Management system, management method, and computer program

Abstract

To provide a management system capable of deleting management targets that do not require management from the management system.SOLUTION: The management system that manages management targets has management target information acquisition means for acquiring information on the management targets linked to each user, installation location identification means for determining whether the management targets are located in an office, and management target deletion means for deleting registration information of the management targets from the management system. When deleting a predetermined user from the management system, information regarding the installation location of the management target registered in association with the predetermined user is acquired by the management target information acquisition means. When it is determined that the management target is not in the office by the installation location determination means, the registration information of the management target is deleted from the management system by the management target deletion means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a management system, a management method, a computer program, and the like. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been management systems for checking device management information such as a list of image forming devices capable of scanning, copying, printing, etc., a list of users who use the image forming devices, and the number of printed sheets.

[0003] Among these, methods have been proposed for registering device management information so as not to unnecessarily increase the amount of information. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a system that automatically deletes registered device information when a user registers a device if the device information has already been registered.

[0004] On the other hand, in recent years, many companies have adopted location-independent work styles, such as working from home or satellite offices. For example, users do not only use image forming devices installed in their own offices, but also image forming devices installed in multiple locations, such as at home, satellite offices, and shared offices, and use them according to the way they work.

[0005] For this reason, one user uses multiple image forming apparatuses, and each user uses a different image forming apparatus, so the amount of device information managed by the management system is increasing. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-157163 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Furthermore, in the device management system described above, when a user is transferred or leaves the company, there are cases where the user is transferred or leaves the company without deleting the user's own home printer device registration. In such cases, the system administrator must delete the home printer instead.

[0008] However, the system administrator must check whether the printer linked to the target user account is an office printer or a home printer, delete that printer, and then decide which printers to keep, making the process extremely cumbersome.

[0009] An object of the present invention is to provide a management system that is capable of deleting unnecessary managed objects from the management system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] One aspect of the present invention is In a management system that manages managed objects, A management target information acquisition means for acquiring information on the management target linked to each user; an installation location determination means for determining whether the managed object is in an office; a management object deleting means for deleting the registration information of the management object from the management system, When deleting a specific user from the management system, the management object information acquisition means acquires information about an installation location of the management object registered in association with the specific user, When the installation location determination means determines that the managed object is not located in the office, the managed object deletion means deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a management system that is capable of deleting from the management system a management target that is no longer required to be managed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the device management service 102, the image forming apparatus 101, and the client terminal 103 shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a device management service 102 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 4] 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for determining whether a device being used is an office device or a home device and processing the determination when deleting a user from the device management service 102 according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion screen provided by the device management service according to the first embodiment and used by a system administrator to delete a user. FIG. [Figure 6] 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating examples of table data in a database of user management information, device management information, and user-used device management information, which are managed by the device management service according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen displayed when a user deletion process is completed in the first embodiment. [Figure 8] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method in which a device used by a user to be deleted is an office machine when deleting the user from the device management service 102 according to the second embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen displayed when the user deletion process is completed in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method in which a device used by a user to be deleted is a home machine and a company-supplied printer when the user is deleted from the device management service 102 according to a third embodiment. [Figure 11]13 is a diagram showing an example of table data of a database of user management information, device management information, and user-used device management information managed by a device management service according to a third embodiment. FIG. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen displayed when the user deletion process is completed in the third embodiment. [Figure 13] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for deleting a device from the device management service 102 according to the fourth embodiment, together with deleting the user of the device to be deleted. [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion screen displayed when deleting a device in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion confirmation screen displayed when deleting a device in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a device removal completion screen displayed when the device removal process is completed in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 17] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for displaying a new device registration screen when a user deletes a device via a client terminal in the fifth embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion screen displayed on a client terminal when a user deletes a device in the fifth embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion completion screen displayed on a client terminal when the device deletion process is completed in the fifth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. In each drawing, the same members or elements are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated descriptions are omitted or simplified.

[0014] <Embodiment 1> 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The image forming device 101 is, for example, an MFP (Multi Function Printer) having functions such as scanning, printing, copying, faxing, and transmission, and executes various jobs in response to user operations.

