Machine management system and machine management program

Abstract

To provide an apparatus management system and an apparatus management program that can improve convenience in updating software.SOLUTION: An apparatus management system provides a "promptly updating" mode and a "gradually updating" mode that are different from each other in a length of a period during which whole procedure of F / W update is executed on all image forming apparatuses subjected to automatic F / W update and a ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses on which the F / W update is executed per unit time to the number of all image forming apparatuses subjected to the automatic F / W update, and creates an automatic F / W update task for each of all image forming apparatuses subjected to the automatic F / W update with one mode selected from the "promptly updating" mode and the "gradually updating" mode (S291-S299).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 30

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a device management system and a device management program for remotely updating software of an electronic device.

Background Art

[0002] As a conventional device management system, there is known one for remotely updating firmware as software of an image forming apparatus as an electronic device (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). Here, the firmware update is executed, for example, to add a new function to the image forming apparatus or to repair a defect occurring in the image forming apparatus.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the conventional device management system, attention has not been paid to the speed of firmware update for all image forming apparatuses to be the target of firmware update, so there is a problem that the convenience is poor.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a device management system and a device management program capable of improving the convenience of software update.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The device management system of the present invention provides a plurality of modes in which at least one of the length of the period during which the update is executed once for all electronic devices to be updated and the ratio of the number of the electronic devices for which the update is executed per unit time among all the electronic devices is different from each other, and generates a task of the update for each of all the electronic devices in one of the modes selected from the plurality of modes.

[0007] With this configuration, the device management system of the present invention generates a software update task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated in one of the modes selected from the plurality of modes, so that the convenience of software update can be improved.

[0008] In the device management system of the present invention, the plurality of modes may include a first mode and a second mode in which the length of the period is longer than that of the first mode.

[0009] With this configuration, the device management system of the present invention generates a software update task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated in one of the modes selected from the first mode and the second mode in which the length of the period during which the update is executed once for all the electronic devices to be updated is longer than that of the first mode. Therefore, the first mode can be selected for a user who wishes that the update be executed promptly for all the electronic devices to be updated, and the second mode can be selected for a user who wishes that the update be executed gradually for all the electronic devices to be updated in order to confirm that the update does not cause problems in the electronic devices. As a result, the convenience of software update can be improved.

[0010] In the device management system of the present invention, the first mode is a mode in which the ratio does not change during the period, and the second mode may be a mode in which the ratio increases during the period.

[0011] With this configuration, in the device management system of the present invention, among all the electronic devices to be updated, the ratio of the number of electronic devices for which updates are executed per unit time does not change during the period in which one update is executed for all the electronic devices to be updated, and in the first mode, among all the electronic devices to be updated, the ratio of the number of electronic devices for which updates are executed per unit time increases during the period in which one update is executed for all the electronic devices to be updated. The software update task is generated for each of all the electronic devices to be updated in one of the selected second modes, so that the first mode can be selected for a user who desires that updates be executed promptly for all the electronic devices to be updated, and the second mode can be selected for a user who desires that updates be executed gradually for all the electronic devices to be updated in order to confirm that the updates do not cause problems in the electronic devices. As a result, the convenience of software updates can be improved.

[0012] The device management system of the present invention generates the task so that the period is repeated, and the plurality of modes may include a first mode and a second mode in which the length of the first period is longer than that of the first mode and the lengths of the subsequent periods are the same as that of the first mode.

[0013] With this configuration, the device management system of the present invention selects one mode from a first mode and a second mode. In the second mode, the length of the first cycle in which updates are executed once for all electronic devices to be updated is longer than that of the first mode, and the lengths of the cycles after the second time are the same as that of the first mode. Then, the software update task is generated for each of all the electronic devices to be updated. Therefore, the user who hopes that updates will be executed promptly for all the electronic devices to be updated can be allowed to select the first mode, and the user who hopes that updates will be gradually executed for all the electronic devices to be updated in order to confirm that the updates do not cause problems in the electronic devices can be allowed to select the second mode. As a result, the convenience of software updates can be improved. Also, in the device management system of the present invention, since the lengths of the cycles after the second time are the same in the first mode and the second mode, after it is confirmed that the updates do not cause problems in the electronic devices, updates can be executed promptly for all the electronic devices to be updated. As a result, the convenience of software updates can be improved.

[0014] In the device management system of the present invention, the first mode may be a mode in which the ratio does not change during the period, and the second mode may be a mode in which the ratio increases during the first period and does not change during the periods after the second time.

[0015] With this configuration, the device management system of the present invention generates software update tasks for each of all the electronic devices to be updated in one of two modes: a first mode in which the ratio of the number of electronic devices updated per unit time among all the electronic devices to be updated does not change during all cycles in which one update is performed for all the electronic devices to be updated; and a second mode in which the ratio of the number of electronic devices updated per unit time among all the electronic devices to be updated increases during the first cycle and does not change during the second and subsequent cycles. As a result, users who desire rapid updates for all the electronic devices to be updated can be made to select the first mode, and users who desire gradual updates for all the electronic devices to be updated to confirm that the updates do not cause problems with the electronic devices can be made to select the second mode, thereby improving the convenience of software updates. Also, since the ratio of the number of electronic devices updated per unit time among all the electronic devices to be updated does not change during the second and subsequent cycles in both the first mode and the second mode, after it is confirmed that the updates do not cause problems with the electronic devices, rapid updates can be performed for all the electronic devices to be updated, thereby improving the convenience of software updates.

[0016] The device management system of the present invention may generate the tasks such that the period is repeated, and may generate the tasks for each of all the electronic devices even when the electronic devices for which the update was successful in the previous period are included in all the electronic devices.

[0017] With this configuration, even if the electronic devices that were successfully updated in the previous period are included in all the electronic devices to be updated, the device management system of the present invention generates an update task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated. Therefore, for the electronic devices that were successfully updated in the previous period, even if, for example, new software of another version is newly updated after this update, the original version of the software is updated again in this period, and as a result, the variation in software among a plurality of electronic devices can be reduced.

[0018] The device management system of the present invention generates the task so that the period is repeated, and may start generating the task from the next period for the electronic devices that newly become the update targets during the period.

[0019] With this configuration, the device management system of the present invention starts generating an update task for the electronic devices that newly become the update targets during the cycle in which one update is executed for all the electronic devices to be updated from the next cycle. Therefore, compared with the configuration in which the generation of the update task is started at the time when the electronic devices newly become the update targets, the management of the update task can be facilitated.

[0020] The device management program of the present invention causes a computer to provide a plurality of modes in which at least one of the length of the period in which one update is executed for all the electronic devices to be updated with software and the ratio of the number of the electronic devices for which the update is executed per unit time among all the electronic devices are different from each other, and causes the computer to generate an update task for each of all the electronic devices in one of the modes selected from the plurality of modes.

[0021] With this configuration, the computer that executes the device management program of the present invention generates a software update task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated in one mode selected from a plurality of modes, so that the convenience of software updates can be improved.

Advantages of the Invention

[0022] The device management system and device management program of the present invention can improve the convenience of software updates.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0023]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0024] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0025] First, the configuration of the information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0026] Figure 1 is a block diagram of the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system 10 includes a device management system 20 that manages an image forming apparatus as an electronic device. The device management system 20 can execute a manual F / W update in which a task of updating firmware (hereinafter referred to as "F / W update") as software of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "F / W update task") is individually specified by a user of the device management system 20, and an automatic F / W update in which the device management system 20 automatically generates an F / W update task in response to an instruction from a user of the device management system 20. The device management system 20 may be configured by one computer or may be configured by a plurality of computers.

[0028] The information processing system 10 can not only access the device management system 20 without going through an intermediary device described later, but also be accessed from the device management system 20 without going through an intermediary device, and includes an image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "intermediary-free image forming apparatus") 30. The information processing system 10 can include at least one intermediary-free image forming apparatus other than the intermediary-free image forming apparatus 30. As the intermediary-free image forming apparatus other than the intermediary-free image forming apparatus 30, those arranged on the same LAN (Local Area Network) as the LAN on which the intermediary-free image forming apparatus 30 is arranged and those arranged on a LAN different from the LAN on which the intermediary-free image forming apparatus 30 is arranged are conceivable.

[0029] The information processing system 10 includes an intermediary device 40 that mediates between a device management system 20 and an image forming apparatus, and an image forming apparatus 50 (hereinafter referred to as a "mediated image forming apparatus") that is arranged on the same LAN as the LAN on which the intermediary device 40 is arranged and is mediated with the device management system 20 by the intermediary device 40. The intermediary device 40 can access the device management system 20, but access from the device management system 20 is made impossible, for example, by a firewall (not shown). The information processing system 10 can include at least one mediated image forming apparatus other than the mediated image forming apparatus 50 that is arranged on the same LAN as the LAN on which the mediated image forming apparatus 50 is arranged and is mediated with the device management system 20 by the intermediary device 40. The information processing system 10 can include at least one intermediary device that is arranged on a LAN different from the LAN on which the intermediary device 40 is arranged and mediates between the device management system 20 and the image forming apparatus. The information processing system 10 can include at least one mediated image forming apparatus that is arranged on the same LAN as any intermediary device different from the intermediary device 40 and is mediated with the device management system 20 by this intermediary device.

[0030] The image forming apparatus in the information processing system 10 is configured by, for example, an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral), a printer dedicated machine, or the like. The intermediary device in the information processing system 10 is configured by a computer such as a PC (Personal Computer).

[0031] The information processing system 10 includes a user terminal 60 used by the user of the device management system 20. The information processing system 10 can also include at least one user terminal other than the user terminal 60 used by the user of the device management system 20. The user terminal is configured by, for example, a computer such as a PC. As users of the device management system 20, for example, there are dealers who provide image forming apparatuses to users of the image forming apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as "device users"), and administrators (hereinafter referred to as "dealer-side administrators") who manage the image forming apparatuses provided by the dealers to the device users, and service persons (hereinafter referred to as "dealer-side service persons") who are dealers and perform services such as maintenance on the image forming apparatuses provided by the dealers to the device users, and administrators (hereinafter referred to as "sales company-side administrators") who are persons on the sales company side that provide image forming apparatuses to device users or manage dealers, and who manage the image forming apparatuses provided by the sales company to the device users or the image forming apparatuses provided by the dealers managed by the sales company to the device users, and service persons (hereinafter referred to as "sales company-side service persons") who are persons on the sales company side and perform services such as maintenance on the image forming apparatuses provided by the sales company to the device users or the image forming apparatuses provided by the dealers managed by the sales company to the device users.

[0032] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a group of image forming apparatuses in the information processing system 10.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatuses in the information processing system 10 are hierarchically managed by the device management system 20.

[0034] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 includes a delegated group 71 corresponding to a specific sales company. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may include a delegated group corresponding to each sales company in addition to the delegated group 71.

[0035] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 has a delegated group 72 corresponding to a specific dealer under the delegated group 71 corresponding to the sales company that manages this dealer. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may have a delegated group corresponding to a dealer under the delegated group corresponding to the sales company that manages this dealer, for each dealer.

[0036] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 has a group 73 corresponding to a specific device user under the delegated group 71 corresponding to the sales company that directly manages this device user. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may have a group corresponding to a device user under the delegated group corresponding to the sales company that directly manages this device user, for each device user.

[0037] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 has a group 74 to which at least some of the image forming apparatuses used by a specific device user belong, under the group 73 corresponding to this device user. For example, the group 74 is a group of image forming apparatuses existing in a specific business office of the device user corresponding to the group 73. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may have a group to which at least some of the image forming apparatuses used by a device user directly managed by a sales company belong, under the group corresponding to this device user.

[0038] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 has a group 75 corresponding to a specific device user under the delegated group 72 corresponding to the dealer that directly manages this device user. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may have a group corresponding to a device user under the delegated group corresponding to the dealer that directly manages this device user, for each device user.

[0039] The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 has a group 76 to which at least some of the image forming apparatuses used by a specific device user belong, provided under a group 75 corresponding to this device user. For example, the group 76 is a group of image forming apparatuses existing in a specific business office of the device user corresponding to the group 75. The hierarchical structure managed by the device management system 20 may have a group to which at least some of the image forming apparatuses used by a device user directly managed by a dealer belong, provided under the group corresponding to this device user.

[0040] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the device management system 20 when configured by one computer.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, the device management system 20 includes an operation unit 21 which is an operation device such as a keyboard, a mouse etc. into which various operations are input, a display unit 22 which is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for displaying various information, a communication unit 23 which is a communication device for communicating directly with an external device by wire or wirelessly via a network such as a LAN, the Internet etc., or without going through a network, and a storage unit 24 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) etc. for storing various information, and a control unit 25 for controlling the entire device management system 20.

[0042] The storage unit 24 can store a device management program 24a for managing the image forming apparatus. The device management program 24a may be installed in the device management system 20 at the manufacturing stage of the device management system 20, for example, or may be additionally installed in the device management system 20 from an external storage medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or may be additionally installed in the device management system 20 from the network.

[0043] The storage unit 24 stores authentication information 24b indicating information necessary for authenticating users of the device management system 20 for each user identification information (hereinafter referred to as "user ID").

[0044] The storage unit 24 stores authorization information 24c indicating the authority of users of the device management system 20 for each user ID. Examples of the authority of users of the device management system 20 include the authority of an administrator of the device management system 20 (hereinafter referred to as "system administrator"), the authority of a sales company side administrator of a specific sales company, the authority of a dealer side administrator of a specific dealer, the authority of a sales company side service person of a specific sales company, and the authority of a dealer side service person of a specific dealer.

[0045] The storage unit 24 stores address information 24d indicating the email address of users of the device management system 20 for each user ID.

[0046] The storage unit 24 stores group information 24e indicating information on groups managed by the device management system 20. The group information 24e includes, for example, information having a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 2.

[0047] The storage unit 24 stores device information 24f indicating information on image forming apparatuses managed by the device management system 20.

[0048] The storage unit 24 can store language settings 24g indicating languages used for various outputs, such as the display languages of a group setting editing screen, a test progress status screen, a package management screen, an impact notification screen, and a plan editing screen, which will be described later, for each delegated group.

[0049] The storage unit 24 can store a firmware package (hereinafter referred to as "F / W package") 24h of the image forming apparatus. The storage unit 24 can store at least one F / W package other than the F / W package 24h.

[0050] The storage unit 24 can store a manual F / W update task 24i which is an F / W update task in manual F / W update. The storage unit 24 can store at least one manual F / W update task other than the manual F / W update task 24i.

[0051] The storage unit 24 can store an automatic F / W update plan 24j which is a setting for automatically generating an automatic F / W update task that is an F / W update task in automatic F / W update. The storage unit 24 can store at least one automatic F / W update plan having the same configuration as the automatic F / W update plan 24j other than the automatic F / W update plan 24j.

[0052] The storage unit 24 can store an automatic F / W update group setting 24k which is a setting for each group to which the image forming apparatus belongs for executing automatic F / W update. The storage unit 24 can store an automatic F / W update group setting having the same configuration as the automatic F / W update group setting 24k for each group shown in FIG. 2.

[0053] The storage unit 24 can store an automatic F / W update task 24l. The storage unit 24 can store at least one automatic F / W update task other than the automatic F / W update task 24l. The storage unit 24 can store one automatic F / W update task for each image forming apparatus for each automatic F / W update plan.

[0054] The storage unit 24 can store a test F / W update task 24m which is an F / W update task for testing F / W update. The storage unit 24 can store at least one test F / W update task other than the test F / W update task 24m.

[0055] The storage unit 24 can store task information 24n indicating various information of the F / W update task.

[0056] 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) that serves as a volatile storage device for the working area of the CPU of the control unit 25. The CPU of the control unit 25 executes a program stored in the storage unit 24 or the ROM of the control unit 25.

[0057] By executing the device management program 24a, the control unit 25 realizes a login processing unit 25a that executes processing for the login of a user of the device management system 20, a package management unit 25b that manages F / W packages, a manual update unit 25c that executes manual F / W updates, an automatic update unit 25d that executes automatic F / W updates, a task management unit 25e that manages F / W update tasks, and a device management unit 25f that manages the image forming apparatus.

