Maintenance system, access switching device, maintenance method, and program

Abstract

A maintenance system (1) is a maintenance system for maintaining a target apparatus (11), and comprises a maintenance device (20) and an access switching device (10). The maintenance device (20) includes: an application unit that transmits, to the access switching device (10), application information indicating an application of maintenance to the target apparatus (11); and a maintenance unit that maintains the target apparatus (11) by communication via the access switching device (10). The access switching device (10) includes: a determination unit that, when having received application information from the maintenance device (20), determines whether to approve or reject maintenance pertaining to the application information; and a relay unit that relays communication for maintenance by the maintenance unit of the maintenance device (20) to the target apparatus (11) when the determination unit has approved maintenance pertaining to the application information, and does not relay communication for maintenance when the determination unit has rejected maintenance pertaining to the application information.

Description

Maintenance system, access switching device, maintenance method and program

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a maintenance system, an access switching device, a maintenance method, and a program.

[0002] There is a technology that allows maintenance workers to perform remote maintenance on equipment that requires no on-site visit. This technology allows maintenance workers to perform maintenance on equipment that requires no on-site visit, resulting in benefits such as reduced labor costs and earlier execution of maintenance.

[0003] On the other hand, because remote maintenance requires communication, there are also technologies related to information security in remote maintenance. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology in which the administrator of the equipment to be maintained limits the data sent to the worker performing the maintenance so that more information than necessary is not transmitted to the worker performing the maintenance.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-207318

[0005] The technology described in Patent Literature 1 allows maintenance to be performed after restricting the data sent to workers, but maintenance may be performed without the administrator's knowledge, which can result in maintenance being performed unintended by the administrator. For example, if there is a change in data that needs to be restricted, but maintenance has already started without the administrator's knowledge, the newly restricted data will also be sent to the worker. Therefore, a system is desired that allows maintenance to be started only after the administrator is aware of when maintenance will be performed.

[0006] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a maintenance system etc. in which maintenance is started only after an administrator knows when maintenance will be performed.

[0007] To achieve the above object, a maintenance system according to the present disclosure is a maintenance system for maintaining maintenance target equipment, and includes a maintenance device and an access switching device. The maintenance device includes application means for transmitting application information indicating an application for maintenance for the maintenance target equipment to the access switching device, and maintenance means for performing maintenance on the maintenance target equipment through communication via the access switching device. The access switching device includes decision means for determining whether to approve or reject the maintenance related to the application information when receiving the application information from the maintenance device, and relay means for relaying communication for maintenance by the maintenance means of the maintenance device to the maintenance target equipment when the decision means approves the maintenance related to the application information, and not relaying the communication for maintenance when the decision means rejects the maintenance related to the application information.

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a maintenance system or the like in which maintenance begins only after an administrator knows when maintenance will be performed.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the flow of remote maintenance by the maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of a maintenance device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of an access switching device and a maintenance device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0010] Hereinafter, a maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or equivalent parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0011] (Embodiment) A maintenance system 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 . The maintenance system 1 includes a maintenance device 20, an access switching device 10, a target device 11, an approval terminal 12, and a gateway 13. The maintenance system 1 is a maintenance system in which the maintenance device 20 performs remote maintenance on the target device 11 via the gateway 13 and the access switching device 10. The maintenance system 1 is an example of a maintenance system according to the present disclosure. The access switching device 10 is an example of an access switching device according to the present disclosure. The target device 11 is an example of a maintenance target device according to the present disclosure. The approval terminal 12 is an example of an approval means according to the present disclosure. The maintenance device 20 is an example of a maintenance device according to the present disclosure.

[0012] The access switching device 10 is connected to be able to communicate with the target device 11, the approval terminal 12, and the gateway 13. The access switching device 10, the target device 11, the approval terminal 12, and the gateway 13 are set up, for example, in the same factory and belong to the same intra-factory network FN. However, the gateway 13 is also connected to the Internet NT and can communicate with the maintenance device 20 via the Internet NT. The gateway 13 establishes a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and can allow the maintenance device 20, which does not physically belong to the intra-factory network FN, to virtually participate in the intra-factory network FN.

