JP6122318B2 - Monitoring system and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring system and method for managing and monitoring the operating status of an image forming apparatus such as a printer.

  There is a mechanism for monitoring the operating state of a printer by a monitoring device and a central monitoring device arranged on a network. In a network configuration in which the central monitoring device cannot be directly connected to the printer by a firewall or the like, the monitoring device arranged in a network area capable of communicating with the outside transmits the printer operating state data to the central monitoring device.

  When the central monitoring device itself is operating normally, the central monitoring device itself detects an abnormality in the operating state of the printer, and then sends a mail notifying the abnormality, a message notifying the abnormality, etc. Or display on the screen (hereinafter referred to as “notification” as a generic term). By this notification, the user can know that there is an abnormality in the operating state of the printer. If the abnormality occurring in the printer is a fatal problem, the user must deal with it as soon as possible. For this reason, the central monitoring apparatus must notify the user as soon as possible after an abnormality occurs in the operating state of the printer.

  However, when the central monitoring apparatus is stopped due to maintenance of the central monitoring apparatus or an unexpected abnormality, the user is not notified of the abnormality that has occurred in the printer.

  Patent Document 1 proposes a method of monitoring the operating state of a monitoring device by a sub-monitoring device that monitors a monitoring device that monitors the status of the printer, and determining whether the monitoring device is operating normally. . When it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring device, this sub-monitoring device can notify the user of the abnormality of the monitoring device. By this notification, the user can know that the central monitoring device or the like is in a state where it cannot correctly monitor the operating state of the printer.

JP 2010-282323 A

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, when there is an abnormality in the central monitoring device or the like, the user can be notified of the abnormality of the central monitoring device, but the user is notified of the operating state of the printer to be monitored. Can not. Therefore, for example, the user needs to directly check the operating state of the printer in the monitoring range to check whether a fatal problem has occurred. However, when the number of printers managed by the central monitoring apparatus is large, the user must confirm each of them. In addition, since the timing at which an abnormality occurs in the printer cannot be predicted, the user must always check the operating state of the printer in the monitoring range during the period in which the abnormality occurs in the central monitoring device. Therefore, the number of man-hours required to monitor the operating state of the printer increases, and the possibility that the time taken from the occurrence of an abnormality to the discovery becomes longer is increased.

  When the service of the central monitoring device is stopped due to maintenance or failure, the central monitoring device accumulates the received printer error information internally, and when the service is resumed, collects the accumulated information to the user. A transmission method is conceivable. However, with this method, there is a possibility that error handling will be delayed, and problems may occur due to a change in the transmission order of error information when error information is collectively transmitted.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism capable of notifying a user of the state of an image forming apparatus even when a service for monitoring the image forming apparatus is stopped in a central monitoring apparatus.

The present invention relates to a central monitoring device that executes a monitoring service that receives management information of an image forming apparatus and notifies the management information, and a monitoring device that transmits management information of the image forming apparatus to the central monitoring device. The monitoring apparatus includes: a receiving unit that receives management information from the image forming apparatus; and a determining unit that determines whether the monitoring service is stopped according to the reception. A transmission means for transmitting the received management information to the central monitoring device when it is determined that the monitoring service is not stopped, and a predetermined time when it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped. In accordance with the conditions, a notification means for performing notification related to the received management information, and when it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped, the received management information is transmitted to the central monitoring device Storage means for storing without setting, and setting means for setting information indicating notification by the notification means in the received management information, and when it is determined that the monitoring service is not stopped, The notification related to the received management information is not performed by the notification unit, and the transmission unit transmits the stored management information to the central monitoring device after the monitoring service is resumed, and the central monitoring device transmits the transmission When information indicating the notification is set in the management information transmitted by the means, the notification regarding the management information is not performed .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to notify the user of the state of the image forming apparatus even when the service for monitoring the image forming apparatus is stopped in the central monitoring apparatus.

The block diagram which illustrates the composition of the monitoring system of this example. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. The block diagram which illustrates the hardware constitutions of the monitoring apparatus of a present Example. The block diagram which illustrates the software composition of the monitoring device of this example. The block diagram which illustrates the software configuration of the central monitoring apparatus of a present Example. The flowchart which illustrates operation | movement of the monitoring apparatus of a present Example. The flowchart which illustrates operation | movement of the central monitoring apparatus of a present Example. Display example of mail sent by the monitoring device (sent during maintenance). A display example of mail sent by the monitoring device (sent on failure). A display example of mail transmitted by the central monitoring device. The figure which shows the example of data of setting information, operating state information, and the consumption level information of consumables.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Overall configuration of monitoring system]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a monitoring system showing an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 101 to be monitored and a monitoring apparatus 102 that monitors them are connected to a customer environment 100 via a network 104 so that they can communicate with each other. The image forming apparatus 101 notifies the monitoring apparatus 102 of the operating state of the image forming apparatus 101 via the network 104. The monitoring apparatus 102 monitors the operating state of the image forming apparatus 101 via the network 104.

  The image forming apparatus 101 and the monitoring apparatus 102 are connected to an external network (for example, the Internet) 106 via the network 104 and the gateway device 105 and communicate with the central monitoring apparatus 103. Hereinafter, the external network will be described as the Internet. The gateway device 105 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like. In the present embodiment, a case is described in which each device communicates via the Internet 106, but a part or all of each device may be connected in the same network.

In FIG. 1, only one image forming apparatus 101 and one monitoring apparatus 102 are described in the customer environment 100, but a plurality of image forming apparatuses 101 are monitored by one monitoring apparatus 102. The customer environment 100 may include a plurality of monitoring apparatuses 102 and a plurality of image forming apparatuses 101.
The monitoring function of the monitoring apparatus 102 can also be realized by installing a program in the image forming apparatus 101, and the monitoring function can also be incorporated in the image forming apparatus 101. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the monitoring device 102 has the monitoring function.