[0058] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the device information 24f.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 4, the device information 24f includes, for example, a device ID which is identification information of the image forming apparatus, a group ID which is identification information of the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs, a mediation device ID which is identification information of the mediation device that manages this image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus is a mediated image forming apparatus, information indicating the model of the image forming apparatus, information indicating whether or not F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the image forming apparatus, the type of release of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus (hereinafter, the type of release of the firmware is simply referred to as the "release type"), and the version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus (hereinafter, the version of the firmware is referred to as the "F / W version"), each for an image forming apparatus. Here, the release type includes "official" indicating that the firmware is an uncustomized official firmware, and "customize" indicating that the firmware is a customized firmware.

[0060] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the F / W package 24h.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 5, the F / W package 24h includes firmware, release type information indicating the release type of this firmware, F / W version information indicating the F / W version of this firmware, and target model information indicating the model of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter, the model of the image forming apparatus targeted by the firmware is referred to as the "target model") targeted by this firmware.

[0062] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the manual F / W update task 24i.

[0063] As shown in FIG. 6, the manual F / W update task 24i is set with, for example, the scheduled execution time of the manual F / W update task 24i (hereinafter, the scheduled execution time is simply referred to as the "scheduled execution time"), the target image forming apparatus of the manual F / W update task 24i, a link for downloading the F / W package targeted by the manual F / W update task 24i from the device management system 20 (hereinafter referred to as the "package download link"), and the F / W version of the firmware in the F / W package targeted by the manual F / W update task 24i. In the manual F / W update task 24i, the target image forming apparatus is represented by a device ID. The configurations of manual F / W update tasks other than the manual F / W update task 24i, the configuration of the automatic F / W update task, and the configuration of the test F / W update task are the same as the configuration of the manual F / W update task 24i.

[0064] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the automatic F / W update plan 24j.

[0065] As shown in FIG. 7, the automatic F / W update plan 24j includes an item "target F / W package" indicating the F / W package to be automatically updated, an item "target group" indicating the group to be automatically updated, an item "automatic F / W update mode" indicating the automatic F / W update mode, and an item "enabled / disabled" indicating whether the automatic F / W update plan 24j itself is enabled or disabled.

[0066] In the item "target F / W package", the F / W package is specified by, for example, the identification information of the F / W package (hereinafter referred to as the "package ID"). For example, in the example shown in FIG. 7, the F / W package specified by the package ID "P0001" is specified in the item "target F / W package".

[0067] The "Target Group" item can be specified with any of the following values: "All Accessible", which indicates all groups under the specified delegated group; "Exclusively Managed", which indicates all groups directly under the specified delegated group; and "Off", where groups are specified individually.

[0068] When "All Accessible" is specified in the "Target Group" item, any delegated group is further specified in the "Target Group" item. For example, in the example shown in Figure 7, "All Accessible" is specified in the "Target Group" item, and delegated group 71 is further specified in the "Target Group" item. When "All Accessible" and delegated group 71 are specified in the "Target Group" item, as shown in Figure 2, not only groups 73 and 74 corresponding to the device users directly managed by the sales company corresponding to delegated group 71, but also groups 75 and 76 corresponding to the device users directly managed by the dealers managed by this sales company will be the targets of automatic F / W update.

[0069] When "Exclusively Managed" is specified in the "Target Group" item, any delegated group is further specified in the "Target Group" item. For example, when "Exclusively Managed" and delegated group 71 are specified in the "Target Group" item, as shown in Figure 2, groups 73 and 74 corresponding to the device users directly managed by the sales company corresponding to delegated group 71 will be the targets of automatic F / W update, but groups 75 and 76 corresponding to the device users directly managed by the dealers managed by this sales company will not be the targets of automatic F / W update.

[0070] When "Off" is specified in the "Target Group" item, the groups targeted for automatic F / W update are further specified individually in the "Target Group" item.

[0071] For the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item, among all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update, by increasing the number of image forming apparatuses actually targeted for F / W update by one week at a time, the F / W update is executed for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update in four weeks in the "Gradually Update" mode, and it is possible to specify either the value of "Urgent Update" in which the F / W update is executed for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update in one week. That is, the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item is an item for specifying the speed of F / W update. Note that the default value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item is "Gradually Update".

[0072] FIG. 8 is a table showing the specific content of "Gradually Update" in the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 8, in the first week, an attempt is made to perform an F / W update on 2% of all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update. By the second week, an attempt is made to perform an F / W update on 15% of all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update, including the image forming apparatuses on which an update attempt was made in the first week. By the third week, an attempt is made to perform an F / W update on 50% of all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update, including the image forming apparatuses on which an update attempt was made by the second week. By the fourth week, it is set to attempt to perform an F / W update on all the image forming apparatuses targeted for automatic F / W update. As shown in FIG. 8, "Gradually Update" is a mode in which the speed of F / W update is increased by one week at a time. Note that "Urgent Update" is a mode in which the speed of F / W update does not change.

[0074] The "Enabled / Disabled" item shown in Fig. 7 can be specified with either a value of "Enabled" indicating that the automatic F / W update plan 24j itself is enabled, or a value of "Disabled" indicating that the automatic F / W update plan 24j itself is disabled. Note that the default value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item is "Enabled".

[0075] Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the automatic F / W update group setting 24k.

[0076] As shown in Fig. 9, the automatic F / W update group setting 24k includes an "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item indicating the setting of which automatic update plan to follow to generate an automatic F / W update task, a "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item indicating whether to permit automatic F / W update for each automatic F / W update plan for which the target group of the automatic F / W update group setting 24k is the target of the automatic F / W update, a "Notification Setting" item indicating the user to be notified by e-mail when an event related to an automatic F / W update plan for which the target group of the automatic F / W update group setting 24k is the target of the automatic F / W update occurs, an "Execution Time Zone Setting" item indicating the time zone to start the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update, and a "Pre-Print Setting" item indicating the setting related to pre-printing to print a notification of the execution of the automatic F / W update on the image forming apparatus targeted for the automatic F / W update before the execution of the automatic F / W update.

[0077] The "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item can be specified with any of the values of "ON" indicating to generate an automatic F / W update task according to all automatic F / W update plans, "OFF" indicating not to generate an automatic F / W update task without following any automatic F / W update plan, and "Selected" indicating to generate an automatic F / W update task according to the individually selected automatic F / W update plan. Note that the default value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item is "OFF".

[0078] For each automatic F / W update plan for which the target group of the automatic F / W update group setting 24k is the target of automatic F / W update, any one of the values of "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item, i.e., "Permission" indicating permission for automatic F / W update and "Prohibition" indicating non - permission for automatic F / W update, can be specified. In the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item, the automatic F / W update plan is indicated by identification information (hereinafter referred to as "Plan ID"). For example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, at least permission for automatic F / W update using the automatic F / W update plan specified by the plan ID of "PL0001" and non - permission for automatic F / W update using the automatic F / W update plan specified by the plan ID of "PL0003" are shown. Note that the default value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item is "Prohibition".

[0079] The "Notification Setting" item is specified by the user, for example, by the user ID. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 9, at least the user specified by the user ID of "U0001" and the user specified by the user ID of "U0005" are specified in the "Notification Setting" item. The users specified in the "Notification Setting" item are, for example, dealer - side service personnel and sales - company - side service personnel.

[0080] The "Execution Time Zone Setting" item includes a "Date Setting" item indicating the date to start the F / W update in the automatic F / W update, and a "Time Zone Setting" item indicating the time zone to start the F / W update in the automatic F / W update. The "Date Setting" item can be specified with either a value of "Every Day" indicating that the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update starts every day, or a value of "Day of the Week Specified" indicating that the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update starts on the specified day of the week. When "Day of the Week Specified" is specified in the "Date Setting" item, at least one day of the week to start the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update is further specified in the "Date Setting" item. For example, in the example shown in Figure 9, Saturday and Sunday are specified in the "Date Setting" item. Since the image forming apparatus cannot be used while the F / W update is being executed, it is preferable that the "Execution Time Zone Setting" item specifies a time zone with few problems even if the device user cannot use the image forming apparatus.

[0081] The "Pre-Print Setting" item includes a "Pre-Print Execution" item indicating the presence or absence of pre-print execution, and a "Language Setting" item indicating the language of the notification target for pre-print. The "Pre-Print Execution" item can be specified with either a value of "ON" indicating that pre-print is executed, or a value of "OFF" indicating that pre-print is not executed. Note that the default value of the "Pre-Print Execution" item is "OFF". The "Language Setting" item can be specified with either a value of "Language Set in the Delegated Group to which the Target Group of the Automatic F / W Update Group Setting 24k Belongs in the Language Setting 24g" indicating the language set in the language setting 24g in the delegated group to which the target group of the automatic F / W update group setting 24k belongs, or a value of "Specifically Specified Language". Note that the default value of the "Language Setting" item is "Language Set in the Delegated Group to which the Target Group of the Automatic F / W Update Group Setting 24k Belongs in the Language Setting 24g".

[0082] Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the task information 24n.

[0083] As shown in FIG. 10, the task information 24n includes, for example, a "Task ID" item indicating a task ID as identification information of the F / W update task, a "Generation Date and Time" item indicating the date and time of generation of the F / W update task, a "Task Type" item indicating the type of F / W update task such as "Manual F / W Update Task", "Automatic F / W Update Task", "Test F / W Update Task", etc., a "Status" item indicating the status of the F / W update task, a "Target Device" item indicating the image forming apparatus targeted by the F / W update task, and, when the F / W update task is an automatic F / W update task, a "Related Plan" item indicating the automatic F / W update plan that generated this automatic F / W update task. As the status indicated in the "Status" item, for example, there are "Pending" indicating the state before the execution of the F / W update task, "Cancelled" indicating the state where the execution of the F / W update task has been cancelled, "Waiting for Execution" indicating the state waiting for the execution of the F / W update task, "Executing" indicating the state where the F / W update task is being executed, "Success" indicating the state where the F / W update by the F / W update task has been successful, and "Failure" indicating the state where the F / W update by the F / W update task has failed. In the task information 24n, the image forming apparatus is represented by a device ID. In the task information 24n, the automatic F / W update plan is represented by a plan ID.

[0084] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the mediation-free image forming apparatus 30 when configured by an MFP.

[0085] As shown in FIG. 11, the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30 includes an operation unit 31 which is an input device such as a button for inputting various operations, a display unit 32 which is a display device such as an LCD for displaying various information, a printer 33 which is a printing device for printing an image on a recording medium such as paper, a scanner 34 which is a reading device for reading an image from a document, a facsimile communication unit 35 which is a facsimile device for performing facsimile communication via a communication line such as an external facsimile apparatus (not shown) and a public telephone line, a communication unit 36 which is a communication device for communicating with an external device directly by wire or wirelessly via a network such as a LAN or the Internet, or without passing through a network, a storage unit 37 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD for storing various information, and a control unit 38 for controlling the entire non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30, and is a computer.

[0086] The storage unit 37 can store firmware 37a for controlling the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30. The firmware 37a may be installed in the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30 at the manufacturing stage of the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30, may be additionally installed in the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory, or may be additionally installed in the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30 from the network.

[0087] The control unit 38 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM for storing programs and various data, and a RAM as a volatile storage device used as a working area of the CPU of the control unit 38. The CPU of the control unit 38 executes a program stored in the storage unit 37 or the ROM of the control unit 38.

[0088] The configuration of the image forming apparatus in the information processing system 10 is the same as the configuration of the non-intermediary image forming apparatus 30.

[0089] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the intermediary apparatus 40.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 12, the mediation device 40 includes an operation unit 41 which is an operation device such as a keyboard or a mouse for inputting various operations, a display unit 42 which is a display device such as an LCD for displaying various information, a communication unit 43 which is a communication device for communicating directly with an external device by wire or wirelessly via a network such as a LAN or the Internet or without going through a network, a storage unit 44 which is a non-volatile storage device such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD for storing various information, and a control unit 45 for controlling the entire mediation device 40.

[0091] The storage unit 44 can store a mediation program 44a for mediating between the device management system 20 and the mediation-enabled image forming apparatus. The mediation program 44a may be installed in the mediation device 40 at the manufacturing stage of the mediation device 40, for example, or may be additionally installed in the mediation device 40 from an external storage medium such as a USB memory, or may be additionally installed in the mediation device 40 from the network.

[0092] The storage unit 44 stores device information 44b indicating an image forming apparatus for which the mediation device 40 itself mediates between the device management system 20, that is, an image forming apparatus managed by the mediation device 40.

[0093] The storage unit 44 can store an F / W package 44c. The storage unit 44 can store at least one F / W package other than the F / W package 44c.

[0094] The storage unit 44 can store a manual F / W update task 44d. The storage unit 44 can store at least one manual F / W update task other than the manual F / W update task 44d.

[0095] The storage unit 44 can store an automatic F / W update task 44e. The storage unit 44 can store at least one automatic F / W update task other than the automatic F / W update task 44e.

[0096] The storage unit 44 can store the test F / W update task 44f. The storage unit 44 can store at least one test F / W update task other than the test F / W update task 44f.

[0097] The control unit 45 includes, for example, a CPU, a ROM that stores programs and various data, and a RAM that is used as a work area for the CPU of the control unit 45 and is a volatile storage device. The CPU of the control unit 45 executes a program stored in the storage unit 44 or the ROM of the control unit 45.

[0098] The control unit 45 realizes an F / W update unit 45a that executes an F / W update by executing an intermediary program 44a.

[0099] The configuration of the intermediary device in the information processing system 10 is the same as the configuration of the intermediary device 40.

[0100] Next, the operation of the information processing system 10 will be described.

[0101] First, the operation of the device management system 20 when updating the device information 24f will be described.

[0102] The non-intermediary image forming apparatus periodically transmits various information about itself, such as the release type and F / W version of the firmware installed in itself, to the device management system 20, for example, once a day. Also, the non-intermediary image forming apparatus transmits various information about itself, such as the release type and F / W version of the firmware installed in itself, to the device management system 20 even when starting the connection with the device management system 20. Therefore, each time information is transmitted from the non-intermediary image forming apparatus, the device management unit 25f of the device management system 20 updates the device information 24f based on the information transmitted from the non-intermediary image forming apparatus.

[0103] In addition, the mediation device periodically obtains various information about the image forming device with mediation it manages, such as the release type and F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming device with mediation, from this image forming device with mediation, for example, once a day, and each time it obtains the information, it transmits the obtained information to the device management system 20. Therefore, each time information is transmitted from the mediation device, the device management unit 25f of the device management system 20 updates the device information 24f based on the information transmitted from the mediation device.

[0104] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when logged in by a user will be described.

[0105] FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when logged in by a user.

[0106] A user of the device management system 20 can send a login request to the device management system 20 via the user terminal. Here, this request contains information necessary for authenticating the user of the device management system 20. When the control unit 25 of the device management system 20 receives a login request to the device management system 20, it executes the operation shown in FIG. 13.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 13, the login processing unit 25a determines whether the information necessary for authenticating the user of the device management system 20 included in the login request to the device management system 20 is included in the authentication information 24b (S101).

[0108] If the login processing unit 25a determines in S101 that the information included in the login request to the device management system 20 is included in the authentication information 24b, it returns a login success to the user terminal that is the source of the login request to the device management system 20 (S102), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 13.

[0109] If the login processing unit 25a determines in S101 that the information included in the login request to the device management system 20 is not included in the authentication information 24b, it returns a login failure to the user terminal that is the source of the login request to the device management system 20 (S103), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 13.

[0110] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when managing the F / W package will be described.

[0111] FIG. 14 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when managing the F / W package. FIG. 15 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 14.

