JP2008077315A - Information processing apparatus and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: Generally, the importance of a failure differs depending on the type of the failure. If the notification determination criterion is set in accordance with a failure with low importance, a notification delay or the like occurs when failure information with high importance repeatedly occurs. Setting notification criteria according to failure information with high importance increases the frequency of failure notification. The large-scale notification of failure information has a problem that information that is really necessary is buried in a large amount of data.
In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention stores reported failure information, and when the failure information is reported, an expiration date is passed from the stored failure information. After the failure information is deleted from the stored failure information, it is determined whether or not a threshold is reached based on the cumulative value of the failure information stored by the storage means, and the cumulative value has reached the threshold If it is determined, the stored failure information is notified to the monitoring source.
[Selection] Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a fault information management system for managing fault information when a fault occurring in an image forming apparatus is monitored.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a system that remotely monitors the operating state of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer connected to a LAN (Local Area Network). In such a system, a plurality of image forming apparatuses and a monitoring apparatus that monitors them communicate with each other via a LAN, a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the Internet. Then, information such as the number of printed sheets is periodically notified from the image forming apparatus to the monitoring apparatus, and information such as jam / alarm / error is notified at the timing when the information is generated. On the other hand, the monitoring apparatus that receives the notification accumulates and manages the contents of these notifications to determine the operating status of the image forming apparatus, and copes with a failure that has occurred in the image forming apparatus.

Some of these systems, for example, accumulate information related to errors such as jams that have occurred on the image forming apparatus side, measure the frequency of error occurrence, and detect the frequent occurrence of errors. The detection result is notified to the system administrator and used for prompting maintenance such as component replacement. The cause of the failure that occurs in the image forming apparatus, such as a jam, is not only due to the need for parts replacement maintenance such as wear of parts in the image forming apparatus, but also due to the state of the paper supply media due to the temperature and humidity at that time Many are accidental. Therefore, measuring the number and frequency of failures and eliminating the accidental factors as much as possible to detect a frequent failure state is an effective method for measuring accurate maintenance timing. (See Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2)
JP-A-10-294839 JP 2006-67156 A

  Conventionally, several proposals have been made regarding methods for measuring the frequency of failure occurrence in the image forming apparatus as described above. However, the conventional technology only detects whether or not the same failure occurs frequently, and even when multiple failures occur under the same cause, each is detected as an individual failure. A determination is made. When failure information is notified to the service person by this determination, each failure is notified at different timings. Until the notice of each individual failure was prepared, the service person had to find the cause and countermeasure from a part of the failure, and it was difficult to determine an appropriate countermeasure.

  On the other hand, it is possible to provide a threshold for the number of occurrences of failures and perform notification determination based on whether the threshold is exceeded or not using conventional technology. However, in general, the importance of a failure differs depending on the type of the failure. If the number of times used as the notification criterion is set high, notification delay or notification omission occurs when failure information with high importance is repeatedly occurring. If the threshold value is set to a low value in accordance with failure information with high importance, the frequency of failure notification increases. If a large amount of fault information of a level that does not need to be notified is notified in large quantities, there arises a problem that truly necessary information and phenomena are buried in a large amount of data.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of notifying failure information at an appropriate frequency in consideration of the importance of the failure.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention deletes failure information that has passed an expiration date from the storage unit that stores the reported failure information and the failure information stored by the storage unit. And when the failure information is reported, the failure stored by the storage unit is deleted after the failure information that has expired by the deletion unit is deleted from the failure information stored in the storage unit. Based on the cumulative value of the information score, a determination unit that determines whether or not the threshold is reached, and the cumulative value of the failure information stored by the determination unit is stored if it is determined that the threshold has been reached. Notification means for notifying the monitoring source of the fault information.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of notifying failure information at an appropriate frequency in consideration of the importance of a failure.

(First embodiment)
Embodiments to which the present invention can be applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 100, monitoring apparatuses 200 and 201, and a personal computer (PC) 300 are connected to each other via a network (Internet 20 and LAN 30). The monitoring apparatuses 200 and 201 communicate with the image forming apparatus 100 via a LAN / WAN or the Internet. The monitoring devices 200 and 201 monitor the operation mode in the image forming apparatus 100, print counter values, component counter values representing the operation amount of each component, operation information such as operation logs, and troubles such as service calls, jams, and alarms. Get information.

  The monitoring device 200 outside the customer intranet environment 10 is a monitoring device that monitors the image forming apparatus 100 in an integrated manner. The monitoring device 200 monitors failure information and the like of the image forming apparatus 100 via the Internet 20. In this case, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) / SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), or the like is used. SOAP is a protocol for calling data and services of another computer from one computer based on XML (eXtended Markup Language).

  The monitoring apparatus 201 and the image forming apparatus 100 in the customer intranet environment 10 are connected to each other via a LAN 30. The monitoring apparatus 201 monitors the image forming apparatus 100 in the same LAN. As a communication means at this time, MIB (Management Information Base) information communication via SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is used. The monitoring device 201 communicates with the monitoring device 200 via the Internet 20.