Next, the monitoring company environment (monitoring company environment 107) that provides services based on the processing information of the central monitoring apparatus 103 that monitors the image forming apparatus 101 via the monitoring apparatus 102 of the customer environment 100 will be described.
In the monitoring company environment 107, an information processing apparatus 108 that browses and processes the processing information of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is connected to a network 109. The information processing device 108 is connected to the Internet 106 via the network 109 and the gateway device 110 and communicates with the central monitoring device 103. The gateway device 110 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like.

Next, the central monitoring apparatus 103 will be described.
The central monitoring device 103 is connected to the Internet 106 via the network 111 and the gateway device 112 and communicates with the monitoring device 102 and the information processing device 108. The gateway device 112 includes a router, a proxy server, a firewall, and the like.

  The central monitoring apparatus 103 receives information recorded in the image forming apparatus 101 and the like received by the monitoring apparatus 102 from the image forming apparatus 101 and performs processing. This information is defined as management information. The management information includes at least one of information such as setting information of the image forming apparatus 101, operating state information of a part or the whole of the image forming apparatus 101, consumption level information of consumables, and counter information. Further, the management information may include information on a communication state between the monitoring apparatus 102 and the image forming apparatus 101. The monitoring apparatus 102 can include setting values such as a mail transmission destination and a mail transmission completion flag in the management information transmitted to the central monitoring apparatus 103. That is, the management information received by the central monitoring apparatus 103 can include setting values such as a mail transmission destination and a mail transmission completion flag set by the monitoring apparatus 102. By using these settings, this embodiment Then, the notification by the central monitoring apparatus 103 is controlled. It is assumed that the initial value of the mail transmission destination is an empty character and the initial value of the mail transmission completion flag is OFF. The central monitoring apparatus 103 receives the management information of the image forming apparatus 101 as described above from the monitoring apparatus 102, and executes a monitoring service for notifying the management information.

Hereinafter, each piece of information included in the management information will be described.
The setting information may include, for example, information such as IP address, MAC address, serial number, device name, product name, installation location, installed firmware type and version, installed application type and version, etc. it can. FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating a data example of setting information in the present embodiment.

  Operating status information includes, for example, hard errors such as hard disk errors, temperature rises, internal communication interruptions, errors such as paper jams, out of toner, out of paper, out of staples, doors open, overloading of paper in the output tray, etc. Information on errors that can be avoided can also be included. In addition, information to be added to the operating state information may include information such as information acquisition date and time, unit number, severity, training level, the mail transmission destination, and the mail transmitted flag. FIG.11 (b) is a figure which shows the example of data of the operating condition information in a present Example.

  The consumption level information of consumables can include, for example, information such as the maximum capacity and remaining amount of ink, toner, waste toner, paper, and needle, the capacity unit, and the ratio of the remaining amount to the maximum capacity. In addition, information to be given to the consumption level information of consumables can include information acquisition date, unit number, and color information. FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating a data example of consumption level information of consumables in the present embodiment.

  The counter information can include, for example, usage count information of functions such as the number of times of printing for each paper size, the number of scans, and the number of fax transmissions, and usage unit usage count information such as the number of drum rotations. The data example of the counter information is similar to the consumption level information of the consumable item, and is omitted. The management information is not limited to the information described above, and data conversion, addition, and deletion can be performed by the function of the monitoring apparatus 102.

  The central monitoring apparatus 103 manages the image forming apparatus using a management identifier that uniquely identifies the image forming apparatus 101 so that a plurality of image forming apparatuses 101 can be processed, and associates the management identifier with the management information. Delivered to the processing device 108. The management identifier is, for example, a unique manufacturing number, a MAC address, or a unique identifier assigned by the present system or another system. In the example of FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 11C, the value in the “SerialNo.” Column is used as a management identifier, and (a), (b), ( Combine the data of c).

[Image forming apparatus]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the image forming apparatus 101.
The image forming apparatus 101 can be applied to an image forming apparatus such as a digital multi-function peripheral, a facsimile machine, a laser beam printer, an ink jet printer, and a scanner device.
The image forming apparatus 101 includes a CPU 201, a RAM 202, a ROM 203, a storage device 204, a network I / F 205, an internal bus 206, a device control 207, a printing unit 208 including a fixing device, and an input / output control 209.

  The CPU 201 executes a program (a program for realizing each function of the image forming apparatus) stored in the ROM 203 and comprehensively controls each device via the internal bus 206. The RAM 202 functions as a memory or work area for the CPU 201. The ROM 203 stores the program and various data.

  A network I / F 205 is a network interface that exchanges data with an external network device or a personal computer (PC) unidirectionally or bidirectionally via the local area network 104. A device control 207 controls the printing unit 208. The CPU 201 performs a program execution process together with the RAM 202 and the ROM 203 and performs a process of recording image data on a recording medium such as the storage device 204. The storage device 204 functions as an external storage device, stores image data and the like, and can store the management information in place of the RAM 202. The storage device 204 includes a hard disk, an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like.

  As described above, a program for causing the image forming apparatus 101 to function as each module of the monitoring apparatus 102 shown in FIG. 4 to be described later is stored in the ROM 203 and the storage device 204 in a computer-readable manner, and the CPU 201 stores the program. The function of the monitoring apparatus 102 can be replaced by the image forming apparatus 101 by loading it into the RAM 202 and executing it.

