JP2003280860A - Information processor, control method, control program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor, a control method, a control program and a storage medium capable of reducing the load to register the user of an image processor. <P>SOLUTION: When job information is acquired in a step S1104, the process is advanced from a step S1105 to a step S1106 in the case of a non-registered user, and an automatic registration processing is executed. Furthermore, the user registered only by the automatic registration processing and for when any information is not additionally registered, is displayed with an icon whose configuration is different from that of a user manually registered by a manager. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information processing device, a control method, a control program, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an information processing apparatus which manages the use of an image processing apparatus such as a printer (printing apparatus), a scanner, a copying machine, or a multifunction device (MFP) in which these are integrated. .

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional information processing apparatus, the administrator must register the information of the user to be managed in advance, and the operation load is high.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus, a control method, and a control program capable of reducing the registration burden on the user of the image processing apparatus. Another object is to provide a storage medium.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that manages the use of an image processing apparatus, and registers information about the user of the image processing apparatus. Registration means for automatically registering user information included in the job information when the user who issued the job information to the image processing apparatus is not registered by the registration means. When,
It is characterized by including.

[0006] Although registered by the automatic registration means,
It is characterized by further comprising display means for discriminatingly displaying a user to whom information has not been added by the registration means and a user to whom information has been registered by the registration means.

The display means displays the user in an identifiable manner by an icon.

By selecting and executing the icon,
It is characterized by further comprising control means for enabling the registration means to register the user information of the user corresponding to the icon.

The automatic registration means is characterized in that the users to which the information is not added by the registration means are collectively registered in a predetermined group.

In order to achieve the above object, a method according to the present invention is a method of controlling an information processing device for managing the use of an image processing device, wherein a registration step of registering information about a user of the image processing device. And an automatic registration step of automatically registering the user information included in the job information when the user who issued the job information to the image processing apparatus is not registered by the registration step. It is characterized by including.

A display step for distinguishably displaying a user who has been registered by the automatic registration step but has no information added by the registration step and a user who has been registered by the registration step; It is characterized by further including.

In the displaying step, the user is displayed in an identifiable manner by an icon.

By selecting and executing the icon,
The method may further include a control step of enabling registration of user information of a user corresponding to the icon by the registration step.

The automatic registration step is characterized in that the users to whom the information is not added by the registration step are collectively registered in a predetermined group.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to the present invention is a control program for an information processing device that manages the use of the image processing device, wherein information about the user of the image processing device is registered in a computer. Registration step for automatically registering the user information included in the job information when the user who issued the job information to the image processing apparatus is not registered by the registration step And are executed.

To achieve the above object, a storage medium according to the present invention is a storage medium in which a control program of an information processing device for managing the use of the image processing apparatus is stored, and a computer uses the image processing apparatus. A registration step of registering information about a person, and if the user who issued the job information to the image processing apparatus is not registered by the registration step, the user information included in the job information is automatically And a control program for executing the automatic registration step for registering in the.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the relative arrangement of the constituent elements, the display screen, and the like described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to them unless otherwise specified.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

<Job Account System> FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the entire job account system according to the present embodiment. 1010 and 1020 are client computers. Reference numeral 1030 is a server computer as an information processing device.

Reference numerals 1040 and 1060 are printers as an example of an image processing apparatus. However, the printer 1040
Has a function of holding a usage history (log) (usage history holding function), and the printer 1060 does not have a usage history holding function. 1050 is an MFP (M
ulti function printer). The MFP 1050 has a printer function, a copy function, a scanner function, and a usage history holding function. Strictly speaking, the usage history stored in the printer 1040 and the MFP 1050 is different from the job information, and is information obtained by analyzing the job information and extracting information for usage management. In the above, the concept of “job information” includes usage history information held by these image processing apparatuses.

Computers 1010, 1020, 103
0 and the printers 1040, 1050, 1060 can respectively communicate with other devices via a network.

In the client computer 1010, the application 1011 is a GDI (Graphic
When calling cs device interface) 1012, the GDI 1012 causes the application 10
Print data is generated according to an instruction from 11, and the print data is transmitted to the spooler 1013. The job account client application 1014 monitors (hooks) the application 1011 calling the GDI 1012, and accumulates job information related to the print data. The job information includes the number of prints, the number of pages, the print size, the type of paper used, information about the user who issued the print request (user information), information about color printing (color information), and the like.

