JP6111910B2 - Abnormality monitoring device and abnormality monitoring program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an abnormality monitoring apparatus and an abnormality monitoring program.

As an image forming apparatus having a function of forming an image on a recording material such as paper, a copying machine, a printer apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, and a multifunction machine having these functions are known.
In such an image forming apparatus, when an abnormality (such as a paper jam or a transfer failure) that hinders the operation of the image forming function occurs, the use of the image forming function is limited, which causes inconvenience to the user. Depending on the type of abnormality, for minor abnormalities that can be dealt with by the user, the user may remove the abnormality and continue using the image forming function. In the case of a serious abnormality that cannot be dealt with by the user or a minor abnormality that frequently occurs, maintenance of the image forming apparatus is requested to the maintenance company, and the supplier who has received the request The time required for the use of the image forming function to be reduced can be reduced by promptly taking necessary measures such as exchanging or repairing the part that caused the abnormality. .

Up to now, various inventions have been proposed regarding technologies related to maintenance of image forming apparatuses.
For example, in Patent Document 1, regarding the occurrence of an abnormality in a group composed of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, the distribution of the cumulative number of image forming apparatuses in which the abnormality has occurred with respect to the number of occurrences of abnormality for each type of abnormality, Using at least one of the distribution of the cumulative number of image forming apparatuses that have undergone maintenance accompanying the occurrence of the abnormality relative to the number of occurrences of the abnormality, the number of occurrences of abnormality exceeding a predetermined reference value in the distribution is identified. Then, a sub-group composed of image forming apparatuses in which the abnormality has occurred more than the specified number of occurrences is extracted, and maintenance determination is made based on the time-series abnormality occurrence tendency when maintenance is performed on the sub-group An invention for setting the standard is described.

JP 2012-1449577 A

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that maintenance work performed by visiting an installation site of an image forming apparatus can be performed at an appropriate timing.

According to the first aspect of the present invention , there is provided an acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the image forming apparatus, information indicating a detection point of abnormality of the image forming function that has occurred in the image forming apparatus, and information indicating an operation amount of the image forming function . based on the information indicating a plurality of time of detecting the abnormality that has been acquired by the acquisition means, and calculation means for calculating a value indicating a detection interval of the abnormality, before Symbol detection interval shorter rather than the reference interval, and the determination means for determining whether operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount, the determination means and the detection interval is rather short than the reference interval by, and, in that said operating amount is determined to greater than the reference operation amount Accordingly, an abnormality monitoring apparatus comprising: an output unit that outputs a notification that prompts maintenance of the image forming apparatus.

In the present invention (2), in the present invention (1), the acquisition unit further acquires information indicating the type of abnormality from the image forming apparatus, and the calculation unit detects the detection for each type of abnormality. or calculates a value indicating the distance, the determination means, the detection interval in any kind of the abnormality rather short than the reference interval defined for that type, and the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount determines whether the output means Oite the detection interval to any kind of the abnormality rather short than the reference interval defined for that type, and, when the operating amount is larger than the reference operation amount An abnormality monitoring apparatus that outputs a notification for urging maintenance on the image forming apparatus in response to the determination.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the computer acquires, from the image forming apparatus, information indicating a point in time when the abnormality of the image forming function that has occurred in the image forming apparatus is detected and information indicating an operation amount of the image forming function. features and, based on the information indicating the detection time point of the a plurality of the abnormality acquired by the acquisition function, a calculation function for calculating a value indicating the detection interval of the abnormality, rather short than the previous SL detection interval reference interval, and, a determining function whether the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount, the determination function by the detection interval is rather short than the reference interval, and, it is determined that the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount And an output function for outputting a notification prompting maintenance of the image forming apparatus according to the situation.

According to the present invention (1) and ( 3 ), it is possible to perform maintenance work by visiting the installation place of the image forming apparatus at an appropriate timing as compared with the case where the present invention is not applied. In addition, it is possible to suppress excessive maintenance work performed by visiting the installation site of the image forming apparatus.
According to the present invention (2), the timing of the maintenance work performed by visiting the place where the image forming apparatus is installed can be made more appropriate .