[0112] A user who is logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request for display of a screen for managing the F / W package (hereinafter referred to as the "package management screen") (hereinafter referred to as the "package management screen display request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as the "target user terminal" in the description of FIGS. 14 and 15). When the control unit 25 of the device management system 20 receives the package management screen display request, it executes the operations shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0113] As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the package management unit 25b determines whether the authority of the user who sent the package management screen display request (hereinafter referred to as the "requester" in the description of FIGS. 14 and 15) is equal to or higher than that of a service person, based on the user ID of this requester and the authorization information 24c (S121). Here, the authorities equal to or higher than that of a service person include, for example, the authority of a dealer-side service person, the authority of a sales company-side service person, and the authority of an administrator or higher. The authorities of an administrator or higher include, for example, the authority of a dealer-side administrator, which is higher than the authority of a dealer-side service person, the authority of a dealer-side administrator, and the authority of a sales company-side administrator, which is higher than the authority of a sales company-side service person, and the authority of a system administrator, which is higher than the authority of a sales company-side administrator.

[0114] If the package management unit 25b determines in S121 that the authority of the requester is not higher than that of the service person, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to display the package management screen (S122), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0115] If the package management unit 25b determines in S121 that the authority of the requester is higher than that of the service person, it causes the target user terminal to display the package management screen by transmitting the data of the package management screen to the target user terminal (S123).

[0116] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the package management screen 510 displayed on the user terminal in the operations shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0117] As shown in FIG. 16, the package management screen 510 includes a list 511 showing a list of F / W packages stored in the storage unit 24, an upload button 512 for uploading the F / W package to the device management system 20, a delete button 513 for deleting the F / W package selected in the list 511 from the device management system 20, a publish button 514 for publishing the F / W package selected in the list 511, and an unpublish button 515 for unpublishing the F / W package selected in the list 511.

[0118] The list 511 includes, for each F / W package, a package ID, a release type of the firmware in the F / W package, an F / W version and a target model, and a publish state indicating whether it is published or not.

[0119] The delete button 513, the publish button 514, and the unpublish button 515 can be operated only when at least one F / W package is selected in the list 511.

[0120] As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, after the process of S123, the package management unit 25b determines whether the upload button 512 has been pressed (S124).

[0121] If the package management unit 25b determines in S124 that the upload button 512 has been pressed, it determines whether the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator based on the user ID of this requester and the authorization information 24c (S125). Here, authorities equal to or higher than that of an administrator include, for example, the authority of a dealer-side administrator, the authority of a sales company-side administrator which is higher than the authority of a dealer-side administrator, and the authority of a system administrator which is higher than the authority of a sales company-side administrator. On the other hand, authorities equal to or higher than that of an administrator do not include, for example, the authority of a dealer-side service person and the authority of a sales company-side service person.

[0122] If the package management unit 25b determines in S125 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to upload the F / W package (S126), and executes the process of S124.

[0123] If the package management unit 25b determines in S125 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display a package designation screen for allowing the user to designate the F / W package to be uploaded (S127). Here, the package designation screen is a screen that is closed when the F / W package is designated.

[0124] After the process of S127, the package management unit 25b determines whether the F / W package has been designated on the package designation screen until it determines that the F / W package has been designated on the package designation screen (S128).

[0125] When the package management unit 25b determines in S128 that the F / W package has been specified on the package specification screen, it accepts the upload of the F / W package specified on the package specification screen (S129). That is, the package management unit 25b stores the F / W package specified on the package specification screen in the storage unit 24.

[0126] After the process of S129, the package management unit 25b updates the package management screen so that the information shown in the list 511 becomes the latest information (S130), and executes the process of S124.

[0127] When the package management unit 25b determines in S124 that the upload button 512 has not been pressed, it determines whether the delete button 513 has been pressed (S131).

[0128] When it is determined in S131 that the delete button 513 has been pressed, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S132).

[0129] When the package management unit 25b determines in S132 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of the administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to delete the F / W package (S133), and executes the process of S124.

[0130] When the package management unit 25b determines in S132 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display a screen for notifying that it will affect the automatic F / W update (hereinafter referred to as the "impact notification screen") (S134).

[0131] FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the impact notification screen 520 displayed on the user terminal in the operations shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0132] As shown in FIG. 17, the impact notification screen 520 includes a message 521 indicating that there is an impact on the automatic F / W update, an OK button 522 for instructing the continuation of the process, and an NG button 523 for instructing the cancellation of the process. The impact notification screen 520 is a screen that is closed when the OK button 522 or the NG button 523 is pressed.

[0133] As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, after the process of S134, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the OK button has been pressed on the impact notification screen (S135).

[0134] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S135 that the OK button has not been pressed on the impact notification screen, it determines whether the NG button has been pressed on the impact notification screen (S136).

[0135] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S136 that the NG button has not been pressed on the impact notification screen, it executes the process of S135.

[0136] If it is determined in S135 that the OK button has been pressed on the impact notification screen, the package management unit 25b deletes the F / W package selected in the list 511 from the storage unit 24 when the delete button 513 is pressed (S137).

[0137] After the process of S137, the automatic update unit 25d changes the value of the "enabled / disabled" item of the automatic F / W update plan for which the F / W package deleted in S137 is the target of the automatic F / W update to "Warning", indicating that the automatic F / W update plan is not appropriate (S138).

[0138] Next, the automatic update unit 25d sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "Cancelled" for all the automatic F / W update tasks related to the automatic F / W update plan that targets the F / W package deleted in S137 and for which the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "Pending" (S139), and executes the process of S130.

[0139] If it is determined in S136 that the NG button has been pressed on the impact notification screen, or if it is determined in S131 that the delete button 513 has not been pressed, the package management unit 25b determines whether the publish button 514 has been pressed (S140).

[0140] If the package management unit 25b determines in S140 that the publish button 514 has been pressed, it determines whether the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S141).

[0141] If the package management unit 25b determines in S141 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to publish the F / W package (S142), and executes the process of S124.

[0142] If the package management unit 25b determines in S141 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it publishes the F / W package selected in the list 511 when the publish button 514 was pressed (S143).

[0143] After the process of S143, the package management unit 25b executes the process of S130.

[0144] If the package management unit 25b determines in S140 that the publish button 514 has not been pressed, it determines whether the unpublish button 515 has been pressed (S144).

[0145] When it is determined in S144 that the unpublish button 515 has been pressed, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S145).

[0146] When the package management unit 25b determines in S145 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of the administrator, the package management unit 25b causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to unpublish the F / W package (S146), and executes the process of S124.

[0147] When the package management unit 25b determines in S145 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator, the package management unit 25b causes the target user terminal to display an impact notification screen in the same manner as the process of S134 (S147).

[0148] After the process of S147, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the OK button has been pressed on the impact notification screen (S148).

[0149] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S148 that the OK button has not been pressed on the impact notification screen, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the NG button has been pressed on the impact notification screen (S149).

[0150] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S149 that the NG button has not been pressed on the impact notification screen, the automatic update unit 25d executes the process of S148.

[0151] When it is determined in S148 that the OK button has been pressed on the impact notification screen, the package management unit 25b unpublishes the F / W package selected in the list 511 when the unpublish button 515 was pressed (S150).

[0152] After the process of S150, the automatic update unit 25d changes the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item of the automatic F / W update plan for the F / W package unpublished in S150 to be the target of automatic F / W update to "Warning" (S151).

[0153] Next, for all the automatic F / W update tasks related to the automatic F / W update plan for the F / W package unpublished in S150 to be the target of automatic F / W update, where the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "Pending", the automatic update unit 25d sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "Cancelled" (S152), and executes the process of S130.

[0154] The package management unit 25b determines whether the package management screen 510 has been closed when it determines in S144 that the unpublish button 515 has not been pressed or determines in S149 that the NG button has been pressed on the impact notification screen (S153).

[0155] When the package management unit 25b determines in S153 that the package management screen 510 has not been closed, it executes the process of S124.

[0156] When the package management unit 25b determines in S153 that the package management screen 510 has been closed, it ends the operations shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0157] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when performing a manual F / W update will be described.

[0158] FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when performing a manual F / W update.

[0159] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request for manual F / W update settings (hereinafter referred to as "manual F / W update settings request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 18). When the manual update section 25c of the device management system 20 receives a manual F / W update settings request, it executes the operations shown in FIG. 18.

[0160] As shown in FIG. 18, the manual update section 25c determines whether the authority of the user who sent the manual F / W update settings request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the description of FIG. 18) is equal to or higher than that of a service person in the same manner as the process of S121 (S161).

[0161] If the manual update section 25c determines in S161 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of a service person, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to set the manual F / W update (S162), and ends the operations shown in FIG. 18.

[0162] If the manual update section 25c determines in S161 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of a service person, it causes the target user terminal to display a manual F / W update settings screen (hereinafter referred to as "manual F / W update settings screen") by sending the data of the manual F / W update settings screen to the target user terminal (S163).

[0163] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the manual F / W update settings screen 530 displayed on the user terminal in the operations shown in FIG. 18.

[0164] As shown in FIG. 19, the manual F / W update setting screen 530 includes a drop-down list 531 for selecting an image forming apparatus to be subject to manual F / W update, a drop-down list 532 for selecting an F / W package to be subject to manual F / W update, drop-down lists 533a, 533b, 533c, 533d, 533e for selecting "year", "month", "day", "hour", and "minute" of the scheduled execution time of manual F / W update respectively, a cancel button 534 for canceling the settings on the manual F / W update setting screen 530, and an execution button 535 for executing the settings on the manual F / W update setting screen 530. In the drop-down list 531, the image forming apparatus is represented by a device ID. In the drop-down list 532, the F / W package is represented by a package ID. The manual F / W update setting screen 530 is a screen that is closed when the cancel button 534 or the execution button 535 is pressed.

[0165] As shown in FIG. 18, after the process of S163, the manual update unit 25c determines whether the cancel button 534 has been pressed (S164).

[0166] If the manual update unit 25c determines in S164 that the cancel button 534 has been pressed, the operation shown in FIG. 18 ends.

[0167] If the manual update unit 25c determines in S164 that the cancel button 534 has not been pressed, it determines whether the execution button 535 has been pressed (S165).

[0168] If the manual update unit 25c determines in S165 that the execution button 535 has not been pressed, it executes the process of S164.

[0169] When it is determined in S165 that the execution button 535 has been pressed, the manual update unit 25c performs a manual F / W update task that uses the F / W package specified by the drop-down list 532 at the time when the execution button 535 was pressed on the image forming apparatus specified by the drop-down list 531 at the time when the execution button 535 was pressed. The manual update unit 25c sets the scheduled execution time specified by the drop-down lists 533a, 533b, 533c, 533d, 533e at the time when the execution button 535 was pressed and generates it on the storage unit 24 (S166).

[0170] After the process of S166, the manual update unit 25c adds the information of the manual F / W update task generated in S166 to the task information 24n (S167). Here, when adding information to the task information 24n in S167, the manual update unit 25c enters "Pending" as the value of the "Status" item in the information to be added.

[0171] After the process of S167, the manual update unit 25c ends the operation shown in FIG. 18.

[0172] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when the automatic F / W update group setting is edited will be described.

[0173] FIG. 20 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when the automatic F / W update group setting is edited. FIG. 21 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 20.

[0174] While logged in to the device management system 20, the user can request the start of editing the automatic F / W update group settings for a specific group shown in the group information 24e (hereinafter referred to as the "request to start editing group settings") via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as the "target user terminal" in the explanations of FIGS. 20 and 21 and the explanation of FIG. 23 to be described later) to the device management system 20. When the control unit 25 of the device management system 20 receives the request to start editing group settings, it executes the operations shown in FIGS. 20 and 21.

[0175] As shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the user who sent the request to start editing group settings (hereinafter referred to as the "requester" in the explanations of FIGS. 20 and 21 and the explanation of FIG. 23 to be described later) is equal to or higher than that of a service person in the same manner as the process of S121 (S181).

[0176] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S181 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of a service person, it determines whether the group targeted by the request to start editing group settings is within the scope of the requester's authority (S182).

[0177] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S181 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of a service person, or determines in S182 that the group targeted by the request to start editing group settings is not within the scope of the requester's authority, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to edit the automatic F / W update group settings for the group targeted by the request to start editing group settings (S183), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 20 and 21.

[0178] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S182 that the group targeted by the request to start editing group settings is within the scope of the requester's authority, it causes the target user terminal to display a group settings editing screen by transmitting the data of the screen for editing the automatic F / W update group settings (hereinafter referred to as the "group settings editing screen") to the target user terminal (S184).

[0179] FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a group setting edit screen 600 displayed on a user terminal in the operations shown in FIGS. 20 and 21.

[0180] As shown in FIG. 22, the group setting edit screen 600 includes an area 610 for editing the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, an area 630 for editing the "Execution Time Zone Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, an area 660 for editing the "Pre-Print Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a cancel button 671 for canceling the editing in the group setting edit screen 600, and a save button 672 for saving the content edited in the group setting edit screen 600.

[0181] The area 610 includes a radio button 611 for designating "ON" as the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a radio button 612 for designating "OFF" as the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a radio button 613 for designating "Select" as the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, and an area 620 that is operable only when the radio button 613 is selected. Only one of the radio buttons 611 to 613 is always selected.

[0182] The area 620 includes an area 621 for editing the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, an area 622 for editing the "Notification Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, and an area 623 for executing a test of the F / W update.

[0183] Area 621 includes a list 621a showing a list of automatic F / W update plans set in the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a radio button 621b for designating "Permission" indicating permission for automatic F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan shown in list 621a, and a radio button 621c for designating "Prohibition" indicating non - permission for automatic F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan shown in list 621a. In list 621a, the automatic F / W update plan is represented by a plan ID. The automatic update unit 25d shows in list 621a the automatic F / W update plans for which the target group of the group setting screen 600 is the target of automatic F / W update, regardless of whether the automatic F / W update plan is in an effective, invalid, or Warning state. The radio button 621b and the radio button 621c are arranged for each automatic F / W update plan shown in list 621a. For each automatic F / W update plan, only one of the radio button 621b and the radio button 621c is always selected.

[0184] Area 622 includes a list 622a showing a list of users who can be set in the "Notification Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a drop - down list 622b for selecting a user to add to list 622a, an add button 622c for adding the user selected in the drop - down list 622b to list 622a, and a delete button 622d for deleting the user selected in list 622a from list 622a. In list 622a and the drop - down list 622b, the user is represented by a user ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the users included in the address information 24d in the drop - down list 622b.

[0185] The area 623 includes a drop-down list 623a for selecting an automatic F / W update plan that executes a test of the F / W update, a drop-down list 623b for selecting an image forming apparatus to be the target of the F / W update test, and a test execution button 623c for executing the F / W update test. In the drop-down list 623a, the automatic F / W update plan is represented by a plan ID. In the drop-down list 623b, the image forming apparatus is represented by a device ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the automatic F / W update plans in which the target group of the group setting edit screen 600 is the target of the automatic F / W update in the drop-down list 623a regardless of whether the automatic F / W update plan is in an effective, invalid, or Warning state. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the image forming apparatuses of the target models of the F / W packages of the automatic F / W update plan selected by the drop-down list 623a among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the target group of the group setting edit screen 600 in the drop-down list 623b based on the device information 24f.

[0186] The area 630 includes an area 640 for editing the "day setting" item of the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting and an area 650 for editing the "time zone setting" item of the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting.

[0187] Area 640 includes a radio button 641 for specifying "every day" as the value of the "day setting" item in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, a radio button 642 for specifying "day of the week specified" as the value of the "day setting" item in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, and an area 643 that is operable only when the radio button 642 is selected. Only one of the radio buttons 641 and 642 is always selected. Area 643 includes check boxes 643a, 643b, 643c, 643d, 643e, 643f, and 643g for specifying "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", and "Sunday", respectively, as the value of the "day setting" item in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting.

[0188] Area 650 includes a drop-down list 651 for specifying the start date of the time zone that is the value of the "time zone setting" item in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, and a drop-down list 652 for specifying the end date of the time zone that is the value of the "time zone setting" item in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting.

[0189] Area 660 includes an area 661 for editing the "pre-printing presence / absence" item in the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting, and an area 662 for editing the "language setting" item in the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting.

[0190] Area 661 includes radio buttons 661a and 661b for specifying "ON" and "OFF", respectively, as the value of the "pre-printing presence / absence" item in the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting. Only one of the radio buttons 661a and 661b is always selected.

