Abstract:
A management device comprises: a receiving section that receives, from at least one information processor via a fire wall, a polling signal to inquire if there is a demand to transmit to the information processor; a deciding section that decides a transmission timing of the polling signal due to the information processor; and a transmitting section that transmits a reply to the polling signal that is received by the receiving section, the reply including the transmission timing decided by the deciding section.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-007894 filed Jan. 17, 2007. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    (i) Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a management device, a management method, a computer readable medium and a computer data signal. 
         [0004]    (ii) Related Art 
         [0005]    When a failure occurs in an information processor, a recovery data in order to recover the information processor from this failure may be transmitted to the information processor from an outside management server. In this case, when a fire wall is disposed between the information processor and the management server, even if the management server transmits the recovery data from the management server to the information processor, this is blocked by the fire wall. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a management device comprising: a receiving section that receives, from at least one information processor via a fire wall, a polling signal to inquire if there is a demand to transmit to the information processor; a deciding section that decides a transmission timing of the polling signal due to the information processor; and a transmitting section that transmits a reply to the polling signal that is received by the receiving section, the reply including the transmission timing decided by the deciding section. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figure, wherein: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a system block diagram of a management system according to the present invention; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a sequence view showing an examples of the processing by the management system; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a view showing an example of a transmission timing of the designated polling signal; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a sequence view showing an examples of the processing by the management system; 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a sequence view showing an examples of the processing by the management system; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is a view showing an example of a condition to designate a transmission timing of a polling signal. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    Hereinafter, the exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a system block diagram of a management system  1  according to the present exemplary embodiment. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the management system  1  may include a fire wall  10 , a printer  20 , and a management server  30 . 
         [0016]    The printer  20  is connected to a local area network  40 , and the management server  30  is connected to an outside network  50 . The local area network  40  and the outside network  50  are connected each other via the fire wall  10 . Further, the outside network  50  may be determined to be Internet, for example. 
         [0017]    According to the present exemplary embodiment, the fire wall  10 , the printer  20 , and the management server  30  may make communication through a protocol of TCP/IP, respectively. Then, an IP address based on a system of a network in the local area network  40  is allocated to the printer  20 . In addition, an IP address based on a system of a network in the outside network  50  is allocated to the management server  30 . 
         [0018]    The fire wall  10  may control communication made between the local area network  40  to which the printer  20  is connected and the outside network  50  to which the management server  30  is connected. The fire wall  10  is provided being intended to protect the local area network  40  inside of the fire wall from the unauthorized access from the outside network  50  of the outside of the fire wall. As the fire wall  10 , a fire wall having a packet filtering function may be used or a fire wall having a proxy function may be used. In addition, the fire wall  10  may be assembled in the printer  20  as software or may be realized as a dedicated hardware (a fire wall server). For example, when the firewall  10  is a server provided with the packet filtering function, communication between the printer  20  and the management server  30  may be controlled as follows. 
         [0019]    The fire wall server of a packet filtering type may use an address conversion function together with a packet filtering. The address conversion function is a function to rewrite addresses of a transmission source of the packet and a transmission destination thereof. The address may be designated by an IP address and a port number. For example, according to the management system  1  shown in  FIG. 1 , when the printer  20  accesses the management server  30  across the fire wall  10 , the fire wall server may rewrite the address of the transmission source, namely, the address of the printer  20 . Then, if the reply of the packet of which address is converted is returned from the management server  30 , the address of the transmission source, namely, the address of the management server  30  may be rewritten by the fire wall server. 
         [0020]    Thus, the fire wall server may store an address conversion table in a memory in order to establish the communication via the fire wall. In this address conversion table, an IP address and a port number are stored to convert the IP address and the port number. 
         [0021]    The fire wall server can be determined so as to set the IP address and the port number allowing transmission to the printer  20  and interrupt a packet that is directly transmitted from the outside of the fire wall. Thus, a signal transmitted to the printer  20  is interrupted by the fire wall server and it does not attain to the printer  20  using the management server  30  as a starting point. On the other hand, when carrying out polling for the management server  30  from the printer  20  and transmitting the data from the management server  30  to the printer  20  as a reply, it is possible to determine the IP address and the port number to be used for this reply so as to pass through the fire wall server. Thus, a reply signal for polling by means of the management server  30  may attain to the printer  20  without being interrupted by the fire wall server. 
