JP2003345560A - Consumables management system, consumables management server, equipment and consumables management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a consumable supply management system capable of detecting, for example, that various consumables have been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage. A consumable supply management system in which a consumable supply management server managing a device and a consumable supply of the device is connected via a network.
Use state storage means of the device 10, usage detection means for detecting that the consumable has been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, and consumable identification of the consumable detected by the usage detection means Transmitting means for reading information and use state information relating to the consumable from the use state storage means and transmitting the information to the consumable supply management server 20; the consumable supply management server 20 receives the use state information from the device 10; The above problem is solved by having a receiving means and a storage means for storing the received use state information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a consumables management system for managing consumables of devices, and more particularly to a consumables management system for consumables of devices using a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various consumables (e.g., toner used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer) of a device have a predetermined life before being deteriorated. Even with less use, various consumables may be deteriorated early. In this regard, a technique for detecting the life of the consumable itself and a technique for determining that the consumable has been replaced are known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-198236). There is also known a technique of detecting that the life of a consumable item is approaching and informing a center system of the necessity of replacement. As shown in these prior arts, the device detects that the consumable is nearing its end of life and sends a need to replace the consumable to the center system. In general, a CE (customer engineer) is dispatched from each service base in response to the information transmitted to the center system to perform maintenance work such as replacement of consumables.

[0003]

However, as described above, in the prior art, there is no means for determining whether each consumable has been used for a predetermined life, and detailed information on the use state of the device is not provided. Since the information is not recorded, there is a problem that it is not possible to investigate the cause of replacement at a usage less than a predetermined usage.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and can detect that various consumables have been replaced with less than a predetermined use. An object of the present invention is to provide a consumables management system that can efficiently determine the cause of early deterioration.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a consumable goods management system in which an equipment and a consumable goods management server for managing the consumable goods of the equipment are connected via a network. , The device, usage state storage means for storing usage state information indicating the usage state of the device, and usage detection means for detecting that the consumable has been replaced with usage less than a predetermined usage, Transmitting means for reading out the consumable item identification information of the consumable item detected by the usage degree detecting device and use state information on the consumable item from the use state storage means and transmitting the read out information to the consumable item management server; The article management server includes a receiving unit that receives the use state information from the device, and a storage unit that stores the received use state information.

[0006] In such a consumables management system, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the device have been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, and to centrally manage the information indicating the usage status in the consumables server. Therefore, the maintenance staff can efficiently determine the cause of the early deterioration of the consumable based on the use state information accumulated in the consumable supply management server.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the device transmits the use state information to the consumable supply management server at any time or in response to a request from the consumable supply management server.

[0008] In such a consumables management system, for example, not only when a device detects replacement of a consumable with less usage than a predetermined usage level, the consumables management server also uses usage status information as necessary. Since the consumables can be collected in the consumables management server, more efficient maintenance of the consumables can be performed.

[0009] Further, the invention is characterized in that the device further comprises means for clearing the use state information from the use state storage means after transmitting the use state information or after replacing the consumables.

In such a consumables management system, by clearing the use state information that is no longer required in the device, it is possible to effectively use the limited capacity of the storage device storing the use state information. In addition to this, it is ensured that the usage status information that the device transmits to the consumable supply management server is the latest.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode.

In such a consumables management system, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the image forming apparatus have been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage. Since the information about the print mode can be centrally managed in the consumables server, the maintenance staff can efficiently determine the cause of the early deterioration of the consumables based on the information about the image forming process and the information about the print mode stored in the consumables management server. Can be done.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention stores information indicating a use state of the device in the device connected via a network to a consumable supply management server for managing consumables of the device. Use state storage means,
Usage detecting means for detecting that the consumable is replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, consumable identification information of the consumable detected by the usage detecting means, and usage status information on the consumable Transmission means for reading out from the use state storage means and transmitting the readout to the consumables management server.

