Image forming apparatus management system and image forming apparatus

Abstract

Ensure that the latest software improvements address security vulnerabilities, allowing for software updates to be reliably implemented. [Solution] The device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 sends a notification to the server inquiring about whether the software (query software) can be updated (S111). The server-side update control unit 112 of server 1 reads the query software information from the configuration information DB (S211) and compares the version of the query software with the vulnerability information of the latest version of the query software. If the security flaw in the latest version has been fixed (S212; YES), the server-side update control unit 112 reads the latest version of the query software from the software DB and sends it to the image forming apparatus 2 (S214). The device-side update control unit 212 updates the software using the latest version of the query software (S113).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus management system and an image forming apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] In an image forming apparatus, a technique for updating software such as an application or firmware is known. Patent Document 1 describes a technique for enabling the functions of firmware after obtaining the user's consent so that unwanted function changes are not made during firmware update.

[0003] Patent Document 2 describes a technique for easily installing a program for adding or updating functions in an information processing system including a plurality of modules each having an individual operating system.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In the technique described in Patent Document 1, although the user can set whether to update the software, for example, even when the setting is not to update, if the latest version of the software includes a correction regarding security vulnerability, it is desirable to update.

[0006] The technology described in Patent Document 2 determines whether to install the image processing system on the input receiving unit or the main unit based on conditional information, but it does not use conditional information regarding security vulnerabilities to determine whether or not installation is possible.

[0007] The present invention aims to ensure that software can be updated when the latest software improvements relate to security vulnerabilities. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present invention provides an image forming apparatus management system comprising an image forming apparatus and a server, wherein the server includes a storage unit that stores the latest version of software used by the image forming apparatus and configuration information including vulnerability information for each version of the software; a server-side update control unit that uses the configuration information to determine whether or not security vulnerabilities in the software used by the image forming apparatus have been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit, and if so, decides to perform an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus; and a server-side communication unit that communicates with the image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus-side communication unit that communicates with the server, and an apparatus-side update control unit that receives the update execution decision and the latest version of the software transmitted from the server-side communication unit by the server-side update control unit, and performs an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus using the latest version of the software in accordance with the received update execution decision.

[0009] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that uses software, wherein the image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus-side communication unit that communicates with a server, and an apparatus-side update control unit that uses configuration information of the latest version of the software transmitted from the server and received by the image forming apparatus-side communication unit to determine whether or not a security vulnerability in the software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit, and if it has been fixed, determines to execute an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus, wherein when the server-side update control unit has decided to execute a software update, the image forming apparatus-side communication unit receives the latest version of the software from the server, and the apparatus-side update control unit executes the software update using the latest version of the software. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, since updates to the software used by the image forming apparatus are limited to when security vulnerabilities are fixed, users can avoid frequent updates that are not urgent. This reduces downtime for the image forming apparatus caused by software updates and improves productivity. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This diagram shows the electrical configuration of the image forming apparatus management system. [Figure 2] This diagram shows an example of the data structure stored in the configuration information database. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart illustrating the software update process. [Figure 4] This is a flowchart illustrating the software update process. [Figure 5] This is a flowchart illustrating the software update process. [Figure 6] This is a flowchart illustrating the custom software update process. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus management system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The image forming apparatus in this embodiment is an image forming apparatus such as a printer or copier, or a multifunction device that also has multiple functions such as a facsimile or scanner.

[0013] Figure 1 shows the electrical configuration of an image forming apparatus management system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus management system 100 comprises a server 1 and an image forming apparatus 2, which can send and receive data from each other via a network N.

[0014] Server 1 comprises a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The control unit 11 consists of a processor, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM, etc. The processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc. The control unit 11 functions as a control unit 111 and a server-side update control unit (server-side update control unit) 112 by having the processor execute a control program stored in ROM, etc.

[0015] The control unit 111 is responsible for the overall operation control of server 1. The server-side update control unit (server-side update control unit) 112 determines whether or not to perform an update when the communication unit (server-side communication unit) 13 receives an inquiry notification from the image forming apparatus 2 regarding the possibility of updating the software used in the machine. The method used by the server-side update control unit 112 to make this determination will be explained later.

