JP7180140B2 - Remote management system and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a remote management system and an information processing method for remotely managing an image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2005-100002, 2003-100000, and 2004-200031 propose a method of collecting setting information of an image forming apparatus via a network by a remote management system that remotely manages the image forming apparatus.

On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200010, when a remote management system performs settings for an image forming apparatus via a network, setting reflection time and conditions are specified so that setting changes that are not intended by the operation manager can be prevented. Methods have been proposed to prevent this.

JP-A-2004-221799 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-340239 JP 2008-147941 A JP 2009-164902 A JP 2015-179403 A

However, in the methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4, even if the setting values of the image forming apparatus can be collected via a network, it is not possible to store them in chronological order or to detect changes in the setting values. not For this reason, it is not easy to detect unintended changes in setting values.

The method disclosed in Patent Document 5 also relates to a method of setting the image forming apparatus from a remote management system. However, no method for detecting or recovering it is considered.

In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to enable stable operation of an image forming apparatus by detecting and recovering any setting change caused by any of a plurality of setting paths for the image forming apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a remote management system and an information processing method.

To achieve the above object, a remote management system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a network-connected user operation server, a remote maintenance server, and a connection server, wherein the remote maintenance server is the user operation server a setting change receiving unit for receiving a setting value change instruction for an image forming apparatus from a user via a network; a first setting change detecting unit for detecting change content according to the setting value change instruction; A setting change notification unit that notifies an administrator and related users, and a setting change command transmission unit that transmits a command for changing settings of the image forming apparatus to the image forming apparatus via the connection server.

Therefore, it is possible to detect a setting change of the image forming apparatus via the remote management system.

In order to achieve the above object, in the remote management system according to one aspect of the present invention, the remote maintenance server includes a setting recovery unit that performs recovery processing to restore setting values when an important setting item is changed. You may have more.

Therefore, it is possible to detect and restore setting changes via the remote management system.

To achieve the above object, a remote management system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a remote maintenance server, a data processing server, a storage, and an image forming apparatus connected to a network, The image forming apparatus includes an operation unit, a management tool, a web server for settings provided by the image forming apparatus, a setting change unit that accepts direct setting changes by print commands and changes the settings of the own apparatus, a setting value reporting unit that periodically reports setting values to the remote maintenance server, and the remote maintenance server periodically collects the setting values from the image forming apparatus and stores them in the storage in chronological order. a value collecting unit; a setting change receiving unit that receives, from the data processing server, changes in setting values detected by the data processing server; and notifies an administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the changes. The data processing server is provided with a setting change notification unit and a setting recovery unit that performs recovery processing to restore the setting value when an important setting item is changed, and the data processing server is stored in chronological order in the storage. A second setting change detection unit is provided for checking setting values, checking whether or not setting values have been changed, and notifying the remote maintenance server of the changed contents when setting values have been changed.

Therefore, it is possible to detect and restore settings directly to the image forming apparatus without going through the remote management system.

To achieve the above object, an information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention is an information processing method in a remote management system including a network-connected user operation server, a remote maintenance server, and a connection server, A setting change reception unit of the remote maintenance server receives a setting value change instruction of the image forming apparatus from a user via the user operation server, and a first setting change detection unit of the remote maintenance server receives the setting value change instruction. , the setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifies the administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change content, and the setting change command transmission unit of the remote maintenance server detects the change content of the A command for changing settings of the image forming apparatus is transmitted to the image forming apparatus via the connection server.

To achieve the above object, an information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention is an information processing method in a remote management system including a remote maintenance server, a data processing server, a storage, and an image forming apparatus connected to a network. wherein the setting change unit of the image forming apparatus receives a direct setting change by an operation unit, a management tool, a setting web server provided by the image forming apparatus, and a print command, and changes the setting of the own apparatus. and a setting value reporting unit of the image forming apparatus periodically reports setting values of the own apparatus to the remote maintenance server, and a setting value collecting unit of the remote maintenance server periodically receives setting values from the image forming apparatus. are collected and stored in the storage in chronological order, and the second setting change detection unit of the data processing server checks the setting values saved in the storage in chronological order to determine whether the setting values have been changed. If the setting value has been changed, the content of the change is notified to the remote maintenance server, and the setting change receiving unit of the remote maintenance server detects the change in the setting value detected by the data processing server. receiving the content from the data processing server, the setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifying the administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change content, and the setting recovery unit of the remote maintenance server, When an important setting item is changed, perform recovery processing to restore the setting value.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to stably operate the image forming apparatus by detecting and recovering any setting change caused by any of a plurality of setting paths for the image forming apparatus. .

