Information processing device

Abstract

An information processing device is provided, comprising: an acquisition unit, which acquires fault information of the device from a management device that stores the fault information via a wireless communication line; a power supply unit, which supplies power to the acquisition unit when a main power supply is not supplied; and a control unit, which controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires fault information from the management device when a main power supply is not supplied, only a part of the functions in the device body is activated by supplying power from the power supply unit, thereby executing processing to limit the use of functions related to the fault.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing device. Background Art

[0002] The following information display device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Gazette No. 2007-065417. The information display device has a wide-area wireless communication module for communicating via a mobile phone network, and a short-range wireless communication module for communicating with other information display devices through local communication. In the information display device, when the power supply to the wide-area wireless communication module is cut off and an abnormality occurs, the abnormality can be quickly notified to the management department through local communication based on the short-range wireless communication module.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-151459 discloses a system that acquires recall information from a manufacturer's server via power line communication and executes processing such as power cutoff and display of the recall information based on the acquired recall information.

[0004] When information on a failure is notified in a state where power to the device is not supplied, there may be a case where the function related to the failure is used before the use of the function is restricted. Summary of the invention

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of limiting use of a function related to the failure before the function is used even when failure information is notified in a state where main power is not supplied.

[0006] According to a first scheme of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing device, comprising: an acquisition unit, which acquires fault information of the device from a management device storing the fault information via a wireless communication line; a power supply unit, which supplies power to the acquisition unit in the absence of a main power supply; and a control unit, which controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires the fault information from the management device in the absence of a main power supply, only a part of the functions in the device body is activated by supplying power through the power supply unit, thereby executing processing to limit the use of functions related to the fault.

[0007] According to a second scheme of the present disclosure, the device body has a storage unit for storing a startup condition, which sets how each of a plurality of functions is started when the main power is supplied. The control unit controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires fault information from the management device in a state where the main power is not supplied, only the following function is operated by supplying power from the power supply unit, thereby limiting the use of the function related to the fault, which is a function for changing the startup condition stored in the storage unit.

[0008] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, in the device body, use of a function related to a fault is limited by changing the startup condition stored in the storage unit to a condition in which power is not supplied to a portion of the function related to the fault even when the main power is supplied.

[0009] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, in the device body, when a function related to a fault has a plurality of operation states, the operation state of the function related to the fault is changed to an operation state that does not cause a problem, thereby limiting the use of the function related to the fault.

[0010] According to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure, in the device body, when the function related to the fault has multiple operation states with different safety levels, the operation state of the function related to the fault is changed to an operation state with a high safety level, thereby changing it to an operation state where no problem occurs.

[0011] According to the sixth scheme of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing device, comprising: an acquisition unit, which acquires the fault information of the device from a management device that stores the fault information via a wireless communication line; a storage unit, which stores the fault information acquired by the acquisition unit from the management device; a power supply unit, which supplies power to the acquisition unit when the main power is not supplied; and a control unit, which controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires the fault information from the management device when the main power is not supplied, the acquired fault information is stored in the storage unit, and when the main power is supplied to start the device body, the fault information stored in the storage unit is notified to the device body, and processing is performed to limit the use of functions related to the fault.

[0012] According to the seventh scheme of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit, which acquires the fault information of the device from a management device storing the fault information via a wireless communication line; and a control unit, which performs control so that when the main power is supplied, the presence or absence of the fault information of the device is confirmed in the management device, and when the acquisition unit acquires the fault information of the device from the management device, a process of restricting the use of functions related to the fault is performed.

[0013] (Effect)

[0014] According to the first aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that can limit the use of a function related to the failure before the function is used even if failure information is notified in a state where the main power is not supplied.

[0015] According to the second aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing device that is capable of not supplying power to a functional portion related to the failure even when failure information is notified in a state where the main power supply is not supplied.

[0016] According to the third aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing device that is capable of not supplying power to a functional portion related to the failure even when failure information is notified in a state where the main power supply is not supplied.

[0017] According to the fourth aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing device that can make the operating state of the function related to the failure an operating state in which no problem occurs even if failure information is notified in a state in which the main power is not supplied.

[0018] According to the fifth aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing device that can set the operating state of a function related to the failure to an operating state with a high safety level, thereby preventing a problem from occurring, even if failure information is notified in a state where the main power supply is not supplied.

