Maintenance management system for image forming equipment
Contents
1. items of maintenance work to be performed for each com ponent of image forming equipment is provided with a work item storing means a work item judging means and a work item determining means In a communications management system for image forming equipment such as a management system comprising communications control devices for out putting management data and a host computer connected to the communications control devices through a communica tions network in order to collectively manage the manage ment data the maintenance management system of the present invention can be constructed as a software program within the host computer The work item storing means sets items of maintenance work that should be performed for each component regularly at every predetermined count of use of image forming equipment and stores different work item setting areas in order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions The work item storing means is secured for example in the work RAM in a host computer The work item judging means judges based on an order of precedence of a work item setting area referred to at a particular moment to which work item setting area belongs an item of work to be performed on a next occasion The work item determining means determines based on how many times maintenance has been performed for the image forming equipment until a particular moment whether or not an item of work that belongs to a work item setting area2. 0334 000052 100002 000002 100051 000061 100001 000001 00008 0 NN SW3LI 2 Sid U S Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 8 of 13 5 752 125 8 INDICATION ITEMS OF WORK REPLACEMENT REPLACE THE COMPONENT CLEANING CLEAN THE COMPONENT LUBRICATION LUBRICATE THE COMPONENT ADJUSTMENT ADJUST THE COMPONENT CHECKING CHECK THE COMPONENT MAINTENANCE NOT REGARDED AS MAINTENANCE IGNORED REPAIR MAINTENANCE NO MAINTENANCE CHECKING CHECK THE COMPONENT AND REPLACEMENT IF NECESSARY REPLACE IT CHECKING CHECK THE COMPONENT AND CLEANING IF NECESSARY CLEAN CHECKING CHECK THE COMPONENT AND LUBRICATION IF NECESSARY LUBRICATE IT CHECKING CHECK THE COMPONENT AND ADJUSTMENT IF NECESSARY ADJUST IT CLEANING CLEAN AND LUBRICATE LUBRICATION THE COMPONENT LUBRICATION LUBRICATE AND ADJUST ADJUSTMENT THE COMPONENT lt lt lt lt RETURN TO THE HEAD OF THE MAINTENANCE CYCLE NOT AN ITEM OF WORK gt gt gt gt REPEAT THE LAST PREVIOUS WORK NOT AN ITEM OF WORK U S Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 9 of 13 5 752 125 FIG 9 5 START JUDGE TO WHICH AREA THE CURRENT COUNT CORRESPONDS TO WHAT ORDER OF PRECEDENCE THE MAINTENANCE OCCASION CURRENTLY POINTED TO HAS 10 15 WHAT 15 THE MAINTENANCE STATE FLAG FOR THE X th OCCASION XUI FF PAD ADD ITEMS OF MAIN
3. 13 5 752 125 FIG 1 HOST COMPUTER US Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 2 of 13 5 752 125 FIG 2 0 5 Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 3 of 13 5 752 125 FIG 3 PANEL SHEET PASSAGE COUNT SENSOR CONTROL SECTION INTERFACE DEVICE MEMORY SECTION PAPER FEED ECTION 1 21 U S Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 4 of 13 5 752 125 FACSIMILE MACHINE TELEPHONE SET 30 27 CLOCK IC INTERFACE FIG 4 0 5 Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 5 of 13 5 752 125 FIG 5 EXTERNAL STORAGE UNIT 37 35 36 U S Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 6 of 13 5 752 125 FIG 6 RAM MAINTENANCE TABLE STORING AREA MAINTENANCE TABLE STORING AREA MAINTENANCE TABLE STORING AREA USE COUNTER WORK_ITEM STORING AREA STORING AREA USE COUNTER WORK ITEM STORING AREA STORING AREA USE COUNTER WORK ITEM STORING AREA STORING AREA OTHER STORING AREA 5 752 125 Sheet 7 of 13 May 12 1998 U S Patent LNAW30V1day SNINV319 ONINV31O 1334 H3dVd INaWLsnrav ONINVSTO HOLNIO 0334 H3dVd 00052 10092 000521 10057 00092 0 ___ z j Ave IN3W3OV Id3H 000Sc2 10094 SW3LI SONVNALNIVW OL 91 LN3W3OV 1d43H ONINVSTO 12 d3 TlOH 0435 iN3W3ovid3H LNSWLSNrav NOlLVOlHg ONINVSTO
4. according to the maintenance table 40 On the next occasion of maintenance at a count of 100 001 to 150 000 copies lubrication is performed In the same way at a count of 150 001 to 200 000 copies adjustment is performed at a count of 200 001 to 250 000 copies replacement is per formed In the case of a paper feed roller at a count of 50 000 to 100 000 copies and 100 001 to 150 000 copies from installation or replacement cleaning is performed at a count of 150 001 to 200 000 copies replacement is performed thereby rewinding the array number to the initial number In this way the steps of maintenance work are defined Use counters that indicate the counts of use of compo nents store both the values of the actual use counters and the values of the permitted use counters of each component of a copier P The permitted use counters are counters that 5 752 125 7 indicate the working lives of each component in counts of copies and they count the numbers stored in the work item setting areas in order to store predetermined values for each component On the other hand the actual use counters hold count values which are to be compared with the values of the permitted use counters The values of the actual use counters are updated by the value of a total counter that is regularly transmitted from the copier the values of three paper feed counters that are provided for each paper feeder or the values of two optional counters When