[0016] The storage unit 12 is a large-capacity storage device (e.g., HDD or SSD) that stores various programs, data tables, etc. The storage unit 12 has a software DB (database) 121 and a configuration information DB (database) 122. The software DB 121 stores the latest versions of the software used in each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2 managed by the server 1.

[0017] The configuration information DB 122 stores the configuration information (SBOM: Software Bill Of Materials) of the software used in each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses 2 managed by the server 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration stored in the configuration information DB 122. As shown in FIG. 2, the configuration information DB 122 stores the configuration information of each software in the form of, for example, a management table.

[0018] Also, the management table of the configuration information DB 122 includes the name of the OSS (Open Source Software) included in the software used by each image forming apparatus 2, its version, and the security vulnerability information for each version. The vulnerability information is, for example, a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) identification number uniquely assigned to the vulnerability.

[0019] The communication unit 13 is composed of a communication module, etc., and performs transmission and reception of various data with external devices such as the image forming apparatus 2 via the network N.

[0020] The image forming apparatus 具有 a control unit 21, an input reception unit 22, an image reading unit 23, an image forming unit 24, a communication unit 25, a storage unit (HDD, etc.) 26, etc. The control unit 21 is composed of a processor, RAM, ROM, etc. The processor is a CPU, MPU, or ASIC, etc. The control unit 21 functions as a control unit 211 and a device-side update control unit (server-side update control unit and device-side update control unit) 212 by the processor executing a control program stored in the ROM, etc.

[0021] The control unit 211 is responsible for the overall operation control of the image forming apparatus 2. The device-side update control unit (server-side update control unit and device-side update control unit) 212 controls the updates of the software stored in the software storage unit 261 of the storage unit 26.

[0022] The input receiving unit 22 is equipped with hard keys such as a confirmation key and a start key for confirming various operations and settings, and a display unit 221. The input receiving unit 22 accepts various instructions from the user in response to the operation of the above keys. The display unit 221 consists of an LCD (liquid crystal display) or the like and displays operation screens, messages, etc. The display unit 221 may be integrated with a touch panel.

[0023] The image reading unit 23 is equipped with a scanner or the like and reads an image of a document to acquire image data. The image forming unit 24 consists of, for example, an electrophotographic image forming mechanism and prints the image data acquired by the image reading unit 23 and the image data received by the communication unit 25 from external devices onto paper. The communication unit 25 consists of a communication module or the like and transmits and receives various data with external devices such as the server 1 via the network N.

[0024] The storage unit 26 is a large-capacity storage device that stores image data, various programs, data tables, etc., and is, for example, an HDD. The storage unit 26 may be composed of an SSD (Solid State Drive) or the like in addition to an HDD. The storage unit 26 has a software storage unit 261. The software storage unit 261 stores software that realizes the functions of the image forming apparatus 2, and the control unit 211 reads and executes it.

[0025] The software stored in the software storage unit 261 includes the printer driver, utility programs, and firmware executed by the image forming apparatus 2. To ensure security without compromising the usability of the image forming apparatus 2, the software is generally updated automatically. However, during the software update process, users experience inconveniences such as being unable to use the functions of the image forming apparatus 2. In particular, even when software updates are performed to correct minor bugs that are not urgent, this results in dead time for the image forming apparatus 2.

[0026] Therefore, in this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 2 will only perform a software update when the latest version of the software has undergone significant improvements, such as the correction of security vulnerabilities or defects. By performing updates only when significant improvements such as the correction of security vulnerabilities or defects have been made, important updates related to security vulnerabilities, etc., can be performed without significantly impairing the convenience of the image forming apparatus 2. The following describes the software updates used by the image forming apparatus 2. <Embodiment 1: When the server determines whether or not the software can be updated>

[0027] First, we will explain the case where the server-side update control unit 112 of server 1 determines whether the software stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated. In this case, the server-side update control unit 112 operates as a server-side update control unit within the scope of the claims. The device-side update control unit 212 in the image forming apparatus 2 does not function as a server-side update control unit within the scope of the claims.

[0028] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the software update process in this embodiment.

