Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system – Remote supervisory monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-19
2003-03-11
Hoff, Marc S. (Department: 2857)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system
Remote supervisory monitoring
C702S188000, C705S016000, C705S021000, C705S073000, C709S222000, C709S224000, C370S254000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06532435
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for remotely monitoring an object apparatus such as a POS terminal, a cash dispenser in a bank or the like by way of a communication network such as a public telephone wiring network, WAN/LAN or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a remote monitoring system composed of an object apparatus and a monitoring apparatus for remotely monitoring the object apparatus by way of a communication network. Further, the present invention relates to an apparatus for use in the remote monitoring system and for automatically setting a near-end value useful for detecting that a consumption component employed in the object apparatus is coming close to its end of life (near-end). Furthermore, the present invention relates to a recording medium having an near-end value automatic setting program recorded thereon and readable by a computer.
2) Description of the Related Art
In general, a store such as a convenience store or the like has a POS system (Point-Of-Sales: system for managing information acquired upon selling goods) introduced. Thus, the store is equipped with a POS terminal (terminal apparatus, or an object apparatus) and the terminal serves as a register in the store. For example, if a firm provides a number of stores as chain stores for deploying a sales operation, since a plurality of POS terminals of the same type are provided in an identical store, the total number of POS terminals of all chain stores can come up to a great number.
Therefore, if a worker such as a CE (Customer Engineer) or the like is delivered to each of the stores for carrying out maintenance operation of the POS terminal and the worker checks the sending condition of each POS terminal (e.g., information of preventive maintenance concerning the condition of a consumption component), a lot of time and labor will be required for the maintenance operation.
For this reason, recently, a remote monitoring system has been arranged so that a number of POS terminals can be monitored collectively in a remote control fashion by a monitoring apparatus provided in a control center, a remote maintenance center or the like. According to the remote monitoring system, each of the POS terminals is connected to a monitoring apparatus by way of a public wiring network, WAN (Wide Area Network)/LAN (Local Area Network) or the like. Then, a reporting unit is arranged so that information concerning the using condition of the respective POS terminals is detected and a packet of the information is created for reporting the spending condition to the monitoring apparatus by way of the communication network.
According to the remote monitoring system arranged as described above, the preventive maintenance information of each POS terminal is sent from the reporting unit to the monitoring apparatus by way of the communication network. Then an operator or the like having received the report provides instruction that a CE or the like shall be delivered to a store in response to the preventive maintenance information.
Further, actual spending condition of a consumption component (e.g., a number of typed lines of a thermal printer, a display time of a CRT or the like) is detected in each of the POS terminals and the detected spending condition is reported from the reporting unit to the monitoring apparatus periodically. When the monitoring apparatus receives the information concerning the using condition sent from the respective POS terminals, and it is recognized that the life of the consumption component of the respective POS terminal is coming close to the end of its life (near-end), then a near-end alarm is generated. When the CE is informed of the near-end alarm, the CE is dispatched to the store with a spare component corresponding to the consumption component, and the consumption component is replaced with the spare component at the store before a life terminating alarm is generated.
According to the above-described remote monitoring system, if a new POS terminal is introduced into a store or an already installed POS terminal is moved from one store to another, it is checked whether or not the POS terminal is connected in a communicative fashion with the monitoring apparatus by way of the communication network.
The above-described checking operation is merely a general network check in which it is confirmed whether the newly introduced POS terminal or the moved POS terminal is connected to the monitoring apparatus by way of the communication network in a communicative fashion. That is, it is merely confirmed whether the POS terminal is physically connected to the communication network or not.
According to the current remote monitoring system, if the POS terminal is physically connected to the communication network, it is regarded that the reporting unit of the POS terminal is capable of informing the using condition of the POS terminal to the monitoring apparatus. Therefore, it is not confirmed whether the POS terminal can really inform the using condition of the POS terminal to the monitoring apparatus without failure. Therefore, it is natural that there is no means for check the function of the POS terminal.
If the POS terminal is connected to the communication network and the check on the network connection indicates a satisfactory result in terms of physical connection, there can be still a chance of malfunction that a software does not work well in sending a message from the reporting unit of the POS terminal to the monitoring apparatus. Alternatively, if the POS terminal or the monitoring apparatus suffer from a wire cut in circuits thereof, it becomes impossible to send a message from the POS terminal to the monitoring apparatus without failure.
According to the current remote monitoring system described above, in spite of the fact that the monitoring system suffers from the above malfunction, the POS terminal starts to be operated under condition that the above network check shows a temporary satisfactory result. Therefore, if it is found that the reporting unit was incapable of sending a message to the monitoring apparatus satisfactorily after the system is brought into operation, then the operator of the system judges that there is any trouble in the reporting system including the POS terminal and the monitoring apparatus. Thus, a worker such as a CE or the like takes any action against the trouble.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, even if a new POS terminal
11
is introduced into the system at a location (store)
21
and a network check indicates a satisfactory result, it cannot be guaranteed that the reporting unit of the POS terminal
11
is capable of sending a message correctly to the monitoring apparatus
30
. If the reporting unit of the POS terminal
11
has sent a message satisfactorily to a monitoring apparatus
30
upon the introduction to the system, and thereafter the POS terminal
11
is moved from the location (store)
21
to a location (store)
22
, the remote monitoring system also suffers from the problem that the reporting unit of the POS terminal works satisfactorily or not. That is, even if the network check indicates a satisfactory result after the movement is achieved, which fact does not guarantee that the reporting unit of the POS terminal
11
is capable of sending a message to the monitoring apparatus
30
satisfactorily.
In general, it is extremely rare case that a terminal apparatus such as a personal computer is introduced into a predetermined location and then it is moved to a completely different location. However, for example, if a number of chain stores are provided to deploy a selling operation and a POS terminal of a same type is provided in each of the stores, a POS terminal can be introduced into a newly built store or a POS terminal can be moved from one store to another. For this reason, if it can be checked upon introduction or movement of the POS terminal whether or not the reporting unit of the POS terminal is capable of sending a message correctly to the monitoring apparatus
Aoshika Masashi
Sano Kazuya
Desta Ellias
Staas & Halsey , LLP
LandOfFree
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