In such a device, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the device have been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, and to perform maintenance based on the usage status information stored in the usage status storage means. Can efficiently determine the cause of early deterioration of consumables. Furthermore, by being connected to the consumable supply management server via a network, it is possible to realize a consumable supply management system.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the device transmits the use state information to the consumables management server at any time or in response to a request from the consumables management server.

In such a device, for example, when the device detects replacement of the consumable with a usage less than a predetermined usage, the consumable management server may use the usage status information as needed. Can be sent to the server,
Further efficient maintenance of consumables can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, the usage detecting means includes:
Consumables replacement detecting means for detecting that the consumables have been replaced; consumables usage updating means for updating information indicating the usage of the consumables; It is characterized by having means for comparing with a predetermined value set for each product.

In such a device, since it is possible to detect that the consumable has been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, a maintenance person can recognize the early deterioration of the consumable.

Further, in the present invention, the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode.

In such an image forming apparatus, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the image forming apparatus have been replaced with less than a predetermined use degree. Information about the imaging process and information about the print mode can be sent to the consumable server. Therefore, a consumable goods management system can be realized by being connected to the consumable goods management server via a network.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the information on the image forming process is a printing rate for each image formation or a printing rate for each color used for each image formation.

In such an image forming apparatus, the cause of early deterioration of consumables can be predicted from the printing rate in black-and-white printing and the printing rate in each color in color printing, and efficient maintenance of consumables can be performed. Can be performed.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the information on the print mode is a transfer size and the number of copies per original or the number of prints per print.

In such an image forming apparatus, the cause of early deterioration of consumables can be predicted from the number of copies per document or the number of prints per print, and efficient maintenance of consumables can be performed. .

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the information indicating the usage of the consumable is the degree of rotation of the photosensitive member in the image forming apparatus or the number of images to be formed.

In such an image forming apparatus, the degree of rotation of the photosensitive member or the number of images formed, which is directly related to the deterioration of the consumables, is used as an index of the degree of use. Replacement can be detected with high accuracy.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a consumable supply management server connected to a device via a network identifies consumables replaced from the device with a usage less than a predetermined usage. Receiving means for receiving consumable item identification information to be used, usage status information indicating the usage status of the device with respect to the consumable item, and storage means for storing the received usage status information.

In such a consumables management server, information indicating the use status of the devices connected via the network can be centrally managed. Therefore, by using the accumulated use status information, efficient use is possible. Maintenance of consumables can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, in the consumables management server, the use request for clearing the use state information from use state storage means in which the apparatus stores the use state information is provided. It is characterized by further comprising status clear request means.

Since such a consumables management server requests the device to clear the use state information after receiving the use state information, especially when the use state information cannot be received due to some abnormality in the consumables management server. For example, the usage state information is not cleared in the device, and the transmission of the usage state information is requested again, so that the usage state information can be received, and the reliability of receiving the usage state information is improved. be able to.

Further, in the present invention, the consumables management server further comprises a use state information display means for displaying the use state information stored in the storage means or secondary information obtained by processing the use state information on a screen. It is characterized by having.

In such a consumables management server, the use state information or the secondary information obtained by processing the use state can be confirmed on the screen, so that investigations from various angles are possible, and efficient consumable supplies management is possible. Maintenance is possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a consumables management method in a consumables management system in which a device and a consumables management server for managing consumables of the device are connected via a network. Storing the usage status information indicating the usage status of the device,
Detecting that the consumable has been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage; and transmitting the usage status information stored in the usage status storage unit to the consumable management server. The consumable goods management server includes a step of receiving the use state information from the device and a step of accumulating the received use state information.

According to such a consumables management method, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the device have been replaced with less than a predetermined usage, and to centrally manage the information indicating the usage status in the consumables server. Therefore, the maintenance staff can efficiently determine the cause of the early deterioration of the consumable based on the use state information accumulated in the consumable supply management server.

In the present invention, the step of transmitting the use state information to the consumable supply management server may include transmitting the use state information to the consumable supply management server as needed or in response to a request from the consumable supply management server. It is characterized by doing.

