JPH06326790A - Control system of image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently control the image forming device by making use of its device and inhibiting use of a user by operating a relay, when the image forming device reaches its use contract term. CONSTITUTION:At every copy operation of one piece of a copying machine 10, a signal is sent to a CPU 21 of a control device 20, and a stored use piece number Cx by a storage device 22 is updated. When a contract copy piece number Cs and the Cx become below a prescribed reference piece number value Co, it is displayed on a display device 13 through a CPU 11 of the copying machine 10. Also, when it is discriminated that the Cx reaches the Cs, it is transmitted to a centralized control device 2 through a telephone line 3, whether the contract is updated or not is discriminated, and unless it is updated, the control device 20 stops an operation of the copying machine 10 by driving a relay 32, and also, displays the expiration of a contract term on the display device 13. In such a way, it is informed to a user that the contract term is close at hand, use of the device is inhibited as soon as the term expires, and control of the device can be executed efficiently.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a management system for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a control system for a copying machine, a communication control device is provided in the copying machine and the copying machine and the centralized management device are connected via a telephone line so that data communication can be performed between the copying machine and the centralized management device. What can be done is already developed. In such a management system, the central management device can collect data concerning the number of copies of a copying machine installed in a remote place, failure of the copying machine, etc., or the central management device can remotely operate the copying machine.

By the way, in the contract between the dealer of the copying machine and the user, the period during which the user can use the copying machine is determined by the number of days, and the period during which the user can use the copying machine is by the number of copies. There are things that have been set. Some conventional management systems are designed to notify the host computer from the copying machine when the number of copies of the copying machine reaches the contracted number of copies or when the number of usage days reaches the number of contracted usage days. There is also.

[0004]

In the conventional management system, when the number of copies of the copying machine reaches the number of contract copies or when the number of days of use reaches the number of days of contract use, that is, when the contract is expired, that management system is simply used. The central control device is only notified to that effect. Therefore, the copier can be used even after the contract is expired, and the user may use the copier after the contract is expired. If the user uses the copying machine after the contract is expired, there is a problem that the adjustment of the number of copies after the contract is troublesome.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a management system for an image forming apparatus, which can prohibit the user from using the image forming apparatus even after the contract for using the image forming apparatus has expired.

[0006]

A first image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of terminals and a centralized management apparatus for managing these terminals, each terminal being an image forming apparatus. In an image forming apparatus management system including an image forming apparatus managing apparatus,
The management apparatus manages a first storage unit that stores the number of contracted image formations for the managed image forming apparatus, a second storage unit that counts and stores the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus. When the number of image formations by the image forming apparatus reaches the number of contract image formations, a means for prohibiting use of the managed image forming apparatus, and the number of image formations by the managing image forming apparatus is the contract image formation number. It is characterized in that it is provided with means for notifying the central control device of that fact.

When the difference between the number of image formations by the image forming apparatus being managed and the number of contract image formations is less than or equal to a predetermined number, the management device displays an image indicating that the number of image formations is close to the number of contract image formations. Means for displaying on the display device of the image forming apparatus and means for displaying on the display device of the image forming apparatus that the contract has expired when the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract image formation number It is preferable.

Further, when the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract image formation number, the central management apparatus is inquired as to whether or not the contract for the image forming apparatus is renewed. A means for putting the managed image forming apparatus into a prohibited state when the contract is not renewed, and a centralized management apparatus without making the managed image forming apparatus into a prohibited state when the contract is renewed. It is preferable to provide means for receiving data of the new contract image formation number from, updating the contract image formation number stored in the first storage means and clearing the contents of the second storage means.

A second image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of terminals and a centralized management apparatus for managing these terminals, and each terminal manages the image forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus. In a management system for an image forming apparatus including a management apparatus, the management apparatus stores a number of days of use of the managed image forming apparatus, a first storage unit that stores the number of days of contract usage for the managed image forming apparatus. A second storage unit that counts and stores, a unit that disables the managed image forming apparatus when the number of usage days of the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract usage day, and a managing unit that manages the image forming apparatus. When the number of image formations by the image forming apparatus reaches the number of contract use days, it is characterized by including means for notifying the central management apparatus of that fact.

