Management system and management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10270922-B2
Application number	US-201615003464-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2016
Priority date	Jan 28, 2015
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

A management system is configured to manage a stock of a consumable product and includes a setting unit configured to set a type of a notification used in stock management when an image processing apparatus is a management target, a determination unit configured to determine whether a type of an alarm corresponding to a notification related to the consumable product generated by the image processing apparatus serving as the management target, matches the set type of the notification used in the stock management, and a stock management unit configured to manage the stock of the consumable product in accordance with the alarm that has been determined to have the type matching the set type of the notification used in the stock management.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A management system configured to manage an image processing apparatus, the management system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories storing instructions related to stock management of toner bottles for the image processing apparatus,
the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, causing the management system to:
receive notification types information for the image processing apparatus identifying a plurality of types of notifications supported by the image processing apparatus for indicating toner level decrease or toner bottle replacement;
set a type of notification to be used in the stock management for the image processing apparatus, wherein the type of notification is selected from among the identified plurality of types of notifications;
receive a notification generated by the image processing apparatus, the notification indicating toner level decrease or toner bottle replacement;
determine whether the type of the received notification matches the set type of notification;
in a case where it is determined that the type of the received notification matches the set type of notification, even if the received notification indicates toner level decrease,
provide, to a user, an indication of toner bottle replacement in connection with reporting on the received notification, and
decrement a value corresponding to a remaining stock quantity of toner bottles based on the received notification; and
in a case where it is determined that the type of the received notification does not match the set type of notification, even if the received notification indicates toner bottle replacement,
provide, to the user, a different indication from toner bottle replacement in connection with reporting on the received notification, and
not decrement the value corresponding to the remaining stock quantity of toner bottles based on the received notification.

2. The management system according to claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the management system to:
manage the received notification which is determined to match the set type of notification used in the stock management and counter information in the notification; and
provide, through a web page, information related to counter information for each replacement in a replacement history of toner bottles in the image processing apparatus and information indicating an average number of sheets printed by each replacement in the replacement history based on a plurality of the managed notifications and the managed counter information.

3. The management system according to claim 2 , wherein, in the stock management, information related to difference information in counter value from a last replacement for each replacement in the replacement history is provided through the web page based on a plurality of the managed notifications and the managed counter information.

4. The management system according to claim 1 , wherein a notification indicating toner level decrease includes at least one of a toner-low alarm indicating that a state has been detected where the remaining amount of a recording agent in a toner bottle used in the image processing apparatus is small and a preliminary alarm generated by the image processing apparatus at a predetermined timing before the remaining amount of the recording agent in the toner bottle becomes small.

5. The management system according to claim 1 , wherein, in the stock management, when the set type of notification is a notification indicating toner bottle replacement and the received notification does not include information indicating replacement with a new toner bottle, the value corresponding to the remaining stock quantity of toner bottles is not decremented based on the received notification.

6. A management method performed in a management system configured to manage an image processing apparatus, the management method relating to stock management of toner bottles for the image processing apparatus, the management method comprising:
receiving notification types information for the image processing apparatus identifying a plurality of types of notifications supported by the image processing apparatus for indicating toner level decrease or toner bottle replacement;
setting a type of notification to be used in the stock management for the image processing apparatus, wherein the type of notification is selected from among the identified plurality of types of notifications;
receiving a notification generated by the image processing apparatus, the notification indicating toner level decrease or toner bottle replacement;
determining whether the type of the received notification matches the set type of notification;
in a case where it is determined that the type of the received notification matches the set type of notification, even if the received notification indicates toner level decrease,
provide, to a user, an indication of toner bottle replacement in connection with reporting on the received notification, and
decrement a value corresponding to a remaining stock quantity of toner bottles based on the received notification; and
in a case where it is determined that the type of the received notification does not match the set type of notification, even if the received notification indicates toner bottle replacement,
provide, to the user, a different indication from toner bottle replacement in connection with reporting on the received notification, and
not decrement the value corresponding to the remaining stock quantity of toner bottles based on the received notification.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kaneko Tsuyoshi

Classifications

• B05C17/00503

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• B05C17/00546

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• B05C17/0053 Primary

  the driving means for the material being manual, mechanical or electrical · CPC title

• H04N1/00037

  Detecting, i.e. determining the occurrence of a predetermined state (H04N1/00031 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/1229

  Printer resources management or printer maintenance, e.g. device status, power levels · CPC title