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram when the remote maintenance server 10 is configured by a general computer; 4 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing for changing setting values of the image forming apparatus 20, notifying related parties of setting changes, and restoring important setting values via the remote management system 100. FIG. It is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100' according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus 20; FIG. FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a remote maintenance server 10' configured by a general computer; FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram when the data processing server 90 is configured by a general computer; 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing for changing setting values in the image forming apparatus 20 and collecting setting values by the remote management system 100'. 4 is a flowchart for explaining detection of setting value change, notification to concerned parties, and recovery processing of important setting values in the remote management system 100'.

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

<First Embodiment>
First, the remote management system 100 according to the first embodiment of the invention will be described. In the first embodiment, when the settings of the image forming apparatus 20 are changed via the remote management system 100, the change in setting values is detected, relevant parties are notified, and if the setting values are important, the settings are restored. .

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

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

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

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

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

The load distribution device 50B distributes 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 apparatuses 20 under its management. For example, daily operation information (toner consumption, number of prints, etc.) and setting values of the image forming apparatus 20 are collected and stored in the DB 70 and the storage 80, and the firmware of the image forming apparatus 20 is updated.

The DB 70 stores the most recent setting values and daily operational information. The storage 80 stores setting values and daily operational information over a long period of time.

The connection server 30 is a server that establishes a management connection with the image forming device 20 in order to send management commands to the image forming device 20 under the control of the remote management system 100 . The management connection continues until the image forming apparatus 20 is powered off.

The image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network first connects to the remote maintenance server 10 via the load balancer 50B and obtains a response as to which connection server 30 to establish a management connection with. After that, it disconnects from the remote maintenance server 10, connects to the designated connection server 30, and establishes a management connection.

When the user accesses the user operation server 60 via the user terminal 40 and instructs to change the setting values of a specific image forming apparatus 20, the remote maintenance server 10 detects the instruction to change the setting values and instructs the relevant personnel to change the setting values. to that effect. Then, the remote maintenance server 10 transmits a setting value change command to the image forming apparatus 20 via the connection server 30 to change the setting value of the image forming apparatus 20 .

When the remote maintenance server 10 determines that the changed setting value is an important setting, it performs recovery (rollback) processing of the setting value.

The overall configuration of the remote management system 100 has been described above. In addition, in the diagram corresponding to the above description, for example, there are three connection servers 30, but this is only an example, and there may actually be any number of them.

[Remote maintenance server configuration]
Next, the configuration of the remote maintenance server 10 will be described. The remote maintenance server 10 may be composed of dedicated hardware and software, or may be composed of a general computer. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram when the remote maintenance server 10 is configured by a general computer.

As shown in the figure, the remote maintenance server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an operation input section 14, a communication section 15, a display section 16, , and a storage unit 17 , and these blocks are connected via a bus 18 .

The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs such as firmware and data for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), flash memory, or other non-volatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, and various data.

The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with devices on the network.

The CPU 11 develops in the RAM 13 programs corresponding to commands given from the operation input unit 14 among a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 and the storage unit 17, and displays the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the developed programs. 17 is controlled appropriately.

The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other operation device.

The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

Next, functional blocks realized by executing programs in the CPU 11 will be described.

The functional blocks implemented in the CPU 11 of the remote maintenance server 10 are a setting change receiving section 11a, a first setting change detecting section 11b, a setting change notifying section 11c, a setting change command transmitting section 11d, and a setting restoring section 11e.

The setting change reception unit 11 a receives a setting value change instruction for the image forming apparatus 20 from the user via the user operation server 60 .

The first setting change detection unit 11b detects the content of change according to the setting value change instruction.

The setting change notification unit 11c notifies the administrator of the image forming apparatus 20 and related users of the changed setting values. The notification may be made by e-mail or the like.

The setting change command transmission unit 11 d transmits a command for changing the setting of the image forming apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 20 via the connection server 30 .

The setting recovery unit 11e performs a recovery process to restore the setting values when an important setting item is changed.

The configuration of the remote maintenance server 10 has been described above.

