JP2019220076A - Remote management system and auxiliary installer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a system that, even when there is a problem with an installer of an update program in a gateway (GW) agent connected to a remote management system, can update the program by using an auxiliary installer.SOLUTION: A GW agent PC 80 comprises: a command receiving unit that receives commands for a program update instruction, a program download instruction, and a program start instruction, the commands being transmitted from a remote maintenance server; a program starting unit that starts a specified program on the basis of the transmitted program start instruction; an installer that starts the next program without an argument due to a bug; the next program for performing update processing on the program upon receiving the argument passed from the installer; an auxiliary installer that starts the installer together with the argument; and a download unit that downloads a program for the auxiliary installer from the remote maintenance server.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote management system and an auxiliary installer for remotely managing an image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral) via a network.

  In a remote management system that manages image forming apparatuses, a gateway agent is used to efficiently monitor and manage a plurality of image forming apparatuses and to remotely manage image forming apparatuses that do not support remote management. Is prepared.

  The gateway agent is a program that operates on a PC (Personal Computer) or the like at the installation location of the image forming apparatus, and the program is automatically updated by the remote management system, similarly to the image forming apparatus.

  However, in the conventional gateway agent, there is a problem that if the update program itself has a problem such as a bug, the remote management system cannot update the program.

  As systems for updating a program from a remote management system, systems according to Patent Documents 1 to 4 have been proposed. However, these systems are basically for realizing a management system for remotely updating the firmware of an image forming apparatus. belongs to.

JP 2009-146119 A JP 2009-164902 A JP 2010-79849 A JP 2012-230490 A

  However, in the methods of Patent Documents 1 to 4, there is no study on a method of restoring an installer that updates by a remote instruction in the case where there is a problem that stops updating.

  In view of the circumstances described above, an object of the present invention is to update a program using a retroactively modified installer even if there is a problem with an update program installer in a gateway agent connected to a remote management system. To provide a remote management system and an auxiliary installer that can perform

  In order to achieve the above object, a remote management system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a remote maintenance server, a connection server, and a gateway agent PC connected to a network, wherein the gateway agent PC is connected via the connection server. A command receiving unit that receives commands of a program update instruction, a program download instruction, and a program start instruction transmitted from the remote maintenance server, and a program transmitted from the remote maintenance server via the connection server. A program launching unit that launches a specified program based on a launch instruction, an installer that launches the next program without an argument due to a bug, and a process that updates the program by passing an argument from the installer. It comprises a program, an auxiliary installer to start the installer with arguments, from the remote maintenance server, and a download unit for downloading a program of the auxiliary installer.

  Therefore, in the gateway agent connected to the remote management system, even if there is a problem with the installer of the update program, the program can be updated using the installer that has been corrected afterwards.

  To achieve the above object, the auxiliary installer according to one aspect of the present invention is downloaded from the remote maintenance server to the gateway agent PC by a download unit according to a download instruction from the remote maintenance server, and is activated according to a start instruction from the remote maintenance server. An installer that is started by the program starting unit and starts the next program without an argument due to a bug is started with the argument, and the installer starts the next program with the argument.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in a gateway agent connected to a remote management system, even if there is a problem with an installer of an update program, the program can be updated using an installer that has been corrected afterwards.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram when the gateway agent PC 80 is configured by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the outline of the flow of a process when there is no problem in the installer 81d. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the process when the installer 81d has a problem assumed by this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline of the flow of a process when solving the problem of the installer 81d by the auxiliary installer 81f. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the detail of the flow of a process when solving the problem of the installer 81d by the auxiliary installer 81f.

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

[overall structure]
First, the overall configuration of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The remote management system 100 includes a network-connected load balancer 50 (50 is a generic name of 50A and 50B, the same applies hereinafter), a user operation server 60, a remote maintenance server 10, a DB (database) 70, and a connection server. 30, a gateway agent PC 80, and one or more image forming apparatuses 20.

  Endpoints viewed from the Internet side are a load distribution device 50A that distributes access from the user terminal 40 to the user operation servers 60A and 60B, and a load distribution device that distributes access from the image forming device 20 to the remote maintenance servers 10A and 10B. The device 50B, the connection server 30A, the connection server 30B, and the connection server 30C.

