Device management apparatus, device management system, and information processing method

• US 9,875,479 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2015
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Wang, Weibo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Hieu
• Application Number:
  US14/735,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20160020960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]

Abstract

A device management apparatus including a receiving unit configured to receive state information indicating a change in a state of a device and store the state information in a state information storage unit; a sending unit configured to send report information relating to the state information to a predetermined destination, when the state information received by the receiving unit corresponds to a report target; and a changing unit configured to expand the report targets when an operation state of the device does not fulfill a scheduled state of a present time point, the operation state being identified based on history of the state information stored in the state information storage unit.

Claims

1. A device management apparatus comprising:

a hardware processor; and

one or more memories storing a program containing instructions which cause the hardware processor to;

receive a call from a device over a network, the call including state information indicating a change in a state of the device, and a device identifier that identifies the device, and store the state information and the device identifier in the one or more memories;

determine whether the state information received from the device over the network corresponds to one of multiple report targets by referencing a value of a group number;

send report information relating to the state information to a predetermined destination, when the received state information is determined to correspond to one of the multiple report targets; and

increase a number of report targets by modifying the value of the group number when, at a present time point, an operation state of the device does not meet a scheduled operation state, the operation state of the device being identified based on history of the state information stored in the one or more memories.

2. The device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the hardware processor to:

identify the scheduled state of the operation state of the device up to the present time point in a predetermined period, based on the history of the state information stored in the one or more memories, and

increase the number of report targets when the operation state of the device does not meet the identified scheduled operation state, the operation state being identified based on the history of the state information up to the present time point in the predetermined period, among the history of the state information stored in the one or more memories.

3. The device management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the instructions cause the hardware processor to:

predict a number of items of the state information corresponding to the report targets after the number of report targets have been increased, among the state information received within the predetermined period, the number of items of the state information being predicted based on the history of the state information stored in the one or more memories, and

increase the report targets according to the number of predicted items of the state information.

4. The device management apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the instructions cause the hardware processor to:

predict a cost within the predetermined period, based on the predicted number of items of the state information and a cost that arises by sending the report information, and

increase the number of report targets when the cost within the predetermined period is less than or equal to a predetermined value.

5. The device management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the hardware processor to:

reduce the number of report targets when the operation state of the device meets the scheduled state of the present time point, the operation state being identified based on the history of the state information stored in the one or more memories.

6. A device management system including for implementing various functions of the device management system, the device management system comprising:

a device including at least one of an image forming apparatus, a multifunction peripheral, a copier, a scanner, a printer, a fax machine, or a projector; and

an information processing apparatus including a hardware processor and one or more memories storing a program containing instructions which cause the hardware processor to;

receive a call from the device over a network, the call including state information indicating a change in a state of the device, and a device identifier that identifies the device, and store the state information in the one or more memories;

determine whether the state information received from the device over the network corresponds to one of multiple report targets by referencing a value of a group number;

send report information relating to the state information to a predetermined destination, when the received state information is determined to correspond to one of the multiple report targets; and

increase a number of report targets by modifying the value of the group number when, at a present time point, an operation state of the device does not meet a scheduled operation state, the operation state of the device being identified based on history of the state information stored in the one or more memories.

7. An information processing method executed by a computer, the information processing method comprising:

receiving a call from a device over a network, the call including state information indicating a change in a state of the device, and a device identifier that identifies the device, and storing the state information and the device identifier in a memory;

determining whether the state information received from the device over the network corresponds to one of multiple report targets by referencing a value of a group number;

sending report information relating to the state information to a predetermined destination, when the state information received at the receiving is determined to correspond to one of the multiple report targets; and

increasing a number of report targets by modifying the value of the group number when, at a present time point, an operation state of the device does not meet a scheduled operation state, the operation state of the device being identified based on history of the state information stored in the memory.