Cloud application delivery systems, cloud application delivery devices, programs for cloud services, electronic devices, cloud application usage programs and systems

Abstract

We provide a cloud application delivery system, cloud application delivery device, cloud service program, electronic device, cloud application usage program, and system that can simplify tenant creation compared to conventional methods. [Solution] A cloud application provision system that provides cloud applications used by image forming apparatus manages customer tenants to which image forming apparatuses belong and image forming apparatuses belonging to customer tenants, and when it receives new registration information transmitted from an image forming apparatus, it creates a customer tenant to which the image forming apparatus that sent the new registration information is registered (S426), and registers the image forming apparatus that sent the new registration information to the created customer tenant (S427).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a cloud application providing system, a cloud application providing device, a cloud service program, an electronic device, a cloud application usage program, and a system that provide cloud applications.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a cloud application providing system that provides cloud applications has been known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the conventional cloud application providing system, a tenant cannot be created from the electronic device used by the user, so there is a problem that the tenant creation work is complicated.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cloud application providing system, a cloud application providing device, a cloud service program, an electronic device, a cloud application usage program, and a system that can facilitate tenant creation more easily than in the past.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The present invention provides a cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications used by electronic devices, wherein the cloud application provisioning system manages tenants to which the electronic devices belong and the electronic devices belonging to the tenants, and when the cloud application provisioning system receives specific information transmitted from the electronic devices, it creates a tenant to which the electronic devices that sent the specific information are registered, and registers the electronic devices that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

[0007] With this configuration, the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention, upon receiving specific information transmitted from an electronic device, creates a tenant where the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant, thereby making the creation of tenants easier than before.

[0008] The cloud application provisioning system of the present invention manages tenants in association with a specific type of information, the specific information includes the specific type of information, and if there is a tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, it does not need to create a tenant to which the electronic device that sends the specific information is registered.

[0009] This configuration allows the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention to reduce the possibility of creating unnecessary tenants, because it does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that sends specific information is registered when there is a tenant that manages information in association with a specific type of information contained in that specific information.

[0010] In the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention, the specific type of information is an email address, and when the cloud application provisioning system creates a tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, it may send an email for registration of the administrator of the created tenant to the email address included in the specific information.

[0011] This configuration allows the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention to improve convenience by sending an email for registration of the administrator of the created tenant to the email address included in the specific information when a tenant is created in which the electronic device that sends specific information is registered.

[0012] In the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention, when creating a tenant under a first tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, if the number of tenants under the first tenant exceeds a certain number, the system may create a tenant under a second tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, if the number of tenants under the first tenant exceeds a certain number.

[0013] With this configuration, when the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention creates a tenant under the first tenant to which an electronic device that is the source of specific information is registered, if the number of tenants under the first tenant exceeds a certain number, the system creates a tenant under the second tenant, where the number of tenants under the first tenant is less than or equal to the certain number, thereby reducing the possibility of the load concentrating on the first tenant.

[0014] The cloud application provisioning system of the present invention may create a tenant under the tenant identified based on the specific information, in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered.

[0015] With this configuration, the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention creates tenants under tenants identified based on specific information, where the electronic devices that send specific information are registered, thereby simplifying tenant management.

[0016] The cloud application provisioning system of the present invention manages the number of licenses for the cloud application for each tenant, and the cloud application provisioning system does not need to register new electronic devices in a tenant where the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant has reached the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provisioning system.

[0017] With this configuration, the cloud application delivery system of the present invention manages the number of cloud application licenses for each tenant, and does not register new electronic devices in tenants where the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant has reached the number of licenses managed by the cloud application delivery system, thus enabling the registration of a number of electronic devices that matches the number of licenses.

[0018] The cloud application provisioning system of the present invention manages the number of licenses for the cloud application for each tenant, and the cloud application provisioning system does not need to register any new electronic devices that do not have licenses in a tenant if the number obtained by subtracting the number of electronic devices that themselves have licenses from the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant has reached the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provisioning system.

[0019] With this configuration, the cloud application provisioning system of the present invention manages the number of cloud application licenses for each tenant, and if the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant minus the number of electronic devices that themselves have licenses reaches the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provisioning system, the system does not register any new electronic devices that do not themselves have licenses in the tenant, thus enabling the registration of a number of electronic devices that matches the number of licenses.

[0020] The present invention relates to a cloud application provider that provides cloud applications used by electronic devices, wherein the cloud application provider manages tenants to which the electronic devices belong and the electronic devices belonging to those tenants, and when the cloud application provider receives specific information transmitted from the electronic devices, it creates a tenant to which the electronic devices that sent the specific information are registered, and registers the electronic devices that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

[0021] With this configuration, the cloud application provider of the present invention, upon receiving specific information transmitted from an electronic device, creates a tenant where the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant, thereby simplifying the creation of tenants compared to conventional methods.

[0022] The cloud service program of the present invention is characterized by causing a computer to provide a cloud application used by an electronic device, causing the computer to manage the tenant to which the electronic device belongs and the electronic device belonging to the tenant, causing the computer to create a tenant to which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered when the computer receives specific information transmitted from the electronic device, and registering the electronic device that sent the specific information with the tenant created by the computer.

[0023] With this configuration, when a computer that executes the cloud service program of the present invention receives specific information transmitted from an electronic device, it creates a tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that is the source of the specific information in the created tenant. Therefore, it is possible to facilitate the creation of a tenant more easily than before.

[0024] The electronic device of the present invention is an electronic device that uses the cloud application provided by a cloud application providing system that provides a cloud application, transmits specific information to the cloud application providing system, and when the cloud application providing system receives the specific information transmitted from the electronic device, it creates the tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that is the source of the specific information in the created tenant.

[0025] With this configuration, since the electronic device of the present invention transmits specific information to the cloud application providing system in order to cause the cloud application providing system to create a tenant in which the electronic device itself is registered, it is possible to facilitate the creation of a tenant more easily than before.

[0026] The electronic device of the present invention may display a screen for inputting information for authentication of the administrator of the electronic device, and transmit the specific information to the cloud application providing system when the authentication of the administrator based on the information input on the screen is successful.

[0027] With this configuration, since the electronic device of the present invention transmits specific information to the cloud application providing system when the authentication of the administrator based on the information input on the screen for inputting information for authentication of the administrator of the electronic device is successful, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the electronic device is erroneously registered in the cloud application providing system.

[0028] The cloud application utilization program of the present invention is characterized in that it causes an electronic device to use a cloud application provided by a cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications, causes the electronic device to transmit specific information to the cloud application provisioning system, and when the cloud application provisioning system receives the specific information transmitted from the electronic device, it creates a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information in the created tenant.

[0029] With this configuration, the electronic device that executes the cloud application utilization program of the present invention sends specific information to the cloud application provisioning system to cause the cloud application provisioning system to create a tenant to which the electronic device itself is registered, thereby making tenant creation easier than before.

[0030] The present invention comprises an electronic device and a cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications used by the electronic device, wherein the cloud application provisioning system manages tenants to which the electronic device belongs and electronic devices belonging to the tenant, and when the cloud application provisioning system receives specific information transmitted from the electronic device, it creates a tenant to which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information in the created tenant.

[0031] With this configuration, when the system of the present invention receives specific information transmitted from an electronic device, the cloud application provider creates a tenant where the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and the cloud application provider registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the tenant created by the cloud application provider, thus simplifying the creation of tenants compared to conventional methods.

[0032] In the system of the present invention, the cloud application provisioning system manages tenants in association with a specific type of information, the specific information includes the specific type of information, and if there is a tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, the cloud application provisioning system does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, if there is a tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, the cloud application provisioning system sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating that there is a tenant that is managed in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, and if the electronic device receives the notification, it accepts the user's designation of the tenant and sends a request to the cloud application provisioning system to register the electronic device itself in the tenant designated by the user, and if the cloud application provisioning system receives the request, it may register the electronic device in the tenant in response to the request.

[0033] With this configuration, the system of the present invention improves convenience because, when there is a tenant managed by the cloud application provider system in association with a specific type of information contained in the specific information, the cloud application provider system sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating the existence of a tenant managed in association with a specific type of information contained in the specific information, and when the electronic device receives this notification, the electronic device accepts the user's designation of a tenant, and the electronic device sends a request to the cloud application provider system to register itself with the tenant designated by the user, and when the cloud application provider system receives this request, the cloud application provider system registers the electronic device with the tenant in response to this request.

[0034] In the system of the present invention, the cloud application provisioning system manages tenants in association with a specific type of information, the specific information includes the specific type of information, and if there is a tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, the cloud application provisioning system does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, if there is a tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, the cloud application provisioning system sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating that there is a tenant that is managed in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, and if the electronic device receives the notification, it sends a request to the cloud application provisioning system to register itself in the tenant that the cloud application provisioning system manages in association with the specific type of information included in the specific information, and if the cloud application provisioning system receives the request, it may register the electronic device in the tenant in response to the request.

[0035] With this configuration, the system of the present invention can improve convenience by: when there is a tenant managed by the cloud application provider system in association with a specific type of information contained in the specific information, the cloud application provider system sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating the existence of a tenant managed by the cloud application provider system in association with a specific type of information contained in the specific information; when the electronic device receives this notification, the electronic device sends a request to the cloud application provider system to register itself with the tenant managed by the cloud application provider system in association with a specific type of information contained in the specific information; and when the cloud application provider system receives this request, the cloud application provider system registers the electronic device with the tenant in response to this request. [Effects of the Invention]

