Monitoring system, monitoring method, and monitoring program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11635923-B2
Application number	US-201917417475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 25, 2019
Priority date	Dec 28, 2018
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

Provided are a monitoring system, a monitoring method, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a monitoring program whereby it is possible to improve the stability of remote management of an image forming device by means of a remote management system. A monitoring system according to one embodiment is characterized by: acquiring information from a remote management system which remotely manages an image forming device; detecting a failure of the remote management system by analyzing the acquired information; and notifying about the failure of the remote management system which has been detected.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A monitoring system comprising:
an information acquiring unit which acquires information from a remote management system, which remotely manages an image forming device;
an information analyzing unit which analyzes the information acquired by the information acquiring unit; and
a result notifying unit which notifies about a result of analysis by the information analyzing unit, wherein
the information analyzing unit detects a failure of the remote management system based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit, and
the result notifying unit notifies about the failure of the remote management system detected by the information analyzing unit,
the information acquiring unit acquires information also from an information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure on which the remote management system operates, and the information analyzing unit collects information on a failure occurred so far in the ICT infrastructure from the information acquired from the ICT infrastructure,
the information analyzing unit, when detecting the failure of the remote management system, determines whether a cause of the failure of the remote management system is produced by the failure of the ICT infrastructure, based on the information of the failure of the remote management system and the information of the failure occurred so far in the ICT infrastructure, and
the result notifying unit issues, when the information analyzing unit determines that the cause of the failure of the remote management system is produced by the failure of the ICT infrastructure, a support request for notifying about details of the failure of the remote management system to a provider of the ICT infrastructure, in addition to the notification about the failure of the remote management system detected by the information analyzing unit.

2. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the information acquiring unit acquires information also from the image forming device.

3. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the information analyzing unit analyzes the information by allocating the information according to at least one of criteria including:
time series;
a significance level of the failure indicated by the information;
a degree of similarity of the failure indicated by the information as compared to failures that have occurred in the past; and
whether a failure occurs simultaneously in a constituent element different from a constituent element from which the information has been acquired.

4. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein the information analyzing unit determines a process associated with the failure which has been detected.

5. The monitoring system according to claim 1 , wherein when a failure of the remote management system analyzed by the information analyzing unit satisfies a preset condition, the result notifying unit notifies about the failure to a notification destination set correspondingly to the condition.

6. The monitoring system according to claim 5 , wherein the result notifying unit sends a message indicating the failure and a command of the process.

7. The monitoring system according to claim 6 , wherein:
the information analyzing unit determines a significance level of the failure which has been detected; and
the result notifying unit notifies about the failure detected by the information analyzing unit to a notification destination set correspondingly to the significance level.

8. The monitoring system according to claim 3 , wherein:
the information analyzing unit determines a degree of similarity of the failure of the remote management system which has been detected as compared to failures of the remote management system that have occurred in the past; and
the result notifying unit notifies about the failure of the remote management system which has been detected with notification contents corresponding to the degree of similarity determined by the information analyzing unit.

9. The monitoring system according to claim 8 , wherein the result notifying unit executes, when the degree of similarity which has been determined is greater than or equal to a first degree of similarity, an action associated with a failure occurred in the past whose degree of similarity to the failure of the remote management system which has been detected is greater than or equal to the first degree of similarity, for the remote management system.

10. The monitoring system according to claim 9 , wherein, when the action is executed for the remote management system, the result notifying unit includes the action which has been executed, in the notification contents.

11. The monitoring system according to claim 8 , wherein the result notifying unit includes, when the degree of similarity determined by the information analyzing unit is less than a second degree of similarity, a fact that a serious failure has occurred, in the notification contents.

12. The monitoring system according to claim 8 , wherein the information analyzing unit determines the degree of similarity by using a specific learning algorithm.

13. A monitoring method which employs a computer and a storage unit, the monitoring method comprising:
information acquiring of acquiring information from a remote management system, which remotely manages an image forming device;
information analyzing of analyzing the information acquired in the information acquiring; and
result notifying of notifying about a result of analysis of the information analyzing, wherein
the information analyzing includes detecting a failure of the remote management system based on the information acquired in the information acquiring, and the result notifying includes notifying about the failure of the remote management system detected in the information analyzing,
the information acquiring includes acquiring information also from an information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure on which the remote management system operates, and the information analyzing includes collecting information on a failure occurred so far in the ICT infrastructure from the information acquired from the ICT infrastructure,
the information analyzing includes determining, when detecting the failure of the remote management system, whether a cause of the failure of the remote management system is produced by the failure of the ICT infrastructure, based on the information of the failure of the remote management system and the information of the failure occurred so far in the ICT infrastructure, and
the result notifying includes issuing, when the information analyzing unit determines that the cause of the failure of the remote management system is produced by the failure of the ICT infrastructure, a support request for notifying about details of the failure of the remote management system to a provider of the ICT infrastructure, in addition to the notifying about the failure of the remote management system detected in the information analyzing.

14. A monitoring system comprising:
an information acquiring unit which acquires information from a remote management system, which remotely manages an image forming device;
an information analyzing unit which analyzes the information acquired by the information acquiring unit; and
a result notifying unit which notifies about a result of analysis by the information analyzing unit, wherein
the information analyzing unit detects a failure of the remote management system based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit,
the result notifying unit notifies about the failure of the remote managem

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Nishikai Kazuki
• Nakajima Koki
• Nakamura Takeshi
• Goshima Satoshi
• Nakashima Yasuo
• Park Dukil
• Obayashi Yuichi

Classifications

• G06F3/121 Primary

  Facilitating exception or error detection and recovery, e.g. fault, media or consumables depleted · CPC title

• G06F3/1287 Primary

  via internet · CPC title

• B41J29/38

  Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism · CPC title

• G06F3/1234

  Errors handling and recovery, e.g. reprinting (G06F3/1261 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/07

  Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance · CPC title