System, method, apparatus, and program for providing electronic manual

• US 8,230,041 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2006
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Minowa, Kiyohisa, Hamaguchi, Haruo, Hanai, Atsushi, Shinohara, Eiji, Torikai, Tatsuto
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vostal, Ondrej
• Application Number:
  US11/523,005
• Publication Number:
  US 20070033230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0223 based on inventory
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

When a customer operates a terminal to send a request for a provision of a manual page to the center via the Internet, the center determines whether the customer who is accessing is a registered customer (user of a copier) based on the stored customer information. In a case where the customer who is accessing the center is a registered customer, the center automatically selects electronic manual file(s) for the copier being used by the customer concerned. And the center generates a manual page representing the content of the selected manual file so that the content of the manual file is noticeable rather than the other information. The center transmits the manual page to the terminal concerned.

Claims

1. A system for providing an electronic manual, the system operating in a communication network comprising a server and a plurality of terminals, the system comprising:

a manual database configured to store a plurality of electronic manual information sets, each set describing content of a user manual of each model of a product including a plurality of sections categorized by functions of the product, wherein files corresponding to the sections, respectively, are stored in the manual database so that a full manual regarding a current model representing a model number or a model name is stored in the manual database and a differential manual describing functions of the current model which are different from former models is stored in the manual database;

a customer information database configured to store customer information including at least customer ID information, product information indicating a model of the product currently owned by a customer concerned, skill level information and upgrade history information indicating upgrade history of models which had been owned by the customer concerned;

a receiver configured to (i) receive, via the communication network, product user manual request information with customer ID information from a terminal and (ii) refer to the customer information database to obtain customer information of a customer corresponding to the received customer ID information;

a selector configured to select, based on the customer information, files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by the customer before upgrade, from the files stored in the manual database as a differential manual between the current model and the former models according to the customer; and

a provider configured to provide to the terminal, via the communication network, the selected files representing trouble index information linked to solutions which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the selector selects the files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the model owned by the customer before the upgrade if a time period since the upgrade is within a predetermined period in order to help the customer to learn about significant features of the upgraded model quickly.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein

the electronic manual information sets in the manual database are also categorized by skill levels, and

the selector selects a basic level electronic manual information set or an advanced level electronic manual information set in accordance with skill level information of the customer information.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an identifier configured to determine, based on the data stored in the customer information database, whether the customer ID information received by the receiver corresponds to a registered customer,

wherein the selector selects an electronic manual information set based on product identification if the customer ID information does not correspond to a registered customer.

5. A method for providing an electronic manual, comprising:

preparing a manual database storing a plurality of electronic manual information sets, each set describing content of a user manual of each model of a product including a plurality of sections categorized by functions of the product, wherein files corresponding to the sections, respectively, are stored in the manual database so that a full manual regarding a current model representing a model number or a model name is stored in the manual database and a differential manual describing functions of the current model which are different from former models is stored in the manual database;

preparing a customer information database storing customer information including at least customer ID information, product information indicating a model of the product currently owned by a customer concerned, skill level information and upgrade history information indicating upgrade history of models which had been owned by the customer concerned;

receiving, via a communication network, product user manual request information with customer ID information from a terminal;

obtaining, from the customer information database, the customer information corresponding to the received customer ID information;

selecting, based on the customer information, files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by the customer before the upgrade, from the files stored in the manual database as a differential manual between the current model and the former models according to the customer; and

providing to the terminal, via the communication network, the selected files representing trouble index information linked to solutions which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of selecting the files comprises selecting the files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by the customer before the upgrade, if a time period since the upgrade is within a predetermined period in order to help the customer to learn about significant features of the upgraded model quickly.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein,

the electronic manual information set are also categorized by skill levels, and

the method further comprising selecting a basic level electronic manual information set or an advanced level electronic manual information set in accordance with skill level information of the customer information.

8. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

determining, based on the data stored in the customer information database, whether the received customer ID information corresponds to a registered customer; and

selecting an electronic manual information set based on product identification if determined that the received customer ID does not correspond to a registered customer.