[0036] The cloud application provisioning system, cloud application provisioning device, cloud service program, electronic device, cloud application utilization program, and system of the present invention can make tenant creation easier than before. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0037] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram of an example of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example of a cloud application delivery system that consists of a single computer. [Figure 3] Figure 2 shows an example of tenant management information. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of the tenant hierarchy structure as shown in the tenant management information in Figure 3. [Figure 5] Figure 2 shows an example of tenant user management information. [Figure 6] Figure 2 shows an example of device management information. [Figure 7] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus that is composed of MFPs. [Figure 8] Figure 7 shows an example of device information. [Figure 9] Figure 7 shows an example of device user management information. [Figure 10] Figure 7 shows an example of cloud application configuration information. [Figure 11] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example of a user terminal. [Figure 12] Figure 7 shows a flowchart illustrating part of the operation of the image forming apparatus when launching a cloud application program. [Figure 13] This is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 12. [Figure 14] This is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 13. [Figure 15]This flowchart is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 12 and the flowchart shown in Figure 13. [Figure 16] This is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 12. [Figure 17] This is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 12. [Figure 18] This is a continuation of the flowchart shown in Figure 17. [Figure 19] Figure 2 shows a flowchart of the operation of the cloud application provisioning system when a device registration confirmation request is received. [Figure 20] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the device registration method selection screen that appears during the operation shown. [Figure 21] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the device administrator login screen displayed during the operation described. [Figure 22] Figures 12 to 18 show examples of the tenant creation settings screen displayed during the operation shown. [Figure 23] Figures 12 to 18 show examples of proxy settings screens displayed during the operation described. [Figure 24] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the new registration service when new registration information is received. [Figure 25] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how the new registration service works when identifying the seller tenant to which a customer tenant will be created. [Figure 26] Figure 24 is a flowchart of the tenant creation process. [Figure 27] Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the new device registration process. [Figure 28] This is a flowchart of the device registration process shown in Figure 24, but different from the example shown in Figure 27. [Figure 29] Figures 12 to 18 show examples of the signup email notification screen that appears during the operation described. [Figure 30]Figure 1 is a sequence diagram of the system's operation when registering a tenant administrator via a sign-up email. [Figure 31] This figure shows an example of the body text of the signup email displayed during the operation shown in Figure 30. [Figure 32] Figure 30 shows an example of the signup page displayed during the operation shown in Figure 30. [Figure 33] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the notification tenant device registration screen displayed during the operation shown. [Figure 34] Figures 12 to 18 show examples of tenant login screens displayed during the operation described. [Figure 35] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how the device management service operates when a device registration request is received. [Figure 36] This is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the device management service shown in Figure 1 when a device registration request is received, but differing from the example shown in Figure 35. [Figure 37] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the designated tenant device registration screen displayed during the operation shown. [Figure 38] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the device registration screen when a PIN has been entered, as displayed during the operation shown in Figures 12 to 18. [Figure 39] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the device registration screen displayed when no PIN is entered, as shown in the operation. [Figure 40] Figures 12 to 18 show an example of the tenant administrator registration request screen that appears during the operation described. [Figure 41] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how the cloud service operates when it receives a request to resend a sign-up email. [Figure 42] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the new registration service when information for changing the representative address is received. [Figure 43]Figures 12 to 18 show an example of a cloud application login screen that appears during the operation described. [Figure 44] Figures 12 to 18 show examples of PIN input screens that appear during the operation described. [Figure 45] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how a cloud service operates when it receives a login request for a cloud application. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0038] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0039] First, the configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0040] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example of the system 10 according to this embodiment.

[0041] As shown in Figure 1, System 10 includes a cloud application delivery system 20 that provides cloud applications. The cloud application delivery system 20 may consist of one computer, such as a PC (Personal Computer), or it may consist of multiple computers. The cloud application delivery system 20 is configured on the cloud.

[0042] System 10 includes an image forming apparatus 40, which is an electronic device that utilizes a cloud application provided by a cloud application provisioning system 20. System 10 may also include at least one other image forming apparatus with a configuration similar to that of the image forming apparatus 40. The image forming apparatus may be, for example, a dedicated printer, a dedicated scanner, or an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral).

[0043] System 10 includes a user terminal 50 used by users. System 10 may also include at least one other user terminal with a similar configuration to user terminal 50. The user terminal may consist of a computer such as a PC or tablet.

[0044] The cloud application provisioning system 20 provides cloud services 31 for providing cloud applications. The cloud services 31 include a tenant management service 31a for managing tenants, a device management service 31b for managing image forming apparatuses, and a new registration service 31c for creating tenants and registering new image forming apparatuses.

[0045] The cloud application provisioning system 20 provides cloud applications 32 that are provided on the cloud service 31. In addition to cloud applications 32, the cloud application provisioning system 20 may also provide other cloud applications that are provided on the cloud service 31. For example, cloud applications may include applications that store image data read from a document by an image forming apparatus on the cloud, or applications that perform various processes on image data read from a document by an image forming apparatus, such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

[0046] Figure 2 is a block diagram of an example of a cloud application delivery system 20 that is configured with a single computer.

[0047] As shown in Figure 2, the cloud application provisioning system 20 includes an operation unit 21, which is an operation device such as a keyboard or mouse into which various operations are input; a display unit 22, which is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) that displays various information; a communication unit 23, which is a communication device that communicates with external devices via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet, or directly via wired or wireless connection without going through a network; a storage unit 24, which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores various information; and a control unit 25 that controls the entire cloud application provisioning system 20.

[0048] The memory unit 24 can store a cloud service program 24a for realizing the cloud service 31. The cloud service program 24a may, for example, be installed in the cloud application provisioning system 20 during the manufacturing stage, or it may be additionally installed in the cloud application provisioning system 20 from an external storage medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or it may be additionally installed in the cloud application provisioning system 20 from a network.

[0049] The storage unit 24 can store a cloud application program for each cloud application to implement a cloud application. For example, the storage unit 24 can store a cloud application program 24b for implementing a cloud application 32. The cloud application program may be installed on the cloud application provisioning system 20 during the manufacturing stage, or it may be additionally installed on the cloud application provisioning system 20 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory stick, or it may be additionally installed on the cloud application provisioning system 20 from a network.

[0050] The memory unit 24 is capable of storing tenant management information 24c for managing tenants of the cloud service 31.

[0051] Figure 3 shows an example of tenant management information 24c.

[0052] As shown in Figure 3, the tenant management information 24c includes, for each target tenant, the "Tenant ID" as identification information for the target tenant, the tenant directly above the target tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "Directly Above Tenant"), the tenant directly below the target tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "Directly Below Tenant"), the type of the target tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "Tenant Type"), the display name when the target tenant is displayed on the website provided by the cloud service 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "Tenant Display Name"), the representative email address of the target tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "Representative Address"), the language used on the target tenant's website among the websites provided by the cloud service 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "Tenant Language"), whether each cloud application provided by the cloud application provisioning system 20 can be displayed on the target tenant's website (hereinafter referred to as the "Application Display Availability"), and "Activation Information" indicating whether the target tenant is "Activated" or "Not Activated". The value of "Directly Above Tenant" in the tenant management information 24c is indicated by the tenant ID of the directly above tenant. In tenant management information 24c, the value for "direct subordinate tenant" is indicated by the tenant ID of the direct subordinate tenant. The "tenant type" value in tenant management information 24c includes "seller tenant," which is the tenant of the seller of the image forming equipment, and "customer tenant," which is the tenant of the customer of the seller of the image forming equipment. The tenant management information 24c shown in Figure 3 is depicted with some information omitted.

[0053] Figure 4 shows an example of the tenant hierarchy structure as shown in tenant management information 24c.

[0054] As shown in Figure 4, the tenants shown in tenant management information 24c have a hierarchical structure. Here, a seller tenant can be placed directly under another seller tenant. On the other hand, a customer tenant can only be placed directly under a seller tenant.

[0055] As shown in Figure 2, the storage unit 24 is capable of storing tenant user management information 24d for managing tenant users (hereinafter referred to as "tenant users").

[0056] Figure 5 shows an example of tenant user management information 24d.

[0057] As shown in Figure 5, the tenant user management information 24d includes, for each tenant user, the "Tenant ID" of the tenant to which the tenant user belongs, the "Tenant User ID" as identification information for the tenant user, the tenant user's "Password", the tenant user's "Email Address", the display name (hereinafter referred to as "Tenant User Display Name") used when the tenant user is displayed on the website provided by the cloud service 31, and the tenant user's "Role". The "Role" value in the tenant user management information 24d includes, for example, the tenant administrator (hereinafter referred to as "Tenant Administrator") and "General User". In Figure 5, the tenant user management information 24d is depicted with some information omitted.

[0058] As shown in Figure 2, the storage unit 24 can store device management information 24e for managing image forming machines belonging to a tenant.

[0059] Figure 6 shows an example of device management information 24e.

[0060] As shown in Figure 6, the device management information 24e includes, for each image forming apparatus, a "device ID" as identification information for the image forming apparatus, a "tenant ID" for the tenant to which the image forming apparatus belongs, a "PIN (Personal Identification Number)" for the administrator of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as the "device administrator"), and authentication information consisting of a device user ID as identification information for the device user and the device user's password, which is used when a user of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as the "device user") logs in to the image forming apparatus, and is the authentication information for the device administrator among the device users, called "device administrator authentication information". The device ID may be, for example, the serial number of the image forming apparatus. The device management information 24e shown in Figure 6 is depicted with some information omitted.

[0061] As shown in Figure 2, the storage unit 24 can store the initial value of the device administrator authentication information (hereinafter referred to as the "initial device administrator authentication information value") 24f.

[0062] The control unit 25 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs and various data, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a workspace for the CPU of the control unit 25. The CPU of the control unit 25 executes programs stored in the storage unit 24 or the ROM of the control unit 25.

[0063] The control unit 25 implements the cloud service 31 by executing the cloud service program 24a. The control unit 25 implements the cloud application by executing the cloud application program. For example, the control unit 25 implements the cloud application 32 by executing the cloud application program 24b.

[0064] Cloud Service 31 provides a website for each tenant. Tenant users can access the website of their respective tenant via their user device, and then log in to the tenant's website using their tenant user ID and password.

[0065] After logging in to the seller tenant's website, a tenant user of a seller tenant can, through this website, add customer tenants under the seller tenant, edit specific information in the tenant management information 24c regarding customer tenants under the seller tenant, such as tenant display name, representative address, and tenant language, or delete customer tenants under the seller tenant. After logging in to the seller tenant's website, a tenant user of a seller tenant can, through this website, add tenant users to customer tenants under the seller tenant, edit specific information in the tenant user management information 24d regarding tenant users of customer tenants under the seller tenant, such as password, email address, tenant user display name, and role, or delete tenant users of customer tenants under the seller tenant. After logging into the seller tenant's website, tenant users of the seller tenant can, through this website, add image forming devices to customer tenants under the seller tenant, edit specific information in the device management information 24e regarding image forming devices of customer tenants under the seller tenant, such as PINs and device administrator authentication information, or delete image forming devices of customer tenants under the seller tenant.

[0066] After logging in to the customer tenant's website, the tenant administrator of a customer tenant can edit specific information in the tenant management information 24c related to this customer tenant, such as the tenant display name, representative address, and tenant language, through this website. After logging in to the customer tenant's website, the tenant administrator of a customer tenant can add tenant users to this customer tenant, edit specific information in the tenant user management information 24d related to this customer tenant, such as passwords, email addresses, tenant user display names, and roles, or delete tenant users to this customer tenant. After logging in to the customer tenant's website, the tenant administrator of a customer tenant can add image forming machines to this customer tenant, edit specific information in the device management information 24e related to this customer tenant's image forming machines, such as PINs and device administrator authentication information, or delete image forming machines to this customer tenant, through this website.

[0067] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus 40 that is configured with an MFP.

[0068] As shown in Figure 7, the image forming apparatus 40 is a computer comprising: an operation unit 41 which is an operation device such as buttons into which various operations are input; a display unit 42 which is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) which displays various information; a printer 43 which is a printing device which prints images onto a recording medium such as paper; a scanner 44 which is a reading device which reads images from an original document; a communication unit 45 which is a communication device which communicates with external devices via a network such as a LAN or the Internet, or directly by wired or wireless connection without going through a network; a fax communication unit 46 which is a fax device which communicates faxes with an external facsimile device (not shown) via a communication line such as a public telephone line; a storage unit 47 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) which stores various information; and a control unit 48 which controls the entire image forming apparatus 40.

