# US 5,359,391 A · Equipment control apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 5,359,391 A - Document ID: US5359391A - Status: Granted - Kind: A - Application number: 08/112,318 - Filed: 1993-08-27 - Granted: 1994-10-25 - Earliest claimed: 1991-04-18 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Satoshi Kuroyanagi; Masanori Miyata; Hideki Adachi; Shinichi Nakamura; Naoyuki Ohki; Tokuharu Kaneko; Hiroshi Ozaki; Hisatsugu Tahara; Satoshi Kaneko; Taisei Fukada; Mitsuharu Takizawa - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5359391A ## CPC - G06F 11/0733: {in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner} - G03G 15/5079: {for maintenance} - G03G 21/1652: {Electrical connection means} - G06F 11/0748: {in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault (remote testing G06F11/2294)} - H04M 11/007: {with remote control systems (remote control in general G08C)} - G03G 15/55: {Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display} - G03G 2215/00109: Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host - G03G 2221/16: Mechanical means for facilitating the maintenance of the apparatus, e.g. modular arrangements and complete machine concepts - G03G 2221/1675: jam treatment - G03G 2221/1696: for auxiliary devices, e.g. add-on modules - G06F 11/2294: {by remote test} - G06F 11/30: Monitoring - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G03G: ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) ## Abstract An equipment controlling apparatus is composed of a counter for counting the operational number of the equipment, memories for storing data indicating the state of the equipment, a communication device for communicating on the stored data with a centralized control apparatus, which controls the communicated data intensively, and a controlling device for causing the stored data to be transmitted to the centralized control apparatus when the counter has counted a predetermined value. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from said equipment, said apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicative of a state of the equipment; communication means for communicating said data with said centralized control apparatus; and controlling means for initiating communication of the stored data to said centralized control apparatus in response to a request for transmission of said data received from one of said equipment and said centralized control apparatus, wherein said controlling means initiates communication of the stored data to said centralized control apparatus after an operation of said equipment is terminated, when the request for the transmission of said data is received during the operation of said equipment. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said controlling means allows said data to be transmitted after a passage of a predetermined period of time since the termination of the operation of said equipment. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said equipment is a recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium, said equipment being capable of causing said data to be transmitted after the passage of a predetermined period of time since the termination of the recording operation. ### Claim 4 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from said equipment, said apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicative of a state of the equipment; communication means for communicating said data with said centralized control apparatus; detecting means for detecting a frequency of abnormality occurrences in said equipment; and controlling means for initiating communication of the stored data to said centralized control apparatus at time intervals of a predetermined period, wherein said controlling means modifies the time intervals for initiating communication of said data in accordance with detection results of said detecting means. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said controlling means shortens said time intervals when abnormality often occurs. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said equipment is a recording apparatus for io recording an image on a recording medium. ### Claim 7 An equipment controlling apparatus comprising: storage means for storing common data indicating a state of an equipment, which are common to different kinds of equipment from said equipment, and specific data indicating the state of the equipment, which are not common and cannot be used by the different kinds of equipment from said equipment; communication means for communicating with a centralized control apparatus which controls said common data and said specific data intensively; and controlling means for discriminating said common data and said specific data and causing them to be transmitted to said centralized control apparatus. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said storage means has addresses for storing said common data and said specific data separately, and the addresses for storing said common data are a common area for each equipment stored in said storage means irrespective of kinds of the equipment. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said controlling means causes relative address from head of data to be transmitted. ### Claim 10 An equipment controlling apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicating a state of an equipment; communication means for communicating with a first and second centralized control apparatuses for controlling said data intensively; and controlling means for executing controls so that when no communication is possible with said first centralized control apparatus, communication is performed with said second centralized control apparatus. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said controlling means attempts communicating with said second centralized control apparatus when communication with said first centralized control apparatus is not possible even after its communication has been attempted for a predetermined times. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when no communication with said first centralized control apparatus is possible even after its communication has been attempted for a predetermined times, said controlling means does not communicate with said first centralized control apparatus thereafter. ### Claim 13 An equipment controlling apparatus for controlling communication between an image formation apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium and external apparatus located at a position apart from said equipment controlling apparatus and said image formation apparatus, said controlling apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicative of a state of the image formation apparatus; communication means for communicating with the external apparatus; and transmission instruction means for instructing transmission of the stored data to said external apparatus, wherein said data comprise a date and time of a defective feeding of the recording medium, a total counting value of image formations at the time of the defective feeding, and a kind of the defective feeding. