JP5755832B2 - INFORMATION PROVIDING DEVICE, INFORMATION PROVIDING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD, INFORMATION PROVIDING PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM CONTAINING THE PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing system for performing device analysis based on various information collected from one or a plurality of devices connected via a data transmission path such as a network and providing an analysis result. The present invention relates to a technique for providing proposal information indicating an office environment improvement plan.

  With the advancement of information processing technology including network communication, for example, a technology for remotely managing an internal system built in a specific area such as a local area from an external system is already known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system in which information relating to usage status is transmitted to a center from a copying machine set as a customer via a transmission device, and the information is accumulated. In the system described in Patent Document 1, the center analyzes the office environment request received through the website and the accumulated usage status, and evaluates the office environment. As a result, the system presents the analysis result to the customer and the manufacturer, and solicits an improvement plan. This helps to improve the office environment easily and effectively.

  However, specific information is not included in the conventional information provided using the system as disclosed in Patent Document 1.

  In almost all cases where manufacturers offer their products to customers, image forming apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as “devices”) such as printers, copiers, or multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are already available, regardless of whether they are in-house or other companies. This will be done for the installed environment. At this time, what is important is whether or not it is possible to promptly propose specific (quantitative) information including the improvement effect brought about in the current office environment by introducing the proposed product.

  Due to the recent trend toward environmental and energy conservation, consideration is also given to reducing power consumption, paper consumption, toner consumption, etc. (reducing environmental impact) for equipment installed in offices. . Depending on the user, it is one of important judgment materials when selecting a device to be purchased.

  For this reason, manufacturers, for example, pay attention to the reduction of environmental load, and replace the already installed equipment with the proposed product (latest product) as a successor, thereby reducing the environmental load value (for example, “CO2 emissions”). It is necessary to provide proposal information regarding specific office environment improvements, such as proposing a point where X (%) is reduced from the current situation.

  Conventionally, the above proposal information has been created manually by the person in charge of the manufacturer. This work is a troublesome work for the person in charge, and it takes time to complete the proposal information. For this reason, there are cases where information cannot be provided promptly in response to a request from a customer.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention is to provide an information providing device, an information providing system, a proposed information providing method, which can quickly provide a specific office environment improvement plan, To provide a proposed information providing program and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

In order to achieve the above object, an information providing apparatus according to the present invention is an information providing apparatus that provides proposal information related to an office environment, and includes information related to a use frequency based on being used by a plurality of users for a device. Based on device information, which is information about the device collected from the included devices, and customer information, which is information on customers managed in advance, a size determination unit that determines the size of a customer who is a proposal destination, and the size determination unit From one or a plurality of the proposal information recorded as past proposal cases, according to the scale of the customer as the determination result and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on the predetermined proposal concept Alternatively, proposal information generating means for generating a plurality of new proposal information, and proposal information proposal for providing the new proposal information generated by the proposal information generating means It has a means, a.

  With such a configuration, the information providing apparatus according to the present invention determines the scale of a customer as a proposal destination based on the device information collected from each device and the customer information managed in advance. Subsequently, the information providing apparatus refers to the proposed case information based on the determined scale of the customer as the proposal destination and the proposed concept, and searches for a past suggested case (corresponding case) that matches. As a result, the information providing apparatus generates candidate proposal information based on the corresponding case as a search result, and provides the generated one or more proposals.

  As a result, the information providing apparatus according to the present invention dynamically generates one or a plurality of pieces of proposal information according to the scale of the customer as the proposal destination based on the proposal examples that have been proven in the past as the office environment improvement plan. be able to. As a result, a concrete office environment improvement plan can be provided promptly.

In order to achieve the above object, an information providing method according to the present invention is an information providing method in an information providing apparatus that provides proposal information related to an office environment, and is provided by a plurality of users for the device related to the device collected from the device. A scale determination procedure for determining the scale of a customer as a proposal destination based on device information, which is information including usage frequency information based on usage, and customer information, which is information related to a customer managed in advance; One or a plurality of proposal cases recorded as past proposals according to the scale of the customer as a result of the scale determination procedure and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on the predetermined proposal concept Proposal information generation procedure for generating one or more new proposal information from the proposal information, and the new proposal generated by the proposal information generation procedure Has a proposed information providing procedure to provide the broadcast, the.

  By such a procedure, the information providing method according to the present invention dynamically converts one or a plurality of proposal information according to the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination based on the proposal examples that have been proven in the past as an office environment improvement plan. Realize the operation to generate.

  Thus, the information providing method according to the present invention can provide an environment in which a specific office environment improvement plan can be presented quickly.

