apparatus 302 that can be connected to the network 2 have agent units 111, 211, 311 and communication apparatuses 112, 212, 312 respectively. The agent units 111, 211, and 311 perform data communication with the remote maintenance server 1 via the network 2. The agent units 111, 211, and 311 are realized by executing a device management program (not shown) by a computer built in the image forming apparatus 101, the terminal device 202, and the mobile terminal device 302. The device management program is recorded in advance on a recording medium (not shown).

  The agent units 111, 211, and 311 connect to the remote maintenance server 1 through the communication network 2 using the communication devices 112, 212, and 312, respectively, and perform data communication with the remote maintenance server 1.

  A service terminal device 3 is connected to the remote maintenance server 1. The service terminal device 3 is installed in, for example, a service center on the maintenance service provider side, used by a service person in a remote center, and an operation screen is displayed from the service terminal device 3 to the remote maintenance server 1 according to an operation by the service person. An image acquisition instruction, a language specification after language conversion of the operation screen, and the like are transmitted. Further, the image data of the operation screen after language conversion is transmitted from the remote maintenance server 1 to the service terminal device 3. Then, the service terminal device 3 displays an image of the operation screen of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 to the service person.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 in FIG.

  The image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 are electronic devices to be managed, and here are multifunction devices.

  The image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 include an operation panel 11, a printing apparatus 12, an image reading apparatus 13, a facsimile apparatus 14, a communication apparatus 15, and a control apparatus 16.

  The operation panel 11 is disposed on the top side of the housing of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301, and includes a display device 21 that displays a screen for the user and an input device 22 that receives an operation by the user. The display device 21 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. The input device 22 is, for example, a hard key, a touch panel that realizes a soft key together with the display device 21, and the like.

  The printing device 12 is an internal device that prints an image based on image data by, for example, an electrophotographic method. The image reading device 13 is an internal device that optically reads a document image from a document and generates image data of the document image. The facsimile device 14 is an internal device that transmits a facsimile signal of a document image or receives a facsimile signal and generates image data of the document image from the facsimile signal. The communication device 15 is a network interface, a modem, a peripheral device interface such as USB (Universal Serial Bus), and a short-range wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth (trademark).

  The control device 16 has a computer, and operates as various processing units by loading a program from a storage device or recording medium (not shown) and executing the program on the computer. Specifically, the control device 16 operates as the display control unit 23 and the main control unit 24.

  The display control unit 23 controls screen display of the display device 21 of the operation panel 11.

  The main control unit 24 controls internal devices such as the printing device 12 and manages various settings of the internal devices. For example, the main control unit 24 sets a language specified by a user operation on the operation panel 11 among a plurality of usable languages as a language used for the operation screen displayed on the operation panel 11.

  Further, the main control unit 24 provides screen data of the operation screen of the operation panel 11 to the agent units 111, 211, and 311 in response to a request.

  In the case of the image forming apparatus 101, although not shown, the agent unit 111 is realized in the control device 16.

  The image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 are electronic devices that select any one of a plurality of languages and display an operation screen using character string data of the selected languages. That is, the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 store screen data of operation screens in a plurality of languages in advance, and operate using character string data in a language selected based on the language setting among the plurality of languages. Display the screen.

  The agent units 111, 211, 311 obtain screen data of operation screens of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 from the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301. The screen data includes image data of the operation screen (raster image data) and character string data indicating a character string in the operation screen. The character string data includes character code data of the character string, a display position and a display size (for example, display font size) of the character string.

  In the first embodiment, the agent units 111, 211, and 311 (a) receive the character string data in the language notified from the remote maintenance server 1 corresponding to the character string data in the screen data, and the image forming apparatuses 101 and 201. , 301, and (b) the screen data and the read character string data are transmitted to the remote maintenance server 1.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote maintenance server 1 according to the first embodiment. The remote maintenance server 1 includes a communication unit 31 and an arithmetic processing unit 32.

  The communication unit 31 includes a communication circuit that performs data communication with the service terminal device 3 and a communication circuit that performs data communication via the communication network 2.

  The arithmetic processing unit 32 includes a computer, loads a device management program from a storage device or recording medium (not shown) to a RAM (Random Access Memory), and executes the device management program by a CPU (Central Processing Unit). Operates as various processing units. Specifically, the arithmetic processing unit 32 operates as a communication processing unit 41 and a screen capture management unit 42.

