JP2007068100A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide techniques for selectively using, in an image forming apparatus which performs log information accumulation processing and image formation processing, two kinds of means that are a means for surely accumulating log information to perform image formation processing and a means for performing image formation processing while accumulating log information so as not to delay image formation processing. <P>SOLUTION: When image formation instruction information is inputted, based on setting information stored in a storage section 20, a control section 10 of an image forming apparatus 1 determines whether to surely accumulate log information. If a determination result is positive, image formation processing is performed after the end of log information accumulation processing. By sequentially carrying out log information accumulation processing and image formation processing, log information can be surely accumulated. If the determination result is negative, on the other hand, image formation processing is carried out in parallel with log information accumulation processing. By performing log information accumulation processing and image formation processing in parallel, delay of image formation processing can be prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for storing log information such as image data in an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine.

In recent years, in image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers, and scanners, information relating to image forming processing is stored as log information for the purpose of preventing leakage of information due to image formation such as copying or preventing illegal copying. The technology is public. For example, in Patent Document 1, in order to prevent illegal copying (for example, copying of banknotes or securities), an illegal document is recognized by recognizing whether copying of an input document is illegal. In such a case, a technique for preventing copying and storing information such as copied image data, date and time of copying, and user information as log information is disclosed. Also, by storing information such as image data that has been imaged, the date and time of execution of the processing, and the output person in a searchable format as log information, information leakage is prevented and information is leaked A technique capable of investigating the cause has been disclosed (Patent Documents 2, 3, and 4). By storing information such as image data on which images have been formed, the date and time when the process was executed, and the user as log information, it is possible to prevent information leakage and to investigate the cause.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-232707 JP 2002-149371 A JP 2003-330677 A JP 2004-118243 A

  By the way, when a document to be image-formed is highly confidential, it is important to reliably accumulate log information. From this point of view, it can be said that it is preferable to reliably accumulate log information for all input documents. However, the log information accumulating process may take longer to process as the data amount of the log information increases. Also, when processing such as compression processing is performed on the log information, the processing takes time, and as a result, there is a problem that the time required for image formation output such as print output becomes long. Some documents subjected to image formation have low confidentiality. When image forming processing is performed on such a document, processing delay becomes a problem.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and an object of the present invention is to perform image formation processing by reliably accumulating log information in an image forming apparatus that performs log information accumulation processing and image formation processing. Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can selectively use two types of means, ie, a means for performing image formation processing while accumulating log information so that the image formation processing is not delayed.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is obtained by an acquisition unit that acquires image data, an instruction information reception unit that receives input of instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed, and the acquisition unit. The image forming means for forming and outputting the image data having the contents indicated by the instruction information, the image data acquired by the acquisition means, and the instruction information input to the instruction information receiving means are stored as log information. Storage means, determination means for determining whether or not to prioritize storage of the log information, and storage of the log information by the storage means when the determination means determines to prioritize storage of the log information And an image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that confirms that the image forming unit is not permitted to perform image formation by the image forming unit. To provide.

  The present invention also provides an acquisition means for acquiring image data, an instruction information receiving means for inputting instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed, and an image data acquired by the acquisition means as the instruction information. An image forming unit that forms and outputs an image with the content indicated by the above, and the image data acquired by the acquiring unit and the instruction information input to the instruction information receiving unit as log information via a communication network Transmitting means for transmitting, determining means for determining whether to give priority to transmission of the log information, and if the determining means determines to give priority to transmission of the log information, the log by the transmitting means And a control unit that confirms that the transmission of information has been completed and does not permit image formation by the image forming unit if this confirmation is not performed. To provide an image forming apparatus.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, an image reading unit that optically reads a document and generates image data representing an image of the document is provided, and the acquisition unit acquires the image data generated by the image reading unit. It may be.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus includes log information storage determination means for determining whether or not to store the log information, and log information storage control means for prohibiting storage in the storage means. Also good.
Further, in another preferred aspect of the present invention, when the log information transmission determination means for determining whether or not to transmit the log information and the determination result by the log information transmission determination means are negative, the log information Log information transmission control means for prohibiting transmission of.
The image forming unit may form an image on a sheet with the content indicated by the instruction information and print it out.
The image forming unit may output the image data read by the image reading unit by transmitting the image data to a predetermined apparatus.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the user identification information for identifying the user and the user information storage means for storing the information indicating whether or not to give priority to the storage of the log information, and the user identification information Input user identification information receiving means, wherein the determination means searches the user information storage means for a match with the user identification information input to the user identification information receiving means, and corresponds to the searched one Whether to give priority to the storage of the log information may be determined based on the stored information.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, user information storage means for storing user identification information for identifying a user and information indicating whether or not to give priority to transmission of the log information, and the user identification information Input user identification information receiving means, wherein the determination means searches the user information storage means for a match with the user identification information input to the user identification information receiving means, and corresponds to the searched one Whether or not to give priority to the transmission of the log information may be determined based on the stored information.
According to still another preferred aspect of the present invention, the image reading unit includes an image reading unit that optically reads a document and generates image data representing an image of the document, and the acquisition unit includes the image generated by the image reading unit. The data may be acquired, and the determination unit may analyze the image data generated by the image reading unit and determine whether to prioritize storage of the log information according to the analysis result.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the image reading unit includes an image reading unit that optically reads a document and generates image data representing an image of the document, and the acquisition unit includes the image data generated by the image reading unit. The determination unit may analyze the image data generated by the image reading unit and determine whether to give priority to transmission of the log information according to the analysis result.