[0069] The storage unit 47 can store a cloud application usage program for each cloud application, which is used to utilize cloud applications provided by the cloud application provisioning system 20 (see Figure 1). For example, the storage unit 47 can store a cloud application usage program 47a for using cloud application 32 (see Figure 1). The cloud application usage program may be installed in the image forming apparatus 40 during the manufacturing stage, or it may be additionally installed in the image forming apparatus 40 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory stick, or it may be additionally installed in the image forming apparatus 40 from a network.

[0070] The memory unit 47 is capable of storing device information 47b that indicates various types of information about the image forming apparatus 40.

[0071] Figure 8 shows an example of device information 47b.

[0072] As shown in Figure 8, the device information 47b includes the "device ID" of the image forming apparatus 40, the "destination" of the image forming apparatus 40, the language used for screen display in the image forming apparatus 40 (hereinafter referred to as the "device language"), the "model name" of the image forming apparatus 40, the "product name" of the image forming apparatus 40, the "telephone number" of the service person for the image forming apparatus 40, and the name (hereinafter referred to as the "program name") and "version" of each cloud application program installed on the image forming apparatus 40. The destination is set, for example, by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus 40. The device language can be changed, for example, by the device administrator of the image forming apparatus 40, for example, via the operation unit 41. The telephone number of the service person can be set, for example, by the service person. One product name is associated with one or more model names. The device information 47b shown in Figure 8 is depicted with some information omitted.

[0073] As shown in Figure 7, the storage unit 47 is capable of storing device user management information 47c for managing device users of the image forming apparatus 40.

[0074] Figure 9 shows an example of device user management information 47c.

[0075] As shown in Figure 9, the device user management information 47c includes the device user's "device user ID," "password," and "role" for each device user. The "role" values ​​in the device user management information 47c include, for example, device administrator and general user. The device user management information 47c shown in Figure 9 is depicted with some information omitted.

[0076] As shown in Figure 7, the storage unit 47 can store cloud application configuration information for each cloud application user program, which indicates various settings for that program. For example, the storage unit 47 can store cloud application configuration information 47d, which indicates various settings for the cloud application user program 47a.

[0077] Figure 10 shows an example of cloud application configuration information 47d.

[0078] As shown in Figure 10, the cloud application configuration information 47d includes the device administrator's "PIN," "proxy usage information" indicating whether or not a proxy server is used for external communication, the proxy server's "IP address or hostname," and the proxy server's "port number." The cloud application configuration information 47d shown in Figure 10 is depicted with some information omitted.

[0079] The control unit 48 shown in Figure 7 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and various data, and RAM as memory used as a workspace for the CPU of the control unit 48. The CPU of the control unit 48 executes programs stored in the storage unit 47 or the ROM of the control unit 48.

[0080] The control unit 48 realizes a cloud application utilization unit that utilizes cloud applications by executing a cloud application utilization program. For example, the control unit 48 realizes a cloud application utilization unit 48a that utilizes cloud application 32 by executing a cloud application utilization program 47a.

[0081] Figure 11 is a block diagram of an example of a user terminal 50.

[0082] As shown in Figure 11, the user terminal 50 includes an operation unit 51 which is an operation device such as a keyboard or mouse into which various operations are input, a display unit 52 which is a display device such as an LCD that displays various information, a communication unit 53 which is a communication device that communicates with external devices via a network such as a LAN or the Internet, or directly via wired or wireless connection without going through a network, a storage unit 54 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or HDD that stores various information, and a control unit 55 that controls the entire user terminal 50.

[0083] The storage unit 54 is capable of storing a mailer program (hereinafter referred to as the "mailer program") 54a. The mailer program 54a may, for example, be installed on the user terminal 50 during the manufacturing stage, or it may be additionally installed on the user terminal 50 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory, or it may be additionally installed on the user terminal 50 from a network.

[0084] The memory unit 54 is capable of storing a web browser program (hereinafter referred to as the "web browser program") 54b. The web browser program 54b may, for example, be installed on the user terminal 50 during the manufacturing stage, or it may be additionally installed on the user terminal 50 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory stick, or it may be additionally installed on the user terminal 50 from a network.

[0085] The control unit 55 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and various data, and RAM as memory used as a workspace for the CPU of the control unit 55. The CPU of the control unit 55 executes programs stored in the storage unit 54 or the ROM of the control unit 55.

[0086] The control unit 55 implements the mailer 55a by executing the mailer program 54a.

[0087] The control unit 55 implements a web browser 55b by executing a web browser program 54b.

[0088] Next, we will describe the operation of system 10.

[0089] The operation of the image forming apparatus 40 when the cloud application usage program 47a is launched will be described below.

[0090] Users of the image forming apparatus 40 can instruct the image forming apparatus 40 to start the cloud application usage program 47a via the operation unit 41. When the control unit 48 of the image forming apparatus 40 is instructed to start the cloud application usage program 47a, it starts the cloud application usage program 47a.

[0091] Figure 12 is a flowchart showing part of the operation of the image forming apparatus 40 when the cloud application usage program 47a is launched. Figure 13 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 12. Figure 14 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 13. Figure 15 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 12 and the flowchart shown in Figure 13. Figure 16 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 12. Figure 17 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 12. Figure 18 is a flowchart that continues from the flowchart shown in Figure 17.

[0092] When the control unit 48 of the image forming apparatus 40 executes the cloud application usage program 47a, the cloud application usage unit 48a sends a request to the cloud service 31 of the cloud application provision system 20 to confirm the registration status of the image forming apparatus 40 with the cloud service 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "device registration confirmation request"), as shown in Figures 12 to 18 (S101). The cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 includes the device ID, which is the identification information of the image forming apparatus 40, in the device registration confirmation request.

[0093] Figure 19 is a flowchart showing the operation of the cloud application provisioning system 20 when it receives a device registration confirmation request.

[0094] When the cloud service 31 of the cloud application provisioning system 20 receives a device registration confirmation request from the image forming apparatus 40, it performs the operation shown in Figure 19.

[0095] As shown in Figure 19, the cloud service 31 determines whether or not the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with the cloud service 31 based on the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request and the device management information 24e (S401). The cloud service 31 determines that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with the cloud service 31 if the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request is included in the device management information 24e. On the other hand, the cloud service 31 determines that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with the cloud service 31 if the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request is not included in the device management information 24e.

[0096] If the cloud service 31 determines in S401 that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with the cloud service 31, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 of the result of the confirmation of the registration status of the image forming apparatus 40 (hereinafter referred to as the "device registration confirmation result") indicating that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with the cloud service 31 (S402).

[0097] If the cloud service 31 determines in S401 that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with the cloud service 31, it determines whether the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with an activated tenant based on the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request and the tenant management information 24c and device management information 24e (S403). The cloud service 31 determines that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with an activated tenant if the value of the "activation information" associated in tenant management information 24c with the tenant ID associated in device management information 24e with the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request is "activated". On the other hand, the cloud service 31 determines that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with an activated tenant if the value of the "activation information" associated in tenant management information 24c with the tenant ID associated in device management information 24e with the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request is "not activated".

[0098] If the cloud service 31 determines in S403 that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with an activated tenant, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 of a device registration confirmation result indicating that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered only with an unactivated tenant (S404). Here, the cloud service 31 includes in the device registration confirmation result notified in S404 the tenant ID associated with the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request in the device management information 24e, and the representative address associated with this tenant ID in the tenant management information 24c.

[0099] If the cloud service 31 determines in S403 that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with an activated tenant, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 of a device registration confirmation result indicating that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered with an activated tenant (S405). Here, the cloud service 31 includes in the device registration confirmation result notified in S405 the tenant ID associated with the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request in the device management information 24e, and the PIN and device administrator authentication information associated with the device ID included in the device registration confirmation request in the device management information 24e.

[0100] When processing S402, S404, or S405 is completed, the cloud service 31 terminates the operation shown in Figure 19.

[0101] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the processing in S101 is completed, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not it has received a device registration confirmation result from the cloud service 31 until it determines that it has received a device registration confirmation result from the cloud service 31 (S102).

[0102] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S102 that it has received a device registration confirmation result from the cloud service 31, it determines the content of the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 (S103).

[0103] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S103 that the image forming apparatus 40 is not registered with the cloud service 31, it displays a screen 800 (see Figure 20) on the display unit 42 for selecting a method to register the image forming apparatus 40 with the customer tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "device registration method selection screen") (see Figure 20) (S121).

[0104] Figure 20 shows an example of the device registration method selection screen 800.

[0105] The device registration method selection screen 800 shown in Figure 20 includes a new registration button 801 as a widget for creating a tenant and registering a new image forming apparatus, an additional registration button 802 as a widget for registering an additional image forming apparatus to an existing tenant, and a close button 803 as a widget for closing the device registration method selection screen 800.

[0106] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether any button on the device registration method selection screen 800 has been pressed, after the processing of S121 is completed, until it determines that any button on the device registration method selection screen 800 has been pressed (S122).

[0107] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S122 that any button on the device registration method selection screen 800 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S122 (S123).

[0108] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S123 that the button pressed in S122 is the close button 803, it terminates the display of the device registration method selection screen 800 to the display unit 42 (S124), and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0109] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S123 that the button pressed in S122 is the new registration button 801, it displays a screen 810 (see Figure 21) on the display unit 42 that allows the user to log in to the image forming apparatus 40 as the device administrator of the image forming apparatus 40 (hereinafter referred to as the "device administrator login screen") (see Figure 21) (S141).

[0110] Figure 21 shows an example of the device administrator login screen 810.

[0111] The device administrator login screen 810 shown in Figure 21 includes a text box 811 as a widget for entering the device administrator's device user ID, a text box 812 as a widget for entering the device administrator's password, a cancel button 813 for canceling login to the image forming apparatus 40, a login button 814 for logging into the image forming apparatus 40, and a close button 815 for closing the device administrator login screen 810.

[0112] The login button 814 is grayed out and inoperable until the device administrator login screen 810 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when a device user ID in a predetermined format is entered in text box 811, and a password in a predetermined format is entered in text box 812. Figure 21 shows the state where the login button 814 is grayed out.

[0113] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether any button on the device administrator login screen 810 has been pressed, after the processing of S141 is completed, until it determines that any button on the device administrator login screen 810 has been pressed (S142).

[0114] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S142 that any button on the device administrator login screen 810 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S142 (S143).

[0115] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S143 that the button pressed in S142 is the close button 815, it terminates the display of the device administrator login screen 810 on the display unit 42 (S144) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0116] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S143 that the button that was pressed in S142 is the cancel button 813, it executes the process in S121.