  The communication processing unit 41 uses the communication unit 31 to perform data communication with the service terminal device 3 and also performs data communication with the agent units 111, 211, 311 via the communication network 2.

  The screen capture management unit 42 uses the communication unit 31 and the communication processing unit 41 to acquire screen data of operation screens of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 from the agent units 111, 211, and 311.

  In the first embodiment, the screen capture management unit 42 (a) selects the language selected by the service person in the service terminal device 3 from the plurality of languages usable in the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301. , 311, (b) receiving screen data and character string data of the selected language from the agent units 111, 211, 311, and (c) from the received character string data and screen data, the image forming apparatus 101, Image data of the operation screen images 201 and 301 is generated, and (d) the generated image data is transmitted to the service terminal device 3.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the screen capture management unit 42 overwrites the character string on the operation screen with the character string based on the character string data of the selected language, and generates image data of the image on the operation screen. The service terminal device 3 receives the image data, and displays the operation screen images of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 on the service person based on the received image data.

  Next, device management processing in the first embodiment will be described. 4 and 5 are sequence diagrams for explaining device management processing in the first embodiment.

  Here, management of the image forming apparatus 101 using the agent unit 111 will be described. However, similar management can be performed for the image forming apparatuses 201 and 301 using the agent units 211 and 311.

  In the service center, when a service person performs an input operation of a language confirmation request for confirming language information on the operation screen of the image forming apparatus 101 to the service terminal device 3, the service terminal device 3 detects the input operation. Then, a language confirmation request regarding the image forming apparatus 101 is output to the remote maintenance server 1 (step S2).

  In the remote maintenance server 1, when the screen capture management unit 42 accepts the language confirmation request using the communication processing unit 41 and the communication unit 31, it immediately transmits a language confirmation request to the agent unit 111 (step S3). ).

  Upon receiving the language confirmation request, the agent unit 111 first transmits a display language notification request to the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 (step S4). When receiving the display language notification request, the main control unit 24 notifies the agent unit 111 of information on the language currently selected as the language of the operation screen (hereinafter referred to as display language information) (step S5).

  Further, the agent unit 111 transmits a support language notification request to the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 (step S6). When receiving the support language notification request, the main control unit 24 notifies the agent unit 111 of information on a plurality of languages that can be selected as the language of the operation screen (hereinafter referred to as support language information) (step S7).

  Then, the agent unit 111 transmits the display language information and the support language information to the screen capture management unit 42 of the remote maintenance server 1 as a response to the language confirmation request (step S8).

  When receiving the display language information and the support language information as a response to the language confirmation request, the screen capture management unit 42 of the remote maintenance server 1 transmits the received display language information and support language information to the service terminal device 3 (step S3). S9).

  When receiving the display language information and the support language information as a response to the language confirmation request, the service terminal apparatus 3 displays the received display language information and support language information as language information of the image forming apparatus 101 to the service person. (Step S10). As a result, a list of languages currently specified in the image forming apparatus 101 and languages that can be selected in the image forming apparatus 101 are displayed.

  When the service person cannot understand the language used, the service person performs an operation on the service terminal device 3 to select an understandable language from the list. The service terminal device 3 accepts a language selection operation. When receiving the language selection operation, the service terminal device 3 outputs a screen capture request and a language designation for designating the language selected by the language selection operation to the screen capture management unit 42 of the remote maintenance server 1 (step S21). .

  When receiving the screen capture request and language designation, the screen capture management unit 42 of the remote maintenance server 1 immediately transmits the screen capture request and language designation to the agent unit 111 (step S22).

  Upon receiving the screen capture request and the language designation, the agent unit 111 immediately transmits a screen capture request to the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 (step S23).

  When the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 receives the screen capture request, the main control unit 24 generates image data (hereinafter referred to as screen image data) of the operation screen displayed on the operation panel 11, and generates the generated screen image data. It is transmitted to the agent unit 111 together with the character string data of the character string in the operation screen (step S24).

  When the agent unit 111 receives the screen image data and the character string data, the agent unit 111 corresponds to the received character string data in the character string data in the language designated by the language designation (that is, the characters having the same meaning in different languages only) Column data) is requested to the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101, acquired from the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101, and the character string data received together with the screen image data is stored in the language specified by the language designation. Conversion into character string data (step S25).

  Then, the agent unit 111 transmits the screen image data and the converted character string data to the screen capture management unit 42 of the remote maintenance server 1 as a response to the screen capture request (step S26).

