JP7188018B2 - Managed equipment, equipment management system, program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for registering a device to be managed in a management server via a network.

A management server is provided to centrally control devices such as printers and MFPs (Multifunction Peripherals) connected to the network, acquire the status and setting values of each device, and centrally change the settings for each device. There are equipment management systems that do. Such a device management system has a function of collecting and managing information based on information (IP addresses, etc.) of managed devices registered in a management server.

Also, a technique has been disclosed that allows an administrator to monitor print settings of a printer device from a PC and change the settings (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200011).

In a conventional device management system, when adding a new device to be managed, information about the device to be added (IP address, etc.) must be manually entered into the management server, or information about the management server must be entered on the side of the device to be added. Must be entered manually. In other words, in order to register target devices and effectively manage them on the management server side, manual intervention is required, which imposes a burden on the administrator. In particular, when a plurality of devices are newly introduced, if the administrator manually sets them one by one, the work load on the administrator increases according to the number of devices.

Furthermore, in a system in which the management server and devices are linked via a network, such as cloud collaboration, if the environment such as the network configuration changes, the administrator needs to manually configure the linked device settings for each device. be.

The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200001 assumes that the management target printing apparatus is registered in the management PC, and cannot solve the problem of the need for manual setting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for registering a device to be managed in a management server while suppressing manual intervention by a user.

In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention provides a device to be managed managed by a management device via a network, comprising: a connection detection unit that detects connection to the network; When the connection to the network is detected by the inquiring unit that inquires the information of the management device to the other device, and if there is a plurality of information of the management device acquired by the inquiring unit, based on a predetermined condition, a selection unit for selecting one of the management devices; and information on the management device acquired by the inquiry unit, which is registered with the management device based on the information on the management device selected by the selection unit. a registration requester for sending a request.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a managed apparatus can be registered into a management server, suppressing intervention by a user's manual operation.

It is a figure which illustrates the structure of the equipment management system of embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example hardware configuration of the MFP of the embodiment; FIG. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a conventional registration operation example; 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an MFP according to an embodiment; FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of registration operation of the embodiment; FIG.

The device to be managed, the device management system, and the program will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, a device to be managed is an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral), and a new MFP is registered in a management server that centrally manages the MFP.

Also, in this embodiment, after a new MFP connects to the network, the MFP broadcasts to other MFPs in the same network (local segment) to send "information on the management server that manages the MFP. ” make an inquiry. The MFP that has received the inquiry responds with information on the management server that manages itself. Upon receiving this response, the MFP newly connected to the network requests the management server to register itself as a management target.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a device management system 100 according to an embodiment. MFP1 is a newly added device, and MFP2A and 2B are existing MFPs belonging to the same network A as the new MFP1. Information such as the IP addresses of the MFPs 2A and 2B has already been registered in the management server 3 (management apparatus), so that the MFPs 2A and 2B operate under the management of the management server 3. FIG.

By executing the device management software, the management server 3 acquires the state and setting values of each MFP, and changes the settings of each MFP in an integrated manner. Management server 3 belongs to network B, which is a local segment separate from network A, together with MFPs 2C, 2D, and 2E.

The router 4A receives IP packets from devices in network A and relays them to another network (for example, network B). When the router 4A receives an IP packet addressed to a device within the network A from another network, the router 4A relays the IP packet to the corresponding device belonging to the network A. FIG. Similarly, the router 4B also relays IP packets between devices belonging to the network B and external devices (for example, devices in the network A).

As described above, the existing MFPs 2A and 2B, the newly connected MFP 1, and the management server 3 belong to separate networks, but they may belong to the same network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration example of the MFP 1. As shown in FIG. The MFP 1 has a main control unit 201 , a display operation unit 202 , an image processing ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 203 , an image forming unit 204 , and a network I/F 205 (I/F: Interface). connected through

The main control unit 201 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 211, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 212, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 213, and a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 214, and controls the internal hardware of the MFP 1. Control. CPU 211 is an arithmetic processing unit and controls the overall operation of MFP 1 . The RAM 212 is a volatile storage medium from which data can be read and written at high speed, and is used as a working area when the CPU 211 processes information. The ROM 213 is a read-only non-volatile storage medium and stores programs such as firmware. The HDD 214 is a non-volatile storage medium from which data can be read and written. The HDD 214 stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs that provide functions such as copying, scanning, printing, and FAX transmission/reception, application programs such as a browser program for screen display, and the like. In addition to this, programs and control data for executing each function to be described later are also stored.