[0191] The area 662 includes a drop-down list 662a for specifying the value of the "Language Setting" item in the "Pre-print Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting. The automatic update unit 25d can display, in the drop-down list 662a, the "Language set in the delegated group to which the target group of the group setting edit screen 600 belongs" indicating the language set in the language setting 24g and several specific languages.

[0192] As shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, after the process of S184, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the test execution button 623c has been pressed (S185).

[0193] If it is determined in S185 that the test execution button 623c has been pressed, the automatic update unit 25d starts the execution of the F / W update test for the image forming apparatus selected in the drop-down list 623b at the time when the test execution button 623c was pressed, using the F / W package targeted by the automatic F / W update plan selected in the drop-down list 623a at the time when the test execution button 623c was pressed (S186).

[0194] If it is determined in S185 that the test execution button 623c has not been pressed or when the process of S186 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the cancel button 671 has been pressed (S187).

[0195] If it is determined in S187 that the cancel button 671 has not been pressed, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the save button 672 has been pressed (S188).

[0196] If it is determined in S188 that the save button 672 has not been pressed, the automatic update unit 25d executes the process of S185.

[0197] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S188 that the save button 672 has been pressed, it saves, as the automatic F / W update group setting, the content edited on the group setting edit screen 600 at the time when the save button 672 was pressed, to the storage unit 24 (S189). Here, when the radio button 613 is not selected on the group setting edit screen 600 at the time when the save button 672 is pressed, the automatic update unit 25d does not store the values of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item and the "Notification Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting to be saved in S189.

[0198] After the process of S189, when the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is not newly created, that is, when the existing automatic F / W update group setting has been edited, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the value of the "Execution Time Zone Setting" item or the "Pre-Print Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed by the save in S189 (S190).

[0199] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S190 that neither the value of the "Execution Time Zone Setting" item nor the value of the "Pre-Print Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed by the save in S189, it determines whether the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is "OFF" (S191).

[0200] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S190 that the value of the "Execution time zone setting" item or the "Pre-print setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed by the save in S189, or determines in S191 that the value of the "Automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is "OFF", for all automatic F / W update tasks in which the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "Pending" among the automatic F / W update tasks targeting the target group of the group setting edit screen 600, the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is set to "Cancelled" (S192).

[0201] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S191 that the value of the "Automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is not "OFF", it determines whether there is an automatic F / W update plan in which the value of the "Automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan permission / Prohibition" item is "Prohibited" (S193).

[0202] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S193 that there is an automatic F / W update plan in which the value of the "Automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan permission / Prohibition" item is "Prohibited", for all automatic F / W update tasks in which the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "Pending" among the automatic F / W update tasks related to the automatic F / W update plan in which the value of the "Plan permission / Prohibition" item in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 is "Prohibited" and targeting the target group of the group setting edit screen 600, the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is set to "Cancelled" (S194).

[0203] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S187 whether the cancel button 671 has been pressed, or determines in S193 that there is no automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting saved in S189 where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item is "Prohibited". When the processing of S192 or S194 is completed, the display of the group setting editing screen 600 is terminated on the target user terminal (S195), and the operations shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 are terminated.

[0204] Note that the operations shown in FIGS. 20 and 21 are the operations of the device management system 20 when editing the automatic F / W update group setting of a specific group. However, the device management system 20 can similarly edit the automatic F / W update group settings of multiple groups simultaneously.

[0205] FIG. 23 is a flowchart of the operations of the device management system 20 when executing a test of F / W update.

[0206] When the automatic update unit 25d executes the process of S186 shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, as shown in FIG. 23, it displays a test progress status screen indicating the progress status of the F / W update test on the target user terminal (S201). Here, the automatic update unit 25d subsequently shows the progress status of the F / W update test on the test progress status screen at an appropriate timing, such as the timing when a change occurs in the progress status. Note that the test progress status screen can be closed by the user of the target user terminal.

[0207] After the process of S201, when the test execution button 623c is pressed, the automatic update unit 25d generates a test F / W update task on the storage unit 24 to be executed using the F / W package targeted by the automatic F / W update plan selected in the dropdown list 623a at the time when the test execution button 623c is pressed, for the image forming apparatus selected in the dropdown list 623b at the time when the test execution button 623c is pressed (S202). Here, the test F / W update task is an F / W update task that is immediately executed when the F / W update in the target image forming apparatus is executable. Therefore, the automatic update unit 25d does not set a specific execution scheduled time for the test F / W update task.

[0208] After the process of S202, the automatic update unit 25d adds the information of the test F / W update task generated in S202 to the task information 24n (S203). Here, when the automatic update unit 25d adds information to the task information 24n in S203, it enters "Pending" as the value of the "Status" item in the information to be added.

[0209] After the process of S203, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether or not the execution of the test F / W update task generated in S202 has ended until it determines that the execution of the test F / W update task generated in S202 has ended (S204). Here, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the execution of the test F / W update task generated in S202 has ended when the value of the "Status" item of the task information 24n regarding the test F / W update task generated in S202 becomes "Cancelled", "Success", or "Failure".

[0210] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S204 that the execution of the test F / W update task generated in S202 has ended, it determines whether or not the test progress status screen is closed (S205).

[0211] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S205 that the test progress status screen is not closed, it displays the update result obtained by executing the test F / W update task generated in S202 on the test progress status screen (S206).

[0212] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S205 that the test progress status screen is closed, or when the process of S206 ends, it notifies the update result obtained by executing the test F / W update task generated in S202 to the e-mail address of the requester stored in the address information 24d (S207), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 23.

[0213] The user who has confirmed the result displayed on the test progress status screen in S206 or the result notified in S207 can, for example, in the result displayed on the test progress status screen in S206 or the result notified in S207, if the update is successful, set the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan of the test target to "Permit" via the group setting edit screen, and if the update fails in the result displayed on the test progress status screen in S206 or the result notified in S207, set the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan of the test target to "Prohibit" via the group setting edit screen.

[0214] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when the automatic F / W update plan is edited will be described.

[0215] FIG. 24 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when the automatic F / W update plan is edited. FIG. 25 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 24. FIG. 26 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 25.

[0216] A user who is logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request to start editing the automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter referred to as "plan editing start request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the descriptions of FIGS. 24 to 26). When the control unit 25 of the device management system 20 receives the plan editing start request, it executes the operations shown in FIGS. 24 to 26.

[0217] As shown in FIGS. 24 to 26, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the user who sent the plan editing start request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the descriptions of FIGS. 24 to 26) is equal to or higher than that of an administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S221).

[0218] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S221 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to edit the automatic F / W update plan (S222), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 24 to 26.

[0219] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S221 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display the plan editing screen by sending the data of the screen for editing the automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter referred to as "plan editing screen") to the target user terminal (S223).

[0220] FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of the plan editing screen 700 displayed on the user terminal in the operations shown in FIGS. 24 to 26.

[0221] As shown in FIG. 27, the plan editing screen 700 includes an area 710 for editing the "Target F / W Package" item in the automatic F / W update plan, an area 720 for editing the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan, an area 760 for editing the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan, an area 770 for editing the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan, a cancel button 781 for canceling the editing on the plan editing screen 700, and a save button 782 for saving the content edited on the plan editing screen 700.

[0222] The area 710 includes a drop-down list 711 for selecting the F / W package set for the "Target F / W Package" item in the automatic F / W update plan. In the drop-down list 711, the F / W package is represented by the package ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the F / W packages uploaded to the device management system 20, that is, the F / W packages stored in the storage unit 24 that are published and have a firmware release type of "Official", in the drop-down list 711.

[0223] The area 720 includes a radio button 721 for specifying "All Accessible" as the value of the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan, a radio button 722 for specifying "Exclusively Managed" as the value of the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan, a radio button 723 for specifying "Off" as the value of the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan, an area 730 that is operable only when the radio button 721 is selected, an area 740 that is operable only when the radio button 722 is selected, and an area 750 that is operable only when the radio button 723 is selected. Only one of the radio buttons 721 to 723 is always selected.

[0224] Area 730 includes a drop-down list 731 for selecting a delegated group set in the "Target Group" item when "All Accessible" is specified in the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan. In the drop-down list 731, the delegated group is represented by a group ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the delegated groups within the scope of the requester's authority in the drop-down list 731 based on the group information 24e.

[0225] Area 740 includes a drop-down list 741 for selecting a delegated group set in the "Target Group" item when "Exclusively Managed" is specified in the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan. In the drop-down list 741, the delegated group is represented by a group ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the delegated groups within the scope of the requester's authority in the drop-down list 741 based on the group information 24e.

[0226] Area 750 includes a list 751 showing a list of groups that can be set in the "Target Group" item when "Off" is specified in the "Target Group" item in the automatic F / W update plan, a radio button 752 for designating "Select" indicating selection of the group shown in the list 751, and a radio button 753 for designating "Deselect" indicating non-selection of the group shown in the list 751. In the list 751, the group is represented by a group ID. The automatic update unit 25d shows the groups within the scope of the requester's authority in the list 751 based on the group information 24e. The radio button 752 and the radio button 753 are arranged for each group shown in the list 751. For each group, only one of the radio button 752 and the radio button 753 is always selected.

[0227] The area 760 includes a radio button 761 for designating "Update Immediately" as the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan, and a radio button 762 for designating "Update Gradually" as the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan. Only one of the radio buttons 761 to 762 is always selected.

[0228] The area 770 includes a radio button 771 for designating "Enabled" as the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan, and a radio button 772 for designating "Disabled" as the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan. Only one of the radio buttons 771 to 772 is always selected.

[0229] As shown in FIGS. 24 to 26, after the process of S223, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the cancel button 781 has been pressed (S224).

[0230] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S224 that the cancel button 781 has not been pressed, it determines whether the save button 782 has been pressed (S225).

[0231] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S225 that the save button 782 has not been pressed, it executes the process of S224.

[0232] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S225 that the save button 782 has been pressed, it stores, as an automatic F / W update plan, the content edited on the plan editing screen 700 at the time when the save button 782 was pressed in the storage unit 24 (S226).

[0233] After the process of S226, the automatic update unit 25d specifies the group to be automatically updated based on the information indicated in the "target group" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 (S227).

[0234] After the process of S227, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is newly created (S228).

[0235] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S228 that the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is newly created, it determines whether the value of the "enabled / disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is "enabled" (S229).

[0236] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S229 that the value of the "enabled / disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is "enabled", it determines whether there is a group in which the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected" in the group to be automatically updated specified in S227 (S230).

[0237] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S230 that a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, the automatic update unit 25d notifies, to the email address stored in the address information 24d of the user indicated in the "Notification Setting" item of the automatic F / W update group setting of the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, that the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been newly created (S231). Therefore, the user who has received the notification in S231 can, for example, set the value of the "Plan Approval / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to "Approved" via the group setting edit screen in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227. Note that when the automatic update unit 25d sends an email notification in S231 to the email address of the user indicated in the "Notification Setting" item of the automatic F / W update group setting of the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected", the automatic update unit 25d attaches a link to the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the page of the group setting edit screen of this automatic F / W update group setting to this email.

[0238] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S228 that the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is not newly created, that is, the existing automatic F / W update plan has been edited, the automatic update unit 25d resets all of the flags 1 to 6 (S232).

[0239] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the value of the "target F / W package" item in the automatic F / W update plan has been changed by the save in S226 (S233).

[0240] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S233 that the value of the "target F / W package" item in the automatic F / W update plan has been changed by the save in S226, it sets flag 1 (S234).

[0241] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether a group in which the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227 (S235).

[0242] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S235 that a group in which the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, it sets flags 2 and 4 (S236).

[0243] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S233 that the value of the "target F / W package" item in the automatic F / W update plan has not been changed by the save in S226, or determines in S235 that a group in which the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected" does not exist in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, or if the process of S236 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether a new group has been added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the save in S226 (S237).

[0244] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S237 that a new group has been added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the saving in S226, it determines whether there is a group in the group newly added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the saving in S226 for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" (S238).

[0245] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S238 that there is a group in the group newly added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the saving in S226 for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected", it sets flag 3 (S239).

[0246] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S237 that no new group has been added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the saving in S226, or when it determines in S238 that there is no group in the group newly added to the group targeted for automatic F / W update by the saving in S226 for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected", or when the process of S239 ends, it determines whether the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan has been changed by the saving in S226 (S240).

[0247] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S240 that the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan has been changed by the saving in S226, it sets flag 1 (S241).

[0248] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227 (S242).

[0249] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S242 that a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, it sets flags 2 and 5 (S243).

[0250] The automatic update unit 25d determines whether the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the automatic F / W update plan has been changed by the save in S226 in S240, or determines in S242 that a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" does not exist in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, or determines whether the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been changed to "Enabled" by the save in S226 after the process of S243 ends (S244).

[0251] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S244 that the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been changed to "Enabled" by the save in S226, it determines whether a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227 (S245).

[0252] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S245 that a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group of targets for automatic F / W update identified in S227, it sets flag 6 (S246).

[0253] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S244 that the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has not been changed to "Enabled" by the save in S226, it determines whether the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been changed to "Disabled" by the save in S226 (S247).

[0254] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S247 that the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been changed to "Disabled" by the save in S226, it sets flag 1 (S248).

[0255] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group of targets for automatic F / W update identified in S227 (S249).

[0256] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S249 that a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" exists in the group of targets for automatic F / W update identified in S227, it sets flag 2 (S250).

[0257] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S245 whether a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" does not exist in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, or whether the process of S246 ends, or determines in S247 whether the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has not been changed to "Disabled" by the save in S226, or determines in S249 whether a group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" does not exist in the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, or, when the process of S250 ends, determines whether flag 2 is set (S251).

[0258] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S251 that flag 2 is set, in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, it sets the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to "Prohibited" (S252).

[0259] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S251 that flag 2 is not set, or when the process of S252 ends, it determines whether flag 1 is set (S253).

[0260] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S253 that flag 1 is set, for all automatic F / W update tasks in which the value of the "Status" item in task information 24n is "Pending" among the automatic F / W update tasks related to the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226, it sets the value of the "Status" item in task information 24n to "Cancelled" (S254).

[0261] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S253 that flag 1 is not set, or when the process of S254 ends, it determines whether flag 3 is set (S255).

[0262] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S255 that flag 3 is set, among the groups newly added by the save in S226 to the group targeted for automatic F / W update, for the users indicated in the "Notification Settings" item of the automatic F / W update group settings of the groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group settings is "Selected", to the email addresses stored in the address information 24d, it notifies that this group has been newly added to the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 (S256). Therefore, the user who receives the notification in S256 can, for example, set the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to "Permit" via the group settings edit screen in the automatic F / W update group settings of the groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group settings is "Selected" among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update specified in S227. Note that when the automatic update unit 25d sends an email notification in S256 to the email addresses of the users indicated in the "Notification Settings" item of the automatic F / W update group settings of the groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group settings is "Selected", it attaches a link to the URL of the page of the group settings edit screen of this automatic F / W update group settings to this email.

[0263] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S255 that flag 3 is not set, or when the process of S256 ends, it determines whether any of flags 4 to 6 is set (S257).

[0264] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S257 that any of the flags 4 to 6 is set, it creates an e-mail addressed to the e-mail address stored in the address information 24d of the user indicated in the "notification setting" item of the automatic F / W update group setting for the group targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, where the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected" (S258). Note that the automatic update unit 25d attaches a link to the URL of the page of the group setting edit screen of the automatic F / W update group setting for the group where the value of the "automatic F / W update setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "selected", among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update identified in S227, to this e-mail.

[0265] When the process of S258 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether flag 4 is set (S259).

[0266] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S259 that flag 4 is set, it adds a statement indicating that the F / W package has been changed in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to the body of the e-mail created in S258 (S260).

[0267] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S259 that flag 4 is not set or when the process of S260 ends, it determines whether flag 5 is set (S261).

[0268] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S261 that flag 5 is set, it adds a statement indicating that the automatic F / W update mode has been changed in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to the body of the e-mail created in S258 (S262).

[0269] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S261 that flag 5 is not set, or when the process of S262 ends, it determines whether flag 6 is set (S263).