  According to the present invention, one or more proposal information according to the scale of a customer who is a proposal destination is dynamically generated based on a proposal case that has been proven in the past as an office environment improvement plan. It is possible to provide an information providing apparatus, an information providing system, an information providing method, an information providing program, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded, which can provide an office environment improvement plan quickly.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the information provision system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the information provision apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function structural example which the information provision apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention has. It is a figure which shows the example of data of the apparatus information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of data of the customer information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of data of the product information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of data of the proposal example information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the proposal information generation part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the search element for performing the past case search which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process sequence example (the 1) which provides the proposal information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the proposal information generation which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the proposal information provision which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process sequence example (the 2) which provides the proposal information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function structural example (the 1) which the information provision apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention has. It is a figure which shows the function structural example (the 2) which the information provision apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention has. It is a figure which shows the function structural example (the 3) which the information provision apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention has.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
<System configuration>
A configuration of the system according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information providing system 1 according to the present embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, in the information providing system 1, one or a plurality of device management systems A to C that are analysis targets are connected to the information providing apparatus 100 via an external network I such as the Internet.

  The device management systems A to C are, for example, systems that are installed at a customer site and constructed in a specific area (local), while the information providing device 100 is a device having a server function arranged on the manufacturer side. In general, a firewall (not shown) is installed between the device management systems A to C and the external network I in order to ensure the confidentiality of the device management systems A to C.

Device management system A~C is, LP (Laser Printer) 200 ₁ and MFP 200 ₂ and said one or more devices 200, 1 or more client PC (Personal Computer) 300 (hereinafter, referred to as "PC".), And A device management apparatus 400 that manages the device 200 is connected to each other via an internal network 90 such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

  In each device management system A, B, or C, device information (for example, “device name”, “manufacturer name”, “counter value”, etc.) is acquired from the device 200 by the device management function of the device management apparatus 400. The state of the device 200 is monitored. Further, device information of the device 200 is provided from the device management apparatus 400 to the PC 300.

  With such a configuration, in the information providing system 1, the information providing apparatus 100 collects device information from the device management apparatuses 400 of the device management systems A to C via the external network I, and based on the collected information. The generated proposal information can be provided.

  In the above description, the configuration in which the firewall is installed between the device management apparatus 400 and the external network I has been described. However, the device management apparatus 400 may have a firewall function. Good.

<Hardware configuration>
Next, a hardware configuration of the information providing apparatus 100 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the information providing apparatus 100 includes an input device 101, a display device 102, a drive device 103, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 104, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 105, a CPU 106, an interface device 107, and an HDD ( (Hard Disk Drive) 108 and the like, which are connected to each other via a bus.

  The input device 101 includes a keyboard and a mouse, and is used to input each operation signal to the information providing device 100. The display device 102 includes a display and the like, and displays a processing result (for example, “generated proposal information”) by the information providing device 100.

  The interface device 107 is an interface that connects the information providing device 100 to a predetermined data transmission path such as a network. Therefore, the information providing apparatus 100 can perform data communication with the device management apparatus 400 via the interface apparatus 107.

  The HDD 108 is a non-volatile storage device that stores various programs and data. The stored programs and data include, for example, an OS (Operating System) that is basic software such as an information processing system (for example, “Windows (registered trademark)” or “UNIX (registered trademark)) that controls the entire information providing apparatus 100. ), And an application that provides various functions (for example, “suggested information providing function”) on the information processing system. The HDD 108 manages the stored programs and data by a predetermined file system and / or DB (Data Base).

  The drive device 103 is an interface with a removable recording medium 103a. Therefore, the information providing apparatus 100 can read and / or write the recording medium 103a via the drive apparatus 103.

  The ROM 105 is a nonvolatile semiconductor memory (storage device) that can retain internal data even when the power is turned off. The ROM 105 stores data such as a basic input / output system (BIOS) that is executed when the information providing apparatus 100 is activated, a system setting of the information providing apparatus 100, and network-related settings.

  The RAM 104 is a volatile semiconductor memory (storage device) that temporarily stores programs and data read from the various storage devices. The CPU 106 executes overall control of the information providing apparatus 100 and various functions installed in the information providing apparatus 100 by executing the program read on the RAM 104.

  With such a hardware configuration, for example, the information providing apparatus 100 can execute a program read from the HDD 108 onto the RAM 104 (a program for providing proposal information) by the CPU 106 to realize a mounted function.

<Proposal information provision function>
Next, the proposal information providing function according to the present embodiment will be described.

  In the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the scale of a customer who is a proposal destination is determined based on device information collected from each device 200 and customer information managed in advance. Subsequently, the information providing apparatus 100 refers to the proposed case information based on the determined customer's scale and the proposed concept as a proposal destination, and searches for a past suggested case (corresponding case) that matches. As a result, the information providing apparatus 100 generates candidate proposal information based on the corresponding case as the search result, and provides the generated one or more proposals. The information providing apparatus 100 has such a proposed information providing function.

  In most cases, a manufacturer proposes its own products to customers, regardless of whether it is in-house or another company, various office equipment will be used for the environment that has already been installed. At this time, what is important is whether or not it is possible to promptly propose specific (quantitative) information including the improvement effect brought about in the current office environment by introducing the proposed product.

  Therefore, the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment dynamically generates one or a plurality of proposal information according to the scale of the customer that is the proposal destination based on the proposal examples that have been proven in the past as the office environment improvement plan. To do. As a result, a concrete office environment improvement plan can be provided promptly. In addition, the above-mentioned “proposed case examples with a past record” refers to past cases in which specific proposals have been made (including cases of other companies) regardless of the proposal company.