[Monitoring device]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the monitoring apparatus 102.
The monitoring device 102 can be applied to an information processing device such as a PC or a server, for example. The monitoring device 102 includes a CPU 301 that executes programs stored in the ROM 303 and the storage device 304 (including a program for realizing each module in FIG. 4 to be described later), and the CPU 301 connects each device via the internal bus 306. Control overall. Each device such as a CPU 301, a RAM 302, a ROM 303, a storage device 304, a network I / F 305, and an input / output I / F 307 is connected to the internal bus 306.

  The input / output I / F 307 is an input / output interface such as PS2, Universal Serial Bus (USB interface), or an analog or digital display interface. An input / output device 308 such as a keyboard, mouse, CRT, or liquid crystal device is connected to the monitoring device 102 via an input / output I / F 307 to register / change / delete / display monitoring setting information, display management information, and log files. Display and the like can be performed.

  A network I / F 305 is a network interface connected to the Internet 106 via the network 104 or the gateway device 105, and can communicate with the image forming apparatus 101, the central monitoring apparatus 103, and the information processing apparatus 108.

  The CPU 301 performs a program execution process together with the RAM 302 and the ROM 303 and performs a process of recording image data on a recording medium such as the storage device 304. The storage device 304 functions as an external storage device, stores the management information, and can store system information and processing information instead of the RAM 302. The storage device 304 includes a hard disk, an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like.

  Note that the input / output device 308 has been described as an external device, but of course, the monitoring device 102 may be incorporated as hardware. The central monitoring device 103 and the information processing device 108 can also apply the same configuration example as the monitoring device 102 described above. When the hardware configuration of the monitoring device 102 of FIG. 4 described above is applied to the central monitoring device 103, the storage device 304 stores various programs including programs for realizing each module of FIG. It is assumed that the CPU 301 executes this.

[Software module configuration of the monitoring device]
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a software module that processes management information received from the image forming apparatus 101 in the monitoring apparatus 102.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 400 corresponds to a software module of the monitoring apparatus 102 that processes management information received from the image forming apparatus 101. The software module 400 is stored in the storage device 304, expanded in the RAM 302 at the time of execution, and executed by the CPU 301, thereby realizing its function. Unless otherwise specified, in all the explanations to be described later, the execution subject on hardware related to the monitoring device 102 is the CPU 301, and the control subject on software is a program stored in the storage device 304.

  The software module 400 includes a monitoring processing unit 401, a recording processing unit 402, a communication processing unit 403, a management information processing unit 404, an input / output processing unit 405, and a state detection unit 406. Hereinafter, each part will be described.

  The communication processing unit 403 can transmit data to the outside of the monitoring apparatus 102 and receive data from the outside of the monitoring apparatus 102 via the network I / F 305 and the network 104. Specifically, in accordance with an instruction from the management information processing unit 404, the communication processing unit 403 sends an inquiry for management information to the image forming apparatus 101 and transmits a response received from the image forming apparatus 101 to the management information processing unit 404. Etc. can be performed. The communication processing unit 403 can also transmit a monitoring result to the central monitoring device 103 and transmit a response received from the central monitoring device 103 to the monitoring processing unit 401 in accordance with an instruction from the monitoring processing unit 401. In addition, the communication processing unit 403 follows the instruction from the state detection unit 406 for detecting the operation state of the central monitoring device 103, the operation state inquiry to the central monitoring device 103, and the status of the response received from the central monitoring device 103 Transmission to the detection unit 406 can also be performed.

  Further, the communication processing unit 403 can also send a mail to the Internet 106 in accordance with an instruction from the monitoring processing unit 401. The communication processing unit 403 can also receive the monitoring setting information transmitted from the central monitoring apparatus 103 and transmit it to the monitoring processing unit 401.

  This monitoring setting information can include a monitoring target image forming apparatus list indicating the monitoring target image forming apparatus 101 in a list of management identifiers, a monitoring period for monitoring the monitoring target image forming apparatus 101, a monitoring interval, and the like. . The monitoring period can include the time range and day of the week designation for each day. An arbitrary time interval can be set as the monitoring interval.

  Also, the monitoring setting information can include management information filtering conditions used for processing or deleting a part of the management information for transmitting the management information to the central monitoring apparatus 103. In addition, the monitoring setting information can include a stop period for setting a period in which the central monitoring apparatus 103 is known to stop in advance, such as a periodic server maintenance period or version upgrade work. In addition, the monitoring setting information may include a maintenance mail transmission destination that is a mail destination in the suspension period. The monitoring setting information can also be received from an input / output processing unit 405 described later.

  The recording processing unit 402 exchanges information with the storage areas of the RAM 302, the ROM 303, and the storage device 304. The recording processing unit 402 records information processed by the management information processing unit 404, the monitoring processing unit 401, and the state detection unit 406 in the storage device 304, and acquires information stored in the ROM 303.

  The management information processing unit 404 acquires the monitoring schedule recorded by the monitoring processing unit 401 via the recording processing unit 402, transmits a management information acquisition instruction to the communication processing unit 403 in accordance with the monitoring schedule, and communicates with the communication processing unit 403. The management information of the image forming apparatus 101 received from is transmitted to the recording processing unit 402.

  In accordance with an instruction from the monitoring processing unit 401, the state detection unit 406 communicates with the central monitoring device 103 whether or not the monitoring service performed by the central monitoring device 103 can communicate with the central monitoring device 103 via the communication processing unit 403. Inquiries about the operation status of the central monitoring device (hereinafter referred to as “central monitoring device operating state”) and responses are received. The state detection unit 406 receives the information indicating that the monitoring service is stopped from the central monitoring device 103, or when the central monitoring device 103 does not return a response for a certain number of times or a certain period. It is determined that the monitoring device operating state is stopped. That is, it is determined that the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped. In addition, the state detection unit 406 can transmit the central monitoring device operating state to the monitoring processing unit 401 or can transmit the central monitoring device operating state to the recording processing unit 402.