  When the remote maintenance server 1 receives the screen image data and the converted character string data, the display size specified by the character string data is displayed at the display position specified by the character string data in the operation screen image based on the screen image data. Thus, the screen image data of the operation screen is edited by overwriting the character string image of the character code data designated by the character string data (step S27).

  Then, the remote maintenance server 1 outputs the edited screen image data to the service terminal device 3 (step S28). Upon receiving the edited screen image data, the service terminal device 3 displays an operation screen image based on the edited screen image data (step S29).

  Thereafter, when the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 detects a change in the operation screen due to a user operation or the like (step S31), the same processing as the above-described processing (steps S24 to S29) is executed (step S31). S32 to S37).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the agent units 111, 211, and 311 use the character string data in a plurality of languages that the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301 have to use the language for the operation screen. Perform conversion.

  Accordingly, even if the language used on the operation screen of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 is a language that cannot be understood by the remote service person, it is possible to provide a maintenance service by the remote service person.

Embodiment 2. FIG.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, language conversion of character string data can be executed by the remote maintenance server 1.

  In the second embodiment, when language conversion of character string data is executed by the remote maintenance server 1, the agent units 111, 211, 311 directly use the character string data acquired from the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 as the remote maintenance server. Send to 1.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the remote maintenance server 1 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, in the second embodiment, the remote maintenance server 1 has a storage device 51 such as a hard disk drive. The storage device 51 stores a character string conversion table 52 including character string data in a specific language. The character string conversion table 52 is provided for each model and function of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301.

  In the second embodiment, the arithmetic processing unit 32 operates as a screen capture management unit 42 a instead of the screen capture management unit 42.

  The screen capture management unit 42a specifies (a) a language selected by the service person in the service terminal device 3 from a plurality of languages usable in the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, and 301, and (b) character string data in the screen data. Is read from the character string conversion table 52 of the storage device 51, and (c) the image of the operation screen of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 is read from the read character string data and screen data. Image data is generated, and (d) the generated image data is transmitted to the service terminal device 3.

  Since other configurations and operations of the respective devices in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  Next, device management processing according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating device management processing according to the second embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, the process shown in FIG. 4 is similarly executed.

  After the processing shown in FIG. 4 is executed, the service person performs an input operation for inquiring the server support language when there is no understandable language in the language and list displayed in step S10. 3 is performed. The service terminal device 3 accepts the input operation. When receiving the input operation, the service terminal device 3 makes an inquiry about the server support language to the screen capture management unit 42a of the remote maintenance server 1 (step S51).

  When the screen capture management unit 42a of the remote maintenance server 1 receives an inquiry about the server support language, the language information of the character string data registered in the character string conversion table 52 (hereinafter referred to as server support language information) is used as a service. The terminal device 3 is notified (step S52).

  When receiving the server support language information, the service terminal device 3 displays a list of languages indicated by the server support language information (step S53).

  Then, the service person performs an operation on the service terminal device 3 to select an understandable language from the list. The service terminal device 3 accepts the language selection operation. Upon receiving the language selection operation, the service terminal device 3 outputs a screen capture request and a language designation for designating the language selected by the language selection operation to the screen capture management unit 42a of the remote maintenance server 1 (step S61). .

  Upon receiving the screen capture request and language designation, the screen capture management unit 42a of the remote maintenance server 1 immediately transmits a screen capture request to the agent unit 111 (step S62).

  Upon receiving the screen capture request, the agent unit 111 immediately transmits the screen capture request to the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 (step S63).

  When the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 receives the screen capture request, the main control unit 24 generates image data (hereinafter referred to as screen image data) of the operation screen displayed on the operation panel 11, and generates the generated screen image data. The data is transmitted to the agent unit 111 together with the character string data of the character string in the operation screen (step S64).

  Upon receiving the screen image data and character string data, the agent unit 111 transmits the received screen image data and character string data to the screen capture management unit 42a of the remote maintenance server 1 (step S65).

  When the remote maintenance server 1 receives the screen image data and the character string data, the remote maintenance server 1 corresponds to the received character string data in the language specified by the language designation (that is, the character strings having the same meaning that differ only in the language). Character string data) is read from the character string conversion table 52, and the character string data received together with the screen image data is converted into character string data in the language designated by the language designation (step S66).

  Then, the remote maintenance server 1 is designated by the character string data at the display position designated by the character string data in the image of the operation screen based on the screen image data based on the screen image data and the converted character string data. The screen image data of the operation screen is edited by overwriting the character string image of the character code data specified by the character string data with the display size (step S67).