[0015] Here, the image forming apparatus 101 functions as a management object managed by the management system. In the following, an example of the image forming apparatus 101 will be described as a management object managed by the management system, but the management object managed by the management system is not limited to the image forming apparatus 101 and may be, for example, an information processing apparatus such as a PC.

[0016] By performing registration settings in the device management service 102 in the image forming apparatus 101, it becomes possible for the image forming apparatus 101 to periodically transmit its own device management information to the device management service 102. When the network is, for example, an intranet, the device management information may be transmitted in response to a request from the device management service 102.

[0017] 1 shows only one image forming apparatus 101, but a plurality of image forming apparatuses 101 are connected to the network in the management system of the first embodiment. The device management service 102 has management functions related to the image forming apparatuses 101, such as management of each image forming apparatus 101, user management, job management, and device management.

[0018] The device management service 102 also collects device management information from the image forming apparatus 101 and has a user interface for a system administrator who manages the image forming apparatuses to manage one or more image forming apparatuses 101 .

[0019] The device management information includes job history information of jobs executed by the image forming apparatus 101. The job history information includes, for example, device information such as the serial number of the image forming apparatus that executed the job, and job information such as the name of the executed job and the execution date and time.

[0020] The client terminal 103 is a terminal that a client uses when accessing the device management service 102 via a web browser. Using the client terminal 103, the client can refer to a user interface that enables a system administrator to manage the image forming device 101 via a web browser.

[0021] The above components are communicatively connected via a network 100. The network is, for example, a LAN such as the Internet, a WAN, a telephone line, a dedicated digital line, an ATM, or a communication network realized by a combination of these. The network may be any network that is capable of transmitting and receiving data. In this embodiment, each device is described one by one, but multiple devices may be connected to the network 100.

[0022] Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the device management service 102, the image forming apparatus 101, and the client terminal 103 shown in Fig. 1. The client terminal 103 and the image forming apparatus 101 of this embodiment can have the hardware configuration of a general information processing apparatus.

[0023] The CPU 201 performs overall control of each piece of hardware, and controls each unit connected to the bus 200 to execute each function, such as printing and scanning. The ROM 202 is a memory dedicated to reading data, and stores, for example, a basic control program for the image forming apparatus.

[0024] The RAM 203 is a memory from / to which data can be read / written, and is used, for example, as a working memory for the CPU 201. The storage device 204 is used as a storage area for temporary data during execution of each program and for permanent data. For example, the storage device 204 is often an HDD or SSD, but may also be a device that can read / write data by loading an external medium.

[0025] The communication device 205 connects the image forming apparatus 101, the client terminal 103, and the device management service 102 to a LAN or the Internet, enabling data communication between the devices. The input device 206 is an operation unit for accepting input operations of characters and data by a user. For example, it is a keyboard, a mouse, a hard key, or a touch panel.

[0026] The display device 207 is a device for displaying various screens, such as a liquid crystal display or a touch panel. A user gives instructions via the input device 206 on a user interface screen displayed on the display device 207, and issues job execution instructions to the image forming apparatus 101, setting instructions to the device management service 102, and the like.

[0027] In addition, a scanner device 208 and a printer device 209 are connected to the bus 200 of the image forming device 101. The device management service 102 is constructed using hardware resources of multiple information processing devices, and is constructed using a virtual CPU, a virtual ROM, a virtual RAM, a virtual storage device, a virtual communication device, and the like.

[0028] The device management service 102 is realized by so-called cloud computing technology. The device management service 102 may be realized on one server device. Furthermore, the device management service 102 and the client terminal 103 may not include the scanner device 208 and the printer device 209.

[0029] Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the device management service 102 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Note that some of the functional blocks shown in Fig. 3 are realized by causing a CPU serving as a computer included in the device management service 102 to execute a computer program stored in a memory serving as a storage medium.

[0030] However, some or all of these may be realized by hardware. For the hardware, a dedicated circuit (ASIC) or a processor (reconfigurable processor, DSP) may be used. Furthermore, the functional blocks shown in Fig. 3 do not have to be built into the same housing, and may be configured by separate devices connected to each other via signal paths.

[0031] The device management service 102 described here is a service provided to companies or groups that use this service, and the unit of provision is called a tenant.