[0019] According to the sixth aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that can limit the use of a function related to the failure before the function is used even if the failure information is notified while power is not supplied to the apparatus body by the power supply unit and the main power is not supplied.

[0020] According to the seventh aspect, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that can limit the use of a function related to a failure before the function is used even if the acquisition unit is not in a state of waiting for failure information to be sent from the management device and failure information is notified when the main power is not supplied. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a diagram showing the system configuration of the information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 2 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 3 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 4 1 is a diagram showing an example of the activation conditions stored in the activation condition storage unit 37 .

[0025] Figure 5 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when the LPWA communication module 20 receives failure information from the management server 60 .

[0026] Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of failure information transmitted from the management server 60.

[0027] Figure 7 It is a diagram for explaining an example of changing the activation condition.

[0028] Figure 8 FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of the failure information transmitted from the management server 60 .

[0029] Fig. 9 1 is a sequence diagram for explaining operations among the image forming apparatus 10 , the LPWA communication module 20 , and the management server 60 when the image forming apparatus 10 receives failure information while the power is on.

[0030] Fig.10 1 is a sequence diagram for explaining operations among the image forming apparatus 10 , the LPWA communication module 20 , and the management server 60 when the image forming apparatus 10 receives failure information in a power-off state.

[0031] Fig.11 This is a sequence diagram for explaining operations among the image forming device 10 , the LPWA communication module 20 , and the management server 60 when the image forming device 10 receives failure information in the power-off state in the information processing system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig.12 1 is a sequence diagram for explaining operations among the image forming apparatus 10 , the LPWA communication module 20 , and the management server 60 in the information processing system according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Next, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] [First embodiment]

[0035] Figure 1 The system configuration of the information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0036] The information processing system of the present embodiment is a structure in which the following parts are connected via a base station 40 or an LPWA communication network 50: an image forming device 10; an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) communication module 20, which is connected to the image forming device 10; and a management server 60, which manages fault information such as recall information.

[0037] Here, failure information refers to information related to quality problems notified from the manufacturer of a certain device, etc., when it is known that a significant quality problem has occurred due to the use of the device. In addition, the failure information includes not only information related to quality problems such as physical events such as fire or smoke, such as recall information, but also information related to quality problems such as security vulnerabilities, etc.

[0038] If the image forming apparatus 10 is connected to the management server 60 via an Internet line or the like, the image forming apparatus 10 obtains fault information from the management server 60 and determines whether the fault information is related to the apparatus itself. If so, the image forming apparatus 10 can take some countermeasures.

[0039] However, when the image forming device 10 is not used for a long time without being supplied with power, or is stored in a warehouse without being connected to a power source, even if new recall information or other fault information related to important quality issues is sent from the management server 60, the image forming device 10 cannot receive the fault information.

[0040] Therefore, when the management server 60 in the present embodiment is notified of new failure information from a manufacturer such as a manufacturer, the management server 60 transmits the failure information via the LPWA communication network 50. Then, the image forming apparatus 10 is connected to the LPWA communication module 20, so that the failure information from the management server 60 is received via the LPWA communication network 50.

[0041] This LPWA is also called LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network), and is a wireless communication line that cannot perform high-speed communication but can transmit and receive data in a wide area with low power consumption.

[0042] Moreover, the LPWA is a wireless communication line that can connect to the management server 60 without network settings. In addition, LPWA is a wireless communication line based on a wide area wireless communication network, and data is sent and received in the wide area wireless communication network at a communication speed lower than the communication speed in the Internet 30 as an external network.

[0043] In recent years, commercial services using LPWA wireless communication lines have been provided, and using these services requires lower communication fees than line contracts for mobile phone networks.

[0044] Furthermore, by providing a battery in the LPWA communication module 20 in this embodiment, the LPWA communication module 20 can receive failure information transmitted from the management server 60 even when the image forming apparatus 10 is not supplied with main power. The structure of the LPWA communication module 20 will be described later.

[0045] then, Figure 2 Block diagram representation of Figure 1 The hardware structure of the image forming apparatus 10 is shown.

[0046] like Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1 , the image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU 11, a memory 12, a storage device 13 such as a hard disk drive (abbreviation of HDD), a communication interface (abbreviation of IF) 14 for transmitting and receiving data with other image forming apparatuses 10 and the like via a network 30, a user interface (abbreviation of UI) device 15 including a touch panel or a liquid crystal display and a keyboard, a scanner 16, and a print engine 17. These components are connected to each other via a control bus 18. In addition, the LPWA communication module 20 is also connected to the above components via the control bus 18.