  The monitoring processing unit 401 can transmit monitoring setting information to the recording processing unit 402 which is input from the input / output processing unit 405 or transmitted from the central monitoring apparatus 103 via the communication processing unit 403. The monitoring processing unit 401 can also acquire management information recorded by the management information processing unit 404 from the recording processing unit 402 and transmit the management information to the central monitoring apparatus 103 via the communication processing unit 403. Note that the timing at which the monitoring processing unit 401 transmits the management information to the central monitoring apparatus 103 is determined based on the transmission interval and schedule included in the monitoring setting information. However, the monitoring processing unit 401 obtains the central monitoring device operating state information recorded by the state detection unit 406 from the recording processing unit 402, and does not transmit management information to the central monitoring device 103 according to the result. Can also be done.

  The input / output processing unit 405 controls the keyboard, mouse, and display as the input / output device 308, and has an interface for registering, changing, deleting, and displaying monitoring setting information, displaying management information, displaying a log file, and the like. It has become.

[Software module configuration of central monitoring equipment]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software module configuration of the central monitoring apparatus 103.
In FIG. 5, 500 corresponds to the software module of the central monitoring apparatus 103. The software module 500 is stored in the storage device 304, expanded in the RAM 302 at the time of execution, and executed by the CPU 301, thereby realizing its function. Unless otherwise specified, in all the explanations to be described later, the hardware execution subject relating to the central monitoring device 103 is the CPU 301, and the software control subject is a program stored in the storage device 304. . The software module 500 includes a monitoring processing unit 501, a recording processing unit 502, a communication processing unit 503, a management information processing unit 504, and an input / output processing unit 505.

  The monitoring processing unit 501 is a processing unit that performs processing such as determination, processing, recording, display, and notification using the management information notified from the monitoring device 102 in the central monitoring device 103. The monitoring processing unit 501 controls the recording processing unit 502, the communication processing unit 503, and the input / output processing unit 505.

  The communication processing unit 503 is connected to the network 111 via the network I / F 305 and can receive notifications and requests from the monitoring device 102 and the information processing device 108. Further, the communication processing unit 503 can receive the management information transmitted from the monitoring apparatus 102 and transmit the management information to the management information processing unit 504. Further, the communication processing unit 503 can transmit or receive communication data based on a predetermined communication processing specification in accordance with an instruction from the monitoring processing unit 501.

  The communication data transmitted by the communication processing unit 503 described above can include monitoring setting information, central monitoring device operating status, HTML for screen display, monitoring result mail, and responses to communication data received by the central monitoring device 103. . The screen display HTML is an HTML format that can be processed by a web browser because the information processing apparatus 108 in the monitoring company environment 107 may be connected via the Internet when referring to the information of the image forming apparatus 101. Converted to. Needless to say, the screen display data is not limited to the HTML format but can be prepared in another format suitable for the device to be displayed. In order for the information processing apparatus 108 to refer to the HTML format information, the communication processing unit 503 has a WWW server function. Communication data received by the communication processing unit 503 can include management information, a screen display request, and a response to transmission data from the central monitoring apparatus 103.

  The recording processing unit 502 exchanges information with the storage areas of the RAM 302, the ROM 303, and the storage device 304. The recording processing unit 502 records information processed by the management information processing unit 504 and the monitoring processing unit 501 in the storage device 304 and acquires information stored in the ROM 303.

  The management information processing unit 504 transmits the management information received from the monitoring device 102 via the communication processing unit 503 to the recording processing unit 502. The management information processing unit 504 can also duplicate, process, delete, and add information to management information. Also, the management information processing unit 504 can notify the monitoring processing unit 501 that the management information has been received and recorded in accordance with the transmission of the management information to the recording processing unit 502. Further, the management information processing unit 504 generates HTML for screen display based on the management information acquired from the recording processing unit 502 in response to an acquisition instruction from the information processing device 108, and transmits information via the communication processing unit 503. It can also be transmitted to the processing device 108.

  The monitoring processing unit 501 can transmit the central monitoring setting information to the recording processing unit 502 that is input from the input / output processing unit 505 or transmitted from the information processing apparatus 108 via the communication processing unit 503. . Also, the monitoring processing unit 501 receives a notification that the management information has been received / recorded from the management information processing unit 504, and performs a matching process between the management information and the management information filtering condition included in the central monitoring setting information, The matching process can be performed according to the logic of 501. In addition, the monitoring processing unit 501 can receive a result of the collation processing and transmit a mail to a mail address set as a mail transmission destination included in the central monitoring setting information that matches the management information.

  The central monitoring setting information described above may include a monitoring target image forming apparatus list indicating the monitoring target image forming apparatus 101 in a list of management identifiers, a monitoring period for monitoring the monitoring target image forming apparatus 101, a monitoring interval, and the like. it can. The monitoring period can include a range of monitoring time for each day, designation of day of the week, and the like. An arbitrary time interval can be set as the monitoring interval.

  In addition, the monitoring processing unit 501 can transmit the monitoring setting information input from the input / output processing unit 505 or transmitted from the information processing apparatus 108 via the communication processing unit 503 to the recording processing unit 502. Information that can be included in the monitoring setting information has been described in the communication processing unit 403, and is therefore omitted. It should be noted that the monitoring target image form apparatus list, management information filtering condition, and maintenance notification destination e-mail address of the monitoring setting information are the monitoring target image forming apparatus list, management information filtering condition, and mail transmission destination information of the central monitoring setting information, respectively. Can be duplicated from.