5. and a clock IC 27 The NCU 24 is connected to a modem 28 and the modem 28 is in turn connected to a telephone line Note however that it is not practical to use the telephone line T exclusively for the device D of the copier In reality as shown in FIG 4 a telephone line for a facsimile machine or telephone set 30 is let to pass circuitously through the device and the device is set for transmission only so that when a call is received through the telephone line the device D does not answer the call but transfers it to the facsimile machine or telephone set Accordingly in the management system of this embodiment the host computer H cannot originate a call to the devices D Alternatively the management system may be so designed that by use of a dedicated telephone line a line switching device or other means the host computer H originates a call to read and confirm the current data concerning the copier prior to maintenance The host computer receives data transmitted from the devices D and manages the copiers P collectively based on the data As shown in FIG 5 the host computer is provided with a CPU 31 a RAM 32 connected to the CPU 31 and serving as a work item storing means ROM 33 and an input output interface 34 Furthermore a CRT 35 for display a printer 36 for printing data a keyboard 37 for data entry an external storage unit 38 and others are connected to the CPU 31 The input output interface 34 is
6. for the next maintenance occasion are adjustment lubrication In this way since the mainte nance state flag for the first maintenance occasion is OFF and the current count is in the scope of the second mainte nance occasion the items of work are indicated as adjustment Hubrication FIG 13 shows the operation of the host computer H in the case where maintenance has not been performed until the count reaches 170 000 copies In this case the use count is at present 170 000 copies Therefore in step 45 the count is judged to correspond to the work item setting area for the third maintenance occasion indicating adjustment In step 10 the array number X of the work item setting area is recognized as X 3 and next in steps 15 and 30 the maintenance state flag at the moment is judged to be OFF Then in step 35 an instruction of adjustment is indicated as the item of work for the third occasion of maintenance Next in step 40 the array number X of the work item setting area is decremented by one to be X 2 and in step 45 the array number X is judged to be greater than zero Returning to step 430 the maintenance state flag is judged to be OFF and proceeding to step 35 an instruction of lubrication which is the item of work for the second maintenance occasion is added to the instruction of adjust ment Further in step 40 the array number X of the work item setting area is decremented by one t
7. having an order of precedence prior to a result given by the work item judgment means should be added to an item of work to be performed on a next occasion For example suppose that in the work item storing means work item setting areas representing cleaning lubrication adjustment and replacement are arranged in this order for a paper feed clutch which is one component of a copier On the first occasion of maintenance even if the work item judging means judges that lubrication which is the second in order of precedence is to be performed on the next occasion of maintenance the work item determining means determines that cleaning is also performed in addition to lubrication because at that moment cleaning which is the first in order of precedence has not yet been performed Further when the work item judging means judges that a component needs to be replaced the work item determining means determines that only replacement of the component is performed This is because when a component is replaced cleaning or other items of maintenance work are meaning less The work item setting areas in the work item storing means are usually set according to the count of use that corresponds to a regular maintenance cycle which in turn is determined based on the working lives of components According to this method however it sometimes happens that for some reason or other the items of work belonging to the wo
8. surface of which an electrostatic latent image is formed Arranged around the photosensitive drum 4 are a main charger 5 a developing unit 6 a separation charger 7 anda cleaning unit 8 In the lower part of the copier body 1 is provided a paper feed section 9 The paper feed section 9 comprises a bypass table 10 that is disposed in the right hand part of the copier body 1 shown in FIG 2 a plurality of paper feed cassettes 11 arranged vertically in the lower part of the copier body and a paper transfer unit 12 for transferring paper sheets stocked in the bypass table 10 or paper feed cassettes 11 to the image forming section 3 Arranged on the downstream side of the image forming section 3 along the paper transfer 5 752 125 5 direction are a paper ejecting conveyor 13 for conveying paper sheets to the left hand part of the copier shown in FIG 2 a fixing unit 14 for fixing a toner image on paper by fusion ejecting rollers 15 for ejecting paper sheets after image fixation and a ejected paper tray 16 for stocking ejected paper sheets The copier body 1 is further equipped with a control section 17 shown in FIG 3 The control section 17 is constructed as a microcomputer system including a CPU RAM a ROM a variety of drivers and a variety of I O ports and an operation panel 18 is connected to it As shown in FIG 2 the operation panel 18 is disposed on the upper surface of the copier body 1 and includes an input keypad sec