         [0022]    Next, the constitution provided to the printer  20  will be described. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the printer  20  may include a communication unit  200 , a control unit  202 , and an image forming unit  204 . It is assumed that respective units can be communicated each other. 
         [0023]    The communication unit  200  may make communication with the management server  30  via the fire wall  10 . The communication unit  200  may be realized by means of a network interface. As described above, the communication due to the communication unit  200  may be carried out by a protocol of a TCP/IP. 
         [0024]    The communication unit  200  may transmit a polling signal to the management server  30  via the firewall  10 . The polling signal is a signal that inquires if there is a demand to transmit to the printer  20 . According to the present exemplary embodiment, there are two types in the polling signal, namely, one to be transmitted to the management server  30  at a predetermined period and one to be transmitted to the management server  30  at a transmission timing that is designated by the management server  30 . Then, the communication unit  200  may receive a reply signal for the transmitted polling signal from the management server  30 . The details of the reply signal from the management server  30  will be described later. 
         [0025]    In addition, the communication unit  200  may receive the data of a print job from a client computer (not illustrated) or the like to be connected to the local area network  40  other than the above-described communication processing. 
         [0026]    The control unit  202  may include a central processor and may control each unit of the printer  20 . The control unit  202  may also control the image forming processing to be made in the image forming unit  204 . The control unit  202  may carry out raster processing of the print data that is received from the client computer in the communication unit  200  so as to generate bitmap data. Then, the control unit  202  may transfer the generated bit map data to the image forming unit  204 . 
         [0027]    In addition, the control unit  202  may transmission of the polling signal to be transmitted to the management server  30 . According to the present invention, as control of the polling signal, at least the transmission timing may be controlled. 
         [0028]    The transmission timing of the polling signal by the printer  20  may be determined in accordance with a control signal that is included in a reply signal of the polling signal that is transmitted from the management server  30 . The control signal may include designation information of the transmission timing for designating at least once transmission timing of the polling signal. The transmission timing may be designated by an absolute time or a relative time, for example, a time after some minutes from the current time. 
         [0029]    The image forming unit  204  may form a transcribed image on a photosensitive member on the basis of the bit map data that is transcribed from the control unit  202 . Then, the transcribed image formed on the photosensitive member may be transcribed on a print sheet to be fed by a sheet feeding mechanism. The print sheet on which the image is transcribed may be discharged by a sheet discharge mechanism. Thus, the image forming unit  204  may carry out the image forming processing. 
         [0030]    Next, the constitution of the management server  30  will be described. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the management server  30  may include a communication unit  300  and a control unit  302 . It is assumed that respective units can make communication with each other. Each unit may be realized by a hardware for constituting a general computer system such as a processor, a memory, a network interface (NIC) or the like. 
         [0031]    For example, it is assumed that the communication unit  300  may be realized by an NIC and the communication unit  300  may make communication with other information communication instruments by a protocol of a TCP/IP. Then, in the control unit  302 , a CPU (a central processor) may control each unit of the management server  30  in accordance with a command included in a program that is stored in a memory (including a RAM and a ROM or the like) or a hard disk or the like. In addition, the above-described program may be stored in an information memory medium including various formats such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a flash memory or others to be provided. In this case, by means of a medium reading apparatus connected to the management server  30 , a program is read from the information memory medium. In addition, it may be possible that the program is downloaded via a network. 
         [0032]    The communication unit  300  may make the communication with the printer  20  via the fire wall  10 . For example, the communication unit  300  may receive the polling signal to be transmitted by the printer  20 . 
         [0033]    In addition, the communication unit  300  may return a reply signal for the polling signal that is received from the printer  20  to the printer  20  of the transmission source of the polling signal. The reply signal may include a control signal for controlling a transmission timing of the polling signal to be transmitted by the printer  20 . The control signal may include designation information of the transmission timing for designating at least once transmission timing of the polling signal. 
