Fault resolution measure forecasting system and program

Abstract

To provide a fault resolution measure forecasting system and program that decrease man-hours of a person who works as compared with when it is recommended to employ alternative means uniformly instead of replacing components.SOLUTION: A fault resolution measure forecasting system 1 includes: image formation devices 31 to 3n, 3n+1, ... which are connected to a network 2; a management server which perform centralized control over the image formation devices; a call center which receives repair for a fault of an image formation device; a portable terminal device which is carried by a customer engineer who repairs the image formation device; and a spare parts center which supplies replacing parts, wherein the management server comprises: a reception part which receives fault information on an electronic apparatus from a customer; an acquisition part which acquires operation information on the electronic apparatus having received the fault information; and a recommendation part which recommends resolution measures against the fault including component replacement according to the fault information and the operation information. The resolution measures are based upon at least one or both of the degree of tightness of a supply state of replacement components and the degree of urgency of fault resolution.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a fault solution prediction system and program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, as techniques relating to a fault solution prediction system, those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, for example, have already been proposed.

[0003] Patent document 1 describes a parts arrangement server that includes a parts inventory management unit that checks the inventory of part names and their quantities included in order information from a purchaser terminal based on a parts inventory database; a priority determination unit that determines the priority of part names whose inventory has been confirmed based on a priority database; and a base determination unit that determines the base that will provide the shortest delivery time from a point corresponding to the delivery destination included in the order information to the base for the part name with the determined high priority based on a delivery time database, and then determines the base that will provide the shortest delivery time from the point corresponding to the delivery destination included in the order information to the base for the part name with the next highest priority determined by the priority determination unit.

[0004] Patent document 2 describes a failure solution prediction system in which a processor detects a pattern in received device status data, generates predictive device failure data for at least one specific multifunction peripheral device based on the detected pattern and service history data, and identifies at least one recommended solution for addressing a device error predicted by the generated predictive device failure data.

[0005] Patent document 3 describes an electronic device that includes an identification means for identifying a faulty part, an acquisition means for transmitting the faulty part identified by the identification means to a management device and acquiring priority information for replacement of the faulty part from the management device, and a display means for displaying replacement guidance including an indication of the faulty part according to the priority information acquired by the acquisition means. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2016-004475 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2019-153306 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2020-199704 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] When the supply of replacement parts is tight, it may be difficult to replace the target parts in all devices. Instead of replacing the parts, the equipment trouble may be solved by alternative measures such as cleaning the target parts or replacing the parts around them. However, adopting alternative measures for all devices increases the amount of work required. Therefore, the present invention aims to reduce the amount of work required by workers compared to the case where an alternative measure is uniformly recommended instead of replacing parts. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The invention described in claim 1 comprises: a receiving means for receiving electronic device failure information from a customer; an acquisition means for acquiring operation information of the electronic device for which the failure information has been accepted by the acceptance means; a recommendation means for recommending a solution to the failure, including part replacement, in accordance with the failure information received by the reception means and the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, the recommendation means being configured to recommend the solution based on at least one or both of a tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts and a urgency of solving the failure; The fault solution prediction system includes the following steps.

[0009] The invention described in claim 2 is a failure solution prediction system described in claim 1, wherein the recommendation means recommends the part replacement or an alternative solution to the part replacement as a solution to the failure of the electronic device.

[0010] The invention described in claim 3 is a fault resolution prediction system described in claim 2, wherein the recommendation means recommends part replacement when it determines that the supply situation of the replacement part is tight and the urgency of resolving the fault is high.

[0011] The invention described in claim 4 is a fault resolution solution prediction system described in claim 2, wherein the recommendation means recommends an alternative solution to replacing the part when it determines that the supply situation of the replacement part is tight and the urgency of resolving the fault is not high.

[0012] The invention described in claim 5 is a failure solution prediction system described in claim 1, in which the presence or absence of an alternative to the part replacement is determined based on the presence or absence of an alternative in an alternative database and the time required to execute the alternative.

[0013] The invention described in claim 6 is a failure solution prediction system described in claim 5, in which the alternative to part replacement is one or more of replacement, cleaning, and adjustment of sub-parts or peripheral parts that make up the replacement part.

[0014] The invention described in claim 7 is a failure resolution prediction system described in claim 1, in which the urgency of resolving the failure is determined based on the subjective urgency when the receiving means receives failure information of the electronic device, the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, and the presence or absence of an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received failure information.

[0015] In the invention described in claim 8, when the subjective urgency of solving the failure is X when the receiving means receives the failure information of the electronic device, the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means is Y, and the presence or absence of an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received the failure information is Z, Urgency=1.5*X+Z / (Y+1) The failure solution prediction system according to claim 7, wherein the failure solution prediction system determines the failure solution based on the following relational expression:

[0016] The invention described in claim 9 is the failure solution prediction system described in claim 1, wherein the degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is obtained by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped in accordance with the elapsed time since the reception means received the failure information of the electronic device from the inventory amount of the replacement parts when the reception means receives the failure information of the electronic device from the customer.