When the difference between the number of days of use of the image forming apparatus under management and the number of days of contract use is less than a predetermined number, the management device displays on the display device that the number of days of use approaches the number of days of contract use. It is preferable to provide means for causing the display device to display that the contract has expired when the number of days of use of the managed image forming apparatus reaches the number of days of contract use.

Further, when the number of days of use of the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract number of days of use, the central management apparatus is inquired whether or not the contract for the image forming apparatus is renewed, and the contract is confirmed. A means for disabling the managed image forming apparatus when it is not updated, and a method for resetting the managed image forming apparatus from the centralized management device without disabling the managed image forming apparatus when the contract is updated. Receiving the data of the valid contract usage days, updating the contract usage days stored in the first storage means, and
It is preferable to provide means for clearing the contents of the storage means.

[0012]

In the first image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention, when the number of image formations by the image forming apparatus managed by the managing apparatus reaches the contract image forming number, the managing image forming apparatus manages It is prohibited from use. Further, when the number of image formations by the image forming apparatus managed by the management apparatus reaches the contracted image formation number, the centralized management apparatus is notified of that fact.

In the second image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention, when the number of use days of the image forming apparatus managed by the managing apparatus reaches the contract number of use days, the managing image forming apparatus is prohibited from use. Be put in a state. When the number of days of use of the image forming apparatus managed by the management apparatus reaches the number of days of contract usage, the centralized management apparatus is notified of that fact.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a management system of a copying machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a management system for a copying machine.

A plurality of terminals 1 having a copying machine 10 and a management device 20 are connected to a centralized management device 2 composed of a host computer via a public telephone line 3.

The copying machine 10 includes a CPU 11, a storage device 12 for storing its program and necessary data,
The display device 13 and other devices (not shown) for performing a copying operation are provided. The management device 20 is the CPU 2
1, a storage device 22 for storing the program and necessary data, a network control unit (NCU) 23, and the like. The storage device 22 stores the number of used copies of the copying machine 10 or the number of days of use of the copying machine 10, the number of contract copies of the copying machine 10 or the number of days of contract use, a reference value for determining that the expiration date is near, and the like. To be done.

The CPU 11 of the copying machine 10 and the CPU 21 of the management device 20 are connected via a communication line 31.
The CPU 11 of the copying machine 10 is connected to a normally open contact 32a of a relay 32 for switching the copying machine 10 between a usable state and a prohibited state. The relay 32 is controlled by the CPU 21 of the management device 20. Normally open contact 3
When 2a is off, the copying machine 10 is in a usable state, and when the relay 32 is driven and the normally open contact 32a is turned on, the copying machine 10 is in a prohibited state.

When a copying operation is executed by the copying machine 10, a copy signal is sent to the communication line 31 for each copy operation.
Is sent to the CPU 21 of the management device 20 via. CPU
21 receives the copy signal, updates the number of copies used in the copying machine 10 stored in the storage device 22.

The central control device 2
Information such as the contract date, the number of contract copies, or the number of contract days is stored.

FIG. 2 shows the CP of the management device 20 when the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by the number of copies.
The procedure of the expiration date monitoring process by U21 is shown.

The expiration date monitoring process is performed each time the number of copies used in the storage device 22 is updated based on the copy signal. When the copy usage number of the copying machine 10 is updated, it is determined whether or not the copy usage number Cx has reached a predetermined contract copy number Cs (step 1).

The number of used copies Cx is the contract number of copies Cs
If not, it is determined whether or not the difference (Cs-Cx) between the contract copy number Cs and the copy use number Cx is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value Co (step 2). The reference value Co is a value set to determine whether or not the contract deadline is approaching, and is set to 100, for example. When the difference (Cs-Cx) between the contract copy number Cs and the copy use number Cx is larger than the reference value Co, the current process ends.