9. when a component is replaced the count of the work item setting area the count that is compared therewith and the maintenance state flag are reset as described earlier Note that the present invention can be applied not only to copiers but also to other types of image forming equipment such as laser printers facsimile machines etc Moreover types of maintenance and items of work are in reality not 10 15 35 45 55 65 10 confined to any particular types and items mentioned above Furthermore the present invention can be applied not only to a system in which communications control devices D attached to copiers and a host computer H are connected through a network but also to copiers that are installed stand alone As described above according to the present invention a maintenance management system for image forming equip ment is provided with a work item storing means which sets items of maintenance work that need to be performed for each component regularly at every predetermined count of use of the image forming equipment and which stores different work item setting areas in order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions Thus the maintenance man agement system judges based on the order of precedence of the work item setting area referred to at a particular moment to which work item setting area belongs the items of work to be performed on the next occasion In addition the maintenance management sy
10. work according to the service manual In a certain copier management system communications control devices are attached to copiers and are connected through telephone lines or other to a host computer installed at a maintenance company that manages these copiers Thus the host computer collectively manages data concerning maintenance of the image forming equipment In this system those devices notify the host computer when to perform regular maintenance at every predetermined count of copies so that a serviceperson on receiving such a notification visits a user s site to perform maintenance work for the copier installed there just as described above FIG 14 shows a maintenance table as is conventionally stored in such a host computer As shown in this figure a maintenance table is a table listing items of maintenance work to be performed for each component in each individual copier Specifically in a maintenance table items of work such as replacement cleaning lubrication adjustment and checking that need to be performed on the occasions of regular maintenance that take place every predetermined count of copies are listed component by component in order of array numbers that indicate the order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions on which those items of work are performed For example in the case of a contact glass in an original stand cleaning is performed at the count of 50 000 copies after installation o
11. 6 377 15 16 395 184 01 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 991 Smeiman 5 077 582 12 1991 Kravette et al 5 016 059 those specified in the table items of work of a first order of precedence are added To achieve this based on a count at a moment a work item setting area in the maintenance table is judged to determine its array number a maintenance state flag is judged and the array number is incremented by one so that instructions of the second order of precedence are indicated Then the array number of the area is decremented 5 200 779 4 1993 39924 and the flag is judged to be OFF so that items of 5 343276 8 1994 Yamashita et al 399 8 work of first order are added to those of the second order 5 369 471 11 1994 Yamada 399 8 Next duplicated items within the same area are deleted 5386271 1 1995 Maekawa et al 3998 whether replacement is necessary or not is judged and then 5 596 390 1 1997 Sawada 399 8 it is determined that maintenance on the next occasion FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS includes items of work of the first and second orders of precedence 1 271767 10 1989 Japan Primary Examiner Robert Beatty 4 Claims 13 Drawing Sheets HOST COMPUTER DEVICE DEVICE DEVICE DEVICE COPIER COPIER COPIER COPIER US Patent May 12 1998 Sheet 1 of
12. TENANCE WORK OF THE X th OCCASION WORK ITEMS WHAT 15 THE MAINTENANCE STATE FLAG FOR THE X th OCCASION 35 ADD ITEMS OF MAINTENANCE WORK OF THE X th OCCASION TO Z WORK ITEMS 50 DELETE DUPLICATED ITEMS OF MAINTENANCE WORK WITHIN 2 55 IS THERE REPLACEMENT WITHIN Z YES CHANGE Z TO SIMPLY REPLACEMENT END 5 752 125 Sheet 10 of 13 May 12 1998 U S Patent LNaWsnrav 510 LNAWLSNav INSWLSAPOV DES SWL 2 SV14 31VIS 3SNVN3L1NIVIN HE Sls 2 sus SW3LI Z Ovid 31718 3DNVN31NIVIN T s os s 5 01 Sls 5 752 125 Sheet 11 of 13 May 12 1998 U S Patent NOILVOINENT SRR OVId SLVLS 3JONVN3LLNIVIA a eo Pw s emp 919 5 752 125 Sheet 12 of 13 May 12 1998 U S Patent LNAWLSNrav 1 Fe IN3IW ISnfQv LNIWLSNFAY NOILVOIHS1 NOILVOIBS8 11 SIN3LI WHOM ONINV3 T1O ONINV319 Ovid 31V1S 1N3W1S gv NOI1VOlu8 1 iNnoo ERE ML S L 7918 5 752 125 Sheet 13 of 13 May 12 1998 U S Patent d3d