         [0034]    The control unit  302  may include a CPU (a central processor) and may control each unit of the management server  30  in accordance with a control program that is stored in the memory. Then, the control unit  302  may further include an application processing unit  304 , a transmission timing managing unit  306 , a storage unit  308 , and a transmission data managing unit  310 . 
         [0035]    The application processing unit  304  may carry out the processing using a polling signal by means of one or plural applications. Here, the processing using the polling signal may include the processing for receiving the data from the printer together with the polling signal and the processing for transmitting the data generated in the application processing unit  304  as the transmission data to the printer including it in a reply signal for the polling signal, for example. Further, the application processing unit  304  may be realized by the operation of the CPU in accordance with a predetermined program to be stored in the memory. 
         [0036]    A transmission timing of the polling signal to be transmitted by the printer is designated by each application that is processed in the application processing unit  304 . The timing designated by the application may meet a time that the generation processing of the transmission data has been completed, for example. 
         [0037]    In the transmission timing managing unit  306 , on the basis of a transmission timing of the polling signal that is designated by each application to be processed in the application processing unit  304 , a transmission timing of the polling signal to be designated for the printer  20  is decided. As the transmission timing of the polling signal, a transmission timing that is the nearest to the current time may be selected from among transmission timings designated by the application, for example. The details of selection of this transmission timing will be described later. 
         [0038]    In the storage unit  308 , transmission data that is generated by each application to be processed by the application processing unit  304  may be stored. To the transmission data to be stored, its transmission destination is related. Then, the transmission data to be stored in the storage unit  308  may be transmitted included in the reply of the polling signal after being read by the CPU. 
         [0039]    The transmission data managing unit  310  may manage the transmission data to be transmitted being included in the reply of the polling signal from the printer  20 . In the case that the transmission data excesses a data size allowed as the reply of the polling signal, the transmission data managing unit  310  may divide the transmission data at an appropriate data position. In addition, the transmission data managing unit  310  may determine if there is the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet in the storage unit or not. Then, when the transmission data managing unit  310  determines that there is the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet in the storage unit, the transmission data managing unit  310  may demand continuous transmission of the polling signal by the printer  20  from the transmission timing managing unit  306 . 
         [0040]    Receiving a demand of a transmission timing of the polling signal from the transmission data managing unit  310 , the transmission timing managing unit  306  may transmit a control signal for designating a transmission timing of a next palling signal, for example, a control signal to designate a transmission timing that is determined after a predetermined time from the current time being included in a reply of the polling signal from the printer  20 . For example, a predetermined time may be a short time about five minutes, and it is preferable that this predetermined time is determined in a shorter time interval as compared to a transmission interval of a cyclic polling signal. 
         [0041]    Hereinafter, with reference to a sequence view shown in  FIG. 2 , an example of the processing in the management system  1  will be described. 
         [0042]    The management server  30  may carry out the processing by one or plural applications. Then, each application may designate the transmission timing of the polling signal by means of the printer  20  (S 101 ). The timing designated by the application may be determined to correspond to a time when the generation processing of the transmission data has been completed, for example. 
         [0043]    The timing managing unit  306  may decide a transmission timing of a polling signal that is designated for the printer  20  on the basis of the timing that is designated by the above-described each application (S 102 ). Hereinafter, the decision processing of the transmission timing will be described by using a specific example. 
         [0044]      FIG. 3  shows an example of a transmission timing of a polling signal that is designated by each of a plurality of applications. In  FIG. 3 , the transmission timing of the polling signal is designated by a transmission interval (a time period) or a time. Then, in the case of defining the transmission timing of the polling signal as a timing closest to the current time, according to each example shown in  FIG. 3 , the transmission timing will be decided as follows. 
         [0045]    According to the example shown in  FIG. 3(A) , a time to be designated by applications A, B, and C is “60 minutes interval”, “120 minutes interval”, and “30 minutes interval”, so that “a time after 30 minutes” will be selected as a transmission timing in accordance with “30 minutes interval” of the application C closest to the current time among them. Then, in the case that a demand due to the application C is cancelled, a time that is a next early time is selected. 
