Patent ID: 7854377

Claim:
A data collection system comprising: a divergence apparatus, located between an equipment and an output apparatus, for outputting contact information concerning an operation performed by the equipment; a network apparatus; and a data collection apparatus connected to the network apparatus via a network, wherein the divergence apparatus includes: a contact information acquisition unit, for obtaining contact information from the equipment; and an output unit, for transmitting to the output apparatus contact information obtained by the contact information acquisition unit, and for transmitting, to the network apparatus, contact associated information, which is information concerning the contact information; wherein the network apparatus includes: a first contact associated information receiver, for receiving contact associated information from the divergence apparatus; and a first contact associated information transmitter, for transmitting, to the data collection apparatus via the network, the contact associated information received by the first contact associated information receiver; wherein the data collection apparatus includes: an operating data storage unit, used to store the contact associated information; a second contact associated information receiver, for receiving contact associated information from the network apparatus via the network; and an operating data log accumulation unit, for storing in the operating data storage unit contact associated information received by the second contact associated information receiver; wherein the divergence apparatus further includes: a state recognition unit, for employing contact information acquired by the contact information acquisition unit to obtain state information, which is information concerning a state of the equipment; and a state coding unit, for transforming the state information obtained by the state recognition unit into coded contact associated information; wherein the output unit transmits to the output apparatus the contact information obtained by the contact information acquisition unit, and also transmits to the network apparatus the contact associated information obtained through a transform performed by the state coding unit; wherein the state coding unit further includes: a coding map storage unit, for storing a coding map representing a correlation between state information, which indicates state patterns for n contacts, and contact associated information, which is code in (n−1) bits or smaller; and a contact associated information acquisition unit, for obtaining, from the coding map, contact associated information that is correlated with state information obtained by the state recognition unit; and wherein n is an integer of two or greater.