It is a figure which shows the outline of the whole structure of an abnormality monitoring system. It is a figure which shows the example of the functional block of an abnormality monitoring apparatus and an image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the processing flow regarding operation | movement of an abnormality monitoring apparatus. It is a figure which shows the past performance of the relationship between the change of the generation | occurrence | production state of the abnormality accompanying progress of days, and the maintenance request from a customer. It is a figure which shows the change of the generation | occurrence | production number of abnormality with the progress of days about three image forming apparatuses with a bar graph. It is a figure which shows the change of the generation | occurrence | production number of abnormality with the progress of days about three image forming apparatuses with a line graph. It is a figure which shows the past performance of the relationship between the change of the generation | occurrence | production state of abnormality accompanying the increase in the number of printed sheets, and the maintenance request from a customer. It is a figure which shows the example of the reference | standard space | interval used as a determination reference, and a reference | standard number of sheets.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an outline of the overall configuration of an abnormality monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The abnormality monitoring system 1 of this example has a configuration in which a plurality of (six in this example) image forming apparatuses 3A to 3F (hereinafter, image forming apparatus 3) are connected to the abnormality monitoring apparatus 2 via a network 4. ing. As the network 4, various communication paths can be used. For example, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), the Internet, or the like is used.

FIG. 2 shows an example of functional blocks of the abnormality monitoring device 2 and the image forming device 3.
The image forming apparatus 3 includes an image forming processing unit 31 that forms an image with a toner on a recording material such as paper. For example, a copier, a printer apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, a multi-function machine having these functions, or the like. Is used.
In addition to the image formation processing unit 31, the image forming apparatus 3 includes a detection unit 32 that detects various abnormalities that have occurred in the image formation processing unit 31, and information that indicates the type of abnormality detected by the detection unit 32 (in this example, , Abnormality ID) and information indicating the detection point of abnormality (in this example, detection date and time), together with information identifying the self (image forming apparatus 3) (in this example, the apparatus ID) to the consumables management apparatus 2 4 is provided (transmitted) via 4.
Here, the abnormality detected by the detection unit 32 has various levels such as an error (failure), a warning (warning), and information (information).

The abnormality monitoring apparatus 2 is installed in a management center of a maintenance company, for example, and remotely monitors a plurality of image forming apparatuses 3 installed in various places such as a customer's office via a network 4.
The abnormality monitoring device 2 determines the necessity of maintenance based on an abnormality detection interval (that is, an abnormality occurrence interval), and includes a communication unit 21, a data storage unit 22, an abnormal interval calculation unit 23, and a determination unit 24. The instruction output unit 25 is provided.

The communication unit 21 acquires (receives) the abnormality ID and the detection date / time from each image forming apparatus 3 to be managed via the network 4.
The data storage unit 22 accumulates the apparatus ID, the abnormality ID, and the detection date and time acquired from each image forming apparatus 3 to be managed in association with each other. That is, the data storage unit 22 stores the abnormality ID and the detection date / time for each device ID. Therefore, by referring to the data storage unit 22, it is possible to grasp the time series occurrence state of the abnormality for each type of abnormality for each image forming apparatus 3.

  The abnormal interval calculation unit 23 calculates a value indicating an abnormality detection interval for each image forming apparatus and each type of abnormality based on information stored in the data storage unit 22. That is, a value indicating an abnormality detection interval is calculated based on information on a plurality of detection dates and times that have a common device ID and abnormality ID.

In this example, for two abnormalities of the same type that have recently occurred in the same image forming apparatus 3, the time length between the respective detection points is calculated as a value indicating the detection interval of the abnormality. That is, the time length between the latest abnormality detection time and the previous abnormality detection time of the same type is calculated. Note that a value indicating an abnormality detection interval may be calculated based on three or more abnormalities. In this case, the time length between two abnormal detection points in time series is calculated, An average interval obtained by averaging these may be used as a value indicating an abnormality detection interval.
Note that the value indicating the abnormality detection interval may not be the time length between detection points of abnormality, for example, the number of abnormalities detected per unit of time (for example, one hour) (abnormality detection frequency). Other types of indicators may be used.

  The determination unit 24 determines whether the abnormality detection interval is shorter than a predetermined reference interval based on the device ID and the value indicating the abnormality detection interval calculated for each abnormality ID by the abnormality interval calculation unit 23. To do. In this example, a reference interval is prepared for each type of abnormality.

  The instruction output unit 25 outputs a maintenance instruction that instructs maintenance of the corresponding image forming apparatus 3 when the determination unit 24 determines that the abnormality detection interval is shorter than the reference interval for any of the types of abnormality. To do. The maintenance instruction can be output by various methods. For example, the maintenance instruction can be output by e-mail or by a dedicated application. Further, it may be output by voice message, or may be output by lighting a lamp provided for each image forming apparatus.

