CONTROL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM HAVING A COMPUTER PROGRAM

• US 20100161772A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Yasaki, Kouichi, Nimura, Kazuaki, NAKAMURA, Yousuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,539,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss

Abstract

A control assistance system and method include transmitting identification information and part identification information of a managed apparatus, storing identification information of the managed apparatus and the part identification information in a correspondence manner, specifying a combination of parts of the managed apparatus based on a correspondence between the identification information received from the managed apparatus and the identification information stored in the database, writing the received identification information in the database according to the specified combination of parts of the managed apparatus and transmitting a signal of restricting an operation to the specified managed apparatus.

Claims

1. A control assistance system including a managed apparatus having a plurality of parts, and a managing apparatus for remotely controlling the managed apparatus, comprising:

the managed apparatus including;

a transmission unit for transmitting identification information and part identification information of the managed apparatus, and

the managing apparatus including;

a database for storing the identification information of the managed apparatus and the part identification information in a correspondence manner;

a specification unit for specifying a combination of parts of the managed apparatus based on a correspondence between the identification information received from the managed apparatus and the identification information stored in the database;

a write unit for writing the received identification information in the database according to the specified combination of parts of the managed apparatus; and

an instruction unit for transmitting a signal of restricting an operation to the specified managed apparatus.

2. The control assistance system according to claim 1,

wherein when the specification unit specifies a first combination of parts of the managed apparatus, the write unit writes the identification information received from the specified managed apparatus in the database, and

when the specification unit specifies a second combination of parts of the managed apparatus, the instruction unit transmits a signal of restricting an operation to the specified managed apparatus.

3. The control assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit transmits a signal of prohibiting startup of the specified managed apparatus.

4. The control assistance system according to claim 2,

wherein the parts have a storage device storing data, and

when the specification unit specifies a third combination of parts of the managed apparatus, the instruction unit transmits a signal of prohibiting data erasure in the storage device to the specified managed apparatus.

5. The control assistance system according to claim 1,

wherein the managed apparatus includes an exchange detection unit for detecting an exchange of part, and

when the exchange of part is detected by the exchange detection unit, the transmission unit transmits identification information and identification information of the exchanged part.

6. The control assistance system according to claim 5, wherein the exchange detection unit operates at a time of startup of the managed apparatus.

7. The control assistance system according to claim 5, wherein the exchange detection unit operates in response to reception of a signal of erasing the data in the storage device.

8. The control assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the managing apparatus includes:

a reception unit for externally receiving a remote control request for the managed apparatus; and

a generation unit for generating a remote control signal in response to the received request, and

the instruction unit transmits the generated signal.

9. The control assistance system according to claim 5, wherein when an exchange of part is not detected by the exchange detection unit, the transmission unit advances an operation without transmitting the identification information.

10. An information processing apparatus for controlling an external apparatus having a plurality of parts, comprising:

a storage unit for storing identification information of the external apparatus and identification information of the parts in a correspondence manner;

a specification unit for specifying a combination of parts of the external apparatus based on the correspondence between the identification information received from the external apparatus and the identification information stored in the storage unit;

a write unit for writing the received identification information in the storage unit depending on the specified combination of parts of the external apparatus; and

an instruction unit for transmitting a signal of restricting an operation to the specified external apparatus.

11. A computer-readable recording medium recording therein a computer program for causing a computer to control an external apparatus having a plurality of parts, the computer program causing the computer to perform the operations of:

storing identification information of the external apparatus and identification information of the parts in a correspondence manner;

specifying a combination of parts of the external apparatus based on the correspondence between the identification information received from the external apparatus and the stored identification information;

writing the received identification information depending on the specified combination of parts of the external apparatus; and

transmitting a signal of controlling an operation to the specified external apparatus.

12. A method of controlling an operation of an apparatus having a plurality of parts, comprising:

comparing part identification information received with registered combination of parts of the apparatus; and

controlling an operation of the apparatus to be authorized when said comparing results in a match.