[0270] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S263 that flag 6 is set, it adds to the body of the email created in S258 that the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 has been changed to "valid" (S264).

[0271] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S263 that flag 6 is not set, or when the process of S264 ends, it sends the email created in S258 (S265). Therefore, the user who receives the email sent in S265 can, for example, set the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 to "Permit" via the group setting edit screen in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" among the groups targeted for automatic F / W update specified in S227.

[0272] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S224 that the cancel button 781 has been pressed, or when it determines in S229 that the value of the "Valid / Invalid" item in the automatic F / W update plan saved in S226 is not "Valid", i.e., is "Invalid", or when it determines in S230 that the group in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" does not exist in the group targeted for automatic F / W update specified in S227, or when the process of S231 ends, or when it determines in S257 that none of flags 4 to 6 are set, or when the process of S265 ends, it ends the display of the plan edit screen 700 on the target user terminal (S266) and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 24 to 26.

[0273] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting the automatic F / W update plan will be described.

[0274] FIG. 28 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting the automatic F / W update plan.

[0275] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request to delete the automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter referred to as "plan deletion request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 28). When the device management system 20 receives the plan deletion request, it executes the operation shown in FIG. 28.

[0276] As shown in FIG. 28, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the user who sent the plan deletion request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the description of FIG. 28) is equal to or higher than that of an administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S271).

[0277] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S271 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to delete the automatic F / W update plan (S272), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 28.

[0278] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S271 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it deletes the target automatic F / W update plan of the plan deletion request from the storage unit 24 (S273).

[0279] Next, for all the automatic F / W update tasks associated with the automatic F / W update plan deleted in S273 in the task information 24n, the automatic update unit 25d sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "Cancelled" (S274), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 28.

[0280] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when starting the execution of the automatic F / W update will be described.

[0281] FIG. 29 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when starting the execution of the automatic F / W update.

[0282] When a new automatic F / W update plan with the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item being "Enabled" is newly stored in the storage unit 24, the automatic update unit 25d executes the operation shown in FIG. 29 for this automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter, referred to as the "target automatic F / W update plan" in the description of FIG. 29). Also, when the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item of an existing automatic F / W update plan is changed to "Enabled", the automatic update unit 25d executes the operation shown in FIG. 29 for this automatic F / W update plan. Note that when the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item of an existing automatic F / W update plan is changed to "Disabled", the automatic update unit 25d terminates the execution of the operation shown in FIG. 29 for this automatic F / W update plan.

[0283] As shown in FIG. 29, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether there is a group in the group of targets for the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter, simply referred to as the "target group" in the description of FIG. 29) in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON" (S276). Note that the automatic update unit 25d identifies the target group based on the information indicated in the "Target Group" item in the target automatic F / W update plan.

[0284] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S276 that there is a group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON", it starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the groups among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON" (S277).

[0285] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S276 that there is no group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON", or when the process of S277 ends, it determines whether there is a group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted" (S278).

[0286] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S278 that there is a group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted", it starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the groups among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted" (S279).

[0287] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S278 whether there is no group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted", or when the process of S279 ends, determines whether there is a group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "ON" (S280).

[0288] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S280 that there is a group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "ON", it starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "ON" (S281).

[0289] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S280 that there is no group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "ON", or when the process of S281 ends, it determines whether there is a group among the target groups in which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "Permitted" (S282).

[0290] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S282 that there is a group among the target groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "Permitted", the automatic update unit 25d starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the group among the target groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "Permitted" (S283).

[0291] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S282 that there is no group among the target groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting has been changed to "Permitted", or when the process of S283 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether a new group has been added to the target group (S284).

[0292] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S284 that a new group has been added to the target group, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether there is a new group among the target groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON" (S285).

[0293] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S285 that there is a new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON", it starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON" (S286).

[0294] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S285 that there is no new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "ON", or when the process of S286 ends, it determines whether there is a new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted" (S287).

[0295] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S287 that there is a new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted", it starts the execution of the automatic F / W update based on the target automatic F / W update plan for the new group among the target groups for which the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted" (S288).

[0296] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S284 whether no new group has been newly added to the target group, or determines in S287 whether there is no new group among the target groups where the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan in the automatic F / W update group setting is "Permitted", or executes the process of S280 when the process of S288 ends.

[0297] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when executing the automatic F / W update will be described.

[0298] FIG. 30 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when executing the automatic F / W update. FIG. 31 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 30.

[0299] The automatic update unit 25d executes the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 for each combination of a group and an automatic F / W update plan. Note that when the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group targeted by the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 (hereinafter simply referred to as the "targeted group" in the descriptions of FIGS. 30 and 31) is changed to "OFF", the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 are terminated. Also, when the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the targeted group is "Selected", and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the automatic F / W update plan targeted by the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 (hereinafter simply referred to as the "targeted automatic F / W update plan" in the descriptions of FIGS. 30 and 31) in this automatic F / W update group setting is changed to "Prohibited", the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 are also terminated. Further, when the value of the "Enabled / Disabled" item in the targeted automatic F / W update plan is changed to "Disabled", the operations shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 are also terminated.

[0300] As shown in FIGS. 30 and 31, the automatic update unit 25d determines the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item of the targeted automatic F / W update plan (S291).

[0301] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S291 that the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item of the targeted automatic F / W update plan is "Gradual Update", it extracts the image forming apparatuses for which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted among all the image forming apparatuses belonging to the targeted group (S292). Here, the automatic update unit 25d determines the image forming apparatuses belonging to the targeted group based on the device information 24f.

[0302] After the process of S292, the automatic update unit 25d extracts image forming apparatuses in which the release type of the installed firmware is "official" from all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S292 (S293).

[0303] Next, the automatic update unit 25d extracts, from all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S293, image forming apparatuses in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the firmware in the F / W package set in the "target F / W package" item in the target automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter simply referred to as "target firmware" in the descriptions of FIGS. 30 and 31). (S294).

[0304] Next, for all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S294, the automatic update unit 25d generates an automatic F / W update task based on the target automatic F / W update plan so that the F / W update is executed over four weeks as shown in FIG. 8, and sets the scheduled execution time of this automatic F / W update task on the storage unit 24. (S295). Here, the automatic update unit 25d sets the scheduled execution time of the automatic F / W update task within the time zone indicated in the "execution time zone setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the target group.

[0305] After the process of S295, the automatic update unit 25d adds the information of the automatic F / W update task generated in S295 to the task information 24n. (S296). Here, when adding information to the task information 24n in S296, the automatic update unit 25d enters "pending" as the value of the "Status" item in the information to be added.

[0306] After the process of S296, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether four weeks have elapsed since the start of the immediately preceding process of S295. (S297).

[0307] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S297 that four weeks have not elapsed since the start of the process of the immediately preceding S295, it determines whether a cancellation due to a specific cause has occurred in any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S295 (S298). The "cancellation due to a specific cause" in S298 includes cancellation due to a change in the value of the "execution time zone setting" item or the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting (YES in S190 and S192), cancellation due to a change in the target F / W package in the automatic F / W update plan (YES in S233 and S254), and cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode in the automatic F / W update plan (YES in S240 and S254).

[0308] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S298 that a cancellation due to a specific cause has occurred in any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S295, it determines whether the cancellation determined to have occurred in S298 is a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode (S299).

[0309] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S299 that the cancellation determined to have occurred in S298 is a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode, it executes the process of S291.

[0310] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S299 that the cancellation determined to have occurred in S298 is not a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode, it executes the process of S292.

[0311] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S298 that no cancellation due to a specific cause has occurred in any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S295, it executes the process of S297.

[0312] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S291 that the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Mode" item in the target automatic F / W update plan is "Update Immediately", or determines in S297 that four weeks have elapsed since the start of the process in the immediately preceding S295, it extracts image forming apparatuses in which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted, from among all the image forming apparatuses belonging to the target group (S300). Here, the automatic update unit 25d determines the image forming apparatuses belonging to the target group based on the device information 24f.

[0313] After the process of S300, the automatic update unit 25d extracts, from among all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S300, image forming apparatuses in which the release type of the installed firmware is "Official" (S301).

[0314] Next, the automatic update unit 25d extracts, from among all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S301, image forming apparatuses in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the target firmware (S302).

[0315] Next, for all the image forming apparatuses extracted in S302, the automatic update unit 25d generates an automatic F / W update task based on the target automatic F / W update plan so that the F / W update is executed over a period of one week, and sets the scheduled execution time of this automatic F / W update task and stores it on the storage unit 24 (S303).

[0316] After the process of S303, the automatic update unit 25d adds the information of the automatic F / W update task generated in S303 to the task information 24n (S304). Here, when adding information to the task information 24n in S304, the automatic update unit 25d enters "Pending" as the value of the "Status" item in the information to be added.

[0317] After the process of S304, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether one week has elapsed since the start of the process of the immediately preceding S303 (S305).

[0318] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S305 that one week has not elapsed since the start of the process of the immediately preceding S303, it determines whether any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S303 has been canceled due to a specific cause (S306). The "cancellation due to a specific cause" in S306 is the same as the "cancellation due to a specific cause" in S298.

[0319] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S306 that any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S303 has been canceled due to a specific cause, it determines whether the cancellation determined to have occurred in S306 is a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode (S307).

[0320] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S307 that the cancellation determined to have occurred in S306 is a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode, it executes the process of S291.

[0321] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S307 that the cancellation determined to have occurred in S306 is not a cancellation due to a change in the automatic F / W update mode, it executes the process of S300.

[0322] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S306 that any of the automatic F / W update tasks generated in the immediately preceding S303 has not been canceled due to a specific cause, it executes the process of S305.

[0323] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S305 that one week has elapsed since the start of the process of the immediately preceding S303, it executes the process of S300.

[0324] As described with reference to FIGS. 30 and 31, for "update immediately", the length of one cycle of executing one automatically generated F / W update task for all the image forming apparatuses in the target group is always one week from the first cycle. For "update gradually", the length of one cycle is four weeks for the first cycle, but always one week from the second cycle onwards.

[0325] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when managing the automatic F / W update task will be described.

[0326] FIG. 32 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when managing the automatic F / W update task.

[0327] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request for displaying a screen for managing the automatic F / W update task (hereinafter referred to as the "task management screen") (hereinafter referred to as the "task management screen display request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as the "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 32). When the automatic update unit 25d of the device management system 20 receives the task management screen display request, it executes the operation shown in FIG. 32.

[0328] As shown in FIG. 32, the automatic update unit 25d causes the target user terminal to display the task management screen by transmitting the data of the task management screen to the target user terminal (S311).

[0329] FIG. 33 is a diagram showing an example of the task management screen 810 displayed on the user terminal in the operation shown in FIG. 32.

[0330] As shown in FIG. 33, the task management screen 810 includes a list 811 showing a list of automatic F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24, text boxes 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d into which text used for a search filter for searching for an automatic F / W update task is input, and a "Cancel Selected Task" button 813 for canceling the automatic F / W update task selected in the list 811.

[0331] The list 811 shows, for each automatic F / W update task, for example, the task ID of the automatic F / W update task, "Status" indicating the status of the automatic F / W update task, "Serial number" which is identification information of the image forming apparatus targeted by the automatic F / W update task and is information set by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, "Asset number" which is identification information of the image forming apparatus targeted by the automatic F / W update task and is information set by the device user, and "Group" indicating the group to which the image forming apparatus targeted by the automatic F / W update task belongs. In the list 811, the group is represented by a group ID. The automatic update unit 25d can display only the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group within the authority range of the requester (hereinafter referred to as the "requester" in the description of FIG. 32) who has transmitted the task management screen display request, based on the user ID of the requester, the authorization information 24c, and the device information 24f, among the automatic F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24, in the list 811.

[0332] The text boxes 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d are for inputting text used in search filters by "Status", "Serial number", "Asset number", and "Group", respectively. When multiple search filters are specified, the automatic update unit 25d performs an AND search. When text is input into any of the text boxes 812a, 812b, 812c, and 812d, the automatic update unit 25d displays only the automatic F / W update tasks narrowed down by the search filter corresponding to the input text in the list 811.

[0333] The "Cancel selected task" button 813 can be operated only when only the automatic F / W update tasks with the value of the "Status" item being "Pending" in the list 811 are selected.

[0334] As shown in FIG. 32, when the process of S311 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the "Cancel selected task" button 813 has been pressed (S312).

[0335] If the automatic update unit 25d determines that the "Cancel selected task" button 813 has not been pressed, it determines whether the task management screen 810 has been closed (S313).

[0336] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S313 that the task management screen 810 has not been closed, it executes the process of S312.

[0337] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S312 that the "Cancel selected task" button 813 has been pressed, it determines whether the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the service person in the same manner as the process of S121 based on the user ID of this requester and the authorization information 24c (S314).

[0338] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S314 that the authority of the requester is not higher than that of the service person, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to cancel the automatic F / W update task (S315), and executes the process of S312.

[0339] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S314 that the authority of the requester is higher than that of the service person, when the "Cancel Selected Task" button 813 is pressed, for the automatic F / W update task selected in the list 811, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "Cancel" (S316), and executes the process of S312.

[0340] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S313 that the task management screen 810 has been closed, it ends the operation shown in FIG. 32.

[0341] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting an image forming apparatus from the management target will be described.

[0342] FIG. 34 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting an image forming apparatus from the management target.

[0343] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request to delete an image forming apparatus from the management target (hereinafter referred to as "device deletion request") to the device management system 20 via a user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 34). When the device management system 20 receives a device deletion request, it executes the operation shown in FIG. 34.

[0344] As shown in FIG. 34, the device management unit 25f determines whether the authority of the user who sent the device deletion request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the description of FIG. 34) is higher than that of an administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S321).

[0345] If the device management unit 25f determines in S321 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of the administrator, the device management unit 25f causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to delete the image forming apparatus from the management target (S322), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 34.

[0346] If the device management unit 25f determines in S321 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator, the device management unit 25f deletes the image forming apparatus targeted for the device deletion request from the device information 24f (S323).

[0347] Next, for all the automatic F / W update tasks associated in the task information 24n with the image forming apparatus deleted from the device information 24f in S323 and for which the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "pending", the automatic update unit 25d sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "cancelled" (S324), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 34.

[0348] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs will be described.

[0349] FIG. 35 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when deleting the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs.

[0350] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request to delete the group to which the image forming apparatus belongs (hereinafter referred to as "group deletion request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 35). When the device management system 20 receives the group deletion request, the device management system 20 executes the operation shown in FIG. 35.

[0351] As shown in FIG. 35, the device management unit 25f determines whether or not the authority of the user who sent the group deletion request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the description of FIG. 35) is equal to or higher than that of the administrator in the same manner as the process of S125 (S325).

[0352] If the device management unit 25f determines in S325 that the requester's authority is not higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to delete the group (S326), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 35.

[0353] If the device management unit 25f determines in S325 that the requester's authority is higher than that of an administrator, it deletes the group targeted by the group deletion request from the group information 24e (S327).

[0354] Next, for all the automatic F / W update tasks associated in the task information 24n with the image forming apparatuses belonging to the group deleted from the group information 24e in S327, the automatic update unit 25d sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "Cancelled" (S328), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 35.

[0355] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when performing pre-printing on the non-relay image forming apparatus will be described.

[0356] FIG. 36 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when performing pre-printing on the non-relay image forming apparatus.

[0357] The automatic update unit 25d executes the operation shown in FIG. 36 for each combination of the non-relay image forming apparatus and the automatic F / W update task.

[0358] As shown in FIG. 36, for the automatic F / W update task targeted by the operation shown in FIG. 36 (hereinafter, simply referred to as the "target automatic F / W update task" in the description of FIG. 36), the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "Pending" (S331).

[0359] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S331 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is not "pending" for the target automatic F / W update task, it ends the operation shown in FIG. 36.

[0360] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S331 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "pending" for the target automatic F / W update task, it determines whether it is 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task (S332).

[0361] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S332 that it is not 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task, it executes the process of S331.