[0017] The invention described in claim 10 is the failure solution prediction system described in claim 9, in which the degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is judged to be low when a value obtained by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped from the inventory of the replacement parts is positive, and is judged to be high when the value is negative.

[0018] The invention described in claim 11 is a failure solution prediction system as described in claim 1, wherein the recommendation means determines whether or not there is an alternative solution to the part replacement based on whether an alternative work is registered in an inventory database or the time required for the alternative work.

[0019] The invention described in claim 12 is the failure solution prediction system according to claim 11, wherein the recommendation means recommends the part replacement when it is determined that there is no alternative solution to the part replacement.

[0020] The invention described in claim 13 comprises a computer: A procedure for receiving information on malfunctions of electronic devices from customers; an acquisition step of acquiring operation information of the electronic device that has received the failure information in the reception step; a recommendation step of recommending a solution to the failure of the electronic device based on the operation information of the electronic device acquired in the acquisition step, the solution being based on the degree of tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts, which are the cause of the failure, and the urgency of solving the failure; This is a program that executes the above. Effect of the Invention

[0021] According to the invention described in claims 1 and 13, the number of man-hours required for workers can be reduced compared to the case where an alternative measure is uniformly recommended instead of replacing parts.

[0022] According to the invention described in claim 2, it becomes possible to respond to the degree of tightness or urgency of parts supply, as compared with the case where part replacement is always recommended.

[0023] According to the invention described in claim 3, when the supply of replacement parts is tight and there is a high urgency in resolving the malfunction, the equipment operating rate can be increased compared to a case in which an alternative to part replacement is always recommended.

[0024] According to the invention described in claim 4, when the supply of replacement parts is tight and the urgency of resolving the malfunction is not high, the amount of parts used can be reduced compared to the case where part replacement is always recommended.

[0025] According to the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to shorten the time required to resolve a failure, compared to determining whether or not there is an alternative to part replacement based solely on the presence or absence of an alternative in an alternative database.

[0026] According to the invention described in claim 6, it is possible to resolve a malfunction instead of replacing parts by replacing, cleaning, or adjusting a sub-part or peripheral part that constitutes the replacement part.

[0027] According to the invention described in claim 7, the urgency of resolving the fault can be judged more appropriately compared to when the receiving means judges the urgency based only on the subjective urgency when receiving the fault information of the electronic device.

[0028] According to the invention as recited in claim 8, the urgency of fault resolution can be determined uniformly.

[0029] According to the invention described in claim 9, it is possible to make a more appropriate judgment of the tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts that reflects the recent increase or decrease in the inventory of replacement parts, compared to a case in which the judgment is made based only on the inventory amount of replacement parts at the time when the reception means receives the electronic device failure information from the customer.

[0030] According to the invention as recited in claim 10, the degree of tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts can be determined uniformly.

[0031] According to the invention described in claim 11, the availability of an alternative to part replacement can be determined based only on whether or not an alternative operation is registered in the inventory database, and the time required for the alternative operation can be taken into consideration.

[0032] According to the invention described in claim 12, when there is no alternative to part replacement, it is possible to deal with the problem by replacing parts, compared to the case where there is simply no alternative. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0033] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram showing a fault solution prediction system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a management server. [Diagram 3] 2 is a block diagram showing each function of the management server. FIG. [Figure 4] 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the failure solution prediction system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the management server; [Figure 6] 13 is a flowchart showing a prediction operation of the management server. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the management server; [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a congestion level determination unit. [Figure 9] 13 is a flowchart showing an operation for determining whether or not there is an alternative solution. [Figure 10]11 is a diagram showing an operation for determining whether or not there is an alternative solution. [Figure 11] 13 is a flowchart showing an operation of an urgency determining unit; [Figure 12] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of an urgency determining unit; [Figure 13] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of an urgency determining unit; [Figure 14] 13 is a diagram showing a modified example of the operation of the management server. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0034] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0035] [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a fault solution prediction system according to the first embodiment.

[0036] <Overall configuration of the fault resolution prediction system> As shown in FIG. 1, the failure solution prediction system 1 according to the first embodiment is roughly divided into a network 2 and a plurality of image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 as examples of electronic devices used by a plurality of customers A, B, . . . connected to the network 2. n ,3 n+1 , and a plurality of image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 A management server 4 as an example of a host computer for centrally managing the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . n ,3 n+1 A call center 5 that accepts repair requests for the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 via telephone lines, n ,3 n+1 This is realized by a mobile terminal device 6, such as a mobile phone like a smartphone or a tablet, carried by a customer engineer (CE) who repairs the equipment, and a spare parts center 7 that stocks and supplies replacement parts as an example of replacement parts.

[0037] Image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 The operation information of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 The management server 4 can obtain data via the network 2 from various sensors (not shown) provided in the equipment, and operational information of the equipment that may lead to malfunctions can also be grasped in advance as various sensor data.