[0032] The user management unit 301 manages users who use the device management service 102 on a tenant-by-tenant basis. A system administrator registers users who wish to use the device management service 102 in a tenant. Registered users can use the functions provided by the device management service 102.

[0033] The device management unit 302 manages devices that use the device management service 102 on a tenant-by-tenant basis. A user or a system administrator registers a device that the user or the system administrator wishes to manage in the device management service 102 to a tenant. The user or the system administrator can use the functions provided by the device management service 102 from the registered device.

[0034] A job management unit 303 manages job history information acquired from the image forming apparatus 101. The job history information indicates the user who executed the job, the execution date and time, the job name, the function used, device information, etc. The job history information may also hold the image file of the job. A system administrator can check the history of jobs executed by users.

[0035] A setting management unit 304 manages setting values ​​for functions provided by the device management service 102. A UI control unit 305 controls screens displayed on a web browser for UIs and UI operations required for functions provided by the device management service 102.

[0036] A communication unit 306 controls the overall communication process for connecting to the device management service 102. For example, device management information is collected via the communication unit 306 from the image forming apparatus 101 registered in the device management unit 302.

[0037] 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for determining whether a device being used is an office device or a home device and processing the determination when deleting a user from the device management service 102 according to embodiment 1. In FIG. 4, a flow for a system administrator to delete a user from the device management service 102 is shown.

[0038] The CPU serving as a computer within the device management service 102 executes a computer program stored in the memory, thereby sequentially carrying out the operations of the steps in the flowchart of FIG.

[0039] In step S401, a user account is deleted. That is, for example, a system administrator of the device management service 102 deletes a user account using a user deletion screen 501 as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion screen provided by the device management service according to the first embodiment and used by a system administrator to delete a user.

[0040] 5 displays a user list 502 for selecting a user to delete and a delete execution button 503. The system administrator of the device management service 102 selects, for example, USER002 as the user to be deleted and presses the delete execution button 503.

[0041] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of table data of the database of user management information, device management information, and user-used device management information managed by the device management service according to embodiment 1. Fig. 6 shows management tables held in the user management unit 301 and device management unit 302 of the device management service 102.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 6, the data table includes a user table 601 for managing registered users, a device table 602 for managing registered devices, and a user-used device table 603 for managing printers used by registered users.

[0043] 4, all printers linked to the user account to be deleted are identified and their contents are checked in order. That is, the printers (PRT001, PRT002, PRT004, PRT008) used by the user to be deleted (USER002) selected in step S401 are obtained from the user-used device table 603 in FIG.

[0044] Here, step S402 functions as a management target information acquisition step (management target information acquisition means) for acquiring information on the management targets linked to each user. Then, for each of the acquired printers, the device type in the device table 602 is acquired.

[0045] Next, in step S403, it is determined for each printer whether it is a home printer or an office machine based on the device type acquired in step S402.

[0046] In this embodiment, the term "office machine" refers to a managed printer or the like located in a pre-defined office in a company, and the term "home printer" refers to a managed printer or the like located in a place other than the above-mentioned pre-defined office. The above-mentioned place other than the pre-defined office includes, for example, a user's home, vacation home, personal office, satellite office, etc.

[0047] Here, step S403 functions as an installation location determination step (installation location determination means) that determines whether the managed object is in an office or not. If it is a home printer, the process proceeds to step S404, and the device information of the relevant home printer is deleted from device management unit 302. Here, step S404 functions as a managed object deletion step (managed object deletion means) that deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system.

[0048] In the case of an office machine, the process proceeds to step S405, and the printer, which is the office machine, is not deleted.

[0049] 5 and 6, the user USER002 is selected as the user to be deleted, and the deletion is executed by pressing the Delete Execute button 503. In this case, since the printer PRT004 among the printers used by USER002 can be determined to be a home printer, PRT004 is deleted. In other words, the device information of PRT004 is deleted from the device management unit 302.

[0050] The determination of step S403 is performed for all printers, and if the printer is a home printer, the device information is deleted in step S404 and the flow of Fig. 4 ends. After the process of step S405, the flow of Fig. 4 ends.

[0051] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen displayed when the user deletion process is completed in embodiment 1, and shows a user deletion completion screen 701 that is displayed when the flow of FIG. 4 is ended.