The configuration and operation of the proposed information providing function will be described below.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary functional configuration of the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the information providing apparatus 100 includes an information input unit 31, an information holding unit 32, a proposal information generation unit 33, a proposal information provision unit 34, and the like.

  The information input unit 31 uses the input device 101 included in the information providing device 100 to accept addition of various information held by the information holding unit 32 and change of information content. Further, the information input unit 31 accepts designation of a proposal destination, selection of a theme representing a proposal concept, and the like. For example, the information providing apparatus 100 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the screen of the display apparatus 102 by operating a predetermined information management tool. The user can add various kinds of information and change the contents from the displayed GUI by using a keyboard as the input device 101. It is also possible to specify a proposal destination and select a proposal concept when generating proposal information. Note that the designated / selected proposal destination and proposal concept are passed from the information input unit 31 to the proposal information generation unit 33. The “user” includes not only customers but also proposers such as sales representatives and agency representatives.

  The information holding unit 32 stores and holds device information 41, customer information 42, product information 43, suggested case information 44, and the like in a predetermined storage area. That is, the information holding unit 32 is a function that the HDD 108 included in the information providing apparatus 100 has, for example.

(Equipment information)
The device information 41 is device-specific data including various information set in the device 200 and various information related to operation history by the installed hardware / software.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data example of the device information 41 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the device information 41 is configured by associating information items such as “model name”, “manufacturer name”, and “counter value”. “Model name” is device type specifying data for specifying the type of the device 200. The “maker name” is device manufacturer specifying data for specifying the manufacturer of the device 200. The “counter value” is output amount data representing the output amount (number of printed sheets) output (printed) by the device 200. Further, the “counter value” is a value that can be classified by output type such as monochrome / full color / two-color printing and by period such as week / month. The “counter value” in the figure indicates the total number of printed sheets and the monthly average number of printed sheets.

  With such a data configuration, it is possible to acquire various types of information related to the operation history by the installed hardware / software based on the various types of information set in the device 200.

  These pieces of information are included in various information collected from the device 200 by the device management apparatus 400. The device management apparatus 400 includes an information collection unit 21 and collects various types of information from a plurality of devices 200 to be managed by polling or trapping using, for example, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol).

  Various information collected in this way is transmitted from the device management apparatus 400 to the information providing apparatus 100. Thus, the information providing apparatus 100 counts the received data to classify the information types, and stores the classified data in a predetermined storage area of the information holding unit 32 prepared for each information type. Therefore, the device information 41 is held in the information holding unit 32 by the method described above.

(Customer information)
The customer information 42 is customer-specific data including various types of information related to the customer as a proposal destination.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data example of the customer information 42 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the customer information 42 is configured by associating information items such as “customer ID”, “number of employees”, and “number of establishments”. “Customer ID” is customer specifying data for specifying a customer. The “number of employees” and “number of establishments” are index data representing the business scale of the customer. Furthermore, the device information 41 described above is associated with the customer information 42 for each customer.

  With such a data structure, it is possible to acquire index data representing the business scale of the customer based on the customer identification data. The customer information 42 can be managed (addition / update of information) by the information input unit 31 described above.

(Product information)
The product information 43 is product-specific data including various information related to the product characteristics of the proposed product.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data example of the product information 43 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the product information 43 is configured by associating information items such as “latest model name”, “product characteristics”, and “corresponding model name”. The “latest model name” is device specifying data for specifying the device 200 that is the latest proposed product. “Product characteristics” is product characteristic data representing specifications including on-board functions and device performance. The “corresponding model name” is device specifying data for specifying the device 200 that can be replaced with the latest proposed product regardless of the products of the company or other companies.

  For example, the product information 43 shown in FIG. 6 shows an example in which the devices 200 with the corresponding model names “MFP_25” and “MFP_35” can be replaced with the device 200 with the latest model name “MFP_45”. The device 200 with the latest model name “MFP_45” is a multifunction device having monochrome / 45 (ppm) printing performance, and has functions of user authentication and power consumption control.

  When the replaceable device 200 is set as the “corresponding model name”, for example, the model of the latest proposed product (for example, “multifunction device” and “printer”), the support function (for example, “monochrome”, “ Full color ") and functional performance (for example," printing performance (ppm value) ") are set in correspondence with the device 200 to be replaced. For example, when replacing a 20 (ppm) monochrome printer, it is set in association with the latest monochrome printer of 20 (ppm) or more.

  With such a data structure, the proposed product candidate that is the latest model considering the product characteristics can be selected based on the product specifying data based on the corresponding model name. The product information 43 can be managed (addition / update of information) by the information input unit 31 described above.

(Proposal case information)
The proposal case information 41 is past case data including proposal information with a past proposal case.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a data example of the proposed case information 44 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the proposed case information 44 is associated with information items such as “suggested case ID”, “customer ID”, “number of employees”, “number of installed”, and “date of introduction”. It is configured. “Proposed case ID” is proposed case specifying data for specifying a proposed case. The “customer ID” is customer specifying data for specifying a customer who is a proposal destination. “Number of employees” is index data representing the business scale of the customer who is the proposal destination. The “number of installations” and “introduction date” are introduction record data including the number of devices 200 introduced to the customer by proposal and the installation date. These values are values that can be classified according to the type of device 200 and the introduction destination of each office.