         [0046]    Then, according to the example shown in  FIG. 3(B) , the transmission interval and the time are mixed in designation due to the application in such a manner that “60 minutes interval”, “120 minutes interval”, and “10:00” are designated by the applications D, E, and F, respectively. Here, in the case that the current time is determined to be 9:30, as the timing closest to the current time, “10:00” to be designated by the application F will be selected. Next, in the case that the polling signal is transmitted from the printer  20  at 10:00, “11:00” after 60 minutes will be decided as a transmission timing. 
         [0047]    The polling signal is transmitted from the printer  20  (S 103 ) Here, the polling signal to be transmitted may be a signal to be transmitted at a transmission timing that is designated by the management server  30  or may be a signal to be transmitted from the printer  20  at a predetermined period. Then, the management server  30  may receive the polling signal that is transmitted from the printer  20 . 
         [0048]    The management server  30  may send a reply to the polling signal that is received from the printer  20  including a control signal for designating a transmission timing of the polling signal that has been designated in advance to the printer  20  (S 104 ). 
         [0049]    The printer  20  may receive the reply that is transmitted from the management server. Then, on the basis of the control signal to designate the transmission timing included in the reply, a transmission timing of a polling signal to be transmitted next will be determined (S 105 ). 
         [0050]    The printer  20  may send the polling signal in accordance with the determined transmission timing (S 106 ). Then, the printer  20  may receive a reply signal for the polling signal from the management server  30  (S 107 ). Here, in the case that the transmission timing to designate the transmission timing for the printer  20  is decided, the control signal to designate the transmission timing for the reply signal may be included. 
         [0051]    Next, with reference to a sequence diagram shown in  FIG. 4 , other example of the processing to be carried out in the management system  1  will be described. 
         [0052]    The management server  30  may carry out the processing by means of one or plural applications. Then, the transmission data generated by at least one application is stored in the memory (S 201 ). This transmission data may be stored in the memory relating to a device of a transmission destination (according to the present exemplary embodiment, it is the printer  20 ). 
         [0053]    Then, due to each application, a transmission timing of a polling signal by means of the printer  20  is designated (S 202 ). The timing to be designated by the application may correspond to a time when the generation processing of the transmission data has been completed, for example. 
         [0054]    The transmission timing managing unit  306  may decide a transmission timing of a polling signal to be designated for the printer  20  on the basis of the timing that is designated by the above-described application (S 203 ). 
         [0055]    From the printer  20 , the polling signal is transmitted (S 204 ) Here, a polling signal to be transmitted may be a signal to be transmitted at the transmission timing that is designated by the management server  30  or a signal to be transmitted from the printer  20  at a predetermined period. Then, the management server  30  may receive the polling signal that is transmitted from the printer  20 . 
         [0056]    The management server  30  may send a reply to the polling signal that is received from the printer  20  including a control signal for designating a transmission timing of the polling signal that has been designated in advance to the printer  20  (S 205 ). 
         [0057]    The printer  20  may receive the reply that is transmitted from the management server  30 . Then, on the basis of the control signal to designate the transmission timing included in the reply, a transmission timing of a polling signal to be transmitted next will be determined (S 206 ). 
         [0058]    Here, the management server  30  may determine if there is the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet in the printer  20  or not (S 207 ). Whether or not there is the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet may be determined depending on if the transmission data stored in the storage unit  308  as the data to be transmitted to the printer  20  remains or not. 
         [0059]    In the case that it is determined that there is the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet in the printer  20  due to the above-described judgment (S 207 : Y), the management server  30  may decide a transmission timing of a polling signal designated for the printer  20  (S 208 ). The transmission timing to be decided may be determined after a predetermined time from the current time, for example, after five minutes from the present time. 
