Apparatus for managing a device, program for managing a device, storage medium on which a program for managing a device is stored, and method of managing a device

Abstract

A remote site managing system manages, in a unified fashion, computers and peripheral devices installed at a customer site. The remote site managing system automatically receives information indicating a failure which has occurred or indicating a high possibility that a failure will occur in some of PC/servers or peripheral devices installed in a customer's office and provides maintenance services without causing a customer to be concerned about anything. Furthermore, transmission of a request to a maintenance service company and reception of a service operation report from the service company are performed by the remote site managing system in an unified fashion.

1 - 49 . (canceled)  
     
     
         50 . A device managing apparatus for managing a device via a network, said device managing apparatus comprising: 
 failure detection means for receiving data indicating an occurrence of a failure in the device;    generating means for generating data indicating a request for a service operation in accordance with reception of the data by said failure detection means;    selection means for selecting a company among a plurality of companies which should perform a service operation upon the device;    transmission control means for transmitting the data indicating the request for the service operation generated by said generating means to the company selected by said selection means;    issuing means for issuing an identifier assigned to the request for the service operation; and    storing means for storing information about each of a plurality of the requests for the service operation, said storing means storing, as that information, the issued identifier assigned to the request for the service operation, the selected company which should perform the service operation corresponding to the request for the service operation and the status of the service operations corresponding to the request.    
     
     
         51 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 50 , further comprising receiving means for receiving data indicating a service operation report which is returned from the company in response to the transmitted data indicating the request for the service operation.  
     
     
         52 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 51 , wherein 
 said transmission control means controls the transmission such that the data indicating the request for the service operation is transmitted together with the identifier issued by said issuing means,    said receiving means receives the data indicating the request for the service operation together with the identifier transmitted by said transmission control means, and    said management means changes the status of the service operation corresponding to the request which corresponds to the identifier received by said receiving means, in accordance with the data indicating the service operation report received by said receiving means.    
     
     
         53 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 50 , wherein 
 said failure detection means receives device information identifying a device detected as having a failure, and    said selection means selects a company on the basis of the received device information.    
     
     
         54 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 50 , wherein 
 said failure detection means receives failure information identifying a detected failure, and    said generating means describes the received failure information in the data indicating the request for the service operation.    
     
     
         55 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 50 , further comprising: 
 determining means for determining who should deal with the failure detected by said failure detection means; and    display control means for, when said determining means determines that a customer possessing said device should deal with the failure, displaying, on a display unit, customer information associated with that customer and a message indicating the manner of dealing with the detected failure.    
     
     
         56 . A device managing apparatus according to  claim 55 , wherein said selection means selects a company when said determining means determines that a company should deal with the failure.  
     
     
         57 . A device managing program stored in a computer-readable storage medium and executed by a computer to manage a device via a network, said program comprising: 
 a failure detection step, of receiving data indicating an occurrence of a failure in the device;    a generation step, of generating data indicating a request for a service operation in accordance with reception of the data in said failure detection step;    a selection step, of selecting a company among a plurality of companies which should perform a service operation upon the device;    a transmission control step, of transmitting the data indicating the request for the service operation generated in said generation step to the company selected in said selection step;    an issuing step, of issuing an identifier assigned to the request for the service operation; and    a storage step, of, storing information about each of a plurality of the requests for the service operation, said storing step including storing, as that information, the issued identifier assigned to the request for the service operation, the selected company which should perform the service operation corresponding to the request for the service operation and the status of the service operation corresponding to the request.    
     
     
         58 . A method for managing a device via a network, said method comprising: 
 a failure detection step, of detecting an occurrence of a failure in the device;    a generation step, of generating data indicating a request for a service operation in accordance with detecting a failure in said failure detection step;    a selection step, of selecting a company among a plurality of companies which should perform a service operation upon the device;    a transmission control step, of transmitting the data indicating the request for the service operation generated in said generation step to the company selected in said selection step;    an issuing step, of issuing an identifier assigned to the request for the service operation; and    a storage step, of storing information about each of a plurality of the requests for the service operation, said storage step including storing, as that information, the issued identifier assigned to the request for the service operation, the selected company which should perform the service operation corresponding to the request for the service operation and the status of the service operation corresponding to the request.    
     
     
         59 . A device managing method according to  claim 58 , further comprising a receiving step, of receiving data indicating a service operation report which is returned from a company in response to the transmitted data indicating the request for the service operation.  
     
     
         60 . A device managing method according to  claim 59 , wherein 
 said transmission control step includes controlling the transmission such that the data indicating the request for the service operation is transmitted together with the identifier issued in said issuing step,    said receiving step includes receiving the data indicating the request for the service operation together with the identifier transmitted in said transmission control step, and    said management step includes changing the status of the service operation corresponding to the request which corresponds to the identifier received in said receiving step, in accordance with the data indicating the service operation report received in said receiving step.    
     
     
         61 . A device managing method according to  claim 58 , wherein 
 said failure detection step includes acquiring device information identifying a device detected as having a failure, and    said selection step includes selecting the company on the basis of the received device information.    
     
     
         62 . A device managing method according to  claim 58 , wherein 
 said failure detection step includes acquiring failure information identifying a detected failure, and    said generation step includes describing the received failure information in the data indicating the request for the service operation.    
     
     
         63 . A device managing method according to  claim 58 , further comprising: 
 a determining step, of determining who should deal with the failure detected in said failure detection step; and    a display control step, of, when it is determined in said determining step that a customer possessing the device should deal with the failure, displaying, on a display unit, customer information associated with the customer and a message indicating the manner of dealing with the detected failure.    
     
     
         64 . A device managing method according to  claim 63 , wherein said selection step includes selecting the company when it is determined in said determining step that a company should deal with the failure.  
     
     
         65 . An information processing apparatus comprising: 
 a receiver adapted to receive data indicating a failure in a device;    a controller adapted to select a company among a plurality of companies which should perform a service operation upon the device;    a sender adapted to send a request for the service operation to the company selected by said controller; and    storage adapted to store information indicating the status of the service operation corresponding to the request sent by said sender.    
     
     
         66 . A method for managing a service operation comprising the steps of: 
 detecting a failure in a device;    selecting a company among a plurality of companies which should perform a service operation upon the device;    sending a request for the service operation to the company selected in said selecting step; and    storing information indicating the status of the service operation corresponding to the request sent in said sending step.    
     
     
         67 . A method according to  claim 66 , further comprising the steps of receiving a service operation report which is returned from the selected company in response to the sent request for the service operation and changing, in accordance with the reception of the service operation report, the status of the service operation to a status in which the service operation is done.  
     
     
         68 . A method according to  claim 67 , wherein 
 in said sending step, the request for the service operation and an identifier corresponding to the request for the service operation are sent to the selected company,    in said receiving step, the service operation report and the identifier are received from the selected company, and    in said changing step, the status of the service operation corresponding to the request which corresponds to the received identifier is changed to the status in which the service operation is done.