The spooler 1013 includes a printer 1040 and an MF as an example of an image processing apparatus via a network.
P1050 communicates with the printer 1060, and if the image processing apparatus is ready, print data is transmitted. When the client computer 1020 functions as a print server, the print data generated by the GDI 1012 is sent to the spooler 1023.

The job account client application 1014 periodically sends the accumulated job information to the job account server application 1031.

In the client computer 1020, the application 1021, GDI 1022, and spooler 1023 are respectively the application 1010,
It works the same as the GDI 1012 and spooler 1013.

The job account client application 1024 regularly monitors the spooler 1023. If there is a print job spooled in the spooler 1023, the job account client application 1024 uses the API (Application Pr).
information of the print job is acquired using the Ogram Interface). Specifically, the number of discharged sheets and the number of pages of the print job are acquired. Then, the job account client application 1024 stores the accumulated job information in the job account server application 1
031 is transmitted.

If the OS has a function of transmitting the status change of the spooler 1023 to another application, the job account client application 1024 does not have to monitor the spooler 1023 on a regular basis.
The OS may inform the job account client application 1024 that the print job has been spooled in the spooler 1023.

In the server computer 1030, the job account server application 1031 includes a user information management module 1031a, a device information management module 1031b, and a job information management module 10.
31c and a usage status management module 1031d.

Of these, the user information management module 10
31a stores and manages user information in a user information database (not shown) in the server computer 1030. The user information includes a computer login name of a user who uses the image processing apparatus (a name that the user inputs to log in to the computer), a network login name (a name that the user inputs to log in to the network system), This information includes a user ID and card information input when using the device, and is information that identifies (identifies) the user who used the image processing apparatus.

The user information management module 1031a
It includes a user display program for displaying the stored user information and allowing the administrator to set the user information. Further, based on the job history collected by the job information management module 1031c, it is confirmed whether the user who issued the job is stored as user information for each job, and if it is not stored, an automatic registration program is registered. Contains.

The user display program is such that the user is registered by the administrator for each user information to be displayed, and detailed user information is set, or an automatic registration program. It is displayed in a different form so that the administrator can distinguish whether or not was automatically registered. The user display program has a function to easily enter detailed user information about the displayed user, so the administrator is automatically registered by the automatic registration program and detailed information is set. You can immediately enter detailed information for users who have not been registered.

In the present embodiment, specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, different icons are used to indicate users who have detailed information set and users who do not. That is,
A user icon 1 representing a user who has registered detailed information
Compared with 201, a minus sign 1202 is added to the user icon 1202 representing a user who has not registered detailed information.
a is added. Note that FIG. 12 shows that the user folder includes a group A and a group B, and the group B includes a user aaa and a user bbb.

When the user icon in FIG. 12 is clicked, a user information registration dialog as a registration means as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed, and the user ID, user name, e-mail address, security level, etc. can be set. . In addition, users who do not have detailed information set are automatically registered together in a group for temporarily registering users who do not have detailed information set, and the group is marked with a minus icon in the same way as the user icon. It may be displayed with a mark so that it can be identified. In this way, if the users for whom detailed information has not been set are collectively displayed in one group, the administrator will not be able to register even if multiple users are newly registered in the network system at the same time. It is possible to reduce the trouble of registration / management of registered users and further improve the usability of the user display program.

The user ID of the automatically registered user
Is set to a negative value, and this user ID is
The minus sign 1202a is added to the icon until the plus value is changed in the registration dialog as shown in FIG. In the registration dialog as shown in FIG. 13, if a positive value such as an employee number is entered in the user ID field,
User icon 1202 is the standard user icon 120
Change to 1.

Further, the device information management module 1031b
Investigates whether the image processing device connected to the network has a usage history holding function, and obtains information about devices having the usage history holding function and other device information,
It is stored and managed in a device information database (not shown) in the server computer 1030. The device information includes the printing speed of the image processing apparatus, color information, network address, and the like.