  The image forming apparatus 100 described here includes a digital composite copying machine, a printer, a scanner, a facsimile, and the like that integrate a printing function, a facsimile function, and a copying function. Hereinafter, a digital composite copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) is included. ).

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a hardware configuration of the copying machine 100.

  In the drawing, reference numeral 150 denotes an automatic document feeder (DF), and 102 denotes a scanner. The scanner 102 includes a document illumination lamp 103, a scanning mirror 104, and the like.

  The automatic document feeder 150 conveys documents one by one from the last page onto the platen glass 101 and discharges the documents after the document reading operation is completed. The document conveyed on the platen glass 101 is reciprocated by a scanner 102 driven by a motor (not shown). The reflected light passes through the lens 107 via the scanning mirrors 104 to 106 and forms an image on the CCD sensor in the image sensor unit 108. An exposure control unit 109 is configured by a laser, a polygon scanner, or the like. The exposure sensor 109 converts the laser beam 119, which is converted into an electric signal by the image sensor unit 108 and modulated based on an image signal subjected to predetermined image processing, into a photosensitive drum. 111 is irradiated.

  Around the photosensitive drum 111, a primary charger 112, a developing device 113, a transfer charger 116, a pre-exposure lamp 114, and a cleaning device 115 are provided. In the image forming unit 110, the photosensitive drum 111 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a motor (not shown), and after being charged to a desired potential by the primary charger 112, the laser beam 119 from the exposure control unit 109. And an electrostatic latent image is formed thereon. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 111 is developed by the developing unit 113 and visualized as a toner image.

  On the other hand, the transfer paper fed from the right cassette deck 121, the left cassette deck 122, the upper cassette 123 or the lower cassette 124 by the pickup rollers 125 to 128 is supplied to the transfer belt 134 by the feed rollers 129 to 132 and the registration rollers 133. Sent. In the process, the visualized toner image is transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer charger 116. A multi-manual feed 151 that can accommodate 100 transfer sheets is also provided.

  After the toner image is transferred, the residual toner is cleaned by the cleaner device 115 from the photosensitive drum 111, and the residual charge is erased by the pre-exposure lamp 114. The transferred transfer paper is separated from the photosensitive drum 111 by the separation charger 117 and conveyed to the fixing device 135 by the transfer belt 134. In the fixing device 135, the toner image is fixed by pressurization and heating, and is discharged out of the copying machine 100 by the discharge roller 136.

  Reference numeral 137 denotes a paper discharge flapper, which switches between the transport path 138 side and the discharge path 143 side. Reference numeral 140 denotes a lower transport path, which guides the transfer sheet fed from the sheet discharge roller 136 upside down to the refeed path 141 via the reverse path 139. Further, the transfer paper fed from the left cassette deck 122 by the paper feed roller 130 is also guided to the refeed path 141. A refeed roller 142 refeeds the transfer sheet to the image forming unit 110. Reference numeral 144 denotes a discharge roller disposed in the vicinity of the paper discharge flapper 137, which discharges the transfer paper switched to the discharge path 143 by the paper discharge flapper 137 to the outside of the apparatus.

  During duplex recording (duplex copying), the paper discharge flapper 137 is raised upward, and the copied transfer paper is guided to the refeed path 141 via the transport path 138, the reverse path 139, and the lower transport path 140. At this time, the transfer paper is completely pulled out of the conveyance path 138 by the reverse roller 145 at the rear end, and is drawn into the reverse path 139 to the position where the transfer paper is engaged with the reverse roller 145, and the reverse roller 145 is reversed. It is sent out to the conveyance path 140.

  When the transfer paper is reversed and discharged from the copying machine 100, the paper discharge flapper 137 is raised upward, and is drawn into the reverse path 139 by the reverse roller 145 to the position where the rear end of the transfer paper remains in the transport path 138. Further, by reversing the reverse roller 145, the transfer paper is turned over and sent to the discharge roller 144 side.

  Reference numeral 160 denotes a paper discharge processing device that aligns and closes the transfer paper discharged from the copying machine 100. In this apparatus, transfer sheets discharged one by one are stacked and aligned on a processing tray 164. When part of the image formation is completed, the transfer sheet bundle is stapled and discharged to the discharge tray 162 or 163.

  The sheet discharge tray 163 is controlled by a motor (not shown) to move up and down, and is moved to the position of the processing tray 164 before the image forming operation starts. It moves to the position of the processing tray 164. Reference numeral 168 denotes a tray lower limit sensor that detects the lower limit of the paper discharge tray 163 and detects when about 2000 transfer sheets are stacked on the paper discharge tray 163.

  Reference numeral 161 denotes a paper tray on which separator sheets to be inserted between the discharged transfer sheets are stacked. Reference numeral 165 denotes a Z-folding machine that Z-folds the discharged transfer sheets. Reference numeral 166 denotes a bookbinding machine that performs bookbinding by collectively folding a part of the discharged transfer paper and performing stapling, and the bound paper bundle is discharged to a discharge tray 167.

