JP2006039630A - Network device management system, management method thereof, control program thereof, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network device management system capable of surely transmitting, even in case that state information such as error is transmitted to equipment limited in a received character number such as a portable terminal by e-mail, the state information to a user of the portable terminal. <P>SOLUTION: This network device management system 1 comprises network devices 101-103, a desktop PC 111 to which an error state is reported from the network devices by e-mail; and a mail (SMTP) server 112. A LAN 100 is connected to an Internet line 120 to which the portable terminal 114 is connected. The desktop PC 11 generates an error message according to an error state for each network device to be monitored, and transmits an e-mail formed by processing for forming e-mail data with character number limitation to the portable terminal 114 that is a transmitting destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a network device management system, a management method thereof, a control program thereof, and a storage medium, and more particularly to a network device management system that transmits an error of a network device by e-mail, a management method thereof, a control program thereof, and a storage medium. .

  Conventionally, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), which is a protocol for managing a network such as a LAN, is not limited to a network based on the IP protocol, but a protocol other than the IP protocol such as the IPX protocol. It is also widely used as a network management protocol for the base network.

  Normally, network management based on SNMP is performed by accessing a tree-structured information database called MIB (Management Information Base) using the SNMP protocol.

  On the other hand, what is called a directory service is provided as a method for efficiently finding and using various resources (printers, servers, scanners, etc.) on a network.

  The directory service is a telephone directory related to the network, and is used for storing various information. Specific examples of this include, for example, LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) defined in RFC1777 and Novell's NDS (NetWare Directory Service).

  In such a conventional network device management system, for example, a list of network devices connected to the network is displayed using the SNMP / MIB or the directory service, and the state of the network device or the network device is set. Various information can be displayed and changed.

  Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a development of web applications that can display a list of network devices connected to the network, and display various information set on the network devices and the status of the network devices, using a web browser on a PC. It is flourishing.

  In addition, a network device has been developed that provides a function for displaying the status of the network device and various information set in the network device from the web browser of the PC by bundling the web server inside the network device. Yes.

  As a function of such a Web application, a function of notifying a network administrator or the like by e-mail that an error has occurred in a network device has been disclosed as a conventional example (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this conventional example, when the web application detects that an error has occurred in one or more of the network devices specified as error detection targets in the web application, the network devices acquired from these network devices Is converted to an e-mail format and notified to a preset e-mail address.

  Here, paying attention to the e-mail notification destination, more precisely, the e-mail receiving device, conventionally, the e-mail receiving device is assumed to be a PC, a workstation, or the like.

However, in recent years, with the spread of portable terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs having an electronic mail transmission / reception function, these devices are used as electronic mail receiving devices.
JP 2003-15973 A

  However, when the administrator of the network device registers e-mail addresses in these mobile terminals in the network device management system and receives e-mails from the above system on the mobile terminals, the e-mails that can be received by these mobile terminals Since the size is often limited, there is a problem that the network administrator who receives the e-mail from the above system on the mobile terminal cannot receive the full text of the e-mail due to the limitation on the number of characters received by the mobile terminal.

  An object of the present invention is to reliably transmit the contents of the status information to the user of the mobile terminal even when the status information such as an error is transmitted by e-mail to a device having a limited number of received characters such as a mobile terminal. A network device management system, a management method thereof, a control program thereof, and a storage medium are provided.

  To achieve the above object, a network device management system according to claim 1 is a network device management system for managing a plurality of network devices connected to a network, wherein any one of the plurality of network devices is a predetermined one. State detecting means for detecting whether or not the state has changed, and when it is detected that any of the plurality of network devices has changed to the predetermined state, the detected network device and the predetermined In accordance with the state information storage means for storing the state information including the contents of the state, the maximum transmission character number determination means for determining the maximum number of characters of the email data to be transmitted, and the maximum number of characters determined by the maximum transmission character number determination means Based on the status information stored in the status information storage means, the number of characters. And e-mail data generating means for generating Rudeta, characterized in that it comprises an electronic mail transmission means for the electronic mail data created e-mail transmitted by the mail data preparing means.

  The network device management system according to claim 2 is the network device management system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined state is an error occurrence state.

  The network device management system according to claim 3, wherein the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is set to the maximum number of characters specified by a user on a GUI in the network device management system according to claim 1 or 2. To do.