The image processing ASIC 203 performs image processing on print data and image data before forming an image on a sheet. Note that the main control unit 201 may execute part or all of the processing executed by the image processing ASIC 203 .

A display operation unit 202 is a user interface that accepts input of parameters such as the number of copies and density values from the user, and displays the operating state and processing results. The display operation unit 202 includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 221 and an operation section 222 . LCD 221 is a display device for the user to check the state of MFP 1 . Operation unit 222 is an input device for inputting information to MFP 1, such as physical keys and a touch panel. Via the display/operation unit 202, the user can perform login authentication and make detailed job settings.

An image forming unit 204 forms print data transmitted from a terminal used by a user or an image read by a scanner on a sheet. A network I/F 205 includes an interface board that controls communication with external devices.

MFPs 2A-3E also have the same configuration as each hardware shown in FIG. The management server 3 has the same configuration as a conventional computer, and includes a CPU, RAM, ROM, HDD, network I/F, and the like. Device management software is pre-stored in the HDD of the management server 3, and this program is developed in the RAM and executed by the CPU to implement the functions described below.

Next, a conventional method of registering an MFP with a management server will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. Here, the apparatus configuration and reference numerals shown in FIG. 1 are used as they are for explanation.

The conventional management server 3 has a list of information (IP addresses, host names, etc.) on the devices to be managed. By registering a device in this list, it is possible to obtain the status and setting values of the device, and to change the settings. Further, there are the following two conventional registration methods. These will be described with reference to FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B).
(Conventional method a) The administrator inputs the IP address of the newly introduced MFP to the management server 3 .
(Conventional method b) The administrator inputs the IP address of the management server 3 to the newly introduced MFP.

FIG. 3A is a sequence diagram of the conventional method a. First, the newly connected MFP 1 recognizes that it has been connected to network A by detecting a link-up when a LAN cable is inserted (S301). As a result, the MFP 1 belongs to the network A. FIG. It is assumed that network settings such as the IP address of MFP 1 itself, the gateway (=the IP address of router 4A), and the net mask have already been set in MFP 1 or are acquired from the DHCP server.

When the network connection of the MFP 1 is completed, the administrator 31 inputs the IP address of the newly added MFP 1 to the management server 3 (S302). At this time, the administrator 31 also inputs setting information such as information indicating which function the MFP 1 can perform, ie, copying, scanning, printing, and facsimile transmission/reception, supported sheet sizes, and whether or not color printing is possible. good too.

The management server 3 receives the input from the administrator 31, registers it (S303), and transmits a registration completion notice to the MFP 1 (S304). Along with this notification, management server 3 also transmits information of management server 3 itself (such as an IP address) to MFP 1 . The MFP 1 receives the registration completion notice and the information of the management server 3, and registers or updates the information in itself (S304).

After this series of operations, the MFP 1 is under the management of the management server 3, and the management and operation of the MFP 1 from the management server 3 become possible.

FIG. 3B is a sequence diagram of the above conventional method b. When the network connection of the new MFP 1 is completed (S301), the administrator 31 inputs the IP address of the management server 3 to the MFP 1 (S310). The MFP 1 then transmits a registration request to the specified IP address (=IP address of the management server 3) (S311). At this time, the MFP 1 transmits its own IP address, as well as executable functions and settable information.

Thereafter, the registration processing (S303) after receiving the registration request, the registration completion notification processing (S304), and the management server information updating processing (S305) are the same as those in FIG. 3A.

Both conventional method a and conventional method b require manual setting by an administrator. In contrast to these conventional methods, aspects of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example internal configuration of the MFP 1 of this embodiment. The MFP 1 has a connection detection unit 401 , an inquiry unit 402 , a selection unit 403 and a registration request unit 404 . These blocks are implemented by the CPU 211 executing a program stored in the HDD 214 in advance.

