US 5,819,110 AGranted

System for determining whether connection or connectionless modes of communication should be used to transmit information between devices in accordance with priorities of events

AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.

InventorTetsuro Motoyama

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Abstract

A method and system for monitoring, controlling and diagnosing operation of a machine such as a business office machine including a facsimile machine, a copier, and a printer. When the speed of communication between the remote device and machine is not urgent, a connectionless mode of communication may be used. The form of connectionless communication is an electronic mail message transmitted over the Internet. However, when a condition needs urgent action, a direct connection is used for communication such as communication via a telephone or ISDN line. The information obtained from the machine is stored in one or more data bases within a company and information of the machine is shared between a service department, engineering and design department, manufacturing department, and marketing department. As communication over the Internet via electronic mail is not secure, the connectionless-mode messages transmitted using Internet electronic mail are encrypted.

Claims39

Dependent claims

A method for communicating between a monitored device and a monitoring device, comprising the steps of:

determining information to be transmitted between the monitored device and the monitoring device;
determining whether a mode of communication to be used between the monitored and the monitoring device is a connection-mode or a connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing a content of the information to be transmitted;
transmitting the information by the connection-mode of communication between the monitored device and the monitoring device, when the step of determining the mode of communication has determined that the connection-mode of communication is to be used;
and
transmitting the information by the connectionless-mode of communication between the monitored device and the monitoring device, when the step of determining the mode of communication has determined that the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used,
wherein:
the step of determining the mode of communication to be used comprises determining whether the mode of communication to be used is the connection-mode or the connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing the content of the information to be transmitted which is based on an event which occurred in the monitored device and was monitored by sensors within the monitored device,
the sensors in the monitored device sense events having a first priority and events having a second priority which is lower than the first priority,
the step of determining the mode of communication to be used comprises determining the connection-mode of communication is to be used when the first priority event is sensed and determining the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used when the second priority event is sensed,
the sensing of the first priority event comprises sensing a problem in the monitored device, and
the sensing of the second priority event comprises sensing usual conditions in the monitored device which are transmitted in a regularly generated report.

8 more elements

A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for implementing communication between two devices, comprising:

means for determining information to be transmitted by a first device;
means for determining whether a mode of communication to be used between the first device and a second device is a connection-mode or a connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing a content of the information to be transmitted;
means for transmitting the information by the connection-mode of communication from the first device to the second device, when the means for determining the mode of communication has determined that the connection-mode of communication is to be used;
and
means for transmitting the information by the connectionless-mode of communication from the first device to the second device, when the means for determining the mode of communication has determined that the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used,
wherein:
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for determining whether the mode of communication to be used is the connection-mode or the connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing the content of the information to be transmitted which is based on an event which occurred in the first device and was monitored by sensors within the first device,
the sensors in the first device sense events having a first priority and events having a second priority which is lower than the first priority,
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for determining the connection-mode of communication is to be used when the first priority event is sensed and means for determining the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used when the second priority event is sensed,
the sensing of the first priority event comprises sensing a problem in the monitored device, and
the sensing of the second priority event comprises sensing usual conditions in the monitored device which are transmitted in a regularly generated report.

8 more elements

A system for communicating between a monitored device and a monitoring device, comprising:

sensors within the monitored device which sense conditions of the monitored device;
means for determining whether a mode of communication to be used between the monitored and the monitoring device is a connection-mode or a connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing a content of information to be transmitted;
a connection-mode transmitter which transmits the information by the connection-mode of communication between the monitored device and the monitoring device, when the means for determining the mode of communication has determined that the connection-mode of communication is to be used;
and
a connectionless-mode transmitter which transmits the information by the connectionless-mode of communication between the monitored device and the monitoring device, when the means for determining the mode of communication has determined that the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used,
wherein:
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for determining whether the mode of communication to be used is the connection-mode or the connectionless-mode of communication by analyzing the content of the information to be transmitted which is based on an event which occurred in the monitored device and was monitored by the sensors within the monitored device,
the sensors in the monitored device sense events having a first priority and events having a second priority which is lower than the first priority,
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for determining the connection-mode of communication is to be used when the first priority event is sensed and means for determining the connectionless-mode of communication is to be used when the second priority event is sensed,
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for sensing a problem in the monitored device, and
the means for determining the mode of communication to be used comprises means for sensing usual conditions in the monitored device which are transmitted in a regularly generated report, the usual conditions being the second priority event.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.