  The network device management system according to claim 4 is the network device management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is associated with an e-mail address or a part of the e-mail address. A registration unit for registering the number of characters, and the number of characters when the email address or a part of the email address that is the transmission destination transmitted by the email transmission unit is associated with the number of registered characters Is set to the maximum number of characters.

  The network device management system according to claim 5 is the network device management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the e-mail data creation means stores status information stored by the status information storage means. An e-mail data extraction unit is provided that extracts a character string within the determined maximum number of transmission characters from the top.

  The network device management system according to claim 6 is the network device management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the e-mail data creation unit stores error information stored by the state information storage unit. Dividing means for dividing the determined maximum number of transmission characters from the beginning.

  The network device management system according to claim 7, wherein the e-mail data creation means sets priority order of character strings in the network device management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. And priority order character string extraction means for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set by the priority order setting means from the stored state information, and the priority order character string extraction means includes the extraction When the number of characters in the determined character string reaches the maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters, the extraction of the character string is terminated.

  9. The network device management system according to claim 8, wherein the e-mail data creation means sets priority order of character strings in the network device management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. And priority order character string extraction means for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set by the priority order setting means from the stored state information, and the number of characters of the extracted character string One e-mail data is created every time the maximum number of characters that fall within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters is reached.

  In order to achieve the above object, a management method according to claim 9 is a management method of a network device management system for managing a plurality of network devices connected to a network, wherein any one of the plurality of network devices is predetermined. A state detection step for detecting whether or not the state has changed to a state, and when it is detected that any of the plurality of network devices has changed to the predetermined state, the detected network device and the In accordance with a state information storing step for storing state information including contents of a predetermined state, a maximum number of characters to be determined for determining the maximum number of characters of e-mail data to be transmitted, and a maximum number of characters determined by the maximum number of characters to be transmitted are determined. Based on the status information stored in the status information storage step. And e-mail data generating step of generating e-mail data, characterized in that it comprises an electronic mail transmitting step of transmitting the electronic mail data created email the email data generated by the step.

  The management method according to claim 10 is the management method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined state is an error occurrence state.

  The management method according to an eleventh aspect is the management method according to the ninth or tenth aspect, wherein the maximum number of characters to be determined is set to the maximum number of characters specified by a user through a GUI.

  The management method according to claim 12 is the management method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the maximum transmission character number determination step registers an email address or a part of the email address and the number of characters associated with the email address. A registration step, and when the e-mail address or a part of the e-mail address that is the transmission destination transmitted by the e-mail transmission step is associated with the registered number of characters, the number of characters is set to the maximum number of characters. It is characterized by setting to.

  The management method according to claim 13 is the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the e-mail data creation step starts from the head of the state information stored in the state information storage step. An e-mail data extraction step is provided for extracting a character string within the determined maximum number of transmission characters.

  The management method according to claim 14 is the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the e-mail data creation step starts with the status information stored in the status information storage step from the top. And a dividing step of dividing each determined maximum number of transmitted characters.

  The management method according to claim 15 is the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the e-mail data creation step includes a priority order setting step for setting a priority order of character strings, and the storage. A priority order character string extraction step that extracts character strings in descending order of priority set in the priority order setting step from the state information that has been set, and the priority order character string extraction step includes the extracted character string The extraction of the character string is terminated when the number of characters reaches the maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters.

  The management method according to claim 16 is the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the e-mail data creation step includes a priority order setting step for setting a priority order of character strings, and the storage. A priority order character string extraction step for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set in the priority order setting step from the state information that has been set, and the number of characters of the extracted character string is the determined maximum One e-mail data is created every time the maximum number of characters that fall within the range of the number of transmitted characters is reached.

  To achieve the above object, a control program according to claim 17 has computer-readable program code for realizing the management method according to any one of claims 9 to 16. .

  To achieve the above object, a storage medium according to claim 18 stores the control program according to claim 17.

  As described in detail above, according to the network device management system according to claim 1, the management method according to claim 9, the control program according to claim 17, and the storage medium according to claim 18, the network device management system. When it is detected that any one of a plurality of network devices connected to the network managed by is changed to a predetermined state, state information including the detected network device and contents of the state is stored. Since the email data is created based on the stored error information with the number of characters according to the maximum number of characters of the email data to be sent, and the created email data is sent by email, like a mobile terminal Even if status information is sent by e-mail to a device with a limited number of characters received, the contents of the status information It can be reliably transmitted to the user of the portable terminal.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a network device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a network device management system 1 includes network devices 101 to 103 that can execute a program of the network device management system 1, a desktop PC 111, and a PC as a mail (SMTP) server (hereinafter referred to as “mail (SMTP) server”). 112, which are connected to each other via a LAN 100. When an error occurs, the network devices 101 to 103 notify the desktop PC 111 of the error state by e-mail.