[Process flow]
Next, a flow of processing for changing setting values of the image forming apparatus 20, notifying related parties of setting changes, and restoring important setting values via the remote management system 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing for changing setting values of the image forming apparatus 20, notifying related parties of setting changes, and restoring important setting values via the remote management system 100. FIG.

First, the user operation server 60 receives a setting change instruction of the image forming apparatus 20 from the user (step S1).

Next, the user operation server 60 notifies the remote maintenance server 10 of a setting change instruction (step S2).

Next, the setting change reception unit 11a of the remote maintenance server 10 receives a setting change instruction from the user operation server 60 (step S3).

Next, the first setting change detection unit 11b of the remote maintenance server 10 detects the content of the change (step S4).

Next, the setting change notification unit 11c of the remote maintenance server 10 notifies the administrator of the image forming apparatus 20 and related users of the change in setting value (step S5).

Next, the setting change command transmission unit 11d transmits a command for changing the setting of the image forming apparatus 20 to the image forming apparatus 20 via the connection server 30 (step S6).

Next, the setting restorer 11e determines whether or not the setting values of the important items have been changed (step S7).

If the setting value of the important item has been changed (Y in step S7), the setting restoration unit 11e performs restoration processing of the changed setting value, and ends the processing (step S8).

If the set values of the important items have not been changed (N in step S7), the process is terminated.

The flow of the process of changing the setting values of the image forming apparatus 20, notifying the relevant parties of the setting changes, and restoring the important setting values via the remote management system 100 has been described above.

<Second embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the invention will be described. In the first embodiment, the case where the setting values of the image forming apparatus 20 are changed via the remote management system 100 has been described. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, a case where the setting values of the image forming apparatus 20 are directly changed will be described.

[overall structure]
First, the overall configuration of a remote management system 100' according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a remote management system 100' according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The remote management system 100' includes a network-connected load balancer 50, a remote maintenance server 10', a data processing server 90, a schedule server 110, a DB 70, a storage 80, a connection server 30, and one or more and an image forming apparatus 20.

The endpoints seen from the Internet side are the load balancer 50 that distributes access from the image forming apparatus 20 to the remote maintenance servers 10A' and 10B', the connection server 30A, the connection server 30B, and the connection server 30C. .

The load distribution device 50 distributes 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 its management. For example, daily operation information (toner consumption, number of prints, etc.) and setting values of the image forming apparatus 20 are collected once a day and stored in the DB 70 and the storage 80, and the firmware of the image forming apparatus 20 is updated. or

The DB 70 stores the most recent operational information and setting values. The storage 80 stores operational information and setting values in chronological order over a long period of time.

The connection server 30 is a server that establishes a management connection with the image forming device 20 in order to send management commands to the image forming device 20 under the control of the remote management system 100 . The management connection continues until the image forming apparatus 20 is powered off.

The image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network first connects to the remote maintenance server 10' via the load balancer 50 and obtains a response as to which connection server 30 to establish a management connection with. It then disconnects from the remote maintenance server 10', connects to the designated connection server 30, and establishes a management connection.

The setting of the image forming apparatus 20 can be performed directly (without going through the remote management system 100') by the operation unit on the image forming apparatus 20, the management tool, the Web server for setting provided by the image forming apparatus 20, the print command, and the like. Suppose it is changed. In that case, the image forming apparatus 20 periodically reports the setting values to the remote management system 100'.

The remote management system 100' stores the setting values reported from the image forming apparatus 20 in chronological order. Then, it periodically checks for changes in setting values, notifies related parties if there are any changes, and performs restoration processing of setting values when settings of important items are changed.

The overall configuration of the remote management system 100' has been described above.

[Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus]
Next, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 will be described. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram schematically showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 20. As shown in FIG.

The image forming apparatus 20 includes a control section 21 . The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a dedicated hardware circuit, and the like, and controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 20 .

The control unit 21 is connected to the document reading unit 22, the image processing unit 23, the image memory 24, the image forming unit 25, the operation unit 26, the display unit 26a, the facsimile communication unit 27, the communication unit 28, the storage unit 29, and the like. . The control unit 21 controls the operation of the above-mentioned connected units and transmits/receives signals or data to/from each unit.