[0013] The maintenance device 20 does not physically belong to the factory network FN, but can communicate with the access switching device 10 through a VPN connection via the gateway 13. Furthermore, as will be described in detail later, the maintenance device 20 can communicate with the target device 11 through communication via the access switching device 10 only when approval is obtained.

[0014] The flow of remote maintenance performed by the maintenance system 1 will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

[0015] First, the worker operates the maintenance device 20 to apply for maintenance of the target device 11 to the access switching device 10 (step T1). The worker applies for maintenance by presenting, for example, the maintenance schedule, the details of the maintenance work, and data that may be disclosed to the worker during the maintenance.

[0016] The access switching device 10 requests approval of the application of the maintenance device 20 from the approval terminal 12 (step T2). The approval terminal 12 is a terminal operated by an administrator who has the authority to approve the maintenance.

[0017] The administrator operates the approval terminal 12 to confirm the details of the application, and then approves or rejects the approval request. In the following explanation, it is assumed that the administrator approves the approval request. The approval terminal 12 notifies the access switching device 10 that the administrator has approved (step T3). After approval, it is preferable that the administrator supervise the maintenance. For example, the administrator monitors the status of the target device 11 on a programmable display (not shown) to check whether the maintenance work actually being performed is consistent with the application details.

[0018] Upon receiving the notification of approval, the access switching device 10 approves the maintenance by the maintenance device 20 (step T4).

[0019] After the maintenance is approved, the worker operates the maintenance device 20 to perform maintenance on the target device 11 (step T5). The maintenance includes, for example, setting up the target device 11, updating the firmware of the target device 11, transferring data to the target device 11, and acquiring data from the target device 11. The maintenance is performed by the maintenance device 20 transmitting a control command for maintenance to the target device 11 via the access switching device 10. The transmission of this control command is communication for maintenance.

[0020] The access switching device 10 that has received the control command relays the control command to the target device 11 (step T6). Note that if a control command is received from the maintenance device 20 even though the maintenance has not been approved by the administrator, the access switching device 10 does not relay the control command. As a result, maintenance is performed on the target device 11 only when approved.

[0021] The target device 11 that has received the control command transmits a response to the control command to the access switching device 10 (step T7).

[0022] Upon receiving the response, the access switching device 10 relays the response to the maintenance device 20 (step T8).

[0023] If necessary, the worker continues the maintenance work in response to the response, and the process from step T5 to step T8 is repeated as many times as necessary.

[0024] Referring again to FIG. 1, each device will be described in outline.

[0025] The maintenance device 20 requests maintenance from the access switching device 10 based on the operation of the worker. The maintenance device 20 performs maintenance on the target device 11 by communication via the access switching device 10 based on the operation of the worker. The maintenance device 20 can perform remote maintenance on the target device 11. As described above, communication between the maintenance device 20 and the access switching device 10 is performed via the gateway 13. The maintenance device 20 is, for example, a terminal device installed at the worker's workplace.

[0026] The gateway 13 is a VPN gateway for accessing the factory network FN from the Internet NT. The VPN established by the gateway 13 allows the maintenance device 20, which is an external device that does not physically belong to the factory network FN, to also participate in the factory network FN. The gateway 13 and the maintenance device 20 communicate over a communication path that is secured by, for example, L2TP / IPsec (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol / Security Architecture for Internet Protocol). This prevents data sent and received during maintenance from being leaked to the outside.

[0027] The access switching device 10 requests approval of the maintenance application received from the maintenance device 20 from the approval terminal 12. When the maintenance is approved, the access switching device 10 relays the communication for maintenance received from the maintenance device 20 to the target device 11. The access switching device 10 relays the response of the target device 11 to the maintenance request to the maintenance device 20.

