JPH07231359A - Remote control system for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the load of processing on the side of a host computer by preventing the increased transmission to the host computer even when the number of image forming devices such as copying machines is increased. CONSTITUTION:A master communication terminal 5 is connected to a copying machine 1 and slave communication terminals 6, 7 and 8 are connected to copying machines 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The respective slave communication terminals 6, 7 and 8 transfer the routine information of respective copying machines not requiring emergency information through an exchange 9 to the master communication terminal 5, and the master communication terminal 5 collects respective kinds of routine information and periodically transfers them through the exchange 9 and a telephone line 10 to a host computer 11. On the other hand, the non-routine information of respective copying machines requiring emergency information is respectively directly reported from the master communication terminal 5 or the slave communication terminals 6, 7 and 8 through the exchange 9 and the telephone line 10 to the host computer 11. Thus, the burden of processing on the side of the host computer 11 is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control of an image forming apparatus for notifying a host computer at a remote place of various information of the image forming apparatus such as an abnormal state of the image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a periodic inspection time. It is about the management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, an abnormality may occur due to a malfunction such as an operation error or a paper jam or a failure of parts. When such an abnormality occurs, conventionally, the user of the image forming apparatus contacts the service person so that the service person corrects the abnormality. In addition, the copying machine is used almost every day, and in order to reliably operate at the time of use or to replace the developer, the photosensitive drum, the transfer drum, etc.,
It is necessary to regularly inspect and maintain. In the case of performing such regular inspections and maintenance, conventionally, a service person performs the inspection and maintenance at the regular inspection time for each model.

However, if the user contacts the service person one by one at the time of the abnormality as described above, it may not only be troublesome for the user, but also the user may not be able to accurately inform the service person of the content of the abnormality.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 62-115473 proposes a copying machine monitoring system in which a service company that maintains and inspects copying machines can be used as a center to centrally manage the state of the copying machines of customers. ing. The copier monitoring system described in this publication is
While connecting the copier and the center with a telephone line,
The copier is equipped with a self-diagnosis device, which self-diagnoses the copier and sends the self-diagnosis result to the host computer in the center via the telephone line. This is a system in which notification is made by the notification means in the center.

According to this copying machine monitoring system, the user does not need to perform any special work for contacting the service person, and the service person at the center can accurately grasp the state of the customer's copying machine. Moreover, it becomes possible to take prompt action.

[0006]

However, in the copying machine monitoring system of this publication, when the number of copying machines transmitting information to the same host computer in the center increases, the host computer also has an opportunity to transmit information from the copying machine. Therefore, the processing load on the host computer also increases. Therefore, the number of copiers managed by one host computer is limited, and when the number of copiers exceeds the limit, replace the host computer with one with higher processing capacity, or if the number exceeds the limit. Copiers must be managed by another host computer. Therefore, there is a problem that the cost increases in any of the measures.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to prevent an increase in the number of transmissions to a host computer even if the number of image forming apparatuses such as copying machines increases. It is to provide a remote management system in an image forming apparatus capable of reducing the processing load on the host computer side.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is provided in a plurality of image forming apparatuses and a plurality of communication terminals respectively connected to the respective image forming apparatuses, and in a remote place. An image provided with a host computer, wherein the communication terminal notifies the host computer in a remote place of information about the image forming apparatus such as a usage status and an abnormal state of the image forming apparatus via a telephone line. In the remote management system of the forming apparatus, the plurality of communication terminals are connected to an exchange, and the exchange is connected to the host computer via the telephone line, and at least one of the plurality of communication terminals is connected to the host computer. The master communication terminal is set, and the rest of the plurality of communication terminals are set as slave communication terminals. It is composed of periodic information that is periodically notified to the host computer and irregular information that is urgently notified to the host computer such as an abnormal state of the image forming apparatus that occurs irregularly. After notifying the terminal, the master communication terminal collectively notifies the host computer, and the irregular information is directly transmitted from the master communication terminal or the slave communication terminal corresponding to the image forming apparatus that is the target of the irregular information. The feature is to notify the host computer.

[0009]

In the remote management system of the image forming apparatus of the present invention thus configured, the master communication terminal and the slave communication terminal connected to each image forming apparatus provide the master information from the master communication terminal connected to each image forming apparatus. It is once collected in the communication terminal. Then, the master communication terminal collects these pieces of regular information and periodically notifies the host computer. On the other hand, irregular information such as abnormality information of the image forming apparatus is directly notified to the host computer from each master communication terminal and slave communication terminal.