13. United States Patent Yamashita et al US005752125A 5 752 125 May 12 1998 Patent Number 45 Date of Patent 54 MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR IMAGE FORMING EQUIPMENT U5 Inventors Yuji Yamashita Jiro Nagira Yasuhiro Hashimoto Hiroshige Utatsu ali of Osaka Japan 73 Assignee Mita Industries Co Ltd Osaka Japan 21 Appl No 716 888 Attorney Agent or Firm Beveridge DeGrandi Weilacher amp Young LLP 57 ABSTRACT In a maintenance management system in which communi cations control devices of electronic photocopiers are con nected through public telephone lines or the like with a host computer of a maintenance company that manages the photocopiers preventive maintenance oriented omission free instructions for maintenance work are obtained by 22 Filed Sep 20 1996 determining items of work to be performed based on how 30 Foreign Application Priority Data many times maintenance has been performed or based on a count of copies produced For example in the case where Sep 28 1995 Japan 4 22 7 251376 maintenance work to be performed on a first occasion S3 Ink G03G 15 00 includes items of work belonging to a work item setting area 159 SOs u etas die 399 8 399 24 of a second order of precedence within a maintenance table 58 Field of Search 399 8 11 24 27 items of work that need to be performed do not agree with 399 31 12
14. Vvd Wnud JALLISN3SO LOHd gt gt gt gt wangovidau gt gt gt gt en ONINY3 1O SSVIO LOVINOO r ON AVHHV d3ldO9 HV vl 919 5 752 125 1 MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR IMAGE FORMING EQUIPMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a maintenance manage ment system for image forming equipment more specifi cally to a maintenance management system for managing maintenance of image forming equipment such as electronic photocopiers in terms of components that require regular replacement such as photosensitive drums and paper feed ing parts and components that require regular checking such as contact glasses 2 Description of the Prior Art In general regular maintenance of image forming equip ment such as electronic photocopiers is performed according to service manuals A service manual lists for each compo nent of a copier items of maintenance work that should be performed at every predetermined count of copies for example every 100 000 copies after the replacement of that component When a predetermined count of copies are supposed to have been produced after the previous regular maintenance occasion a serviceperson visits a user s site where a copier is installed and consulting a service manual for what to do on this occasion of regular maintenance performs maintenance
15. a component is replaced the relevant use counters and maintenance state flags are reset The maintenance table 40 shown in FIG 7A is set according to the count of use that corresponds to a regular maintenance cycle which in turn is determined based on the working lives of components For example regular main tenance is so scheduled that a new regular maintenance cycle is started at every 50 000 copies after a copier is put into service In this case it sometimes happens that for some reason the items of work belonging to the work item setting area of the next order of precedence need to be performed before the next occasion of regular maintenance To cope with such a situation preventive maintenance is essential Therefore to make it possible to perform preven tive maintenance the items of work that should be per formed on a particular maintenance occasion are set in anticipation as exemplified in the maintenance table 401 shown in FIG 7C by shifting the count In this example the count is shifted 25 000 copies ahead It is needless to say however that how much the count is shifted depends on how earlier the preventive maintenance should be performed Next the maintenance management operation of the host computer H in various situations will be described below taking the paper feed clutch for example with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG 9 and other diagrams shown in FIGS 10 to 13 FIG 10 shows the operation in t
16. confirmed whether there is an indication for replacement and it is determined that the item of work for the next maintenance occasion is lubrication FIG 11 shows the operation of the host computer H in a situation where the count has exceeded 100 000 copies and 10 15 20 25 35 45 55 65 8 reached 101 000 copies in the case where regular mainte nance is performed for the first time at the count of 40 000 copies for the second time at the count of 80 000 copies and so on In this case the use count is at present 101 000 copies Therefore when the count is judged in step 5 as to which work item setting area in the maintenance table 40 it corresponds to it is judged to correspond to the work item setting area for the second maintenance occasion indicating lubrication In step 10 the array number X of the work item setting area is recognized as X 2 and in step 15 the maintenance state flag at the moment is judged to be ON Next proceed ing to step 20 the array number X of the work item setting area is updated once and then in step 25 an instruction corresponding to X 3 that an instruction of adjustment which is the item of work for the third maintenance occasion is indicated In this way since the maintenance state flag remains ON until the second main tenance occasion and the current count is in the scope of the second maintenance occasion the item of work for the n