  The LAN 100 is connected to the Internet line 120 to which the mobile terminal 114 is connected via a notebook PC 113 and a mobile terminal network (not shown).

  Here, the network device 101 is a color printer, the network device 102 is a copier (MFP: Multi Function Peripheral) that can also be used as a network printer, and the network device 103 is a monochrome printer.

  The desktop PC 111 is a PC that can execute the program of the network device management system 1, and an error state is notified by e-mail from the network devices 101 to 103 as will be described later.

  The mail (SMTP) server 112 transfers an electronic mail transferred from the network devices 101 to 103 and the desktop PC 111 to a designated destination as will be described later.

  The notebook PC 113 operates a program for receiving electronic mail such as a POP (Post Office Protocol) program, and can receive electronic mail via the Internet line 120.

  The portable terminal 114 has a program for receiving electronic mail, and can receive electronic mail via the Internet line 120. However, the received e-mail data has a limit on the number of received characters.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the desktop PC 111 in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, a desktop PC 111 includes a keyboard (KB) 209, a CRT display (CRT) 210, a ROM 202 and a hard disk (HD) 211 for storing a boot program, various applications, editing files, user files, a network management program, and the like. And a floppy (registered trademark) disk controller (FD) 212 and a CD-ROM controller (CD-ROM) 213.

  The desktop PC 111 also controls the CPU 201 that controls the entire PC, the main memory of the CPU 201, the RAM 203 that functions as a work area and the like, and the instruction input from a keyboard (KB) 209, a pointing device (not shown), and the like. A keyboard controller (KBC) 205, a CRT controller (CRTC) 206 that controls display on a CRT display (CRT) 210, a hard disk (HD) 211, a floppy (registered trademark) disk controller (FD) 212, and a CD-ROM controller ( A disk controller (DKC) 207 for controlling access to the (CD-ROM) 213 and a network printer, another network device, or another PC via the LAN 100 to exchange data bidirectionally. Network and an interface card (NIC) 208, which are connected together by a system bus 204.

  The CPU 201 executes network device management software stored in the ROM 202 or the hard disk (HD) 211, or supplied from the floppy (registered trademark) disk drive (FD) 212 or the CD-ROM controller 213, and is connected to the LAN 100. The network devices 101 to 103 are collectively controlled.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the network device management system 1 in FIG. 1 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram used for explaining network device information in the network management system 1 of FIG.

  3, the network device information 300 includes a network device display field 301 for displaying the network devices 101 to 103, a MAC address display field 302 for displaying the MAC address of each network device, and an IP address for displaying the IP address of each network device. A display field 303, a device name display field 304 for displaying the device name of each network device, and an installation location display field 305 for displaying the installation location of each network device are provided.

  Note that the network device information 300 in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the information stored in the desktop PC 111 or the network devices 101 to 103 may further include additional information such as the product name of the network device. .

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an e-mail transmission function setting screen displayed on the CRT 210 in FIG.

  On this screen, the destination of error information generated in the network device, the transmission condition, and the network device to be investigated for the email transmission function are set. Hereinafter, in the network device management system 1, the e-mail transmission function setting is performed by a user input with the KB 209 of the desktop PC 111 on the e-mail transmission function setting screen described below, but the present invention is not limited to this. The e-mail transmission function setting may be stored in advance in the HD 211 or the ROM 202, or the portable terminal 114 or the notebook PC 113 may be able to remotely perform the e-mail transmission function setting.

  In FIG. 4, an e-mail transmission function setting screen 400 includes an e-mail transmission destination input unit 401 for inputting an e-mail address as an e-mail destination transmitted by the network device management system, and an e-mail transmitted by the network device management system. Maximum number of characters to be input 402 for inputting the maximum number of characters of mail, SMTP address input unit 403 for inputting the IP address of a mail (SMTP) server, and error for inputting a network device to be monitored for error occurrence status A generation device input unit 404 and a transmission condition input unit 405 for inputting a transmission timing of an error occurrence state are provided.