         [0060]    Then, the printer  20  may transmit the polling signal on the basis of the determined transmission timing (S 209 ) and as its reply, the printer  20  may transmit a reply signal including a control signal designating the transmission timing (S 210 ). The above-described processing may be continued till there is no transmission data that has not been transmitted yet in the printer  20 . 
         [0061]    The present invention is not limited to the above-described exemplary embodiment. A modification example of this above-described exemplary embodiment will be described below. 
         [0062]    It may be assumed that the management server  30  monitors the load of the management server  30  and in accordance with the load that is monitored, the transmission timing designated for the printer is decided. The load of the management server  30  may be decided in accordance with a CPU load, a frequency and a waiting time of a memory access, and a communication load or the like or it may be decided in accordance with a frequency of a polling signal to be received from the printer  20 . 
         [0063]    For example, in the case that the load of the management server  30  is decided in accordance with the frequency of the polling signal to be received from the printer  20 , a load may be decided in accordance with the number of reception of the polling signal to be transmitted from the printer  20  (or other information processor) during a predetermined time (for example, after an hour) Then, determining if the number of reception of the polling signal that is predicted or measured during a predetermined time exceeds a threshold or not, and then, in the case that it is determined that the number of reception of the polling signal that is predicted or measured during a predetermined time exceeds a threshold, the management server  30  may be controlled so as not to designate the transmission timing of the polling signal by the printer  20  during a predetermined time after the present moment. 
         [0064]    With reference to  FIG. 5 , on the basis of the load of the management server  30 , the processing for deciding the transmission timing of the polling signal will be described using a specific example. In the following example, it is assumed that the load of the management server  30  is high and the management server  30  is controlled so as not to accept polling within 30 minutes. 
         [0065]      FIG. 5  shows a transmission timing that is designated by each of one or plural applications. As shown in  FIG. 5 , it is assumed that a transmission timing of a polling signal is designated “five minutes interval” for the printer  20  by the application A. In this case, if the current time is 9:45, due to the load of the management server  30 , it is inhibited to designate the transmission timing of the polling signal within 30 minutes, so that the time such as 9:50, 9:55 or the like that is five minutes interval from 9.45 is not designated. Then, 10:15 after 30 minutes from the present time whereby an inhibition time due to the load is solved is decided as a transmission timing. Here, for example, in the case that the transmission timing of the polling signal is designated “45 minutes interval” for the printer  20  by the application A, since 30 minutes that is the inhibition time due to the load have already passed from the present time, “10:30” is decided as a transmission timing in accordance with “45 minutes interval” that is designated by the application A. 
         [0066]    In addition, as shown in  FIG. 5 , in the case that the application B designates the transmission timing of the polling signal, since “10:00” is within 30 minutes from the present time of “9:45”, namely, within a time range that is inhibited due to the load, “10:15” that is beyond that time range is decided as a transmission timing. 
         [0067]    In addition, when deciding the transmission timing, this decision may depend on a priority of each condition as follows. In other words, a priority is given to a transmission timing designated by the application, a time range inhibited due to a load condition, and a transmission timing designated when the transmission data remains, respectively, and depending on this, the transmission timing may be decided. 
         [0068]    For example,  FIG. 6  shows an example of the above-described respective conditions. According to the example shown in  FIG. 6 , if a top priority is given to the time range inhibited due to the load, the transmission timing is decided as “a time after 30 minutes” although the application A and the transmission data that has not been transmitted yet remain. On the other hand, in the case that the top priority is given to that the transmission data has been completely and rapidly transmitted to the printer  20 , the transmission data is defined as “the time after 5 minutes” regardless of the time range that is inhibited depending on the application A and the load condition. Giving the priority to each condition in this way, the transmission timing may be decided in accordance with the given priority. 
         [0069]    In addition, according to the above-described exemplary embodiment, the management server  30  designates the transmission timing of the polling signal to be transmitted next for the printer  20 , however, it is possible to designate plural numbers of transmission timings as a whole. 
         [0070]    In addition, the present invention is not limited to a printer (an image processor), but it is obvious that the present invention can be used when designating the transmission timing of the polling signal for other information processor such as a personal computer. 
         [0071]    The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.