  For example, in the proposed case information 44 illustrated in FIG. 7, an example of a proposed case ID “P001” in which the device 200 is introduced for a different number and date for each business establishment with respect to a customer ID “U001” having 1300 employees. It is shown.

  Further, the device information 41 and the customer information 42 described above are associated with the proposal case information 44 for each proposal case.

  With such a data structure, based on the proposed case identification data, the past implementation cases that have been accumulated and recorded (accumulated) are identified according to the scale of the customer that is the proposal destination, Proposal candidates can be selected. The proposed case information 44 can also be managed (addition / update of information) by the information input unit 31 described above. The proposed case information 44 may be managed by the information providing apparatus 100 by a method of dynamically accumulating the provided proposal information.

  The proposal information generation unit 33 determines the scale of the customer as the proposal destination based on each piece of information held by the information holding unit 32, and becomes a proposal candidate from past proposal cases that can be adapted according to the determined scale. One or a plurality of proposal information is generated. That is, it is a function for generating a specific office environment improvement plan that is a proposal candidate. The proposal information generation part 33 has a function part as shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the proposal information generation unit 33 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 8, the proposal information generation unit 33 includes a scale determination unit 331, a past case search unit 332, a proposal candidate information generation unit 333, a latest product application unit 334, and the like.

  The scale determination unit 331 determines the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination. The scale determination unit 331 determines the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination based on, for example, information on the proposal destination designated from the information input unit 31. The scale of the customer as the proposal destination can be determined from the number of employees and the number of business establishments included in the customer information 42, the operation history of the counter value (value indicating the use frequency) included in the device information 41, and the like.

  For example, when the proposal destination is a customer who has made a transaction in the past, the scale determination unit 331 determines the business scale as follows. The scale determination unit 331 refers to the device information 41 and the customer information 42 held by the information holding unit 32 based on the data for specifying the designated proposal destination, and the number of employees, the number of establishments, and the currently introduced information The business scale is determined from the counter value of the device 200.

  In addition, when the proposal destination is a customer who has not made a transaction in the past, the scale determination unit 331 displays information related to the designated proposal destination (for example, “number of employees”, “number of establishments”, “number of installed devices”). Etc.)) to determine the business scale.

  Based on a plurality of search elements, the past case search unit 332 searches for cases that are suitable as proposal candidates from past proposal cases.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing search elements for performing past case search according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 9, the search elements include “customer size”, “number of devices / type”, “equipment usage frequency”, “introduction period”, “function usage rate”, “introduction solution”, and the like. “Customer scale” and “number of devices / types” are essential elements for extracting conformity examples from past proposal examples based on the number of users 200, the number of devices installed, and the model. This essential element is a value passed from the scale determination unit 331 or a value included in the information regarding the proposal destination received from the information input unit 31. Further, in order to narrow down the matching cases, expansion elements such as “equipment usage frequency”, “introduction period”, “function usage rate”, and “introduction solution” are prepared.

  These search elements are associated with each proposal concept. The proposal concept is selected via the information input unit 31 when the proposal information is generated. The proposed concept includes a plurality of selection themes for each purpose of improving the office environment, such as “restriction of use”, “enhancement of security”, and “reduction of environmental burden”.

  Further, each extension element in the search element is set according to the proposal concept. Thereby, the past case search unit 332 extracts a matching case from the past suggested case as follows.

  For example, FIG. 9 shows an example of a proposed concept in three usage restrictions. When the first usage restriction is selected as the proposal concept, the past case search unit 332 indicates that the frequency of use of the device 200 is used by 10 or more people, and more than half of the devices 200 have been introduced for 5 years. As an introduction solution, we extract conformance examples for which usage restriction software has not been introduced yet. When the second usage restriction is selected as the proposal concept, the past case search unit 332 further extracts a matching case having a function usage rate of the duplex / aggregation function of 60% or less from the extraction result. Further, when three usage restrictions are selected as the proposed concept, the past case search unit 332 extracts a matching case that is a device usage frequency in which five or more people use one of the devices 200.

  In this way, the past case search unit 332 first uses the information holding unit 32 based on the search element (essential element) specified from the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination and the search element (extended element) specified from the proposal concept. The proposal case information 44 to be held is referred to. Subsequently, the past case search unit 332 searches for cases that are suitable as proposal candidates from past proposal cases accumulated and held. The obtained search result is passed from the past case search unit 332 to the proposal candidate information generation unit 333.

  The proposal candidate information generation unit 333 generates one or a plurality of proposal information (suggestion candidate information) to be proposal candidates based on the past proposal cases that have been adapted. The generated proposal candidate information is passed from the proposal candidate information generating unit 333 to the proposal information providing unit 34.

  The latest product application unit 334 applies the latest device 200, which is the proposed product, to the matched past proposal case. The latest product application unit 334 replaces the device 200 included in the past proposal case with the latest device 200 based on the product information 43 held by the information holding unit 32. The product information 43 includes information (device specifying data) related to the device 200 having a corresponding model name that can be replaced in association with the model name of the latest proposed product. The latest product application unit 334 replaces the device 200 included in the past proposed case with the latest device 200 from the corresponding model name.