The job information management module 1031c
Job account client application 101
4 and 1024 to receive the job information and store the job information in the job information database. The job information management module 1031c also includes an image processing apparatus (for example, the printer 114) having a function of holding usage history information.
0) to request the usage history information and obtain the usage history information via the usage status input / output module 1031d. This process may be performed periodically. Further, when the storage capacity of the usage history information storage unit (not shown) of the image processing apparatus becomes low, the usage status input / output module is notified of that fact, and this processing may be performed at that time.

The utilization status input / output module 1031
d can also output an output of a usage status report (report indicating which user has executed how many jobs) to a printer of the image processing apparatus or a display unit (not shown) of the server computer 1030. This allows the administrator to
It is possible to obtain the usage status of the image processing apparatus by causing the usage status input / output module 1031d to output the usage status. The usage status input / output module 1031d outputs various usage statuses based on the user information, device information, and print history information stored in the storage unit. The administrator specifies the output format (output format) for the usage status input / output module. Output data relating to the output of the usage status may be transmitted to the client computers 1010 and 1020, and the output of the usage status may be displayed on the display unit (not shown) of the client computer.

In the output of the usage status, the usage amount for each user (the number of sheets and toner amount used for output) and the usage time of the image processing apparatus are output. In addition, the usage status is output for each operation mode (function) of the image processing apparatus such as color printing or double-sided printing. In addition, the usage status is output according to the size of the used paper and the type of the used paper.

Since the usage fee of the image processing apparatus is set in the device information, the usage fee is output for each image processing apparatus or each user. Further, by setting the usage charge for each operation mode, the usage charge for each paper size, and the usage charge for each paper type, which user, which paper, which operation mode, which image processing device, Print how much you print and how much you spend.

The administrator executes a restriction condition setting program (not shown) included in the job account server application 1031 to execute the user information management module 1031a and the device information management module 1031b.
Using, it is possible to set use restriction conditions for each function, each user, each user department, and each device used. The restrictive conditions that can be set include items such as a usage fee, the number of pages, and the number of sheets. These limiting conditions are stored in the storage unit as a part of the user information.

The job information management module 1031c
When the usage history of the image processing device is monitored and checked against the usage restriction conditions set by the administrator, if the usage of a certain user satisfies the restriction conditions (if the received job information is executed, the number of sheets that exceeds the upper limit value) Is to be printed), the client computer 1010 or the image processing device itself is denied the use of the user.

<Control Configuration of Computer> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the client computer 1010, the client computer 1020, and the server computer 1030. 201 is a CPU (central processing unit). The CPU 201 controls the entire computer system, performs arithmetic processing, and the like.

Reference numeral 202 denotes a ROM (read-only memory)
Is. The ROM 202 is a storage area that stores information such as a system boot program. 203
Is a RAM (random access memory). RAM
203 is a data storage area with no usage restrictions. An operating system (OS), application programs, device drivers (printer drivers), communication control programs, etc. are loaded into the RAM 203 and executed by the CPU 201.

Reference numeral 204 is a KBC (keyboard control unit). The KBC 204 receives input data from a keyboard attached to the computer and transfers the input data to the CPU 201. Reference numeral 205 denotes a CRT (display control unit), which performs display control on the display device. Reference numeral 206 denotes an HD (hard disk device). The HD 206 may be an FD (floppy (registered trademark) disk device), an SRAM (nonvolatile storage memory), etc.
It can be replaced with an external storage device such as. The HD 206 stores programs and data, and these programs and data are loaded into the RAM as needed. For example, in the HD inside the server computer 1030, user information, device information, and print history information (job history database) are stored.

A communication section 207 controls network communication. With this communication unit 207, the computer
It is possible to communicate with another computer or image processing apparatus connected to the network.

Reference numeral 208 is a system bus. Data exchanged between the above components passes through this system bus 208.

<Memory Map> FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map when the job account server application program is loaded into the RAM 203 and can be executed by the CPU 201. 31 is the basic I / O
It is a program. 302 is an operating system such as a window system. 303 is a job account server application program.
304 is related data. 305 is the CPU 201
Is a work area used when executing programs such as the job account server application program.