  The load distribution device 50A distributes the access from the user terminal 40 to the user operation servers 60A and 60B.

  The user operation server 60 receives an instruction from the user input from the user terminal 40.

  The load distribution device 50B distributes the access from the image forming device 20 to the remote maintenance servers 10A and 10B.

  The remote maintenance server 10 remotely maintains the image forming apparatus 20 under management. For example, it collects daily operation information (such as toner consumption and the number of printed sheets) and stores it in the DB 70, updates the firmware of the image forming apparatus 20, and updates the software of the gateway agent PC 80.

  The DB 70 stores daily operation information as described above.

  The connection server 30 is a server that makes a management connection with the image forming apparatus 20 to send a management command to the image forming apparatus 20 under the management of the remote management system 100. The management connection is continued until the power of the image forming apparatus 20 is turned off.

  The image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network first connects to the remote maintenance server 10 via the load distribution apparatus 50B, and obtains a response to which connection server 30 a management connection should be established. After that, the connection with the remote maintenance server 10 is cut off, the connection to the designated connection server 30 is established, and the management connection is established.

  The gateway agent PC 80 is a device that bundles the image forming apparatuses 20 made by other companies that cannot communicate directly with the remote management system 100 and incorporates them into the remote management system 100. On the gateway agent PC 80, gateway agent software operates to realize the function of an agent serving as a gateway.

  When the user requests the software update of the gateway agent PC 80 to the user operation server 60 via the user terminal 40, the request is transferred from the user operation server 60 to the remote maintenance server 10, and is transmitted from the remote maintenance server 10 via the connection server 30. It is transmitted to the gateway agent PC80.

  Upon receiving the software update instruction, the gateway agent PC 80 transmits a software download request to the remote maintenance server 10, obtains an updated version of the software, and the installer (program) performs an update process. When these processes are properly performed, the software before the update is replaced with the software after the update.

  In the present invention, it is assumed that a fatal problem that an update process is blocked occurs in an installer used for updating software. Under this assumption, the software update will fail because the installer process does not complete successfully.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the installer is included in the auxiliary installer (program), and the gateway agent PC 80 activates the auxiliary installer before the installer. The problem with the installer has been fixed in the auxiliary installer, and the update process can be executed without any problem.

  If there is a defect in the installer of a large number of gateway agents PC80 that bundle a large number of image forming apparatuses 20, there will be many gateway agents PC80 whose software cannot be updated, and the operability will be significantly deteriorated. According to the present invention, the problem can be solved without impairing the operability by realizing the normal program update even if the installer has a problem by the auxiliary installer.

  The overall configuration of the remote management system 100 has been described above. In the figure corresponding to the above description, for example, the number of connection servers 30 is three, but this is merely an example, and there may be any number of servers.

[Configuration of Gateway Agent PC]
Next, the configuration of the gateway agent PC 80 will be described. The gateway agent PC 80 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram when the gateway agent PC 80 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the gateway agent PC 80 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 81, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 82, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 83, an operation input unit 84, a communication unit 85, a display unit 86, It has a storage unit 87, and these blocks are connected via a bus 88.

  The ROM 82 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 83 is used as a work area of the CPU 81, and temporarily stores an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 87 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or another nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 87 stores an OS, various applications, and various data.

  The communication unit 85 is connected to a network for exchanging information with devices and the like on the network.

  The CPU 81 develops, in the RAM 83, a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 84 among a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 82 and the storage unit 87, and displays the display unit 86 and the storage unit in accordance with the developed program. 87 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 84 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 86 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 81 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized by the CPU 81 of the gateway agent PC 80 are a command receiving unit 81a, a downloading unit 81b, a program starting unit 81c, an installer 81d, a next program 81e, and an auxiliary installer 81f.

  The command receiving unit 81a receives commands such as a program update instruction, an update program download instruction, and a program start instruction transmitted from the remote maintenance server 10 via the connection server 30.

  The download unit 81b downloads, from the remote maintenance server 10, a program for an auxiliary installer, an update program, and the like.

  The program starting unit 81c starts a specified program based on a program starting instruction sent from the remote maintenance server 10 via the connection server 30.

  The installer 81d originally starts the next program 81e with an argument, but in the present invention, a problem occurs because the bug starts the next program 81e without an argument due to a bug.