[0029] The device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 causes the communication unit 25 to send a notification to the server 1 inquiring about the availability of software stored in the software storage unit 261 (S111). Hereinafter, the software subject to the update inquiry will be referred to as the "inquiry software". The device-side update control unit 212 also notifies the server 1 from the communication unit 25 of the version information of the inquiry software.

[0030] On server 1, when the communication unit 25 receives the query notification and version information of the query software, the server-side update control unit 112 reads the configuration information of the query software from the configuration information DB 122 (S211), and compares the vulnerability information of the version of the query software indicated by the received version information for the query software indicated by the query notification with the vulnerability information of the latest version of the query software indicated by the query notification, by reading them from the configuration information DB of the storage unit 12. If the server-side update control unit 112 finds that there is less vulnerability information for the latest version of the query software than the vulnerability information for the version indicated by the received version information, or if there is no vulnerability information (S212; YES), it decides to perform an update of the query software, and sends an instruction to perform an update of the query software and the latest version of the query software read from the software DB 121 to the image forming apparatus 2 from the communication unit 13 (S213).

[0031] On the other hand, if the vulnerability information for the version indicated by the received version information is the same as the vulnerability information for the latest version, or if the vulnerability information has increased (S212; NO), the server-side update control unit 112 determines that no security vulnerability fixes have been made, decides that updating the inquiry software is unnecessary, and has the communication unit 13 send an instruction that updating the inquiry software is unnecessary to the image forming apparatus 2 (S214).

[0032] The method by which the server-side update control unit 112 determines whether or not the query software can be updated will be explained using Figure 2. In Figure 2, the image forming apparatus 2 will be described as "Apparatus A". The server-side update control unit 112 first reads the information in line 122a, which is the configuration information of the query software of the image forming apparatus 2. If the version of the query software indicated in the above query notification is "1.2.12", it indicates that this version has two vulnerability information, "CVE-2022-00001" and "CVE-2022-00002" (column 91).

[0033] Furthermore, since the latest version, "1.2.13," has no vulnerability information (column 92), it indicates that the vulnerability in version "1.2.12" has been fixed. For example, the server-side update control unit 112 determines that the version indicated by the largest number is the latest version. Therefore, in this case, the server-side update control unit 112 decides to update the query software. If there is no change in the vulnerability information between versions "1.2.12" and "1.2.13," or if the vulnerability information has increased, the server-side update control unit 112 decides not to update the query software.

[0034] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives a reply from the server 1 to an inquiry notification, the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines whether the received content is an update execution instruction or an update not required instruction (S112). If the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is an update execution instruction (S112; YES), the apparatus-side update control unit 212 updates the inquiry software stored in the software storage unit 261 using the latest version of the inquiry software received by the communication unit 25 (S113).

[0035] Furthermore, if the device-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is an instruction not to update (S112; NO), the above inquiry software will not be updated and the process will terminate. <Embodiment 2: When the image forming apparatus determines whether or not the software can be updated>

[0036] Next, we will describe the case in which the device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 determines whether the software stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated. In this case, the device-side update control unit 212 in the image forming apparatus 2 operates as the server-side update control unit in the claims. The server-side update control unit 112 does not function as the server-side update control unit in the claims.

[0037] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the software update process in this embodiment.

[0038] The device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 causes the communication unit 25 to send a notification of whether or not the software stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated, along with the version information of the software being inquired about, to the server 1 (S121).

[0039] On server 1, when the communication unit 25 receives the query notification and version information of the query software, the server-side update control unit 112 reads the configuration information of the query software from the configuration information DB 122 (S221), and has the communication unit 13 transmit the read configuration information to the image forming apparatus 2 (S223).

[0040] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives the configuration information from the server 1 as a reply to the inquiry notification, the apparatus-side update control unit 212 compares the vulnerability information of the version of the inquiry software with the vulnerability information of the latest version of the inquiry software based on the received configuration information. If the server-side update control unit 112 finds that the vulnerability information for the latest version of the inquiry software is small or nonexistent (S122; YES) compared to the vulnerability information for the version of the inquiry software indicated by the version information, it decides to perform an update of the inquiry software and sends a request to send the latest version of the inquiry software from the communication unit 25 to the server 1 (S123).