17. e host computer FIG 10 is a diagram showing one management operation procedure FIG 11 is a diagram showing the management operation procedure following the one shown in FIG 10 FIG 12 is a diagram showing another management opera tion procedure FIG 13 is a diagram showing yet another management operation procedure and FIG 14 is a diagram showing an example of conventional maintenance table DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter an embodiment of the present invention as applied to a copier management system will be described with reference to the drawings FIG 1 schematically shows an example of the copier management system As shown in this figure the copier management system comprises a host computer H installed at a maintenance company to manage maintenance and a plurality of copiers P Each copier P is equipped with a communications control device D which is connected through a public telephone line T to the host computer H FIG 2 shows the construction of the copier P As shown in this figure the copier P is provided with an optical system 2 fitted in the upper part of the body 1 The optical system 2 is for reading an original and comprises a light source mirrors lens units and other components In the central part of the copier body 1 is provided an image forming section 3 for forming an image with toner based on the read original The image forming section 3 has a photosensitive drum 4 on the
18. ecifically in the maintenance table items of work that need to be performed on the occasions of regular maintenance that take place every predetermined count of copies are listed component by component in order of array numbers that indicate the order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions on which those items of work are performed Stored as items of work as shown in FIG 8 items such as replacement cleaning lubrication adjustment checking and others Items of maintenance work are displayed on the CRT 35 at a predetermined timing The items of work stored in the above described mainte nance table 40 are performed in accordance with the pro gram shown in FIG 9 To help with judgments that need to be made during the execution of the program flags indicat ing states of maintenance are provided as shown in FIG 7B In this figure 1 represents and 0 represents OFF The program shown in FIG 9 will be described in detail later For example in the case of a paper feed clutch an instruction of cleaning is indicated on the first occasion of regular maintenance at a count of 0 to 50 000 to 100 000 copies after installation or replacement If regular mainte nance is performed at a count within 50 000 copies the flag indicating the state of the first occasion of maintenance is turned ON and the item of the maintenance work to be performed on the next occasion is indicated as lubrication
19. ext that 15 the third maintenance occasion is indicated as adjustment In step 30 it is confirmed again that the maintenance state flag at the moment is OFF and then proceeding to step 35 an instruction of adjustment is added to the instruc tion of adjustment Next in step 40 the array number of the work item setting area is decremented by one to X 2 and in step 45 the array number X is judged to be greater than zero Returning to step 30 the maintenance state flag is judged to be and proceeding to step 50 the duplicated item in the same work item setting area within the maintenance table 40 that the item indicating adjust ment is deleted Then in step 55 it is confirmed whether there is an indication for replacement and it is determined that the item of work for the next maintenance occasion is adjustment FIG 12 shows the operation of the host computer in the case where maintenance work is performed after the count has exceeded 100 000 copies and reached 101 000 copies In this case the use count is at present 101 000 copies Therefore when the count is judged in step 5 as to which work item setting area in the maintenance table 40 it corresponds to it is judged to correspond to the work item setting area for the second maintenance occasion indicating lubrication In step 10 the array number X of the work item setting area is recognized as X 2 and s