9. An apparatus for providing an electronic manual, comprising:

a connector configured to connect the apparatus to a terminal via a communication network;

a manual database configured to store a plurality of electronic manual information sets, each set describing content of a user manual of a respective model of a product including a plurality of sections categorized by functions of the product, wherein files corresponding to the sections, respectively, are stored in the manual database and the files are shared among different models of the products if the models concerned have the same functions;

a customer ID database configured to store customer ID data in association with user attribute data including skill level information classified into some skill levels of the user and customer ownership history information indicating differences between a current product owned and a former product owned;

a receiver configured to (i) receive, via the communication network, product user manual request information with customer ID information from a terminal and (ii) refer to the customer ID database to obtain user attribute data associated with a customer corresponding to the received customer ID information;

a selector configured to select, based on the customer information, files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by the customer before upgrade, from the files stored in the manual database as differential manual between the current model and the former models according to the customer;

a provider configured to provide to the terminal, via the communication network, the selected files as the electronic manual;

the manual database configured so that a full manual regarding a current model representing a model number or a model name is stored in the manual database and a differential manual describing functions of the current model which are different from former models is stored in the manual database;

the customer ID database configured to store upgrade history information indicating upgrade history of models which had been owned by the customer concerned; and

the provider configured to provide to the terminal selected files representing trouble index information linked to solutions which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the selector selects the files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the model owned by the customer before the upgrade if a time period since the upgrade is within a predetermined period in order to help the customer to learn about significant features of the upgraded model quickly.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the electronic manual information sets in the manual database are also categorized by skill levels, and

the selector selects a basic level electronic manual information set or an advanced level electronic manual information set in accordance with skill level information of the customer information.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

an identifier configured to determine, based on the data stored in the customer information database, whether the customer ID information received by the receiver corresponds to a registered customer,

wherein the selector selects an electronic manual information set based on product identification instead of user attribute data if the customer ID information does not correspond to a registered customer.

13. A system for providing an electronic manual, comprising:

storage means for storing (i) electronic manual files, each file representing content of a respective model of a product including a plurality of sections categorized by functions of the product, wherein files corresponding to the sections, respectively, are stored in the storage means so that a full manual regarding a current model representing a model number or a model name is stored in the storage means and a differential manual describing functions of the current model which are different from former models is stored in the storage means, and (ii) customer information including at least customer ID information, product information indicating a model of the product currently owned by a customer concerned, skill level information and upgrade history information indicating upgrade history of models which had been owned by the customer concerned;

reception means for receiving a customer ID and a request for an electronic manual;

an identifier configured to identify a requestor based on the customer information of the received customer ID;

selector means for selecting, based on the requestor'"'"'s customer information, the files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by a customer before the upgrade, from the files stored in the storage means as a differential manual between the current model and the former models according to the customer;

retrieval means for retrieving, from the storage means, the files selected by the selector means;

sending means for sending to the requestor the files retrieved by the retrieval means which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual and;

providing to the terminal selected files representing trouble index information linked to solutions which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual.

14. A method, embodied on a computer-readable medium and executed on a processor, for providing an electronic manual, the method comprising:

preparing a manual database storing a plurality of electronic manual information sets, each set describing content of a user manual of each model of a product including a plurality of sections categorized by functions of the product, wherein files corresponding to the sections, respectively, are stored in the manual database so that a full manual regarding a current model representing a model number or a model name is stored in the manual database and a differential manual describing functions of the current model which are different from former models is stored in the manual database;

preparing a customer information database storing customer information including at least customer ID information, product information indicating a model of the product currently owned by a customer concerned, skill level information and upgrade history information indicating upgrade history of models which had been owned by the customer concerned;

receiving, via a communication network, product user manual request information with customer ID information from a terminal;

obtaining, from the customer information database, the customer information corresponding to the received customer ID information;

selecting, based on the customer information, files corresponding to the model currently owned by the customer which are not shared with the models owned by the customer before the upgrade, from the files stored in the manual database as a differential manual between the current model and the former models according to the customer; and

providing to the terminal, via the communication network, the selected files representing trouble index information linked to solutions which are in hierarchical structure and are presented step by step as the electronic manual.