In such a consumables management method, for example, not only when a device detects replacement of a consumable with a usage less than a predetermined usage but also when the consumables management server needs to use the usage status information. Since the consumables can be collected in the consumables management server, more efficient maintenance of the consumables can be performed.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the device further comprises a step of clearing the use state information from the use state storage means after transmitting the use state information or after replacing the consumables.

In such a consumables management method, by clearing the use state information that is no longer required in the device, the limited capacity of the storage device storing the use state information can be effectively used. In addition to this, it is ensured that the usage status information that the device transmits to the consumable supply management server is the latest.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode.

According to such a consumables management method, it is possible to detect that the consumables of the image forming apparatus have been replaced with less than a predetermined usage. Since the information about the print mode can be centrally managed in the consumables server, the maintenance staff can efficiently determine the cause of the early deterioration of the consumables based on the information about the image forming process and the information about the print mode stored in the consumables management server. Can be done.

[0041]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a consumable goods management system according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a printer will be described as a specific example of a device, and a toner of the printer will be described as a consumable item. In the consumables management system 1 of FIG. 1, a printer 10 having toner 50 and a consumables management server 20 are connected via a network 30 such as the Internet or a dedicated line.

Next, the configuration of the printer 10 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment of the printer according to the present invention. 2 includes an auxiliary storage device 100, a memory device 101, an arithmetic processing device 102, and an interface device 103 which are mutually connected by a bus B. Also, by attaching the toner 50 to the printer 10,
The toner memory device 104 attached to the toner 50 is also connected to the bus B.

The interface device 103 is connected to, for example, a modem (MODEM), a router (Router), or the like, and is used to connect to the network 30 through them.

The memory device 101 reads out the image forming apparatus program from the auxiliary storage device 100 and stores it when the printer 10 is started. The arithmetic processing device 102 executes a function related to the printer 10 according to the consumables management client program stored in the memory device 100.

The toner memory device 104 is a memory device attached to the toner 50 as described above, and includes a toner identification number such as a manufacturing number for uniquely identifying the toner, a usage degree of the toner, and the like. The usage degree indicating the life is stored. That is, the toner 50 can be uniquely identified from the contents of the toner memory device 104, and the usage and the life thereof can be confirmed. These pieces of information are stored in the toner memory device when the toner 50 is shipped from the factory, for example, and a value indicating 0 (zero) is used as the usage of the toner 50 at that time.

The auxiliary storage device 100 stores the installed consumables management client program. When the toner 50 is attached, the toner identification number stored in the toner memory device 104 of the toner described above, , The usage and the usage indicating the life are copied. When the printer 10 performs a process such as printing, the usage of the toner 50 stored in the toner memory device 104 and the auxiliary storage device 100 is updated in synchronization with the usage of the toner 50. From the contents, the toner 50 attached to the printer 10 can be uniquely identified, and the usage and life of the toner 50 can be confirmed. In addition, the auxiliary storage device 100
Also stores information on the use state of the printer 10.

The above will be described with reference to FIG.
The auxiliary storage device 100 includes a printer-side toner identification number 100-1 as a number for uniquely identifying the attached toner 50, and a printer-side toner life table 100- as a means for managing usage indicating the life of the toner 50.
2, a printer-side toner usage table 100-3 as a means for managing the current usage of the toner 50, a print mode table 100-4 and an image forming process table 100-5 which constitute information on the usage status of the printer 10. Is stored.

The toner memory device 10 for storing the toner 50
Reference numeral 4 denotes a toner-side toner identification number 104-1 which is a number for uniquely identifying the toner 50, and a toner-side toner life table 1 for managing the usage indicating the life of the toner 50.
04-2 and a toner-side toner usage table 104-3 for managing the current usage of the toner 50. Here, the current usage and the usage indicating the life of the toner 50 are used for detecting early deterioration of the toner by comparing the values of the two as described later. In the present embodiment, the number of prints is used as one of the parameters of each usage degree. For example, if the number of prints as the usage indicating the life is 1000, and if the number of prints as the current usage of the toner 50 is 700 when the toner 50 is replaced, it is determined that the toner has deteriorated early. . The parameter indicating the degree of use is selected for each type of the consumable item, which is closely related to the deterioration of the target consumable item, and the value indicating the service life is, for example, the number of prints for normal use. In this case, it is preferable to use the average value of the number of printable sheets with one toner or the like.