The job account server application program and related data are stored in a floppy disk (FD) or CD-ROM and supplied from there to the computer. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a memory map when the job account server application program and related data are stored in the FD or the CD-ROM. Storage area 400 of FD or CD-ROM
Is volume information 401, directory information 402,
Job account server application execution file 403, job account related data file 40
It is composed of 4.

In this embodiment, a storage medium (FIG. 4) in which the program code of the job account server application program is recorded is supplied to a computer as shown in FIG. 5, and the computer device (CPU 201) stores the storage medium in the storage medium. The effect is obtained by reading and executing the generated program code.

As a method of supplying the program and data shown in FIG. 4 to the computer, the computer main body 50 is stored in the floppy disk FD500 as shown in FIG.
A common method is to supply the data to the No. 2 (via the floppy disk drive 501). In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, in addition to a flexible disk and a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-
ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also
An OS (operating system) running on a computer may perform a part or all of actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments. Needless to say. Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted in the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that this also includes the case where the CPU provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

<Control Configuration of Image Processing Device> FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the image processing device. A controller unit 605 controls the entire image processing apparatus. The controller unit 605 includes a CPU 601, a ROM 602, and a RAM.
603 and HD 604.

The CPU 601 controls the controller section and the image processing apparatus as a whole, performs arithmetic processing, and the like. ROM6
Reference numeral 02 denotes a read-only memory, which is a storage area for storing a system boot program and the like. The RAM 603 is a random access memory and is a data storage area. HD
Reference numeral 604 denotes a hard disk, which can be replaced with another nonvolatile storage device such as SRAM. The image processing apparatus having the job history holding function stores the job history in the RAM 603.
Alternatively, it is stored in the HD 604. Further, the operating system, the communication control program, and the engine control program are loaded into the RAM 603 and stored in the CP.
It is executed by U601.

Reference numeral 606 denotes an engine section of the image processing apparatus, which performs a printing operation and an image reading operation under the control of the controller section. Specifically, the engine unit includes a printer engine, a scanner engine, or both.

A communication unit 607 controls network communication. By this communication unit 607,
The image processing apparatus can communicate with the client computer and the server computer. Reference numeral 608 is a system bus. Data exchanged between the above components passes through this system bus 608.

<Job Management Processing> FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the job information management module 1031c of the job account server application 1031. The job information receiving unit 701 acquires job information from the job account client applications 1014 and 1024 and the image processing apparatuses 1040 and 1050 having a job history holding function via the network. The job information registration unit 702 registers the job information received by the job information reception unit 701 in the job information database 703.

Here, the job information database 703 is used.
By referring to the data of, the amount of pages (number of pages, number of discharged sheets,
Paper type) It is determined whether a job has been executed, and detailed job accounts can be performed.

<Processing by Application> FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing processing when the job registration unit 702 registers the job information received by the job reception unit 701 in the job history database 703. First, in step S801, the unprocessed job information is the job receiving unit 701.
Or not. If there is no unprocessed job information, the process ends. If there is unprocessed job information, the job information is acquired from the job receiving unit 701 in step S802. Next, in step S803, it is determined whether or not the acquired job information indicates that the job involves paper ejection. If the job does not involve paper ejection, the process returns to step S801. If the job involves paper ejection, the process advances to step S804.

The processing from step S804 to step S808 is processing for registering job information in the database. In FIG. 1, when the client computer 1020 functions as a print server of the client computer 1010, the job information generated by the client computer 1010 is the job account client application 1014,
Job account client application 102
4 may be sent to the job account server application 1031. Also, the client computer 1010 and the image processing apparatus having the function of holding the usage history may send job information for exactly the same print. Therefore, filtering is performed in steps S804 to S807 so that duplicated job information is not registered in the job history database 703.

First, in step S804, it is determined whether the information is log information (use history information) acquired from the image processing apparatus (peripheral device). If the information is obtained from the image processing apparatus, the process proceeds to step S810 and priority registration is performed. This is because the usage history held as a result of the processing in the image processing apparatus is more accurate than the job information sent from the client computer before the processing.

If the job information is not obtained from the image processing apparatus, it means that the job information is obtained from the client computer. Therefore, in step S805, it is determined whether the output destination included in the job information is a peripheral device with a log (usage history) registration function. If it is job information to be output to a peripheral device with a log registration function, it is sufficient to register it in the database when acquiring usage history information from that peripheral device, so do not register here, but from the peripheral device. In order to complement the usage history information at the time of registration, only merging is performed and the process returns to step S801.