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when an abnormality occurs in said image formation apparatus. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction at a predetermined time. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction after a predetermined number of image recordings are performed by said image formation apparatus. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when trouble occurs in said image formation apparatus with respect to said recording medium. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when expendables consumed by said image formation apparatus are exhausted. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when a counter value equals a predetermined value. ### Claim 20 An equipment controlling apparatus for controlling communication between an image formation apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium and an external apparatus located at a position apart from said equipment controlling apparatus and said image formation apparatus, said equipment controlling apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicative of a state of the image formation apparatus; communication means for communicating with the external apparatus; and transmission instruction means for instructing transmission of the stored data to said external apparatus, wherein said data comprise a date and time of abnormal control of image formation, a total counting value of image formations at the time of the abnormal control, and a kind of the abnormal control. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when an abnormality occurs in said image formation apparatus. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction at a predetermined time. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction after a predetermined number of image recordings are performed by said image formation apparatus. ### Claim 24 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when an abnormality occurs in said image formation apparatus with respect to said recording medium. ### Claim 25 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when expendables consumed by said image formation apparatus are exhausted. ### Claim 26 (depends on 20) An equipment controlling apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said transmission instruction means issues its instruction when a counter value equals a predetermined value. ### Claim 27 An equipment controlling apparatus for controlling communication between an image forming apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium and an external apparatus located at a position apart from said equipment controlling apparatus and said image formation apparatus, said controlling apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data indicative of a state of the image formation apparatus; communication means for communicating with the external apparatus; and transmission instruction means for instructing transmission of the stored data to said external apparatus when a counter value equals a predetermined value, wherein said data comprise a date and time of transmission, a kind of transmission, and a result of the transmission of the stored data to said external apparatus by the communication means. ### Claim 28 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the equipment, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the equipment with the centralized control apparatus; and controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to said centralized control apparatus, said controlling means initiating communication of the data in accordance with a predetermined condition corresponding to a type of the data. ### Claim 29 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the equipment, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the equipment with the centralized control apparatus; and controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to the centralized control apparatus in response to a request for transmission of the data received from one of the equipment and the centralized control apparatus, said controlling means initiating communication of the data to the centralized control apparatus if an operation of the equipment is not started during a predetermined time period after the request for the transmission of the data is received. ### Claim 30 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the equipment, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the equipment with said centralized control apparatus; detecting means for detecting a frequency of abnormality occurrences in said equipment; and controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to the centralized control apparatus, said controlling means initiating communication of the data in accordance with detection results of said detecting means. ### Claim 31 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the equipment, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the equipment with the centralized control apparatus; detecting means for detecting a frequency of abnormality occurrences in said equipment; and controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to the centralized control apparatus in accordance with a predetermined condition, said controlling means modifying the predetermined condition in accordance with detection results of said detecting means. ### Claim 32 An apparatus for controlling communication between equipment and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the equipment, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the equipment with the centralized control apparatus; controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to the centralized control apparatus a predetermined number of times, said controlling means controlling said communication means so that, when communication is unsuccessful during the predetermined number of times of initiation, communication is again intiated the predetermined number of times. ### Claim 33 An apparatus for controlling communication between an image formation apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium and a centralized control apparatus located at a position apart from the image formation apparatus, said apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating data indicative of a state of the image processing apparatus with the centralized control apparatus; and controlling means for initiating communication of the data by said communication means to the centralized control apparatus, wherein the data comprise a total count value of image formation operations at the time of a control abnormality in the image formation apparatus in combination with a type of the control abnormality.