[0028] It is preferable that the access switching device 10 does not relay communications when a predetermined period of time has passed since approval was decided. If too much time has passed since approval, the administrator who approved the maintenance may forget that he or she approved the maintenance or may forget the details of the approved maintenance, and may not be able to adequately supervise the maintenance.

[0029] The approval terminal 12 is a terminal owned by an administrator who has the authority to approve the maintenance. When an approval request is received from the access switching device 10, the approval terminal 12 displays the details of the maintenance application and accepts operations from the administrator. The administrator operates the approval terminal 12 to check the application details and select whether to approve or reject the maintenance. The approval terminal 12 transmits information indicating the selection to the access switching device 10. The administrator can check the details of the maintenance using the approval terminal 12 and select whether to approve or reject the maintenance based on their own decision, thereby providing a strong awareness of the maintenance. In particular, the administrator can recognize when the maintenance will be performed. Only after the administrator approves the maintenance using the approval terminal 12 can the worker begin the maintenance. In other words, the maintenance begins only after the administrator recognizes when the maintenance will be performed. Furthermore, because the administrator has a strong awareness of the maintenance, the administrator can gain a sense of security similar to that of being present at the site. The administrator who approved the maintenance is the approver who operated the approval terminal 12.

[0030] The target device 11 is a device that is the target of maintenance by the maintenance device 20. The target device 11 is a device on which maintenance-related tasks such as setting changes, firmware updates, and data writing and reading can be performed via communication.

[0031] The functional configuration of the maintenance device 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. The maintenance device 20 includes a communication unit 200, an input unit 201, a display unit 202, an application unit 203, and a maintenance unit 204.

[0032] The communication unit 200 communicates with the gateway 13 via the Internet NT. Since the gateway 13 establishes a VPN connection between the maintenance device 20 and the gateway 13, the communication unit 200 can virtually communicate with the access switching device 10.

[0033] The input unit 201 receives operations from a user. The input unit 201 is an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse. Alternatively, the input unit 201 may be a touch screen integrated with the display unit 202 (described later).

[0034] The display unit 202 displays a user interface required for user operations. The display unit 202 particularly displays a screen for applying for maintenance, a screen for notifying the user that the maintenance has been approved, and a screen for performing the maintenance. The display unit 202 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. Alternatively, the display unit 202 may be a touch screen integrated with the input unit 201.

[0035] The application unit 203 transmits application information indicating an application for maintenance of the target device 11 to the access switching device 10 via the communication unit 200 based on operation of the input unit 201 by the worker. The application information includes detailed information about the maintenance and an indication that an application is being made. The detailed information about the maintenance includes, for example, the maintenance schedule, the content of the maintenance work, and data that may be disclosed to the worker during the maintenance. For example, when the worker operates the input unit 201 to enter detailed information about the maintenance and apply for maintenance, the application unit 203 transmits the application information including the detailed information and an indication that an application is being made to the access switching device 10. The application unit 203 is an example of an application means according to the present disclosure.

[0036] The maintenance unit 204 performs maintenance on the target device 11 through communication via the access switching device 10, based on an operator's operation of the input unit 201. For example, when an operator operates the input unit 201 to perform one maintenance task, the maintenance unit 204 transmits a control command indicating the task to the access switching device 10 via the communication unit 200. As described above, when the maintenance task is approved, the control command is relayed to the target device 11. Therefore, by relaying the control command to the target device 11, the task is performed on the target device 11. The maintenance unit 204 is an example of a maintenance means according to the present disclosure.

[0037] The functional configuration of the access switching device 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 4. The access switching device 10 includes a communication unit 100, a storage unit 101, a request unit 102, a decision unit 103, and a relay unit 104.

[0038] The communication unit 100 communicates with the target device 11, the approval terminal 12, and the gateway 13. As described above, since a VPN is established by the gateway 13, the communication unit 100 can also communicate with the maintenance device 20.