The connection detection unit 401 detects connection to the network A via the network I/F 205 . When the connection detection unit 401 detects the connection to the network A, the connection detection unit 401 notifies the inquiry unit 402 to that effect. The detection of connection to network A by the connection detection unit 401 is realized by detection processing according to different types of network A. FIG. For example, if the network A is a so-called wired LAN (Local Area Network), a communication cable is connected to a NIC (Network Interface card) that constitutes the network I/F 205, and link-up is detected, and the communication connection is established. Detect established. Also, if the network A is composed of a so-called wireless LAN and the router 4A is an access point, it receives the connection permission from the router 4A and detects that the communication connection has been established.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that network A and network B are TCP/IP networks. Therefore, the connection detection unit 401 may detect that the state has transitioned to the "communicable state" by detecting that an IP address has been assigned by DHCP in a part of the process of transitioning to the communicable state. Note that when an IP address is set in advance for the connection detection unit 401, the connection to the network A is detected at the stage when the communication connection is established, and the inquiry unit 402 is notified to that effect.

Inquiry unit 402 is for other devices (MFPs 2A and 2B) connected to network A which is the same network, and other devices (MFPs 2A and 2B) connected to network B which is another network beyond router 4A. MFPs 2C, 2D, and 2E) are notified of the information "inquire about management apparatus information". The notification of the information in the inquiry unit 402 is performed by, for example, a broadcast method. Alternatively, a method of sequentially notifying other devices individually may be used. The inquiry unit 402 notifies the selection unit 403 of the acquired “management apparatus information” as a result of the inquiry to the other apparatus.

When there are a plurality of "management apparatus information" acquired by the inquiry unit 402, the selection unit 403 identifies one "management apparatus information" based on a predetermined condition, and selects the identified "management apparatus information". The registration request unit 404 is notified.

The registration requesting unit 404 sends a request to the management server corresponding to the “management apparatus information” selected by the selection unit 403 to register itself as a management target.

The inquiry unit 402 may be configured to notify the registration request unit 404 instead of the selection unit 403 of the first acquired “management apparatus information” after the “inquiry about management apparatus information” information. In this case, the selection unit 403 becomes unnecessary. Further, when the selection unit 403 acquires a plurality of pieces of “management apparatus information”, the earliest acquired “management apparatus information” may be notified to the registration request unit 404 . Among a plurality of “management apparatus information”, the information having the largest number of identical information may be selected and notified to the registration requesting unit 404 .

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example when newly registering the MFP 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. The connection detection unit 401 of the MFP 1 recognizes the new connection to the network A by detecting linkup or by detecting that an IP address has been assigned by the DHCP server (S501).

When network connection is detected, the inquiry unit 402 broadcasts a "signal requesting information on the device management server" to peripheral devices (S502). This broadcast only reaches within the range of network A.

The MFP 2A and MFP 2B that have received this request signal respond to the information of the management server 3 set in their own devices to the MFP 1 that is the source of the broadcast (S503). On the other hand, the inquiry unit 402 of the MFP 1 waits for a certain period of time to receive all responses.

Then, the selection unit 403 selects one management server from the received information. Here, one of the two responses of MFP2A and MFP2B is selected. Moreover, since both the MFP 2A and the MFP 2B are under the management of the management server 3, the obtained server information belongs to the management server 3. FIG. On the other hand, if the router 4A is set to be able to transmit a broadcast signal to the outside, responses from other networks are also assumed, and server information other than the management server 3 is also assumed to be answered. . That is, there is a possibility that 0 to n responses may be sent from the device that received the broadcast, and information on a plurality of different management servers may be returned. In order to cope with such a state, the selection unit 403 operates as follows.
(a) When the number of responses is 0 In this case, this process ends and no device is added. This operation is performed even when there is no MFP that has management server information. Note that if there are no responses, the selection unit 403 or the inquiry unit 402 issues a warning notification to the administrator to the effect that connection with the management server is not possible. For example, the selection unit 403 issues a warning notification by displaying a message via the display operation unit 202 of the MFP 1 or emitting a buzzer sound. Alternatively, the selection unit 403 or the inquiry unit 402 may broadcast a warning notification message, and the administrator terminal or the MFPs 2A and 2B that receive the message may display the message. In this way, as long as the format is such that the administrator is finally notified, the notification method is not limited.
(b) When there is one response In this case, the selection unit 403 adopts the management server information included in the response, and proceeds to the subsequent processes.
(c) When there are two or more responses In this case, the selection unit 403 determines one management server based on the method described below, and proceeds to the subsequent processes.
(c-1) Adopt the management server information included in the first received response.
(c-2) Take a majority vote and adopt the management server information included in the most responses.
(c-3) Randomly select one from all the responses and adopt the management server information.
As for (c-2), from the viewpoint of load distribution of the management servers, the management server information with the smallest number of responses may be adopted.