[0038] Image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 In the image forming apparatus 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 ...9, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, n ,3 n+1 ...is understood by the customer as a failure of the image forming device in the broad sense that it is not operating normally. Note that failures include not only streaks on recording paper, image defects, or abnormal noises during image formation, but also literal failures that cause the image forming device 3 to stop working.

[0039] A customer, such as customer A, has multiple (e.g., n=100) image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3. n For example, a large company with only one image forming device, such as Customer B, n+1 The image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 may be various types of image forming apparatuses. n ,3 n+1 As described above, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . are connected to the management server 4 via the network 2. n ,3 n+1The image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . are not necessarily connected to the network 2, as long as their operation information can be acquired. For example, a customer engineer may visit a customer's site and use a portable terminal device 6 to operate the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . n ,3 n+1 It may also be one that acquires operational information of...

[0040] Image forming devices 31, 32, ... 3 used by customers n ,3 n+1 The items ··· are individually assigned identification information such as an identification number or an identification code and managed in advance in a customer DB (database) 411 (see FIG. 3) of the management server 4.

[0041] This failure solution prediction system 1 receives image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 from a customer. n ,3 n+1 The call center 5 receives the failure information of the image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . by telephone (incoming call) or the like, and the management server 4 acquires the operation information of the specific image forming apparatus 3 about which the failure information is received via the network 2, and the failure information received from the customer and the operation information of the image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . n ,3 n+1 It predicts and recommends solutions to resolve failures, including part replacement, based on operational information from the system.

[0042] The failure solution prediction system 1 uses a network 2 and communicates with image forming devices 31, 32, . . . 3 of customers. n ,3 n+1 Although it indirectly includes the above as components, functionally it is constituted only by the management server 4.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a host computer constituting a management server of the fault solution prediction system.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 2, the host computer 100 constituting the management server 4 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 as an example of a control means for controlling the failure solution prediction system 1, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102 as an example of a storage means for storing various programs including basic software executed by the CPU 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103 as an example of a storage means for temporarily storing programs and data required for the operation of the CPU 101, a hard disk 104 for storing various DBs (databases), a bus 105 for connecting the CPU 101 and the ROM 102, etc., and image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 via a network 2. n ,3 n+1 The system is configured with a communication interface 106 for communicating to obtain operation information from the communication interface 102 and inventory information of replacement parts from the spare parts center 7. The program constituting the failure solution prediction system 1 is stored in advance in the ROM 102 or the like of the host computer constituting the management server 4. Here, the program constituting the failure solution prediction system 1 according to the present embodiment stored in the ROM 102 or the like in advance is a program that causes a computer to execute a reception procedure for receiving electronic device failure information from a customer, an acquisition procedure for acquiring operation information of the electronic device about which the failure information has been received in the reception procedure, and a recommendation procedure for recommending a solution to the failure of the electronic device based on the operation information of the electronic device acquired in the acquisition procedure, the solution being based on at least one or both of the tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts, which are the cause of the failure, and the urgency of solving the failure.

[0045] The management server 4 has a plurality of functional blocks that are realized by the host computer 100 in accordance with the program of the failure solution prediction system 1 .

[0046] As shown in FIG. 3, the management server 4 mainly receives image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 from a customer. n ,3 n+13, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 each having received the failure information from the reception unit 401; n ,3 n+1 4, an acquisition unit 402 as an example of an acquisition unit for acquiring operation information of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . , and the failure information received by the reception unit 401 and the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . n ,3 n+1 The device is provided with a recommendation unit 403 as an example of a recommendation means that predicts and recommends a solution to a malfunction, including part replacement, based on the operational information of the device.

[0047] In addition, the image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 The reception means for receiving the failure information is not limited to being composed of the reception unit 401 of the management server 4, and the call center 5 may have some or all of the functions.

[0048] The reception unit 401 receives, for example, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 notified by the customer via the telephone line from the call center 5. n ,3 n+1 However, the reception unit 401 receives failure information (including voice information) of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . from the customer. n ,3 n+1 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, n ,3 n+1 The malfunction information may be received as input information from a numeric keypad, or may be received as data information from a personal computer operated by a customer via the network 2.

[0049] The reception unit 401 receives, for example, the customer's malfunctioning image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3. n ,3 n+1 It accepts malfunction information such as the machine number "No: 123456789" assigned to ... and voice call information such as "Streaks appear when printing."

[0050] The acquiring unit 402 identifies the customer's image forming device 3 based on the failure information received by the receiving unit 401, and acquires operation information of the image forming device 3 from the image forming device 3 via the network 2. From the customer's image forming device 3 connected to the network 2, various operation information related to the operation of the image forming device 3 related to the failure information is acquired by a plurality of sensors attached to the image forming device 3, such as information on the remaining amount of toner in the toner cartridge, the cumulative number of rotations of the photosensitive drum and intermediate transfer belt, the number of sheets of recording paper fixed by the fixing device, or the transport state of the recording paper.