  Then, the remote maintenance server 1 outputs the edited screen image data to the service terminal device 3 (step S68). Upon receiving the edited screen image data, service terminal device 3 displays an operation screen image based on the edited screen image data (step S69).

  Thereafter, when the main control unit 24 of the image forming apparatus 101 detects a change in the operation screen due to a user operation or the like (step S71), the same processing as the above-described processing (steps S64 to S69) is executed (step S71). S72 to S77).

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the remote maintenance server 1 performs language conversion on the operation screen using character string data in another language in the character string conversion table 52.

  Accordingly, even if the language used on the operation screen of the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 is a language that cannot be understood by the remote service person, it is possible to provide a maintenance service by the remote service person.

  Each embodiment described above is a preferred example of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is.

  In the first and second embodiments, the original (that is, before language conversion) operation screen image may be displayed on the service terminal device 3 together with the operation screen image after language conversion.

  In the first and second embodiments, when the agent units 111, 211, 311 and / or the remote maintenance server 1 are provided with a machine translation function, and there is no language that can be understood by the service person, the machine translation function performs language conversion. Later character string data may be generated.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments, a unique character string ID is assigned to each character string in the operation screen, and data indicating the correspondence between the character code data of the character string and the character string ID is sent to the remote maintenance server 1. The character code data in the character string data is stored between the image forming apparatuses 101, 201, 301 and the agent units 111, 211, 311 and between the agent units 111, 211, 311 and the remote maintenance server 1. Instead, the character string ID may be used, and the remote maintenance server 1 may convert the character string ID into character code data. Thereby, the communication data amount of character string data decreases.

  Furthermore, in Embodiments 1 and 2, character string data for the user customization screen is stored in the remote maintenance server 1 and when the user customization screen is captured, the remote maintenance server 1 performs language conversion. It may be.

  The present invention is applicable to remote management of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, for example.

1 Remote maintenance server 3 Service terminal device 32 Arithmetic processing unit (an example of a computer)
101, 201, 301 Image forming apparatus (example of electronic device)
111, 211, 311 Agent section

Claims (3)

An electronic device that displays an operation screen using character string data of a selected language by selecting one of a plurality of languages;
An agent unit for acquiring screen data of the operation screen of the electronic device;
A remote maintenance server for acquiring screen data of the operation screen of the electronic device from the agent unit;
A service terminal device that displays an image of the operation screen of the electronic device to a service person,
The remote maintenance server notifies the agent unit of the language selected by the service person in the service terminal device from the plurality of languages.
The agent unit reads (a1) the notified character string data of the language corresponding to the character string data in the screen data from the electronic device, and (a2) reads the screen data and the read character string data. Send to the remote maintenance server,
The remote maintenance server receives (b1) the character string data and the screen data, and (b2) generates image data of an image of the operation screen of the electronic device from the received character string data and the screen data. (B3) transmitting the generated image data to the service terminal device;
The service terminal device receives the image data, and displays an image of the operation screen of the electronic device on the service person based on the received image data .
The agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and after the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person, Receiving a notification of the language selected by the service person from the remote maintenance server;
Equipment management system characterized by Computer
Select one of a plurality of languages and function as an agent unit that acquires screen data of the operation screen of the electronic device that displays an operation screen using character string data of the selected language.
The agent unit reads (a) character string data of a language selected by a service person from the plurality of languages corresponding to the character string data in the screen data from the electronic device, and (b) the screen data and the read data. Transmitting the character string data to a remote maintenance server that generates image data of the operation screen image of the electronic device from the character string data and the screen data ;
The agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and after the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person, Receiving a notification of the language selected by the service person from the remote maintenance server;
A device management program characterized by An agent unit that selects any one of a plurality of languages and obtains screen data of the operation screen of an electronic device that displays an operation screen using character string data of the selected language;
The agent unit reads (a) character string data of a language selected by a service person from the plurality of languages corresponding to the character string data in the screen data from the electronic device, and (b) the screen data and the read data. Transmitting the character string data to a remote maintenance server that generates image data of the operation screen image of the electronic device from the character string data and the screen data;
The agent unit identifies the plurality of languages that can be selected by the electronic device, notifies the plurality of languages to the remote maintenance server, and after the plurality of languages are notified from the remote maintenance server to the service person, Receiving a notification of the language selected by the service person from the remote maintenance server;
A device characterized by.

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