Next, the details of the consumable supplies management server 20 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment of a consumable supply management server according to the present invention. The consumables management server 20 in FIG. 3 includes a drive device 200, a storage medium 201, an auxiliary storage device 202, a memory device 203, and a
04, the interface device 205, and the display device 206
It is comprised so that it may have.

The interface device 205 is connected to, for example, a modem (MODEM), a router (Router), or the like, and is used to connect to the network 30 through them.

The consumables management server program used by the consumables management server 20 is provided by a storage medium 201 such as a CD-ROM. The recording medium 201 storing the consumables management server program is set in the drive device 200, and the consumables management server program is installed from the recording medium 201 to the auxiliary storage device 202 via the drive device 200.

The auxiliary storage device 202 stores the installed consumables management server program, the usage status transmission request management table 202-1 for managing the timing of the usage status information transmission request, and stores the received usage status information. A print mode accumulation table 202-2 and an image forming process accumulation table 202-3 are stored.

The memory device 203 stores the consumables management server 2
When there is an instruction to start the consumables management server program, such as at the time of startup of 0, the consumables management server program is read from the auxiliary storage device 202 and stored. Arithmetic processing unit 20
4 executes a function relating to the consumable supply management server 20 according to the consumable supply management server program stored in the memory device 203.

The display device 206 displays the use state information stored in the auxiliary storage device 202.

Next, the print mode table 100-4 of FIG. 4 and the image forming process table 100-5 of FIG. 5, which constitute the use state information of the printer 10, will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a print mode table 100-.
4 shows a configuration diagram of an example. Print mode table 10
Reference numeral 0-4 denotes a table for managing information relating to the print mode for each job, and includes, as data items, a job identification number for uniquely identifying each job, the number of prints, and a printed paper size. Here, a job means a printing process of one unit. For example, if a user executes printing of an arbitrary document, the job corresponds to one job.
Therefore, in the print mode table 100-4, one record (line) is added each time one job, that is, one unit of print processing is executed, and the number of prints and the paper size in the print processing are recorded.

FIG. 5 shows an image forming process table 100-5.
1 shows a configuration diagram of an example. Imaging process table 100-
Reference numeral 5 denotes a table for managing image forming process information in printing of each sheet, and has a job identification number and a printing rate of each color as data items. Note that the job identification number here corresponds to the job identification number in the print mode table 100-4 in FIG. In this embodiment, 4
Each color (Cyan, Magenta, Y
ellow, Black) to manage the printing rate,
In the case of a monochrome printer, a six-color printer, or the like, the format of the image forming process table 100-5 may be changed accordingly. Since one record (row) of the image forming process table 100-5 corresponds to one printing, one record is added every time one printing is executed, and the printing rate is recorded.

Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the printer 10 of FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the processing of the printer 10.

In step S10, the printer 10 is waiting for an event, and the process branches depending on various events. If the printer 10 has executed printing in step S10, the process proceeds to step S20, and information on the executed printing process is added to the print mode table 100-4 in FIG. 4 and the image forming process table 100-5 in FIG.
Specifically, one line is added to the print mode table 100-4, and the assigned job identification number, the number of prints, and the printed paper size are written. Further, rows corresponding to the number of prints are added to the image forming process table 100-5, and the respective printing rates are written for each color.

After step S20, the process proceeds to step S10, where the printer 10 waits for an event again.

In step S10, if the printer 10 detects that the toner 50 has been replaced with a toner whose usage is shorter than the predetermined usage (hereinafter referred to as "short life replacement"), step S3.
The process proceeds to step S0, and the short-life replacement detection is notified to the consumable supply management server 20. Proceeding to step S10 following step S30, the printer 10 waits for an event again.