In step S805, when the output destination is a peripheral device without a log registration function, the process proceeds to step S806, and it is determined whether or not the output device is acquired by the hook. As one of the methods of determining whether the job information was obtained by the hook, there is a method of determining which OS the job information was obtained by. Depending on the type of OS,
This is because it can be determined whether or not the job information has been acquired by the hook. For example, the client computer 101
0 uses OS1 and client computer 10
In the case of 20, the job information is O when OS2 is used.
If the job information is acquired in S1, the job information is acquired by the hook. The job information is OS2.
If it is acquired in step 3, it is acquired from the spooler 1023.

If the job information is not acquired by the hook, there is no possibility of duplicate registration, so step S
Proceed to 810 to register. If the job information is acquired by the hook, it is determined in step S807 whether or not the output destination of the job related to the job information is a shared printer. If the output destination of the job related to the job information is not a shared printer, there is no risk of duplicate registration, and the process proceeds to step S810 and registration is performed.

If the output destination of the job related to the job information is a shared printer, in step S808, the spooler of the client computer (for example, client computer 1020) as a print server managing the shared printer. It is determined whether or not the job information is acquired from. If the job information is not acquired from the spooler, there is no risk of duplicate registration, so step S
In step 810, the job information is stored in the job history database 7
Register in 03.

If the job information is obtained from the spooler, the job information obtained by the hook is also obtained from the spooler and is output to the shared printer. It can be determined that there is, and the process returns to step S801.

FIG. 9 shows an example of one piece of job information registered in the job history database 703. The database consists of items and their contents. 901
Indicates the output device of the job, that is, which image processing device processed the job. In the case of a job without paper ejection, it is stored that it is a file name (scanning of a document), fax transmission, or any other job without paper ejection.

Reference numeral 902 shows a method of acquiring job information.
Job information can be acquired by hooks, spoolers, and job history retention functions.

Reference numeral 903 indicates the start time or end time of the job. Reference numeral 904 indicates the type of discharged sheet.
Reference numeral 905 indicates the number of output pages. Reference numeral 907 indicates the number of output copies. Reference numeral 907 indicates whether or not the job is submitted from the client computer to the shared printer. Reference numeral 908 indicates the user name of the job issuer. Reference numeral 909 indicates whether the printing is in the color mode or the monochrome mode.

<Flow of Printing Process> FIG. 10 shows a client computer 1010 and a server computer 1030.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing performed in.

First, in step S1101, the user selects the application 1 of the client computer 1010.
When 011 is instructed to print, application 1
011 edits a document, an image, or the like according to a user's instruction, and outputs a print request. Next, step S1102.
In step S 2, the job account client application 1014 acquires (or hooks) a print request from the application 1011 to check what kind of print request has been issued and acquires it as job information.
The job information is transmitted to the job information management module 1031c of the server computer 1030.

Next, in step S1103, GDI
1012 receives a print request from the application 1011 and sends a print request to the printer 11 via the spooler 1013.
The print data is output to 30.

On the other hand, in the server computer 1030,
In step S1104, when the job information management module 1031c acquires the job information from the client computer or the usage history information from the image processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 8, after determining whether or not to register in the database 703, When performing database registration, the process advances to step S1105, and it is determined from the job information whether the user who issued the job information is a user who is already registered in the job account server application 1031. If the user is an unregistered user, the process advances to step S1106 to automatically perform the minimum user registration using the user information included in the job information. When the user registration is completed in step S1106, the process returns to step S1104, and the process proceeds to the next job information.

If it is determined in step S1105 that the user is a registered user, the flow advances to step S1107 to determine whether or not the usage restriction conditions are met. For example, it is determined whether or not the total number of printed sheets exceeds the set limit number. As a result, if the use is permitted, step S
After 1108, the process returns to step S1104. When the process is not permitted, the image processing apparatus, the client computer, or both are instructed to prohibit the reception of subsequent jobs, and then the process returns to step S1104.