  In addition, various sensors (not shown) are arranged at various locations in the cross-sectional view, such as out of toner, document jam, transfer paper remaining amount, transfer paper jam, development-related consumable member remaining amount, document illumination lamp out, etc. Various faults occurring in the copying machine 100 are detected.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control unit 180 in the copying machine 100.

  Each component of the control unit 180 is connected to a system bus 181 and an image bus 182. The ROM 183 stores a control program for the copying machine 100 and the like, and is executed by the CPU 186. The RAM 184 is a work memory area for executing a program, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data and the like. The storage memory 185 is a non-volatile memory, and various operation mode settings that need to be retained even after the copier 100 is restarted, the number of printed sheet counter values, a component counter value that represents the amount of operation of the component, an operation log, and a service call Fault information such as error / jam / alarm is stored. A network I / F 189 is an interface unit for connecting to the LAN 30, and communicates with the monitoring devices 200 and 201 via the LAN 30, the WAN, and the Internet 20. The operation unit 188 includes display means and key input means, which are controlled by the CPU 186. The operator gives various setting instructions and operation / stop instructions regarding scanner reading and print output through the key input means. The above components are arranged on the system bus 181.

  The IO control unit 187 is a bus bridge for connecting the system bus 181 and an image bus 182 that transfers image data at high speed. The image bus 182 is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394. The image bus 182 has the following configuration. The digital I / F unit 193 connects the reader unit 196 or the printer unit 197 of the copying machine 100 and the control unit 180, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data. Further, information detected by the above-described various sensors arranged at various locations in the reader unit 196 and the printer unit 197 flows to the system bus 181 via the digital I / F unit 193 and the IO control unit 197. The image processing unit 191 performs correction / processing / editing on input and output image data. The image rotation unit 192 rotates image data. The image compression / decompression unit 194 performs JPEG compression / decompression processing for multi-value image data and JBIG / MMR / MR / MH for binary image data. The image density conversion unit 195 performs resolution conversion and the like on the output image data.

  According to the control program executed by the CPU 186, the CPU 186 sets various operation modes in the storage memory 185, the printed sheet counter value, the component counter value indicating the operation amount of the component, the operation log, and failure information such as service call error / jam / alarm. Is read. It is transmitted to the monitoring devices 200 and 201 via the network I / F 189.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the monitoring apparatus 200.

  Each component of the monitoring device 200 is connected to the system bus 251. The CPU 252 controls the entire monitoring device 200. The ROM 253 is a read-only memory for storing a boot program necessary for starting the system, and the RAM 254 is a work memory required when the CPU 252 executes the program. A network I / F unit 255 is an interface unit for connecting to a network (Internet 20 and LAN 30), and communicates with the copier 100 and the PC 300 via the network. The HDD 261 stores programs executed by the CPU 252 and operation information of each copying machine 100 sent via the network. A display device 257 is connected to the display control unit 256, and input devices 259 and 260 are connected to the input control unit 258. An operator who manages the monitoring apparatus 200 confirms the operation state of the monitoring apparatus 200 and gives an operation instruction through these input / output devices.

  The hardware configuration of the monitoring device 201 in the customer intranet environment 10 is the same as that of the monitoring device 200.

  As described above, the information on the copying machine 100 received by the monitoring devices 200 and 201 includes various operation mode settings, a printed sheet counter value, a component counter value indicating an operation amount of a component, an operation log, a service call error / jam / alarm. There is fault information such as.

  Among these pieces of information, information relating to a failure according to the present invention is stored in the failure information history table 500 and the failure state table 1000 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and these tables are stored in the HDD 261 for management. Also, the failure point master table 400 shown in FIG.

  The failure score master table 400 shown in FIG. 5 is a correspondence table between the types of failures that occur in the copying machine 100 and the failure score 402 in which the importance of the failure is quantified. The failure code 401 is an identification code determined in advance to specify the failure content. The failure code 401 may combine a plurality of failures into one item using a wild card or the like. The failure point 402 is a value that is quantified according to the degree of influence such as the degree of influence on the operation of the copying machine 100 and the necessity of handling service personnel. The failure point master table 400 exists for each type of copy machine when the importance is different for each type of copying machine, and exists for each user contract when the importance is different for each user contract.

  The failure information history table 500 shown in FIG. 6 exists separately for each copying machine ID assigned to the copying machine side in order to uniquely identify each copying machine 100. The monitoring apparatus 200 stores the failure information in the failure information history table 500 corresponding to the copying machine ID added when the failure information is received. The failure information received by the monitoring apparatus 200 includes, in addition to the copying machine ID, a failure code that uniquely indicates the failure content for each failure, its occurrence date and time, and a total counter at the time of occurrence. The total counter is a counter value indicating the total number of output sheets since the copying machine 100 started to operate. The history 501 stores an identification number automatically assigned by the monitoring apparatus 200 in order to uniquely identify each history code. The failure code 502, the occurrence date and time 504, and the occurrence time counter value 505 store the failure code, the occurrence date and time, and the total counter at the time of occurrence, respectively, received as failure information. The failure point number 503 stores the failure point number 402 corresponding to the failure code 401 by referring to the failure point master table 400 based on the failure code 502.

