JPH04137851A - Automatic fault notice method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain smooth maintenance work by allowing the user side to confirm it that a fault content is noticed to a maintenance concerned party and the notice is surely accepted without intervention of the user on the occurrence of a fault. CONSTITUTION:The method is provided with a network controller 5, voice guidance transmission section 6, facsimile equipment function section 7, data communication function section 8, telephone function section 9 and a network control function section 10. Then the self-test is started automatically at application of power, a fault is displayed on a display screen when the fault is detected, the facsimile function sends information as to a fault location and detailed fault content to a facsimile equipment of a maintenance center M, an automatic dial function is utilized after the end of transmission to inform it that the fault content is sent by the facsimile equipment in voice guidance to the maintenance concerned person. The maintenance concerned person sends a notice reception code or the like to a composite terminal equipment and the terminal equipment uses the reception code to turn off a composite terminal power supply 12 automatically. Thus, the communication of a fault is surely implemented without intervention of the user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention is applicable to personal computers, DTP (disk top
The present invention relates to an automatic failure notification method in a comprehensive terminal device such as a publishing device.

(Prior Art) In recent years, so-called composite terminal devices have become popular in the information society, in which, for example, telephone functions, facsimile functions, and data communication functions have been added to personal computers to enhance the functions and expand the applications.

However, if a failure is detected in the operation of such a multifunction terminal device through a self-test, etc., the user should notify the maintenance personnel of the occurrence of the fault by telephone, or delete the data held in the multifunction terminal device. The communication function is used to send and notify that there is a failure to a host machine installed at a maintenance center or the like for the multifunction terminal device. However, such notifications or telephone calls are unilateral, and the current situation is that the user in question cannot confirm whether or not they have been received.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, when a failure occurs in a multifunction terminal device, conventionally, the notification or communication always requires the intervention of the user as an operator, and at the same time, the failure to notify There was a problem in that the contents of the system lacked detail, and therefore maintenance work to recover from failures was not always carried out smoothly.

The present invention aims to provide an automatic fault notification method that eliminates the above problems.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention achieves the above-mentioned object by automatically starting a self-test of the functions of a multifunction terminal device having a telephone function, a facsimile function, a data communication function, etc. by turning on the power.
If an abnormality is detected during the self-test, a failure will be displayed on the display screen to notify the user.
Using the above facsimile function, information such as the fault location and detailed fault details is sent to the pre-registered maintenance center facsimile, and after the transmission is completed, the automatic call function of the above telephone function is used to send information to maintenance centers. The maintenance personnel will be notified by voice guidance that the details of the failure have been sent by facsimile, and the maintenance personnel will receive the notification by sending a code etc. to the multifunction terminal device and use the code to receive the notification. This is achieved by an automatic fault notification method that automatically turns off the power of the multifunction terminal device.

(Function) According to the present invention as described above, it is clear that when a failure occurs (even in this case, it is possible to reliably notify maintenance personnel of the details of the failure without bothering the operator). Moreover, acceptance of the notification can be confirmed on the side of the multifunction terminal device of the interfering light.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to Examples and drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of a composite terminal device in which the present invention is implemented, in which 1 is a main controller, 2 is an input/output control section, 3 is a memory/peripheral control section, 4 is an input/output section, 5 is a network control device, and 6 is a voice guidance sending unit. Further, 7 is a facsimile function section, 8 is a data communication function section, and 9 is a telephone function section, which are connected to the network control function section 10.
Information can be exchanged with the telephone network N via. Furthermore, 11 is a registration function unit, 12 is a power supply, and 13 is a multi-frequency signal (DT
The MF signal receiving unit, specifically M, is a maintenance center for the composite terminal device having this configuration.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the composite terminal device having the above configuration, and the operation of FIG. 1 will be described below with this step in parentheses. Note that step is abbreviated as S.

In FIG. 2, if the power supply 12 is first turned on (Sl)
, a self-test of the communication function is automatically started (S2).
If the test result is normal (S3°Y), this communication system is started up (S4), and the normal operation of the device can then be performed (S5).

If any abnormality is detected in S2 (S3°N), the main controller 1 displays the detected abnormality on the screen of a display device (not shown) to notify the user (S6), and The network control device 5 is notified of the occurrence of the abnormality and the details of the abnormality (S7). The network control device 5 searches the facsimile number of the maintenance center M that has been registered in advance from the registration function section 11 based on the information input from the main control device 1 (S8), and makes a self-call (automatic dialing). (S9), and transmits the details of the failure to the facsimile of the maintenance center M (SIO). if,
When making the call in S9 above, if the facsimile of maintenance center M is busy or there is no response within a certain period of time, the telephone line will be opened and the call will be made again after a certain period of time has elapsed. .

FIG. 3 shows an example of an editing screen for the fault information to be transmitted. The contents of the editing screen identify the model by the name of the model with the problem or the number of the model that is normally called in the system, and the history of the fault up to the present, system configuration, fault location, or fault. Detailed information will be included.

After the above-mentioned SIO, the phone number registration function unit 11 searches for the phone number of a person involved in system maintenance (Sl
l), self-initiated 512), detects that the telephone is taken off-hook by maintenance personnel; In this case, as in the case of facsimile, if the other party is busy or does not answer within a certain period of time, the telephone line will be disconnected.
After a certain amount of time has elapsed, the device calls again.

When it is detected that the other party has gone off-hook for a response in S12, the voice guidance transmitter 6 starts transmitting voice guidance (S], 3). When this is completed, the failure details sent by the SIO are accepted by the DTMF signal sent from the maintenance personnel, and the system waits for a code to be input (S14). DTMF signals input by maintenance personnel are compared in the multi-frequency signal receiving section 13,
When the legitimate receptionist enters the code, the telephone line is opened (515), and the main controller 1 indicates that the fault communication has been completed.
The main control device 1 receives the notification from the network control device 5 and turns off the power supply 12.

As described above, the present invention can ensure failure notification without user intervention.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, the method of the present invention is capable of notifying maintenance personnel of the details of the failure and its handling, without requiring user intervention, when a failure occurs in a multifunction terminal device. It becomes possible for the user to confirm that the notification has been reliably received, and therefore the effect of smooth maintenance work can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of a composite terminal device in which the present invention is implemented, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of its operation,
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the content of failure notification by facsimile. 1... Main control device, 2... Input/output control unit, 3.
...Memory/peripheral control section, 4...I/O section, 5...
- Network control device, 6...Voice guidance sending section, 7...Facsimile function section, 8...Data communication function section, 9...Telephone function section, 11...
Registration function unit, 12...Power supply, 13...Multi-frequency signal (DTMF signal) receiving unit, M...Maintenance center,
N...Telephone network. Patent applicant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Agent Koji Hoshino Diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a multifunction terminal device that has a telephone function, facsimile function, data communication function, etc., a self-test of the function is automatically started when the power is turned on, and if an abnormality is detected by the self-test, a failure is displayed on the display screen. At the same time, the above facsimile function sends information such as the fault location and detailed fault details to the pre-registered maintenance center facsimile, and after the transmission is completed, an automatic call is made using the above telephone function. Using this function, the maintenance personnel are notified through voice guidance that the details of the failure have been sent by facsimile, and the maintenance personnel sends the acceptance code etc. of the notification to the multifunction terminal device, and An automatic failure notification method characterized by automatically turning off the power of a composite terminal device using an acceptance code.