[0047] The CPU 11 executes a predetermined process according to a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13 to control the operation of the image forming apparatus 10. In addition, although the present embodiment describes a case where the CPU 11 reads out a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13 and executes the control program, the program may be stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM and provided to the CPU 11.

[0048] Figure 3 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 realized by executing the above-mentioned control program.

[0049] like Figure 3As shown, the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment includes an operation input unit 31, a display unit 32, a data transmission and reception unit 33, an image output unit 34, an image reading unit 35, a fax transmission and reception unit 36, a start condition storage unit 37, a device body control unit 38 and a power supply unit 39.

[0050] The operation input unit 31 allows the user to input various operations. The display unit 32 displays various information to the user. The data transmission and reception unit 33 transmits and receives data to and from an external device via a network line.

[0051] The image output unit 34 outputs an image to a recording medium such as printing paper. The image reading unit 35 reads an image from a set document. The facsimile transmission and reception unit 36 ​​transmits and receives facsimile data to and from an external facsimile transmission and reception device via a telephone line.

[0052] The apparatus body control section 38 controls the operation of each unit constituting the image forming apparatus 10 , such as the image output section 34 , the image reading section 35 , and the facsimile transmission / reception section 36 .

[0053] The power supply unit 39 inputs commercial power supplied from the outside as a main power supply, and supplies power to each unit constituting the image forming apparatus 10, such as the image output unit 34, the image reading unit 35, and the fax transmission and reception unit 36. In addition, a switch is provided between the power supply unit 39 and the main power supply, and the device main body control unit 38 can control whether to switch the supply of the main power to the power supply unit 39.

[0054] The activation condition storage unit 37 stores activation conditions that set how each of the plurality of functions is activated at the time of activation when the main power supply is supplied.

[0055] Figure 4 2 shows an example of the start-up conditions stored in the start-up condition storage unit 37. Figure 4 In the example of the startup condition shown, the image output unit corresponding to the image output unit 34, the image reading unit corresponding to the image reading unit 35, the fax unit corresponding to the fax transmission and reception unit 36, the operation panel, the power supply unit, etc. are set in what state to start at startup. Here, the so-called power-on means that the startup is started in the power-on state at startup.

[0056] When the main power is supplied to activate the device, the device main body control unit 38 controls the activation state of each unit with reference to the activation condition.

[0057] In addition, if Figure 3As shown, the LPWA communication module 20 includes a failure information storage unit 41 , an LPWA communication unit 42 , a communication IF 43 , a communication module control unit 44 , a power supply circuit 45 , a battery 46 , and a switching circuit 47 .

[0058] The communication module control unit 44 connects to the LPWA communication network 50 via the LPWA communication unit 42 , thereby acquiring the failure information of the own device from the management server 60 storing the failure information via LPWA. Then, the communication module control unit 44 stores the acquired failure information in the failure information storage unit 41 .

[0059] The main power source is supplied to the power circuit 45 , and a voltage for charging the battery 46 and a voltage to be supplied to each unit in the LPWA communication module 20 are generated.

[0060] The battery 46 is a secondary battery that is charged by the voltage generated by the power supply circuit 45 , and is charged while the main power supply is supplied.

[0061] The switching circuit 47 supplies the voltage generated by the power supply circuit 45 to each unit in the LPWA communication module 20 when the main power is supplied, and switches to supply the voltage of the battery 46 to each unit in the LPWA communication module 20 when the main power is not supplied.

[0062] That is, the LPWA communication module 20 is configured to operate by the main power supplied from the image forming device 10 in a normal state where the main power is supplied, and to operate by the power supplied from the battery 46 provided in the device when the main power is not supplied to the image forming device 10.

[0063] Furthermore, the communication module control unit 44 supplies power from the battery 46 to the apparatus body control unit 38 and the activation condition storage unit 37 of the image forming apparatus 10 , thereby operating the apparatus body control unit 38 and the activation condition storage unit 37 .

[0064] That is, when the main power supply is not supplied, the battery 46 functions as a power supply unit that supplies power to the communication module control unit 44, the LPWA communication unit 42, the failure information storage unit 41, the communication IF 43, and the like.

