JP2000194640A - Peripheral device management system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a system that is simple, efficient, and excellent in scalability for data that depends on the type of device, so that the management software side manages more devices as peripheral devices. Provide a management system. In a system for monitoring and / or managing peripheral devices via network communication, the system comprises: input means for inputting model data and model-dependent data from the peripheral device; And a storage unit for storing the model-dependent data determined by the determination unit in a database.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a peripheral device management system for monitoring and / or managing peripheral devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is natural to use a PC (personal computer) in a network environment. In such an era, the number of cases where peripheral devices are connected to a network and a plurality of users share and use various peripheral devices has been greatly increased.

Along with this, there has been an increasing demand for "monitoring the state of peripheral devices remotely and centrally managing them".
Based on such demands, recently, management software for managing such peripheral devices has been on the market.

[0004]

However, with the current management software on the market, the types of peripheral devices to be managed are considerably limited. This is because managing the peripheral devices as described above requires information dependent on each peripheral device. On the other hand, if the types of peripheral devices to be supported increase too much, information depending on the peripheral devices as described above exists for each peripheral device. It can be complicated and, in the end, collapse.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a system that is simple, efficient, and excellent in scalability for data depending on the type of device, so that the management software can manage more devices.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a peripheral device management system according to the present invention is a system for monitoring and / or managing peripheral devices via network communication. Input means for inputting model data from the peripheral device, determining means for performing model determination from the input model data, and extracting means for extracting model-dependent data of the peripheral device determined by the determining means from a database. It is characterized by having.

[0007] Such a peripheral device management system may include processing means for providing the model-dependent data in the peripheral device, and stores the model data of the peripheral device and the model-dependent data in the database. And storage means for storing the data in the storage device.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a peripheral device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a peripheral device system according to the present invention has a configuration in which a PC 1 and peripheral devices such as a printer 2, a printer 3, a printer 4, and a multifunction device 5 are connected via a network communication 10 such as a LAN. It has become.

In each of the peripheral devices such as the printer 2, the printer 3, the printer 4, and the multifunction device 5, a device information providing unit having information on its own device is stored for each peripheral device. And a processing unit that can provide device information on the peripheral device side or use the information as a database.

The PC has a device information acquisition / management processing unit for acquiring and / or managing device information relating to peripheral devices. This unit is a software to be installed on a PC of an administrator or a general user. Having. A database may be provided in a PC having a device information acquisition / management processing unit for acquiring and / or managing device information, or in a PC of an administrator or a PC of a general user.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. First, the PC shown in FIG. 1 obtains model overview data (model-dependent data) from the printer 1, displays the overview on the PC, or manages peripheral devices with reference to FIG. explain.

The PC inquires of peripheral devices such as the printer 2, the printer 3, the printer 4, and the multifunction device 5 about model data as to what the model type is (step S10). In response to the inquiry from the PC, for example, if the printer model type = Type-A, the printer 2, which is one of the peripheral devices, responds to the PC as model data (step S11).

The PC receives a response from one of the peripheral devices, the printer 2, determines that the printer 2 is equivalent to Type-A, and extracts model overview data corresponding to Type-A from the database ( Step S1
2). This database is preferably provided in a PC having a device information acquisition / management processing unit for acquiring and / or managing device information, but the database may be provided in a peripheral device. Alternatively, the database may be provided in a PC of an administrator, and the database may be provided in a PC of a general user.

The model external view data extracted from the database in this way is displayed on a PC, and the model external view data is used on management software (step S13). The same applies to the other peripheral devices such as the printer 3, the printer 4, and the multifunction peripheral 5.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. The flow from when the PC in FIG. 1 acquires model overview data (model-dependent data) from the printer 1 and until the PC displays the overview on the PC will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

The PC inquires of one of the peripheral devices, for example, the printer 2 about the type of the device (step S21). In response to this inquiry, the printer 2 replies that the model type is Type-A (step S22).

Next, the PC requests the printer 2 for model overview data (model-dependent data) (step S).
23). In response to the request from the PC, the printer 2
C transmits model overview data (step S2).
4).

The PC receives the transmitted model overview data from the printer 2, displays the overview on the PC, and uses the model appearance data on the management software (step S25). The same applies to the other peripheral devices such as the printer 3, the printer 4, and the multifunction peripheral 5.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. The PC in FIG. 1 obtains model overview data (model-dependent data) from the printers 1 and 3 and
The flow until the outline view is displayed above will be described with reference to FIG.

The PC inquires the printer 2 about the model type in the same manner as described above (step S3).
1). The printer 2 responds to an inquiry from the PC,
It responds with its model type = Type-A (step S32). From the response from one of the peripheral devices, the PC determines that the model type is model type = Type-A
It is determined whether or not this Type-A model overview map data already exists in the database (step S33).

If the type-A model external view data does not exist in the database, the device information acquisition / management unit in the PC sends the model-dependent data to the peripheral device of the target to be monitored and / or managed. Is requested (step S34). In response to the request from the PC, the peripheral device printer 2 transmits the model overview data to the PC (step S35).

The PC receives the transmitted model overview data from one of the peripheral devices, the printer 2, and stores the obtained model data and the model-dependent data in a database via a storage unit. The model overview diagram of such model-dependent data is displayed on the PC, and the model external view data is used on the management software (step S
36). When the model data and the model-dependent data are stored in the database, the model data or the model-dependent data may be stored using an ID number or the like. It may be stored with a number or the like. By storing in this way, there is an advantage that related models can be grouped together or classified and stored.

In step S33, if the model-dependent data for the acquired model data is present in the database, the database is sent from the database without requesting the model-dependent data to the printer 2 of the peripheral device. The model-dependent data is extracted and an overview is displayed on the PC, or the model external view data is used on the management software (step S33 → step S3).
6). The same applies to the other peripheral devices such as the printer 3, the printer 4, and the multifunction peripheral 5.

[0024]

By using the peripheral device management system according to the present invention described above, it becomes possible to easily and efficiently add more peripheral devices to the management target.

According to the peripheral device management system of the first aspect, since the PC has model-dependent data in a database, unnecessary communication can be reduced, and the peripheral device management software according to the present invention can be used. It can improve performance and reduce network congestion.

According to the peripheral device management system of the present invention, since the peripheral device has all model-dependent data, the number of peripheral devices to be managed can be increased without extending the function to the management software. Can be.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, if the data (model type and model-dependent data) already acquired / stored includes model-dependent data for the same model type, it is used. Useless communication can be reduced. Further, the performance of the peripheral device management system according to the present invention can be improved, and network congestion can be reduced. In addition, since the peripheral device has all the model-dependent data, there is an advantage that the number of models to be managed can be increased without extending the function to the management software.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a peripheral device system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Personal computer (PC) 2 Printer 3 Printer 4 Printer 5 MFP 10 Network

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A system for monitoring and / or managing a peripheral device via a network communication, wherein the system performs an input means for inputting model data from the peripheral device, and determines a model from the input model data. A peripheral device management system comprising: a determination unit; and an extraction unit configured to extract, from a database, model-dependent data of the peripheral device determined by the determination unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a processing unit for providing the model-dependent data in the peripheral device.
The peripheral device management system according to 1. 3. The peripheral device management system according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing the model data and the model-dependent data in a database.