Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program and storage medium

• US 20040002905A1
• Filed: 04/22/2003
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Oya, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for efficiently performing inventory management, including storage places, of expendable supplies to be used in devices. Storage place information in which held storage places and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other is updated based upon an association of a designated storage place and a specified classification of expendable supplies.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus provided with an inventory management function used for each of a plurality of printing apparatuses, comprising:

holding means which holds storage place information in which storage places and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other; and

updating means which updates the storage place information held in said holding means based upon association of a designated storage place and a specified classification of expendable supplies.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

specifying means which specifies a classification of expendable supplies to be used in a printing apparatus based upon information notified from the printing apparatus; and

evaluation means which evaluates whether or not the association of the classification of expendable supplies specified by said specifying means and the designated storage place is already included in the storage place information,

wherein said updating means updates the storage place information based upon evaluation by said evaluation means.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising acquisition means which acquires a model code of said printing apparatus from said printing apparatus,

wherein said specifying means specifies a classification of expendable supplies corresponding to the model code based upon the model code acquired by said acquisition means and product information held in a storage section, and said evaluation means performs evaluation based upon the specified classification of expendable supplies and the designated storage place and said update means updates the storage place information based on said evaluation.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

connection means which makes connection with an external apparatus which holds necessary information following management of states of a plurality of printing apparatuses and inventories of expendable supplies to be used for said printing apparatuses; and

product information acquisition means which acquires product information for specifying a classification of expendable supplies in association with a model code of a printing apparatus from said external apparatus based upon connection processing by said connection means,

wherein said specifying means specifies a classification of expendable supplies corresponding to the model code based upon the obtained model code and the product information acquired by said product information acquisition means, and said evaluation means performs evaluation based upon the specified classification of expendable supplies and the designated storage place and said update means updates the storage place information based on said evaluation.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein said product information acquisition means acquires product information from said external apparatus periodically.

6. An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a server holding information necessary for managing states of a plurality of devices and the number of stocks of expendable supplies to be used by the devices, comprising:

connection means which makes connection with the devices and a server provided with product information for performing inventory management;

holding means which holds connection information for connection by the connection unit;

acquisition means which acquires product information, in which models of the devices and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other, from the server; and

preparation means which prepares storage place information of expendable supplies corresponding to a model of a printing apparatus based upon product information acquired by the acquisition unit.

7. An information processing method in inventory management of expendable supplies to be used for each of a plurality of printing apparatuses, comprising:

a holding step of holding storage place information, in which storage places and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other, in a holding section and

an updating step of updating the storage place information held in said holding section based upon association of a designated storage place and a specified classification of expendable supplies.

8. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a server holding information necessary for managing states of a plurality of devices and the number of stocks of expendable supplies to be used by the devices, comprising:

a communication step of communicating with a device and a server provided with product information for performing inventory management;

a reading step of reading connection information for communication in said communication step from a holding section;

an acquisition step of acquiring product information, in which models of devices and classification of expendable supplies are associated with each other, from said server; and

a preparation step of preparing storage place information of expendable supplies corresponding to the models of printing apparatuses based upon the product information acquired by said acquisition step.

9. A program for inventory management processing of expendable supplies which is executed by an information processing apparatus and is used for each of a plurality of printing apparatuses, comprising:

a holding step of holding storage place information, in which storage places and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other, in a holding section and

an updating step of updating the storage place information held in said holding section based upon association of a designated storage place and a specified classification of expendable supplies.

10. A program to be executed by an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a server holding information necessary for managing states of a plurality of devices and the number of stocks of expendable supplies to be used by the devices, comprising:

a communication step of communicating with a device and a server provided with product information for performing inventory management;

a reading step of reading connection information for communication in said communication step from a holding section;

an acquisition step of acquiring product information, in which models of devices and classification of expendable supplies are associated with each other, from said server; and

a preparation step of preparing storage place information of expendable supplies corresponding to the models of printing apparatuses based upon the product information acquired by said acquisition step.

11. A storage medium for storing therein a program for inventory management processing of expendable supplies, which is executed by an information processing apparatus and is used for each of a plurality of printing apparatuses, in a computer readable form, the program comprising:

a holding step of holding storage place information, in which storage places and classifications of expendable supplies are associated with each other, in a holding section and

an updating step of updating the storage place information held in said holding section based upon association of a designated storage place and a specified classification of expendable supplies.

12. A storage medium for storing therein a program to be executed by an information processing apparatus, which is capable of communicating with a server holding information necessary for managing states of a plurality of devices and the number of stocks of expendable supplies to be used by the devices, in a computer readable form, the program comprising:

a communication step of communicating with a device and a server provided with product information for performing inventory management;

a reading step of reading connection information for communication in said communication step from a holding section;

an acquisition step of acquiring product information, in which models of devices and classification of expendable supplies are associated with each other, from said server; and

a preparation step of preparing storage place information of expendable supplies corresponding to the models of printing apparatuses based upon the product information acquired by said acquisition step.