Patent ID: 6859625

Claim:
An image forming device equipped with a communication unit connecting the image forming device to a central management equipment via a communication line to allow the central management equipment to remotely perform maintenance of the image forming device, the image forming device comprising: a first transmitting unit configured to periodically transmit a regular message, indicating a state information of the device, to the management equipment by connecting the device to the management equipment via the communication line when a timing of dispatch of the regular message is detected; a second transmitting unit configured to transmit an irregular message, indicating a malfunction information of the device, to the management equipment by connecting the device to the management equipment via the communication line when a malfunction in the device is detected; a transmission judgment unit configured to determine, immediately before the regular message transmission is started, whether the irregular message has been transmitted within a preset period prior to a timing of the regular message transmission, based on a stored newest malfunction information, the transmission judgment unit configured to allow the first transmitting unit to transmit the regular message only when it is determined that the irregular message has not been transmitted within the preset period; a preset period changing unit configured to change the preset period of the transmission judgment unit to an arbitrarily selected period in response to a preset period changing command.