[0117] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S143 that the button pressed in S142 is the login button 814, it performs authentication of the device administrator based on the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed (S145). Specifically, if the combination of the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed is associated with the role "device administrator" and registered in the device user management information 47c, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication of the device administrator was successful. On the other hand, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication for the device administrator has failed if the combination of the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed is not associated with the role "device administrator" and is not registered in the device user management information 47c.

[0118] When the processing in S145 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines the result of the authentication performed in S145 (S146).

[0119] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S146 that authentication has failed, it executes the process in S141.

[0120] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S146 that authentication was successful, it displays a screen for executing the settings to create a tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "tenant creation settings screen") 820 (see Figure 22) on the display unit 42 (S147).

[0121] Figure 22 shows an example of the tenant creation settings screen 820.

[0122] The tenant creation settings screen 820 shown in Figure 22 includes a text box 821 as a widget for entering the device administrator's email address, a text box 822 as a widget for entering the device administrator's PIN, a back button 823 as a widget for returning to the device registration method selection screen 800 (see Figure 20), a register button 824 as a widget for creating a tenant, and a close button 825 as a widget for closing the tenant creation settings screen 820.

[0123] The registration button 824 is grayed out and inoperable until the tenant creation settings screen 820 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when an email address in a predetermined format is entered in text box 821, and a PIN in a predetermined format is entered in text box 822. Figure 22 shows the state where the registration button 824 is grayed out.

[0124] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed, after the processing in S147 is completed, until it determines that any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed (S148).

[0125] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S148 that any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S148 (S149).

[0126] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S149 that the button pressed in S148 is the close button 825, it terminates the display of the device administrator login screen 810 on the display unit 42 (S150) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0127] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S149 that the button that was pressed in S148 is the back button 823, it executes the process in S121.

[0128] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S149 that the button pressed in S148 is the registration button 824, it sends information for creating a tenant and registering a new image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "new registration information") to the new registration service 31c by calling the API (Application Programming Interface) of the new registration service 31c (S151). The new registration information includes the email address entered in text box 821 when the registration button 824 was pressed, the PIN entered in text box 822 when the registration button 824 was pressed, the device ID of the image forming apparatus 40, the destination of the image forming apparatus 40, the device language used by the image forming apparatus 40, the model name of the image forming apparatus 40, the product name of the image forming apparatus 40, and the program name and version of the cloud application user program 47a that implements the cloud application user unit 48a. If the proxy usage information in the cloud application configuration information 47d indicates that a proxy server should be used when communicating with the outside world, the cloud application user unit 48a uses the IP address or hostname of the proxy server and the port number of the proxy server, as set in the cloud application configuration information 47d, when sending new registration information to the new registration service 31c in S151.

[0129] When the processing in S151 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether or not it was able to connect to the new registration service 31c in S151 (S152).

[0130] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S152 that it has been able to connect to the new registration service 31c in S151, it will determine whether or not it has received a tenant information notification (hereinafter referred to as "tenant information notification") from the new registration service 31c until it determines that it has received such a notification from the new registration service 31c (S153).

[0131] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S153 that it has received a tenant information notification from the new registration service 31c, it determines the content of the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c (S154).

[0132] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S152 that it was unable to connect to the new registration service 31c in S151, it displays a screen for setting a proxy (hereinafter referred to as the "proxy settings screen") 830 (see Figure 23) on the display unit 42 (S161).

[0133] Figure 23 shows an example of the proxy settings screen 830.

[0134] The proxy settings screen 830 shown in Figure 23 includes a toggle button 831 as a widget for specifying whether or not to use a proxy server, a text box 832 as a widget for entering the IP address or hostname of the proxy server, a text box 833 as a widget for entering the port number of the proxy server, a settings button 834 as a widget for executing the proxy settings, and a close button 835 as a widget for closing the proxy settings screen 830.

[0135] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether either the setting button 834 or the close button 835 has been pressed until it determines that either the setting button 834 or the close button 835 has been pressed after the processing of S161 is completed (S162).

[0136] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S162 that either the setting button 834 or the close button 835 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S162 (S163).

[0137] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S163 that the button pressed in S162 is the close button 835, it terminates the display of the proxy settings screen 830 to the display unit 42 (S164) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0138] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S163 that the button pressed in S162 is the setting button 834, it updates the cloud application configuration information 47d (S165) using the content specified by the toggle button 831 at the time the setting button 834 was pressed, the IP address or hostname of the proxy server entered in the text box 832 at the time the setting button 834 was pressed, and the port number of the proxy server entered in the text box 833 at the time the setting button 834 was pressed, and then executes the process in S101.

[0139] Figure 24 is a flowchart showing the operation of the new registration service 31c when new registration information is received.

[0140] When the new registration service 31c receives the new registration information transmitted by the cloud application usage unit 48a in S151, it registers the various pieces of information contained in the new registration information with the cloud service 31. The following describes in detail the registration of some of the information contained in the new registration information. When the new registration service 31c receives the new registration information transmitted by the cloud application usage unit 48a in S151, it performs the operation shown in Figure 24.

[0141] As shown in Figure 24, the new registration service 31c determines whether the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is registered with the cloud service 31 based on the device management information 24e (S421). The cloud service 31 determines that the device ID is registered with the cloud service 31 if the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is included in the device management information 24e. On the other hand, the cloud service 31 determines that the device ID is not registered with the cloud service 31 if the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is not included in the device management information 24e.

[0142] If the new registration service 31c determines in S421 that the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is registered with the cloud service 31, it sets the value of the "activation information" associated in the tenant management information 24c with the tenant ID associated in the device management information 24e with the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a to "not activated" (S422).

[0143] When the processing in S422 is completed, the new registration service 31c updates the value of the "representative address" in the tenant management information 24c, which is associated in the device management information 24e with the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a, with the email address included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a (S423).

[0144] If the new registration service 31c determines in S421 that the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is not registered with the cloud service 31, it determines, based on the tenant management information 24c, whether or not there is an activated customer tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "device registration candidate tenant") whose representative email address is included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a (S424).

[0145] If the new registration service 31c determines in S424 that no candidate device registration tenant exists, it identifies the seller tenant for which to create a customer tenant (S425).

[0146] The new registration service 31c may identify in S425 a seller tenant pre-configured by the provider of the cloud application provisioning system 20 as the seller tenant for which customer tenants will be created. However, the new registration service 31c may identify the seller tenant for which customer tenants will be created by other means.

[0147] For example, the new registration service 31c may identify the seller tenant to which the customer tenant will be created based on the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a. For example, the new registration service 31c may identify the seller tenant pre-associated with the application name included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a as the seller tenant to which the customer tenant will be created. Alternatively, if the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a includes the telephone number of a service person, the new registration service 31c may identify the seller tenant pre-associated with this telephone number as the seller tenant to which the customer tenant will be created.

[0148] For example, the new registration service 31c may identify the seller tenant for which it will create a customer tenant in the manner shown in Figure 25.

[0149] Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how the new registration service 31c operates when identifying a seller tenant for which a customer tenant will be created.

[0150] As shown in Figure 25, the new registration service 31c determines whether the number of customer tenants directly under the seller tenant currently identified as the seller tenant for which customer tenants will be created is less than or equal to a specific number, such as 10,000 (S441).

[0151] If the new registration service 31c determines in S441 that the number of customer tenants directly under the seller tenant currently identified as the seller tenant for which customer tenants will be created is less than or equal to a certain number, it identifies the seller tenant currently identified as the seller tenant for which customer tenants will be created as is (S442).

[0152] If the new registration service 31c determines in S441 that the number of customer tenants directly under the currently identified seller tenant as the seller tenant for which a customer tenant will be created is not less than a certain number, it creates a new seller tenant (S443). The new registration service 31c may, for example, append a sequential number indicating the order in which the seller tenants were created to the end of the tenant ID of the seller tenants created in multiple S443s, in order to make it easier to keep track of the order in which the seller tenants were created.

[0153] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S443, it identifies the seller tenant created in S443 as the seller tenant from which to create the customer tenant (S444).

[0154] The new registration service 31c terminates the operation shown in Figure 25 once processing S442 or S444 is completed.

[0155] As shown in Figure 24, when the new registration service 31c completes the process in S425, it executes a tenant creation process to create a customer tenant (S426).

[0156] Figure 26 is a flowchart of the tenant creation process in S426.

[0157] As shown in Figure 26, the new registration service 31c adds one record to the tenant management information 24c (S461).

[0158] When the new registration service 31c finishes processing S461, it writes the tenant ID of the seller tenant identified in S425 as the value of "directly upstream tenant" for the record created in S461 (S462).

[0159] When the new registration service 31c finishes processing in S462, it writes "Customer Tenant" as the value of "Tenant Type" in the record created in S461 (S463).

[0160] The new registration service 31c generates a new tenant ID (S464) after processing S463 is complete. For example, the new registration service 31c may generate a new tenant ID that consists of a fixed string of a specific number of characters as the first part of the string, and a randomly generated string of a specific number of characters as the remaining part. When the new registration service 31c generates a tenant ID, it generates a tenant ID that is different from other tenant IDs that already exist.

[0161] When the new registration service 31c finishes processing S464, it writes the tenant ID generated in S464 as the value of "Tenant ID" in the record created in S461 (S465).

[0162] When the new registration service 31c finishes processing S465, it writes the tenant ID generated in S464 as the value of the "tenant display name" in the record created in S461 (S466).

[0163] When the new registration service 31c completes processing in S466, it writes the email address included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the value of the "representative address" in the record created in S461 (S467).

[0164] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S467, it writes the device language used in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the value of "tenant language" in the record created in S461 (S468).

[0165] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S468, it writes the "App Display Availability" value of the record created in S461 to "Display Available" for all cloud applications provided by the cloud application provisioning system 20 (S469), and then terminates the tenant creation process shown in Figure 26.

[0166] As explained above, the new registration service 31c creates a customer tenant based on the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a, directly under the seller tenant identified in S425 (see Figure 24), in the tenant creation process in S426 (see Figure 24).

[0167] As shown in Figure 24, when the tenant creation process in S426 is completed, the new registration service 31c executes a new device registration process (S427) to register the image forming apparatus to the tenant created in the tenant creation process in S426.

[0168] Figure 27 is a flowchart of an example of the new device registration process in S427.

[0169] As shown in Figure 27, the new registration service 31c adds one record to the device management information 24e (S481).

[0170] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S481, it writes the tenant ID generated in the tenant creation process in S426 as the value of the "tenant ID" in the record created in S481 (S482).

[0171] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S482, it writes the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the value of "device ID" in the record created in S481 (S483).

[0172] When the processing in S483 is completed, the new registration service 31c writes the PIN included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the "PIN" value of the record created in S481 (S484).

[0173] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S484, it writes the authentication information indicated in the initial device administrator authentication information value 24f as the value of "device administrator authentication information" in the record created in S481 (S485), and then terminates the new device registration process shown in Figure 27.