If the printer 10 receives any request from the consumables management server 20 in step S10, the process proceeds to step S40.

If the request from the consumable supplies management server 20 is a request to transmit use state information in step S40, the process proceeds to step S50. The usage status information transmission request is
In addition to the notification of the short-life replacement performed by the printer 10 in step S30 described above, the consumables management server 20 may issue the notification periodically or as needed.

In step S50, the consumables management server 2
0 to the print mode table 100-4 of FIG. 4 and FIG.
Of the image forming process table 100-5 is transmitted.
After step S50, the process proceeds to step S10 and waits for an event again.

If the request from the consumables management server is to clear the use state information in step S40, the process proceeds to step S60, where the print mode table 10 shown in FIG.
0-4 and all records of the image forming process table 100-5 of FIG. 5 are cleared. The request for clearing the use state information is based on the use state information transmitted in step S50.
Sent when successfully received by the consumables management server 20. Even without providing such a protocol, a form in which the printer 10 actively clears the use state information after transmitting the use state information in step S50 is also conceivable. However, by providing the protocol in the present embodiment, it is possible to more reliably accumulate the use state information in the consumable supply management server 20.

Further, the details of the above-described short-life replacement detection will be described. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of one embodiment of the short life replacement detection processing in the printer 10.

In step S101, the printer 10 detects replacement of the toner 50. This detecting means detects the toner 50 when the outer cover of the printer 10 is closed.
It is sufficient to target a phenomenon that always occurs when is replaced.

After step S101, step S10
Proceeding to 2, the printer 10 reads the toner-side toner identification number 104-1 from the toner memory device 104.

Following step S102, step S10
Proceeding to 3, the printer 10 reads the printer-side toner identification number 100-1 from the auxiliary storage device 100, that is, the toner identification number of the toner 50 used so far.

Following step S103, step S10
Proceeding to 4, the toner identification number 104-1 on the toner side is compared with the toner identification number 100-1 on the printer side. If the values are the same, the printer 10 determines that the toner 50 has not been replaced, and proceeds to step S105 to wait for an event.

If the printer 10 has executed printing in step S105, the process proceeds to step S106, where the printer 10 updates the usage of the toner 50. Here, the usage refers to information managed in the printer-side toner usage table 100-3 and the toner-side toner usage table 104-3, and both of them are constituted by the table shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of the toner usage table. The toner usage table is a table for managing the current usage of the toner 50. The toner usage table includes the number of prints indicating the cumulative number of prints since the toner 50 was replaced, and the photosensitive count indicating the cumulative rotation of the photoconductor. It has body rotation as a data item. Therefore, step S10
In 6, the number of newly executed prints and the rotation of the photoconductor at that time are added to the number of prints and the rotation of the photoconductor. Here, the rotation speed of the photoconductor may be used as a scale, such as the rotation speed of the photoconductor itself or the number of rotations in units of 10 seconds. The toner usage tables are stored in the toner memory device 104 and the auxiliary storage device 100 of the printer, respectively, and are always synchronized and have the same value except immediately after the toner 50 is replaced. Therefore, in step S106, both values are updated.

If the printer 10 detects that the toner 50 has been replaced in step S105, the process proceeds to step S102.
The printer 10 executes the above-described processing from step S102.

In step S104, printer-side toner identification number 100-1 and toner-side toner identification number 104
If -1 is different, the printer 10 determines that the toner 50 has been replaced, and proceeds to step S107 following step S104.

In step S107, the usage of the toner 50 that has been used so far, that is, the number of prints and the rotation speed of the photosensitive member in the printer-side toner usage table 100-3, and the life of the toner 50 that has been used so far , Ie, printer-side toner life table 10
The number of prints 0-2 and the rotation speed of the photoconductor are compared.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the configuration of the toner life table. The toner life table is a table storing the number of prints indicating the life of the toner and the degree of rotation of the photoconductor, and has each as a data item. The toner life table is stored as a toner side toner life table 104-2 in the toner memory device 104, and is stored as a printer side toner life table 100-2 in the auxiliary storage device 100 of the printer 10. The toner-side toner life table 104-2 is recorded, for example, when the toner is shipped from the factory, and the value of the printer-side toner life table 100-2 is changed every time the toner is replaced. 50 toner side toner life table 10
It is updated with the value of 4-2.