An outline of the operation of the abnormality monitoring device 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, the example of the processing flow regarding operation | movement of the abnormality monitoring apparatus 2 is shown.
That is, in the abnormality monitoring apparatus 2 of this example, the apparatus ID, the abnormality ID, and the detection date / time are acquired from each image forming apparatus 3 to be managed via the network 4 and accumulated in the data storage unit 22 (step S11).
Further, the abnormality interval calculation unit 23 specifies one or more latest detection dates and times with the common device ID and abnormality ID based on information in the data storage unit 22 for the device ID, abnormality ID, and detection date and time acquired in step S11. Then, a value indicating the abnormality detection interval is calculated (step S12).
Next, the determination unit 24 determines whether or not the abnormality detection interval calculated in step S12 is shorter than the reference interval (step S13).
As a result of this determination, when it is determined that the abnormality detection interval is longer than the reference interval (step S13; No), the process returns to step S11. On the other hand, when it is determined that the abnormality detection interval is shorter than the reference interval (step S13; Yes), the instruction output unit 25 outputs a maintenance instruction for the corresponding image forming apparatus 3 accordingly (step S13). S14).

As a result, it is possible to accurately output an increase in the detection frequency of abnormality and output a maintenance instruction.
Specifically, for example, when 24 hours / case is defined as a reference interval for “paper jam” which is a kind of abnormality, the detection interval of paper jam in an image forming apparatus 3 is 24 hours / case. If the paper jam is detected, the maintenance instruction is not output regardless of how many times the paper jam is detected, and the maintenance instruction is output when the paper jam detection interval is shorter than 24 hours / case.
Note that the handling when the abnormality detection interval and the reference interval are the same is arbitrary, and in this example, the maintenance instruction is output even when the abnormality detection interval and the reference interval are the same. That is, in this example, a maintenance instruction is output when the abnormality detection interval becomes equal to or less than the reference interval.

  FIG. 4 shows the relationship between changes in the occurrence of anomalies with the passage of days and maintenance requests from customers, obtained as past results. In the graph of the figure, the horizontal axis represents the number of days elapsed based on a certain point in time, and the vertical axis represents the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormality. In addition, each curve in the graph shows the change in the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormalities with the passage of days for each image forming device, and grasps the time-series increase in occurrence of abnormalities for each image forming device can do. Also, a circle (◯) at the end of each curve indicates that a maintenance request has been received from the customer of the corresponding image forming apparatus 3.

  According to FIG. 4, maintenance may be requested even if the number of occurrences of abnormality is small, but maintenance may not be requested even if the number of occurrences of abnormality is large. Here, focusing on the vicinity of the time when maintenance is requested, there is some variation, but the frequency of occurrence of abnormality increases immediately before the maintenance request and the slope of the curve becomes steep (that is, detection of abnormality). It can be understood that the interval is shortened. Therefore, by using such an event, the abnormality monitoring apparatus 2 of this example determines the necessity of a maintenance instruction based on the abnormality occurrence interval.

A comparison between the conventional method and the present invention will be made with reference to FIGS.
First, the conventional method to be compared will be described.
FIG. 5 is a bar graph showing changes in the number of occurrences of abnormalities with the passage of days for the three image forming apparatuses # 1 to # 3. In the graph of the figure, the horizontal axis represents the number of days elapsed with respect to a certain time point on the time axis, and the vertical axis represents the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormality.
In the conventional method, the threshold value serving as a determination criterion is set to 8 cases, and the maintenance instruction is output at the timing when the number of occurrences of abnormality within the 2-week period becomes equal to or greater than the threshold value (8 cases). According to FIG. 5, in any of the devices # 1 to # 3, the number of occurrences of abnormality is 8 when the number of elapsed days is 11, and a maintenance instruction is output at this timing. That is, in the conventional method, regardless of the time-series difference in the occurrence state of the abnormality, the maintenance instruction is output uniformly when the number of occurrences of the abnormality is equal to or greater than the threshold value.