[0039] The memory unit 101 stores application information related to maintenance. As described above, when a maintenance application is received from the maintenance device 20, the maintenance device 20 transmits the application information to the access switching device 10. The memory unit 101 stores the application information received by the communication unit 100. As described above, the application information includes detailed information about the maintenance. As described above, the detailed information about the maintenance includes the schedule of the maintenance, the content of the maintenance work, and data that may be disclosed to the worker during the maintenance.

[0040] When the communication unit 100 receives the application information, the request unit 102 transmits request information indicating a request for approval of the maintenance to the approval terminal 12 via the communication unit 100. The request information includes detailed information about the maintenance. The administrator checks the detailed information about the maintenance included in the request information and selects whether to approve or reject the maintenance. The request unit 102 is an example of a request means according to the present disclosure.

[0041] The decision unit 103 decides whether to approve or reject the maintenance in response to the manager performing an operation to approve or reject the maintenance on the approval terminal 12. More specifically, the decision unit 103 decides whether to approve or reject the maintenance in response to the communication unit 100 receiving information indicating the manager's selection from the approval terminal 12. In other words, when the decision unit 103 receives application information from the maintenance device 20, it decides whether to approve or reject the maintenance based on the judgment of the manager who has the authority to approve the maintenance. The decision unit 103 transmits information indicating the approval or rejection to the maintenance device 20 via the communication unit 100. The decision unit 103 is an example of a decision means according to the present disclosure.

[0042] When the determination unit 103 approves the maintenance, the relay unit 104 relays communication for maintenance by the maintenance unit 204 of the maintenance device 20 to the target device 11. The relay unit 104 relays the communication for maintenance to the target device 11 by relaying the control command received from the maintenance unit 204 of the maintenance device 20 to the target device 11 via the communication unit 100. In other words, the relay unit 104 switches whether or not the maintenance device 20 can access the target device 11. The relay unit 104 relays a response from the target device 11 to the control command to the maintenance device 20 via the communication unit 100. The relay unit 104 is an example of a relay means according to the present disclosure.

[0043] However, it is preferable that the relay unit 104 does not relay communications if a predetermined period has elapsed since the decision unit 103 made the approval decision. As described above, if too much time has passed since approval, the manager who approved the maintenance may have forgotten that he or she approved the maintenance or may have forgotten the details of the approved maintenance, which may result in the manager being unable to adequately supervise the maintenance. Therefore, it is preferable that the "predetermined period" be set within a range that will not cause the manager to forget that he or she approved the maintenance, such as several hours. In other words, it is preferable that the worker who applied for the maintenance performs the maintenance in a "timely" manner after approval, and that the relay unit 104 relays communications in a "timely" manner after approval. For example, when the decision unit 103 decides to approve the maintenance, information indicating the decision date and time is stored in the storage unit 101. The relay unit 104 references the information indicating the decision date and time stored in the storage unit 101 and compares the current date and time with the decision date and time to determine whether a predetermined period has elapsed since the decision unit 103 made the approval decision. The "predetermined period" can be set, for example, by an administrator when setting up the access switching device 10.

[0044] Furthermore, it is preferable that the relay unit 104 does not relay communication even if the current date and time contradicts the scheduled maintenance date, by referring to detailed maintenance information included in the application information stored in the storage unit 101. This is because if maintenance is performed at a date and time different from the expected schedule, the maintenance will be performed at a time not intended by the administrator, and there is a high possibility that the administrator will not be fully aware of the maintenance and will not be able to adequately supervise it.

[0045] An example of the hardware configuration of the access switching device 10 and the maintenance device 20 (hereinafter referred to as "access switching device 10, etc.") will be described with reference to Fig. 5. The access switching device 10, etc. shown in Fig. 5 is realized by a computer such as a personal computer, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal.

[0046] The access switching device 10 etc. includes a processor 1001 , a memory 1002 , an interface 1003 , and a secondary storage device 1004 , which are connected to each other via a bus 1000 .

