Image forming system and service person support method therefor

An image forming system comprising:

• at least one image forming apparatus;
• a central control unit adapted to manage said image forming apparatus;
• and
• a storage device, wherein said storage device is adapted to store at least one to-do item that specifies details of an operation to be performed by a service person for obtaining operating data indicative of an operating state of said image forming apparatus, and reference data associated with the to-do item and indicative of a reference operating state corresponding to an operational environment of said image forming apparatus and a type of a sheet,
• said central control unit comprising a to-do item-transmitting unit adapted to read out an associated to-do item corresponding to the operational environment of said image forming apparatus and the type of the sheet from said storage device in response to a request input by the service person via said image forming apparatus and transmit the to-do item to said image forming apparatus, a synthetic data-generating unit adapted to read out a reference data associated with the to-do item from said storage device, and generate synthetic data of the reference data associated with the to-do item and the operating data indicative of the operating state of said image forming apparatus obtained from said image forming apparatus by the service person performing the details of an operation of the to-do item, and a synthetic data-transmitting unit adapted to transmit the synthetic data generated by said synthetic data-generating unit to said image forming apparatus, and
• said image forming apparatus comprising a request transmitting unit adapted to receive the request input by the service person and transmit the request input by the service person and information related to the operational environment of said image forming apparatus and the type of the sheet to said central control unit, a display unit adapted to display the to-do item received from said central control unit, a data transmitting unit adapted to receive the data indicative of the operating state of said image forming apparatus obtained from said image forming apparatus by the service person performing the details of the operation of the to-do item, and transmit the received data to said central control unit,
• wherein the display unit is adapted to display the synthetic data received from said central control unit, wherein the reference data indicates an allowable range of timing when the sheet reaches a predetermined position of said image forming apparatus,
• wherein the operating data indicates an actual timing when the sheet reaches the predetermined position of said image forming apparatus, and
• wherein the synthetic data is data superimposing the reference data and the operating data on the same coordinate system.