Information mediation system, information mediation method, information accumulating system, and information processing method

An information mediation method comprising:

• sensing, by an information mediation server, modification of specifications of a printer which is connected to the information mediation server via a network;
• requesting, by the information mediation server from a management apparatus;
• responsive to detecting modification of specifications of the printer, an update to a set of categories of operation information that is to be collected from the printer;
• receiving, by the information mediation server, an update to the set of categories of operation information to be collected;
• collecting, by the information mediation server, operation information falling within the categories of the updated set of categories from the printer.

An information accumulating system comprising:

• a printer;
• an information mediation server configured to collect operation information from the printer;
• and
• a management apparatus configured to store categories of operation information that is to be collected from the printer, the categories associated with printer specifications;
• wherein the information mediation server includes
• an operation information accumulating section configured to determine one or more categories of operation information to collect based on printer specifications, and to collect operation information falling within the determined one or more categories of operation information from the printer, and
• a specification sensing section configured to detect a modification in specifications of the printer, and
• the operation information accumulating section is configured to request and receive, from the management apparatus, an update to the categories of operation information that is to be collected from the printer responsive to detection of a modification of the specifications of the printer by the specification sensing section, and to collect operation information falling within the updated categories of operation information to collect, from the printer
• wherein the operation information accumulating section is configured to transmit the operation information to the management apparatus at a lower frequency than a frequency at which the printer is accessed for collecting the operation information.

An information processing method comprising:

• identifying, for at least one printer by an information accumulating device, timing data in a datastore corresponding to a frequency at which the information accumulating device is set to the printer in order to collect operation information;
• collecting, by the information accumulating device in a collection operation, a predetermined number of sets of operation information from an operation information buffer of the printer that overwrites oldest stored operation information when the buffer is full and new operation information is to be recorded;
• determining, by the information accumulating device, whether and/or how many sets of operation information of the collected sets of operation information match any of the sets of operation information collected in a previous collection operation;
• and
• modifying, by the information accumulating device, the timing data to alter the frequency at which the information accumulating device accesses the printer to collect operation information, responsive to the determination.