[0052] On the user deletion completion screen 701, if device information has also been deleted, the deletion of the device information is displayed together with the result of deleting the user in a deletion content display label 702. The user deletion completion screen 701 can be closed by clicking a "Close" button 703.

[0053] As described above, in steps S401 to S404, when a specific user is deleted from the management system, information on the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specific user is acquired. Then, if it is determined that the managed object is not in the office, the registration information of the managed object is deleted from the management system.

[0054] In this way, according to the first embodiment, when deleting a user in the device management service 102, it is possible to automatically check the printers used by the user to be deleted and automatically delete unnecessary home printers. This eliminates the need for a system administrator to check each time, as was done in the past, improving work efficiency.

[0055] <Embodiment 2> On the other hand, even if the printer used by the user to be deleted is an office machine, if the user to be deleted is the only user using it, if nothing is done, the device information for the office machine will remain with no user using it.

[0056] In this case, it becomes cumbersome for the system administrator to decide whether to delete device information for which the user is no longer present. In other words, in order to pick up the relevant device information, it is necessary to check whether the user is registered for each device information, which is a lot of work to execute, and there are cases where unnecessary device information remains without being deleted.

[0057] In the second embodiment, the above problem is solved by carrying out a predetermined process when the user of the office machine is no longer present. Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[0058] 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method in which the device used by a user to be deleted is an office machine when deleting the user from the device management service 102 according to the second embodiment, and shows another processing example of step S405. Note that the operation of each step of the flowchart in FIG. 8 is performed sequentially by a CPU serving as a computer in the device management service 102 executing a computer program stored in memory.

[0059] If the printer is determined to be an office machine in step S403, all users using the printer are identified in step S801. That is, other users of the printer used by the user to be deleted are listed from the user-used device table 603 in Fig. 6. Here, step S801 functions as a managed object user extraction step (managed object user extraction means) that extracts users who are registered to use the managed object.

[0060] Then, in step S802, it is determined whether the printer in question (the printer being used by the user to be deleted) is being used only by the user to be deleted, or whether other users are also using it. In other words, it is determined whether there are other users besides the user to be deleted among the users listed.

[0061] In step S802, for example, in the case of the data in Fig. 6, it is determined that, among the printers being used as office machines, PRT001 and PRT002 are used by other users, and PRT008 ​​is not used by other users. Because it is determined that PRT001 and PRT002 are used by other users, no particular change is made in the next step S803.

[0062] On the other hand, for PRT008, since it is determined that only the user to be deleted (there are no other users), the process proceeds to step S804, and the user is updated to a specified dummy user name. Note that, although the user name is updated to a specified dummy user name in this embodiment, it is not limited to a user name, and any other name that can be specified when searching later may be used.

[0063] Here, step S804 functions as a management target information update step (management target information update means) for changing the specified user to another name when it is determined that the users extracted by the management target user extraction means are only the specified user.

[0064] All printers used by the user to be deleted that are determined to be office machines are checked, and after the processing of step S803 or step S804, the flow of FIG. 8 ends.

[0065] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen that is displayed when the user deletion process is completed in the second embodiment. When the flow in FIG. 8 has proceeded to the end, a user deletion completion screen 901 is displayed.

[0066] On the user deletion completion screen 901, if the current user has been changed to a specified dummy user name, that fact is displayed together with the user deletion result in a deletion content display label 902. The user deletion completion screen 901 is closed by clicking a "Close" button 903.

[0067] As described above, in the second embodiment, when the printer used by the user to be deleted is an office machine at the time of user deletion, and the user to be deleted is the only user, the user is changed to a dummy user.

[0068] This allows the system administrator to easily find printers that are not being used by users by searching for a specific dummy user name, making it possible to delete unnecessary printers from the management targets.

[0069] That is, in the second embodiment, when a specific user is deleted from the management system, information on the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specific user is acquired. Then, if it is determined that the managed object is in an office and that the only user using the managed object is the specific user, the specific user is changed to a different name. Therefore, unnecessary printers can be easily deleted from the management system as necessary.

[0070] <Embodiment 3> In the first embodiment, an example of deleting the registration of a home printer was shown, but if the printer registered as a home printer is, for example, a printer provided by a company, deleting the registration will make it impossible to manage. Therefore, in the third embodiment, a method for dealing with the case where the home printer to be deleted is a company-provided printer will be shown.