Contract copy number Cs and copy usage number Cx
When the difference (Cs-Cx) is less than or equal to the reference value Co,
A display command indicating that the contract deadline is near is output (step 3). This display command is sent to the copying machine 10 via the control line 31.
Is sent to the CPU 11. The CPU 11 of the copying machine 10
Upon receiving this display command, the display device 12 displays that the contract deadline is near. Then, the processing of this time is ended.

In step 1, the number of used copies Cx
Is determined to have reached the contract copy number Cs,
Using the telephone line 3, the fact is transmitted to the centralized management device 2 (step 4). Upon receiving this message, the centralized management device 2 determines whether or not the contract of the copying machine 10 has been renewed based on the stored information about the copying machine 10. When the contract has not been renewed, the fact is transmitted to the management device 20 using the telephone line 3.
When the contract is renewed, the fact and the number of copies of the new contract are transmitted to the management device 20 using the telephone line 3.

The management device 20 determines whether or not the contract of the copying machine 10 has been updated based on the information sent from the centralized management device 2 (step 5). When the contract of the copying machine 10 has not been renewed, the relay 32 is driven and a display command indicating that the contract term has expired is output (step 6). By driving the relay 32, a of the relay 32
The contact is turned on, and the copying machine 10 is disabled. Further, the CPU 11 causes the display device 13 to display that the contract term has expired, based on the display command indicating that the contract term has expired. After this, the current process ends.

When it is determined in step 5 that the contract of the copying machine 10 has been renewed, the new contract copy number sent from the central control unit 2 is changed to the contract copy number Cs.
As a result, after resetting to the storage device 22 and setting the number of used copies in the storage device 22 to 0, the processing of this time is ended.

According to the above embodiment, when the number of copies of the copying machine reaches the contracted number of copies, it is possible to notify the user to that effect, and the copying machine can be disabled. Also, when the number of copies of the copying machine approaches the contract number of copies, it is possible to inform the user that the expiration date is approaching.

Although the above description has been made on the case where the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by using the number of copies, the expiration date of the copying machine 10 may be determined by using the number of contract days.

FIG. 3 shows the CPU of the management device 20 when the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by the number of contract days.
21 shows the procedure of the expiration date monitoring process by 21. The storage device 22 of the management device 20 stores the copy machine 10 from the contract date.
The number of days used is stored. The number of days used from the contract date is updated every time the date changes. The expiration date monitoring process is performed every time the number of usage days is updated. When the number of days of use is updated, the number of days of use Dx is a predetermined number of days of contract use Dx.
It is determined whether or not s has been reached (step 11).

When the usage days Dx does not reach the contract usage days Ds, it is determined whether or not the difference (Ds-Dx) between the contract usage days Ds and the usage days Dx is less than or equal to a predetermined reference value Do. (Step 12). Reference value Do
Is a value set to determine whether or not the expiration date is near, and is set to, for example, 10. When the difference (Ds-Dx) between the contract usage days Ds and the usage days Dx is larger than the reference value Do, the process this time ends.

When the difference (Ds-Dx) between the contract usage days Ds and the usage days Dx is less than or equal to the reference value Do, a display command indicating that the expiration date is near is output (step 13). This display command is sent via the control line 31 to the CPU of the copying machine 10.
Sent to 11. Upon receiving this display command, the CPU 11 of the copying machine 10 displays on the display device 12 that the expiration date is near. Then, the processing of this time is ended.

When it is determined in step 11 that the number of days of use Dx has reached the number of days of contract use Ds, the fact is transmitted to the centralized management device 2 using the telephone line 3 (step 14). Upon receiving this message, the centralized management device 2 determines whether or not the contract of the copying machine 10 has been renewed based on the stored information about the copying machine 10. When the contract has not been renewed, the fact is transmitted to the management device 20 using the telephone line 3.
When the contract is renewed, the fact and the new contract usage days are transmitted to the management device 20 using the telephone line 3.

The management device 20 determines whether or not the contract of the copying machine 10 has been updated based on the information sent from the centralized management device 2 (step 15). Copier 10
When the contract is not renewed, the relay 32 is driven and a display command indicating that the contract is due is output (step 16). By driving the relay 32, the relay 3
The contact a of No. 2 is turned on, and the copying machine 10 is disabled. Further, the CPU 11 causes the display device 13 to display that the contract term has expired, based on the display command indicating that the contract term has expired. After this, the current process ends.