  The network device management system 1 transmits an e-mail by the SMTP protocol to the desktop PC 111 having the IP address input to the SMTP address input unit 403, and the network device input to the error occurrence device input unit 404 The error occurrence status is monitored, and the result is transmitted by e-mail to the notification destination input to the e-mail transmission destination input unit 401.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the e-mail transmission process executed by the network management system 1 of FIG.

  Specifically, this process is executed by the CPU 201 of the desktop PC 111 on the network management system 1.

  In FIG. 5, when the desktop PC 111 is activated, first, information on the network device that is the monitoring target of the error occurrence status among the network devices 101 to 103, specifically, the MAC address, IP address, device name, installation Network device information such as location is acquired (step S501). Here, when SNMP / MIB is used to request acquisition of information about a network device such as a MAC address, an IP address, a device name, and an installation location from the monitored network device, the monitored network Since each device returns the information shown in the network device information of FIG. 3, based on the returned information, the CPU 201 sets values to the input units 401 to 404 of the e-mail transmission function setting screen 400 of FIG. Alternatively, the CPU 201 sets values to the input units 401 to 404 on the e-mail transmission function setting screen 400 shown in FIG. 4 based on values input by the user using an input device such as a keyboard (not shown). You may make it do.

  Next, the network device information acquired in step S501 is held in a storage area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211 (step S502). Specifically, “aaa@zzz.ne.jp, bbb@xxx.ne.jp, ccc@yyy.ne.jp” input to the e-mail transmission destination input unit 401 is the storage area as the e-mail transmission destination. The value “100 bytes” input to the maximum transmitted character number input unit 402 is stored in the storage area as the maximum number of transmitted characters in the text data entry unit of the e-mail. Also, “123.123.123.123” input to the SMTP address input unit 403 is held in the storage area as the SMTP address of the desktop PC 111, and “network device 101, network input to the error occurrence device input unit 404” is input. The device 103 ”is held in the storage area as a network device to be monitored, and“ when a failure occurs ”input to the transmission condition input unit 405 is held in the storage area as the transmission timing of the error occurrence status.

  Thereafter, when one or a plurality of errors occur for each network device whose error status is to be monitored (YES in step S503), an error message is generated from the error status, and an error occurs in the storage area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211. Error information including the generated network device name and the generated error message is held (step S504), and it is determined whether or not the e-mail data created from the error information held in step S504 has a maximum number of characters to be transmitted. (Step S505). Specifically, it is determined that there is a limit on the maximum number of transmitted characters when the value of the maximum number of transmitted characters is input to the maximum number of transmitted character input unit 402 in FIG. This process is not limited to this method. For example, as shown in FIG. 15 to be described later, the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is previously recorded in a recording area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211 for each network device to be monitored. It may be determined whether or not this value is recorded in the recording area for each network device to be monitored, and the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is set in the external file. It may be determined whether or not this value is set in the external file.

  Returning to FIG. 5, if there is no limit on the number of characters to be transmitted as a result of the determination in step S505, e-mail data when there is no limit on the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is created (step S506), and the process proceeds to step S508. Specifically, based on the network device information held in step S502, an e-mail including an error message generated from the error situation held in step S504 is created, and an error has occurred in the network device. Notice.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S505 is that there is a limit on the number of characters to be transmitted, e-mail data when there is a limit on the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is created by the e-mail data creation process with character number limitation in FIG. ), The process proceeds to step S508.

  Next, in order to transmit an e-mail to the transmission destination input to the e-mail transmission destination input unit 401 of FIG. 4, the electronic data of FIG. 7 to be described later is based on the e-mail data created in step S506 or step S507. A mail is created and sent to the mail (SMTP) server 112 (step S508), and this process ends. Here, when receiving the e-mail data, the mail (SMTP) server 112 transmits the received e-mail to the input destination (for example, the portable terminal 114).

  According to the process of FIG. 5, when one or more errors occur for each network device whose error status is to be monitored (YES in step S503), the desktop PC 111 generates an error message from the error status, When the error information including the name of the network device in which the error has occurred and the generated error message is stored in the storage area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211 (step S504), and the number of transmitted characters is limited in the e-mail data created from the stored error information (YES in step S505), the e-mail created by the e-mail data creation process with character number restriction is transmitted to the portable terminal that is the destination via the mail (SMTP) server 112 (steps S507 and S508). 114 is the limit on the number of received characters That a device can be transmitted to the device even when transmitting the error information by e-mail, to ensure that the user of the portable terminal 114 the contents of the held error information.