The registration request unit 404 requests the management server selected by the selection unit 403 to register itself as a management target (S505). Upon receiving this request, the management server 3 additionally registers the MFP 1 as a management target (S506). Then, the management server 3 notifies the MFP 1 of the transmission source of the registration completion and transmits information of the management server 3 itself (S507). The MFP 1 that receives this updates its own management server information (S508). When the management server 3 transmits the registration completion notification to the MFP 1 in step S507, the same notification is sent to the pre-registered terminal for the administrator. notify you of what you have done. This allows the administrator to confirm that MFP 1 has been registered.

Note that steps S506 to S508 are the same operations as steps S303 to S305 in FIG. That is, the operation of the management server is the same as the conventional operation.

As described above, by applying the aspect of the present embodiment, when a new MFP is added, the MFP can be placed under the management of the server while suppressing manual input by the administrator.

Further, even when the IP address of an existing MFP changes due to rearrangement, etc., the aspects of the present embodiment can be applied. In this case, the management by the management server is temporarily canceled by deleting the MFP to be rearranged from the list in the management server and deleting the server information in the MFP to be rearranged. By connecting the MFP to the network after rearranging (after changing the IP address), the MFP makes an inquiry by itself and is registered according to the method described above.

On the other hand, even when the IP address of the management server changes, the aspects of the present embodiment can be applied. In this case, all items in the list in the management server are deleted, and the server information is deleted on the MFP side as well. Then, after changing the IP address of the management server, only one MFP is manually registered and placed under management. As for the other MFPs, the information of the management server is obtained and updated by making an inquiry by itself, and the management server also registers each MFP in the list by the above method. In this way, by applying the aspects of the present embodiment, the work burden on the administrator is reduced compared to manually changing the settings for each MFP by the administrator.

As described above, according to the aspect of the present embodiment, it is possible to register a device to be managed in the management server while suppressing manual intervention by the user.

1: MFP (device to be managed)
2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E: MFP (other equipment)
3: Management server (management device)
4A, 4B: router 100: equipment management system 401: connection detection unit 402: inquiry unit 403: selection unit 404: registration request unit

JP-A-2003-015852

Claims (8)

A managed device managed by a management device via a network,
a connection detection unit that detects connection to a network;
an inquiry unit for inquiring information about a management device to another device when the connection detection unit detects connection to a network;
a selection unit that selects one of the management devices based on a predetermined condition when there is a plurality of pieces of management device information acquired by the inquiry unit;
a registration request unit that transmits a registration request to the management device based on the information of the management device that is acquired by the inquiry unit and that is selected by the selection unit ;
managed equipment. The inquiry unit makes an inquiry by broadcasting;
The device to be managed according to claim 1 . The inquiry unit issues a warning notification when the information of the management device corresponding to the inquiry is not acquired.
The device to be managed according to claim 1 or 2 . A device management system comprising a device to be managed and a management device that registers information about the device to be managed and manages the device to be managed via a network,
The managed device is
When the connection to the network is detected, it inquires the information of the management device to other devices,
if there is a plurality of pieces of management device information acquired by the inquiry, selecting one of the management devices based on a predetermined condition;
Transmitting a registration request to the management device based on the information of the management device acquired in response to the inquiry, which is the information of the selected management device ;
The management device
Upon receiving the registration request, registering information about the managed device that sent the registration request;
Equipment management system. The managed device makes an inquiry by broadcasting;
The equipment management system according to claim 4 . The managed device issues a warning notification when the information of the management device corresponding to the inquiry is not acquired.
The equipment management system according to claim 4 or 5. When the management device registers the information on the device to be managed, the management device notifies the administrator that the registration has been completed.
The equipment management system according to any one of claims 4 to 6 . A program executed by a managed device managed by a management device via a network,
detect that it is connected to the network,
When the connection to the network is detected, it inquires the information of the management device to other devices,
if there is a plurality of pieces of management device information acquired by the inquiry, selecting one of the management devices based on a predetermined condition;
Transmitting a registration request to the management device based on the information of the management device acquired in response to the inquiry, which is the information of the selected management device ;
A program for the managed device to execute a process.

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