The control unit 21 controls the operation of each function such as a scanner function, a print function, a copy function, and a facsimile transmission/reception function, according to a job execution instruction input by a user through the operation unit 26 or a network-connected PC or the like. It controls the driving and processing of the mechanisms necessary for execution.

The control unit 21 also has a setting change unit 21a and a setting value reporting unit 21b. The setting change unit 21a and the setting value reporting unit 21b are functional blocks implemented by the CPU executing a program loaded from the ROM or the like to the RAM.

The setting change unit 21a changes settings directly by the operation unit 26, a management tool, a setting web server (not shown) provided by the image forming apparatus 20, a print command, or the like, or changes settings received from the remote management system 100'. Receives a setting change (in the case of recovery processing) by a change command, and changes the setting of its own device.

The setting value reporting unit 21b periodically reports the setting values of its own device to the remote management system 100' (remote maintenance server 10').

The document reading section 22 reads an image from a document.

The image processing section 23 performs image processing on the image data of the image read by the document reading section 22 as necessary. For example, the image processing unit 23 performs image processing such as shading correction in order to improve the quality of the image read by the document reading unit 22 after image formation.

The image memory 24 is an area for temporarily storing document image data obtained by reading by the document reading section 22 and temporarily storing data to be printed by the image forming section 25 .

The image forming section 25 forms an image such as image data read by the document reading section 22 .

The operation unit 26 includes a touch panel unit and an operation key unit for receiving instructions from the user regarding various operations and processes that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 20 . The touch panel section includes a display section 26a such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) provided with a touch panel.

The facsimile communication section 27 includes an encoding/decoding section, a modulation/demodulation section, and an NCU (Network Control Unit) (not shown), and performs facsimile transmission using the public telephone line network.

The communication unit 28 is composed of a communication module such as a LAN board, and transmits/receives various data to/from devices on the network (remote maintenance server 10', connection server 30, etc.) via a LAN or the like connected to the communication unit 28. I do.

The storage unit 29 stores the document image read by the document reading unit 22 and the like. The storage unit 29 is a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD.

The configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 has been described above.

[Remote maintenance server configuration]
Next, the configuration of the remote maintenance server 10' will be described. The remote maintenance server 10' may be composed of dedicated hardware and software, or may be composed of a general computer. FIG. 6 shows a configuration diagram when the remote maintenance server 10' is composed of a general computer.

As shown in the figure, the remote maintenance server 10' has a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, an operation input section 14, a communication section 15, a display section 16, and a storage section 17. These blocks are connected via a bus 18. It is connected.

The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs such as firmware and data for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD, flash memory, or other non-volatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, and various data.

The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with devices on the network.

The CPU 11 develops in the RAM 13 programs corresponding to commands given from the operation input unit 14 among a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 and the storage unit 17, and displays the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the developed programs. 17 is controlled appropriately.

The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other operation device.

The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL display, a plasma display, or the like.

Next, functional blocks realized by executing programs in the CPU 11 will be described.

The functional blocks implemented in the CPU 11' of the remote maintenance server 10' are a setting value collecting section 11f, a setting change receiving section 11g, a setting change notifying section 11c, and a setting restoring section 11e.

The setting value collection unit 11f periodically collects setting values from the image forming apparatus 20 and stores them in the storage 80 or the like in chronological order.

The setting change receiving unit 11g receives from the data processing server 90 via a queue the content of the change in setting value detected by the data processing server 90 .

The setting change notification unit 11c notifies the administrator of the image forming apparatus 20 and related users of the changed setting values. The notification may be made by e-mail or the like.

The setting recovery unit 11e performs a recovery process to restore the setting values when an important setting item is changed.

The configuration of the remote maintenance server 10' has been described above.

Data Processing Server Configuration
Next, the configuration of the data processing server 90 will be described. The data processing server 90 may be composed of dedicated hardware and software, or may be composed of a general computer. FIG. 7 shows a configuration diagram in which the data processing server 90 is composed of a general computer.

As shown in the figure, the data processing server 90 has a CPU 91, a ROM 92, a RAM 93, an operation input section 94, a communication section 95, a display section 96, and a storage section 97. These blocks are connected via a bus 98. It is

The ROM 92 stores a plurality of programs such as firmware and data for executing various processes. The RAM 93 is used as a work area for the CPU 91 and temporarily holds the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

The storage unit 97 is, for example, an HDD, flash memory, or other non-volatile memory. The storage unit 97 stores an OS, various applications, and various data.

