Patent ID: 8767223

Claim:
An apparatus for managing a multi-function device through a network, said apparatus comprising: a monitoring part configured to monitor the multi-function device through the network and detect an occurrence of an alert condition at the multi-function device at a first time; a storage part configured to store importance level information for a plurality of types of alert conditions, wherein the stored importance level information, for each alert condition type amongst the plurality of types of alert conditions, associates the alert condition type with an importance level amongst a plurality of importance levels and associates the importance level with a corresponding notification deferment time amount amongst a plurality of notification periods of time; and a control part that determines, based on the stored important level information and a type of the detected alert condition, the importance level of the detected alert condition, and determines whether a notification deferment condition is present based on whether the importance level is at or above a predetermined importance level threshold, and in a case that the notification deferment condition is not present, the control part outputs a trigger signal to trigger a notification operation, the notification operation including generating an alert notification and transmitting the generated alert notification through the network, and in a case that the notification deferment condition is present, the control part determines based on the stored importance level information the notification deferment time amount associated with the importance level of the detected alert condition and defers triggering the notification operation for the notification deferment time amount indicated in the stored importance level information as being associated with the importance level of the detected alert condition, and beginning at the first time when the alert condition is detected; and a notification generation part configured to perform the notification operation, when the notification generation part receives the trigger signal from the control part, wherein after the notification deferment time amount has expired, the control part determines whether the same alert condition has occurred at least a predetermined number of times within the notification deferment time amount, and in a case that the control part determines that the same alert condition has occurred at least the predetermined number of times within the notification deferment time amount, the control part causes the notification generation part to perform the notification operation.