Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kiyohisa Koyama

Masaichi Sawada

Keiichi Suzuki

Akira Takehisa

Youichi Onodera

An image forming device includes a communication unit connecting the device to a support center via a communication line and receiving and transmitting information by a communication with the support center. An error detecting unit detects an error of the device. A first warning unit controls, when the error is detected, an operation/display unit to display a repair call activation menu that indicates a defective condition of the device and enables a user to decide whether activation of a repair call transmitting function is allowed. A second warning unit controls a warning device to produce at least a warning sound indicating the defective condition of the device. When the defective condition of the device continues for a time, exceeding a predetermined period, without taking any repairing action, a warning executing unit executes either one of the warning controls of the first and second warning units or both.

Image forming device and remote monitoring system for the same

A remote maintenance and diagnosis apparatus for making a diagnosis of a remote client appliance comprises a data acquisition unit that acquires data necessary to diagnose the client appliance, a diagnosing unit that make an automatic diagnosis of the client appliance based on the data acquired by the data acquisition unit, and an automatic diagnosis result reporting unit that reports a result of the automatic diagnosis to the client appliance.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Kiyohisa Koyama