  Proposal information generation according to the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination by the proposal information generation unit 33 will be described in detail in the functional operation.

  The proposal information providing unit 34 provides the one or more pieces of proposal information generated by the proposal information generation unit 33 as information that can be compared with the current state of the proposal destination. In other words, this is a function for visualizing a specific office environment improvement effect.

  The proposal information providing unit 34 directly displays various types of information including proposal information, information regarding the current state of the proposal destination, comments from the manufacturer, and the like on the screen of the display device 102 provided in the information providing apparatus 100, for example. The proposal information providing unit 34 is configured to transmit the various types of information to the device management apparatus 400 so that the PC 300 connected to the device management system A, B, or C can view the information via a web browser or the like. Also good. In other words, the various types of information may be provided in response to a browsing request from the PC 300.

  As described above, the proposed information providing function according to the present embodiment is realized by the above-described functional units operating in cooperation on the information providing apparatus 100.

  Next, the detailed operation of the proposal information providing function (the function unit group linking operation) will be described with reference to a flowchart showing a processing procedure.

  In the proposed information providing function, an information providing program (software component) installed (installed) in the information providing apparatus 100 is read from the storage location (for example, “ROM 105”) onto the RAM 104 by the CPU 106, and the following processing is executed. Is realized.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a processing procedure for providing proposal information according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the information providing apparatus 100, when a request for generating / viewing proposal information is received, the proposal information providing unit 34 provides information regarding the current state of the proposal destination (step S <b> 101). At this time, the proposal information providing unit 34, for example, in the case of a customer who has made a transaction in the past, the device information 41 held by the information holding unit 32 based on the information about the proposal destination designated by the information input unit 31, and With reference to the customer information 42, information on the current state of the proposal destination is provided. Further, for example, in the case of a customer who has never made a transaction in the past, information on a designated proposal destination is provided. Whether or not a transaction has been made in the past can be determined based on whether or not the proposed customer is recorded in the customer information 42.

  In the information providing apparatus 100, the information input unit 31 receives designation of a proposal destination and selection of a proposal concept (theme) (step S102).

  The selection of the accepted proposal concept (theme) is passed to the past case search unit 223 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 (step S201). In addition, the specification of the accepted proposal destination is passed to the scale determination unit 331 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 (step S202).

  The scale determination unit 331 refers to the device information 41 and the customer information 42 held by the information holding unit 32 based on the designation of the proposal destination (step S203), the number of employees, the number of establishments, and the counter of the installed device 200 The scale of the customer who is the proposal destination is determined from the value (usage frequency) or the like (step S204). The scale of the customer as the proposal destination determined in this way is passed to the past case search unit 332 as a determination result (step S205).

  The past case search unit 332 refers to the proposal case information 44 held by the information holding unit 32 (step S206), and based on the specified proposal concept and the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination, the past case search example 332 A matching case is searched (step S207).

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of the proposal information generation according to the present embodiment. In (A), an operation example is shown in which a matching case is searched from past proposal cases based on each search element in the proposal concept “reducing environmental load” and a proposal candidate is extracted.

  In the operation example shown in FIG. 11A, the past case search unit 332 is based on the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination including the proposal concept “reducing environmental load” and information V1 regarding the current state of the customer A who is the proposal destination. The search element for searching the proposal case information 44 is determined.

  As a result, the past case search unit 332 refers to the proposed case information 44 and extracts one or a plurality of conforming cases (conforming past cases) V2 from the past proposed cases based on the determined search element. For example, when the search element for the past case search is the element shown in FIG. 9, the past case search unit 332 determines that the output amount is 20% or less of the recommended PV (Print Volume) from the proposed concept “reducing environmental load”. More than half of the devices 200 are introduced in terms of the frequency of use, and a case in which power control software has not been introduced as an introduction solution is extracted. Information regarding the matching case V2 extracted in this way is passed as a search result from the past case search unit 332 to the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 (step S208).

  The proposal candidate information generation unit 333 generates one or a plurality of proposal information (suggestion candidate information) as candidates based on the information about the matching case V2 (step S209). At this time, for example, the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 refers to the proposal case information 44 based on the proposal case ID (proposed case identification data) included in the information about the matching case V2, and introduces the number of installations, the date of introduction, and the like. Proposal candidate information is generated from the result data. The proposal candidate information generated in this way is passed from the proposal candidate information generating unit 333 to the proposal information providing unit 34 (step S210).

  As a result, in the information providing apparatus 100, the proposal information providing unit 34 provides one or a plurality of proposal information for the current state of the proposal destination (step S301).

  In the information providing apparatus 100, the information input unit 31 receives an instruction to apply the latest product (step S302). The received application instruction is passed from the information input unit 31 to the latest product application unit 334 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 (step S401).