  FIG. 7 is a failure status table 1000 showing the current status of failure information. In the failure status table 1000, a threshold value 1010 is set and stored as a determination criterion for notifying failure information. Further, the cumulative value 1020 of failure points based on the failure information to be monitored and the total number 1030 of failure information to be monitored are also stored. Details of these information will be described later.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a failure notification determination process realized by the CPU 252 executing a control program in the monitoring apparatus 200. The failure notification determination processing operation performed by the CPU 252 of the monitoring apparatus 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the monitoring apparatus 200 receives a report of failure information such as a service call error / jam / alarm from the copying machine 100, the process shown in FIG. 8 is started.

  In S600, the failure point master table 400 is referred to based on the failure code of the received failure information, and it is determined whether or not the corresponding failure code 401 exists and the failure point 402 corresponding to the failure code is registered. To do. That is, it is determined whether or not the received fault information is a fault to be monitored to which the fault score in the monitoring apparatus 200 is to be added. If the corresponding failure code 401 does not exist or the failure score 402 is not registered, it is determined that the received failure information is not subject to notification, this process is terminated, and the reception of new failure information is awaited. When the failure code 401 corresponding to the failure point master table 400 exists and the failure point 402 is registered, the process proceeds to the next S601. For example, the following description will be made assuming that the received failure information is the failure code “000101”, the number of failures “10”, and the counter value at the time of failure occurrence is “23305”. Also, the failure status table before reception is shown in FIG.

  In S601, the failure information history table 500 is checked based on the current current counter value, and it is determined whether or not there is failure information that occurred before a predetermined number of times.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the predetermined number is 300. This predetermined number is provided as a failure expiration date for removing the old failure from the monitoring target in the present embodiment. The failure information history table 500 is searched for a failure history in which the occurrence counter value 505 falls below a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the latest current counter value included in the received failure information. Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, since the current counter value in the latest failure information received in S600 is “23305” and the predetermined number is “300”, the occurrence counter for the failure history whose history 501 is “181” The value 505 is below “23005”. In this example, the failure information of the history “181” is failure information that has occurred a predetermined number of times before the current count value. If there is failure information that occurred before the predetermined number from the current counter value, the process proceeds to the next S602. If it does not exist, skip S602 and go to S603.

  In S <b> 602, the failure information generated before the predetermined number from the current count value extracted in S <b> 601 is deleted from the failure information history table 500. Then, the failure score 503 corresponding to the failure information is subtracted from the total failure score indicating the failure occurrence level. Specifically, the failure history with the history 501 of “181” is deleted from the failure information history table 500, and the corresponding failure score 503 “5 points” is subtracted from the cumulative value of the failure scores. By this step S602, the fault information that has been determined as the fault notification until then is excluded from the fault notification determination target.

  In S603, as a process for setting the received failure information as a notification determination target, the number of failures corresponding to the failure information determined as a monitoring target in S600 is added to the cumulative value. The failure status table at this time is shown in FIG.

  In S604, the received failure information is stored in the failure information history table 500.

  In S605, it is determined whether or not to notify the system administrator and the service person of the failure history by comparing the cumulative value of the failure points with the threshold value. When the cumulative value of the failure score of the notification determination target failure reaches a predetermined threshold value or more, it is determined to notify the failure history, and the process proceeds to the next S606. If the threshold value is not reached, this process is terminated and the reception of new failure information is awaited.

  In S606, the content of the failure information history table 500 is transmitted as a failure history notification. The transmission contents may be all or a part of the failure information history table 500. Information such as a copying machine ID that uniquely identifies the copying machine is also added and transmitted. Specific methods of transmission include mail transmission and HTTP transmission. In addition to the PC 300, the transmission destination may be any monitoring source such as the copying machine 100, a WWW server, or another monitoring device.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7B, in S605, it is determined that the cumulative number of failure points of the notification determination target failure reaches a predetermined threshold value or more, and failure information is notified in S606.

  In S <b> 607, the failure information history table 500 and the accumulated value of the failure points are initialized so that the notified failure is not redundantly notified.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the monitoring apparatus 200 considers the importance of the failure information, and further deletes the failure that has passed the expiration date, so that the determination process for performing the failure notification that best suits the current failure state is performed. Yes. As a result, an administrator or a service person can accurately grasp the current failure occurrence state of the copying machine 100, and maintenance work for old and unnecessary failure information of the copying machine 100 can be prevented. Further, it is possible to suppress traffic due to useless failure notification. This leads to more efficient maintenance work for the sales company, lower maintenance costs, and lower system maintenance costs.

  In the present embodiment, the monitoring device 200 that performs failure notification determination processing directly communicates with the image forming device 100 to transmit and receive failure information and the like. However, it is also possible to adopt a form in which another monitoring apparatus is inserted and fault information of the image forming apparatus 100 is received from the monitoring apparatus. Specifically, the monitoring apparatus 200 receives failure information and the like of the image forming apparatus 100 from the monitoring apparatus 201. Even in such a case, the method on the monitoring apparatus 200 side described in the present invention can be similarly realized, and the same effect can be obtained.

