Notifying system that notifies reporting device about status of network terminals

• US 20030229691A1
• Filed: 06/03/2003
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Ishimoto, Kan
• Granted Patent: US 7,325,054 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging

Abstract

A network is configured of networks connected to each other via a router. A notification terminal device, a plurality of printers serving as the network terminal devices, a plurality of personal computers serving as the notifying terminal devices, and the like are connected to the network. The notification terminal device establishes groups of printers and, for each group, sets mail addresses and conditions for issuing notifications to those mail addresses regarding the status of the printers. The notification terminal device collects status data from the printers and transmits notification mail to the preset mail addresses based on the notification conditions set for each group.

Claims

1. A notifying system comprising:

a plurality of network terminals; and

a notification terminal that is connected to the network terminals via a network;

wherein each of the network terminals includes a status transmitting unit that transmits status data to the notification terminal, the status data indicating a status of the network terminal; and

the notification terminal includes;

a receiving unit that receives the status data;

a setting unit that sets a notification condition and a destination user;

a determining unit that determines whether the status of the network terminal meets the notification condition; and

a notifying unit that notifies the destination user of the status when the determining unit determines that the status meets the notification condition.

2. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets a notification condition and a destination user for each of a plurality of groups of the network terminals.

3. The notifying system according to claim 2, wherein the setting unit establishes groups of network terminals based on at least one of node address, node name, model name, manufacturer name, terminal name, and location of the network terminals.

4. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the notification terminal further includes a memory that stores historical data representing previous status of each network terminal and a comparing unit that compares the historical data with the status data, and the determining unit determines whether the status meets the notification condition based on the comparison results by the comparing unit.

5. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the status data includes a consumable products data indicating status of consumable products used in the network terminal.

6. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit notifies the destination user by transmitting a notification, the notification indicating the status of two or more of the network terminals.

7. The notifying system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first network to which the notification terminal is connected;

a second network connected to and different from the first network; and

a probe device connected to the second network, the probe device including a requesting unit that issues a request to at least one of the plurality of network terminals connected to the second network, requesting to transmit the status data, wherein

the transmitting unit of each of the network terminals transmits the status data in response to the request.

8. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the notification terminal further includes:

an extracting unit that periodically extracts the existence of network terminals by multicasting; and

a status data requesting unit that issues a request to the network terminals whose existence have been extracted by the extracting unit, the request requesting the status data,

9. The notifying system according to claim 1, further comprising a user terminal connected to the notification terminal via the network, wherein the notifying unit of the notification terminal notifies the destination user of the status through the user terminal.

10. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets a notification condition for each of a plurality of status types.

11. The notifying system according to claim 10, wherein the determining unit determines whether the status of the network terminal meets the corresponding notification condition, and the notifying unit notifies the destination user of the status when the determining unit determines that the status meets the corresponding notification condition.

12. The notifying system according to claim 1, wherein the notification terminal further includes:

a first list unit that creates a first list listing the notification condition and the destination user;

an extracting unit that periodically extracts the existence of network terminals by multicasting;

a second list unit that creates a second list listing the extracted network terminals;

a third list unit that creates a third list listing the current status of each network terminal;

a memory that stores a historical data list listing previous status of each network terminal; and

a saving unit that saves one or more of the first list, the second list, the third list, and the historical data list as file data.

13. A notification terminal connected to a plurality of network terminals and a user terminal via a network, the notification terminal comprising:

a receiving unit that receives status data indicating status of the network terminals from the network terminals;

a setting unit that sets a notification condition and a destination user;

a determining unit that determines whether the status meets the notification condition; and

a notifying unit that notifies the destination user of the status when the determining unit determines that the status meets the notification condition.

14. The notification terminal according to claim 13, wherein the notifying unit notifies the destination user of the status through the user terminal.