  The latest product application unit 334 refers to the product information 43 held by the information holding unit 32 in accordance with the application instruction (step S402). As a result, the latest product application unit 334 passes information on the latest device 200 to be applied to the device 200 included in the proposal information (information on the latest proposed product to be applied) to the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 (step S403). . At this time, the latest product application unit 334 identifies the associated “latest model name” device identification data based on the “corresponding model name” device identification data included in the product information 43. Accordingly, the latest product application unit 334 applies the latest proposed product to the current device 200 by replacing the device 200 with the “corresponding model name” with the device 200 with the “latest model name”. In addition, other application methods include, for example, two devices 200 having a current printing performance of 20 (ppm) based on device specifications such as printing performance, and one device having the latest printing performance of 40 (ppm). There is a method of consolidating the devices 200 such as replacing with the devices 200.

  The proposal candidate information generation unit 333 generates proposal information by replacing the device 200 included in the proposal information with the latest device 200 based on information on the latest device 200 (step S404).

  FIG. 11B shows an operation example in which the latest product is applied to the proposal candidate and the proposal information V3 is generated. The latest product application unit 334 applies the latest proposed product to the matching case V2 extracted by the past case search unit 332, and newly generates proposal information V3 (suggested information after applying the latest device 200). . In the operation example shown in FIG. 11B, the latest product application unit 334 converts the full-color MFP having the model name “EMFP_C20” and the monochrome printer having the model name “CPRN_40” included in the conformance example V2 into the model name “MFP_C60”. Instead of the latest full-color multifunction peripheral and the latest monochrome printer “PRN_50”, new proposal information (1) to (3) is generated. The new proposal information V3 generated in this way is passed from the proposal information generation unit 33 to the proposal information provision unit 34 as a generation result (step S405).

  As a result, in the information providing apparatus 100, the proposal information providing unit 34 provides the proposal information V3 to which one or more latest proposed products for the current state of the proposal destination are applied (step S501).

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of providing proposal information according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12, the proposal information providing unit 34 receives the information V1 regarding the current state of the proposal destination and the proposal information V3 to which one or more latest proposed products are applied, and is capable of comparing each other's information. Proposal R is provided. FIG. 12 shows an example in which the screen displaying the proposal R is displayed so as to further include, for example, the latest proposed product applied based on the product information 43, a comment field from the manufacturer, and the like. . Further, when the [Next Proposal] button displayed on the proposal R screen is pressed, the next proposal information among the plurality (the screen transition from the proposal information (1) to the proposal information (2) in the figure) is made. Is displayed.

  As described above, the information providing apparatus 100 is a proposal destination based on the device information 41 collected from each device 200 and the customer information 42 managed in advance by the scale determination unit 331 included in the proposal information generation unit 33. Determine the size of the customer. Subsequently, the information providing apparatus 100 refers to the proposed case information 44 based on the scale and the proposal concept of the customer who has been determined by the past case search unit 332 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 and matches the past Search for proposed cases (applicable cases). As a result, the information providing apparatus 100 uses the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 included in the proposal information generation unit 33 to generate candidate proposal information V3 based on the corresponding case that is the search result, and generates one or more proposals R is provided.

  As a result, in the information providing apparatus 100, the information providing unit 34 provides the proposal R that can compare the information V1 regarding the current state of the proposal destination and the proposal information V3 to which one or more latest proposed products are applied. In other words, a specific office environment improvement effect is visualized.

  In the above description, the operation example in which the latest proposed product is applied to the current device 200 in accordance with the application instruction received from the information input unit 31 has been described. For example, in step S210 described above, one or a plurality of proposal information (suggestion candidate information) generated by the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 may be passed to the latest product application unit 334 to apply the latest proposal product. . A specific processing procedure will be described below with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing procedure example (part 2) for providing proposal information according to the present embodiment. In the following description, only differences from the processing procedure of FIG. 10 will be described.

  The proposal candidate information generation unit 333 generates one or a plurality of proposal information (suggestion candidate information) as candidates based on the information about the matching case V2 (step S209).

  Subsequently, the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 determines whether the latest product needs to be applied to the generated proposal candidate information (step S210). At this time, the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 refers to the product information 43 held by the information holding unit 32. Subsequently, the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 updates the device 200 included in the proposal information based on information on the latest device 200 applied to the device 200 included in the proposal information (information on the latest proposed product to be applied). It is determined whether or not the product applicable device 200 (corresponding device) is included. In this way, the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 determines whether the latest product needs to be applied.

  In step S210, if it is determined that the corresponding device is included in the proposal information and the latest product needs to be applied (step S210: necessary), the generated proposal candidate information is sent from the proposal candidate information generation unit 333 to the latest product. The data is passed to the application unit 334, and application is instructed to the latest product application unit 334 (step S401).

  Thereafter, the processing procedure of steps S402 to S405 is the same as the processing procedure of FIG.

  On the other hand, in step S210, when it is determined that the corresponding device is not included in the proposal information and the latest product application is not necessary (step S210: No), the generated proposal candidate information is the proposal candidate information generation unit. 333 is passed to the proposal information providing unit 34 (step S211).

  As a result, in the information providing apparatus 100, the proposal information providing unit 34 provides one or a plurality of proposal information for the current state of the proposal destination (step S301).

