Centralized control system for terminal device

Centralized control system, comprising:

• one or more terminal devices;
• communicating means provided for each of said one or more terminal devices and energized by a power source for transmitting information relating to operational condition of each of said terminal devices at a predetermined time;
• and
• controlling means, connected to each of said communicating means through communication lines, for controlling each of said terminal devices in accordance with said information transmitted from each of said communicating means:
• said communicating means having:
• storing means for storing said information;
• holding means for holding data representative of said predetermined time;
• clocking means for clocking present time;
• a back-up power source for backing up said storing means and said clocking means when said power source is shut off;
• comparing means for comparing the present time clocked by said clocking means with said predetermined time;
• and
• transmitting means for outputting the information stored in said storing means to said controlling means at a time when the power is supplied again based on a result of comparison by said comparing means when said present time has passed said predetermined time,
• wherein said transmitting means outputs to said controlling means the information, which is not outputted at the predetermined time due to the outage of the power, at the time when the power is supplied again.

Centralized control system, comprising:

• one or more terminal devices;
• communicating means, provided for each of said one or more terminal devices and energized by power source, for transmitting information relating to an operational condition of each of said terminal devices;
• and
• controlling means, connected to each of said communicating means through communication lines, for controlling each of said terminal devices in accordance with said information transmitted from each of said communicating means;
• said communicating means having:
• storing means for storing said information;
• holding means for holding data representative of a predetermined time;
• clocking means for clocking the present time;
• back-up power source for backing up said storing means and clocking means when said power source is shut off;
• comparing means for comparing the present time clocked by said clocking means with said predetermined time;
• a flag which is set in the case where said information stored in said storing means should be transmitted in accordance with comparison result by said comparing means;
• and
• transmitting means, in the case where said flag is set and the power source is not shut off, for transmitting said information stored in said storing means to said controlling means immediately, and at the time when the power is supplied again in the case where said flag is set but the power source is shut off;
• wherein said transmitting means transmits to said controlling means the information, which is not transmitted at the time when said flag is set due to the outage of the power, at the time when the power is supplied again.

Centralized control system for an image forming apparatus, comprising:

• one or more image forming apparatuses for forming an image on copy paper;
• communicating means, provided for each of said one or more image forming apparatuses, for transmitting each operational condition information including trouble information of each of said image forming apparatuses;
• and
• controlling means for controlling each of said image forming apparatuses in accordance with said information transmitted from each of said communicating means;
• said communicating means having:
• first judging means for judging a trouble condition of said image forming apparatus;
• second judging means for judging that said image forming apparatus discharges the copy paper in accordance with an image forming operation;
• third judging means for judging whether said image forming apparatus has recovered from the trouble condition to a normal condition in accordance with judgment results of said first and second judging means when the image forming apparatus discharges the copy paper after the trouble condition occurs;
• and
• transmitting a result of the judging from said third judging means to said controlling means.

Centralized control system for a plurality of copying machines, comprising:

• a plurality of data terminal devices each associated with a respective one of said plurality of copying machines, and
• a central unit connected to each of said data terminal devices through a communication line;
• wherein each of said data terminal devices collects information relating to an operational condition of the copying machine and transmits the collected information to said central unit through the communication line at a predetermined time determined for each of said data terminal devices;
• said central unit including:
• means for providing a present time,
• storing means for storing the predetermined time determined for each of said data terminal devices,
• means for renewing the predetermined time stored in said storing means for the data terminal device which has transmitted the information at the predetermined time,
• detecting means for detecting which of said data terminal devices fails to transmit the information at the predetermined time thereof based on comparison between the present time and the predetermined time stored in said storing means, and
• displaying means for displaying information identifying the data terminal device detected by said detecting means independent of the operational state of the communicating means or the communication lines.

Centralized control system for a plurality of copying machines, comprising:

• a plurality of data terminal devices each associated with a respective one of said plurality of copying machines;
• and
• a central unit connected to each of said data terminal devices through a communication line;
• wherein each of said data terminal devices is energized by a power source to collect information relating to an operational condition of the copying machine and to transmit the collected information to said central unit through the communication line at a predetermined time determined for each of said data terminal devices;
• each of said data terminal devices including:
• storing means for storing said information,
• holding means for holding data representative of said predetermined time,
• clocking means for clocking a present time;
• a back-up power source for backing up said storing means and said clocking means when said power source is shut off;
• comparing means for comparing the present time clocked by said clocking means with said predetermined time;
• and
• transmitting means for outputting the information stored in said storing means to said central unit at a time when the power is supplied again based on a result of comparison by said comparing means when said present time has passed said predetermined time,
• wherein said transmitting means outputs to said central unit the information, which is not outputted at the predetermined time due to the outage of the power, at the time when the power is supplied again.

Centralized control system for a plurality of copying machines each of which forms an image on a paper, comprising:

• a plurality of data terminal devices each associated with a respective one of said plurality of copying machines;
• and
• a central unit connected to each of said data terminal devices through a communication line;
• wherein each of said data terminal devices collects information relating to an operational condition of the copying machine and transmits the collected information to said central unit through the communication line;
• each of said data terminal devices including:
• first judging means for judging a trouble condition of said copying machine,
• first transmitting means for transmitting information indicating the trouble condition judged by said judging means to said central unit,
• second judging means for judging that said copying machine discharges the paper in accordance with a copying operation, and
• second transmitting means for transmitting information indicating that the copying machine has recovered from the trouble condition when said second judging means judges that said copying machine discharges the paper after the trouble condition is judged by said first judging means.