  The input / output processing unit 505 controls the keyboard, mouse, and display, which are the input / output devices 308, and registers, changes, deletes and displays monitoring setting information and central monitoring setting information, displays management information, displays a log file, and the like It is an interface for doing.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining processing from reception of each management information to mail transmission in the monitoring apparatus 102 when communication between the monitoring apparatus 102 and the central monitoring apparatus 103 cannot be performed. Note that the processing of this flowchart is executed by the software module 400 of the monitoring apparatus 102. That is, the processing of this flowchart is realized by the CPU 301 of the monitoring device 102 reading and executing a program stored in the storage device 304.

  In step S601, when the communication processing unit 403 receives management information from the image forming apparatus 101, the process proceeds to step S602. In step S602, the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether the management identifier of the image forming apparatus 101 included in the management information received in step S601 is included in the monitoring target image forming apparatus list set in the monitoring setting information. To do.

  If it is determined in step S602 that the management identifier is not included in the monitoring target image forming apparatus list (No in step S602), the monitoring processing unit 401 sends the management information to the user. It is determined that the image forming apparatus does not need to be notified, and the processing of this flowchart ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S602 that the management identifier is included in the monitoring target image forming apparatus list (Yes in step S602), the monitoring processing unit 401 causes the image forming apparatus 101 to store the management information. It is determined that the image forming apparatus should be notified to the user, and the process proceeds to S603.

  In step S <b> 603, the monitoring processing unit 401 collates the operation state information of the image forming apparatus 101 and the consumption level information of the consumables included in the management information with the management information filtering condition set in the monitoring setting information, It is determined whether or not they match.

  Since specific examples of the operating state information and the consumption level information of consumables have been described above, description thereof will be omitted. In the management information filtering condition, it is possible to set the non-determination with respect to the operating state information and the upper limit threshold / lower limit threshold with respect to the consumable consumption level information. As a specific example of the non-determination for the operating state information, there is a case where the value of prtAlertSeverityLevel of PrinterMIB (RFC3805) is “3”, and a case where it is not, etc. MIB is an abbreviation for Management Information Base, and indicates data related to the operation status for monitoring and managing the operation status of a network device using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). prtAlertSeverityLevel is defined as the severity of alerts generated by the printer. The value “3” is defined as “critical” and is generally expected to be set when a catastrophic failure has occurred. Therefore, this condition is set as the management information filtering condition.

  As another specific example, similarly, if the value of prtAlertTrainingLevel of PrinterMIB is “5”, it is applicable, otherwise it is not applicable. prtAlertTrainingLevel is defined as the level of training required to deal with alerts generated by the printer. The value “5” is defined as “fieldService” and is generally expected to be set when a repair engineer needs to deal with. Therefore, this condition is set to be included in the management information filtering condition.

  As another specific example, similarly, if the value of prtAlertCode of PrinterMIB is any one of “1101”, “1102”, and “808”, it is applicable, otherwise it is not applicable. prtAlertCode is defined as the type of alert that occurred in the printer. The value “1101” is defined as “markerTonerEmpty”, the value “1102” is defined as “markerInkEmpty”, and the value “808” is defined as “inputMediaSupplyEmpty”. These are expected to be set when there is no remaining toner, no remaining ink, and no paper. In addition to these specific examples, the non-determination may be performed on information that is uniquely defined and set by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus 101. Therefore, these conditions are set so as to be included in the management information filtering condition.

  Specific examples of the setting of the upper and lower thresholds for the wear level information of consumables include the following. Similarly, the quotient of the value of prtMarkerSuppliesLevel of PrinterMIB and the value of prtMarkerSuppliesMaxCapacity is compared with the set lower threshold, and if the value of the quotient is larger than the lower threshold, it is true, otherwise it is not relevant. Therefore, these conditions are set so as to be included in the management information filtering condition. The prtMarkerSuppliesLevel is defined as the remaining space of a consumable container in the printer. prtMarkerSuppliesMaxCapacity is defined as the maximum capacity of a consumable container in the printer. Actually, processing for specifying the container of the target consumable item is entered, but the description is omitted.

  That is, in the determination process of S603, for example, among the pieces of information included in the management information, the operating state information corresponds to a value indicating a fatal failure, and the operating state information needs to be dealt with by a repair technician. At least one of the management information filtering conditions, such as a value indicating a warning, a consumable consumption level information corresponding to a consumable consumption value, a consumable consumption level information exceeding a threshold value, etc. And the corresponding information is extracted from the management information as information indicating the occurrence of a situation that should be notified to the user. Note that the management information filtering condition determined in S603 is not limited to the above example, and can be any condition that can detect the occurrence of a situation to be notified to the user from the information included in the management information. Any condition may be used.

  As a result of S603, when it is determined that the management information does not match the management information filtering condition (No in S603), the monitoring processing unit 401 is in a state where the management information does not need to be notified to the user. The process of this flowchart is complete | finished. On the other hand, when it is determined as a result of S603 that the management information matches the management information filtering condition (Yes in S603), the monitoring processing unit 401 determines that the management information is in a state to be notified to the user. Then, the process proceeds to S604.

  In step S604, the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether the operating state of the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped. As described above, whether or not the operation state of the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped is detected by the state detection unit 406 and the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether or not the operation state of the central monitoring apparatus is stopped. Alternatively, as a result of attempting to transmit management information to the central monitoring apparatus 103 by the monitoring processing unit 401, the monitoring service operating state of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped when there is no response after a certain number of times or a certain period of time. It may be determined that

As a result of S604, when it is determined that the operation state of the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is not stopped (No in S604), the monitoring processing unit 401 indicates that the operation state of the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is normal. And the process proceeds to S605. In step S605, the monitoring processing unit 401 transmits the management information to the central monitoring apparatus 103 via the communication processing unit 403, and ends the processing of this flowchart.
On the other hand, if it is determined as a result of S604 that the operation state of the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped (Yes in S604), the monitoring processing unit 401 proceeds to the process of S606.

