BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that provides a management apparatus with data that can be utilized for data analysis, a control method for the image forming apparatus, a storage medium, and a management system.

Description of the Related Art

A management system is known which monitors a status of an image forming apparatus and detects a sign of abnormality in the image forming apparatus based on information about the status of the image forming apparatus. In the management system, when a sign of abnormality in the image forming apparatus is detected, a maintenance person is requested to perform maintenance, and the maintenance person who has received the request performs maintenance of the image forming apparatus. By performing maintenance of the image forming apparatus when a sign of abnormality is detected, downtime caused by a failure of the image forming apparatus is avoided because appropriate actions can be taken before the image forming apparatus fails and becomes inoperative.

The management system is comprised of a management apparatus and a plurality of image forming apparatuses, and the management apparatus is connected to the plurality of image forming apparatuses via a network. For example, in the management system, the image forming apparatus transmits status information including a plurality of measured values obtained by various sensors provided in the image forming apparatuses to the management apparatus, which in turn accumulates the status information received from each of the image forming apparatuses (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2011-166427). In this management system, the management apparatus calculates a feature value representing a status of one image forming apparatus based on status information received from the one image forming apparatus and detects a sign of abnormality in the one image forming apparatus based on a trend of the progression of the calculated feature value. In this management system, status information about the plurality of image forming apparatuses is collected in the management apparatus, and the status information includes a plurality of measured values obtained by the various sensors in the image forming apparatuses. For this reason, the status information can be utilized for data analysis other than prediction of a sign of abnormality. For example, the status information can be used to predict when maintenance of an image forming apparatus will be required (hereafter referred to merely as “the maintenance time”) before a sign of abnormality in the image forming apparatus is detected. On the other hand, since the status information includes a plurality of measured values as described above, data traffic increases when the image forming apparatus transmits the status information to the management apparatus, and significant costs are required to build and maintain a communication environment that implements such data communication. On the other hand, in another management system, the image forming apparatus calculates a feature value representing a status of the image forming apparatus based on status information and transmits information about a sign of abnormality detected based on a trend of the progression of the calculated feature value to the management apparatus (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2020-3656). The information about the sign of abnormality does not include a plurality of measured values obtained by the various sensors described above but includes only limited information such as information that identifies a component whose sign of abnormality has been detected, and hence the information about the sign of abnormality has a smaller data amount than that of the status information. Therefore, the arrangement in which the image forming apparatus transmits information about a sign of abnormality to the management apparatus can reduce costs required to construct and maintain the communication environment as compared to the arrangement in which the status information is transmitted.

However, in the arrangement in which the image forming apparatus transmits information about a sign of abnormality to the management apparatus, information accumulated in the management apparatus is only limited information such as information that identifies a component whose sign of abnormality has been detected. For this reason, the information accumulated in the management apparatus cannot be utilized for data analysis other than detection of signs of abnormality. Namely, according to the prior art, it is impossible to provide the management apparatus with data that can be utilized for data analysis other tan detection of signs of abnormality while keeping down costs required to build and maintain the communication environment. It is also impossible to utilize the accumulated information in estimating the maintenance time for the image forming apparatus. Namely, according to the prior art, it is impossible to predict the maintenance time for the image forming apparatus while keeping down costs required to build and maintain the communication environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus that is capable of providing a management apparatus with data that can be utilized for data analysis other than detection of signs of abnormality while keeping down costs required to build and maintain a communication environment, a control method for the image forming apparatus, a storage medium, and a management system.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus with a sensor, comprising at least one memory that stores a set of instructions, and at least one processor that executes the instructions, the instructions, when being executed, causing the image forming apparatus to generate, based on first data comprising measured values obtained by the sensor, second data for use in detecting a sign of abnormality in the image forming apparatus, and transmit the second data directly or indirectly to a management apparatus that detects the sign of abnormality, wherein the second data is data that indicates characteristics of the image forming apparatus and has a smaller data amount than that of the first data.

According to the present invention, the management apparatus is provided with data that can be utilized for data analysis other than detection of signs of abnormality while keeping down costs required to build and maintain a communication environment. Moreover, according to the present invention, when maintenance of the image forming apparatus should be performed is predicted while costs required to build and maintain a communication environment are kept down.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings).