[0174] Furthermore, if a license is set for the cloud application 32, the new registration service 31c may perform the operation shown in Figure 28 instead of the operation shown in Figure 27 as the new device registration process in S427. When the new registration service 31c performs the operation shown in Figure 28, the tenant management information 24c stores license number information indicating the number of licenses for the cloud application 32 in association with the tenant ID. Also, when the new registration service 31c performs the operation shown in Figure 28, the device management information 24e stores the destination of the image forming apparatus and the model name of the image forming apparatus in association with the device ID. Also, when the new registration service 31c performs the operation shown in Figure 28, the cloud application usage unit 48a includes the destination and model name of the image forming apparatus 40 in the new registration information transmitted in S151.

[0175] Figure 28 is a flowchart of a new device registration process in S427, which differs from the example shown in Figure 27.

[0176] As shown in Figure 28, the new registration service 31c determines whether the combination of destination and model name included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is a specific combination (hereinafter referred to as a "licensed combination") when the image forming apparatus itself has a license for the cloud application 32 (S501).

[0177] If the new registration service 31c determines in S501 that the combination of destination and model name included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is not a licensed combination, it terminates the device new registration process shown in Figure 27.

[0178] When the new registration service 31c determines in S501 that the combination of destination and model name included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a is a licensed combination, it adds one record to the device management information 24e (S502).

[0179] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S502, it writes the tenant ID generated in the tenant creation process in S426 as the value of the "tenant ID" in the record created in S502 (S503).

[0180] When the processing in S503 is completed, the new registration service 31c writes the device ID included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a as the value of "device ID" in the record created in S502 (S504).

[0181] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S504, it writes the PIN included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the "PIN" value of the record created in S502 (S505).

[0182] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S505, it writes the authentication information indicated in the initial device administrator authentication information value 24f as the value of "device administrator authentication information" in the record created in S502 (S506).

[0183] When the processing in S506 is completed, the new registration service 31c writes the destination information included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a as the "destination" value of the record created in S502 (S507).

[0184] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S507, it writes the model name included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a as the value of "model name" in the record created in S502 (S508), and then terminates the device new registration process shown in Figure 28.

[0185] As shown in Figure 24, when the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S423 or the new device registration processing in S427, it sends an email for registering the tenant administrator (hereinafter referred to as the "sign-up email") to the email address included in the new registration information received from the cloud application user unit 48a (S428).

[0186] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S428, it sends a tenant information notification to the image forming apparatus 40 indicating the sending of a sign-up email (S429), and then terminates the operation shown in Figure 24.

[0187] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines in S154 that the sending of the sign-up email is the content of the tenant information notification, it displays a screen for notifying the sending of the sign-up email (hereinafter referred to as the "sign-up email sending notification screen") 840 (see Figure 29) on the display unit 42 (S181).

[0188] Figure 29 shows an example of the signup email notification screen 840.

[0189] The sign-up email notification screen 840 shown in Figure 29 includes text 841 displaying a message to notify the sending of a sign-up email, an exit button 842 as a widget to terminate the execution of the cloud application user program 47a, and a close button 843 as a widget to close the sign-up email notification screen 840.

[0190] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, once the processing of S181 is complete, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether either the end button 842 or the close button 843 has been pressed (S182) until it determines that either the end button 842 or the close button 843 has been pressed.

[0191] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S182 that either the exit button 842 or the close button 843 has been pressed, it terminates the display of the sign-up email notification screen 840 to the display unit 42 (S183), and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0192] Figure 30 is a sequence diagram of the operation of System 10 when registering a tenant administrator via a sign-up email.

[0193] In S428 (see Figure 24), the user can receive the sign-up email sent by the new registration service 31c via the mailer 55a on the user terminal 50. When the mailer 55a receives the sign-up email sent by the new registration service 31c in S428, it displays the sign-up email on the display unit 52 as shown in Figure 30 (S521).

[0194] Figure 31 shows an example of the body text 850 of the signup email that is displayed in the operation shown in Figure 30.

[0195] The text 850 shown in Figure 31 includes a message 851 indicating that a tenant has been created, and a link 852 to the tenant signup page created by the tenant creation process in S426.

[0196] The user can click on link 852 via the operation unit 51 of the user terminal 50. When link 852 is clicked, the mailer 55a instructs the web browser 55b to access the sign-up page specified in link 852. Therefore, the web browser 55b accesses the sign-up page specified in link 852, as shown in Figure 30 (S522).

[0197] When the tenant management service 31a of the cloud service 31 accesses the signup page in S522, it sends the data of the accessed signup page to the web browser 55b (S523).

[0198] When the data for the sign-up page is transmitted in S523, the web browser 55b of the user terminal 50 displays the sign-up page on the display unit 42 (S524).

[0199] Figure 32 shows an example of the sign-up page 860 that is displayed during the operation shown in Figure 30.

[0200] The sign-up page 860 shown in Figure 32 includes text 861 indicating the tenant user ID of the tenant administrator, text 862 indicating the email address of the tenant administrator, a text box 863 as a widget for entering the tenant user display name of the tenant administrator, a text box 864 as a widget for entering the tenant administrator's password, and a registration button 865 as a widget for the tenant administrator to sign up. Text 861 indicates the tenant user ID generated by the cloud service 31. When the cloud service 31 generates a tenant user ID, it generates a tenant user ID that is different from other tenant user IDs that already exist. Text 862 indicates the email address registered in S423 (see Figure 24) or S467 (see Figure 26).

[0201] The registration button 865 is grayed out and inoperable until the sign-up page 860 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when a tenant user display name in a predetermined format is entered in text box 863, and a password in a predetermined format is entered in text box 864. Figure 32 shows the state where the registration button 865 is grayed out.

[0202] As shown in Figure 30, when the registration button 865 is pressed, the web browser 55b sends information for registering the tenant administrator (hereinafter referred to as "tenant administrator registration information") to the cloud service 31 (S525). The web browser 55b includes the tenant user ID shown in text 861, the email address shown in text 862, the tenant user display name that was entered in text box 863 when the registration button 865 was pressed, and the password that was entered in text box 864 when the registration button 865 was pressed in the tenant administrator registration information.

[0203] When the tenant management service 31a of the cloud service 31 receives tenant administrator registration information sent from the web browser 55b in S525, it adds a record based on the received tenant administrator registration information to the tenant user management information 24d (S526). Here, the tenant management service 31a sets the tenant user ID included in the tenant administrator registration information as the value of "Tenant User ID" in the record to be added in S526. The tenant management service 31a sets the email address included in the tenant administrator registration information as the value of "Email Address" in the record to be added in S526. The tenant management service 31a sets the tenant user display name included in the tenant administrator registration information as the value of "Tenant User Display Name" in the record to be added in S526. The tenant management service 31a sets the password included in the tenant administrator registration information as the value of "Password" in the record to be added in S526. In S522, the tenant management service 31a sets the tenant ID of the target tenant accessed on the signup page as the value of "Tenant ID" in the record added in S526. In S526, the tenant management service 31a sets "Tenant Administrator" as the value of "Role" in the record added.

[0204] When the processing in S526 is completed, the tenant management service 31a sets the value of the activation information associated with the tenant ID of the target tenant accessed in the signup page in S522 to "Activated" in the tenant management information 24c (S527).

[0205] As shown in Figure 24, if the new registration service 31c determines in S424 that a candidate device registration tenant exists, it then determines whether there are multiple candidate device registration tenants (S430).

[0206] If the new registration service 31c determines in S430 that there are no multiple candidate device registration tenants, it sends a tenant information notification to the image forming apparatus 40 indicating that there is only one candidate device registration tenant (S431). The new registration service 31c includes the tenant ID of the candidate device registration tenant and the tenant display name associated with the tenant ID of the candidate device registration tenant in the tenant management information 24c in the tenant information notification sent in S431.

[0207] When the new registration service 31c completes the process in S431, it terminates the operation shown in Figure 24.

[0208] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines in S154 that the tenant information notification indicates that there is only one candidate tenant for device registration, it displays a screen (hereinafter referred to as the "notification tenant device registration screen") 870 (see Figure 33) on the display unit 42 for registering the image forming apparatus 40 with the candidate tenant for device registration identified by the tenant ID included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c (S201).

[0209] Figure 33 shows an example of the notification tenant device registration screen 870.

[0210] The notification tenant device registration screen 870 shown in Figure 33 includes text 871, which displays a message asking the user whether or not to register the image forming apparatus 40 to a candidate tenant identified by the tenant ID included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c; text 872, which displays the tenant display name included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c; a cancel button 873, which is a widget for canceling the registration of the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant; a register button 874, which is a widget for registering the image forming apparatus 40 to a candidate tenant identified by the tenant ID included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c; and a close button 875, which is a widget for closing the notification tenant device registration screen 870. The tenant display name shown by text 872 is partially obscured.

[0211] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, once the processing in S201 is complete, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the notification tenant device registration screen 870 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the notification tenant device registration screen 870 has been pressed (S202).

[0212] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S202 that any button on the notification tenant device registration screen 870 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S202 (S203).

[0213] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S203 that the button pressed in S202 is the close button 875, it terminates the display of the notification tenant device registration screen 870 to the display unit 42 (S204), and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0214] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S203 that the button that was pressed in S202 is the cancel button 873, it executes the process in S121.

[0215] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S203 that the button pressed in S202 is the registration button 874, it displays a screen 880 (see Figure 34) on the display unit 42 that allows the user to log in to the tenant (hereinafter referred to as the "tenant login screen") (see Figure 34) (S205).

[0216] Figure 34 shows an example of the tenant login screen 880.

[0217] The tenant login screen 880 shown in Figure 34 includes a text box 881 as a widget for entering the tenant user ID, a text box 882 as a widget for entering the tenant user's password, a cancel button 883 for canceling the login to the tenant, a login button 884 for logging into the tenant, and a close button 885.

[0218] The login button 884 is grayed out and inoperable until the tenant login screen 880 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when a predetermined tenant user ID is entered in text box 881 and a predetermined password is entered in text box 882. Figure 34 shows the state where the login button 884 is grayed out.

[0219] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed (S206) after the processing of S205 is completed, until it determines that any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed.

[0220] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S206 that any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S206 (S207).

[0221] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S207 that the button pressed in S206 is the close button 885, it terminates the display of the tenant login screen 880 on the display unit 42 (S208) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0222] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S207 that the button that was pressed in S206 is the cancel button 883, it executes the process in S121.

[0223] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S207 that the button pressed in S206 is the login button 884, it sends a request to the device management service 31b to register the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant identified by the tenant ID included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c, i.e., the customer tenant notified by the new registration service 31c (hereinafter, the request to register the image forming apparatus to the customer tenant is referred to as the "device registration request") by calling the API of the device management service 31b (S209). The cloud application user unit 48a includes the tenant ID included in the tenant information notification received from the new registration service 31c, the tenant user ID entered in the text box 881 when the login button 884 was pressed, the password entered in the text box 882 when the login button 884 was pressed, the device ID of the image forming apparatus 40, and the PIN included in the new registration information sent to the new registration service 31c in S151 in the device registration request sent in S209.