The operation of displaying the icon for the user registered in the above procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S200, the user information is acquired from the user information database in the server computer 1030. Next, in step S201, it is determined whether the acquired user information is set by the administrator using the user information management module 1031a.
For the user set by the administrator using the user information management module 1031a, the process proceeds to step S202, the user icon 1201 in FIG. 12 is displayed in a normal form, and the user is automatically registered. In Case of,
Proceeding to step S203, the user icon 1 in FIG.
As in 202, a minus ID is added and displayed.

Until it is determined in step S204 that all user icons have been displayed, step S2
The processing of 00 to S203 is repeated.

Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (for example, copying machine, facsimile) Device).

In the above embodiment, the printer, the copying machine, the M
Although only the case where the printing using the image forming apparatus such as the FP is restricted is shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and is applicable to the case where the usage restriction or the charge is added to the image processing apparatus such as the scanner. Is. In other words, the information processing server that can set the scanning limit number using the scanner and can also set the process (for example, the scanning prohibition process or the warning process) to be performed when the scanning exceeding the scanning limit number is requested. But,
It is included in the category of the present invention.

[0079]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, a control method, a control program and a storage medium which can reduce the registration burden on the user of the image processing apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of an entire job account system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer included in a job account system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map in a state where a job account server application program is loaded into a RAM and can be executed by a CPU in a job account system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a job account system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a job account server application program and related data are FD and CD-ROM.
It is a figure which shows the memory map in the state stored in.

5 is a diagram for explaining a method of supplying the program and data shown in FIG. 4 to a computer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus in a job account system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of a job information management module in a job account system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process when the job registration unit in the job account system as the embodiment of the present invention registers the job information received by the job reception unit in the job history database.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of one piece of job information registered in the job history database in the job account system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing in a job account server computer and a job account client computer.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process for displaying a user icon on the job account server computer.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display form of user information.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a user information registration screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1010 client computer 1011 application 1012 GDI 1013 spooler 1014 job account client application 1020 client computer 1021 application 1022 GDI 1023 spooler 1024 job account client application 1030 server computer 1031 job account server application 1040 printer with job history retention function 1050 MFP with job history retention function 1060 Printer without job history retention function

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus for managing the use of an image processing apparatus, comprising: a registration unit for registering information about a user of the image processing apparatus; and a use for issuing job information to the image processing apparatus. An information processing apparatus, comprising: an automatic registration unit that automatically registers the user information included in the job information when the person is not registered by the registration unit. 2. Although registered by the automatic registration means,
The display unit according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that distinguishably displays a user to whom information has not been added by the registration unit and a user to whom information has been registered by the registration unit. Information processing equipment. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display unit displays the user in an identifiable manner by an icon. 4. By selecting and executing the icon,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a control unit that allows the user information of the user corresponding to the icon to be registered by the registration unit. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic registration means collectively registers the users to which the information has not been added by the registration means into a predetermined group. 6. A method of controlling an information processing apparatus for managing the use of an image processing apparatus, comprising: a registration step of registering information about a user of the image processing apparatus; and job information for the image processing apparatus. An automatic registration step of automatically registering the user information included in the job information when the issued user is not registered in the registration step; . 7. A display step for distinguishably displaying a user who has been registered by the automatic registration step, but has no information added by the registration step, and a user whose information has been registered by the registration step. The method for controlling an information processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: 8. The method of controlling an information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the displaying step displays the user in an identifiable manner by an icon. 9. By selecting and executing the icon,
The control method of the information processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a control step of enabling registration of user information of a user corresponding to the icon in the registration step. 10. The control of the information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the automatic registration step collectively registers users who are not added with the information by the registration step into a predetermined group. Method. 11. A control program for an information processing device for managing the use of an image processing device, comprising: a registration step of registering information about a user of the image processing device in a computer; A control program characterized by executing an automatic registration step of automatically registering the user information included in the job information when the user who issued the job information is not registered by the registration step. . 12. A storage medium storing a control program of an information processing device for managing the use of an image processing device, the registration step of registering information about a user of the image processing device in a computer, A control program for executing an automatic registration step of automatically registering the user information included in the job information when the user who issued the job information to the processing device is not registered by the registration step. A storage medium having stored therein.