  The above-described e-mail transmission process in FIG. 5 may be executed inside the network devices 101 to 103. In this case, the network device information shown in FIG. 3 is individually stored in each of the network devices 101 to 103, and e-mail data is created only in the network device in which the error actually occurred, and the network in which the error has occurred. The e-mail data is transmitted directly from the device to the mail (SMTP) server 112.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of e-mail data creation processing with character number limitation in step S507 of FIG.

  In FIG. 6, first, the maximum number of transmitted characters is acquired (step S601). Specifically, the value input to the maximum transmission character number input unit 402 in FIG. 4 is acquired as the value of the maximum transmission character number. This process is not limited to this method. For example, the value of the maximum number of transmission characters is set in the network device management system 1, and this value is acquired from the network device management system 1. In addition, the value of the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is set in the external file, and this value may be acquired from the external file. In any case, a value stored in a storage area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211 is used as the maximum transmission character number setting value.

  Next, an empty e-mail data buffer for temporarily storing e-mail data is prepared (step S602), and there is no maximum transmission character limit similar to step S506 from the information held in steps S502 and S504. Is stored in the buffer prepared in step S602 (step S603).

  Thereafter, a character string is cut out from the top of the buffer by the size of the maximum number of transmission characters acquired in step S601 (step S604), the cut out character string is set as e-mail data (step S605), and the process is terminated.

  According to the processing of FIG. 6, when the e-mail data when there is no maximum number of characters to be sent is stored in the buffer after creation (step S603), the character string is cut out from the top of the buffer by the size of the acquired maximum number of characters to be sent. Since the extracted character string is used as e-mail data (step S 604) (step S 605), an e-mail in which the data capacity of the text of the body is within the limit on the number of received characters of the mobile terminal 114 can be reliably transmitted.

  FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams used for explaining the e-mail transmitted in step S508 of FIG. 5, in which FIG. 7A shows a case where the maximum number of transmitted characters is “none”, and FIG. 7B is a maximum number of transmitted characters. The case of “Yes” is shown.

  An e-mail display screen 701 in FIG. 7A is an e-mail display screen when nothing is entered in the maximum transmission character number input unit 402 in the e-mail transmission function setting screen 400 in FIG. All information and error messages about are displayed.

  On the other hand, an e-mail display screen 702 in FIG. 7B is an e-mail display screen when a value of “100 bytes” is input in the maximum number of characters to be transmitted 402, and is used in the text. The e-mail data has a text data capacity of 100 bytes or less. Here, since the data capacity of the text necessary for describing all of the information on the network device and the error message in the body is larger than 100 bytes, the e-mail data is terminated halfway.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram used to explain the memory map of the network device management software including the program for e-mail transmission processing of FIG.

  The memory map 800 of the network device management software according to the present embodiment is stored in a CD-ROM and is supplied to the desktop PC 111 by the CD-ROM controller 213 in FIG.

  In FIG. 8, the memory map 800 includes an area 9999 that stores an installation program and an area 9998 that stores a network device management program.

  When the network device management program recorded on the CD-ROM is installed on the desktop PC 111, first, the installation program stored in the area 9999 storing the installation program is loaded into the CPU 201 and executed by the CPU 201. The Next, the installation program executed by the CPU 201 reads the network device management program from the area 9998 where the network device control program is stored, and stores it in a storage area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211.

  As described above with reference to FIG. 8, the network device management software is not limited to being installed only on the desktop PC 111, and for example, installed on a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, etc.). You may do it.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a modified example of the e-mail data creation process with the limited number of characters shown in FIG.

  The processing in FIG. 9 is basically the same as the processing in FIG. 6, the same steps as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. Hereinafter, the portions different from the processing in FIG. Only will be described.

  In FIG. 9, when it is determined in step S503 of FIG. 5 that there is a maximum transmission character number limit, after obtaining the maximum transmission character number, e-mail data when there is no maximum transmission character number limitation is created and stored in the buffer The same processing as steps S602 to S604 in FIG. 6 is performed.

  Next, the number of characters of the e-mail data created in step S603 is calculated, and the minimum value CNT of cnt is calculated according to the following equation (step S903).