FIG. 6 is a line graph showing changes in the number of occurrences of abnormalities with the passage of days for the three image forming apparatuses # 1 to # 3. In the graph of the figure, the horizontal axis represents the number of days elapsed with respect to a certain time point on the time axis, and the vertical axis represents the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormality.
In the present invention, the threshold value used as the determination criterion is 24 hours / case, and the maintenance instruction is output when the abnormality detection interval becomes equal to or less than the threshold value (24 hours / case). According to FIG. 6, since the apparatus # 1 has an abnormality detection interval calculated at the time of the second day of 24 hours / case, a maintenance instruction is output at this timing. Since the abnormality detection interval calculated at the time of the fourth day is 6 hours / case, the apparatus # 2 outputs a maintenance instruction at this timing. In apparatus # 3, since the abnormality detection interval calculated at the time of the seventh day is 3.4 hours / case, a maintenance instruction is output at this timing. If the threshold value used as the criterion is 12 hours / case, the maintenance instruction is not output for the device # 1, the maintenance instruction is output for the device # 2, and the device # 3 is the seventh day. At this point, a maintenance instruction is output. If the threshold value used as a criterion is 6 hours / case, no maintenance instruction is output for the devices # 1 and # 2, and only the device # 3 outputs a maintenance instruction at the seventh day. .

As described above, in the present invention, considering the time-series difference in the occurrence state of the abnormality, the occurrence frequency of the abnormality (the detection interval of the abnormality is shortened) is a precursor to the maintenance request from the customer. Assuming that there is a possibility of a maintenance request, a maintenance instruction is output at this timing. As a result, a customer visit for maintenance work can be performed prior to a maintenance request from the customer, and customer satisfaction can be increased.
Here, in the above example, for each type of abnormality, it is determined whether the abnormality detection interval is shorter than the reference interval, thereby improving the accuracy of determining the necessity of maintenance instructions. Instead, the abnormality detection interval may be calculated, and it may be determined whether it has become shorter than the reference interval.

Next, a modified example of the processing content of the abnormality monitoring device 2 will be described.
FIG. 7 shows the relationship between a change in the occurrence of an abnormality accompanying an increase in the number of printed sheets and a maintenance request from a customer obtained as a past record. In the graph of the figure, the horizontal axis represents the cumulative value of the number of printed sheets, and the vertical axis represents the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormality. In addition, each curve in the graph represents a change in the cumulative value of the number of occurrences of abnormalities accompanying an increase in the number of printed sheets for each image forming apparatus, and an increase in the occurrence of abnormalities accompanying an increase in the number of printed sheets for each image forming apparatus. You can grasp the condition. Also, a circle (◯) at the end of each curve indicates that a maintenance request has been received from the customer of the corresponding image forming apparatus 3.
According to FIG. 7, it can be understood that the number of printed sheets by the image forming apparatus, that is, the operation amount of the image forming apparatus (particularly, the image forming processing unit 31) has an influence on the increase in the number of occurrences of abnormality. In view of this, in this modification, the necessity of maintenance instruction is determined in consideration of not only the abnormality detection interval but also the operation amount of the image forming apparatus.

That is, in the abnormality monitoring device 2 according to this modification, the communication unit 21 further acquires (receives) information on the number of printed sheets from the image forming device 3. Then, in addition to determining whether or not the abnormality detection interval is shorter than a predetermined reference interval, the determination unit 24 determines whether or not the number of printed sheets is larger than a predetermined reference number. In response to the determination that the interval is shorter than the reference interval and the number of printed sheets is greater than the reference number, the instruction output unit 25 outputs a maintenance instruction.
Here, the value of the reference interval and the reference number of sheets is, for example, based on the result of analyzing the abnormality detection interval and the number of printed sheets in cases where maintenance has been performed in the past by statistical processing, etc. It is preferable to find and set a value that reduces customer visits.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a reference interval and a reference number as a determination reference. Case 1 is an example in which only the reference interval is determined, and Cases 2-1 and 2 and Cases 3-2 and 2 are examples in which a combination of the reference interval and the reference number is determined.
In Case 1, the fact that the abnormality detection interval is 24 hours / case or less is regarded as a sign of a maintenance request, and a maintenance instruction is output.
In Case 2-1, when the abnormality detection interval is 24 hours / case or less, if the number of printed sheets is 100,000 or more, it is regarded as a sign of a maintenance request and a maintenance instruction is output. In Case 2-2, when the abnormality detection interval is 24 hours / case or less, if the number of printed sheets is 500,000 or more, it is regarded as a sign of a maintenance request and a maintenance instruction is output.
In Case 3-1, when the abnormality detection interval is 36 hours / case or less, if the number of printed sheets is 500,000 or more, it is regarded as a sign of a maintenance request and a maintenance instruction is output. In Case 3-2, when the abnormality detection interval is 36 hours / case or less, if the number of printed sheets is 800,000 or more, it is regarded as a sign of a maintenance request and a maintenance instruction is output.