If both the number of printers and the degree of rotation of the photoconductor are smaller in the printer toner usage table 100-3 than in the printer toner life table 100-2, the printer 10 has a shorter life It is determined that the exchange has been performed, and step S108 follows step S107.
Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S109. The condition for determining whether the toner 50 should be replaced for a short life is not limited to the logical product of the comparison of the number of prints and the comparison of the rotation speed of the photoconductor.
The determination may be made by a logical sum. In that case, the conditions for the short life replacement become more severe.

In step S108, the printer 10 detects the short-life replacement of the toner 50. This step corresponds to the aforementioned branch condition to step S30 in FIG. 6, and notifies the consumables management server 20 that the toner 50 has been replaced for a short life based on the detection of the short life replacement of the toner 50 in step S108. Will be done.

After step S108, the process proceeds to step S109, in which the printer 50 is attached with the newly installed toner 50.
, A toner-side toner life table 104-2, and a toner-side toner usage table 104- stored in the toner memory device 104 of FIG.
The values of the printer-side toner identification number 100-1, the printer-side toner life table 100-2, and the printer-side toner usage table 100-3 are updated with the value of 3. Thus, the values of the various tables of the newly attached toner 50 and the values of the various tables in the printer 10 are synchronized again. If the newly replaced toner 50 is unused, the number of prints and the photoreceptor rotation rate in the toner side toner usage table 104-3 are set to 0, so the printer side toner usage table 100 The number of prints of -3 and the rotation speed of the photoconductor are also initialized to zero. Further, when the printer is replaced with one that has been used, the number of prints and the rotation speed of the photoconductor in the toner-side toner usage table 104-3 are stored with values corresponding to the usage. The value of the usage table 100-3 is initialized.

Following step S109, step S10
Proceeding to 5, the printer 10 waits for an event.

Next, the processing procedure of the consumable goods management server 20 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 10 shows the consumables management server 2
9 shows a flowchart of an example of the process of 0.

In step S201, the consumables management server is waiting for an event. If a special event does not occur in step S201, that is, if there is no short-lived replacement notification or use state information to be described later, the process proceeds to step S202.

Here, the use state information transmission request table of FIG. 11 will be described. FIG. 11 shows a configuration diagram of an example of the use state information transmission request management table 202-1. The use state information transmission request management table 202-1 indicates that the printer 1
0, a request transmission interval indicating how often the use state information of the image forming apparatus is to be acquired, and a request to transmit the use state information to the image forming apparatus next time. The next request transmission date indicating the timing to be performed is included as a data item. Therefore, for example, FIG.
According to the example of the usage status information transmission request management table 202-1 of FIG.
The usage status information transmission request is transmitted every seven days to the printer 10 having 1234, and the transmission date of the next usage status information transmission request is May 2, 2002.

Returning to FIG. 10, if there is no request to change the request transmission interval in the use state information transmission request management table 202-1 from the administrator of the consumable supplies management server 20 in step S202, the process proceeds to step S203.

In step S203, the consumables management server 20 sends the usage status information transmission request to the printer 10 to be transmitted from the usage status information transmission request management table 202-1.
Search for. That is, the next request transmission date is set to step S202.
Is searched for the printer 10 prior to the day on which the.

After step S203, step S20
In step S203, the consumables management server 20 determines whether the printer 1
0, a use state information transmission request is transmitted.

Following step S204, step S20
Proceeding to 1, the consumables management server 20 waits for an event again.

In step S202, if there is a request from the administrator of the consumables management server 20 to change the request transmission interval of the use state information transmission request management table 202-1, the process proceeds to step S208.