[0047] The processor 1001 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The processor 1001 loads an operating program stored in the secondary storage device 1004 into the memory 1002 and executes the program, thereby realizing the functions of the access switching device 10 and the like.

[0048] The memory 1002 is a main storage device configured, for example, by a RAM (Random Access Memory). The memory 1002 stores the operating program that the processor 1001 reads from the secondary storage device 1004. The memory 1002 also functions as a working memory when the processor 1001 executes the operating program.

[0049] The interface 1003 is an I / O (Input / Output) interface such as a serial port, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, a network interface, etc. The interface 1003 realizes the functions of the communication unit 100, the communication unit 200, etc.

[0050] The secondary storage device 1004 is, for example, a flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD). The secondary storage device 1004 stores the operating programs executed by the processor 1001. The secondary storage device 1004 realizes the functions of the storage unit 101.

[0051] Based on the above explanation, the flow of remote maintenance by the maintenance system 1 will be explained in detail with reference to Figure 2. However, the following will explain the case where maintenance is approved in conjunction with Figure 2, and will provide a supplementary explanation of the case where maintenance is rejected.

[0052] In response to an operator's operation of the input unit 201, the application unit 203 of the maintenance device 20 transmits application information indicating an application for maintenance to the access switching device 10. As a result, a maintenance application is made from the maintenance device 20 to the access switching device 10 (step T1).

[0053] In response to the communication unit 100 of the access switching device 10 receiving the application information, the request unit 102 of the access switching device 10 transmits request information indicating an approval request for maintenance to the approval terminal 12. As a result, an approval request is sent from the access switching device 10 to the approval terminal 12 (step T2).

[0054] When the administrator operates the approval terminal 12 to approve the maintenance, the approval terminal 12 transmits information indicating that approval has been selected to the access switching device 10. This results in the approval being notified to the access switching device 10 from the approval terminal 12 (step T3). Note that if the administrator rejects the maintenance, the approval terminal 12 transmits information indicating that rejection has been selected to the access switching device 10.

[0055] When the communication unit 100 receives information indicating that approval has been selected from the approval terminal 12, the decision unit 103 of the access switching device 10 transmits information indicating approval or denial to the maintenance device 20. This means that the access switching device 10 has notified the maintenance device 20 of approval (step T4).

[0056] In response to the operator's operation of the input unit 201, the maintenance unit 204 of the maintenance device 20 transmits a control command for performing maintenance on the target device 11 to the access switching device 10. As a result, communication for maintenance is performed from the maintenance device 20 to the access switching device 10 (step T5).

[0057] When the communication unit 100 receives the control command from the maintenance device 20, the relay unit 104 of the access switching device 10 relays the control command to the target device 11 (step T6). However, as described above, when a predetermined period has elapsed since approval or when there is a discrepancy between the current date and time and the maintenance schedule, it is preferable that the relay unit 104 not relay the communication.

[0058] The target device 11 that has received the control command through the relay transmits a response to the access switching device 10 (step T7).

[0059] When the communication unit 100 receives the response from the target device 11, the relay unit 104 of the access switching device 10 relays the response to the maintenance device 20 (step T8).

[0060] Thereafter, steps T5 to T8 are repeated for the required maintenance work.

[0061] The above describes the maintenance system 1 according to the embodiment. According to the maintenance system 1, when performing maintenance on the target device 11, a worker first applies for maintenance using the maintenance device 20. Next, the administrator checks the details of the maintenance using the approval terminal 12 and approves or rejects the maintenance. Only when the maintenance is approved does the access switching device 10 relay communication between the maintenance device 20 and the target device 11, allowing the maintenance device 20 to perform maintenance on the target device 11. This allows the administrator to be highly aware of the maintenance even in remote maintenance. The administrator can particularly be aware of when the maintenance will be performed. Then, the maintenance begins only after the administrator is aware of when the maintenance will be performed. Furthermore, because the administrator is highly aware of the maintenance, the administrator can gain a sense of security similar to that of being present at the site.