  In step S606, the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether the monitoring service stop state of the central monitoring apparatus 103 has been planned. That is, it is determined whether or not a stop period is set in the monitoring setting information in the monitoring apparatus 102 by the user and the current date is included in the stop period.

  As a result of S606, if it is determined as a result of the determination of S606 that the monitoring service stop state of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is not planned (the current setting date is not included in the monitoring setting information stop period) ( In the case of No in S606), the monitoring processing unit 401 determines that some failure that the user has not predicted has occurred, and proceeds to the processing of S610. Note that the process of shifting to S610 will be described later.

  On the other hand, as a result of S606, when it is determined that the monitoring service stop state of the central monitoring apparatus 103 has been planned (the current date is included in the monitoring setting information stop period) (Yes in S606). The monitoring processing unit 401 determines that the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is stopped during a period planned in advance by the user, such as a periodic server maintenance period or upgrade work, and the process of S607 Migrate to

  In step S <b> 607, the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether or not a notification email address for maintenance is set in the monitoring setting information. As a result of the above S607, when it is determined that the notification email address at the time of maintenance is not set in the monitoring setting information (No in S607), the monitoring processing unit 401 proceeds to S610, and an email notification described later is performed. . Although details of the processing of the transition to S610 will be described later, each setting of the monitoring setting information is performed by the user in S602, S603, and S606 even when the notification email address for maintenance is not set in the monitoring setting information. This is because there is a need for some kind of notification because it is assumed that the user has received a notification or is willing to notify someone. Of course, if the maintenance notification destination e-mail address is not set in the monitoring setting information, it is considered that the setting is insufficient, and the processing of this flowchart may be terminated without proceeding to S610.

  On the other hand, if it is determined as a result of S607 that the maintenance notification destination email address is set in the monitoring setting information (Yes in S607), the monitoring processing unit 401 sets the maintenance notification destination email. It is determined that it is necessary to send mail to the address, and the process proceeds to S608.

  The email address set as the maintenance notification email address is, for example, a service person, general manager, repair engineer, worker, etc. of the user, and is not assumed to include the customer IT administrator. . This is because it has been found that the user has assumed that the central monitoring apparatus 103 cannot be connected by the processing of S606, and it is not necessary to notify the customer IT administrator. Note that the notification email address at the time of maintenance may be recorded as a common setting for the entire monitoring apparatus 102 instead of the setting of the monitoring setting information.

  In step S608, the monitoring processing unit 401 performs processing for transmitting an email to the email address set as the maintenance notification destination email address via the communication processing unit 403, and proceeds to step S609. In S608, information to be displayed in the mail body is also generated. The information displayed in the mail text will be described using the display example of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mail text transmitted to the maintenance notification mail address by the monitoring device in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 8, information that can identify the image forming apparatus included in the setting information associated with the management identifier can be included in the mail body. The information includes the IP address (line 26), MAC address (line 27), serial number (line 22), device name (line 23), product name (line 24), of the information included in the setting information described above. Installation location (lines 25, 28, 29, 30), etc. Further, the mail text can include operating state information and consumption level information of consumables (lines 14 and 18). Further, the date and time when the monitoring apparatus 102 receives management information from the image forming apparatus 101 can be included in the mail text (lines 15 and 19). In addition, the e-mail text can include the stop period set in the matched monitoring setting information (line 07). The mail text may also include a guidance text indicating that the mail is a notification regarding an abnormality of the image forming apparatus 101 that occurred during the suspension period of the central monitoring apparatus 103 that the user assumed (02, Line 06). In addition, the mail text may include a guidance text indicating that the mail is sent by proxy from the monitoring apparatus 102 (line 06). Note that the information displayed in the mail text may be displayed in places other than the mail text, such as a mail title and an attached file.

  In S609, the monitoring processing unit 401 sets the e-mail address set as the maintenance notification destination e-mail address as the value of the e-mail transmission destination setting in the management information, and proceeds to S613. This setting is used in the mail resending necessity determination (S706) described later with reference to FIG. An example in which a value is set in the mail transmission destination is shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C (“Address” column). In addition, the notification destination mail address at the time of maintenance is, for example, a copy from the mail transmission destination information of the central monitoring setting information.

Hereinafter, the processing of S610 to S612 will be described.
The processing of S610 to S612 is performed when a failure that is not assumed by the user occurs in the central monitoring device 103 or the route between the central monitoring device 103 and the monitoring device 102 (in the case of No in S606), or maintenance. This is executed when the hour notification destination mail address is not set (in the case of No in S607). Details will be described below.

  First, in S610, the monitoring processing unit 401 determines whether or not a failure notification destination email address is set. It is assumed that the destination of the email address set as the failure notification destination email address includes the customer IT administrator in addition to the service person, the general manager, the repair engineer, the worker, etc. among the users. This is because the case of reaching S610 is a situation where a failure that the user does not expect has occurred, and the cause of the failure may be an infrastructure such as a network path in the customer environment 100. It is.

  As a result of S610, when it is determined that a failure notification destination email address is not set (No in S610), the monitoring processing unit 401 ends the processing of this flowchart because it cannot determine the email transmission destination. To do. On the other hand, as a result of S610, when it is determined that a failure notification destination e-mail address is set (Yes in S610), the monitoring processing unit 401 needs to send e-mail to the set e-mail address. If it is determined that there is, there is a transition to S611.