  The failure notification determination process can also be performed by the monitoring apparatus 201 in the same manner. Even in such a case, the method on the monitoring apparatus 200 side described in the present invention can be similarly realized, and the same effect can be obtained.

  In this embodiment, after deleting the failure information whose expiration date has expired in S602, it is determined in S605 whether or not the cumulative value of the failure information reaches a threshold value. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the score based on the failure information whose expiration date has expired may be subtracted after the cumulative value is obtained.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, an embodiment in the case where the predetermined number of failure notification determination targets differs depending on the failure information will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The failure score master table 450 shown in FIG. 9 is a correspondence table in which an effective number 453 as a failure expiration date is added to the failure score master table 400 shown in FIG. Here, the expiration date of a failure in the present invention indicates a period during which the failure should be managed as a monitoring target.

  The failure code 451 is an identification code determined in advance in order to uniquely identify the failure content. The failure code 451 may combine a plurality of failures into one item using a wild card or the like.

  The number of failure points 452 is a value quantified according to the degree of importance such as the degree of influence on the operation of the copying machine 100 and the necessity of handling service personnel.

  The effective number 453 is a value that defines the period to be included in the failure notification determination target based on the number of operating copies of the copying machine 100 as a criterion, and indicates how long the failure will affect later.

  The failure point master table 450 exists for each type of copy machine when the above-described importance and validity period are different for each type of copying machine, and exists for each user contract when it differs for each user contract. Here, by making it possible to set a failure score as a weight and an effective number as an expiration date for the failure, it is possible for an administrator to determine in advance a failure or the like to be monitored only for a certain period from the occurrence. Also, the failure information can be flexibly managed by assigning different weights to the failure. Specifically, a consumables out alarm such as “no staples” is a warning that directly affects the printing process, but is also an error that can be quickly recovered by the user. In terms of the importance of the failure of the printing apparatus, it is an error with a high score, but considering that it can be recovered immediately, the expiration date of the failure should be set short. In addition, for the error “jam”, the number of failures is not very high, but if it occurs frequently many times, it is likely that the device itself is defective, so the expiration date is extended to some extent and the failure frequency is managed. Want to confirm. Therefore, a failure such as “jam” may have a low score but an operation with a longer expiration date. In addition, there are “jams” with different places of occurrence, such as paper trays and duplex units, but the score is set as the same importance. For example, if a paper tray is not used very often, It is necessary to set and monitor for a long time. However, in the case of “jam” of a frequently used part such as a duplex unit, the expiration date may be set short. As described above, by using two weightings for the type of failure, more flexible filtering of monitoring information becomes possible.

  In the present embodiment, when a valid number of sheets have elapsed from the occurrence of a failure, the failure is excluded from the monitoring target. However, when a certain number is reached, the number of failure points of the failure may be gradually subtracted. As a result, it is possible to make a flexible failure notification determination in which an old failure can be more important than a new failure. In this embodiment, the valid number is set as the failure expiration date. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment as long as it is a setting value that can be managed by the information processing apparatus such as time and other periods.

  A failure information history table 550 shown in FIG. 10 is a history table in which the occurrence counter value 505 of the information history table 500 shown in FIG. However, the information history table 550 may hold not only the valid counter value 555 but also the occurrence counter value for notification of failure information. The monitoring apparatus 200 stores the failure information in the failure information history table 550 corresponding to the copying machine ID added when the failure information is received. The failure information received by the monitoring apparatus 200 includes, in addition to the copying machine ID, a failure code that uniquely indicates the failure content for each failure, its occurrence date and time, and a total counter at the time of occurrence. The history 551 stores an identification number automatically assigned by the monitoring apparatus 200 in order to uniquely identify each history code. The failure code 552 and the occurrence date / time 554 store the failure code and the occurrence date / time received in the failure information, respectively. The failure point number 553 stores the failure point number 452 corresponding to the failure code 451 by referring to the failure point master table 450 based on the failure code 552. The effective counter value 555 stores a value obtained by adding the effective number 453 corresponding to the failure code 451 of the failure point master table 450 to the total counter at the time of occurrence received by the failure information.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart related to a failure notification determination process realized by a control program executed by the CPU 252 in the monitoring apparatus 200. The failure notification determination processing operation performed by the CPU 252 of the monitoring apparatus 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the monitoring apparatus 200 receives a report of failure information such as a service call error / jam / alarm from the copying machine 100, the process shown in FIG. 11 is started.

  In S650, the failure point master table 450 is referenced based on the failure code for the received failure information, the corresponding failure code 451 exists, and the failure point number 452 and the valid number 453 corresponding to the failure code are registered. Judge whether or not. If the corresponding failure code 451 does not exist or if the failure score 452 or the valid number 453 is not registered, it is determined that the received failure information is not subject to notification, this processing flow is terminated, and new failure information is obtained. Wait for reception. If there is a failure code 451 corresponding to the failure point master table 450 and the failure point number 452 and the valid number 453 corresponding to the failure code are registered, the process proceeds to the next S651. For example, the following description will be made assuming that the received failure information is the received code “000101” and the current counter value when the failure occurs is “23280”. Also, the failure status table before receiving a failure is shown in FIG.