[0062] (Variation 1) In the embodiment, the access switching device 10, the authorization terminal 12, and the gateway 13 are separate devices. However, the access switching device 10 may further have the function of the authorization terminal 12, or the access switching device 10 may further have the function of the gateway 13.

[0063] (Variation 2) In the embodiment, the approval terminal 12 receives request information from the access switching device 10 and approves or rejects the maintenance by transmitting information indicating the selected content to the access switching device 10. That is, in the embodiment, the approval terminal 12 communicates directly with the access switching device 10.

[0064] However, the approval terminal 12 does not have to communicate directly with the access switching device 10. For example, the access switching device 10 may request approval from the approval terminal 12 via a communication means that does not involve direct communication, such as email, SMS (Short Message Service), or a chat tool. The approval terminal 12 may also communicate approval or denial to the access switching device 10 using a corresponding method. For example, the request unit 102 of the access switching device 10 sends a message containing an approval request addressed to the approval terminal 12 to a service server, such as a mail server, SMS server, or chat server (not shown), via the communication unit 100. In response, the service server sends a message containing the approval request to the approval terminal 12. Therefore, the request unit 102 can send the approval request to the approval terminal 12 without directly communicating with the approval terminal 12. The same applies to the approval terminal 12 communicating approval or denial to the access switching device 10.

[0065] In this case, the approval terminal 12 does not necessarily have to belong to the factory network FN, because communication means such as email, SMS, and chat tools are usually not limited to an internal network.

[0066] (Variation 3) In the description of the embodiment, it was explained that it is preferable for the relay unit 104 of the access switching device 10 not to relay communication when a predetermined period has elapsed since approval. Furthermore, when relaying communication between the maintenance device 20 and the access switching device 10, the relay unit 104 may not relay communication if the communication session at the time of initial relay is different from the current communication session. For example, if the interval between the most recent communication and the current time is several minutes or more, the communication session of communication performed after the current time may be treated as a different communication session from the most recent communication. This handling makes it possible to treat two communications as the same communication session when a slight communication interruption occurs between them, and to treat the two communications as different communication sessions when a long period of no communication continues between them. For example, the relay unit 104 stores information indicating the communication time in the memory unit 101 each time communication occurs between the communication unit 100 and the maintenance device 20, and each time communication occurs, it refers to the information indicating the communication time stored in the memory unit 101, compares the time of the most recent communication with the current time, and if the interval between the time of the most recent communication and the current time is more than a few minutes, treats the communication session of any communication that will occur from this time onwards as different from the communication session of the most recent communication.

[0067] (Modification 4) In the description of the embodiment, it has been explained that it is preferable for the relay unit 104 of the access switching device 10 not to relay communication when a predetermined period has elapsed after approval. This is determined from the viewpoint of an administrator.

[0068] On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the worker, if there is no response from the administrator to the maintenance request within a certain period of time after the request, the request may be treated as rejected, and the worker may be prompted to request maintenance again. That is, the determination unit 103 of the access switching device 10 may decide to reject the maintenance if there is no response from the approval terminal 12 even after a certain period of time has passed since the request information was received. This is because if a long period of time has passed since the request, the worker who requested the maintenance may forget that he or she made the request or may forget the details of the request, so it is preferable to prompt the worker to request the maintenance again. For example, the request unit 102 of the access switching device 10 stores, in the memory unit 101, information indicating the reception time when the communication unit 100 received the request information, and the determination unit 103 refers to the information indicating the reception time stored in the memory unit 101 and compares the reception time with the current time to determine whether a certain period of time has passed since the request information was received.

[0069] 5, the access switching device 10 or the like includes a secondary storage device 1004. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the secondary storage device 1004 may be provided outside the access switching device 10 or the like, and the access switching device 10 or the like and the secondary storage device 1004 may be connected via the interface 1003. In this configuration, removable media such as a USB flash drive or a memory card can also be used as the secondary storage device 1004.