[0362] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S332 that it is 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task, it determines whether the value of the "pre-print setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target image forming apparatus" in the description of FIG. 36) belongs is "ON" (S333). Here, the automatic update unit 25d determines the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs based on the device information 24f.

[0363] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S333 that the value of the "pre-print setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs is "ON", it determines based on the device information 24f whether F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the target image forming apparatus (S334).

[0364] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S334 that F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the target image forming apparatus, it determines based on the device information 24f whether the release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is "official" (S335).

[0365] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S335 that the release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is "official", it determines based on the device information 24f whether the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is older than the F / W version set in the target automatic F / W update task (S336).

[0366] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S336 that the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is older than the F / W version set in the target automatic F / W update task, it generates print data for notifying that the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update will start at the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task (S337). Here, as the language of the notification in S337, the automatic update unit 25d uses the language indicated in the "language setting" item of the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs.

[0367] After the process of S337, the automatic update unit 25d transmits the print data generated in S337 to the target image forming apparatus (S338).

[0368] Note that even if the transmission in S338 fails or the printing in the target image forming apparatus based on the print data transmitted in S338 fails, the automatic update unit 25d does not transmit the print data generated in S337 to the target image forming apparatus again.

[0369] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S333 whether the value of the "pre-print setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs is not "ON", or determines in S334 whether F / W update using the device management system 20 for the target image forming apparatus is not permitted, or determines in S335 whether the acquired release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is not "official", or determines in S336 whether the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is not older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task. When the process of S338 ends, the operation shown in FIG. 36 ends.

[0370] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when an automatic F / W update task is executed for a non-relay image forming apparatus will be described.

[0371] FIG. 37 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when an automatic F / W update task is executed for a non-relay image forming apparatus. FIG. 38 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 37.

[0372] The automatic update unit 25d of the device management system 20 executes the operations shown in FIGS. 37 and 38 for each automatic F / W update task for the non-relay image forming apparatus among the automatic F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24.

[0373] As shown in FIGS. 37 and 38, for the automatic F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target automatic F / W update task" in the description of FIGS. 37 and 38) that is the target of the operations shown in FIGS. 37 and 38, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "pending" (S341).

[0374] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S341 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is not "pending" for the target automatic F / W update task, it ends the operations shown in FIGS. 37 and 38.

[0375] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S341 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "pending" for the target automatic F / W update task, it determines whether the scheduled execution time set for the target automatic F / W update task has arrived (S342).

[0376] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S342 that the scheduled execution time set for the target automatic F / W update task has not arrived, it executes the process of S341.

[0377] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S342 that the scheduled execution time set for the target automatic F / W update task has arrived, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "awaiting execution" for the target automatic F / W update task (S343).

[0378] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether there is a prior F / W update task (hereinafter referred to as the "prior F / W update task") for the target image forming apparatus of the target automatic F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target image forming apparatus" in the descriptions of FIGS. 37 and 38) in which the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is set to "awaiting execution" or "executing" prior to the target automatic F / W update task and has not yet been set to "success" or "failure". It determines whether there is a prior F / W update task for the target image forming apparatus until it determines that there is none (S344).

[0379] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S344 that there is no prior F / W update task for the target image forming apparatus, it determines based on the device information 24f whether F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the target image forming apparatus (S345).

[0380] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S345 that F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the target image forming apparatus, it determines based on the device information 24f whether the release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is "official" (S346).

[0381] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S346 that the release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is "official", it determines based on the device information 24f whether the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (S347).

[0382] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S347 that the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task, it requests execution of F / W update for the target image forming apparatus using the F / W package specified by the package ID set for the target automatic F / W update task among the F / W packages stored in the storage unit 24 (S348). Note that the image forming apparatus may not be able to start execution of F / W update in specific cases, such as when printing is in progress.

[0383] After the process of S348, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether it has been notified by the target image forming apparatus that it can start executing the F / W update (S349). For example, when the image forming apparatus is in the middle of executing printing, when the printing ends, it starts executing the F / W update and notifies the device management system 20 that it has been able to start executing the F / W update.

[0384] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S349 that the target image forming apparatus has not notified that it can start executing the F / W update, it determines whether a specific situation has occurred in which the execution of the F / W update is not started in the target image forming apparatus (S350). Here, for the specific situation, for example, there is a situation where the target image forming apparatus is in a state of temporarily connecting to the device management system 20 only at the timing when the image forming apparatus transmits information of the image forming apparatus such as the number of printed sheets to the device management system 20.

[0385] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S350 that a specific situation in which the execution of the F / W update is not started in the target image forming apparatus has not occurred, it executes the process of S349.

[0386] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S349 that the target image forming apparatus has notified that it can start executing the F / W update, for the target automatic F / W update task, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "executing" (S351).

[0387] After the process of S351, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has been successful (S352). Here, the automatic update unit 25d can determine in S352 that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has been successful when it has been notified by the target image forming apparatus that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has been successful.

[0388] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S352 that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has not been successful, it determines whether the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has failed (S353). Here, the automatic update unit 25d can determine in S353 that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has failed when it is notified from the target image forming apparatus that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has failed.

[0389] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S353 that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has not failed, it determines whether it has not been notified from the target image forming apparatus for a specific time, such as 45 minutes, that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 is being executed (S354). Here, when the target image forming apparatus is executing the F / W update requested for execution in S348 from the device management system 20, it notifies the device management system 20 that the F / W update is being executed, for example, every minute.

[0390] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S354 that it has not been the case that it has not been notified from the target image forming apparatus for a specific time that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 is being executed, it executes the process of S352.

[0391] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S352 that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has been successful, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "success" for the target automatic F / W update task (S355).

[0392] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S345 whether F / W update using the device management system 20 is not permitted for the target image forming apparatus, or determines in S346 whether the release type of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is not "official", or determines in S347 whether the F / W version of the firmware installed in the target image forming apparatus is not older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task, or determines in S350 whether a specific situation has occurred in which the execution of the F / W update is not started in the target image forming apparatus, or determines in S353 whether the F / W update requested for execution in S348 has failed, or determines in S354 whether it has not been notified from the target image forming apparatus for a specific time that the F / W update requested for execution in S348 is being executed, and then sets the value of the "Status" item of the task information 24n to "failed" for the target automatic F / W update task (S356).

[0393] The automatic update unit 25d determines in S341 whether the value of the "Status" item of the task information 24n is not "pending" for the target automatic F / W update task, and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 37 and 38 when the processes of S355 or S356 are completed.

[0394] The above describes the operations of the device management system 20 when the automatic update unit 25d executes an automatic F / W update task for an image forming apparatus without mediation.

[0395] The automatic update unit 25d executes a test F / W update task for the non-intermediated image forming apparatus in the same manner as when executing an automatic F / W update task for the non-intermediated image forming apparatus. Here, since no specific execution scheduled time is set for the test F / W update task, the automatic update unit 25d immediately determines that the execution scheduled time set for the test F / W update task has arrived with respect to the test F / W update task stored in the storage unit 24.

[0396] Also, the manual update unit 25c executes a manual F / W update task for the non-intermediated image forming apparatus in the same manner as when the automatic update unit 25d executes an automatic F / W update task for the non-intermediated image forming apparatus. However, when the manual update unit 25c executes a manual F / W update task, it does not execute the processes corresponding to S346 to S347, and immediately executes the process corresponding to S348 when it determines in the process corresponding to S345 that F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the target image forming apparatus.

[0397] Next, the operation of the information processing system 10 when the intermediation device periodically requests a F / W update task to the device management system 20 will be described.

[0398] FIG. 39 is a flowchart of the operation of the intermediation device when periodically requesting a F / W update task to the device management system 20.

[0399] As shown in FIG. 39, the F / W update unit of the intermediation device determines whether or not a periodic time has elapsed until it determines that a periodic time has elapsed (S361). Here, the periodic time is, for example, a time every 3 hours.

[0400] When it is determined in S361 that a regular time has elapsed, the F / W update unit requests all F / W update tasks for each of all the image forming apparatuses indicated in the device information stored by the mediation apparatus itself, that is, all the image forming apparatuses managed by the mediation apparatus itself, from the device management system 20 (S362).

[0401] FIG. 40 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when an F / W update task is requested from the mediation apparatus. FIG. 41 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 40.

[0402] When an F / W update task is requested from the mediation apparatus, the task management unit 25e of the device management system 20 executes the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0403] As shown in FIGS. 40 and 41, the task management unit 25e determines whether there is an unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the mediation apparatus that is the request source of the F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "request source mediation apparatus" in the description of FIGS. 40 and 41) among the F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24 (S381). Here, the task management unit 25e determines the image forming apparatus managed by the request source mediation apparatus based on the device information 24f, and determines the F / W update task for the image forming apparatus based on the task information 24n. Further, the task management unit 25e determines an F / W update task whose "Status" item value in the task information 24n is "pending" as an unexecuted F / W update task.

[0404] When the task management unit 25e determines in S381 that there is an unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation apparatus among the F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24, it determines whether there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus for which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted in the unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation apparatus (S382). Here, the task management unit 25e determines whether F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the image forming apparatus based on the device information 24f.

[0405] When the task management unit 25e determines in S382 that there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus for which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted in the unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation apparatus, it extracts only the F / W update task for an image forming apparatus for which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted from the unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation apparatus (S383).

[0406] After the process of S383, the task management unit 25e determines whether there is a test F / W update task or an automatic F / W update task in the F / W update task extracted in S383 (S384).

[0407] When the task management unit 25e determines in S384 that there is no test F / W update task or automatic F / W update task in the F / W update task extracted in S383, it transmits an F / W update task other than the test F / W update task or the automatic F / W update task, that is, a manual F / W update task, to the requesting mediation apparatus (S385), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0408] When the task management unit 25e determines in S384 that there is a test F / W update task or an automatic F / W update task in the F / W update task extracted in S383, it extracts the test F / W update task and the automatic F / W update task from the F / W update task extracted in S383 (S386).

[0409] Next, the task management unit 25e determines whether there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus in which the release type of the installed firmware is "official" in the test F / W update task and the automatic F / W update task extracted in S386 (S387). Here, the task management unit 25e determines whether the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus is "official" based on the device information 24f.

[0410] When the task management unit 25e determines in S387 that there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus in which the release type of the installed firmware is "official" in the test F / W update task and the automatic F / W update task extracted in S386, it extracts only the F / W update task for an image forming apparatus in which the release type of the installed firmware is "official" from the test F / W update task and the automatic F / W update task extracted in S386 (S388).

[0411] Next, the task management unit 25e determines whether there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the F / W version set for the target F / W update task among the F / W update tasks extracted in S388 (S389). Here, the task management unit 25e determines whether the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus is older than the F / W version set for the target F / W update task based on the device information 24f.

[0412] If the task management unit 25e determines in S389 that there is an F / W update task for an image forming apparatus in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the F / W version set for the target F / W update task among the F / W update tasks extracted in S388, the task management unit 25e extracts only the F / W update tasks for image forming apparatuses in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the F / W version set for the target F / W update task from the F / W update tasks extracted in S388 (S390).

[0413] Next, the task management unit 25e determines whether there is a manual F / W update task among the F / W update tasks extracted in S383 (S391).

[0414] If the task management unit 25e determines in S391 that there is a manual F / W update task among the F / W update tasks extracted in S383, the task management unit 25e transmits the F / W update tasks extracted in S390 and the manual F / W update tasks extracted in S383 to the requesting mediation apparatus (S392), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0415] If the task management unit 25e determines in S391 that there is no manual F / W update task for the F / W update task extracted in S383, it transmits the F / W update task extracted in S390 to the requesting mediation device (S393), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0416] If the task management unit 25e determines in S381 that there is no unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation device among the F / W update tasks stored in the storage unit 24, or determines in S382 that there is no F / W update task for the image forming apparatus for which F / W update using the device management system 20 is permitted for the unexecuted F / W update task for the image forming apparatus managed by the requesting mediation device, or determines in S387 that there is no F / W update task for the image forming apparatus in which the release type of the installed firmware is "official" for the test F / W update task and the automatic F / W update task extracted in S386, or determines in S389 that there is no F / W update task for the image forming apparatus in which the F / W version of the installed firmware is older than the F / W version set for the target F / W update task for the F / W update task extracted in S388, it transmits a notification to the requesting mediation device that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted (S394), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0417] Note that even if the task management unit 25e transmits the F / W update task stored in the storage unit 24 to the mediation device, it does not delete this F / W update task from the storage unit 24.

[0418] As shown in FIG. 39, after the process of S362, the F / W update unit of the mediation device determines whether it has received a notification from the device management system 20 that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted (S363).

[0419] If the F / W update unit determines in S363 that it has not received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, it determines whether it has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20 (S364).

[0420] If the F / W update unit determines in S364 that it has not received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, it executes the process of S363.

[0421] If the F / W update unit determines in S364 that it has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, it determines whether there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S365). Here, the F / W update unit identifies the F / W update task by the task ID set in the F / W update task.

[0422] If the F / W update unit determines in S365 that there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, it stores in the storage unit of the mediation device itself the F / W update tasks that are not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S366).

[0423] If the F / W update unit determines in S363 that it has received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, or determines in S365 that there is no F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, or when the process of S366 ends, it executes the process of S361.

[0424] Next, the operation of the mediation device when performing pre-printing on the image forming apparatus it manages will be described.

[0425] FIG. 42 is a flowchart of the operation of the mediation device when performing pre-printing on the image forming apparatus it manages.

[0426] The F / W update unit of the mediation device executes the operation shown in FIG. 42 for each combination of the image forming apparatus managed by the mediation device itself and the automatic F / W update task stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself.

[0427] As shown in FIG. 42, the F / W update unit determines whether it has reached 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target automatic F / W update task" in the description of FIG. 42) until it determines that it has reached 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task (S401).

[0428] When the F / W update unit determines in S401 that it has reached 12 hours before the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task, it inquires of the device management system 20 to determine whether the value of the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target image forming apparatus" in the description of FIG. 42) that is the target of the operation shown in FIG. 42 belongs is "ON" (S402).

[0429] When the F / W update unit determines in S402 that the value of the "pre-printing setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs is "ON", it requests the device management system 20 for all F / W update tasks for each of all the image forming apparatuses shown in the device information stored by the mediation device itself, that is, all the image forming apparatuses managed by the mediation device itself (S403). Therefore, the task management unit 25e of the device management system 20 executes the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0430] As shown in FIG. 42, after the process of S403, the F / W update unit of the mediation device determines whether it has received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted (S404).

[0431] If it is determined in S404 that the F / W update unit has not received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, the F / W update unit determines whether it has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20 (S405).

[0432] If it is determined in S405 that the F / W update unit has not received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, the process of S404 is executed.

[0433] If it is determined in S405 that the F / W update unit has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, the F / W update unit determines whether there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S406). Here, the F / W update unit identifies the F / W update task by the task ID set in the F / W update task.

[0434] If it is determined in S406 that there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, the F / W update unit stores in the storage unit of the mediation device itself the F / W update tasks that are not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S407).

[0435] If the F / W update unit determines in S406 that there is no F / W update task in the storage unit of the mediation device itself that does not exist in the F / W update task received from the device management system 20, or when the process of S407 ends, it determines whether the target automatic F / W update task exists in the F / W update task received from the device management system 20 (S408). Here, the F / W update unit identifies the F / W update task by the task ID set in the F / W update task.

[0436] If the F / W update unit determines in S408 that the target automatic F / W update task exists in the F / W update task received from the device management system 20, it generates print data for notifying that the execution of the F / W update in the automatic F / W update will start at the scheduled execution time of the target automatic F / W update task (S409). Here, the F / W update unit inquires the device management system 20 about the language indicated in the "Language Setting" item of the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs, and uses the language replied from the device management system 20 as the language of the notification in S409.

[0437] After the process of S409, the F / W update unit transmits the print data generated in S409 to the target image forming apparatus (S410).

[0438] Note that even if the transmission in S410 fails, or the printing in the target image forming apparatus based on the print data transmitted in S410 fails, the F / W update unit will not transmit the print data generated in S409 to the target image forming apparatus again.