20. gly if regular maintenance is scheduled to take place every 50 000 copies as described above it is natural that replacement is performed every 200 000 copies However if regular checking is performed every 10 000 copies and if completion of each checking session is reg istered in the device attached to a copier as completion of regular maintenance session the item of maintenance work to be performed next time will be indicated as replacement as early as when the third occasion of regular maintenance is completed that is at the count of 30 000 copies To solve this problem a conventional copier management system even while indicating the item of maintenance work to be performed next time as replacement also indicates the remaining working life of the photosensitive drum by showing that it is still capable of 170 000 copies and has reached a 15 percent point in its total working life thereby preventing untimely replacement based solely on the indi cation of the item of maintenance work to be performed next time This method however is far from sufficiently solving the problem associated with maintenance management based on how many times maintenance has been performed because a serviceperson may overlook relevant indications or in some cases may be compelled to make delicate judgements in consideration of his company s relationship with a user The description above seems to suggest that in order to solve the problem it is mo
21. he case where regular maintenance is performed for the first time at the count of 40 000 copies and for the second time at the count of 80 000 copies In this case the use count is at present 80 000 copies Therefore when the count is judged in step 5 in FIG 9 as to which work item setting area in the maintenance table 40 it corresponds to it is judged to correspond to the work item setting area for the first main tenance occasion indicating cleaning In step 10 the array number X of the work item setting area is recognized as 1 and in step 15 the maintenance state flag at the moment is judged In this case the flag remains ON until the second maintenance occasion Therefore proceeding to step 20 the array number X of the work item setting area is updated once and then in step 25 an instruction corresponding to X 2 that is an instruction of lubrication which is the item of work for the second maintenance occasion is indicated In this way since the current count is 80 000 copies within the scope of the first maintenance occasion an instruction corresponding to the next area that is an instruction of lubrication is indicated In step 30 it is confirmed again that the maintenance state flag at the moment is ON and next in step 50 the duplicated item in the same work item setting area within the maintenance table 40 that is the item indicating lubrica tion is deleted Then in step 55 it is
22. o X 1 and then in step 345 the array number X is judged to be greater than zero Returning to step 30 the maintenance state flag is judged to be OFF and then proceeding to step 35 an instruction of cleaning which is the item of work for the first maintenance occasion is added to the instruction lubricationt adjustment In step 40 the array number X of the work item setting area is decremented by one to X 0 Therefore proceeding through step 45 to step 50 the duplicated items in the same work item setting area within the maintenance table 40 are deleted Then in step 55 it is confirmed whether there is an indication for replacement and it is determined that the items of work for the next maintenance occasion adjustment lubrication adjustment In this way since the maintenance state flag is OFF from the first maintenance occasion and the current count is in the scope of the third maintenance occasion the items of work are indicated as adjustment Hubrication adjustment In a similar manner if maintenance has not been per formed until the count reaches 230 000 copies the items of work would be indicated as cleaning lubrication adjustment replacement In reality however maintenance work such as cleaning or other is meaningless when a component is replaced and therefore the item of work is indicated as just replacement when the maintenance work includes replacement In addition
23. provided with an input output terminals such as RS 232C and is connected through a communications modem 39 to a public telephone line 10 15 20 25 35 45 55 65 6 As shown in FIG 6 in the RAM 32 of the host computer H are provided maintenance table storing areas 41 for storing maintenance tables 40 serving as work item setting areas in which items of regular maintenance work are stored in order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions use counter storing areas 43 for storing counts of use of components work item storing areas 44 for storing data representing the items and types of work performed by a serviceperson on the previous maintenance occasion together as well as the array numbers on that occasion and the array numbers specified for the next occasion and areas 45 for storing other information These areas are secured separately for each of the copiers P that are connected to the host computer H Note that there are three types of maintenance work that a serviceperson performs regular maintenance which is performed regularly at every determined count of copies repair maintenance which is performed to cope with occasional troubles and regular and repair maintenance which means that regular maintenance is performed on the occasion of repair maintenance As shown in FIG 7A the maintenance table 40 is a table listing items of maintenance work to be performed for each component of each copier P Sp