[0070] 5, the access switching device 10 and the like may be configured by a dedicated circuit using an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc. In the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 5, part of the functions of the access switching device 10 and the like may be realized by a dedicated circuit connected to the interface 103, for example.

[0071] The programs used in the access switching device 10 and the like can be stored and distributed on computer-readable recording media such as CD-ROMs (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), USB flash drives, memory cards, HDDs, etc. By installing such programs on a specific or general-purpose computer, the computer can be made to function as the access switching device 10 and the like.

[0072] Furthermore, the above-mentioned program may be stored in a storage device owned by another server on the Internet, and the program may be downloaded from that server.

[0073] The present disclosure allows various embodiments and modifications without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments are intended to explain the present disclosure and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims, not the embodiments. Various modifications made within the scope of the claims and the meaning of equivalent disclosures are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0074] 1 Maintenance system, 10 Access switching device, 11 Target device, 12 Approval terminal, 13 Gateway, 20 Maintenance device, 100 Communication unit, 101 Memory unit, 102 Request unit, 103 Decision unit, 104 Relay unit, 200 Communication unit, 201 Input unit, 202 Display unit, 203 Application unit, 204 Maintenance unit, 1000 Bus, 1001 Processor, 1002 Memory, 1003 Interface, 1004 Secondary storage device, FN Factory network, NT Internet.

Claims

1. A maintenance system for maintaining a device to be maintained, comprising a maintenance device and an access switching device, wherein the maintenance device includes an application means for transmitting application information indicating an application for maintenance of the device to be maintained to the access switching device, and a maintenance means for maintaining the device to be maintained by communication via the access switching device; and the access switching device includes a decision means for determining whether to approve or reject the maintenance related to the application information when receiving the application information from the maintenance device, and a relay means for relaying the communication for maintenance by the maintenance means of the maintenance device to the device to be maintained when the decision means approves the maintenance related to the application information, and not relaying the communication for maintenance when the decision means rejects the maintenance related to the application information.

2. The access switching device further includes a request means for transmitting request information indicating a request for approval of the maintenance to an approval means when receiving the application information from the maintenance device, and the decision means of the access switching device determines whether to approve or reject the maintenance in response to an operation of approving or rejecting the maintenance being performed on the approval means that has received the request information. The maintenance system according to claim 1.

3. The relay means of the access switching device relays the communication for maintenance to the device to be maintained only within a predetermined period after the decision means determines to approve the maintenance. The maintenance system according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The predetermined period is determined within a range in which the approver who has performed the operation on the approval means does not forget the approval. The maintenance system according to claim 3.

5. The relay means of the access switching device relays the communication for maintenance to the device to be maintained only within the same communication session. The maintenance system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. When receiving application information indicating an application for maintenance of a maintenance target device from a maintenance device, a determination means for determining whether to approve or reject the maintenance related to the application information; and a relay means for relaying communication for maintenance by the maintenance device to the maintenance target device when the determination means approves the maintenance related to the application information, and not relaying the communication for the maintenance when the determination means rejects the maintenance related to the application information. An access switching device comprising the above.

7. A maintenance method for maintaining a maintenance target device, wherein the maintenance device transmits application information indicating an application for maintenance of the maintenance target device to an access switching device, and the access switching device determines whether to approve or reject the maintenance related to the application information when receiving the application information from the maintenance device. The maintenance device maintains the maintenance target device by communication via the access switching device. The access switching device relays communication for maintenance by the maintenance device to the maintenance target device when the maintenance related to the application information is approved, and does not relay the communication for the maintenance when the maintenance related to the application information is rejected. A maintenance method.

8. A program for causing a computer to function as a determination means for determining whether to approve or reject maintenance when receiving application information indicating an application for maintenance of a maintenance target device from a maintenance device, and a relay means for relaying communication for maintenance by the maintenance device to the maintenance target device when the determination means approves the maintenance related to the application information, and not relaying the communication for the maintenance when the determination means rejects the maintenance related to the application information.

Images