A communication unit 95 is connected to a network for exchanging information with devices on the network.

The CPU 91 develops in the RAM 93 programs corresponding to commands given from the operation input unit 94 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 92 and the storage unit 97, and displays the display unit 96 and the storage unit according to the expanded programs. 97 is controlled accordingly.

The operation input unit 94 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other operation device.

The display unit 96 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL display, a plasma display, or the like.

Next, functional blocks realized by executing programs in the CPU 91 will be described.

A functional block implemented in the CPU 91 of the data processing server 90 is a second setting change detector 91a.

The second setting change detection unit 91a is activated by the schedule server 110 as a trigger, checks the setting values stored in time series in the storage 80, and checks whether or not the setting values have been changed. If the set value has been changed, the content of the change is notified to the remote maintenance server 10' via the queue.

The configuration of the data processing server 90 has been described above.

[Process flow (setting value change and collection)]
Next, a flow of processing for changing setting values in the image forming apparatus 20 and collecting setting values by the remote management system 100' will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing for changing setting values in the image forming apparatus 20 and collecting setting values by the remote management system 100'.

First, the setting change unit 21a of the image forming apparatus 20 receives a setting change and changes the setting of its own apparatus (step S10).

Next, the setting value reporting unit 21b of the image forming apparatus 20 reports the setting values to the remote maintenance server 10' (step S11). Reporting may be done each time there is a change, or it may be done periodically, for example once a day.

Next, the setting value collection unit 11f of the remote maintenance server 10' receives a setting value report from the image forming apparatus 20 and collects the setting values (step S12).

Next, the setting value collection unit 11f of the remote maintenance server 10' stores the collected setting values in time series in the storage 80 (step S13).

The flow of processing for changing setting values in the image forming apparatus 20 and collecting setting values by the remote management system 100′ has been described above.

[Process flow (detection of setting value change and notification to relevant parties, etc.)]
Next, detection of setting value change, notification to concerned parties, and recovery processing of important setting values in the remote management system 100' will be described. FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining detection of setting value change, notification to concerned parties, and recovery processing of important setting values in the remote management system 100'.

First, the schedule server 110 activates the data processing server 90 (step S20).

Next, the second setting change detector 91a of the data processing server 90 verifies the setting values stored in the storage 80 (step S21).

Next, the second setting change detector 91a of the data processing server 90 determines whether or not the setting value has been changed (step S22).

If there is no change in the set value (N in step S22), the process is terminated.

If the setting value has been changed (Y in step S22), then the second setting change detection unit 91a notifies the remote maintenance server 10' of the content of the change via a queue (step S23).

Next, the setting change reception unit 11g of the remote maintenance server 10' extracts and receives the change content from the queue (step S24).

Next, the setting change notification unit 11c of the remote maintenance server 10' notifies the administrator of the image forming apparatus 20 and related users of the changed content (step S25).

Next, the setting restoration unit 11e of the remote maintenance server 10' determines whether or not the setting values of important items have been changed (step S26).

If the setting value of the important item has been changed (Y in step S26), the setting restorer 11e restores the changed setting value and ends the process (step S27).

If the set values of the important items have not been changed (N in step S26), the process is terminated.

The detection of setting value change, notification to relevant parties, and recovery processing of important setting values in the remote management system 100′ have been described above.

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

10, 10' ... remote maintenance server 11 ... CPU
11a... setting change receiving section 11b... first setting change detecting section 11c... setting change notifying section 11d... setting change command transmitting section 11e... setting restoring section 11f... setting value collecting section 11g... setting change receiving section 12... ROM
13... RAM
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 14: operation input unit 15: communication unit 16: display unit 17: storage unit 18: bus 20: image forming apparatus 21: control unit 21a: setting change unit 21b: setting value reporting unit 22: document reading unit 23: image processing unit 24... Image memory 25... Image forming unit 26... Operation unit 26a... Display unit 27... Facsimile communication unit 28... Communication unit 29... Storage unit 30... Connection server 40... User terminal 50... Load balancer 60... User operation server 70... database
80... Storage 90... Data processing server 91... CPU
91a... Second setting change detector 92... ROM
93... RAM
94... Operation input unit 95... Communication unit 96... Display unit 97... Storage unit 98... Bus 100... Remote management system 110... Schedule server

Claims (2)