In this way, by determining the necessity of maintenance by combining the detection interval of abnormalities and the amount of operation of the image forming apparatus, it is possible to suppress excessive customer visits and further optimize the timing of issuing maintenance instructions. Can be planned.
Here, in the above-described modification, the number of printed sheets by the image forming apparatus is used as the operation amount of the image forming apparatus. However, instead of this, the energization integration time of the dispenser motor for supplying the toner may be used. Any value that can identify the operating amount of the apparatus is acceptable.

It should be noted that the various numerical values used in the above description are merely examples, and it goes without saying that various numerical values that conform to the technical idea of the present invention can be applied.
In the above description, the maintenance instruction is used as the notification for urging the maintenance of the image forming apparatus. However, the notification need not be clearly requested to perform the maintenance as described above, and the maintenance needs to be performed. Any notification that can be recognized by the person in charge is acceptable.

  Here, the consumables management apparatus 2 of this example has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs various arithmetic processes, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that is a work area of the CPU, a ROM (Read) that records a basic control program, and the like. Main memory such as Only Memory), auxiliary storage such as HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores various programs and data, display device for displaying and outputting various information, and operations used for input operations by the operator Realized by a computer equipped with hardware resources such as an input / output I / F that is an interface with an input device such as a button or a touch panel, and a communication I / F that is an interface for performing wired or wireless communication with other devices. Has been.

Then, the program according to the present invention is read from the auxiliary storage device or the like, loaded into the RAM, and executed by the CPU, thereby realizing the function of the consumable management device according to the present invention on the computer.
In this example, the function of the acquisition unit according to the present invention is realized by the communication unit 21, the function of the calculation unit according to the present invention is realized by the abnormal interval calculation unit 23, and the function of the determination unit according to the present invention is determined. This is realized by the unit 24, and the function of the output means according to the present invention is realized by the instruction output unit 25.

Here, the program according to the present invention is stored in the computer of the consumables management device 2 in a format that is read from an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM that stores the program or a format that is received via a communication network or the like. Is set.
Note that the present invention is not limited to a mode in which each functional unit is realized by a software configuration as in this example, and each functional unit may be realized by a dedicated hardware module.

  The present invention can be used for various systems and apparatuses related to maintenance management for image forming apparatuses, and programs thereof.

1: Consumables management system 2: Abnormality monitoring device 3 (3A-3F): Image forming device 4: Network
21: Communication unit 22: Data storage unit 23: Abnormal interval calculation unit 24: Determination unit 25: Instruction output unit
31: Image formation processing unit 32: Detection unit 33: Communication unit

Claims (3)

Obtaining means for obtaining from the image forming apparatus information indicating a detection point of abnormality of the image forming function that has occurred in the image forming apparatus, and information indicating an operation amount of the image forming function ;
Calculation means for calculating a value indicating the detection interval of the abnormality based on information indicating the detection time points of the plurality of abnormality acquired by the acquisition means;
Before Symbol detection interval shorter rather than the reference interval, and, determining means for determining whether or not the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount,
It said judging means and said detection interval is rather short than the reference interval by, and an output means for the operating amount according to the determination that more than the reference operation amount, and outputs a notification to prompt a maintenance for the image forming apparatus ,
An abnormality monitoring device characterized by comprising: The acquisition unit further acquires information indicating the type of abnormality from the image forming apparatus,
The calculation means calculates a value indicating the detection interval for each type of abnormality,
Said determining means, said detection interval in any of the types of abnormality rather short than the reference interval defined for that type, and determines whether the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount,
And the output means, Oite the detection interval to any kind of the abnormality rather short than the reference interval defined for that type, and, according to the operation amount is determined to greater than the reference operation amount A notification prompting maintenance for the image forming apparatus,
The abnormality monitoring apparatus according to claim 1. On the computer,
An acquisition function for acquiring from the image forming apparatus information indicating the detection point of abnormality of the image forming function that has occurred in the image forming apparatus, and information indicating the amount of operation of the image forming function ;
A calculation function for calculating a value indicating a detection interval of the abnormality based on information indicating the detection time points of the plurality of abnormality acquired by the acquisition function;
Before Symbol detection interval shorter rather than the reference interval, and, a determination function whether the operation amount is larger than the reference operation amount,
The determination function by the detection interval is the reference interval from the rather short, and, in response to the operation amount is determined to greater than the reference operation amount, and an output function of outputting a notification that prompts the maintenance for the image forming apparatus ,
Abnormality monitoring program to realize

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