[0051] Image forming devices 31, 32, ... 3 used by customers n ,3 n+1 ...forms an electrostatic latent image by exposing each photoconductor drum of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) according to input image information, develops the electrostatic latent image with a developing device, transfers the toner image formed on each photoconductor drum to a recording paper via an intermediate transfer belt (IBT) unit including an intermediate transfer belt, and fixes the toner image transferred to the recording paper with a fixing device to form an image. The recording paper is fed from a paper feeder and transported along a specified transport path to form an image, and then discharged outside the image forming apparatus.

[0052] Image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1From various sensors provided in the photoconductor drums 402, various types of operation information such as the cumulative number of rotations of each photoconductor drum, such as yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K), the cumulative number of rotations of an intermediate transfer belt of an intermediate transfer belt (IBT) unit, the cumulative number of rotations of the fixing device, and the cumulative number of rotations of a transport roll in a main part of the paper transport device, are input to the acquisition unit 402 via the network 2. The operation information input to the acquisition unit 402 is stored in a sensor database (DB) 412 in an overwritable manner. The operation information input to the acquisition unit 402 also includes information such as whether or not the image forming device 3 of a customer, which has been notified of malfunction information by an incoming call, discharged recording paper normally in the last job before the malfunction was notified.

[0053] The recommendation unit 403 predicts and recommends a solution to the failure, including part replacement, based on the failure information received from the customer and the operation information of the image forming device 3 acquired via the network 2.

[0054] As shown in FIG. 3, the recommendation unit 403 recommends the image forming devices 31, 32, . . . 3 by machine learning or the like. n ,3 n+1 a pressure level determination unit 4032 that determines the pressure level in the supply situation of replacement parts that are replacement parts; an urgency level determination unit 4033 that determines the urgency level of the failure resolution; and n ,3 n+1 The system is provided with a recommendation content switching unit 4034 which switches the work content required to resolve the fault of ... based on the judgment results of the pressure judgment unit 4032 and the urgency judgment unit 4033, and a notification unit 4035 which notifies a mobile terminal device 6 carried by the customer engineer of the single or multiple recommendation contents switched by the recommendation content switching unit 4034.

[0055] Image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 A customer engineer who repairs the image forming apparatus 31, 32, 3 n ,3 n+1When a call comes in with information about a malfunction of one of the image forming devices 31, 32, . . . 3, the technician goes to the customer's location and repairs the malfunctioning image forming devices 31, 32, . . . 3. n ,3 n+1 Perform repair work etc.

[0056] In this case, the customer engineer always carries the mobile terminal device 6. The notification unit 4035 of the recommendation unit 403 notifies the mobile terminal device 6 carried by the customer engineer of the recommended solution to the fault by data information such as email (text) or images. The customer engineer carries out the repair work by referring to the recommended content of the fault solution notified to the mobile terminal device 6.

[0057] When the customer engineer receives the recommended solution to the malfunction, the customer engineer may, if necessary, replace the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 at the spare parts center 7. n ,3 n+1 Obtaining replacement parts and the like required for repairing the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . n ,3 n+1 Customer engineers can of course receive replacement parts recommended by other customer engineers.

[0058] <Operation of the fault resolution prediction system> The fault solution prediction system of this embodiment 1 is capable of reducing the amount of work required by customer engineers performing the work, as compared to a case in which the system uniformly recommends the adoption of alternative measures instead of replacing parts, such as when the supply of replacement parts for solving a fault in an image forming device is tight, in the following manner.

[0059] That is, in the failure solution prediction system 1 according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the management server 4 predicts the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 of the customers based on the incoming call information and the sensor data. n ,3 n+1 The work required to repair the failure of ... is predicted (step 101).

[0060] The failure solution prediction system 1 receives image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 from a customer via a telephone line. n ,3 n+1 The call center 5 receives the failure information of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3. n ,3 n+1 The failure information of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 is input as voice information or data information to the reception unit 401 of the management server 4. In addition, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 specified based on the failure information from the customer are input as voice information or data information to the reception unit 401 of the management server 4. n ,3 n+1 The operation information of the items . . . is acquired by the acquisition unit 402 of the management server 4 via the network 2.

[0061] Now, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 accepted by the accepting unit 401 of the management server 4 are n ,3 n+1 5A, the malfunction information of the image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 is that the machine number of the image forming apparatus 3 of the customer is "No: 123456789" and the malfunction is "streaks appear when printing." In this embodiment, n ,3 n+1 In addition to the malfunction information, the urgency of resolving the malfunction is also accepted from the customer.

[0062] The prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 predicts a solution to the failure, including part replacement, based on the failure information of the image forming device 3 received by the receiving unit 401 and the operation information of the image forming device 3 in which the failure has occurred acquired by the acquisition unit 402.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 6, when the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 receives incoming call information (step 201), it creates a report of the failure information of the image forming device 3, i.e., the trouble content, based on the incoming call information, such as the machine number "No: 123456789" and the incoming call content "Streaks appear when printing," as shown in FIG. 5(a) (step 202).