[0041] On server 1, when the communication unit 13 receives the above transmission request for the latest version of the software from the image forming apparatus 2, the server-side update control unit 112 reads the latest version of the software from the software DB 121 and instructs the communication unit 13 to transmit it to the image forming apparatus 2 (S224).

[0042] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives the latest version of the software, it updates the query software stored in the software storage unit 261 using the latest version of the software (S124).

[0043] On the other hand, if the device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 finds that the vulnerability information for the query software version and the vulnerability information for the latest version are the same, or that the vulnerability information has increased (S122; NO), it determines that no security vulnerability fixes have been performed and decides that updating the query software is unnecessary. In this case, the process ends without updating the query software. <Embodiment 3: Another example in which the image forming apparatus determines whether or not the software can be updated>

[0044] Next, we will describe the case in which the device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 determines whether the software stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated. In this case, the device-side update control unit 212 in the image forming apparatus 2 operates as the server-side update control unit in the claims. The server-side update control unit 112 does not function as the server-side update control unit in the claims.

[0045] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the software update process in this embodiment.

[0046] The device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 causes the communication unit 25 to send a notification of whether or not the software stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated, along with the version information of the software being inquired about, to the server 1 (S131).

[0047] On server 1, when the communication unit 25 receives the query notification and version information of the query software, the server-side update control unit 112 reads the configuration information of the query software from the configuration information DB 122 (S231), and compares the vulnerability information of the version of the query software indicated by the received version information for the query software indicated by the query notification with the vulnerability information of the latest version of the query software indicated by the query notification, by reading them from the configuration information DB of the storage unit 12. If the server-side update control unit 112 finds that there is less vulnerability information for the latest version of the version indicated by the received version information, or that there is no vulnerability information (S232; YES), it has the communication unit 13 send revision information indicating that the vulnerability information has been revised to the image forming apparatus 2 (S233).

[0048] On the other hand, if the vulnerability information for the version indicated by the received version information is the same as the vulnerability information for the latest version, or if the vulnerability information has increased (S232; NO), the server-side update control unit 112 has the communication unit 13 send unrevised information to the image forming apparatus 2, indicating that the vulnerability information has not been revised (S234).

[0049] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives a reply from the server 1 to an inquiry notification, the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines whether the received content is revised information or not (S132). If the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is revised information (S132; YES), it causes the communication unit 25 to send a request to the server 1 to send the latest version of the inquiry software (S133).

[0050] On server 1, when the communication unit 13 receives the above transmission request for the latest version of the software from the image forming apparatus 2, the server-side update control unit 112 reads the latest version of the software from the software DB 121 and instructs the communication unit 13 to transmit it to the image forming apparatus 2 (S234).

[0051] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives the latest version of the software, it updates the query software stored in the software storage unit 261 using the latest version of the software (S134).

[0052] On the other hand, if the device-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is non-revised information (S132; NO), the process terminates.

[0053] In the embodiments 1 to 3 described above, the device-side update control unit 212 may, if the software stored in the software storage unit 261 is custom software, refrain from updating the custom software regardless of the decision result of the server-side update control unit 112 or the decision result of the device-side update control unit 212 itself. Alternatively, if the software stored in the software storage unit 261 is custom software, the device-side update control unit 212 may refrain from sending the above inquiry to the server 1, such as an inquiry notification regarding the feasibility of updating the software. <Embodiment 4: Regarding custom software updates>

[0054] If custom software is being used in the image forming apparatus 2, caution is required when updating the custom software. This is because there is a risk that customized parts may be overwritten by the update. In this embodiment, the determination of whether or not to update the custom software will be explained with reference to Figure 6.

[0055] Furthermore, the configuration information DB122 also stores the configuration information of the custom software used by the image forming apparatus 2, as well as the configuration information of the software from which that custom software was derived.