Number of characters in e-mail data <maximum number of characters to be sent x cnt
For example, if the data capacity of the e-mail data created in step S603 without the maximum number of transmitted characters is 175 bytes, the minimum value CNT for the maximum number of transmitted characters of 100 bytes is 2.

  Next, in order to temporarily store the e-mail data, CNT empty e-mail data buffers are prepared (step S904), and the e-mail data created in step S603 is the size of the maximum number of characters to be transmitted from the top. The data is divided and copied to the buffer prepared in step S904 (step S905). For example, if the text data capacity when there is no limit on the maximum number of characters to be sent is 175 bytes, 100 bytes of characters are copied to the first buffer, and 75 bytes of characters are copied to the second buffer. The

  Thereafter, the character string copied to the CNT buffers is used as e-mail data (step S906), and this process is terminated.

  In step S906, for example, when the data capacity of the text used in the body of the email display screen 701 in FIG. 7A is 175 bytes, the first email out of the emails created by the processing in step S906. An e-mail display screen with a text data capacity of 100 bytes created as shown in FIG. 10 looks like an e-mail display screen 1001 in FIG. 10A, and the second created text data capacity has a data capacity of 75 bytes. The e-mail display screen is like an e-mail display screen 1002 in FIG. When the text content used in the body of the e-mail display screens 1001 and 1002 is combined, the text content used in the body of the e-mail display screen 701 in FIG.

  According to the processing of FIG. 9, when the e-mail data when there is no limit on the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is stored in the buffer (step S603), CNT buffers are prepared according to the size of the maximum number of characters to be transmitted (step S904). The number of characters received is divided into the maximum number of characters sent from the beginning and copied to the prepared buffer (step S905), and the character string copied to the CNT buffers is used as e-mail data (step S906). The content of the error information can be reliably transmitted to the user of the portable terminal 114 with restrictions.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the procedure of another modification of the e-mail data creation process with the limited number of characters shown in FIG.

  The process in FIG. 11 is basically the same as the process in FIG. 6, as in the process in FIG. 9. The same steps as those in FIG. Only the differences from the processing of FIG. 6 will be described.

  In FIG. 11, when it is determined in step S503 in FIG. 5 that there is a maximum number of characters to be transmitted, the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is acquired (step S601 in FIG. 6).

  Next, the priority order of items described in the e-mail is acquired from the e-mail description item priority database 1000 (FIG. 12) (step S1102).

  Next, after the processing in step S1102, an empty e-mail data buffer is prepared (step S602 in FIG. 6). Thereafter, the variable i is initialized to 1 (step S1104), and the i-th priority item in the e-mail entry item priority database 1000 is extracted from the information held in steps S502 and S504 (step S1105). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, when an electronic mail related to the network device 101 is created and i = 1, the device name of the i-th priority order is “Color Printer” (and a line feed code).

  Next, the number of characters of the item extracted in step S1105 is added to the current buffer size (step S1106). For example, in the above network device 101, i = 1, 14 bytes of “Color Printer” (and a line feed code) are added to an empty buffer, so the buffer size after addition is 14 bytes. Become.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the buffer size calculated in step S1006 is within the maximum number of characters to be transmitted (step S1107). ), This process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S1107 is that the number is within the maximum number of characters to be transmitted, the item extracted in step S1105 is additionally copied to the buffer (step S1108). It is determined whether it is the last priority item (step S1109).

  If the result of determination in step S1109 is not the last priority item, 1 is added to the variable i (step S1110), the process returns to step S1105, and if it is the last priority item, it is copied to the buffer. The processed character string is set as electronic mail data (step S1111), and this process is terminated. For example, when the network device information and the error message having the contents described in the main body of the e-mail display screen in FIG. 7A are in the storage area, the device name and the first error message according to the priority order shown in FIG. Is copied to the buffer, and an attempt is made to copy the IP address with the third priority, exceeding the maximum number of transmitted characters of 100 bytes. Therefore, up to the first error message with the second priority is the e-mail data created first in the present embodiment. When the created e-mail is transmitted, an e-mail display screen 1301 in FIG. 13 is displayed on the screen of the destination terminal.

  According to the processing of FIG. 11, the i-th priority item in the e-mail entry item priority database 1000 is extracted from the information held in steps S502 and S504 (step S1105), and the buffer size becomes larger than the maximum number of transmitted characters. (YES in step S1107), the character string copied to the buffer is used as e-mail data (step S1111), so that the character string can be appropriately cut out.