  In S611, the monitoring processing unit 401 performs a process of transmitting mail to the mail address set as the failure notification destination mail address via the communication processing unit 403, and shifts the process to S612. In S611, information to be displayed in the mail text is also generated, as in S608. The mail text information generated in S611 is similar to the mail text generated in S608, but only the guidance text generation processing is different, and will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mail text transmitted to the notification destination mail address when a failure occurs in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 9, in the mail text generated in S611, a failure that the user does not expect occurs in the central monitoring device 103 or in the route between the central monitoring device 103 and the monitoring device 102. A guidance sentence indicating that the user is present can be included (lines 02, 05, 06).

  Next, in S612, the monitoring processing unit 401 sets a failure notification mail address in the management information mail transmission destination setting, and proceeds to S613. This setting is used in the mail resending necessity determination (S706) described later with reference to FIG. An example in which a value is set in the mail transmission destination is shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C (“Address” column).

  When the processing of S609 or S612 is completed, in S613, the monitoring processing unit 401 sets the value “ON” in the mail transmission completion flag of the management information, and proceeds to S614. In other words, the monitoring processing unit 401 sets information indicating that the mail has been notified by the monitoring apparatus 102 as management information. This setting is used in the mail retransmission necessity determination (S705) described in FIG. An example in which the value “ON” is set in the mail transmission completion flag is shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C (“Send Flag” column).

  In S614, the monitoring processing unit 401 transmits and stores the value of the management information updated in S609, S612, and S613 to the recording processing unit 402 (updates the management information in the recording processing unit 402). The process ends. Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the monitoring processing unit 401 transmits the management information stored in S <b> 614 to the central monitoring apparatus 103 after the monitoring service of the central monitoring apparatus 103 is resumed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining processing from reception of each management information to mail transmission in the central monitoring apparatus 103. Note that the processing in this flowchart is executed by the software module 500 of the central monitoring apparatus 103. That is, the processing of this flowchart is realized by the CPU 301 of the central monitoring device 103 reading and executing a program stored in the storage device 304.

  When the communication processing unit 503 receives management information from the monitoring apparatus 102 in S701, the process proceeds to S702. In S702, the management information processing unit 504 stores the management information received in S701 in the database, and the process proceeds to S703.

  Note that in S702, the management information transmitted by the monitoring device 102 during the suspension period of the central monitoring device 103 described in S608 and S611 in FIG. 6 is also stored in the database. This is because it is necessary to display on the screen UI with reference to the information stored in the database. On the screen UI, an alert occurrence status, occurrence / recovery history, consumption level information of consumables, and the like can be displayed. Note that the processing of S702 may be performed only for management information that matches the determination conditions of S703 and S704 described later. That is, only information that matches the central monitoring setting information can be stored in the database and displayed on the screen UI.

  In step S <b> 703, the monitoring processing unit 501 determines whether the management identifier of the image forming apparatus 101 included in the management information is included in the list of monitoring target image forming apparatuses set in the central monitoring setting information. Determine whether.

  As a result of S703, if it is determined that the management identifier is not included in the monitoring target image forming apparatus list (No in S703), the monitoring processing unit 501 needs to notify the user of the image forming apparatus 101. It is determined that there is no image forming apparatus, and the processing of this flowchart ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S703 that the management identifier is included in the monitoring target image forming apparatus list (Yes in step S703), the monitoring processing unit 501 notifies the user of the image forming apparatus 101. It is determined that the image forming apparatus is to be used, and the process proceeds to S704.

  In step S <b> 704, the monitoring processing unit 501 collates the operation state information of the image forming apparatus 101 and the consumption level information of the consumables included in the management information with the management information filtering condition set in the central monitoring setting information. It is determined whether or not they match. Note that the processing in S707 is the same as the processing in S603 in FIG.

  As a result of S704, when it is determined that they do not match (No in S704), the monitoring processing unit 501 determines that it is not necessary to notify the user, and ends the process of this flowchart. On the other hand, if it is determined as a result of the above S704 that they match (Yes in S704), the monitoring processing unit 501 determines that the state should be notified to the user, and proceeds to S705.

  Next, in S705 and S706, the monitoring processing unit 501 determines whether or not the value of the mail transmission flag in the management information is “ON”, and the value of the mail transmission flag is “ON”. Is determined whether or not the value of the mail transmission destination of the management information is equal to the value of the mail transmission destination of the central monitoring setting information stored in the database of the central monitoring apparatus 103.

  Then, the value of the mail transmission flag of the management information is “ON”, the value of the mail transmission destination of the management information and the mail transmission destination of the central monitoring setting information stored in the database of the central monitoring device 103 are set. If the values are equal (Yes in S705 and Yes in S706), the monitoring processing unit 501 has already sent the management information by proxy to the mail transmission destination set in the central monitoring setting information. Therefore, the mail transmission is not performed and the processing of this flowchart is terminated. With this process, it is possible to solve the problem that the same mail is repeatedly transmitted to the destination of the mail transmitted by the monitoring apparatus 102 as a proxy. Of course, it is also possible to send a mail from the central monitoring apparatus 103 anew. Although not shown, in this case, it may be included in the mail title or the mail text that the information notified from the monitoring apparatus 102 has been retransmitted.