[0064] Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 identifies the image forming device 3 in which a malfunction has occurred based on the report of the trouble details (step 203), obtains the sensor data of the image forming device 3 with the identified machine number "No: 123456789" (step 204), and performs statistical processing of the sensor data of the image forming device 3 (step 205).

[0065] Here, the statistical processing of the sensor data of the image forming device 3 is performed by standardizing the number of drum cycles, which is the cumulative number of rotations of each photosensitive drum of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), using the designed life of each photosensitive drum (e.g., 1,000,000 cycles), as shown in Figures 5(b) and (c).

[0066] At the same time, the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 performs language analysis of the incoming call content based on the trouble content report (step 206), as shown in step 206 of FIG. 6, and executes inference using the trained AI (step 207).

[0067] The language analysis of the contents of the incoming call is performed, for example, by expressing what words are included in the contents of the incoming call as vectors. It is determined whether the contents of the incoming call contain words to be extracted, such as "print," "copy," "sound," "streaks," etc. For example, if the contents of the incoming call are "streaks appear when printing," this is expressed as a vector in which "print" and "streaks" are set to "1" and other words are set to "0," as shown in FIG. 5(d). The words to be extracted are, for example, words that frequently appear in the incoming call content information about troubles that have been reported in the past for the image forming device 3 (for example, the top 100 frequently appearing words), but are not limited to these as long as they are frequently appearing words.

[0068] Next, the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 performs inference using a trained AI using a neural network trained from previously stored trouble cases, based on the results of the statistical processing of the sensor data and the language-analyzed fault information, as shown in FIG. 5(e) (step 207).

[0069] Then, as shown in FIG. 5(f), the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 determines, as tasks required to repair the broken image forming device 3 based on the results of inference by the trained AI, the tasks that exceed a threshold value (e.g., 0.5), such as "replacement of the drum cartridge," "replacement of the IBT unit," and "replacement of the fuser unit" for color K, as shown in FIG. 7, in descending order of score, together with the recommendation level (step 208), and terminates the prediction operation.

[0070] In the example shown in Figure 7, the recommended tasks are predicted to be "replace drum cartridge," "replace IBT unit," and "replace fuser unit" for color K, and the detailed part numbers of each part are noted as "CT351104," "607K 08600," and "126K 40243," as well as the recommendation levels "★★★," "★★," and "★."

[0071] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4, when the prediction unit 4031 recommends parts replacement such as "replacement of the K-color drum cartridge," "replacement of the IBT unit," and "replacement of the fixing unit" (step 101), the management server 4 determines whether the supply situation of the replacement parts is tight or not, that is, the degree of tightness of the replacement parts, using the tightness determination unit 4032 (step 102).

[0072] The tightness determination unit 4032 determines the tightness of the supply of replacement parts based on the value of the inventory database (DB) 414. As shown in Fig. 8(a), for example, the tightness determination unit 4032 sets a threshold value for determining the tightness for each replacement part, and determines that the supply of replacement parts is tight when the value of the inventory DB falls below the threshold value.

[0073] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the tightness determination unit 4032 grasps the amount of replacement parts shipped for a certain period (a certain amount of time that has elapsed before the call is received) and the current amount of stock based on the values ​​in the inventory DB 414, and may be configured to determine that the supply of replacement parts is tight if the amount of replacement parts shipped for a certain period at the time of the call is greater than the current amount of stock (if the subtracted value is negative), and to determine that the supply of replacement parts is not tight if the value is positive.

[0074] In this way, the tightness determination unit 4032 determines whether the supply of replacement parts is tight based on the amount of replacement parts shipped over a certain period of time and the current amount of stock, based on the values ​​in the inventory DB 414, and thereby becomes able to determine the tightness of the supply of replacement parts in a more realistic manner based on the actual amount of replacement parts shipped.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 4, when the management server 4 determines by the tightness determination unit 4032 that the supply of replacement parts is not tight, it recommends the part replacement predicted by the prediction unit 4031 (step 103).

[0076] In this case, as shown in FIG. 7(c), the part replacement recommendations predicted by the prediction unit 4031, namely, “replace drum cartridge”, “replace IBT unit”, and “replace fixer unit”, for color K are passed directly through the recommendation content switching unit 4034 and notified to the mobile terminal device 6 by the notification unit 4035.

[0077] On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the tightness determining unit 4032 determines that the supply of replacement parts is tight, the management server 4 determines whether or not there is an alternative measure to replace the parts (step 104).

[0078] Now, assume that the supply of the replacement part, the "IBT unit," is tight, as shown in Figure 7(b).