[0065] Furthermore, the communication module control unit 44 controls to limit the use of the functions related to the failure by activating only a part of the functions in the image forming apparatus 10 by supplying power from the battery 46 when failure information is acquired from the management server 60 without supplying the main power.

[0066] Specifically, the communication module control unit 44 performs control so that when fault information is obtained from the management server 60 without supplying main power, the image forming device 10 is started in a special mode by supplying power from the battery 46 to the device body control unit 38 and the start-up condition storage unit 37, and only the function for changing the start-up condition stored in the start-up condition storage unit 37 is operated, thereby performing processing to limit the use of functions related to the fault.

[0067] Furthermore, by providing the LPWA communication module 20 with a communication IF (abbreviation of Interface) 43 for transmitting and receiving data with the device body control unit 38 , data can be transmitted and received with the device body control unit 38 activated in the special mode.

[0068] Here, the special mode refers to a mode in which the image output unit 34, the image reading unit 35, the fax transmission and reception unit 36, the power supply unit 39 and other units are not powered on, and only the start-up condition storage unit 37 storing the start-up conditions and the interface part for reading and writing data from the start-up condition storage unit 37 are enabled by supplying power from the LPWA communication module 20.

[0069] When the image forming apparatus 10 is instructed to start up in the special mode, it starts up in the special mode and inquires the LPWA communication module 20 about the failure information.

[0070] Then, when the image forming device 10 obtains the failure information from the LPWA communication module 20, it changes the activation condition stored in the activation condition storage unit 37 to the following activation condition: power is not supplied to the part of the function related to the failure even when the main power is supplied, thereby limiting the use of the function related to the failure.

[0071] Specifically, when the function related to the failure has a plurality of operation modes (or operation states), the image forming apparatus 10 limits the use of the function related to the failure by changing the operation mode of the function related to the failure to an operation mode that does not cause a problem.

[0072] Furthermore, when the function related to the failure has a plurality of operation modes with different security levels, the image forming apparatus 10 changes the operation state of the function related to the failure to an operation mode with a higher security level, thereby changing the operation mode to an operation mode where no problem occurs.

[0073] Next, operations of the image forming apparatus 10 and the LPWA communication module 20 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0074] First, refer to Figure 5The flowchart of FIG. 1 illustrates the operation when the LPWA communication module 20 receives the failure information from the management server 60 .

[0075] In the LPWA communication module 20 , when failure information is received from the management server 60 via the LPWA communication unit 42 in step S101 , it is determined in step S102 whether the power of the image forming apparatus 10 is on.

[0076] Then, when it is determined in step S102 that the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on, the communication module control unit 44 of the LPWA communication module 20 notifies the image forming apparatus 10 of the received failure information in step S104 .

[0077] In addition, when it is determined in step S102 that the power of the image forming device 10 is not on, the communication module control unit 44 of the LPWA communication module 20 starts the image forming device 10 in the special mode in step S103. Then, the communication module control unit 44 of the LPWA communication module 20 notifies the image forming device 10 of the received failure information in step S103.

[0078] Here, Figure 6 FIG. 4 shows an example of failure information sent from the management server 60. Figure 6 The fault information example shown is composed of the following information: the fault classification is "fire occurrence", the occurrence module is "image output unit", the occurrence condition is "continuous operation for more than 1 hour", and the response method is "disconnecting the power supply of the image output unit or limiting the continuous operation time".

[0079] When the LPWA communication module 20 receives the Figure 6 When the image forming device 10 is powered on at the time of the fault information shown, the image forming device 10 determines that the image output unit needs to be powered off when the fault information is obtained from the LPWA communication module 20, and immediately turns off the power of the image output unit. As a result, the image forming device 10 becomes in the following state: copying and printing cannot be performed, and fax transmission, reception, storage, etc. can be performed during scanning. Alternatively, since the occurrence condition is "continuous operation for more than 1 hour", the operating time of the image output unit can be measured in the image forming device 10, and the power can be turned off so that the operating time does not exceed 1 hour.

[0080] In either case, the activation condition stored in the activation condition storage unit 37 is rewritten in the image forming apparatus 10 to change the activation condition so that the corresponding processing can be continued at the next activation.

[0081] Figure 7An example of changing the start condition is shown. Figure 7 The example of the change in the start condition shown is that the Figure 6 In the example of the fault information shown, it can be seen that the activation condition of the image forming unit is changed from "power on" to "power off". By changing the activation condition in this way, the device body control unit 38 controls not to supply power to the image output unit at the next startup, so that the image output unit is in the power off state.