When it is determined in step 15 that the contract of the copying machine 10 has been renewed, the central control unit 2
The new contract usage days sent from the server are reset to the storage device 22 as the contract days Ds, and the storage device 22
After the number of days used has been set to 0, this processing ends.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the number of days of use of the copying machine reaches the contract number of days of use, the user can be informed of this and the copying machine can be disabled. Further, when the number of days of use of the copying machine approaches the number of days of contract use, it is possible to inform the user that the expiration date is approaching.

[0037]

According to the present invention, it is possible to prohibit the user from using the image forming apparatus even after the contract for using the image forming apparatus has expired.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a management system of a copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an expiration date monitoring process by a CPU 21 of the management device 20 when the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by using the number of copies.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an expiration date monitoring process by the CPU 21 of the management device 20 when the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by using the number of days of use.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal 2 Centralized control device 3 Public telephone line 10 Copier 11 CPU 12 Storage device 13 Display device 20 Management device 21 CPU 22 Storage device 23 NCU 31 Communication line 32 Relay

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of terminals and a centralized management apparatus for managing these terminals, each terminal comprising an image forming apparatus and a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus. In the management system, the management device includes first storage means for storing the number of contract image formations for the managed image forming device, second storage means for counting and storing the number of image formations by the managed image forming device, When the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus reaches the number of contract image formations, the means for prohibiting the managed image forming apparatus from being used, and the number of image formations by the managing image forming apparatus are A management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising means for notifying the centralized management device of the fact that the number of contracted image formations has been reached. 2. The image forming apparatus includes a display device,
When the difference between the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus and the number of contract image formations is less than or equal to a predetermined number, the management apparatus notifies the display device that the number of image formations is close to the number of contract image formations. A means for displaying and a means for displaying on the display device that the contract has expired when the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus reaches the number of contract image formations. Item 1. An image forming apparatus management system according to item 1. 3. The management apparatus, when the number of image formations by the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract image formation number, inquires of the centralized management apparatus whether the contract for the image forming apparatus is renewed, A means for putting the managed image forming apparatus into a prohibited state when the contract is not renewed, and a centralized management apparatus without making the managed image forming apparatus into a prohibited state when the contract is renewed. A new contract image formation number data is received from the first storage unit, the contract image formation number stored in the first storage unit is updated, and the contents of the second storage unit are cleared. Item 1. An image forming apparatus management system according to item 1. 4. An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of terminals and a centralized management apparatus for managing these terminals, each terminal comprising an image forming apparatus and a management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus. In the management system, the management device includes a first storage unit that stores the number of days of contract use for the managed image forming device, a second storage unit that counts and stores the number of days of use of the managed image forming device, and manages it. When the number of days of use of the image forming apparatus reaches the contract number of days of use, the means for prohibiting the use of the managed image forming apparatus, and the number of image formations by the managing image forming apparatus is the number of days of contract use. A management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising means for notifying the central management apparatus of the fact when the number of times reaches. 5. The image forming apparatus includes a display device,
The management device, when the difference between the number of days of use of the image forming apparatus being managed and the number of days of contract use becomes less than or equal to a predetermined number, means for displaying on the display device that the number of days of use approaches the number of days of contract use, 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising means for displaying on the display device that the contract has expired when the number of days of use of the managed image forming apparatus reaches the number of days of contract use. Equipment management system. 6. The management apparatus inquires of the central management apparatus as to whether or not the contract for the image forming apparatus has been renewed when the number of days of use of the managed image forming apparatus reaches the contract number of days, and the contract is confirmed. A means for disabling the managed image forming apparatus when it is not updated, and a method for resetting the managed image forming apparatus from the centralized management device without disabling the managed image forming apparatus when the contract is updated. 5. A means for receiving the data of the number of days of contract use, updating the number of days of contract use stored in the first storage means, and clearing the contents of the second storage means. Image forming device management system.