[0439] The F / W update unit determines in S402 that the value of the "Pre-print setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the group to which the target image forming apparatus belongs is not "ON", or determines in S404 that it has received a notification from the device management system 20 that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, or determines in S408 that the target automatic F / W update task does not exist in the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20. When the process of S410 ends, the operation shown in FIG. 42 ends.

[0440] Next, the operation of the mediation device when executing an automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus it manages will be described.

[0441] FIG. 43 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the mediation device when executing an automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus it manages. FIG. 44 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 43.

[0442] The F / W update unit of the mediation device executes the operations shown in FIGS. 43 and 44 for each automatic F / W update task stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself.

[0443] As shown in FIGS. 43 and 44, the F / W update unit of the mediation device determines whether or not the scheduled execution time set for the target automatic F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target automatic F / W update task" in the description of FIGS. 43 and 44) has arrived until it determines that the scheduled execution time has arrived (S421).

[0444] When the F / W update unit determines in S421 that the scheduled execution time set for the target automatic F / W update task has arrived, it requests all F / W update tasks for each of all the image forming apparatuses indicated in the device information stored by the mediation apparatus itself, that is, all the image forming apparatuses managed by the mediation apparatus itself, from the device management system 20 (S422). Therefore, the task management unit 25e of the device management system 20 executes the operations shown in FIGS. 40 and 41.

[0445] As shown in FIGS. 43 and 44, after the process of S422, the F / W update unit of the mediation apparatus determines whether it has received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted (S423).

[0446] When the F / W update unit determines in S423 that it has not received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, it determines whether it has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20 (S424).

[0447] When the F / W update unit determines in S424 that it has not received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, it executes the process of S423.

[0448] When the F / W update unit determines in S424 that it has received an F / W update task from the device management system 20, it determines whether there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation apparatus itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S425). Here, the F / W update unit identifies the F / W update task by the task ID set in the F / W update task.

[0449] If the F / W update unit determines in S425 that there is an F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, the F / W update unit stores in the storage unit of the mediation device itself the F / W update tasks that are not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S426).

[0450] If the F / W update unit determines in S425 that there is no F / W update task that is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, or if the process of S426 ends, the F / W update unit determines whether the target automatic F / W update task exists among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20 (S427). Here, the F / W update unit identifies the F / W update task by the task ID set in the F / W update task.

[0451] If the F / W update unit determines in S427 that the target automatic F / W update task exists among the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, the F / W update unit determines whether the F / W package specified by the package ID set in the target automatic F / W update task (hereinafter referred to as the "target F / W package" in the descriptions of FIGS. 43 and 44) is stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself (S428).

[0452] If the F / W update unit determines in S428 that the target F / W package is not stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself, the F / W update unit downloads the target F / W package from the device management system 20 using the link for package download set in the target automatic F / W update task (S429). That is, the F / W update unit acquires the target F / W package from the device management system 20 and stores the acquired F / W package in the storage unit of the mediation device itself.

[0453] When the F / W update unit determines in S428 that the target F / W package is stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself, or when the process of S429 ends, it uses the target F / W package stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself to request the target image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target image forming apparatus" in the descriptions of FIGS. 43 and 44) of the target automatic F / W update task to execute the F / W update (S430). Note that the image forming apparatus may not be able to start the execution of the F / W update in a specific case, for example, when printing is being executed.

[0454] After the process of S430, the F / W update unit determines whether it has been notified from the target image forming apparatus that it has been able to start the execution of the F / W update (S431). For example, when the image forming apparatus was in the middle of executing printing and the printing ends, it starts the execution of the F / W update and notifies the mediation device that it has been able to start the execution of the F / W update.

[0455] When the F / W update unit determines in S431 that it has not been notified from the target image forming apparatus that it has been able to start the execution of the F / W update, it determines whether a specific situation has occurred in which the execution of the F / W update has not started in the target image forming apparatus (S432).

[0456] When the F / W update unit determines in S432 that a specific situation in which the execution of the F / W update has not started in the target image forming apparatus has not occurred, it executes the process of S431.

[0457] When the F / W update unit determines in S431 that it has been notified from the target image forming apparatus that it has been able to start the execution of the F / W update, it transmits "executing" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 for the target automatic F / W update task (S433).

[0458] After the process of S433, the F / W update unit determines whether the F / W update requested for execution in S430 was successful (S434). Here, the F / W update unit can determine in S434 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 was successful when it is notified from the target image forming apparatus that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 was successful.

[0459] If the F / W update unit determines in S434 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 was not successful, it determines whether the F / W update requested for execution in S430 failed (S435). Here, the F / W update unit can determine in S435 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 failed when it is notified from the target image forming apparatus that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 failed.

[0460] If the F / W update unit determines in S435 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 did not fail, it determines whether one minute has elapsed since it most recently transmitted "In Execution" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 for the target automatic F / W update task (S436).

[0461] If the F / W update unit determines in S436 that one minute has not elapsed since it most recently transmitted "In Execution" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 for the target automatic F / W update task, it executes the process of S434.

[0462] If the F / W update unit determines in S436 that one minute has elapsed since it most recently transmitted "In Execution" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 for the target automatic F / W update task, it executes the process of S433.

[0463] When the F / W update unit determines at S434 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 has succeeded, for the target automatic F / W update task, it transmits "success" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 (S437).

[0464] When the F / W update unit determines at S432 that a specific situation has occurred where the execution of the F / W update has not started in the target image forming apparatus, or determines at S435 that the F / W update requested for execution in S430 has failed, for the target automatic F / W update task, it transmits "failure" as the value of the "Status" item of the task information to the device management system 20 (S438).

[0465] When the F / W update unit determines at S423 that it has received from the device management system 20 a notification that there is no F / W update task to be transmitted, or determines at S427 that the target automatic F / W update task does not exist in the F / W update tasks received from the device management system 20, or when the processing of S437 or S438 ends, it ends the operations shown in FIGS. 43 and 44.

[0466] In the above, the operation of the mediation device when the F / W update unit executes an automatic F / W update task for the mediated image forming apparatus has been described.

[0467] The F / W update unit executes a test F / W update task for the mediated image forming apparatus in the same manner as when executing an automatic F / W update task for the mediated image forming apparatus. Here, since no specific execution scheduled time is set for the test F / W update task, the F / W update unit immediately determines that the execution scheduled time set for the test F / W update task has arrived for the test F / W update task stored in the storage unit of the mediation device itself.

[0468] Further, the F / W update unit executes a manual F / W update task for the image forming apparatus with a mediator in the same manner as when executing an automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus with a mediator.

[0469] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when setting the value of the "Status" item of the task information 24n of the F / W update task for the image forming apparatus with a mediator will be described.

[0470] FIG. 45 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when setting the value of the "Status" item of the task information 24n of the F / W update task for the image forming apparatus with a mediator.

[0471] The task management unit 25e of the device management system 20 executes the operation shown in FIG. 45 for each F / W update task for the image forming apparatus with a mediator.

[0472] As shown in FIG. 45, the task management unit 25e determines whether the scheduled execution time set for the target F / W update task (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target F / W update task" in the description of FIG. 45) has arrived until it is determined that the scheduled execution time has arrived (S441).

[0473] When it is determined in S441 that the scheduled execution time set for the target F / W update task has arrived, the F / W update unit determines whether the value of the "Status" item of the task information has been transmitted from the mediator device within a specific time from the scheduled execution time set for the target F / W update task (S442). Here, the specific time is, for example, 30 minutes.

[0474] If the F / W update unit determines in S442 that from a specific time since the scheduled execution time set for the target F / W update task, the value of the "Status" item in the task information has not stopped being sent from the mediation device, it determines whether "in execution" has been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task (S443).

[0475] If the task management unit 25e determines in S443 that "in execution" has been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "in execution" for the target F / W update task (S444).

[0476] If the task management unit 25e determines in S443 that "in execution" has not been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, or if the process of S444 ends, it determines whether "success" has been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task (S445).

[0477] If the task management unit 25e determines in S445 that "success" has not been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it determines whether "failure" has been sent from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task (S446).

[0478] If the task management unit 25e determines in S446 that "failure" has not been transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it determines whether a specific time has elapsed since "in progress" was transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task (S447). Here, the specific time is a time exceeding 1 minute, which is the criterion for the process of S436, for example, 10 minutes.

[0479] If the task management unit 25e determines in S447 that the specific time has not elapsed since "in progress" was transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it executes the process of S442.

[0480] If the task management unit 25e determines in S445 that "success" has been transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "success" for the target F / W update task (S448).

[0481] If the task management unit 25e determines in S442 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information has not been transmitted from the mediation device for a specific time from the scheduled execution time set for the target F / W update task, or determines in S446 that "failure" has been transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, or determines in S447 that a specific time has elapsed since "in progress" was transmitted from the mediation device as the value of the "Status" item in the task information for the target F / W update task, it sets the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n to "failure" for the target F / W update task (S449).

[0482] When the processing of S448 or S449 ends, the task management unit 25e ends the operation shown in FIG. 45.

[0483] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when showing the progress of the F / W update by the automatic F / W update plan will be described.

[0484] FIG. 46 is a flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when showing the progress of the F / W update by the automatic F / W update plan.

[0485] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can specify a specific automatic F / W update plan and send a request to check the progress of the F / W update by this automatic F / W update plan (hereinafter referred to as "progress check request") to the device management system 20 via the user terminal (hereinafter referred to as "target user terminal" in the description of FIG. 46). When the automatic update unit 25d of the device management system 20 receives the progress check request, it executes the operation shown in FIG. 46.

[0486] As shown in FIG. 46, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether the authority of the user who sent the progress check request (hereinafter referred to as "requester" in the description of FIG. 46) is equal to or higher than that of an administrator in the same manner as the processing of S125 based on the user ID of this requester and the authorization information 24c (S461).

[0487] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S461 that the authority of the requester is not equal to or higher than that of an administrator, it causes the target user terminal to display that the requester does not have the authority to check the progress of the F / W update by the automatic F / W update plan (S462), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 46.

[0488] When it is determined in S461 that the authority of the requester is equal to or higher than that of the administrator, the automatic update unit 25d transmits the data of the screen (hereinafter referred to as the "progress status screen") showing the progress status of the F / W update according to the automatic F / W update plan for the progress status confirmation request to the target user terminal, thereby causing the target user terminal to display the progress status screen (S463), and ends the operation shown in FIG. 46.

[0489] FIG. 47 is a diagram showing an example of the progress status screen 820 displayed on the user terminal in the operation shown in FIG. 46.

[0490] As shown in FIG. 47, the progress status screen 820 includes a "Success" item indicating the number of image forming apparatuses in which the F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan has been successful, a "Skip" item indicating the number of image forming apparatuses in which the F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan has been skipped, a "Failure" item indicating the number of image forming apparatuses in which the F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan has failed, a "Excluded" item indicating the number of image forming apparatuses that are not targets of the F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan, an "Awaiting Execution" item indicating the number of image forming apparatuses waiting for the execution of the F / W update based on the automatic F / W update plan, and a "Total" item indicating the total number of image forming apparatuses that are targets of the automatic F / W update plan.

[0491] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when updating the progress status screen 820 will be described.

[0492] FIG. 48 is a partial flowchart of the operation of the device management system 20 when updating the progress status screen 820. FIG. 49 is a continuation flowchart of the flowchart shown in FIG. 48.

[0493] The automatic update unit 25d updates the progress status shown on the progress status screen 820 at least daily. The automatic update unit 25d executes the operations shown in FIGS. 48 and 49 at the timing of updating the progress status screen 820.

[0494] As shown in FIGS. 48 and 49, the automatic update unit 25d sets the values of each of the "Success" item, "Skip" item, "Failure" item, "Excluded" item, "Pending Execution" item, and "Total" item to 0 (S481).

[0495] Next, based on the information shown in the "Target Group" item in the target automatic F / W update plan on the progress status screen 820 (hereinafter simply referred to as the "target automatic F / W update plan" in the description of FIGS. 48 and 49), the automatic update unit 25d identifies the group of image forming apparatuses to be automatically updated by the target automatic F / W update plan (S482).

[0496] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether at least one group has been identified in S482 (S483).

[0497] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S483 that at least one group has been identified in S482, it targets only one group among the groups identified in S482 that has not yet been targeted in the operations shown in FIGS. 48 and 49 this time (S484).

[0498] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether at least one image forming apparatus belongs to the current target group (S485).

[0499] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S485 that at least one image forming apparatus belongs to the current target group, it targets only one image forming apparatus among the image forming apparatuses belonging to the current target group that has not yet been targeted in the operations shown in FIGS. 48 and 49 this time (S486).

[0500] Next, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether there is an automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus (S487).

[0501] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S487 that there is no automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the reason why the automatic F / W update task has not been generated in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus corresponds to the reason of "excluded" (S488). Here, the reasons corresponding to "excluded" include, for example, the reason that the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the current target group is "OFF", and in the automatic F / W update group setting of the current target group, the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item is "Selected", and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan is "Prohibited", and the reason that F / W update using the device management system 20 has not been permitted for the current target image forming apparatus, and the reason that the release type of the firmware installed in the current target image forming apparatus is not "Official".

[0502] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S488 that the reason why the automatic F / W update task has not been generated in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus corresponds to the reason of "excluded", it increments the value of the "excluded" item by 1 (S489). That is, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the current progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "excluded".

[0503] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S488 that the reason why the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus has not been generated is not a reason corresponding to "excluded", it determines whether the reason why the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus has not been generated is a reason corresponding to "skipped" (S490). Here, examples of the reasons corresponding to "skipped" include that the F / W version of the firmware installed in the current target image forming apparatus is not older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task.

[0504] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S490 that the reason why the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus has not been generated is a reason corresponding to "skipped", it increments the value of the "skipped" item by 1 (S491). That is, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the current progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "skipped".

[0505] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S487 that there is an automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "success" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus (S492).

[0506] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S492 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "success" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it increments the value of the "success" item by 1 (S493). That is, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the current progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "success".

[0507] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S492 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is not "success" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "cancel" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus (S494).

[0508] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S494 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "cancel" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it executes the process of S489.

[0509] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S494 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is not "cancel" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failure" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus (S495).

[0510] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S495 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus corresponds to the reason of "excluded" (S496). Here, the reasons corresponding to "excluded" include, for example, the reason that the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item in the automatic F / W update group setting of the current target group is "OFF", the reason that in the automatic F / W update group setting of the current target group, the value of the "Automatic F / W Update Setting" item is "Selected" and the value of the "Plan Permission / Prohibition" item for the target automatic F / W update plan is "Prohibited", the reason that F / W update using the device management system 20 for the current target image forming apparatus is not permitted, the reason that the release type of the firmware installed in the current target image forming apparatus is not "Official", and the reason that the target image forming apparatus was in a state where it temporarily connected to the device management system 20 only at the timing when the image forming apparatus transmitted information of the image forming apparatus such as the number of printed sheets to the device management system 20.

[0511] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S496 that the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus corresponds to the reason of "excluded", it executes the process of S489.

[0512] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S496 that the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the current automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus is not a reason corresponding to "excluded", it determines whether the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the current automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus is a reason corresponding to "skipped" (S497). Here, reasons corresponding to "skipped" include, for example, the reason that the F / W version of the firmware installed in the current target image forming apparatus is not older than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task.

[0513] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S497 that the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the current automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus is a reason corresponding to "skipped", it executes the process of S491.

[0514] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S497 that the reason why the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is "failed" for the current automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus is not a reason corresponding to "skipped", it increments the value of the "failed" item by 1 (S498). That is, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the current progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "failed".

[0515] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S490 that the reason why the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus has not been generated is not a reason corresponding to "skip", or determines in S495 that the value of the "Status" item in the task information 24n is not "failed" for the automatic F / W update task in the current cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines whether the progress of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan was determined at the end of the immediately preceding cycle for the current target image forming apparatus (S499).

[0516] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S499 that the progress of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan was determined at the end of the immediately preceding cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, it determines the progress status determined at the end of the immediately preceding cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus among "success", "skip", "failure", "excluded", and "awaiting execution" (S500).

