JPH08314565A - Management system for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To grasp whether a contract is updated or not after the contract of an image forming device expires by transmitting the contents of the updated contract to a management system and deleting information of contract expiration at the time of updating the contract of the image forming device preparing information of contract expiration. CONSTITUTION: Whenever the date of a calendar memory 24 is updated based on the output of a time information generator 26, whether the present date reaches the contract date stored in a memory for setting a contract date 25 or not is discriminated. Then when the present date reaches the contract date, a contract expiration report showing the expiration of the contract is transmitted to the centralized management device 2 through the use of a telephone line 3. At the time of receiving the contract expiration report, the centralized management device 2 discriminates whether the contract of a copying machine 10 is updated or not based on contract update information concerning the copying machine 10 and when the contract of the copying machine 10 is not updated, prepares and stores contract expiration information.

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, the contract between the dealer of the copying machine and the user defines the period during which the user can use the copying machine according to the due date and the period during which the user can use the copying machine. There are those specified in. Some conventional management systems notify the central control unit from the copier when the number of copies on the copier reaches the contract copy number or when the number of days of use reaches the contract deadline. There is also.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional management system, when the number of copies of the copying machine reaches the contract copy number or the number of days of use reaches the contract deadline, that is, the contract expires. In some cases, the centralized control device is informed of that fact.

In the central control device, if the contract has not been renewed for the copier whose contract has expired, the contents sent from the copier, that is, contract expiration information indicating that the contract has expired. Is created and stored. The contract expiration information can be displayed on the display device in the centralized management device. Therefore, the administrator can grasp the copy machine whose contract has expired by looking at this display.

When the contract is renewed with respect to the copying machine whose contract has expired, a contract renewal process for renewing the contract copy number and contract date is performed along with the contract renewal. However, in the conventional management system, the fact is that the contract expiration information is not added to the contract expiration information when the contract is renewed or the contract renewal process is performed for the copying machine in which the contract expiration information is created. .

Therefore, it is possible to confirm that the contract has expired on the screen of the centralized management device, but whether or not the contract has been renewed or whether the contract renewal process has been carried out thereafter can be confirmed by the centralized management device. I could not confirm on the screen.

An object of the present invention is to provide a management system for an image forming apparatus, which can grasp whether or not the contract has been renewed and whether or not the contract renewal process has been performed after the contract of the image forming apparatus has expired. And

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a management system for an image forming apparatus, which comprises an image forming apparatus, a terminal including the managing apparatus, and a central management apparatus for managing the terminal. In the device management system, the management device is provided with means for notifying the central management device of the contract of the image forming device being managed, and the central management device has confirmed that the contract has expired. Means for determining whether or not the contract has been renewed for the image forming apparatus for which the contract has expired, when the notification is given from the management apparatus, and relates to the image forming apparatus if the contract has not been renewed. Regarding the means for creating and storing the contract expiration information and the image forming apparatus for which the contract expiration information is created, when the contract is renewed, immediately or management of the image forming apparatus is performed. When there is some communication from the storage device to the central management device, the contract update content is transmitted to the management device, and the contract expiration information regarding the image forming device stored and retained is deleted. And

A second image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus management system including an image forming apparatus and a terminal including the managing apparatus, and a centralized managing apparatus that manages the image forming apparatus. , The management device
When the contract of the managed image forming apparatus is expired, the centralized management apparatus is provided with means for notifying the fact, and when the management apparatus notifies the centralized management apparatus that the contract has expired, Means for determining whether or not the contract has already been renewed for the image forming apparatus, and when the contract has not been renewed, the contract has expired and the contract renewal process has not been executed for the image forming apparatus. A means for creating and storing contract expiration information including data indicating the processing status of the effect, and an image forming apparatus for which contract expiration information is created, when the contract is renewed, the contract expiration information regarding the image forming apparatus Means for changing the data indicating the processing status of the image processing apparatus to the data indicating that the processing status of the data is being processed, and the means for changing the data indicating the processing status from the image forming apparatus to the central management apparatus When there is communication, the renewal contents and transmits to the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus,
It is characterized in that it is provided with means for changing the data indicating the processing status in the contract expiration information relating to the image forming apparatus to the data indicating that the processing has been completed.

[0011]

In the first image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention, when the contract of the image forming apparatus is expired, the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus notifies the centralized management apparatus of the fact. When the centralized management apparatus notifies the centralized management apparatus that the contract has expired, the centralized management apparatus determines whether or not the contract has been renewed for the image forming apparatus. When the contract is not renewed, the centralized management device creates, stores and holds contract expiration information regarding the image forming device.