[0082] in addition, Figure 8 FIG. 6 shows another example of the failure information transmitted from the management server 60. Figure 8 The fault information example shown is composed of the following information: the fault classification is "information outflow", the occurrence module is "telephone line port", the occurrence condition is "port start", and the change code is "111333 (port use prohibited)".

[0083] This fault information example is an example of a situation where information may leak from a telephone line port, which is an important quality problem. Here, the change code is a response method represented by code information, which means that the use of the port is prohibited. In addition, when the address, identifier, etc. of the storage area of ​​the start condition storage unit 37 in which the start condition is recorded have been determined, the identifier, etc. can be sent as fault information. In this case, the image forming device 10 can immediately set the function that causes the problem to the off state by rewriting the value of the memory corresponding to the received identifier from start to non-start and performing setting update processing such as restarting. In addition, the startup processing can continue with the setting that does not cause the problem at the next startup.

[0084] As mentioned above, in Fig. 9 The sequence diagram shows the operations among the image forming device 10, the LPWA communication module 20, and the management server 60 when the image forming device 10 receives the failure information while the power is on.

[0085] First, in step S201, the LPWA communication module 20 receives the failure information from the management server 60. Then, in step S202, the LPWA communication module 20 confirms the power state of the image forming device 10. Here, since the image forming device 10 is in the power-on state, the LPWA communication module 20 notifies the image forming device 10 of the received failure information in step S203.

[0086] Then, the image forming apparatus 10 that has received the failure information changes the activation conditions according to the received failure information and cuts off the power supply to the failure occurrence portion in step S204 , and displays the failure information and ends the processing in step S205 .

[0087] Then, in Fig.10 The sequence diagram shows the operations among the image forming device 10, the LPWA communication module 20, and the management server 60 when the image forming device 10 receives the failure information in the power-off state.

[0088] First, in step S301, the LPWA communication module 20 receives the fault information from the management server 60. Then, in step S302, the LPWA communication module 20 confirms the power state of the image forming device 10. Here, since the image forming device 10 is in the power-off state, the LPWA communication module 20 instructs the image forming device 10 to start in a special mode in step S303.

[0089] Then, the image forming device 10 starts up in the special mode, and in step S304, inquires about the failure information to the LPWA communication module 20. Then, in step S305, the LPWA communication module 20 notifies the image forming device 10 of the received failure information.

[0090] Then, the image forming apparatus 10 that has received the failure information changes the activation condition according to the received failure information in step S306 , and ends the special mode in step S307 .

[0091] [Second embodiment]

[0092] Next, an information processing system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. The configuration of the information processing system according to this embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and therefore the same reference numerals will be used for the description.

[0093] In this embodiment, when the image forming apparatus 10 is powered off when the LPWA communication module 20 receives the fault information, the LPWA communication module 20 does not start the image forming apparatus 10 in the special mode but stores the received fault information in the fault information storage unit 41 .

[0094] That is, when the communication module control unit 44 acquires the fault information from the management server 60 in a state where the main power is not supplied, the acquired fault information is stored in the fault information storage unit 41. Then, when the main power is supplied and the image forming apparatus 10 is started, the communication module control unit 44 controls the image forming apparatus 10 to be notified of the fault information stored in the fault information storage unit 41 and to execute processing for limiting the use of the function related to the fault.

[0095] In addition, in this embodiment, the operation when the power of the image forming apparatus 10 is on when the LPWA communication module 20 receives the failure information is the same as the operation in the first embodiment described above, and therefore the description thereof is omitted.

[0096] In the information processing system of this embodiment, Fig.11 The sequence diagram shows the operations among the image forming device 10, the LPWA communication module 20, and the management server 60 when the image forming device 10 receives the failure information in the power-off state.

[0097] First, in step S401, the LPWA communication module 20 receives the failure information from the management server 60. Then, in step S402, the LPWA communication module 20 confirms the power state of the image forming device 10. Here, since the image forming device 10 is in the power off state, the LPWA communication module 20 stores the received failure information in the failure information storage unit 41 in step S403.

[0098] Then, in step S404, main power is supplied to the image forming device 10. Then, in step S405, the image forming device 10 is activated in the special mode. Then, in step S406, the image forming device 10 inquires the LPWA communication module 20 for the failure information. Then, in step S407, the LPWA communication module 20 notifies the image forming device 10 of the failure information stored in the failure information storage unit 41.