  Also, as in the process of FIG. 11, a plurality of prepared e-mail data buffers are prepared instead of one, and the information of the last priority item in the e-mail entry item priority database 1000 of FIG. 12 is stored in the buffer. Steps S1105 to S1110 shown in FIG. Thus, according to the maximum number of characters to be transmitted, up to the second priority item is sent by the first created e-mail 1401 (FIG. 14A), and the items after the third priority item are created second. Since the e-mail 1402 (FIG. 14B) is sent, all information can be e-mailed.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of the e-mail entry item priority database 1000 from which the priority order of items to be written in e-mail is acquired in step S1102 of FIG.

  In FIG. 12, an e-mail entry item priority database 1000 is a database for setting priorities of items to be written in e-mails, and is held on the ROM 202 of the desktop PC 111. A description column 1002 is provided.

  In this embodiment, the first priority item is the device name, the second item is the first error message, the third item is the IP address, the fourth item is the MAC address, and the fifth item The item is the installation location, and the sixth and subsequent items are the second and subsequent error messages.

  Needless to say, the priority order of each item is not limited to this embodiment, and there may be other items.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram used to describe a modification of the process of step S505 of FIG.

  In FIG. 15, the maximum transmission character number correspondence table 1500 is data recorded in a recording area such as the ROM 202 or the HD 211, and includes a transmission destination address specification column 1501 for specifying a transmission destination address and a transmission destination address specification column 1501. A maximum transmission character number designation field 1502 for designating the maximum number of transmission characters for each address.

  Here, the destination address designation field 1501 may designate the destination by displaying all the destination addresses as in the first and second items, or as in the third item. The destination may be specified by displaying a part of the destination address (“***” represents an arbitrary character string).

  In the above description, an example in which an error content is transmitted by e-mail when an error occurs has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the transmission of the error content, and the executed job (printing, external data reception, instruction) It goes without saying that the content may be transmitted in response to changes to various predesignated states, such as sending the content when transmission is complete.

  The present invention can be achieved by supplying a software program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments to the CPU 201 in the network device management system 1 and reading and executing the supplied program. .

  In this case, the program is directly supplied from a storage medium storing the program, or downloaded from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like. Supplied.

  The form of the program may be in the form of object code, program code executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to an OS (operating system), and the like.

  The present invention can also be achieved by supplying a CPU with a storage medium storing a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments, and reading and executing the program stored in the storage medium. can do.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, ROM, RAM, NV-RAM, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, MO, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD -ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and the like.

  The function of the above-described embodiment is not only by executing the program code read from the computer, but the OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code. Can also be realized.

1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a network device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an internal configuration of the desktop PC in FIG. 1. It is a figure used for demonstrating the network device information in the network management system of FIG. It is a figure which shows the e-mail transmission function setting screen displayed on CRT in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the email transmission process performed by the network management system of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the e-mail data creation process with the character number restriction | limiting of step S507 of FIG. FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams used for explaining an e-mail transmitted in step S508 in FIG. 5, in which FIG. 5A shows a case where the maximum number of characters to be transmitted is “none”, and FIG. Show the case. FIG. 6 is a diagram used for explaining a memory map of network device management software including a program for electronic mail transmission processing of FIG. 5. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the modification of the email data creation process with the character number limitation of FIG. It is a figure used for description of the email produced based on the email data of step S906 of FIG. 9, (a) shows the email created first, (b) is created second. Show e-mail. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the other modification of the email data creation process with the character number limitation of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the e-mail description item priority database from which the priority of the item described in e-mail is acquired by step S1102 of FIG. It is a figure used for description of the email produced based on the email data of step S1111 of FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram used for explaining an e-mail created in a modification of the e-mail data creation process with a limited number of characters in FIG. 11, wherein (a) shows the first e-mail created, and (b) shows the second e-mail. Shows the email created. It is a figure used for demonstrating the modification of the process of step S505 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Network device management system 100 LAN
101-103 Network device 111 Desktop PC
112 Mail (SMTP) Server 114 Mobile Terminal 120 Internet Line

Claims (18)