[0224] When the processing in S209 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a terminates the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0225] Figure 35 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the device management service 31b when a device registration request is received.

[0226] When the device management service 31b receives a device registration request (hereinafter referred to as "target device registration request" in the description of the operation shown in Figure 35), it performs the operation shown in Figure 35.

[0227] As shown in Figure 35, the device management service 31b determines whether a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request exists in the tenant user management information 24d (S541).

[0228] If the device management service 31b determines in S541 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request does not exist in the tenant user management information 24d, it terminates the operation shown in Figure 35.

[0229] If the device management service 31b determines in S541 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request exists in the tenant user management information 24d, it adds one record to the device management information 24e (S542).

[0230] When the processing in S542 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the tenant ID included in the target device registration request as the value of "Tenant ID" in the record created in S542 (S543).

[0231] When the processing in S543 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the device ID included in the target device registration request as the value of "Device ID" in the record created in S542 (S544).

[0232] When the processing in S544 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the PIN included in the target device registration request as the "PIN" value of the record created in S542 (S545).

[0233] When the processing in S545 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the authentication information indicated in the initial device administrator authentication information value 24f as the value of "device administrator authentication information" in the record created in S542 (S546), and then terminates the operation shown in Figure 35.

[0234] Furthermore, if a license is set for the cloud application 32, the device management service 31b may perform the operation shown in Figure 36 instead of the operation shown in Figure 35 when it receives a device registration request. When the device management service 31b performs the operation shown in Figure 36, the tenant management information 24c stores license number information indicating the number of licenses for the cloud application 32 in association with the tenant ID. Also, when the device management service 31b performs the operation shown in Figure 36, the device management information 24e stores the destination of the image forming apparatus and the model name of the image forming apparatus in association with the device ID. Also, when the new registration service 31c performs the operation shown in Figure 36, the cloud application usage unit 48a includes the destination and model name of the image forming apparatus 40 in the device registration request.

[0235] Figure 36 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the device management service 31b when a device registration request is received, different from the example shown in Figure 35.

[0236] As shown in Figure 36, the device management service 31b determines whether a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request exists in the tenant user management information 24d (S561).

[0237] If the device management service 31b determines in S561 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request does not exist in the tenant user management information 24d, it terminates the operation shown in Figure 36.

[0238] If the device management service 31b determines in S561 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request exists in the tenant user management information 24d, it determines whether the combination of destination and model name included in the target device registration request is a licensed combination (S562).

[0239] If the new registration service 31c determines in S562 that the combination of destination and model name included in the target device registration request is not a licensed combination, it identifies the number of image forming machines associated with the tenant ID included in the target device registration request in the device management information 24e that do not have a licensed combination of destination and model name (S563).

[0240] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S563, it determines whether the number identified in S563 is less than the number indicated in the license count information associated with the tenant ID included in the target device registration request in tenant management information 24c (S564).

[0241] If the new registration service 31c determines in S563 that the number identified is not less than the number indicated in the license count information associated with the tenant ID included in the target device registration request in tenant management information 24c, it terminates the operation shown in Figure 36.

[0242] The new registration service 31c determines in S562 that the combination of destination and model name included in the target device registration request is a licensed combination, or determines in S564 that the number identified in S563 is less than the number indicated in the license count information associated with the tenant ID included in the target device registration request in tenant management information 24c, then adds one record to the device management information 24e (S565).

[0243] When the processing of S565 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the tenant ID included in the target device registration request as the value of "Tenant ID" in the record created in S565 (S566).

[0244] When the processing in S566 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the device ID included in the target device registration request as the value of "Device ID" in the record created in S565 (S567).

[0245] When the processing in S567 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the PIN included in the target device registration request as the "PIN" value of the record created in S565 (S568).

[0246] When the processing in S568 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the authentication information indicated in the initial device administrator authentication information value 24f as the value of "device administrator authentication information" in the record created in S565 (S569).

[0247] When the processing in S569 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the destination included in the target device registration request as the "destination" value of the record created in S565 (S570).

[0248] When the processing in S570 is completed, the device management service 31b writes the model name included in the target device registration request as the value of "model name" in the record created in S565 (S571), and then terminates the operation shown in Figure 36.

[0249] As shown in Figure 24, when the new registration service 31c determines in S430 that there are multiple candidate tenants for device registration, it sends a tenant information notification to the image forming apparatus 40 indicating that there are multiple candidate tenants for device registration (S432), and terminates the operation shown in Figure 24.

[0250] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines in S154 that the contents of the tenant information notification are that there are multiple candidate tenants for device registration, it displays a screen 890 (see Figure 37) on the display unit 42 for registering the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant specified by the user (hereinafter referred to as the "specified tenant device registration screen") 890 (see Figure 37) (S221).

[0251] Figure 37 shows an example of the designated tenant device registration screen 890.

[0252] The designated tenant device registration screen 890 shown in Figure 37 includes a text message 891 that asks the user whether or not to register the image forming apparatus 40 by specifying a customer tenant, a cancel button 892 as a widget to cancel the registration of the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant, a register button 893 as a widget to register the image forming apparatus 40 by specifying a customer tenant, and a close button 894 as a widget to close the designated tenant device registration screen 890.

[0253] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, once the processing in S221 is completed, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the designated tenant device registration screen 890 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the designated tenant device registration screen 890 has been pressed (S222).

[0254] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S222 that any button on the designated tenant device registration screen 890 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S222 (S223).

[0255] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S223 that the button pressed in S222 is the close button 894, it terminates the display of the designated tenant device registration screen 890 on the display unit 42 (S224) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0256] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S223 that the button that was pressed in S222 is the cancel button 892, it executes the process in S121.

[0257] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S223 that the button pressed in S222 is the registration button 893, it displays a screen for registering the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant (hereinafter, the screen for registering the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant will be referred to as the "device registration screen") 900 (see Figure 38) on the display unit 42 (S225), with the PIN of the device administrator of the image forming apparatus 40 automatically entered.

[0258] Figure 38 shows an example of the device registration screen 900 when a PIN has been entered.

[0259] The device registration screen 900 shown in Figure 38 includes a text box 901 as a widget for entering the tenant ID of the customer tenant to register the image forming apparatus 40, a text box 902 as a widget for entering the PIN of the device administrator of the image forming apparatus 40, a registration button 903 as a widget for registering the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant identified by the tenant ID entered in text box 901, and a close button 904 as a widget for closing the device registration screen 900.

[0260] When the cloud application user unit 48a displays the device registration screen 900 in S225, it enters the PIN that was included in the new registration information sent to the new registration service 31c in S151 into the text box 902.

[0261] The registration button 903 is in a grayed-out and inoperable state until the device registration screen 900 reaches a specific state. Here, the specific state means that a tenant ID in a predetermined format is entered in the text box 901 and a PIN in a predetermined format is entered in the text box 902. The state shown in FIG. 38 is a state where the registration button 903 is grayed out.

[0262] As shown in FIGS. 12 to 18, when the processing of S225 ends, the cloud app usage part 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the device registration screen 900 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the device registration screen 900 has been pressed (S226).

[0263] When the cloud app usage part 48a determines in S226 that any button on the device registration screen 900 has been pressed, it determines the button that was determined to have been pressed in S226 (S227).

[0264] When the cloud app usage part 48a determines in S227 that the button determined to have been pressed in S226 is the close button 904, it ends the display of the device registration screen 900 on the display part 42 (S228) and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 12 to 18.

[0265] When the cloud app usage part 48a determines in S227 that the button determined to have been pressed in S226 is the registration button 903, it displays the tenant login screen 880 (see FIG. 34) on the display part 42 (S229).

[0266] After the processing of S229 ends, the cloud app usage part 48a determines whether or not any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed (S230).

[0267] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S230 that any button on the tenant login screen 880 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S230 (S231).

[0268] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S231 that the button that was pressed in S230 is the close button 885, it executes the process in S208.

[0269] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S231 that the button that was pressed in S230 is the cancel button 883, it executes the process in S121.

[0270] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S231 that the button pressed in S230 is the login button 884, it sends a device registration request to the device management service 31b by calling the API of the device management service 31b to register the image forming apparatus 40 to the customer tenant identified by the tenant ID entered in text box 901 when the registration button 903 was pressed, i.e., the tenant specified by the user (S232). The cloud application user unit 48a includes the tenant ID entered in text box 901 when the registration button 903 was pressed, the tenant user ID entered in text box 881 when the login button 884 was pressed, the password entered in text box 882 when the login button 884 was pressed, the device ID of the image forming apparatus 40, and the PIN entered in text box 902 when the registration button 903 was pressed in the device registration request.

[0271] When the processing in S232 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a terminates the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0272] When the device management service 31b receives a device registration request, it performs the actions shown in Figure 35 or Figure 36 as described above.

[0273] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines in S122 that the button pressed is the add registration button 802, it displays the device registration screen 900 (see Figure 39) on the display unit 42 (S241).

[0274] Figure 39 shows an example of the device registration screen 900 when no PIN has been entered.

[0275] The device registration screen 900 displayed in S241 (see Figure 39) differs from the device registration screen 900 displayed in S225 (see Figure 38) in that the PIN is not entered in the text box 902.

[0276] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 completes the process in S241, it executes the process in S226.

[0277] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S103 that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered only with tenants that have not yet been activated, it displays a screen 910 (see Figure 40) for requesting the user to register as a tenant administrator (hereinafter referred to as the "tenant administrator registration request screen") (S261).

[0278] Figure 40 shows an example of the tenant administrator registration request screen 910.

[0279] As shown in Figure 40, the tenant administrator registration request screen 910 includes text 911 displaying a message requesting the user to register as a tenant administrator, a resend button 912 as a widget for resending the sign-up email, a re-enter button 913 for re-entering the email address, an exit button 914 as a widget for ending the execution of the cloud application user program 47a, and a close button 915 as a widget for closing the tenant administrator registration request screen 910.

[0280] The cloud application user unit 48a displays the representative address included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 on the resend button 912.

[0281] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, once the processing in S261 is completed, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the tenant administrator registration request screen 910 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the tenant administrator registration request screen 910 has been pressed (S262).

[0282] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S262 that any button on the tenant administrator registration request screen 910 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S262 (S263).

[0283] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S263 that the button pressed in S262 is either the exit button 914 or the close button 915, it terminates the display of the tenant administrator registration request screen 910 on the display unit 42 (S264) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0284] When the cloud application usage unit 48a determines in S263 that the button determined to be pressed in S262 is the resend button 912, it sends a request to resend the signup email (hereinafter referred to as "signup email resend request") to the cloud service 31 (S265). The cloud application usage unit 48a includes the tenant ID and the representative address included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 in the signup email resend request.