[0071] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method in the case where the device used by the user to be deleted is a home machine and a company-supplied printer when deleting the user from the device management service 102 according to the third embodiment, and shows another example of the processing of step S404.

[0072] The CPU serving as a computer within the device management service 102 executes a computer program stored in the memory, thereby sequentially performing the operations of the steps in the flowchart of FIG.

[0073] If it is determined in step S403 that the printer is a home-based printer, in step S1001, the owner of the printer to be deleted is obtained from the device table 1102 in Fig. 11. Note that Fig. 11 is a diagram showing an example of table data in a database of user management information, device management information, and user-used device management information, which are managed by the device management service according to the third embodiment.

[0074] In step S1002, it is determined whether the printer to be deleted in step S1001 is a company-supplied printer. Here, step S1002 functions as a company-supplied item determination step (company-supplied item determination means) that determines whether the managed item is a company-supplied item provided by the company.

[0075] 11, the owner of the home printer PRT004 to be deleted is "Company," so it is determined to be a company-provided printer. If it is determined to be a company-provided printer, the process proceeds to step S1004, where the user is updated to a specified dummy user name.

[0076] In this embodiment, the name is updated to a predetermined dummy user name, but it is not limited to a user name and may be any other name that can be specified when searching later. Here, step S1004 functions as a management object information update step (management object information update means) that changes the predetermined user to another name when the management object is not in the office and is determined to be a company-supplied item by the company-supplied item determination means.

[0077] If it is determined in step S1002 that the printer is not company-provided, the device registration is deleted in the next step S1003. All printers used by the user to be deleted are checked, and the flow in FIG. 10 ends after the processing in step S1003 or step S1004.

[0078] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion completion screen that is displayed when the user deletion process is completed in embodiment 3. When the flow in FIG. 10 has progressed to the end, a user deletion completion screen 1201 is displayed.

[0079] On the user deletion completion screen 1201, the fact that the user who uses the company-supplied printer has been changed to a dummy user is displayed together with the result of the user deletion in a deletion content display label 1202. The user deletion completion screen 1201 is closed by clicking a "Close" button 1203.

[0080] As described above, in the third embodiment, when deleting a user, if the printer used by the user to be deleted is a home printer and a company-supplied printer, the printer is not deleted but the user is changed to a dummy user. As a result, even if a company-supplied printer that is being used as a home printer has no user, it continues to be managed by the system administrator and can be easily picked up by searching for a specific dummy user name.

[0081] That is, in steps S401 to S403, steps S1001 to S1004, etc., when a specific user is deleted from the management system, information on the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specific user is acquired. If the managed object is not in the office and is determined to be a company-supplied item, the specific user is changed to another name, so that the managed object can be easily searched for using the other name.

[0082] <Embodiment 4> In the first to third embodiments, when deleting a user registration, the registration is deleted by determining the type of printer used by the user to be deleted or the owner, or the user is changed to a specified dummy user name and the registration is left unchanged.

[0083] However, when a system administrator deletes a home-based printer, there are cases in which it is not necessary to register the users who are using the printer to be deleted. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, another processing example will be shown when a system administrator deletes a printer such as a home-based printer.

[0084] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for deleting a user of a device to be deleted when deleting the device from the device management service 102 according to embodiment 4. In FIG. 13, an example is shown in which a system administrator deletes device information from the device management service 102.

[0085] The CPU serving as a computer within the device management service 102 executes a computer program stored in the memory, thereby sequentially carrying out the operations of the steps in the flowchart of FIG.

[0086] 13, the system administrator of the device management service 102 selects a device and issues a deletion instruction from a device deletion screen displayed by the UI control unit 305. Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion screen displayed when deleting a device in the fourth embodiment, and shows a device deletion screen 1401 displayed by the system administrator of the device management service 102 on the UI control unit 305 in step S1301.

[0087] A printer list 1402 for selecting a printer to be deleted and an execute delete button 1403 are displayed, and the system administrator of the device management service 102 selects the printer to be deleted. In this example, for example, PRT004 is selected as the printer to be deleted, and the execute delete button 1403 is pressed.