In a network device management system for managing a plurality of network devices connected to a network,
State detecting means for detecting whether any of the plurality of network devices has changed to a predetermined state;
State information storage means for storing state information including the detected network device and the content of the predetermined state when any of the plurality of network devices is detected to be changed to the predetermined state. When,
Maximum transmission character number determining means for determining the maximum number of characters of e-mail data to be transmitted;
Email data creation means for creating email data based on the status information stored in the status information storage means with the number of characters according to the maximum number of characters determined by the maximum transmission character count determination means;
A network device management system comprising: an e-mail transmission unit that transmits the e-mail data created by the e-mail data creation unit.   The network device management system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined state is an error occurrence state.   The network device management system according to claim 1, wherein the maximum number of characters to be determined is set to the maximum number of characters specified by a user using a GUI. The maximum transmission character number determining means includes:
E-mail address or a part of the e-mail address, and registration means for registering the number of characters associated with these,
Setting the number of characters to the maximum number of characters when an e-mail address or a part of the e-mail address that is a transmission destination transmitted by the e-mail transmission unit is associated with the registered number of characters. 3. The network device management system according to claim 1, wherein the network device management system is a network device management system. The e-mail data creation means includes:
5. An e-mail data cutting out unit that cuts out a character string within the determined maximum number of transmission characters from the head of the state information stored by the state information storing unit. The network device management system described in the section. The e-mail data creation means includes:
5. The network device according to claim 1, further comprising a dividing unit configured to divide the error information stored by the state information storage unit from the top by the determined maximum number of transmission characters. Management system. The e-mail data creation means includes:
Priority setting means for setting the priority of the character string;
Priority order character string extraction means for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set by the priority order setting means from the stored state information;
The priority order character string extraction means includes:
The extraction of the character string is terminated when the number of characters of the extracted character string reaches a maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters. The network device management system according to any one of the above. The e-mail data creation means includes:
Priority setting means for setting the priority of the character string;
Priority order character string extraction means for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set by the priority order setting means from the stored state information;
5. One e-mail data is created each time the number of characters in the extracted character string is the maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters. The network device management system according to claim 1. In a management method of a network device management system for managing a plurality of network devices connected to a network,
A state detection step of detecting whether any of the plurality of network devices has changed to a predetermined state;
A state information storage step of storing state information including the detected network device and the content of the predetermined state when it is detected that any of the plurality of network devices has changed to the predetermined state. When,
A step of determining the maximum number of characters to be transmitted that determines the maximum number of characters of the email data to be transmitted;
E-mail data creation step of creating e-mail data based on the status information stored in the status information storage step, with the number of characters according to the maximum number of characters determined in the maximum transmission character count determination step;
A network device management system management method comprising: an e-mail transmission step of transmitting the e-mail data created in the e-mail data creation step by e-mail.   The network device management system management method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined state is an error occurrence state.   11. The management method for a network device management system according to claim 9, wherein the maximum number of characters to be transmitted determining step sets the number of characters designated by a user through a GUI to the maximum number of characters. The maximum transmission character number determining step includes:
A registration step of registering an email address or part of an email address and the number of characters associated with the email address;
When the e-mail address or a part of the e-mail address that is the transmission destination transmitted by the e-mail transmission step is associated with the registered number of characters, the number of characters is set to the maximum number of characters. The management method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the management method. The e-mail data creation step includes:
13. The e-mail data extraction step of extracting a character string within the determined maximum number of transmission characters from the head of the state information stored in the state information storage step. The management method described in the section. The e-mail data creation step includes:
13. The management method according to claim 9, further comprising: a division step of dividing the state information stored in the state information storage step from the top by the determined maximum number of characters to be transmitted. . The e-mail data creation step includes:
A priority setting step for setting the priority of the character string;
A priority order character string extraction step for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set in the priority order setting step from the stored state information,
The priority order character string extraction step includes:
13. The extraction of the character string is terminated when the number of characters of the extracted character string reaches a maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters. The management method according to any one of the above. The e-mail data creation step includes:
A priority setting step for setting the priority of the character string;
A priority order character string extraction step for extracting character strings in descending order of priority set in the priority order setting step from the stored state information,
13. One e-mail data is created each time the number of characters of the extracted character string is the maximum number of characters that falls within the range of the determined maximum number of transmitted characters. The management method according to claim 1.   A control program comprising computer-readable program code for implementing the management method according to claim 9.   A storage medium storing the control program according to claim 17.

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