[0517] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S500 that the progress status determined at the end of the immediately preceding cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "success", it executes the process of S493.

[0518] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S500 that the progress status determined at the end of the immediately preceding cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "skip", it executes the process of S491.

[0519] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S500 that the progress status determined at the end of the previous cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "failed", it executes the process of S498.

[0520] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S500 that the progress status determined at the end of the previous cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "excluded", it executes the process of S489.

[0521] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S499 that it did not determine the progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan at the end of the previous cycle for the current target image forming apparatus, or when it determines in S500 that the progress status determined at the end of the previous cycle for the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "pending execution", it increments the value of the "pending execution" item by 1 (S501). That is, the automatic update unit 25d determines that the current progress status of the F / W update by the target automatic F / W update plan for the current target image forming apparatus is "pending execution".

[0522] When the process of S489, S491, S493, S498, or S501 ends, the automatic update unit 25d determines whether it has targeted all the image forming apparatuses belonging to the current target group (S502).

[0523] When the automatic update unit 25d determines in S502 that it has not targeted at least one image forming apparatus belonging to the current target group, it executes the process of S486.

[0524] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S485 that no image forming apparatus belongs to the current target group, or determines in S502 that all the image forming apparatuses belonging to the current target group are targeted, it determines whether all the groups specified in S482 are targeted (S503).

[0525] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S503 that it is not targeting at least one of the groups specified in S482, it executes the process of S484.

[0526] If the automatic update unit 25d determines in S483 that no group is specified in S482, or determines in S503 that all the groups specified in S482 are targeted, it calculates the value of the "total" item by summing the values of the current "success" item, the current "skip" item, the current "failure" item, the current "excluded" item, the current "pending execution" item, and the current "total" item (S504).

[0527] Next, the automatic update unit 25d updates the progress status screen 820 based on the values of the current "success" item, the current "skip" item, the current "failure" item, the current "excluded" item, the current "pending execution" item, and the current "total" item (S505), and ends the operations shown in FIGS. 48 and 49.

[0528] FIG. 50 is a diagram showing an example of changes in the progress status shown on the progress status screen 820.

[0529] In the example shown in FIG. 50, the progress status is updated daily. In FIG. 50, the execution cycles of the automatic F / W update task are shown up to the third time. Since the example shown in FIG. 50 is an example where the mode of the automatic F / W update is "update immediately", all the cycles are one week, that is, seven days.

[0530] Describe the first day of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. Since the numbers shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 indicate that the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses A and E in the first cycle was successful (YES in S492), the number is "2" (S493). Since there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to those managed by the device management system 20 in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820, the number is "0" (S481). Since there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to those managed by the device management system 20 in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820, the number is "0" (S481). Since F / W update using the device management system 20 for the image forming apparatus F is not permitted (YES in S488), the number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489). Since the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses B, C, G, and H have not been executed yet (NO in S499), the number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "4" (S501). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "7" (S504). Note that with respect to the image forming apparatus D, since it is not yet managed by the device management system 20, it is not reflected on the progress status screen 820.

[0531] Describe the second day of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S493) because the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E in the first cycle has been successful (YES in S492). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because F / W update using the device management system 20 for the image forming apparatus F is not permitted (YES in S488). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S501) because the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses C, G, and H have not been executed yet (NO in S499). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "7" (S504). Note that regarding the image forming apparatus D, since it is not yet managed by the device management system 20, it is not reflected in the progress status screen 820.

[0532] The third day of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50 will be described. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S493) because the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E in the first cycle has been successful (YES in S492). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to those managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S498) because the execution of the automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus C in the first cycle has failed (NO in S497). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S489) because F / W update using the device management system 20 is not permitted for the image forming apparatus F (YES in S488) and the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H is not "official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S501) because the automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus G has not been executed yet (NO in S499). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "7" (S504). Note that regarding the image forming apparatus D, since it is not yet managed by the device management system 20, it is not reflected on the progress status screen 820.

[0533] Describe the fourth day of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. On the fourth day of the first cycle, F / W update using the device management system 20 for the image forming apparatus F is permitted. However, since it is in the middle of the first cycle, the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus F is not newly generated. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S493) because the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatus A, the image forming apparatus B, and the image forming apparatus E in the first cycle has been successful (YES in S492). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S491) because the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S498) because the execution of the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus C in the first cycle has failed (NO in S497). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H is not "official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S501) because the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus F has not been executed yet (NO in S499). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "7" (S504). Note that regarding the image forming apparatus D, since it has not been managed by the device management system 20 yet, it is not reflected in the progress status screen 820.

[0534] The fifth day of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50 will be described. On the fifth day of the first cycle, the image forming apparatus D has come to be newly managed by the device management system 20. However, since it is in the middle of the first cycle, the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus D is not newly generated. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S493) because the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E in the first cycle has been successful (YES in S492). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S491) because the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S498) because the execution of the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus C in the first cycle has failed (NO in S497). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H is not "official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S501) because the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses D and F have not been executed yet (NO in S499). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0535] Regarding the progress status screen 820 for the 6th to 7th days of the first cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50, it is the same as the progress status screen 820 for the 5th day of the first cycle.

[0536] Describe the first day of the second cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S493) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses B and E in the second cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses B and E in the first cycle was "Success" (success in S500). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S491) because the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus A is the same as the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S498) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus C in the second cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus C in the first cycle was "Failure" (failure in S500). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus H in the second cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus H in the first cycle was "Excluded" (excluded in S500). The number shown in the "Pending" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S501) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses D and F in the second cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses D and F in the first cycle was "Pending" (pending in S500). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0537] Describe the second day of the second cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S493) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus E in the second cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus E in the first cycle was "Success" ("Success" in S500). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S491) because the F / W versions of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatuses A and B are the same as the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S498) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus C in the second cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus C in the first cycle was "Failure" ("Failure" in S500). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H was not "Official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S501) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses D and F in the second cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses D and F in the first cycle was "Pending Execution" ("Pending Execution" in S500). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0538] Describe the third day of the second cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 indicates that the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses C and D in the second cycle has been successful (YES in S492), and although the automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus E in the second cycle has not yet been executed, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus E in the first cycle was "Success" ("Success" in S500), so it is "3" (S493). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 indicates that the F / W versions of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatuses A and B are the same as the F / W version set for the corresponding automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the corresponding automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), so it is "3" (S491). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20 (S481). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H was not "Official" (YES in S496) (S489). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" because although the automatic F / W update task for the image forming apparatus F in the second cycle has not yet been executed, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus F in the first cycle was "Pending Execution" ("Pending Execution" in S500) (S501). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0539] The fourth day of the second cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50 will be described. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "3" (S493) because the execution of the automatic F / W update tasks for the image forming apparatuses C, D, and F in the second cycle has been successful (YES in S492). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "4" (S491) because the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E is the same as the F / W version set for the corresponding automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the corresponding automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S481) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H is not "Official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0540] Regarding the progress status screen 820 for the 5th to 7th days of the second cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50, it is the same as the progress status screen 820 for the fourth day of the second cycle.

[0541] Describe the first day of the third cycle in the example shown in Fig. 50. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S493) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses C and D in the third cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses C and D in the second cycle is "Success" (success in S500). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "5" (S491) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E in the third cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses A, B, and E in the second cycle is "Skip" (skip in S500), the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus F is the same as the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S489) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus H in the third cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus H in the second cycle is "Excluded" (excluded in S500). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0542] The second day of the third cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50 will be described. The number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 is "2" (S493) because although the automatic F / W update tasks of the image forming apparatuses C and D in the third cycle have not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatuses C and D in the second cycle was "Success" ("Success" in S500). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is "5" (S491) because although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus E in the third cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus E in the second cycle was "Skip" ("Skip" in S500), the F / W versions of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatuses A, B, and F are the same as the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G was newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497). The number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S481) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H was not "Official" (YES in S496). The number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 is "0" (S481) because there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20. Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0543] Describe the third day of the third cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50. Since there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20 in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820, the number shown is "0" (S481). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is such that although the automatic F / W update task of the image forming apparatus E in the third cycle has not been executed yet, the last progress status of the image forming apparatus E in the second cycle was "Skip" ( "Skip" in S500), the F / W versions of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus A, the image forming apparatus B, the image forming apparatus C, the image forming apparatus D, and the image forming apparatus F are the same as the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set for the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), so it is "7" (S491). Since there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20 in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820, the number shown is "0" (S481). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" (S481) because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H was not "Official" (YES in S496). Since there is no corresponding image forming apparatus managed by the device management system 20 in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820, the number shown is "0" (S481). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0544] The fourth day of the third cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50 will be described. Since there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to the number shown in the "Success" item of the progress status screen 820 in the device management system 20, it is "0" (S481). The number shown in the "Skip" item of the progress status screen 820 is the same as the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatuses A, B, C, D, E, and F and set in the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), and the F / W version of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus G is newer than the F / W version set in the target automatic F / W update task (YES in S497), so it is "7" (S491). Since there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to the number shown in the "Failure" item of the progress status screen 820 in the device management system 20, it is "0" (S481). The number shown in the "Excluded" item of the progress status screen 820 is "1" because the release type of the firmware installed in the image forming apparatus H is not "official" (YES in S496) (S481). Since there is no image forming apparatus corresponding to the number shown in the "Pending Execution" item of the progress status screen 820 in the device management system 20, it is "0" (S481). Therefore, the number shown in the "Total" item of the progress status screen 820 is "8" (S504).

[0545] Regarding the progress status screen 820 for the 5th to 7th days of the third cycle in the example shown in FIG. 50, it is the same as the progress status screen 820 for the fourth day of the third cycle.

[0546] Note that in the example shown in FIG. 50, in order to facilitate the understanding of the changes in the progress status shown in the progress status screen 820, the progress status of a plurality of image forming apparatuses with the same cycle update timing is shown. However, the progress status screen 820 can show the progress status of a plurality of image forming apparatuses with different cycle update timings.

[0547] Next, the operation of the device management system 20 when showing a list of image forming apparatuses managed by itself will be described.

[0548] A user logged in to the device management system 20 can send a request for displaying a list of image forming apparatuses managed by the device management system 20 (hereinafter referred to as a "device list") (hereinafter referred to as a "device list display request") to the device management system 20 via a user terminal (hereinafter referred to as a "target user terminal"). When the device management unit 25f of the device management system 20 receives the device list display request, it causes the target user terminal to display the device list by sending the data of the device list to the target user terminal. Here, the device management unit 25f includes the latest date and time when the F / W update by the F / W update task was executed in the information of each image forming apparatus in the device list.

[0549] As described above, the device management system 20 generates an automatic F / W update task for each of all the image forming apparatuses to be the target of the automatic F / W update in one mode selected from a plurality of modes (S291 to S307), so that the convenience of the firmware update can be improved.

[0550] The machine management system 20 selects one mode from the "urgent update" mode and the "gradual update" mode in which the length of the first cycle in which the F / W update is executed once for all the image forming apparatuses to be updated is longer than that in the "urgent update" mode and the lengths of the cycles after the second time are the same as those in the "urgent update" mode, and generates an F / W update task for each of all the image forming apparatuses to be updated (S291 to S307). Therefore, the user who wishes to execute the F / W update promptly for all the image forming apparatuses to be updated can be allowed to select the "urgent update" mode, and the user who wishes to execute the F / W update gradually for all the image forming apparatuses to be updated in order to confirm that the F / W update does not cause problems in the image forming apparatuses can be allowed to select the "gradual update" mode. As a result, the convenience of the firmware update can be improved.

[0551] The device management system 20 selects one mode from the "urgently update" mode in which the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses for which an update is executed per unit time does not change during all cycles in which one F / W update is executed for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update, and the "gradually update" mode in which the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses for which an F / W update is executed per unit time among all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update increases during the first cycle and does not change during the second and subsequent cycles, and generates an F / W update task for each of all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update (S291 to S307). Therefore, it is possible to allow a user who wishes to quickly execute an F / W update for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update to select the "urgently update" mode, and it is also possible to allow a user who wishes to gradually execute an F / W update for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update in order to confirm that the F / W update does not cause problems in the image forming apparatuses to select the "gradually update" mode. As a result, the convenience of firmware update can be improved.

[0552] Since the device management system 20 has the same cycle length for the second and subsequent cycles in the "urgently update" mode and the "gradually update" mode (S291 to S307), after it is confirmed that the F / W update does not cause problems in the image forming apparatuses, an F / W update can be quickly executed for all the image forming apparatuses targeted for F / W update. As a result, the convenience of firmware update can be improved.

[0553] In the machine management system 20, among all the image forming apparatuses to be subject to F / W update, since the ratio of the number of image forming apparatuses in which F / W update is executed per unit time does not change during the second and subsequent cycles between the "urgent update" mode and the "gradual update" mode (S291 to S307), after it is confirmed that the F / W update does not cause problems in the image forming apparatuses, the F / W update can be executed promptly for all the image forming apparatuses to be subject to the F / W update. As a result, the convenience of firmware update can be improved.

[0554] The device management system 20 may generate the task so that the period is repeated, and may generate the task for each of all the image forming apparatuses even when the image forming apparatuses in which the update was successful in the previous period are included in all the image forming apparatuses.

[0555] Even when the image forming apparatuses in which F / W update was successful in the previous period are included in all the image forming apparatuses to be subject to F / W update, the device management system 20 generates an automatic F / W update task for each of all the image forming apparatuses to be subject to F / W update. Therefore, even if, for example, a new version of firmware is newly updated after the success of this F / W update for the image forming apparatuses in which F / W update was successful in the previous period, the original version of firmware is updated again in this period. As a result, the variation in firmware among a plurality of image forming apparatuses can be reduced.

[0556] Note that by reducing the variation in firmware among a plurality of image forming apparatuses, when a failure occurs in any one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, there is a high possibility that the same failure will occur in other image forming apparatuses. Therefore, compared with a configuration in which the variation in firmware among a plurality of image forming apparatuses is large, the time required for investigating the cause of the failure and dealing with the failure can be shortened.

[0557] During the cycle in which the F / W update is executed once for all image forming apparatuses to be subjected to the F / W update, the machine management system 20 starts generating an automatic F / W update task for an image forming apparatus newly subjected to the F / W update from the next cycle. Therefore, compared with a configuration in which generation of the automatic F / W update task is started at the time when an image forming apparatus newly subjected to the F / W update is newly added during the cycle, management of the automatic F / W update task can be facilitated.

[0558] The electronic device of the present invention is an image forming apparatus in the present embodiment, but may be an electronic device other than an image forming apparatus, such as a PC.

[0559] The software of the present invention is firmware in the present embodiment, but may be software other than firmware, such as application software.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0560] 20 Machine management system (computer) 24a Device management program 24l Automatic F / W update task (task) 30 Image forming apparatus without mediation (electronic device) 37a Firmware (software) 50 Image forming apparatus with mediation (electronic device)

Claims

1. Provide a first mode and a second mode for generating a task of software update, and in one mode selected from the first mode and the second mode, generate the task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated so that a period during which the update is executed once for all the electronic devices is repeated, wherein the length of the first period in the second mode is longer than that in the first mode, and the lengths of the periods after the second time are the same as those in the first mode, and the first mode and the second mode are characterized in that, in the first period, the ratios of the number of the electronic devices for which the update is executed per unit time among all the electronic devices are different from each other. A device management system.

2. The first mode is a mode in which the ratio does not change during the period, and the second mode is a mode in which the ratio increases during the first period and does not change during the periods after the second time. The device management system according to claim 1.

3. Cause a computer to provide a first mode and a second mode for generating a task of software update, and in one mode selected from the first mode and the second mode, cause the computer to generate the task for each of all the electronic devices to be updated so that a period during which the update is executed once for all the electronic devices is repeated, wherein the length of the first period in the second mode is longer than that in the first mode, and the lengths of the periods after the second time are the same as those in the first mode, and the first mode and the second mode are characterized in that, in the first period, the ratios of the number of the electronic devices for which the update is executed per unit time among all the electronic devices are different from each other. A device management program.

Images