Regarding the image forming apparatus for which the contract expiration information is created, the central management apparatus contracts immediately when the contract is renewed or when there is some communication from the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus to the central management apparatus. The update content is transmitted to the management apparatus, and the contract expiration information regarding the image forming apparatus stored and retained is deleted.

In the second image forming apparatus management system according to the present invention, when the contract of the image forming apparatus is expired, the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus notifies the centralized management apparatus to that effect. When the centralized management apparatus notifies the centralized management apparatus that the contract has expired, the centralized management apparatus determines whether or not the contract has been renewed for the image forming apparatus. If the contract has not been renewed, the centralized management apparatus creates contract expiration information including data indicating the processing status indicating that the contract has expired and the contract renewal processing is unprocessed for the image forming apparatus. And hold it.

When the contract is renewed for the image forming apparatus for which the contract expiration information is created, the centralized management device indicates that the data indicating the processing status in the contract expiration information regarding the image forming apparatus is being processed. Change to data.
When there is some communication from the image forming apparatus in which the data indicating the processing status is being processed to the central management apparatus, the central management apparatus sends the contract renewal content to the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus, and The data indicating the processing status in the contract expiration information regarding the forming apparatus is changed to data indicating that the processing has been completed.

[0015]

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 including 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 management device 20 has a control unit 21. The control unit 21 includes a used copy number storage memory 22, a contract copy number setting memory 23, a calendar memory 24, and a contract due date setting memory 25.

A used copy number storage memory 22 stores the number of used copies of the copying machine 10. In the contract copy number setting memory 23, the contract copy number is set when a contract whose expiration date is determined based on the copy use number of the copying machine 10 is made.

The calendar memory 24 generates and stores current date (year / month / day) information based on the output of the time information generator 26 for generating time information. The contract due date is set in the contract due date setting memory 25 when a contract whose expiration date is determined based on the due date is made.

When a copying operation is executed by the copying machine 10, a copy signal is sent to the management device 2 for each copy operation.
0 to the control unit 21. Upon receiving the copy signal, the control unit 21 updates the used copy number of the copying machine 10 stored in the used copy number storage memory 22.

The central control device 2 is, for each terminal 1,
Information (hereinafter, contract renewal information) such as the ID number of the copying machine, the contract date, the number of contract copies, or the contract number of days is stored.
The contract renewal information is updated when the contract is renewed for the same terminal.

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by the number of copies, the number of copies used is updated each time the number of copies used in the number-of-used-copy storage memory 22 is updated based on the copy signal. It is determined whether or not the contract copy number stored in the contract copy number setting memory 23 has been reached. Then, when the number of used copies reaches the number of contract copies, the control unit 21 uses the telephone line 3 to send a contract expiration report indicating that the contract has expired to the centralized management device 2.

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined by using the contract date, the date in the calendar memory 24 is updated each time the date in the calendar memory 24 is updated based on the output from the time information generator 26. (Current date)
It is determined whether or not the contract date stored in the contract date setting memory 25 has been reached. And the current date is
When the contract date is reached, the control unit 21 uses the telephone line 3 to send a contract expiration report indicating that the contract has expired to the centralized management device 2.

FIG. 2 shows a processing procedure by the centralized management device 2 when a contract expiration report is sent.

In this embodiment, when the central control unit 2 can access the terminal 1, it is limited to the initialization and the remote processing. Therefore, at times other than these, when the centralized management device 2 can access the terminal device 1, it is only when the centralized management device 2 is accessed from the terminal device 1 side and the line is connected.

When the contract expiration report is received (step 1), it is determined whether the contract of the copying machine 10 is renewed or not based on the contract renewal information on the copying machine 10 (step 2). When the contract of the copying machine 10 has not been updated, contract expiration information is created and stored (step 3). The contract expiration information includes the ID number of the copying machine, the date and time when the contract expires, the type of contract, the model number of the copying machine, and the processing status.

The centralized management device 2 has a function of displaying a contract expiration list based on contract expiration information. As shown in FIG. 4, the content of the contract expiration list includes the date and time when the contract expires, the type of contract, the model number of the copying machine, the ID number of the copying machine, and the processing status. At this time, since the contract has not been renewed, the processing status is "unprocessed". Then, this process ends.

In step 2 above, the copying machine 10
If the contract is renewed, the contract renewal contents are transmitted to the management device 20 (step 4), and the process is terminated.

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is a contract determined based on the number of copies used, a new contract copy number is sent to the management device 20. The management device 20
The new contract copy number is added to the contents of the contract copy number setting memory 23. This completes the processing associated with the contract renewal.