[0079] As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the presence or absence of an alternative to part replacement is determined by determining whether an alternative operation to part replacement is registered in the alternative DB 413 (step 301). If the alternative DB 413 does not have an alternative operation to part replacement, it is determined that there is no alternative (step 302). If the alternative DB 413 has an alternative operation to part replacement, it is determined that there is no alternative (step 303) by referring to the alternative DB 413. Here, the threshold time can be arbitrarily set by the user. If the alternative operation requires a threshold time (e.g., 2 hours) or more, it is also determined that there is no alternative (step 302). If the alternative operation does not require a threshold time (e.g., 2 hours) or more, it is determined that there is an alternative (step 304). Alternatives to part replacement include, for example, replacing the "IBT belt" which is a sub-part that makes up the replacement part, the "IBT unit," or replacing, cleaning, and / or adjustment of peripheral parts.

[0080] If it is determined that there is an alternative to part replacement, as shown in step 105 of FIG. 4, the urgency determination unit 4033 determines whether or not the urgency of solving the failure is high (step 105).

[0081] 11 and 12, the urgency determination unit 4033 determines whether the job will be processed based on information in the sensor DB 412 (step 401), and if it is determined that the job will be processed, it determines whether there is another contract based on information in the customer DB 411 (step 402). If it is determined that there is a contract for another image forming device 3, such as customer A in FIG. 1, it is determined that there is no urgency (step 403). On the other hand, if there is no other contract, it is determined whether the urgency is high (step 404).

[0082] On the other hand, if it is determined that the job will not be processed, it is determined whether there is another contract based on the information in the customer DB 411 (step 405), and if there is no other contract, it is determined that the job is urgent (step 406).If there is another contract, it is determined whether the urgency is high (step 404).

[0083] Here, the determination of whether the urgency is high or not is performed, for example, by the reception unit 401 when the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . n ,3 n+1 The judgment is based on the subjective urgency when the failure information of . . . is received. The subjective urgency is determined by the customer or the reception staff of the call center 5 judging whether the urgency is high or low.

[0084] If the degree of urgency is determined to be high, the degree of urgency is determined to be high (step 406), and if the degree of urgency is determined to be low, the degree of urgency is determined to be low (step 403).

[0085] The urgency determining unit 4033 may be configured to determine whether the urgency of solving the failure is high or not as follows.

[0086] In this case, the urgency determination unit 4033 determines the urgency of the failure solution based on the information received from the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 by the reception unit 401. n ,3 n+1 3, the subjective urgency when the failure information of the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 is received by the acquisition unit 402, n ,3 n+1 3, and the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 from which the reception unit 401 has received operation information and fault information. n ,3 n+1 The decision will be based on the availability of alternative equipment for...

[0087] More specifically, the urgency determination unit 4033 determines the urgency of the failure solution based on the information received from the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 by the reception unit 401. n ,3 n+1 , 31, 32, . . . 3 acquired by the acquisition unit 402. n,3 n+1 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 3 n ,3 n+1 Let Z be the availability of alternative devices for . Urgency=1.5*X+Z / (Y+1) It is determined based on the following relation:

[0088] Here, the subjective urgency level X is assumed to be high (=3), medium (=2), or low (=1). n ,3 n+1 The operation information Y of the image forming apparatus 31, 32, . . . 3 from which the reception unit 401 has received the failure information is the value of the discharge section sensor (=whether the job will be processed or not) when the last print instruction was received before the power was received, that is, if the job will be processed, it is set to "0" and if not, it is set to "1". n ,3 n+1 The availability of substitute equipment Z for the image forming apparatus 31, 32, .... is determined based on the contracted image forming apparatus 3 other than the image forming apparatus 3 in which the failure occurred. n ,3 n+1 The number of units shall be...

[0089] Then, the urgency determination unit 4033 executes a calculation process based on the above relational expressions to determine the urgency as shown in Fig. 13. If the calculated urgency value is equal to or greater than a threshold value (e.g., 3), it is determined to be an urgency, and if the calculated urgency value is less than the threshold value (e.g., 3), it is determined to be a non-urgency.

[0090] In this case, the reception unit 401 determines the urgency of the fault resolution from the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3. n ,3 n+1 This makes it possible to judge the urgency more appropriately than if the judgment was based solely on the subjective urgency at the time the failure information was received.

[0091] If the recommendation unit 403 determines in step 105 of FIG. 4 that the urgency is high, it recommends replacing the part as is (step 103), whereas if it determines that the urgency is not high, it recommends replacing the intermediate transfer belt, which is an alternative to replacing the part, as shown in FIG. 7(b) (step 106).

[0092] Furthermore, if the recommendation unit 403 determines in step 104 of FIG. 4 that there is no alternative to part replacement, it determines whether the urgency is high (step 107), and if it determines that the urgency is high, it recommends part replacement as is (step 103), but if it determines that the urgency is not high, it does not perform the recommendation action (step 108), as shown in FIG. 7(b).

[0093] The customer engineer carries out repair work while referring to the troubleshooting recommendations sent to the mobile terminal device 6.

[0094] The above-mentioned operation by the management server 4 is executed for all the recommendation contents predicted by the prediction unit.

[0095] FIG. 14 is a table showing a modified example of the operation of the failure solution prediction system 1 according to the first embodiment.