[0088] In step S1302, the device type "at home" is obtained from the device table 602 as information about the printer PRT004 selected in step S1301.

[0089] In step S1303, it is determined whether the selected printer is an office machine or a home printer based on the device type acquired in step S1302. If it is an office machine, the process proceeds to step S1307, and the corresponding device information is deleted from the device management unit 302. If it is a home printer, the process proceeds to step S1304. In this case, the device type of printer PRT004 is "home," so the process proceeds to step S1302.

[0090] Fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a user deletion confirmation screen displayed when deleting a device in embodiment 4. In step S1304, a user deletion confirmation screen 1501 as shown in Fig. 15 is displayed, asking whether to delete the user who uses the device.

[0091] On the user deletion confirmation screen 1501, for example, a display label 1502, which is a display inquiring as to whether the current user should also be deleted, a "Delete" button 1503, and a "Do not delete" button 1504 are displayed. Note that here, a display inquiring as to whether USER002, the current user of printer PRT004, should also be deleted is displayed.

[0092] In step S1305, it is determined whether or not the user should also be deleted. If the system administrator of the device management service 102 wishes to delete the user as well, he or she clicks the "Delete" button 1503, or if not, clicks the "Do not delete" button 1504.

[0093] If the “Do not delete” button 1504 is clicked, the process proceeds to step S 1307 , where the user information of the current user is not deleted, but the corresponding device information is deleted from the device management unit 302 .

[0094] If the "Delete" button 1503 is clicked, the process proceeds to step S1306, where the user information of the user is deleted from the user management unit 301. After that, the process proceeds to step S1307, where the corresponding device information is deleted from the device management unit 302, a device deletion completion screen such as that shown in Fig. 16 is displayed, and the flow in Fig. 13 ends.

[0095] Step S1306 functions as an execution step (execution means) for executing a predetermined process for managing a managed object when the managed object is not in the office. More specifically, in this embodiment, step S1306 functions as a user deletion step (user deletion means) for enabling the user registration information of a user associated with the managed object to be deleted from the management system.

[0096] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a device removal completion screen displayed when the device removal process is completed in the fourth embodiment. In step S1307 in FIG. 13, a device removal completion screen 1601 as shown in FIG. 16 is displayed.

[0097] On the device deletion completion screen 1601, a deletion content display label 1602 displays the result of deleting the printer PRT004 as well as the deletion of the user USER002 if the user has also been deleted.

[0098] The device deletion completion screen 1601 is closed by clicking the “Close” button 1603. As described above, in the fourth embodiment, when a printer is deleted, the user who uses the printer is also deleted as necessary, so that unnecessary users do not remain as managed objects.

[0099] As described above, in the flow of Figure 13, when deleting registration information of a specific managed object from the management system, if the specific managed object is not in the office, the user registration information of the user linked to the specific managed object can be deleted from the management system.

[0100] <Embodiment 5> In the fourth embodiment, an example was shown in which when deleting a printer registration, the user is deleted after confirming whether or not the user who uses the target printer needs to be deleted, but there are cases in which the user deletes the device registration in order to replace the home printer. Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, another processing example when the user deletes a device will be described.

[0101] Fig. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of a management method for displaying a new device registration screen when a user deletes a device via a client terminal in embodiment 5. Note that the operation of each step in the flowchart in Fig. 17 is performed sequentially by a CPU as a computer in the device management service 102 executing a computer program stored in memory.

[0102] In step S1701 in Fig. 17, a user accesses the device management service 102 via a client terminal to delete a device. Fig. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion screen displayed on the client terminal when the user deletes a device in the fifth embodiment.

[0103] In step S 1701 , when the user deletes a device via the client terminal, the UI control unit 305 of the device management service 102 displays a device deletion screen 1801 on the client terminal 103 .

[0104] For example, if the user is USER002, PRT001, PRT002, PRT004, and PRT008 ​​are displayed as a printer list 1802 for selecting a printer to delete from among the printers registered by the user. Also, a "Delete" button 1803 is displayed. The user selects, for example, PRT004 as the printer to be deleted via the client terminal 103, and presses the "Delete" button 1803.