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined based on the contract date, a new contract date is sent to the management device 20. The management device 20 updates the content of the contract due date setting memory 25 with a new contract due date. This completes the processing associated with the contract renewal.

FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure by the centralized management device 2 when the contract is renewed.

When the contract is renewed, the contract renewal information such as the ID number, the contract date, the number of contract copies, or the number of contract days of the copying machine is renewed (step 11). Next, it is checked based on the contract expiration information whether or not the copying machine is out of contract (step 12). If the contract has not expired, the processing ends.

If the contract is out of contract, the contract out information is changed so that the processing status of the copying machine in the contract out list becomes "in process" (step 1).
3). After that, when there is some communication from the management device of the copying machine to the centralized management device and the line is connected (step 14), the contract renewal content is transmitted to the management device 20 (step 15).

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is a contract determined based on the number of copies, a new contract copy number is sent to the management device 20. The management device 20 stores the new contract copy number in the contract copy number setting memory 23.
Add to the contents of. This completes the processing associated with the contract renewal.

When the expiration date of the copying machine 10 is determined based on the contract date, a new contract date is sent to the management device 20. The management device 20 updates the content of the contract due date setting memory 25 with a new contract due date. This completes the processing associated with the contract renewal.

In step 15, the contract renewal content is managed by the management device 2
After sending to 0, the contract expiration information is changed so that the information regarding the copying machine is deleted from the contract expiration list (step 16).

In step 16 of FIG. 3, instead of deleting the contract expiration information for the copying machine, the processing status column for the copying machine in the contract expiration list displays "
The contract expiration information may be changed so that a character indicating that the process associated with the contract renewal has been performed, such as "Processed", and "Processed" in the processing status column. The operator may delete the contract expiration information displayed as.

Further, in step 2 of FIG. 2, contract expiration information may be created for the copying machine even when the contract is being renewed. However, in this case, like "Processed" in the processing status column of the contract expiration list,
The contract expiration information is created so that the character indicating that the processing associated with the contract renewal has been performed is displayed. Here, the process associated with the contract renewal means the renewal process of the contents of the contract copy number setting memory 23 in the management device 20 or the renewal process of the contract date setting memory 25 in the management device 20.
Even in this case, the operator may delete the contract expiration information displayed in the processing status column as "processed".

[0040]

According to the present invention, after the contract of the image forming apparatus has expired, it is possible to grasp whether the contract has been renewed or whether the contract renewal process has been performed.

[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 processing procedure of the centralized management device when a contract expiration report is received.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the centralized management device when a contract is renewed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a contract expiration information list displayed on the centralized management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Terminal 2 Central Management Device 3 Public Telephone Line 10 Copier 20 Management Device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location H04N 1/00 106 H04N 1/34 1/34 G06F 15/21 Z (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Hashimoto Osaka 1-22-Tamazo, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a terminal composed of an image forming apparatus and its management apparatus; and a centralized management apparatus for managing the terminal, wherein the management apparatus is When the contract expires, the centralized management device is provided with means for notifying the fact, and when the management device notifies the centralized management device that the contract has expired, the image forming device for which the contract has expired. For determining whether the contract has already been renewed, if the contract has not been renewed, means for creating and storing contract expiration information for the image forming apparatus, and contract expiration information are created. When the contract is renewed for the registered image forming apparatus, the contract renewal contents are notified immediately or when there is some communication from the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus to the centralized management apparatus. A management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising means for transmitting to the management apparatus and deleting contract termination information regarding the image forming apparatus stored and held. 2. A management system for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a terminal including the image forming apparatus and a management apparatus for the image forming apparatus; and a centralized management apparatus for managing the image forming apparatus, wherein the management apparatus manages the image forming apparatus. When the contract is expired, the centralized management device is provided with means for notifying the fact, and when the management device notifies the centralized management device that the contract has expired, the centralized management device updates the contract for the image forming device. A means for determining whether or not the contract has been already renewed, and data indicating the processing status indicating that the contract has expired and the contract renewal process is unprocessed for the image forming apparatus when the contract renewal has not been performed. A method for creating and storing contract expiration information including the contract expiration information, and an image forming apparatus for which contract expiration information is created,
When the contract is renewed, a means for changing the data indicating the processing status in the contract expiration information regarding the image forming apparatus to the data indicating that the processing is being performed, and the image forming for which the data indicating the processing status is being processed. When there is some communication from the apparatus to the centralized management apparatus, the contract renewal content is transmitted to the management apparatus of the image forming apparatus, and the data indicating the processing status in the contract expiration information regarding the image forming apparatus has been processed. An image forming apparatus management system including means for changing the data to the effect.