  As described above, the information providing apparatus 100 can replace the proposed product with the latest product and dynamically update the proposal candidate information according to the determination result of necessity of applying the latest product by the proposal candidate information generation unit 333. In addition, about the newest product application process demonstrated using FIG.10 and FIG.13, you may perform a switching process according to a predetermined setting. For example, if “automatic application of the latest product” is set, the processing procedure shown in FIG. 13 is executed, while if “instructed to apply the latest product” is set, it is shown in FIG. Execute the processing procedure.

<Modification>
Next, a modified example of the functional configuration of the information providing apparatus 100 described above will be described. For example, the functional configuration shown in FIGS. 14 to 16 may be used.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example (part 1) of the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present modification.
The difference between the functional configuration illustrated in FIG. 14 and the functional configuration according to the above embodiment is that the information providing apparatus 100 includes the information collecting unit 21. In the embodiment described above, the device management apparatus 400 has the information collection unit 21, and various types of information are collected from the device 200 by a device different from the information providing device 100.

  As illustrated in FIG. 14, the information providing apparatus 100 may have a device management function including information collection and a proposed information providing function.

  In the case of such a configuration, the proposal information can be generated and provided based on various information collected from the device 200 in each of the device management systems A, B, and C constructed at the customer site. As a result, the information providing apparatus 100 visualizes the effect of improving the office environment even when priority is given to the confidentiality of various information collected by the user from the device 200 (when the collected information is not desired to be transmitted to the outside). It can be disclosed to the user.

15 and 16 are diagrams illustrating functional configuration examples (No. 2) and (No. 3) of the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present modification.
The functional configuration shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 differs from the functional configuration according to the embodiment in the information holding unit 32, the information input unit 31, the proposed information generating unit 33, and the proposed information providing unit 34. This is the point that the device has. In the said embodiment, it became the structure which has the information input part 31, the information holding | maintenance part 32, the proposal information generation part 33, and the proposal information provision part 34 in the same apparatus.

  As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the information providing system 1 includes an information management apparatus 500 such as a DB server having an information holding unit 32, device information 41 collected from the device 200, customer information 42, product information 43. , And the proposed case information 44 are collectively managed. In addition, the information proposal device 100 includes an information input unit 31, a proposal information generation unit 33, and a proposal information provision unit 34. The information proposal device 100 acquires the above various information from the information management device 500 as necessary, and generates / The structure which provides may be sufficient.

  In such a configuration, even if there are a considerable number of devices 200 to be managed (for example, thousands or tens of thousands), the information management function and the proposed information providing function are operated by different devices. Thus, the processing load can be distributed. Thereby, it is possible to prevent an adverse effect on the user's feeling of use due to the processing time (for example, a response delay to an information request).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 16, the proposed information providing function including only the information input unit 31, the proposed information generating unit 33, and the proposed information providing unit 34 does not include the information collecting unit 21 is a function such as a plug-in. It can also be provided as an extended program. In the proposed information providing function configured as described above, it is necessary to be able to specify a procedure (for example, “network address”) relating to access to the information holding unit 32.

  When the program is provided in this way, for example, the proposed information providing function can be realized by operating the program on the PC 300 connected in the device management system A, B, or C. As a result, a user who is a customer can easily browse the proposal contents via a web browser or the like.

<Summary>
As described above, according to the information providing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, based on a proposal case that has been used in the past as an office environment improvement plan (a case in which a specific proposal has been made), One or a plurality of proposal information according to the scale of a certain customer is dynamically generated.

  As a result, the information providing apparatus 100 can quickly provide a specific office environment improvement plan.

  Although the above embodiment has been described so far, the “suggested information providing function” included in the information providing apparatus 100 according to the above embodiment is a programming language suitable for the operation environment (platform). The coded program is implemented by the CPU 106.

  The program can be stored in a computer-readable recording medium 103a. For example, the recording medium 103a includes a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a CD (Compact Disk), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), an SD memory card (SD Memory Card), and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory.

  Accordingly, the program can be installed in the information providing apparatus 100 via the drive device 103 that can read the recording medium 103a, an external storage I / F (not shown), or the like. In addition, since the information providing apparatus 100 includes the interface device 107, the program can be downloaded and installed using a telecommunication line such as the Internet.

  In the above embodiment, the customer information 42, the product information 43, and the proposed case information 44 are described as an example of a configuration in which a nonvolatile storage device such as the HDD 108 is held. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the various types of information may be held in the recording medium 103a. In this case, the information is read via the drive device 103 or the external storage I / F (not shown) included in the information providing device 100. It may be.