[0096] In this modified example, as shown in FIG. 14, the contents of the recommended work predicted by the prediction unit 4031 of the management server 4 are "drum cartridge replacement", "roller replacement", and "fixing unit replacement" for the color K.

[0097] The operation of the management server 4 in this modified example of the failure solution prediction system 1 is basically the same as that described above, but one of the recommended tasks predicted by the prediction unit 4031 is "roller replacement." A "roller" is a single part in itself, and there is no alternative task to "roller replacement."

[0098] Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14(b), when the management server 4 determines that the supply of “rollers” as a replacement part is tight, if the urgency is low, it displays “--” as the recommended work content and displays a message urging the user to refrain from “roller replacement.”

[0099] As a result, it is possible to prevent a situation in which replacement parts that are in short supply are replaced.

[0100] In this manner, in the failure solution prediction system according to the first embodiment, the image forming apparatuses 31, 32, . . . 3 n ,3 n+1 In comparison to a case where the supply of replacement parts to resolve a fault in ... is tight, and instead of replacing parts, a uniform alternative method is recommended, it is possible to recommend part replacement work according to the level of urgency, thereby reducing the workload of customer engineers performing the work.

[0101] In the above embodiment, an image forming apparatus is used as an example of an electronic device, but the electronic device is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the electronic device may be other devices such as a scanner or a projector.

[0102] (Additional Note) (((1))) A receiving means for receiving electronic device failure information from a customer; an acquisition means for acquiring operation information of the electronic device for which the failure information has been accepted by the acceptance means; a recommendation means for recommending a solution to the failure, including part replacement, in accordance with the failure information received by the reception means and the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, the recommendation means being configured to recommend the solution based on at least one or both of a tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts and a urgency of solving the failure; A fault resolution prediction system comprising: (((2))) The failure solution prediction system according to (((1))), wherein the recommendation means recommends the part replacement or an alternative solution to the part replacement as a solution to the failure of the electronic device. (((3))) The fault solution prediction system according to (((2))), wherein the recommendation means recommends replacement of the part when it is determined that the supply of the replacement part is tight and the urgency of solving the fault is high. (((4))) The fault resolution solution prediction system described in (((2)))), wherein the recommendation means recommends an alternative solution to replacing the part when it is determined that the supply situation of the replacement part is tight and the urgency of resolving the fault is not high. (((5))) The failure solution prediction system described in (((1))) determines whether or not there is an alternative solution to replace the part based on the presence or absence of an alternative solution in an alternative solution database and the time required to execute the alternative solution. (((6))) The alternative to the part replacement is one or more of replacement, cleaning, and adjustment of a sub-part or peripheral part that constitutes the replacement part (((5))). (((7))) The urgency of resolving the fault is determined based on the subjective urgency when the receiving means receives the fault information of the electronic device, the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, and the presence or absence of an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received fault information (((1))). (((8))) The urgency of solving the malfunction is expressed as follows, where X is a subjective urgency when the receiving means receives the malfunction information of the electronic device, Y is the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquiring means, and Z is the presence or absence of an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received the malfunction information: Urgency=1.5*X+Z / (Y+1) The fault solution prediction system according to (((7))) determines the fault solution based on the following relational expression: (((9))) The degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is calculated by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped according to the elapsed time since the reception means received the electronic device failure information from the inventory amount of the replacement parts when the reception means received the electronic device failure information from the customer (((1))). (((10))) The degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is judged to be low when the value obtained by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped from the amount of the replacement parts in stock is positive, and is judged to be high when the value is negative (((9))). (((11))) The fault remedy prediction system described in (((1))) wherein the recommendation means determines whether or not an alternative solution to the part replacement is available based on whether or not an alternative work is registered in an inventory database or the time required for the alternative work. (((12))) The fault solution prediction system according to (((11))), wherein the recommendation means recommends the part replacement when it is determined that there is no alternative solution to the part replacement. (((13))) On the computer, A procedure for receiving information on malfunctions of electronic devices from customers; an acquisition step of acquiring operation information of the electronic device that has received the failure information in the reception step; a recommendation step of recommending a solution to the failure of the electronic device based on the operation information of the electronic device acquired in the acquisition step, the solution being based on the degree of tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts, which are the cause of the failure, and the urgency of solving the failure; A program that executes the following.

