APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INTEGRALLY MANAGING MAINTENANCE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20130086243A1
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Oh, Seok Min, CHO, Hyung Rae, Kweon, Ji Hyeon, Lee, Kang Min, Kharsim, Yousef
• Application Number:
  US13/627,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20130086243A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for integrally managing maintenance of a plurality of electronic devices are provided, where the device management system includes a server that stores maintenance packages; a plurality of electronic devices that execute maintenance; and a device management apparatus that acquires a plurality of maintenance packages with respect to the plurality of electronic devices from the server, generates a general maintenance schedule including at least one maintenance execution time with reference to the plurality of maintenance packages, and executes maintenance of an electronic device from among the plurality of electronic devices corresponding to the at least one maintenance execution time, when the at least one maintenance execution time arrives.

Claims

1. A method for integrally managing maintenance of a plurality of electronic devices by a device management apparatus, the method comprising:

acquiring, by the device management apparatus, a plurality of maintenance packages for the plurality of electronic devices;

generating a general maintenance schedule including at least one maintenance execution time with reference to the plurality of maintenance packages; and

upon arrival of the at least one maintenance execution time, transmitting a maintenance package and a maintenance control signal to a corresponding electronic device from among the plurality of electronic devices according to the general maintenance schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the general maintenance schedule comprises:

calculating driving patterns of the plurality of electronic devices corresponding to the plurality of maintenance packages and required maintenance times of the plurality of maintenance packages;

determining possible maintenance times based on the calculated driving patterns and the required maintenance times; and

generating the general maintenance schedule based on the possible maintenance times.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a maintenance pause signal to the corresponding electronic device, when a maintenance interference signal for using the corresponding electronic device is received during the maintenance;

determining a maintenance progress state, when an interference release signal is received;

adjusting the general maintenance schedule based on the maintenance progress state; and

transmitting a maintenance restart signal according to the adjusted general maintenance schedule.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the maintenance progress state comprises:

calculating an amount of remaining maintenance;

calculating a remaining required maintenance time according to the amount of the remaining maintenance; and

determining another maintenance execution time with reference to the remaining required maintenance time and a driving pattern of the corresponding device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a plurality of packages acquired together with package version information; and

transmitting version restoration data corresponding to a certain software version and a version restoration command signal, when a version restoration request signal to the certain software version is received.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the version restoration data is update history information including a software update package or data to be restored.

7. A device management system comprising:

a server that stores maintenance packages;

a plurality of electronic devices that execute maintenance; and

a device management apparatus that acquires a plurality of maintenance packages with respect to the plurality of electronic devices from the server, generates a general maintenance schedule including at least one maintenance execution time with reference to the plurality of maintenance packages, and executes maintenance of an electronic device from among the plurality of electronic devices corresponding to the at least one maintenance execution time, when the at least one maintenance execution time arrives.

8. The device management system of claim 7, further comprising a mobile terminal communicating with the device management apparatus,

wherein one of the plurality of electronic devices or the mobile terminal transmits a maintenance interference signal for using a certain electronic device and an interference release signal informing use termination of the certain electronic device to the device management apparatus, and

wherein the device management apparatus transmits a maintenance pause signal to the certain electronic device in response to the maintenance interference signal, adjusts the schedule according to a maintenance progress state of the certain electronic device, when the interference release signal is received, and supports the maintenance in the certain electronic device to restart according to the adjusted schedule.

9. The device management system of claim 8, wherein one of the plurality of electronic devices or the mobile terminal transmits a version restoration request signal to a certain software version with respect to the one electronic device to the device management apparatus,

wherein the device management apparatus determines and stores package version information of the acquired maintenance packages, and transmits version restoration data corresponding to the certain software version and a version restoration command signal to the one electronic device with reference to the package version information, and

wherein the one electronic device executes restoration of the certain software version according to the version restoration data and the version restoration command signal.

10. The device management system of claim 7, wherein the device management apparatus divides the plurality of electronic devices into groups according to at least one of driving patterns, locations, and use application of the plurality of electronic devices, and recognizes a possible maintenance time specified in the groups to generate the schedule according to the groups.

11. A device management apparatus comprising:

a device management communication unit that acquires and transfers a plurality of maintenance packages with respect to a plurality of electronic devices;

a device management memory storing the plurality of maintenance packages; and

a device management controller generating a general maintenance schedule including at least one maintenance execution time with reference to the plurality of maintenance packages, and transmitting a maintenance package and a maintenance control signal to a corresponding electronic device from among the plurality of electronic devices according to the general maintenance schedule.

12. The device management apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller confirms driving patterns of the plurality of electronic devices corresponding to the plurality of maintenance packages and required maintenance times of the plurality of maintenance packages, and plans the at least one maintenance execution time according to a possible maintenance time based on the driving patterns and the required maintenance times.

13. The device management apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller controls the device management communication unit to transmit a maintenance pause signal to the corresponding electronic device, when a maintenance interference signal for using the corresponding electronic device is received during execution of the maintenance, determines a maintenance progress state to adjust the general maintenance schedule, when an interference release signal informing of termination of use of the corresponding electronic device is received, and transmits a maintenance restart signal according to the adjusted general maintenance schedule.

14. The device management apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller calculates a remaining required maintenance time according to the maintenance progress state, determines another maintenance execution time with reference to the remaining required maintenance time and a driving pattern of the corresponding electronic device, and controls the device management communication unit to transmit the maintenance restart signal to the corresponding electronic device in the another determined maintenance execution time according to the adjusted general maintenance schedule.

15. The device management apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller stores the plurality of packages in the device management memory with package version information, controls the device management communication unit to transmit version restoration data corresponding to the certain software version and a version restoration command signal to a corresponding electronic device with reference to the package version information.

16. The device management apparatus of claim 15, wherein the version restoration data is update history information including a software update package or data to be restored to the requested version.

17. A mobile terminal comprising:

a communication unit that communicates with a device management apparatus;

a display unit that displays a graphic user interface for integrally managing maintenance of a plurality of electronic devices connected to the device management apparatus; and

a controller that controls the device management communication unit to collect maintenance relation data with at least one of the plurality of electronic devices, and controls the display unit to display the maintenance relation data and the graphic user interface.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the user interface is displayed to provide a current maintenance state of the at least one electronic device, and to manage a software version of the at least electronic device.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the device management communication unit receives a maintenance package for updating a maintenance program of the mobile terminal from the device management apparatus, and the controller performs the update operation according to the maintenance control package.