A remote management system including a networked user operation server, a remote maintenance server, a connection server, a data processing server, storage, and an image forming device, comprising:
The remote maintenance server includes a setting change reception unit, a first setting change detection unit, a setting change notification unit, a setting change command transmission unit, a setting recovery unit, a setting value collection unit, and a setting change reception unit. with
The image forming apparatus includes a setting change unit and a setting value reporting unit,
The data processing server comprises a second setting change detector,
(1) When changing the setting values of the image forming apparatus via the remote management system,
the setting change reception unit of the remote maintenance server receives an instruction to change the setting value of the image forming apparatus from a user via the user operation server ;
the first setting change detection unit of the remote maintenance server detects a change made by the setting value change instruction ;
The setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifies an administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change content;
the setting change command transmission unit of the remote maintenance server transmits a command for changing the setting value of the image forming apparatus to the image forming apparatus via the connection server ;
The setting recovery unit of the remote maintenance server determines whether or not the setting values of important items have been changed in the image forming apparatus, and if the setting values of the important items have been changed, the changed setting values If the setting value of the important item has not been changed, the process is finished without performing the recovery process to restore the changed setting value,
(2) when the setting values of the image forming apparatus are changed directly without going through the remote management system;
the setting change unit of the image forming apparatus receives a direct setting change by an operation unit, a management tool, a setting web server provided by the image forming apparatus, and a print command, and changes the setting value of the own apparatus;
the setting value reporting unit of the image forming apparatus periodically reports the setting value of the image forming apparatus to the remote maintenance server;
the setting value collection unit of the remote maintenance server periodically collects setting values from the image forming apparatus and saves them in the storage in chronological order;
The second setting change detection unit of the data processing server checks the setting values stored in the storage in chronological order, checks whether the setting values have been changed, and determines whether the setting values have been changed. In the event that the
the setting change receiving unit of the remote maintenance server receives from the data processing server the changed setting value detected by the data processing server;
The setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifies an administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change content;
The setting recovery unit of the remote maintenance server determines whether or not the setting values of important items have been changed in the image forming apparatus, and if the setting values of the important items have been changed, the changed setting values If the setting values of the important items have not been changed, the processing is finished without performing the recovery processing to restore the changed setting values.
Remote management system. An information processing method in a remote management system including a network-connected user operation server, a remote maintenance server, a connection server , a data processing server, a storage, and an image forming apparatus, comprising:
(1) When changing the setting values of the image forming apparatus via the remote management system,
a setting change receiving unit of the remote maintenance server receives a setting value change instruction of the image forming apparatus from a user via the user operation server;
A first setting change detection unit of the remote maintenance server detects a change made by the setting value change instruction,
a setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifying an administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change;
A setting change command transmission unit of the remote maintenance server transmits a command for changing a setting value of the image forming apparatus to the image forming apparatus via the connection server ;
The setting recovery unit of the remote maintenance server determines whether or not the setting values of important items have been changed in the image forming apparatus, and if the setting values of the important items have been changed, the changed setting values are restored. If the setting value of the important item is not changed, the process is finished without performing the recovery process to restore the changed setting value,
(2) when the setting values of the image forming apparatus are changed directly without going through the remote management system;
A setting change unit of the image forming apparatus receives a direct setting change by an operation unit, a management tool, a setting web server provided by the image forming apparatus, and a print command, and changes the setting value of the own apparatus,
the setting value reporting unit of the image forming apparatus periodically reports the setting values of the image forming apparatus to the remote maintenance server;
the setting value collection unit of the remote maintenance server periodically collects setting values from the image forming apparatus and saves them in the storage in chronological order;
A second setting change detection unit of the data processing server checks the setting values stored in the storage in chronological order, checks whether or not the setting values have been changed, and determines whether the setting values have been changed. If so, notify the remote maintenance server of the change,
the setting change receiving unit of the remote maintenance server receives, from the data processing server, changes to setting values detected by the data processing server;
The setting change notification unit of the remote maintenance server notifies an administrator and related users of the image forming apparatus of the change content;
The setting recovery unit of the remote maintenance server determines whether or not the setting values of important items have been changed in the image forming apparatus, and if the setting values of the important items have been changed, the changed setting values If the setting values of the important items have not been changed, the processing is finished without performing the recovery processing to restore the changed setting values.
Information processing methods.

Images