24. r replacement at the count of 100 000 copies no maintenance work is required but on completion of the checking at the count of 100 000 copies the array number is rewound to the initial number so that cleaning is performed next time at the count of 150 000 copies On the other hand in the case of a photosensitive drum no main tenance work is required at the count of 50 000 copies after installation or replacement at the count of 100 000 copies adjustment is performed at the count of 150 000 copies no maintenance work is required on the occasion of the check ing at the count of 200 000 copies replacement is performed thereby rewinding the array number to the initial number In the same way steps of maintenance work for an upper paper feed roller and other components are also 10 15 35 45 55 65 2 defined in the maintenance table so that the step of main tenance work for each component is advanced one step further on every occasion of regular maintenance However a conventional management system in which maintenance work is performed according to a maintenance table as described above is defective because it poses a problem when a session of regular maintenance takes place untimely before the completion of one cycle of regular maintenance For example the maintenance cycle of a photosensitive drum shown in FIG 14 is so determined that replacement is performed on every fourth occasion of checking Accordin
25. re realistic to determine items of maintenance work to be performed based on the actual count of copies rather than how many times maintenance has been performed However a management method based on the count of copies is also defective because when dealing with a component like the contact glass shown in FIG 14 such a method indicates cleaning until the copy count reaches 50 000 but if the count happens to be 50 001 just when a serviceperson starts maintenance work it indicates that no maintenance work is required This problem results from the way threshold values are selected in determining when to perform maintenance and it often causes in a conventional maintenance system losses of information concerning items of maintenance work to be performed SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is in a maintenance management system in which communications control devices attached to electronic copiers are connected through public telephone lines to a host computer at a maintenance company managing those copiers to make it possible to provide preventive maintenance oriented omission free instructions for maintenance work by solving such a sys tem s problems in determining items of maintenance work based on how many times maintenance has been performed or based on the count of copies To achieve the above object according to the present invention a maintenance management system that manages 5 752 125 3
26. ribed What is claimed is 1 A maintenance management system for image forming equipment for managing items of maintenance work to be performed for each component of the image forming equipment comprising a work item storing means for setting items of mainte nance work that need to be performed for each com ponent regularly at every predetermined count of use of the image forming equipment and for storing different work item setting areas in order of precedence of regular maintenance occasions a work item judging means for judging based on an order of precedence of a work item setting area referred to at a particular moment to which work item setting area belongs an item of work to be performed on a next occasion and a work item determining means for determining based on how many times maintenance has been performed for the image forming equipment until a particular moment whether or not an item of work that belongs 5 752 125 11 12 to a work item setting area having an order of prece item to be performed at a particular moment is stored dence prior to a result given by said work item judg in anticipation in order to make it possible to perform ment means needs to be added to an item of work to be preventive maintenance performed on a next occasion 4 A maintenance management system for image forming 2 A maintenance management system for image forming 5 equipment as claimed in claim 1 equipment as claimed in claim 1
27. rk item setting area of the next order need to be performed before the next occasion of regular maintenance To cope with such a situation preventive maintenance is essential Therefore in the present invention to make it possible to perform preventive maintenance without fail the items of work that should be performed on a particular Occasion are set in the work item setting areas in anticipa tion BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This and other objects and features of this invention will become clear from the following description taken in con 10 15 20 25 35 55 65 4 junction with the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanied drawings in which FIG 1 is a block diagram showing the outline of the management system embodying the present invention FIG 2 is a cross sectional view schematically showing a copier FIG 3 is a block diagram showing the control system of the copier FIG 4 is a block diagram showing the construction of a communications control device FIG 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of a host computer FIG 6 is a schematic diagram showing the items stored in the RAM of the host computer FIGS 7A to 7C are diagrams showing examples of maintenance work items maintenance state flags and pre ventive maintenance work items FIG 8 is a diagram showing an example of items of work FIG 9 is a flowchart showing the maintenance manage ment operation of th