  In S651, the failure information history table 550 is checked based on the counter value, and it is determined whether or not there is failure information that has expired. A failure history whose effective counter value 555 is lower than the latest current counter value included in the received failure information is searched from the failure information history table 550. Here, when the latest current counter value is “23280”, the effective counter value 555 is less than “23280” for the three failure histories having the history 551 of “184”, “185”, and “186” in FIG. In this example, these three pieces of failure information have expired. If there is failure information that has expired, the failure information is extracted, and the process proceeds to S652. If there is no failure information whose expiration date has passed, the process proceeds to S653.

  In S652, the failure information extracted in S651 is deleted from the failure information history table 550. At this time, the failure score corresponding to the failure information to be deleted is subtracted from the cumulative value of the failure status table. Specifically, three failure histories whose history 551 is “184”, “185”, and “186” are deleted from the failure information history table 550, and “2 points” “1 point” “1” corresponding to the failure points 553 are deleted. The sum of “points” is subtracted from the cumulative number of failure points. By this S652, the fault information that has been determined as the fault notification until then is excluded from the faults to be monitored that should be notified of the fault.

  In the subsequent S653, as a process for making the received failure information a notification determination target, first, the failure score of the failure information monitored in S650 is added to the cumulative value. Specifically, the failure point “10 points” corresponding to the failure code “000101” is referred to from the failure point master table 450 and added to the cumulative value of the failure state table. Here, three failure points for failure information whose expiration date has expired in S652 are subtracted, and then 10 points are newly added in S653, and the result is as shown in FIG. 7C.

  In S654, an effective counter value 555, which is one piece of information stored in the failure information history table 550, is calculated. The effective counter value 555 is calculated by adding the effective number 453 corresponding to the failure code 451 of the failure point master table 450 to the total counter at the time of occurrence received by the failure information as described above. Here, the failure point master table 450 is referred to, and the effective number “500” corresponding to the failure code “000101” is added to the current counter value “23280”. Therefore, the effective counter value calculated here is “23780”.

  In S655, the received failure information and the valid counter value 555 calculated in S654 are stored in the failure information history table 550.

  In S656, it is determined whether or not to notify the failure history by comparing the cumulative value of the failure points with a threshold value. If the cumulative value of the failure score of the notification determination target failure calculated up to S653 reaches a predetermined threshold value or more, it is determined to notify the failure history, and the process proceeds to the next S657. If the threshold is not reached, there is no need to notify the administrator of a failure, so this process is terminated and the reception of new failure information is awaited.

  In S657, the content of the failure information history table 550 is transmitted to the administrator or the like as a failure history notification. The transmission content may be a part of the failure information history table 550. Information such as a copying machine ID that uniquely identifies the copying machine 100 is also added and transmitted. Specific methods of transmission include mail transmission and HTTP transmission. In addition to the PC 300, the transmission destination may be the copying machine 100, a WWW server, or another monitoring device.

  Here, in FIG. 7C, it is determined that the cumulative value of the failure points to be notified in S656 reaches or exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and failure information is notified in S657. .

  In S658, the failure information history table 550 and the total number of failure points are initialized so that the notified failure is not redundantly notified.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention described in detail, the monitoring device 200 can set the expiration date in consideration of the importance of the failure information, and further considering the period in which the failure affects each failure type. . As a result, the administrator and the service person can accurately grasp the failure occurrence status of the copying machine 100, and unnecessary maintenance work for the copying machine 100 can be reduced. It is also possible to suppress traffic related to failure notification. This leads to more efficient maintenance work for the sales company, lower maintenance costs, and lower system maintenance costs.

  In the present embodiment, the monitoring device 200 that performs failure notification determination processing directly communicates with the image forming apparatus 100 and receives failure information and the like. However, as in the first embodiment, another monitoring device may be inserted between the monitoring devices to receive the failure information of the image forming apparatus 100. Specifically, the monitoring apparatus 200 receives failure information and the like of the image forming apparatus 100 from the monitoring apparatus 201. Even in such a case, the method on the monitoring apparatus 200 side described in the present invention can be similarly realized, and the same effect can be obtained.

  The failure notification determination process can also be performed by the monitoring apparatus 201 in the same manner. Even in such a case, the method on the monitoring apparatus 200 side described in the present invention can be similarly realized, and the same effect can be obtained.

  In this embodiment, after deleting the failure information whose expiration date has expired in S602, it is determined in S605 whether or not the cumulative value of the failure information reaches a threshold value. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the score based on the failure information whose expiration date has expired may be subtracted after the cumulative value is obtained.

(Third embodiment)
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the monitoring devices 200 and 201 perform failure notification determination processing. However, it is also possible to perform the same determination process with the copying machine 100. An embodiment when the copier 100 performs a failure notification determination process similar to that of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As described above, the information transmitted from the copying machine 100 to the monitoring devices 200 and 201 includes various operation mode settings, a printed sheet counter value, a component counter value indicating the operation amount of the component, an operation log, a service call error / jam / alarm. There is fault information such as.