  On the other hand, the value of the mail transmission completion flag of the management information is not “ON”, or the mail transmission destination value of the management information and the mail transmission destination value of the central monitoring setting information stored in the database of the central monitoring device 103 Are not equal (in the case of No in S705 or No in S706), the monitoring processing unit 501 needs to perform another email transmission from the central monitoring apparatus 103, and thus the process proceeds to S707. In S706, when a plurality of e-mail addresses are set for the e-mail transmission destination of the management information of the comparison source and the e-mail transmission destination of the central monitoring setting information of the comparison destination, only when all of them match with each other without excess or deficiency. Assume that “Yes” is determined. With this determination processing, it is possible to solve the problem that mail is not transmitted to a destination to be originally transmitted, which frequently occurs when the destination of the email transmitted by proxy by the monitoring apparatus 102 is a failure notification destination email address. In addition, when the information of the notification destination e-mail address at the time of maintenance is generated based on the old central monitoring setting information, the mail is not sent to the mail destination set in the latest central monitoring setting information. Can also be solved.

  In step S707, the monitoring processing unit 501 transmits a mail to the mail address set as the mail transmission destination of the central monitoring setting information, and ends the process of this flowchart. In S707, information to be displayed in the mail text is also generated. The information that can be included in the mail text is the same as the information described in S609 in FIG. However, the content of the guidance text that can be included in the mail text can be changed between the case where the process directly moves from S705 to S707 and the case where the process moves from S705 to S707 and then moves to S707. With reference to the display example of FIG. 10, information to be displayed in the mail text when the process proceeds from S705 to S707 to S707 will be described.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a mail text transmitted to the mail transmission destination by the central monitoring setting information in the present embodiment.
When the process proceeds from S705 to S707 via S706, since it is a mail transmission of management information that has been mailed by proxy in the past by the monitoring apparatus 102, the fact that the information that has already been mailed is retransmitted or at that time Can be displayed (information on lines 02, 06, 07, and 08 in FIG. 10). By displaying this information in the email body, it is possible to prevent other users from attempting an action to deal with a failure that has already been addressed, or to check the status of other users who have received emails in the past. Can go. Note that the information displayed in the mail text may be displayed in places other than the mail text, such as a mail title and an attached file.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in the network path from the monitoring device to the central monitoring device, or when an abnormality occurs in the central monitoring device, the central monitoring device performs monitoring. Even when the service is stopped, the user can be notified of the status of the image forming apparatus to be monitored.

Note that other electronic devices may be monitored instead of the image forming apparatus.
Further, the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.
Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or storage medium. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device.
Moreover, all the structures which combined said each Example are also contained in this invention.

(Other examples)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.
Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications (including organic combinations of the embodiments) are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are excluded from the scope of the present invention. is not. That is, the present invention includes all the combinations of the above-described embodiments and modifications thereof.

Claims (7)

A monitoring system having a central monitoring apparatus that executes a monitoring service that receives management information of the image forming apparatus and notifies the management information, and a monitoring apparatus that transmits management information of the image forming apparatus to the central monitoring apparatus Because
The monitoring device
Receiving means for receiving management information from the image forming apparatus;
Determining means for determining whether or not the monitoring service is stopped in response to the reception;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is not stopped, transmission means for transmitting the received management information to the central monitoring device;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped, in accordance with a predetermined condition, a notification unit that performs notification related to the received management information;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped, storage means for storing the received management information without transmitting it to the central monitoring device;
Setting means for setting information indicating that notification has been made by the notification means in the received management information ;
Wherein when the monitoring service is determined not to be stopped, notification of the management information thus received by the notification means is not performed,
The transmission means transmits the stored management information to the central monitoring device after resuming the monitoring service,
The monitoring system, wherein the central monitoring device does not perform notification related to the management information when information indicating the notification is set in the management information transmitted by the transmission unit . The setting unit is configured to set information of a notification destination notified by the notification unit in the received management information,
Even when the information indicating the notification completion is set in the management information transmitted by the transmission unit, the central monitoring device indicates that the notification destination information set in the management information is the monitoring service. monitoring system according to claim 1 when the notification destination is different than performing notification relating to the management information, and wherein the at. When the notification means corresponds to the monitoring service stop period set in the monitoring device, the notification means notifies the preset notification destination for maintenance, and when it does not correspond to the monitoring service stop period, The monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein notification is made to a preset notification destination when a failure occurs. The management information includes at least one of setting information of the image forming apparatus, operating state information of the image forming apparatus, wear level information of consumables provided in the image forming apparatus, and counter information included in the image forming apparatus. The monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , further comprising: When the operating condition information included in the received management information corresponds to a value indicating the occurrence of a failure, the predetermined condition is a value or threshold value indicating that the consumable consumption information included in the received management information indicates that the consumable is out 5. The monitoring system according to claim 4 , wherein the monitoring system is conditional on at least one of cases in which the value exceeds. The monitoring device, the monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that provided in the image forming apparatus. A monitoring system having a central monitoring apparatus that executes a monitoring service that receives management information of the image forming apparatus and notifies the management information, and a monitoring apparatus that transmits management information of the image forming apparatus to the central monitoring apparatus Control method,
Executed by the monitoring device;
A receiving step of receiving management information from the image forming apparatus;
A determination step of determining whether or not the monitoring service is stopped in response to the reception;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is not stopped, a transmission step of transmitting the received management information to the central monitoring device;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped, a notification step of performing notification related to the received management information according to a predetermined condition;
When it is determined that the monitoring service is stopped, the storing step of storing the received management information without transmitting it to the central monitoring device;
A setting step for setting information indicating notification completion in the notification step in the received management information ;
Wherein when the monitoring service is determined not to be stopped, notification of the management information thus received to have you in the notification step is not performed,
The transmission step transmits the stored management information to the central monitoring device after resuming the monitoring service,
The central monitoring apparatus does not perform notification related to the management information when the information indicating the notification is set in the management information transmitted in the transmission step. .

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