As described above, once the periodical information is collected in the master communication terminal, the periodical information is collectively reported to the host computer, so that the chances of transmitting the information to the host computer are reduced. Become. This reduces the processing load on the host computer side. Therefore, even if the number of image forming apparatuses increases, it is not necessary to increase the capacity of the host computer, and it is not necessary to provide another host computer. As a result, it is possible to easily and inexpensively cope with the increase in the number of image forming apparatuses, and it is also possible to increase the number of image forming apparatuses.

[0011] Further, the master communication terminal or the slave communication terminal directly notifies the host computer of the irregular information requiring the emergency notification, so that the service person or the like can be notified promptly and accurately. Therefore, the service person can promptly and appropriately respond to the urgent irregular information.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a remote management system in an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, communication terminals 5, 6, 7, and 8 are connected to a plurality of copying machines (four in the illustrated example) 1, 2, 3, and 4 which are image forming apparatuses. . In that case,
The communication terminal 5 connected to the copying machine 1 is set as the master communication terminal 5, and the communication terminals 6, 7, 8 connected to other copying machines are set as the slave communication terminals 6, 7, 8. Has been done. These master communication terminal 5 and slave communication terminals 6, 7 and 8 are both connected to the exchange PBX 9. The exchange 9 is connected via a telephone line 10 to a host computer 11 provided at a remote place.

Each slave communication terminal 6, 7 and 8 periodically transfers periodic information such as the usage status of the copying machine to the master communication terminal 5 via the exchange 9, and the master communication terminal 5 receives each of these periodic information. Information is stored in memory. Then, the master communication terminal 5 stores the regular information such as the usage status of the corresponding copier 1 and the usage status of each copier 2, 3, 4 sent from each slave communication terminal 6, 7, 8. The exchange 9 and the telephone line 10 are collected together with the regular information.
Is periodically transferred to the host computer 11.
The host computer 11 notifies the service person or the like of the sent information by an appropriate notifying means (not shown).

On the other hand, the irregular information that must be urgently notified to the host computer 11 such as the abnormal information of the respective copying machines 1, 2, 3, 4 is the copying machine 1, 2 which is the target of the irregular information. The master communication terminal 5 or the slave communication terminals 6, 7, 8 connected to the terminals 3, 3, 4 notify the host computer 11 directly via the exchange 9 and the telephone line 10.

As described above, in this embodiment, the regular information which does not require the emergency notification is once collected in the master communication terminal 5, and then the regular information is collected and collected by the host computer 1.
By periodically notifying the host computer 1, the chances of transmitting information to the host computer 11 are reduced. This reduces the processing load on the host computer 11 side. Therefore, even if the number of copying machines increases, the capacity of the host computer 11 does not need to be particularly increased, and it is not necessary to provide another host computer. As a result, it becomes possible to easily and inexpensively cope with the increase in the number of copying machines, and it is also possible to increase the number of copying machines.

Further, the irregular information requiring the emergency notification is directly notified from the master communication terminal 5 or the slave communication terminals 6, 7 and 8 to the host computer 11, so that the service person or the like can be promptly notified. Therefore, the service person can promptly and appropriately respond to the urgent irregular information.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the remote management system in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the chances of transmitting information to the host computer can be reduced, so that the processing load on the host computer side can be reduced. can do. Therefore, even if the number of image forming apparatuses increases, it is not necessary to increase the capacity of the host computer, and it is not necessary to provide another host computer. As a result, it is possible to easily and inexpensively cope with the increase in the number of image forming apparatuses, and it is also possible to increase the number of image forming apparatuses.

Further, according to the present invention, irregular information requiring an emergency notification can be promptly and accurately notified to a service person or the like. Therefore, the service person can promptly and appropriately respond to the urgent irregular information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a remote management system in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2, 3, 4 ... Copier (image forming apparatus), 5 ... Master communication terminal, 6, 7, 8 ... Slave communication terminal, 9 ... Exchange, 1
0 ... telephone line network, 11 ... host computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of communication terminals respectively connected to the image forming apparatuses; and a host computer provided at a remote place, wherein the communication terminals use the image forming apparatus. In a remote management system in an image forming apparatus, which is configured to notify the host computer in a remote place of information related to the image forming apparatus such as an abnormal state via a telephone line, the plurality of communication terminals are connected to an exchange. The exchange is connected to the host computer via the telephone line, and at least one of the plurality of communication terminals is set as a master communication terminal, and the rest of the plurality of communication terminals are slaves. The information about the image forming apparatus, which is set in the communication terminal, is the regular information to be periodically notified to the host computer. It consists of irregular information for urgently notifying the host computer such as an abnormal state of the image forming apparatus that occurs irregularly, and the periodic information is once notified to the master communication terminal, and then the master communication terminal collectively 2. The host computer is notified, and the irregular information is directly notified to the host computer from a master communication terminal or a slave communication terminal corresponding to an image forming apparatus which is a target of the irregular information. A remote management system in the image forming apparatus described.