Remote maintenance and diagnosis of office or domestic appliances

• US 6,947,675 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2002
• Issued: 09/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Onodera, Youichi, Takehisa, Akira, Suzuki, Keiichi, Koyama, Kiyohisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, Victor J.
• Application Number:
  US10/136,228
• Publication Number:
  US 20020183978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: 702/188, 399/8, 714/27, 714/25, 709/203, 709/218, 709/230, 707/104.1, 370/282
• US Class Current: 399/8
• 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: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00002 Diagnosis, testing or measuring; Detecting, analysing or monitoring not otherwise provided for error detection, error correction or monitoring in digital computers or digital computer components G06F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00029 Diagnosis, i.e. identifying a problem by comparison with a normal state
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00061 using a remote apparatus H04N1/00066 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00076 locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00344 with a management, maintenance, service or repair apparatus monitoring H04N1/00002

Abstract

A remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus for making a diagnosis of a remote client appliance comprises a data acquisition unit that acquires data necessary to diagnose the client appliance, a diagnosing unit that make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit, and an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit that reports a result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

Claims

1. A remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus configured to diagnose remote client appliance, the apparatus comprising:

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

a diagnosing unit configured to make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit; and

an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit configured to report a result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an interview result entry unit configured to input and register a result of an interview; and

a diagnosis report creating unit configured to creates a remote diagnosis customer report based on the result of the automatic diagnosis and the result of the interview.

3. The remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance, and

the automatic diagnosis result reporting unit is configured to periodically report the result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the trouble history includes a service call made by the client appliance when a problem occurs, and the diagnosing unit makes the automatic diagnosis based on the service call.

5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein trouble history includes a paper jam that has occurred in the client appliance, and the diagnosing unit makes the automatic diagnosis based on the occurrence of the paper jam.

6. The remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

7. A client appliance comprising:

a self-diagnosis unit configured to make a self-diagnosis of the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

an interface configured to send a result of the self-diagnosis to an external diagnosis apparatus and receive inquiries from the external diagnosis apparatus; and

an operation panel configured to allow a user to answer the inquiries.

8. The client appliance according to claim 7, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance, and

the interface is configured to periodically send the result of the self-diagnosis to the external diagnosis apparatus.

9. The client appliance according to claim 8, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

10. A remote diagnosis system comprising:

a client appliance; and

a remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus connected to the client appliance via a network and diagnosing the client appliance, the remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus having;

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

an automatic diagnosis unit configured to make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit; and

an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit configured to report a result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the data acquisition unit of the remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus acquires the data from the customer appliance administration apparatus.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the automatic diagnosis result reporting unit reports the result of the automatic diagnosis to the client apparatus via the customer appliance administration apparatus.

13. The remote diagnosis system according to claim 10, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance, and

the automatic diagnosis result reporting unit is configured to periodically report the result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

14. The remote diagnosis system according to clam 13, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

15. A remote diagnosis method of diagnosing a remote client appliance, comprising the steps of:

acquiring data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

making an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance at a remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus based on the acquired data; and

reporting a result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

entering an interview result into the remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus; and

creating a remote diagnosis report automatically based on the result of the automatic diagnosis and the interview result.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the automatic diagnosis step includes determination of whether or not there is a service call made by the client appliance within a predetermined period of time.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the automatic diagnosis step includes determination of whether or not a paper jam occurred in the client appliance within a predetermined period of time.

19. The remote diagnosis method according to claim 15, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance,

reporting of the result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance is performed periodically.

20. The remote diagnosis method according to claim 19, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

21. A remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus configured to diagnose a remote client appliance, the apparatus comprising:

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

a diagnosing unit configured to make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit; and

an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit configured to report a result of the automatic diagnosis, together with an inquiry, to the client appliance.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, further comprising:

an interview result entry unit configured to input and register a result of an interview, the interview being conducted based on the inquiry; and

a diagnosis report creating unit configured to creates a remote diagnosis customer report based on the result of the automatic diagnosis and the result of the interview.

23. The remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus according to claim 21, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance, and

the automatic diagnosis result reporting unit is configured to periodically report the result of the automatic diagnosis, together with the inquiry, to the client appliance.

24. The remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

25. A remote diagnosis system comprising:

a client appliance; and

a remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus connected to the client appliance via a network and diagnosing the client appliance, the remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus having;

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

an automatic diagnosis unit configured to make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit; and

an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit configured to report a result of the automatic diagnosis, together with an inquiry, to the client appliance.

26. The remote diagnosis system according to claim 25, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance, and

the automatic diagnosis result reporting unit is configured to periodically report the result of the automatic diagnosis, together with the inquiry, to the client appliance.

27. The remote diagnosis system according to claim 26, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

29. The remote diagnosis method according to claim 26, wherein

the data collected includes information concerning at least one of operational condition, trouble history, and prior measures taken to resolve problems of the client appliance,

reporting of the result of the automatic diagnosis, together with the inquiry, to the client appliance is performed periodically.

30. The remote diagnosis method according to claim 29, wherein the data collected includes information concerning detection of at least one of paper consumption, chemicals, noise, electric voltage, pressure, signal timing, image tone, and image density.

28. A remote diagnosis method of diagnosing a remote client appliance, comprising the steps of:

acquiring data collected from the client appliance, the data collected via a customer appliance administration apparatus and including information to diagnose an increased likelihood of malfunction of the client appliance;

making an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance at a remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus based on the acquired data; and

reporting a result of the automatic diagnosis, together with an inquiry, to the client appliance.