[0103] According to the fault solution prediction system in accordance with (((1))) and the program in accordance with (((13))), it is possible to reduce the number of man-hours required by workers, compared to a case in which an alternative solution is uniformly recommended instead of replacing parts. The failure solution prediction system according to (((2))) makes it possible to respond to the degree of tightness of parts supply and the level of urgency, compared to a case in which part replacement is always recommended. According to the fault solution prediction system of (((3))), when the supply of replacement parts is tight and the urgency of resolving the fault is high, the equipment operating rate can be increased compared to a case in which an alternative solution to part replacement is always recommended. According to the fault solution prediction system of (((4))), when the supply of replacement parts is tight and the urgency of resolving the fault is not high, it is possible to reduce the amount of parts used compared to a case in which part replacement is always recommended. According to the fault remedy prediction system of (((5))), it is possible to reduce the time required to resolve a fault, compared to a case in which the presence or absence of an alternative to part replacement is determined solely based on the presence or absence of an alternative in an alternative database. According to the fault remedy prediction system of (((6))), it is possible to resolve the fault instead of replacing parts by replacing, cleaning, or adjusting the sub-parts or peripheral parts that make up the replacement part. According to the fault solution prediction system of (((7))), the urgency of fault resolution can be judged more appropriately compared to a case in which the reception means judges the urgency based only on the subjective urgency when receiving the fault information of the electronic device. According to the fault solution prediction system of (((8))), the urgency of fault solution can be determined uniformly. The failure solution prediction system according to (((9))) makes it possible to make a more appropriate judgment about the tightness of the supply of replacement parts that reflects recent increases and decreases in the inventory of replacement parts, compared to a case in which the judgment is based only on the inventory amount of replacement parts at the time the reception means receives electronic device failure information from a customer. According to the failure solution prediction system of (((10))), the degree of tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts can be determined uniformly. According to the failure solution prediction system of (((11))), the presence or absence of an alternative to part replacement can be determined based only on whether or not the alternative solution is registered in an inventory database, and the time required for the alternative solution can be taken into consideration. According to the fault remedy prediction system of (((12))), when there is no alternative to part replacement, it becomes possible to deal with the problem by replacing the part, compared to the case where there is simply no alternative. [Explanation of symbols]

[0104] 1. Fault resolution prediction system 2. Network 3. Image forming device 4. Management server 5. Call center 6. Portable terminal device 7…Spare Parts Center

Claims

1. A receiving means for receiving electronic device failure information from a customer; an acquisition means for acquiring operation information of the electronic device for which the failure information has been accepted by the acceptance means; a recommendation means for recommending a solution to the failure, including part replacement, in accordance with the failure information received by the reception means and the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, the recommendation means being configured to recommend the solution based on at least one or both of a tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts and a urgency of solving the failure; A fault resolution prediction system comprising:

2. 2. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 1, wherein the recommendation unit recommends the part replacement or an alternative solution to the part replacement as a solution to the failure of the electronic device.

3. 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said recommendation means recommends replacement of said part when it is determined that the supply of said replacement part is tight and the urgency of solving said fault is high.

4. 3. A fault solution prediction system according to claim 2, wherein said recommendation means, when it is determined that the supply of the replacement part is tight and the urgency of solving the fault is not high, recommends an alternative solution to replace said part.

5. 2. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 1, wherein the presence or absence of an alternative solution to replace the part is determined based on the presence or absence of an alternative solution in an alternative solution database and the time required to execute the alternative solution.

6. 6. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 5, wherein the alternative to the part replacement is at least one of replacement, cleaning, and adjustment of a subsidiary part or a peripheral part that constitutes the replacement part.

7. The fault resolution prediction system of claim 1, wherein the urgency of resolving the fault is determined based on the subjective urgency when the receiving means receives the fault information of the electronic device, the operational information of the electronic device acquired by the acquisition means, and whether or not there is an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received fault information.

8. The urgency of the fault resolution is expressed by, when the subjective urgency when the receiving means receives the fault information of the electronic device is X, the operation information of the electronic device acquired by the acquiring means is Y, and the presence or absence of an alternative device for the electronic device about which the receiving means has received the fault information is Z, Urgency = 1.5*X+Z / (Y+1) 8. The fault remedy prediction system according to claim 7, wherein the fault remedy prediction system determines the fault remedy based on the following relational expression:

9. 2. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 1, wherein the degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is calculated by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped according to the elapsed time from the time when the reception means receives the failure information of the electronic device from the customer, from the amount of the replacement parts in stock at the time when the reception means receives the failure information of the electronic device from the customer.

10. 10. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 9, wherein the degree of tightness of the supply situation of the replacement parts is judged to be low when a value obtained by subtracting the amount of the replacement parts shipped from the inventory of the replacement parts is positive, and is judged to be high when the value is negative.

11. 2. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 1, wherein said recommendation means judges whether or not there is an alternative solution to replace said part based on whether or not an alternative work is registered in an inventory database, or on the time required for said alternative work.

12. 12. The failure solution prediction system according to claim 11, wherein the recommendation means, when determining that there is no alternative solution to the part replacement, recommends the part replacement.

13. On the computer, A procedure for receiving information on malfunctions of electronic devices from customers; an acquisition step of acquiring operation information of the electronic device that has received the failure information in the reception step; a recommendation step of recommending a solution to the failure of the electronic device based on the operation information of the electronic device acquired in the acquisition step, the solution being based on the degree of tightness of the supply situation of replacement parts, which are the cause of the failure, and the urgency of solving the failure; A program that executes the following.

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