28. stem adds based on how many times maintenance has been performed for the image form ing equipment until a particular moment the items of work that belong to the work item setting area having an order of precedence prior to that of the result given by a work item judgment means to the items of work to be performed on the next occasion if necessary Accordingly the maintenance management system can perform preventive maintenance without fail Moreover the maintenance management system can per form proper maintenance work according to the count of use of the image forming equipment at a particular moment for example according to the count of copies produced on a copier Furthermore maintenance work can be performed without omission so that necessary items of maintenance work can be performed without fail Thus the present invention solves problems associated with a maintenance management method in which items of maintenance work is determined simply based on how many times maintenance has been performed or based on a count of use of the image forming equipment in order to make it possible to provide preventive maintenance oriented omission free instruc tions for maintenance work Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teach ings It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced other than as specifically desc
29. tep 15 the maintenance state flag at the moment is judged to be OFF Next pro ceeding to step 30 the maintenance state flag is again judged to be OFF and then in step 435 an instruction of lubrication which is the item of work for the second maintenance occasion is indicated This is because although maintenance is performed for the first time the count corresponds to the work area for the second mainte nance occasion requiring lubrication In this case however it is necessary to perform also cleaning which is the item of work for the first mainte nance occasion Therefore in step 40 the array number X of the work item setting area is decremented by one to X 1 and then in step 445 the array number X is judged to be greater than zero Returning to step 30 the maintenance state flag is judged to be OFF and then proceeding to step 35 an instruction corresponding to X 1 that is an instruc tion of cleaning which is the item of work for the first maintenance occasion is added to the instruction of Lubri cation 5 752 125 9 In step 40 the array number X of the work item setting area is decremented by one to X 0 Therefore proceeding through step 45 to step 50 the duplicated items in the same work item setting area within the maintenance table 40 are deleted Then in step 55 it is confirmed whether there is an indication for replacement and it is determined that the items of work
30. tion and a display section composed of liquid crystal display devices light emitting diodes or other To the control section 17 a memory section 19 for storing a variety of operation data is also connected The memory section 19 stores for example the total count of copies produced by the copier body 1 Also connected to the control section 17 are a sheet passage count sensor 20 for counting how many images have been formed and a paper feed section 9 for feeding paper from paper feed cassettes 11 Actually a plurality of sheet passage count sensors 20 are arranged in appropriate positions along the paper feed path from each paper feed cassette 11 through the image forming section 3 and the fixing unit 14 to the ejected paper tray 16 so that when a correct passage of a paper sheet is detected the total count stored in the memory section 19 is incre mented Furthermore the control section 17 is connected through an interface 21 to the copier management device D so that the copy count counted by the sheet passage count sensor 20 is transmitted to that device D The copier management device D which serves to trans mit data required for managing the copier 15 as shown in FIG 4 equipped with a serial interface 22 which is con nected to the copier body 1 The serial interface 22 is connected to a CPU 23 The CPU 23 is formed as a so called microcomputer system and is connected to an NCU network control unit 24 a ROM 25 aRAM 26
31. wherein a main body of the maintenance management wherein when said work item judging means judges that system is constructed as a software program running on a component needs to be replaced the work item a host computer which is connected through a commu determining means determines that only replacement of nications network to communications contro devices the component be performed 19 that output management data concerning the image 3 A maintenance management system for image forming forming equipment and which collectively manages equipment as claimed in claim 1 said management data wherein said work item setting areas in said work item 5 storing means are provided in such a way that a work
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