Method and system for maintaining a business office appliance through log files

• US 20050165929A1
• Filed: 03/08/2005
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Motoyama, Tetsuro
• Application Number:
  US11/073,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20050165929A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring a business office appliance by a remote service center using logs that are transferred to the remote service center. When the service center analyzes the data in the logs, it can detect warning messages or error messages from application software controlling the monitored appliances and remotely diagnose or fix those monitored appliances.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising:

a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for execution on a business office appliance and for monitoring the business office appliance, the computer program code mechanism comprising;

a first computer code device configured to generate a monitoring message, including error messages and warnings detected on the business office appliance;

a second computer code device configured to transmit the monitoring message to a remote service center for diagnosis of the error messages and warnings at the remote service center; and

a third computer code device configured to receive an acknowledgment that the service center received the monitoring message.

2. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second computer code device comprises a sixth computer code device configured to transmit the monitoring message via FTP.

3. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second computer code device comprises a sixth computer code device configured to transmit the monitoring message via HTTP.

4. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second computer code device comprises a fourth computer code device configured to transmit the monitoring message, further including a logging ID, via e-mail, the computer program product further comprising:

a fifth computer code device configured to locally store a copy of the monitoring message before the second computer code device transmits the monitoring message by e-mail; and

a sixth computer code device configured to delete the copy of the monitoring message stored locally after receiving the acknowledgment from the remote service center.

5. The computer program product as claimed in claim 4, wherein the third computer code device comprises a seventh computer code device configured to receive the acknowledgment via e-mail.

6. The computer program product as claimed in claim 5, wherein the third computer code device comprises an eighth computer code device configured to parse out the logging ID from the acknowledgment.

7. The computer program product as claimed in claim 4, wherein the fifth computer code device comprises a seventh computer code device configured to store the copy of the monitoring message in a directory corresponding to the logging ID.

8. The computer program product as claimed in claim 7, wherein the sixth computer code device comprises a eighth computer code device configured to delete the directory corresponding to the logging ID along with the copy of the monitoring message stored locally after receiving the acknowledgment from the service center.

9. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first computer code device comprises a sixth computer code device configured to include usage history messages in the monitoring message.

10. A computer implemented method, executed on a business office appliance, for monitoring the business office appliance, comprising the steps of:

generating a monitoring message, including error messages and warnings detected on the business office appliance;

transmitting the monitoring message to a remote service center for diagnosis of the error messages and warnings at the remote service center; and

receiving an acknowledgment that the service center received the monitoring message.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting comprises transmitting the monitoring message via FTP.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting comprises transmitting the monitoring message via HTTP.

13. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting comprises adding a logging ID to the monitoring message and transmitting the monitoring message, via e-mail, the method further comprising:

storing, locally, a copy of the monitoring message before transmitting the monitoring message by e-mail; and

deleting the copy of the monitoring message stored locally after receiving the acknowledgment from the remote service center.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving the acknowledgment via e-mail.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the receiving step further comprises parsing out the logging ID from the acknowledgment.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the storing step comprises storing the copy of the monitoring message in a directory corresponding to the logging ID.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising the step of deleting the directory corresponding to the logging ID along with the copy of the monitoring message stored locally after receiving the acknowledgment from the service center.

18. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising the step of adding usage history messages to the monitoring message.

19. A business office appliance, comprising:

a detector for detecting an error condition and status information;

a message generator configured to generate a monitoring message, including error messages and warnings based on the error conditions and status information detected by the detector;

a transmitter configured to transmit the monitoring message to a remote service center for diagnosis of the error messages and warnings at the remote service center; and

a receiver configured to receive an acknowledgment that the service center received the monitoring message.

20. The business office appliance as claimed in claim 19, wherein the transmitter comprises an FTP transmitter configured to transmit the monitoring message via FTP.