[0105] In step S1702, information on the device to be deleted is confirmed. That is, for the printer selected in step S1701, the device type is obtained from the device table 602. In step S1703, it is determined whether the printer is an office machine or a home machine (home printer) based on the device type obtained in step S1702.

[0106] If it is an office machine, the process proceeds to step S1704, and the corresponding device information is deleted from the device management unit 302. Once deleted, the flow of Fig. 17 ends. On the other hand, if the home printer PRT004 is selected as in Fig. 18, it is determined to be a home machine in step S1703, and the process proceeds to step S1705.

[0107] In step S1705, the corresponding device information is deleted from the device management unit 302 to delete the device registration, and then the process proceeds to step S1706.

[0108] In step S1706, a screen for confirming whether or not to continue with device registration is displayed. Note that step S1706 functions as a new management target registration screen display step (new management target registration screen display means) for continuing with new management target registration when the specified management target is not in the office.

[0109] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a device deletion completion screen displayed on the client terminal when the device deletion process is completed in the fifth embodiment, and shows an example of a device deletion completion screen 1901 displayed in step S1706.

[0110] The device deletion completion screen 1901 displays that PRT004 has been deleted as a printer. In addition, a label 1902 that displays a message confirming the new registration of a printer when a home printer has been deleted, a "New Registration" button 1903 that is displayed when a home printer has been deleted, and a "Close" button 1904 are also displayed.

[0111] A user of the device management service 102 clicks a “New Registration” button 1903 if he / she wishes to register a new printer, and clicks a “Close” button 1904 if he / she does not wish to register a new printer.

[0112] Then, in step S1707, it is determined whether or not device registration has been performed (whether the "New Registration" button 1903 has been clicked). If the "Close" button 1904 has been clicked, the result is determined to be No in step S1707, and the flow in FIG. 17 ends. If the "New Registration" button 1903 has been clicked, the process proceeds to step S1708, and a screen for registering a new printer is displayed.

[0113] As described above, in the fourth embodiment, when a user deletes a device, if the device to be deleted is a home printer, the user is asked whether to register a new device. If a new device is to be registered, the screen transitions to a new device registration screen, thereby reducing the risk of missing a printer registration and reducing the hassle of the user having to perform the registration operation.

[0114] In the above embodiment, an example of an image processing device such as a printer has been described as an example of a management object managed by the management system, but the management object is not limited to an image processing device such as a printer. The management object may be a device such as a PC as long as it can be managed by the management system.

[0115] Although the present invention has been described in detail above based on the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications and combinations of the above-mentioned embodiments are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and are not excluded from the scope of the present invention. The present invention includes the following combinations.

[0116] (Configuration 1) A management system that manages managed objects, comprising a managed object information acquisition means for acquiring information about the managed objects linked to each user, an installation location determination means for determining whether the managed objects are in an office, and a managed object deletion means for deleting the registration information of the managed objects from the management system, wherein when a specific user is deleted from the management system, the managed object information acquisition means acquires information about the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specific user, and when it is determined by the installation location determination means that the managed object is not in the office, the managed object deletion means deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system.

[0117] (Configuration 2) A management system as described in configuration 1, characterized in that when deleting the specified user from the management system, the management object information acquisition means acquires information regarding the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specified user, and if the installation location determination means determines that the managed object is in the office and if the user extracted by the management object user extraction means is determined to be the specified user only, the management system has a management object information update means for changing the name of the specified user to another name.

[0118] (Configuration 3) A management system as described in configuration 1 or 2, further comprising a company-supplied item discrimination means for discriminating whether the managed item is a company-supplied item provided by a company, and a managed item information update means for acquiring information regarding the installation location of the managed item registered in association with the specified user by the managed item information acquisition means when deleting the specified user from the management system, and when it is determined that the managed item is not in the office and further determined to be a company-supplied item by the company-supplied item discrimination means, changing the specified user to another name.

[0119] (Configuration 4) A management system for managing managed objects, comprising: a managed object information acquisition means for acquiring information about the managed objects linked to each user; an installation location determination means for determining whether the managed objects are in an office; a managed object deletion means for deleting registration information about the managed objects from the management system; and, when the registered information about a specific managed object is deleted from the management system by the managed object deletion means, an execution means for executing a specific process for managing the managed objects if the specific managed object is not in the office.