  In the present embodiment, the failure information is stored and managed in the storage memory 185 as a failure information history table 500 shown in FIG. The failure score master table 400 shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the storage memory 185 in advance. Further, it is stored in an accumulation memory or the like in the same manner as the failure status table as shown in FIG. Specifically, the failure point master table 400 allocates failure points 402 as shown in FIG. 12, for example, according to the importance of the failure.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of notification determination according to the present invention. In FIG. 14, the number of failure points is set according to FIG. 12, and the threshold value for notification is set to 15 points (“15 points / 7 sheets”) as the cumulative number of failure points during the printing process of 7 sheets. In FIG. 14, a “jam” or “cover open” or “no fixing oil” failure has occurred in the fixing device 135.

  A determination processing operation for failure notification performed by the CPU 186 of the copying machine 100 when a failure occurs as shown in FIG. 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

  Due to various sensors arranged in the copying machine 100, the toner runs out, the original jam, the transfer paper remaining amount, the transfer paper jam, the developing-related consumable member remaining amount, the original illumination lamp has run out, and various other troubles occurring inside the copying machine 100. Is detected. The detected information is stored in the storage memory 185. According to the control program executed by the CPU 186, the CPU 186 sets various operation modes in the storage memory 185, the printed sheet counter value, the component counter value indicating the operation amount of the component, the operation log, and failure information such as service call error / jam / alarm. Is read. Through these processes, failure information is reported to the CPU 186 from various sensors, and the process shown in FIG. 8 is started.

  In addition, regarding the reporting of the fault information, the various sensors directly report the fault detection to the CPU 186, and then the CPU 186 reports the fault by means of instructing the sensor to acquire or transmit the fault information. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  In S600, the failure point master table 400 is referred to the detected failure information based on the failure code, and it is determined whether or not the corresponding failure code 401 exists and the corresponding failure point 402 is registered. . If the corresponding failure code 401 does not exist or there is no failure score 402, it is determined that the detected failure information is not subject to notification determination, this processing flow is terminated, and detection of new failure information is awaited. If the corresponding failure code 401 exists and the corresponding failure point 402 is registered, the process proceeds to S601.

  In S601, the failure information history table 500 is checked based on the counter value, and it is determined whether or not there is failure information that occurred before a predetermined number. The failure information history table 500 is searched for a failure history in which the occurrence counter value 505 falls below a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined number from the latest current counter value included in the received failure information. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, when a jam 805 occurs in the fixing device 135, all the faults from the jam 800 to the cover open 804 occur within the last seven sheets from the occurrence of the jam 805. It is. In S601, when there is failure information that occurred seven times before the occurrence of the detected failure, the process proceeds to S602. If there is no failure information that occurred immediately before the last seven sheets, the process proceeds to S603.

  In S602, the failure information extracted in S601 is deleted from the failure information history table 500, and the failure score 503 corresponding to the failure information is subtracted from the cumulative value of failure scores indicating the failure occurrence degree.

  In S603, as a process for making the received failure information a notification determination target, first, the failure score corresponding to the failure determined to be a monitoring target in S600 is added to the cumulative value. Specifically, in the case of a jam 805 in the fixing device 135 in FIG. 14, “3 points” of the failure score 402 of the jam 805 is added to the accumulated value 806 “12 points” so far, and the accumulated value is obtained. “15 points”. In S604, the received failure information is stored in the failure information history table 500.

  In S605, it is determined whether or not to notify the failure history by comparing the cumulative value of the failure points with the threshold value. Specifically, in the case of a jam 805 in the fixing device in FIG. 14, the cumulative value 806 “15 points” of the failure score of the notification determination target failure reaches a predetermined threshold value “15 points” or more. If it is determined that the failure history is to be notified, the process proceeds to S606. Here, if the threshold value has not been reached, this processing flow is terminated, and reception of new failure information is awaited.

  In S606, the content of the failure information history table 500 is transmitted as a failure history notification. The transmission contents may be all or a part of the failure information history table 500. Information such as a copying machine ID that uniquely identifies the copying machine 100 is also added and transmitted. Specific transmission methods include mail transmission, HTTP / SOAP transmission, and display on the display means of the operation unit 188 of the copying machine 100 itself. In addition to the monitoring devices 200 to 201, the transmission destination may be the PC 300 or the copying machine 100 itself.

  In S <b> 607, the failure information history table 500 and the accumulated value of the failure points are initialized so that the notified failure is not redundantly notified. Specifically, “15 points” is set to “0 points” for the cumulative value 806 of the failure points of notification determination target failures.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment to which the present invention described in detail can be applied, it is possible to perform harm notification determination in consideration of the importance of failure information while preventing notification of failure information that is not required to be reported by the copying machine 100. As a result, the administrator or service person can accurately grasp the failure occurrence state of the copying machine 100, and unnecessary maintenance work for the copying machine 100 can be prevented. It is also possible to suppress traffic related to failure notification. This leads to more efficient maintenance work for the sales company, lower maintenance costs, and lower system maintenance costs.