[0056] The device-side update control unit 212 of the image forming apparatus 2 causes the communication unit 25 to send an inquiry notification to the server 1 regarding whether the custom software (inquiry custom software) stored in the software storage unit 261 can be updated (S141). If the image forming apparatus 2 holds version information of the source software from which the inquiry custom software is derived, the device-side update control unit 212 also sends this version information of the source software to the server 1 via the communication unit 25. The configuration information DB 122 of the server 1 stores the configuration information of the source software from which the custom software used by the image forming apparatus 2 is derived.

[0057] On the other hand, if the image forming apparatus 2 does not store the version information of the source software from which the query custom software is derived, but the server 1 does, the apparatus-side update control unit 212 will notify the server of the query custom software version information along with the query notification regarding whether or not the update is possible. The server 1's configuration information DB 122 stores the custom software used by the image forming apparatus 2 and the source software as linked configuration information, and the server-side update control unit 112 retrieves the version of the source software from the configuration information DB 112 based on the version information of the custom software.

[0058] The server-side update control unit 112 reads the configuration information of the source software from which the query custom software is derived from the configuration information DB 122 (S241), and compares the vulnerability information of the version indicated by the received version information for the query custom software indicated by the query notification with the vulnerability information of the latest version of the query software indicated by the query notification, which is read from the configuration information DB of the storage unit 12. If the server-side update control unit 112 finds that there is less vulnerability information for the latest version of the query custom software than the vulnerability information for the version indicated by the received version information, or if there is no vulnerability information (S242; YES), it decides to perform an update of the query custom software, and sends an instruction to perform an update of the query custom software and the latest version of the source software from which the query custom software is derived, read from the software DB 121, to the image forming apparatus 2 via the communication unit 13 (S243).

[0059] On the other hand, if the vulnerability information for the version indicated by the received version information is the same as the vulnerability information for the latest version, or if the vulnerability information has increased (S242; NO), the server-side update control unit 112 determines that no security vulnerability fixes have been made, decides that updating the inquiry customization software is unnecessary, and has the communication unit 13 send an instruction that updating the inquiry customization software is unnecessary to the image forming apparatus 2 (S244).

[0060] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the communication unit 25 receives a reply from the server 1 to an inquiry notification, the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines whether the received content is an update execution instruction or an update not required instruction (S112). If the apparatus-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is an update execution instruction (S142; YES), the control unit 211 displays a message on the display unit 221 prompting the user to input an update instruction to update the custom software being used (inquiry custom software) or a rejection instruction not to update (S143).

[0061] Then, when the update instruction is input to the input receiving unit (YES in S144), the device-side update control unit 212 updates the query customization software stored in the software storage unit 261 using the latest version of the source software received by the communication unit 25 (S145). In this case, the customization content will be erased by the version upgrade to the latest version of the source software, but the problem of security vulnerabilities can be resolved.

[0062] Furthermore, if the device-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is an update execution instruction (S142; YES), it may immediately update the query customization software stored in the software storage unit 261 using the latest version of the source software received by the communication unit 25, without displaying a message on the display unit 221 prompting the user to input the update instruction or a rejection instruction, or without making a determination of whether an update is necessary based on the input of the update instruction or rejection instruction (S145).

[0063] Furthermore, if the device-side update control unit 212 determines that the received content is an instruction that no update is necessary (S142; NO), or if the above rejection instruction is input to the input reception unit (S144; NO), the inquiry customization software will not be updated and the process will end.

[0064] As explained above, according to this embodiment, the timing of updates to the software used by the image forming apparatus is limited to when security vulnerabilities are fixed, so users can avoid frequent updates that are not urgent. This reduces downtime of the image forming apparatus caused by software updates and improves productivity.

[0065] Furthermore, with regard to updates to custom software, users can choose, according to their wishes, to have security vulnerabilities resolved even if it means removing their customizations, or to retain their customizations and not have security vulnerabilities resolved, thus enabling updates that align with the user's intentions.