In step S208, the consumables management server 20 changes the request transmission interval of the use state information transmission request management table 202-1 according to the request of the administrator of the consumables management server 20 or the like.

Following step S208, step S20
In step 9, the consumables management server updates the next request transmission date in the use state information transmission request management table 202-1 with the change in the request transmission interval in step S208.

Following step S209, step S20
Proceeding to 1, the consumables management server waits for an event again.

If the consumables management server 20 has received the notification of the short life replacement of the toner 50 from the printer 10 in step S201, the process proceeds to step S203, and the processing after step S203 described above, that is, for the target printer 10, The transmission of the use state information transmission request is executed.

If the consumables management server 20 receives the use state information from the printer 10 in step S201, the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S205, the consumables management server 20 stores the use state information received in step S201 in the print mode accumulation table 202-2 and the image forming process accumulation table 202-3.

FIG. 12 shows the print mode accumulation table 20.
2 shows a configuration diagram of an example of 2-2. The print mode accumulation table 202-2 is a table for storing information of the print mode table 100-4 in the plurality of printers 10, and includes a printer identification number, a job identification number in the printer, and the number of prints and paper size in the job. Has as an item.

FIG. 13 shows an image forming process accumulation table 202.
3 shows an example of a configuration diagram. The image forming process accumulation table 202-3 is a table for storing information of the image forming process table 100-5 in the plurality of printers 10, and has a printer identification number, a job identification number, and a printing rate of each color as data items. I have.

The print mode accumulation table 202-2,
Step S2 for both the imaging process accumulation table 202-3
At 05, a new record is added and information is accumulated.

Following step S205, step S206
The consumables management server 20 updates the next request transmission date in the use state transmission request management table 202-1 based on the value specified in the request transmission interval.

Following step S206, step S207
The consumables management server 20 transmits a request to clear the use state information, that is, a request to clear the records in the print mode table 100-4 and the image forming process table 100-5, to the printer 10 that has received the use state information.

After step S207, step S201
The consumables management server waits for an event.

As described above, the early deterioration of the toner 50 of the printer 10 is detected by using the consumable goods management system according to the present invention. In addition, the use state information accumulated in the consumable supply management server 20 or secondary information obtained by processing the use state information (for example, in this embodiment, the number of prints for each paper size, the printing rate for each paper size, etc.) is displayed on the screen. By doing so, the cause of the early deterioration of the toner 50 can be efficiently investigated. Furthermore, for a typical pattern of early deterioration of consumables, for example, when the printing rate is higher or lower than a predetermined value, the consumables management server 20 automatically detects the pattern and displays the fact on a screen. May be.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and various modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention described in the appended claims. Can be modified and changed. For example, in the present embodiment, a printer has been described as a device, and a toner has been described as a specific example of a consumable, but the present invention can be applied to various devices and their consumables according to the same principle. Also,
The information indicating the degree of use and the state of use of the consumable can be implemented in various variations.

[0104]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect that a consumable of an apparatus has been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage, and to transmit information indicating a usage state to a consumable server. Therefore, the maintenance staff can efficiently investigate the cause of the early deterioration of the consumables based on the use state information accumulated in the consumables management server.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an example of a consumable supply management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment of a consumable supply management server according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an example of a print mode table.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an example of an image forming process table.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed by a printer.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a short life replacement detection process in the printer.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an example of a toner life table.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an example of a toner usage table.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed by a consumable supply management server.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of an example of a use state transmission request management table.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an example of a print mode accumulation table.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an example of an imaging process accumulation table.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Consumables management system 10 Printer 20 Consumables management server 30 Network 50 toner 100, 202 Auxiliary storage device 100-1 Toner identification number on printer side 100-2 Printer Toner Life Table 100-3 Printer Side Toner Usage Table 100-4 print mode table 100-5 imaging process table 101, 203 memory device 102,204 arithmetic processing unit 103,205 Interface device 104 Toner memory device 104-1 Toner identification number on toner side 104-2 Toner side toner life table 104-3 Toner Usage Table 200 drive device 201 Storage medium 206 display device B, B2 bus

