MAINTENANCE SYSTEM OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND MAINTENANCE METHOD OF THE SAME

• US 20090323103A1
• Filed: 05/05/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Katou, Hiroyo
• Granted Patent: US 8,223,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/502 relating to the structure of the control menu, e.g. pop-up menus, help screens
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00109 Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00122 using speech synthesis or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/26 Recognition of special voice characteristics, e.g. for use in lie detectors; Recognition of animal voices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00344 with a management, maintenance, service or repair apparatus monitoring H04N1/00002
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00403 Voice input means, e.g. voice commands
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception

Abstract

A maintenance system of an image forming apparatus is composed of an image forming apparatus and a central management apparatus connected to it via a communication line. The image forming apparatus is composed of an image forming unit for forming an image, an information output unit for outputting intra-machine information of the image forming unit, a voice information input unit for inputting voice information of a user of the image forming unit, and a first communication controller for outputting the intra-machine information and voice information via the communication line. A central management apparatus is composed of a second communication controller connected to the communication line for inputting the intra-machine information and voice information which are outputted from the image forming apparatus, an emotional condition recognition unit for recognizing the emotional condition of the user of the image forming apparatus on the basis of the voice information received by the second communication controller, a support data storage unit for storing beforehand support information corresponding to the intra-machine information and emotional condition, a main controller for extracting the corresponding support information from the support information storage unit on the basis of the intra-machine information received by the second communication controller and the emotional condition of the user recognized by the emotional condition recognition unit, and an input/output unit for reporting the support information extracted by the main controller to an operator.

Claims

1. A maintenance system of an image forming apparatus, comprising:

an image forming apparatus including;

an image forming unit configured to form an image;

an information output unit configured to output intra-machine information of the image forming unit;

a voice information input unit configured to input voice information of a user of the image forming unit; and

a first communication controller configured to output the intra-machine information and the voice information via a communication line; and

a central management apparatus including;

a second communication controller connected to the communication line to input the intra-machine information and voice information outputted from the image forming apparatus;

an emotional condition recognition unit configured to recognize the emotional condition of the user using the image forming apparatus on the basis of the voice information received by the second communication controller;

a support data storage unit configured to store beforehand support information corresponding to the intra-machine information and the emotional condition;

a main controller configured to extract the corresponding support information from the support information storage unit on the basis of the intra-machine information received by the second communication controller and the emotional condition of the user recognized by the emotional condition recognition unit; and

an input/output unit configured to reporting the support information extracted by the main controller to an operator.

2. The maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication controller of the image forming apparatus tries connection of the image forming apparatus to the operator and when the connection cannot be established, transmits the number of non-connection times tried to the central management apparatus, and the central management apparatus receives the number of non-connection times, and when the received number of non-connection times exceeds a predetermined specified number of times, the main controller of the central management apparatus switches to a support in a high emergency degree.

4. The maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a microphone to receive the voice information of the user.

5. The maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a speaker to output the voice from the central management apparatus.

6. The maintenance system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a call button operated by the user so as to be able to request connection to the central management apparatus.

7. A maintenance system of an image forming apparatus comprising:

an image forming apparatus including;

an image forming unit configured to form an image;

an information output unit configured to output intra-machine information of the image forming unit;

a voice information input unit configured to input voice information of a user of the image forming unit;

an emotional condition recognition unit configured to recognize the emotional condition of the user using the image forming apparatus from the voice information inputted by the voice information input unit; and

a first communication controller configured to output the intra-machine information and the emotional condition information via a communication line; and

a central management apparatus including;

a second communication controller connected to the communication line to input the intra-machine information and emotional condition information outputted from the image forming apparatus;

a support data storage unit configured to store beforehand support information corresponding to the intra-machine information and the emotional condition information;

a main controller configured to extract the corresponding support information from the support information stored by the support information storage unit on the basis of the intra-machine information received by the second communication controller and the emotional condition of the user; and

an input/output unit configured to report the support information extracted by the extraction means to an operator.

8. The maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein the first communication controller of the image forming apparatus tries connection of the image forming apparatus to the operator and when the connection cannot be established, transmits the number of non-connection times tried to the central management apparatus, and the central management apparatus receives the number of non-connection times, and when the received number of non-connection times exceeds a predetermined specified number of times, the main controller of the central management apparatus switches to a support in a high emergency degree.

9. The maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein the central management apparatus further includes:

a history data storage unit configured to store the intra-machine information received by the image forming apparatus and the emotional condition recognized using the emotional condition recognition unit as history data;

a history data analysis unit configured to analyze a mutual relation between the intra-machine information and the emotional condition from the history data; and

a support data update unit configured to update the support information stored by the support data storage unit on the basis of the results obtained by the history data analysis unit.

10. The maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein the image forming apparatus has a microphone to receive the voice information of the user.

11. The maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein the image forming apparatus has a speaker to output the voice from the central management apparatus.

12. The maintenance system according to claim 7, wherein the image forming apparatus has a call button operated by the user so as to be able to request connection to the central management apparatus.

13. A maintenance method of an image forming apparatus of a system composed of the image forming apparatus and a central management apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus via a communication line, comprising:

transmitting intra-machine information of the image forming apparatus to the central management apparatus via the communication line;

permitting at least one of the image forming apparatus and the central management apparatus to recognize an emotional condition of the user on the basis of voice information of a user using the image forming apparatus; and

reporting support information corresponding to the intra-machine information and the recognized emotional condition to an operator of the central management apparatus.

14. The maintenance method according to claim 13, wherein the recognizing step is executed by the central management apparatus on the basis of the voice information of the user transferred from the image forming apparatus.

15. The maintenance method according to claim 13, wherein the recognizing step is executed in the image forming apparatus on the basis of the voice information from the user of the image forming apparatus.

16. The maintenance method according to claim 13, wherein the image forming apparatus has a microphone to receive the voice information of the user.

17. The maintenance method according to claim 13, wherein the image forming apparatus has a speaker to output the voice from the central management apparatus.

18. The maintenance method according to claim 13, wherein the image forming apparatus has a call button operated by the user so as to be able to request connection to the central management apparatus.