[0120] (Configuration 5) The management system described in configuration 4, wherein the specified processing is to enable user registration information of a user linked to the specified managed object to be deleted from the management system, or to display a new managed object registration screen for continuing to register a new managed object.

[0121] (Method 1) A management method for managing managed objects, comprising a managed object information acquisition step for acquiring information about the managed objects linked to each user, an installation location determination step for determining whether the managed objects are in an office, and a managed object deletion step for deleting registration information about the managed objects from the management system, characterized in that when deleting a specific user from the management system, information about the installation location of the managed object registered in association with the specific user is acquired by the managed object information acquisition step, and if it is determined by the installation location determination step that the managed object is not in the office, the management method deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system by the managed object deletion step.

[0122] (Method 2) A management method for managing managed objects, comprising: a managed object information acquisition step for acquiring information about the managed objects linked to each user; an installation location determination step for determining whether the managed objects are in an office; a managed object deletion step for deleting registration information about the managed objects from the management system; and, when the registration information about a specific managed object is deleted from the management system by the managed object deletion step, if the specific managed object is not in the office, an execution step for executing a specific process for managing the managed objects.

[0123] (Program) A computer program for controlling each means of the management system according to any one of configurations 1 to 5 by a computer.

[0124] In order to realize a part or all of the control in the above-mentioned embodiment, a computer program that realizes the functions of the above-mentioned embodiment may be supplied to an information processing device or the like via a network or various storage media. Then, a computer (or a CPU, MPU, or the like) in the information processing device or the like may read and execute the program. In this case, the program and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0125] 101: Image forming device 102: Device management service 103: Client terminal

Claims

1. In a management system for managing managed objects, A management target information acquisition means for acquiring information on the management target linked to each user; an installation location determination means for determining whether the managed object is in an office; a management object deleting means for deleting the registration information of the management object from the management system, When deleting a specific user from the management system, the management object information acquisition means acquires information about an installation location of the management object registered in association with the specific user, a management system characterized in that, when the installation location determination means determines that the managed object is not located in the office, the management object deletion means deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system.

2. When deleting the predetermined user from the management system, the management object information acquisition means acquires information about an installation location of the management object registered in association with the predetermined user, The management system according to claim 1, further comprising a management object information update means for changing the specified user to another name when the installation location determination means determines that the management object is located in the office and when the users extracted by the management object user extraction means are determined to be only the specified user.

3. a company-supplied item discrimination means for discriminating whether the managed object is a company-supplied item provided by a company; When deleting the predetermined user from the management system, the management object information acquisition means acquires information about an installation location of the management object registered in association with the predetermined user, The management system described in claim 1, further comprising a management object information update means for changing the specified user to another name when the management object is determined to be not in the office and is further determined to be a company-supplied item by the company-supplied item determination means.

4. In a management system that manages managed objects, A management target information acquisition means for acquiring information on the management target linked to each user; an installation location determination means for determining whether the managed object is in an office; a management target deleting means for deleting the registration information of the management target from the management system; and an execution means for executing a specified process for managing a managed object when the managed object is not in the office when the management object deletion means deletes the registration information of the managed object from the management system.

5. The management system according to claim 4, characterized in that the specified processing is to enable user registration information of a user associated with the specified managed object to be deleted from the management system, or to display a new managed object registration screen for subsequently registering a new managed object.

6. In a management method for managing a managed object, a management target information acquisition step of acquiring information on the management target associated with each user; an installation location determination step of determining whether the managed object is in an office; a management target deletion step of deleting the registration information of the management target from the management system, When deleting a specific user from the management system, the management object information acquisition step acquires information about an installation location of the management object registered in association with the specific user, a management method comprising: if it is determined in said installation location determination step that said managed object is not located in said office, said management object deletion step deletes said registration information of said managed object from said management system.

7. In a management method for managing a managed object, a management target information acquisition step of acquiring information on the management target associated with each user; an installation location determination step of determining whether the managed object is in an office; a management object deleting step of deleting the registration information of the management object from the management system; and an execution step of executing a specified process for managing the managed object when the managed object is not in the office, when the registration information of the managed object is deleted from the management system by the managed object deletion step.

8. A computer program for controlling each means of the management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 by a computer.

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