[0285] FIG. 41 is a flowchart of an example of the operation of the cloud service 31 when a signup email resend request is received.

[0286] As shown in FIG. 41, when the tenant management service 31a of the cloud service 31 receives a signup email resend request, it sends a signup email including a link to the signup page of the tenant specified by the tenant ID included in the signup email resend request to the representative address included in the signup email resend request (S581).

[0287] When the processing of S581 is completed, the tenant management service 31a notifies the image forming apparatus 40 of the transmission of the signup email (S582) and ends the operation shown in FIG. 41.

[0288] As shown in FIGS. 12 to 18, when the processing of S265 is completed, the cloud application usage unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not the transmission of the signup email has been notified from the tenant management service 31a until it is determined in S266 that the transmission of the signup email has been notified from the tenant management service 31a.

[0289] When the cloud application usage unit 48a determines in S266 that the transmission of the signup email has been notified from the tenant management service 31a, it executes the processing of S181.

[0290] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S263 that the button pressed in S262 is the re-entry button 913, it displays the device administrator login screen 810 (see Figure 21) on the display unit 42 (S267).

[0291] After the processing in S267 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether any button on the device registration method selection screen 800 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the device administrator login screen 810 has been pressed (S268).

[0292] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S268 that any button on the device administrator login screen 810 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S268 (S269).

[0293] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S269 that the button pressed in S268 is the close button 815, it terminates the display of the device administrator login screen 810 on the display unit 42 (S270) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0294] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S269 that the button that was pressed in S268 is the cancel button 813, it executes the process in S261.

[0295] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S269 that the button pressed in S268 is the login button 814, it performs authentication of the device user based on the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed (S271). Specifically, if the combination of the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed is associated with the role "device administrator" and registered in the device user management information 47c, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication of the device user was successful. On the other hand, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication of the device user has failed if the combination of the device user ID entered in text box 811 at the time the login button 814 was pressed and the password entered in text box 812 at the time the login button 814 was pressed is not associated with the role "device administrator" and is not registered in the device user management information 47c.

[0296] When the processing in S271 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines the result of the authentication performed in S271 (S272).

[0297] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S272 that authentication has failed, it executes the process in S261.

[0298] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S272 that authentication was successful, it displays the tenant creation settings screen 820 (see Figure 22) on the display unit 42 (S273).

[0299] After the processing in S273 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed (S274).

[0300] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S274 that any button on the tenant creation settings screen 820 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S274 (S275).

[0301] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S274 that the button pressed is the close button 825, it executes the process in S150.

[0302] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S274 that the button pressed is the back button 823, it executes the process in S261.

[0303] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S275 that the button pressed in S274 is the registration button 824, it sends information for changing the representative address (hereinafter referred to as "representative address change information") to the new registration service 31c by calling the API of the new registration service 31c (S276). The representative address change information includes the email address entered in text box 821 when the registration button 824 was pressed, the PIN entered in text box 822 when the registration button 824 was pressed, the tenant ID included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31, and the device ID of the image forming apparatus 40. If the proxy usage information in the cloud application configuration information 47d indicates that a proxy server should be used when communicating with the outside, the cloud application user unit 48a uses the IP address or hostname of the proxy server and the port number of the proxy server, which are set in the cloud application configuration information 47d, when sending in S276.

[0304] When the processing in S276 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S276 whether or not it was able to connect to the new registration service 31c (S277).

[0305] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S277 that it was unable to connect to the new registration service 31c in S276, it executes the process in S161.

[0306] Figure 42 is a flowchart showing the operation of the new registration service 31c when information for changing the representative address is received.

[0307] When the new registration service 31c receives the representative address change information sent by the cloud application usage unit 48a in S276, it sets the value of the "activation information" associated in the tenant management information 24c with the tenant ID included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a to "not activated" (S601), as shown in Figure 42.

[0308] When the processing in S601 is completed, the new registration service 31c updates the value of "representative address" in the tenant management information 24c, which is associated with the tenant ID included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a, with the email address included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a (S602).

[0309] When the processing in S602 is completed, the new registration service 31c updates the value of the "PIN" in the device management information 24e, which is associated with the combination of tenant ID and device ID included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a, to the PIN included in the new registration information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a (S603).

[0310] When the processing in S603 is completed, the new registration service 31c sends a signup email containing a link to the tenant's signup page, which is identified by the tenant ID included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a, to the email address included in the representative address change information received from the cloud application usage unit 48a (S604).

[0311] When the new registration service 31c completes the processing in S604, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 to send a sign-up email (S605) and then terminates the operation shown in Figure 42.

[0312] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines in S277 that it has been able to connect to the new registration service 31c in S276, it executes the process in S266.

[0313] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S103 that the image forming apparatus 40 is registered in an activated tenant, it performs authentication of the device administrator based on the device administrator authentication information included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 (S281). Specifically, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication of the device administrator was successful if the same authentication information as the device administrator authentication information included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 exists in the device user management information 47c as the device administrator authentication information. On the other hand, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that authentication of the device administrator was unsuccessful if the same authentication information as the device administrator authentication information included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 does not exist in the device user management information 47c as the device administrator authentication information.

[0314] When the processing in S281 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines the result of the authentication in S281 (S282).

[0315] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S282 that the authentication in S281 was successful, it updates the PIN value in the cloud application configuration information 47d to the PIN included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 (S283).

[0316] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S282 that authentication in S281 has failed, or if it executes the process in S283, it displays a screen for logging into the cloud application 32 (hereinafter referred to as the "cloud application login screen") 920 (see Figure 43) on the display unit 42 (S284).

[0317] Figure 43 shows an example of the cloud application login screen 920.

[0318] The cloud application login screen 920 shown in Figure 43 includes a text box 921 as a widget for entering the tenant user ID, a text box 922 as a widget for entering the tenant user's password, a login button 923 as a widget for logging into the cloud application 32, a settings button 924 as a widget for performing various settings of the cloud application user program 47a, and a close button 925 for closing the cloud application login screen 920.

[0319] The login button 923 is grayed out and unresponsive until the cloud application login screen 920 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when a predetermined tenant user ID is entered in text box 921 and a predetermined password is entered in text box 922. Figure 43 shows the state where the login button 923 is grayed out.

[0320] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the cloud application login screen 920 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the cloud application login screen 920 has been pressed (S285).

[0321] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S285 that any button on the cloud application login screen 920 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S285 (S286).

[0322] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S286 that the button pressed in S285 is the close button 925, it terminates the display of the cloud application login screen 920 on the display unit 42 (S287) and ends the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0323] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S285 that the button pressed is the setting button 924, it displays a screen for entering a PIN (hereinafter referred to as the "PIN input screen") 930 (see Figure 44) on the display unit 42 in S301.

[0324] Figure 44 shows an example of the PIN input screen 930.

[0325] As shown in Figure 44, the PIN entry screen 930 includes a text box 931 as a widget for entering the device administrator's PIN, a cancel button 932 as a widget for canceling PIN entry, and an OK button 933 for confirming the PIN entered in the text box 931.

[0326] The OK button 933 is grayed out and unresponsive until the PIN input screen 930 reaches a specific state. This specific state is when a PIN in a predetermined format is entered into the text box 931. Figure 44 shows the state where the OK button 933 is grayed out.

[0327] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, once the processing in S301 is completed, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not any button on the PIN input screen 930 has been pressed until it determines that any button on the PIN input screen 930 has been pressed (S302).

[0328] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S302 that any button on the PIN input screen 930 has been pressed, it determines which button was pressed in S302 (S303).

[0329] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S303 that the button that was pressed in S302 is the cancel button 932, it executes the process in S284.

[0330] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S303 that the button pressed in S302 was the OK button 933, it then determines whether the PIN entered in the text box 931 at the time the OK button 933 was pressed is correct (S304). Specifically, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that the PIN entered in the text box 931 at the time the OK button 933 was pressed is correct if the PIN entered in the text box 931 at the time the OK button 933 was pressed is the same as the PIN value in the cloud application configuration information 47d. On the other hand, the cloud application user unit 48a determines that the PIN entered in the text box 931 at the time the OK button 933 was pressed is incorrect if the PIN entered in the text box 931 at the time the OK button 933 was pressed is not the same as the PIN value in the cloud application configuration information 47d.

[0331] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S304 that the PIN entered in the text box 931 is incorrect when the OK button 933 is pressed, it temporarily displays a screen indicating that the PIN is incorrect on the display unit 42 (S305) and executes the process in S284.

[0332] When the OK button 933 is pressed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S304 that the PIN entered in the text box 931 is correct, and displays a screen on the display unit 42 that allows the user to perform various settings for the cloud application user program 47a (hereinafter referred to as the "program settings screen") (S306). The cloud application user unit 48a can change various values ​​shown in the cloud application setting information 47d in response to operations performed on the program settings screen via the operation unit 41.

[0333] After the processing in S306 is completed, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether or not it has been instructed to stop displaying the program setting screen on the display unit 42 until it determines that it has been instructed to stop displaying the program setting screen on the display unit 42 (S307).

[0334] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S307 that it has been instructed to end the display of the program settings screen on the display unit 42, it terminates the display of the program settings screen on the display unit 42 (S308) and executes the process in S284.

[0335] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S286 that the button pressed in S285 is the login button 923, it sends a request to the cloud service 31 to log in to the customer tenant's cloud application 32, which is identified by the tenant ID included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31 (hereinafter referred to as the "cloud application login request" (S321). The cloud application user unit 48a includes the tenant ID included in the device registration confirmation result received from the cloud service 31, the tenant user ID that was entered in the text box 921 when the login button 923 was pressed, and the password that was entered in the text box 922 when the login button 923 was pressed in the cloud application login request.

[0336] Figure 45 is a flowchart illustrating an example of how cloud service 31 operates when it receives a cloud application login request.

[0337] When cloud service 31 receives a cloud application login request (hereinafter referred to as "target cloud application login request" in the description of the operation shown in Figure 45), it executes the operation shown in Figure 45.

[0338] As shown in Figure 45, the cloud service 31 determines whether a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target cloud application login request exists in the tenant user management information 24d (S621).

[0339] If the cloud service 31 determines in S621 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target device registration request exists in the tenant user management information 24d, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 of permission to log in to the cloud application 32 (S622) and terminates the operation shown in Figure 45.

[0340] If the cloud service 31 determines in S621 that a record containing the combination of tenant ID, tenant user ID, and password included in the target cloud application login request does not exist in the tenant user management information 24d, it notifies the image forming apparatus 40 that login to the cloud application 32 is not permitted (S623), and terminates the operation shown in Figure 45.

[0341] As shown in Figures 12 to 18, when the processing in S321 is completed, the cloud application utilization unit 48a of the image forming apparatus 40 determines whether or not it has received a notification from the cloud service 31 granting or denying login permission (S322).

[0342] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S322 that it has received a notification from the cloud service 31 regarding permission or denial of login, it determines the content of the notification received from the cloud service 31 (S323).