[0099] Then, the image forming apparatus 10 changes the activation condition stored in the activation condition storage unit 37 in step S408 , and activates in the normal operation mode in step S409 .

[0100] In the present embodiment, since the activation conditions are changed before activation in the normal operation mode, power is not supplied to functional portions that may cause problems in the image forming apparatus 10 .

[0101] [Third embodiment]

[0102] Next, an information processing system according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

[0103] The structure of the information processing system in this embodiment is substantially the same as that in the first embodiment described above, and therefore the same reference numerals are used for description. However, in this embodiment, since the fault information is not obtained from the management server 60 when the main power supply is not supplied, the operation can be realized even if there is no battery 46 in the LPWA communication module 20.

[0104] In this embodiment, when the main power is supplied, the device body control unit 38 of the image forming device 10 does not start the image forming device 10 in the normal operation mode, but starts the image forming device 10 in the special mode, and instructs the LPWA communication module 20 to obtain fault information in the special mode.

[0105] Then, the communication module control unit 44 controls so that when the main power is supplied, it receives the instruction from the device body control unit 38, confirms whether there is fault information of the device in the management server 60, and performs processing to limit the use of the function related to the fault when the fault information of the device is obtained from the management server 60. Specifically, the communication module control unit 44 notifies the device body control unit 38 of the fault information obtained from the management server 60. Then, based on the notified fault information, the device body control unit 38 changes the start-up condition stored in the start-up condition storage unit 37 so that power is not supplied to the function related to the fault, and then starts in the normal operation mode.

[0106] In the information processing system of this embodiment, Fig.12 The sequence diagram of FIG. 1 shows the operations among the image forming device 10 , the LPWA communication module 20 , and the management server 60 .

[0107] When main power is supplied to the image forming apparatus 10 in step S501 , the image forming apparatus 10 is activated in a special mode in step S502 .

[0108] Then, in step S503 , the image forming apparatus 10 instructs the LPWA communication module 20 to inquire about failure information.

[0109] As a result, the LPWA communication module 20 that has received the instruction from the image forming apparatus 10 inquires of the management server 60 in step S504 whether there is any failure information of the own apparatus.

[0110] Then, when the LPWA communication module 20 receives the notification of the failure information from the management server 60 in step S505 , it notifies the image forming apparatus 10 of the received failure information in step S506 .

[0111] Then, in step S507, the image forming apparatus 10 changes the activation condition stored in the activation condition storage unit 37 according to the received failure information. Then, in step S508, the image forming apparatus 10 executes the activation process in the normal operation mode.

[0112] [Modifications]

[0113] In the above embodiment, the present disclosure is applied to a device including the image forming device 10 and the LPWA communication module 20. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and any information processing device including the device body and the LPWA communication module can be similarly applied to the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An information processing device, comprising: a device body having a main power source from which electric power is supplied; and Communication module, The communication module has: an acquisition unit that acquires the fault information of the device body from a management device storing the fault information via a wireless communication line; a power supply unit that supplies power to the acquisition unit when main power is not supplied; and A control unit that controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires fault information from the management device without supplying main power, only a part of the functions in the device body is activated by supplying power from the power supply unit, thereby executing processing to limit the use of functions related to the fault.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: The device body includes a storage unit for storing a start-up condition, the start-up condition setting how each of the plurality of functions is to be started up when the main power is supplied, The control unit controls so that when the acquisition unit acquires fault information from the management device in a state where the main power is not supplied, only the following function is operated by supplying power from the power supply unit, thereby executing processing to limit the use of the function related to the fault, which is a function for changing the startup conditions stored in the storage unit.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein: In the device body, use of the function related to the failure is restricted by changing the activation condition stored in the storage unit to an activation condition in which power is not supplied to a portion of the function related to the failure even when the main power is supplied.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: In the device main body, when a function related to a fault has a plurality of operation states, the operation state of the function related to the fault is changed to an operation state that does not cause a problem, thereby limiting the use of the function related to the fault.

5. The information processing device according to claim 4, wherein: In the device body, when a function related to a fault has a plurality of operating states with different safety levels, the operating state of the function related to the fault is changed to an operating state with a higher safety level, thereby changing the operating state to an operating state where no problem occurs.

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