  Here, in the related art, notification determination is separately performed for jams having different importance levels and alarms of each level, for example, as shown in FIG. For this reason, in the example of FIG. 13 in which “jamming” that seems to be caused by “no fixing oil” occurs frequently, the notification of “jamming frequently” is only performed when the fourth jam 814 occurs as shown in FIG. Become. At that timing, 811 is not notified unless the set number of times (threshold value) without fixing oil has been reached. However, in the present embodiment, notification determination is performed based on the importance of the failure and the expiration date, so it is possible to collectively notify related failures.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration of an image forming apparatus and a monitoring apparatus. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration inside the image forming apparatus 100. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a figure which shows the block diagram of monitoring apparatus 200,201. It is a figure which shows the failure point master table for performing the determination process of a failure notification in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the failure information history table for performing the determination process of a failure notification in 1st Embodiment. (A) It is a figure which shows the failure condition table for performing the determination process of a failure notification. (B) It is a figure which shows the failure condition table after updating by S603 in 1st Embodiment. (C) It is a figure which shows the failure condition table updated by S653 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the flowchart regarding the determination process of a failure notification implement | achieved when CPU executes a control program in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the failure point master table for performing the determination process of a failure notification in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the failure information log | history table for performing the determination process of a failure notification in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the flowchart regarding the determination process of a failure notification implement | achieved when CPU runs a control program in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the response | compatibility with the content of a failure and the number of failure points concerning notification determination, and threshold setting in 3rd Embodiment. The figure showing an example of the threshold setting by the frequency | count of the prior art which concerns on notification determination in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the specific example regarding generation | occurrence | production of the failure at the time of performing notification determination in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the different specific example of FIG. 14 regarding generation | occurrence | production of the failure at the time of performing notification determination.

Explanation of symbols

10 Customer intranet environment 20 Internet 30 LAN
100 Copier 180 Copier Control Unit 200/201 Monitoring Device 300 PC

Claims (11)

Storage means for storing the reported fault information;
Deletion means for deleting failure information that has expired from the failure information stored by the storage means;
When the failure information is reported, after the failure information whose expiration date has expired is deleted from the failure information stored in the storage unit by the deletion unit, the cumulative number of points of the failure information stored in the storage unit A determination means for determining whether or not the threshold is reached based on the value;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a notification unit that notifies the monitoring source of the stored failure information when it is determined that the cumulative value of the points of failure information stored by the determination unit has reached a threshold value .   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the expiration date is set corresponding to a type of failure information. Storage means for storing the reported fault information;
Deletion means for deleting failure information that has passed the expiration date set corresponding to the type of failure information from the failure information stored by the storage means;
The storage means includes a notification means for notifying the monitoring source of the stored failure information when the threshold is reached based on a cumulative value of points determined according to the importance of the stored failure information. Information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus is mounted inside the image forming apparatus,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the failure information is information reported by a sensor for detecting failure information inside the image forming apparatus. A deletion step of storing the reported failure information and deleting failure information that has passed the expiration date from the stored failure information;
When the failure information is reported, after deleting the failure information that has passed the expiration date in the deletion step from the stored failure information, based on the cumulative value of points determined according to the importance of the failure information, An information processing method comprising: a notification step of notifying the monitoring source of the stored failure information when the threshold is reached.   6. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the expiration date is set corresponding to a type of failure information. A step of storing the reported fault information, and deleting the fault information that has passed the expiration date set corresponding to the type of fault information from the stored fault information;
An information processing method comprising: a notification step of notifying the monitoring source of the stored failure information when a threshold is reached based on a cumulative value of points determined according to the importance of the stored failure information . A deletion step of storing the reported failure information and deleting failure information that has passed the expiration date from the stored failure information;
When the failure information is reported, after deleting the failure information that has passed the expiration date in the deletion step from the stored failure information, based on the cumulative value of points determined according to the importance of the failure information, A computer-readable program for causing a computer to realize a notification step of notifying a monitoring source of stored failure information when a threshold value is reached. A step of storing the reported fault information, and deleting the fault information that has passed the expiration date set corresponding to the type of fault information from the stored fault information;
Based on the cumulative value of points determined according to the degree of importance of the stored failure information, a computer-readable for causing the computer to notify the monitoring source of the stored failure information when the threshold is reached Program. A deletion step of storing the reported failure information and deleting failure information that has passed the expiration date from the stored failure information;
When the failure information is reported, after deleting the failure information that has passed the expiration date in the deletion step from the stored failure information, based on the cumulative value of points determined according to the importance of the failure information, A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for causing a computer to realize a notification step of notifying a monitoring source of stored failure information when a threshold value is reached. A step of storing the reported fault information, and deleting the fault information that has passed the expiration date set corresponding to the type of fault information from the stored fault information;
Based on the cumulative value of points determined according to the degree of importance of the stored failure information, a computer-readable for causing the computer to notify the monitoring source of the stored failure information when the threshold is reached Storage medium that stores various programs.

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