[0066] The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiments and various modifications are possible. Furthermore, the configuration and processing shown in the above embodiments using Figures 1 to 6 are merely one embodiment of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention to such configuration and processing. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0067] 1 server 11 Control Unit 111 Control Unit 112 Server-side update control unit 12 Storage section 121 Software DB 122 Configuration Information DB 2 Image forming apparatus 21 Control Unit 211 Control Unit 212 Device-side update control unit 22 Input Reception Section 221 Display section 23 Image reading unit 24 Image forming unit 25 Communications Department 26 Memory section 261 Software Storage Unit

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus management system comprising an image forming apparatus and a server, The aforementioned server, A storage unit that stores the latest version of the software used by the image forming apparatus and configuration information including vulnerability information for each version of the software, A server-side update control unit determines, using the configuration information, whether or not a security vulnerability in the software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit, and if it has been fixed, decides to perform an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus. It comprises a server-side communication unit that communicates with the image forming apparatus, The image forming apparatus is The image forming apparatus side communication unit communicates with the aforementioned server, An image forming apparatus management system comprising: an image forming apparatus communication unit that receives an update execution decision and the latest version of the software transmitted from the server-side communication unit by the server-side update control unit; and an apparatus-side update control unit that updates the software used by the image forming apparatus using the latest version of the software in accordance with the received update execution decision.

2. The function for determining the execution of software updates used by the image forming apparatus is provided in the apparatus-side update control unit of the image forming apparatus, instead of the server-side update control unit of the server. On the aforementioned server, The server-side communication unit determines, using the configuration information, whether or not the security vulnerability in the software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit. The server-side communication unit transmits information to the image forming apparatus indicating whether or not the latest version of the software has been corrected. In the aforementioned image forming apparatus, The server-side update control unit determines whether or not to update the software used by the image forming apparatus based on the information received by the image forming apparatus-side communication unit. When the server-side update control unit decides to perform a software update, the image forming apparatus-side communication unit receives the latest version of the software from the server via the server-side communication unit. The image forming apparatus management system according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus-side update control unit performs an update of the software using the latest version of the software.

3. The function for determining the execution of software updates used by the image forming apparatus is provided in the apparatus-side update control unit of the image forming apparatus, instead of the server-side update control unit of the server. The server-side communication unit of the server transmits the configuration information stored in the storage unit to the image forming apparatus. In the aforementioned image forming apparatus, The server-side update control unit uses the configuration information transmitted from the server-side communication unit and received by the image forming apparatus-side communication unit to determine whether the security vulnerability in the software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit, and if it has been fixed, it decides to perform an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus. When the server-side update control unit decides to perform a software update, the image forming apparatus-side communication unit receives the latest version of the software from the server via the server-side communication unit. The image forming apparatus management system according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus-side update control unit performs an update of the software using the latest version of the software.

4. The storage unit of the server further stores the latest version of the source software from which the custom software is derived, along with the configuration information of the custom software used by the image forming apparatus, The server-side update control unit determines, using the configuration information, whether the security vulnerability in the custom software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the source software of the custom software stored in the storage unit, and if it has been fixed, it decides to perform an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is A control unit that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus, Display unit and It further includes an input receiving unit where user instructions are entered, When the server-side update control unit decides to perform an update of the custom software, the control unit displays a message on the display unit prompting the user to input an update instruction to update the custom software or a rejection instruction not to update it. The device-side update control unit is: When the update instruction is input to the input receiving unit, the image forming apparatus communication unit uses the latest version of the source software for which the custom software is derived, received from the server via the server communication unit, to perform an update of the custom software used by the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein if the rejection instruction is input to the input receiving unit, the system does not perform an update of the custom software used by the image forming apparatus.

5. The image forming apparatus management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the device-side update control unit does not update the custom software if the image forming apparatus is using custom software, regardless of the determination result of the server-side update control unit.

6. An image forming apparatus that uses software, The image forming apparatus is The image forming apparatus side communication unit communicates with the server, The device-side update control unit uses configuration information of the latest version of the software transmitted from the server and received by the image forming apparatus-side communication unit to determine whether a security vulnerability in the software used by the image forming apparatus has been fixed in the latest version of the software stored in the storage unit, and if it has been fixed, it decides to perform an update of the software used by the image forming apparatus. When the device-side update control unit determines that the server-side update control unit has decided to perform a software update, the image forming apparatus-side communication unit receives the latest version of the software from the server. The aforementioned device-side update control unit performs an update of the software using the latest version of the software in an image forming apparatus.

Images