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Masaichi Sawada             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Shinji Kato             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Makoto Hasegawa             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Naoto Watanabe             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh (72) Inventor Kayoko Ikegami             1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock             Inside the company Ricoh F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 HK11 HK15 HQ17 HV19                       HV26                 2H027 DA44 DD00 EJ08 EJ13 EJ15                       HA02 HA10 HB05 HB17                 5B021 AA01 BB00 DD00 NN00

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A consumable goods management system in which a device and a consumable goods management server for managing the consumable goods of the device are connected via a network, wherein the device stores use state information indicating a use state of the device. Usage state storage means for storing, usage detection means for detecting that the consumable has been replaced with usage less than a predetermined usage, and consumable identification information of the consumable detected by the usage detection means And transmission means for reading the use state information related to the consumable from the use state storage means and transmitting the use state information to the consumable supply management server, wherein the consumable supply management server receives the use state information from the device. And a storage unit for storing the received use state information. 2. The consumable supply management system according to claim 1, wherein the device transmits the use state information to the consumable supply management server at any time or in response to a request from the consumable supply management server. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that clears the use state information from the use state storage unit after transmitting the use state information or after replacing the consumable item. Consumables management system. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode. Consumables management system as described. 5. A device connected to a consumables management server for managing consumables of the device via a network, wherein a use status storage means for storing information indicating a use status of the device; A usage detecting unit for detecting that the consumable has been replaced with a usage lower than the usage of the consumable, and consumable identification information of the consumable detected by the usage detecting unit and usage status information on the consumable used in the usage status storage. Transmission means for reading from the means and transmitting to the consumables management server. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the use state information is transmitted to the consumable supply management server at any time or in response to a request from the consumable supply management server. 7. The consumables replacement detecting means for detecting when the consumables are replaced, and a consumables use updating means for updating information indicating the usage of the consumables. 7. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for comparing a value of the degree of use of the consumable with a predetermined value set for each of the consumables. 8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode. The described equipment. 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information relating to the image forming process is a printing rate for each image formation or a printing rate for each color used for each image formation. 10. The information regarding the print mode,
10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein at least the transfer paper size and the number of copies per original or the number of prints per print. 11. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information indicating the degree of use of the consumable supplies is a degree of rotation of a photoconductor in the image forming apparatus or the number of images to be formed. 12. A consumable supply management server connected to a device via a network, comprising: consumable item identification information for identifying a consumable item that has been replaced from the device with less than a predetermined usage level; A consumable goods management server comprising: receiving means for receiving use state information indicating the use state of the device; and storage means for storing the received use state information. 13. The consumables management server, wherein a use state clear request unit for requesting the device to clear the use state information from a use state storage unit in which the device stores the use state information. The consumable goods management server according to claim 12, further comprising: 14. The consumables management server further comprises a use state information display means for displaying the use state information stored in the storage means or secondary information obtained by processing the use state information on a screen. Claim 12 or 1
3. The consumables management server according to 3. 15. A consumables management method in a consumables management system in which a device and a consumables management server that manages consumables of the device are connected via a network, wherein the device checks a use state of the device. Storing usage state information indicating that the consumable has been replaced with a usage less than a predetermined usage; andconsumable identification information of the consumable detected by the usage detection unit. Reading the use state information related to the consumable from the use state storage unit and transmitting the use state information to the consumable supply management server, wherein the consumable supply management server receives the use state information from the device; Storing the received use state information. 16. The step of transmitting the use state information to the consumable supply management server, wherein the use state information is transmitted to the consumable supply management server at any time or in response to a request from the consumable supply management server. The consumables management method according to claim 15, wherein 17. The apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a step of clearing the use state information from the use state storage unit after transmitting the use state information or after replacing the consumables. Consumables management method. 18. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the device is an image forming apparatus, and the use state information is information on an image forming process for each of the consumables and information on a print mode. Consumables management method described.