  The next program 81e receives an argument from the installer 81d and performs a program update process.

  The auxiliary installer 81f is a program introduced to solve the problem of the installer 81d, and solves the problem by starting the installer 81d together with an argument.

  The configuration of the gateway agent PC 80 has been described above.

[Processing flow (normal)]
Next, an outline of a processing flow when there is no problem in the installer 81d will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of a processing flow when there is no problem in the installer 81d.

  First, based on an instruction from the remote maintenance server 10, the program starting unit 81c starts the installer 81d.

  Next, the installer 81d starts the next program 81e with an argument.

  Next, the next program 81e performs processing based on the argument, and normally ends the program update processing.

  The outline of the processing flow when the installer 81d has no problem has been described above.

[Processing flow (when a problem occurs)]
Next, an outline of a processing flow when the installer 81d has a problem assumed by the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a processing flow assumed when the installer 81d has a problem assumed by the present invention.

  First, based on an instruction from the remote maintenance server 10, the program starting unit 81c starts the installer 81d.

  Next, the next program 81e is started without the argument that the installer 81d should originally accompany.

  Next, the next program 81e is given no argument, and terminates the program update process abnormally.

  The outline of the processing flow when the installer 81d has a problem assumed by the present invention has been described above.

[Processing flow (when solving a problem)]
Next, an outline of a processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outline of a processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f.

  First, based on an instruction from the remote maintenance server 10, the program starting unit 81c starts the auxiliary installer 81f.

  Next, the auxiliary installer 81f starts the installer 81d with an argument. Here, it is assumed that the installer 81d passes the argument passed at the time of startup when the next program 81e to be started by itself starts.

  Next, the installer 81d starts the next program 81e with an argument.

  Next, the next program 81e performs processing based on the argument, and normally ends the program update processing.

  The outline of the processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f has been described above.

[Processing Flow (Details)]
Next, details of the processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f.

  First, it is assumed that a problem has occurred in the installer 81d that no argument is passed when the next program 81e is started (step S1).

  Next, the developer develops the auxiliary installer 81f and places it on the remote maintenance server 10. The download unit 81b downloads the auxiliary installer 81f according to the instruction of the remote maintenance server 10 (Step S2).

  Next, the program starting unit 81c receives an instruction to start the auxiliary installer 81f from the remote maintenance server 10 (Step S3).

  Next, the program starting unit 81c starts the auxiliary installer 81f (Step S4).

  Next, the auxiliary installer 81f starts the installer 81d with an argument (step S5).

  Next, the installer 81d starts the next program 81e with an argument (step S6). Since the arguments are appropriately passed to the next program 81e, the process ends normally and the program is updated.

  The details of the processing flow when the problem of the installer 81d is solved by the auxiliary installer 81f have been described above.

[Supplementary information]
In addition, the present invention is not limited only to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Remote maintenance server 20 ... Image forming apparatus 30 ... Connection server 40 ... User terminal 50 ... Load distribution apparatus 60 ... User operation server 70 ... DB
80… Gateway agent PC
81 ... CPU
81a Command receiving unit 81b Downloading unit 81c Program starting unit 81d Installer 81e Next program 81f Auxiliary installer 82 ROM
83… RAM
84 ... operation input unit 85 ... communication unit 86 ... display unit 87 ... storage unit 88 ... bus 100 ... remote management system

Claims (2)

Including a network-connected remote maintenance server, a connection server, and a gateway agent PC;
The gateway agent PC comprises:
A command receiving unit that receives a command of a program update instruction, a program download instruction, and a program start instruction transmitted from the remote maintenance server via the connection server;
A program start unit that starts a specified program based on a program start instruction sent from the remote maintenance server via the connection server,
An installer that launches the next program without arguments due to a bug,
The following program that receives an argument from the installer and performs a program update process:
An auxiliary installer that launches the installer with arguments;
A download unit for downloading the program of the auxiliary installer from the remote maintenance server.   According to a download instruction from the remote maintenance server, the download unit downloads the program from the remote maintenance server to the gateway agent PC according to the download instruction, and is started by the program start unit according to the start instruction from the remote maintenance server. An auxiliary installer that is an information processing program that starts an installer with the argument, and causes the installer to start the next program with the argument.

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