  Finally, the present invention is not limited to the requirements shown here, such as combinations of other elements with the shapes and configurations described in the above embodiments. With respect to these points, the present invention can be changed within a range that does not detract from the gist of the present invention, and can be appropriately determined according to the application form.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information provision system 21 Information collection part 31 Information input part 32 Information holding part 33 Proposal information generation part 331 Scale judgment part 332 Past case search part 333 Proposal candidate information generation part 334 Latest product application part 34 Proposal information provision part 41 Device information 42 Customer information 43 Product information 44 Proposal case information 90 Internal network (LAN)
100 Information providing device (information providing server)
101 Input Device 102 Display Device 103 Drive Device (a: Recording Medium)
104 RAM (volatile semiconductor memory)
105 ROM (nonvolatile semiconductor memory)
106 CPU (Central Processing Unit)
107 Interface device (NIC: Network I / F Card)
108 HDD (nonvolatile storage device)
200 equipment (image processing device)
300 Client PC (information processing device)
400 Device management device (device management server)
500 Information management device (DB server)
A, B, C Device management system I External network (Internet)

JP 2002-329062 A

Claims (11)

An information providing device for providing proposal information related to an office environment,
Based on device information that is information about the device collected from the device including information on the frequency of use based on being used by at least a plurality of users for the device and customer information that is information on the customer managed in advance, A scale judging means for judging the scale of the customer to whom the proposal is made;
One or a plurality of proposal cases recorded as past proposals according to the scale of the customer as a result of the judgment by the scale judgment means and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on a predetermined proposal concept Proposal information generating means for generating one or a plurality of new proposal information from the proposal information;
Proposing information providing means for providing the new proposal information generated by the proposal information generating means. Past case search means for referring to one or a plurality of the proposal information recorded as past proposal cases based on a predetermined search element and a predetermined proposal concept, and searching for a past case that matches;
Proposal candidate information generating means for generating new proposal information to be proposal candidates based on the past case,
The proposal information generation means includes:
2. The information according to claim 1, wherein the one or more new proposal information is generated by the proposal candidate information generation unit based on the matching past case that is a search result by the past case search unit. Providing device. Latest product application means for applying the latest device to devices included in one or more of the proposal information recorded as past proposal examples based on product information that is information on the latest proposed product managed in advance Have
The proposal information generation means includes:
Applying the latest device by the latest product applying unit to the device included in the new proposal information to be the proposal candidate generated by the proposal candidate information generating unit, and adding the one or more new proposal information The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information providing apparatus generates the information providing apparatus. The proposal information providing means includes:
4. The information relating to the current state of the office environment at the proposal destination and the one or more new proposal information generated by the proposal information generation means are provided in a comparable format. The information providing apparatus according to one item. An information providing system in which a device management device that manages at least one device and an information providing device that provides proposal information related to an office environment are connected via a predetermined data transmission path,
The device management apparatus is
Collecting means for collecting device information, which is information including information on the frequency of use based on being used by a plurality of users for the device from the device;
Transmitting means for transmitting the device information collected by the collecting means to the information providing device,
The information providing device is
Based on the device information transmitted from the device management apparatus and customer information that is information related to the customer managed in advance, a scale determination means for determining the scale of the customer who is the proposal destination;
One or a plurality of proposal cases recorded as past proposals according to the scale of the customer as a result of the judgment by the scale judgment means and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on a predetermined proposal concept Proposal information generating means for generating one or a plurality of new proposal information from the proposal information;
Proposition information providing means for providing the new proposal information generated by the proposal information generation means. An information providing method in an information providing apparatus for providing proposal information related to an office environment,
Based on device information that is information that includes information related to the frequency of use based on being used by a plurality of users for the device related to the device collected from the device and customer information that is information about customers that are managed in advance, A scale determination procedure to determine the size of the customer to whom the proposal is made,
One or a plurality of proposal cases recorded as past proposals according to the scale of the customer as a result of the scale determination procedure and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on the predetermined proposal concept A proposal information generation procedure for generating one or more new proposal information from the proposal information;
A proposal information provision procedure for providing the new proposal information generated by the proposal information generation procedure. Based on a predetermined search element and a predetermined proposal concept, a past case search procedure for searching for a matching past case with reference to one or more of the proposal information recorded as a past proposal case;
A proposal candidate information generation procedure for generating new proposal information to be a proposal candidate based on the past case,
The proposal information generation procedure includes:
7. The information according to claim 6, wherein the one or more new proposal information is generated by the proposal candidate information generation procedure based on the matching past case that is a search result by the past case search procedure. How to provide. The latest product application procedure for applying the latest device to the device included in one or more of the proposal information recorded as past proposal examples based on the product information that is information on the latest proposed product managed in advance. Have
The proposal information generation procedure includes:
Applying the latest device by the latest product application procedure to the device included in the new proposal information to be the proposal candidate generated by the proposal candidate information generation procedure, and adding the one or more new proposal information The information providing method according to claim 7, wherein the information providing method is generated. The proposal information provision procedure includes:
9. The information on the current state of the office environment at a proposal destination and the one or more new proposal information generated by the proposal information generation procedure are provided in a comparable format. The information providing method according to one item. An information providing program in an information providing apparatus for providing proposal information related to an office environment,
Computer
Based on device information that is information that includes information related to the frequency of use based on being used by a plurality of users for the device related to the device collected from the device and customer information that is information about customers that are managed in advance, A scale judging means for judging the scale of the customer to whom the proposal is made;
One or a plurality of proposal cases recorded as past proposals according to the scale of the customer as a result of the judgment by the scale judgment means and the search element including the device usage frequency specified based on a predetermined proposal concept Proposal information generating means for generating one or a plurality of new proposal information from the proposal information;
An information provision program that functions as a proposal information provision unit that provides the new proposal information generated by the proposal information generation unit.   A computer-readable recording medium storing the program according to claim 10.

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