JPS62150263A - management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To rationalize the management of plural copying machines so as to eliminate wastefulness in manpower, time, and economy, by constituting a management system in such a way that the plural terminal copying machines can be controlled under a centralized condition in accordance with the purpose and condition of each copying machine. CONSTITUTION:A public or private telephone line can be used as a line 2 connecting a management device 1 with plural copying machines 3-5 and a printer 6 is connected with the management device 1. The management device 1 is composed of an input interface 1A, 1C having the counting function with calender, processing section 1B which collects, processes, and stores each data, keyboard 1E through which command input and data input are performed, and CRT 1D for displaying data. Therefore, each of the plural terminal copying machines can be managed under a centralized condition so that they can be used rationally and wastefulness in manpower, time, and economy can be eliminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a management system for rationally and centrally managing a plurality of terminals such as copying machines.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, medium/large scale users using multiple copying machines have managed and used each copying machine independently.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, the conventional independent management method for each copying machine has the following drawbacks: 1) First, the copy volume must be managed by each department (each copying machine) in the user organization. However, it was difficult to centrally manage the entire system.

2) Running out of consumables such as copy paper and toner,
It is unreasonable that some copying machines are left in a state where they cannot make copies.

3) Work start time When using a copying machine for the first time (for example, the first time on arriving at work), the waiting time from turning on the power until it becomes ready for copying is wasted.

4) There is a possibility that the user may forget to turn off the power to the copying machine at the end of work (for example, when leaving the office).

5) Regardless of the usage status of each copying machine, unused copying machines are often left powered on, which is uneconomical. Such.

The present invention has been made by focusing on the unreasonableness of the conventional independent management of multiple terminals such as copying machines as described above, and aims to provide a rational centralized management method that solves the above-mentioned conventional problems. It is said that

[Means for solving problems]

For this reason, in the present invention, a centralized management system connects a plurality of terminals via a line, detects the contents of the desired managed items of each terminal, and uses the data to determine the priority of powering on each terminal. By configuring
This aims to achieve the above objective.

[Effect]

With the system configuration described above, a plurality of terminals can be centrally managed so that they can be used rationally, thereby saving human time and economic waste.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on examples. FIGS. 1 to 9 show an embodiment of the management system configuration according to the present invention and its respective operational flowcharts.

(Configuration) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the system configuration of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of its management device. In FIG. 1, 1 is an existing personal computer which serves as a management device, or may be made as a dedicated device, and 2 is a connection between the management device 1 and a plurality of copying machines 3°4.5. This line 2 may be a telephone line or may be a dedicated line. Further, 6 is a printer connected to the management device 1.

The management device 1 shown in FIG. 2 includes an input ink face LA that receives various signals from each copying machine n, an IC 1 that has a calendar clock function, a processing unit IB that collects, processes, and stores various data, command input, It consists of a keyboard IE for data input and a CRT 10 for data display.

(motion) Next, each operation in the above configuration will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation. First, the management device ll (Fig. 1.2) determines whether the current time is within the set time (step S-
30) In this example, it is 8:00 to 22:00, but the user can set it arbitrarily. If the current time is within the set time, the copying machine is powered on according to a predetermined priority order (S-31). The priority order here is determined by the flowchart of the priority order determination example shown in FIG. For the copying machine, first, it is determined whether or not there is developer toner as an example of consumables (S-41). If there is toner, add 1 to the pointer memory PM (
S-41). Similarly, if you have copy paper, you can add more PM.
(S-43), presence or absence of paper jam (S-44), operating rate value (S-45),
The copy speeds (S-46) are compared. After making the above judgment for all copying machines, the copying machine with the highest PM value is turned on and placed in a copy standby state (S-47). In the figure, N indicates the number of copying machines that are not copying, and n indicates the copying machine number assigned to the copying machines that are not copying.

In this example, the following five items were used as parameters for determining the priority order (items to be managed): the presence or absence of toner, the presence or absence of copy paper, the presence or absence of paper jams, the operating rate value, and the copy speed.These items may be changed depending on the situation. It goes without saying that the user can arbitrarily set the items, and the priority order between each item can also be arbitrarily set.

The data necessary for the above determination method shall be obtained by the data collection processing program (11) described below (see step 5-32 in Figure 3).In other words, toner remaining amount detection, number of copies, operation rate, The presence or absence of a jam and the line of the jam can be detected using known methods, as shown in Fig. 5 (flow chart for detecting remaining amount of torch) and Fig. 6, respectively.
Figure (number of copies.

The information is processed and stored in the management device 1 (Fig. 1.2) according to each flow shown in the flowchart for recording operation rate and number of jams.

To detect the remaining amount of copy paper 61 in the cassette 60, as shown in FIG. Detection is performed by means such as replacing with a change, and processing is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 7 (flow chart for detecting remaining amount of paper).

Do memory. Since each of the flowcharts in FIGS. 5 to 7 is simple, explanation of each step will be omitted.

Execute the above program +11 (Figure 3 S-32)
, collects and processes data, and if consumables are insufficient (S-33), the CRT 10 (
(Fig. 2) and printed by the printer 6 (Fig. 1.2) (S-34).

Next, when the current time reaches the end of the set time, that is, 22:00 in this example (Fig. 3, 5-35 to S-36), Fig. 9 (data processing program (22:00) ), the number of copies made on the day, operating rate, number of jams, remaining amount of consumables, etc. for each copying machine are totaled according to the flow of the data processing program (2) in step S-90. ), this is displayed and printed (S-91).

Further, the execution setting time of this program (2) can be arbitrarily set by the user, and the same information can also be obtained by inputting from the keyboard IE (FIG. 2) in the management device 1.

Further, in an emergency, each copying machine is configured to be able to be used by manual operation even outside the set time or even if the predetermined priority order is ignored.

(Other embodiments) In the above embodiments, a program i for determining priority order
ll, (2+ may be further liberalized to expand the user's program area.

In addition, the display CRT 10 (Figure 2) of the management device 1 displays the operating status of each copying machine by key-in, and the purpose of using the copying machine (copy size 5 number of copies, format, etc.) , a method can be considered in which, by inputting information into the management device l using a keyboard IE, the most suitable copying machine for the purpose is selected, displayed on the CRT 10, and the power of that copying machine is turned on.

Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to copying machines but also to computers.

It can be applied to all terminal devices such as facsimile machines.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above based on the embodiments, according to the present invention, a management system is configured to centrally manage a plurality of terminals according to their respective purposes and situations.
Management is streamlined and human-friendly.

It was possible to eliminate time and economic waste.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of the management system according to the present invention;
3 is a flowchart of an example of operation, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example of priority determination, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of remaining toner amount detection, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a copy FIG. 7 is a flowchart for recording the number of sheets, etc., FIG. 7 is a flowchart for detecting remaining paper amount, FIG. 8 is an example of a sensor for detecting remaining paper amount, and FIG.
) is a flowchart. 1... Management device (centralized management means), 2... Line, 3, 4.5... Each copying machine, 6
...Printer, 62...Slide volume (detection means). Schematic diagram of the portable I Mata no Zoshi gray machine and θ Sugatamari system Fig. 1 Tube IL Crest inside O structure Fig. 2 tjl, l\I Jll /) Flowchart Fig. 3 I Expenses Circumference n Shi Atmospheric scale 1 flowchart Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] A detection means for connecting a plurality of terminals via a line and detecting the contents of desired managed items of each of the terminals, and determining a priority order of power-on of each of the terminals based on the detection data. 1. A management system comprising: centralized management means for controlling