[0343] If the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S323 that the notification received from the cloud service 31 indicates that login was not permitted, it temporarily displays a screen on the display unit 42 indicating that login failed (S324), and then terminates the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0344] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S323 that the notification received from the cloud service 31 is a request for permission to log in, it starts working in conjunction with the cloud application 32 (S325).

[0345] Once the processing in S325 is complete, the cloud application user unit 48a determines whether or not a logout from the cloud application 32 has been instructed via the operation unit 41 until it determines that a logout from the cloud application 32 has been instructed via the operation unit 41 (S326).

[0346] When the cloud application user unit 48a determines in S326 that a logout from the cloud application 32 has been instructed via the operation unit 41, it logs out of the cloud application 32 (S327) and terminates the operations shown in Figures 12 to 18.

[0347] As explained above, when the cloud application provisioning system 20 receives new registration information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 40 in S151, it creates a customer tenant to which the image forming apparatus 40 is registered (S426) and registers the image forming apparatus 40 to the created customer tenant (S427), thus making the creation of customer tenants easier than before.

[0348] The cloud application provisioning system 20 makes it easier to create customer tenants than before, so that the use of cloud applications from the image forming apparatus 40 can be started quickly. Therefore, the cloud application provisioning system 20 can improve the likelihood that cloud applications will be used by users of the image forming apparatus 40.

[0349] The cloud application provisioning system 20 registers the image forming apparatus 40 to a customer tenant it has created when it receives new registration information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 40, thereby reducing the possibility of the image forming apparatus 40 being registered to the wrong customer tenant.

[0350] The cloud application provisioning system 20 does not create a customer tenant to which the image forming apparatus 40 that sent the new registration information is registered if there is a customer tenant that is managed in association with the email address included in the new registration information (YES in S424), thereby reducing the possibility of creating unnecessary customer tenants.

[0351] The cloud application provisioning system 20 improves convenience by sending an email to the email address included in the new registration information when the image forming apparatus 40, which is the source of the new registration information, creates a customer tenant to which the administrator of the created customer tenant will be registered (S428).

[0352] When the cloud application provisioning system 20 creates a customer tenant under the first seller tenant to which the image forming apparatus 40 that sends new registration information is registered, if the number of customer tenants under the first seller tenant exceeds a certain number (NO in S441), the system creates a customer tenant under the second seller tenant where the number of customer tenants under the first seller tenant is less than or equal to the certain number (S443, S444, and S462), thereby reducing the possibility of a load concentration on the first seller tenant. Although the system refers to customer tenants directly under the seller tenant, it may also apply to customer tenants below the seller tenant. In other words, when the cloud application provisioning system 20 creates a customer tenant under the first seller tenant to which the image forming apparatus 40 that sends the new registration information is registered, if the number of customer tenants under the first seller tenant exceeds a certain number, the system may create a customer tenant under the second seller tenant where the image forming apparatus 40 that sends the new registration information is registered, if the number of customer tenants under the first seller tenant exceeds a certain number.

[0353] The cloud application provisioning system 20 can simplify the management of customer tenants if it creates a customer tenant directly under the customer tenant identified based on the new registration information, where the image forming apparatus 40 that sent the new registration information is registered. Although the text refers to customer tenants directly under the seller tenant, it may also apply to customer tenants below the seller tenant. In other words, the cloud application provisioning system 20 may create a customer tenant under the customer tenant identified based on the new registration information, where the image forming apparatus 40 that sent the new registration information is registered.

[0354] The cloud application provision system 20 manages the number of cloud application licenses for each customer tenant. If the number obtained by subtracting the number of image forming machines 40 for which the image forming machine 40 itself has a license reaches the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provision system 20, the system does not register any new image forming machines 40 for which the image forming machine 40 itself does not have a license (NO in S564) for that customer tenant, thus enabling the registration of a number of image forming machines 40 that matches the number of licenses.

[0355] The image forming apparatus 40 sends new registration information to the cloud application provision system 20 (S151) when the authentication of the device administrator is successful based on the information entered on the device administrator login screen 810 where information for the authentication of the device administrator of the image forming apparatus 40 is entered. This reduces the possibility that the image forming apparatus 40 may be incorrectly registered with the cloud application provision system 20.

[0356] System 10, when it finds a customer tenant managed by the cloud application provision system 20 associated with an email address included in the new registration information, sends a tenant information notification to the image forming apparatus 40, the source of the new registration information, indicating that a customer tenant managed by the cloud application provision system 20 exists associated with an email address included in the new registration information (S432). When the image forming apparatus 40 receives this tenant information notification, it accepts the user's specification of a customer tenant (S225). The image forming apparatus 40 then sends a device registration request to the cloud application provision system 20 to register itself with the customer tenant specified by the user (S232). When the cloud application provision system 20 receives this device registration request, it registers the image forming apparatus 40 with the customer tenant in response to this request (S543-S544), thereby improving convenience.

[0357] System 10, when it finds a customer tenant managed by the cloud application provision system 20 associated with an email address included in the new registration information, sends a tenant information notification to the image forming apparatus 40, the source of the new registration information, indicating the existence of a customer tenant managed by the cloud application provision system 20 associated with the email address included in the new registration information (S431). When the image forming apparatus 40 receives this tenant information notification, it sends a device registration request to the cloud application provision system 20 to register itself with the customer tenant managed by the cloud application provision system 20 associated with the email address included in the new registration information (S209). When the cloud application provision system 20 receives this device registration request, it registers the image forming apparatus 40 with the customer tenant in response to this device registration request (S543-S544), thereby improving convenience.

[0358] In this embodiment, the "specific type of information" in the present invention is an "email address." However, the "specific type of information" in the present invention may be information other than an "email address."

[0359] In this embodiment, the "electronic device" of the present invention is an "image forming apparatus." However, the "electronic device" of the present invention may be an electronic device other than an "image forming apparatus." [Explanation of symbols]

[0360] 10 Systems 20. Cloud application delivery system (computer) 24a Cloud Service Program 32 Cloud Applications 40 Image forming equipment (electronic equipment) 47a Cloud Application Usage Program

Claims

1. A cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications used by electronic devices, The aforementioned cloud application provision system manages the tenant to which the electronic device belongs and the electronic device belonging to the tenant. The cloud application provisioning system is characterized in that, upon receiving specific information transmitted from the electronic device, it creates a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

2. To manage the tenant in association with a specific type of information, The aforementioned specific information includes the aforementioned specific type of information, The cloud application provisioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that, if there is a tenant that manages in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information, the cloud application provisioning system does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered.

3. The aforementioned specific type of information is an email address. The cloud application provision system according to claim 2, characterized in that when the electronic device that is the source of the specific information creates the tenant to which the specific information is registered, it sends an email for registration of the administrator of the created tenant to the email address included in the specific information.

4. The cloud application provision system according to claim 1, characterized in that when creating a tenant under a first tenant in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered, if the number of tenants under the first tenant exceeds a certain number, the tenant under a second tenant in which the number of tenants under the first tenant is less than or equal to the certain number is created in which the electronic device that is the source of the specific information is registered.

5. The cloud application provisioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that a tenant is created under the tenant identified based on the specified information, in which the electronic device that is the source of the specified information is registered.

6. The number of licenses for the aforementioned cloud application is managed for each tenant. The cloud application provisioning system according to claim 1, characterized in that the cloud application provisioning system does not register any new electronic devices in a tenant where the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant has reached the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provisioning system.

7. The number of licenses for the aforementioned cloud application is managed for each tenant. The cloud application provision system according to claim 1, wherein the cloud application provision system does not register any new electronic devices that do not have a license in a tenant where the number obtained by subtracting the number of electronic devices that themselves have the license from the number of electronic devices registered in the tenant has reached the number of licenses managed by the cloud application provision system.

8. A cloud application provider device that provides cloud applications used by electronic devices, The cloud application provider manages the tenant to which the electronic device belongs and the electronic device belonging to the tenant. The cloud application provider is characterized in that, upon receiving specific information transmitted from the electronic device, it creates a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

9. By providing cloud applications used by electronic devices to computers, The computer manages the tenant to which the electronic device belongs and the electronic device belonging to that tenant. A cloud service program characterized in that, when the computer receives specific information transmitted from the electronic device, the computer creates a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and the computer registers the electronic device that sent the specific information to the tenant created by the computer.

10. An electronic device that utilizes a cloud application provided by a cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications, The cloud application provisioning system receives specific information, The cloud application provisioning system is characterized by, upon receiving the specific information transmitted from the electronic device, creating a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registering the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

11. A screen is displayed on which information for the authentication of the administrator of the aforementioned electronic device is entered. The electronic device according to claim 10, characterized in that, if the administrator's authentication based on the information entered on the screen is successful, the specific information is transmitted to the cloud application provisioning system.

12. The cloud application provided by the cloud application provisioning system that provides the cloud application is made available to electronic devices. The electronic device is made to transmit specific information to the cloud application provisioning system. The cloud application provisioning system is characterized by, upon receiving the specific information transmitted from the electronic device, creating a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registering the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

13. Electronic devices and, A cloud application provisioning system that provides cloud applications used by the aforementioned electronic devices, Equipped with, The aforementioned cloud application provision system manages the tenant to which the electronic device belongs and the electronic device belonging to the tenant. The cloud application provisioning system is characterized by, upon receiving specific information transmitted from the electronic device, creating a tenant in which the electronic device that sent the specific information is registered, and registering the electronic device that sent the specific information to the created tenant.

14. The aforementioned cloud application provisioning system manages the tenants in association with specific types of information, The aforementioned specific information includes the aforementioned specific type of information, The cloud application provisioning system, if there is a tenant that manages the specific type of information contained in the specific information in association with it, does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that sends the specific information is registered. The cloud application provisioning system, if there is a tenant that manages the information in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information, sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating that there is a tenant that manages the information in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information. When the electronic device receives the notification, it accepts the user's designation of the tenant and sends a request to the cloud application provisioning system to register the electronic device itself to the tenant designated by the user. The cloud application provisioning system is characterized in that, upon receiving the request, it registers the electronic device with the tenant in response to the request, as described in claim 13.

15. The aforementioned cloud application provisioning system manages the tenants in association with specific types of information, The aforementioned specific information includes the aforementioned specific type of information, The cloud application provisioning system, if there is a tenant that manages the specific type of information contained in the specific information in association with it, does not create a tenant to which the electronic device that sends the specific information is registered. The cloud application provisioning system, if there is a tenant that manages the information in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information, sends a notification to the electronic device that is the source of the specific information indicating that there is a tenant that manages the information in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information. When the electronic device receives the notification, it sends a request to the cloud application provider system to register itself with the tenant managed by the cloud application provider system in association with the specific type of information contained in the specific information. The cloud application provisioning system is characterized in that, upon receiving the request, it registers the electronic device with the tenant in response to the request, as described in claim 13.

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