  According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that performs log information accumulation processing and image formation processing, means for reliably accumulating log information and performing image formation processing, and log information to prevent the image formation processing from being delayed. It is possible to selectively use two types of means, that is, a means for performing image forming processing while accumulating.

<A: Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 is, for example, a color printer, a color copying machine, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of these functions. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a control unit including an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A storage unit 20 includes a storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or a hard disk, and stores various programs for operating each unit of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 10 reads out and executes the program stored in the storage unit 20 to control each unit of the image forming apparatus 1 via the bus BUS. The storage unit 20 stores an OS program for causing the control unit 10 to realize an operating system (hereinafter referred to as “OS”). The control unit 10 can execute a plurality of processes (processes) in parallel under the control of the OS.

  In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes an image reading unit that optically reads a document and generates image data representing an image of the document. The image reading unit 30 includes an optical system member (not shown) constituted by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or the like, and a document placement table on which a document is placed, and an image of the placed document is optically converted. The image data is read by the member and image data representing the read image is generated. Reference numeral 40 denotes an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet based on image data read by the image reading unit 30 or image data received from another apparatus via a communication network. The image forming unit 40 receives image light from the image data supplied from the image reading unit 30 on a photosensitive drum (not shown) of each color of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). To form a latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum due to the difference in electrostatic potential, visualize the latent image by selective adhesion of toner to form a toner image, and transfer the toner image to a sheet. An image is formed on a sheet.

  Reference numeral 50 denotes a display unit including a display device such as a liquid crystal display. The display unit 50 displays a message prompting the user to perform an operation, information indicating a processing status, and the like under the control of the control unit 10. Reference numeral 60 denotes an operation unit for the user to perform various operations. The operation unit 60 includes a liquid crystal display that functions as a touch panel, and the user can perform various operations by touching the liquid crystal display. A communication unit 70 includes various communication devices and the like, and exchanges data with other devices via the communication network under the control of the control unit 10. 80 is a real-time clock, for example, which stores data representing an elapsed time from a predetermined reference time, and in accordance with a request from the control unit 10, present date / time data representing the date and time when the request was made. 10 is a timekeeping unit for supplying to 10.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the storage unit 20 includes a setting information storage area A1 and a log information storage area A2. The setting information storage area A1 is an area in which setting information indicating whether or not to prioritize the accumulation of log information in the image forming process is stored. The image forming apparatus 1 is a processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “log information storage priority processing”) that reliably stores log information and performs image forming processing as processing means when performing log information storage processing and image forming processing. And processing means for accumulating log information without delaying image formation processing (hereinafter referred to as “image formation priority processing”), and two types of processing are referred to with reference to the setting information. Different means are used. It is desirable that this setting cannot be changed by the user of the image forming apparatus 1. This is because if the user can change the setting, the log accumulation process can be avoided by a malicious user.

  Next, the log information storage area A2 of the storage unit 20 is an area in which log information in the image forming process is stored. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of log information stored in the log information storage. As shown in the figure, the log information according to the present embodiment includes items of “date and time”, “user ID”, “processing format information”, “output format information”, “image data”, and “output result”. The Among these items, the “date and time” item is information indicating the date and time when the image forming process is performed, which is supplied from the timing unit 80 to the control unit 10. The items “user ID”, “processing format information”, and “output format information” are information included in image formation instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed by the user. “User ID” is identification information for identifying a user. “Processing format information” is information indicating the processing format of image data, such as enlargement, reduction, and rotation. “Output format information” is information indicating an output format of image formation such as print output, FAX transmission, mail transmission, file transfer, and the like. In the “image data” item, image data to be subjected to image formation processing is stored after being subjected to processing such as compression processing using a predetermined algorithm. In the “output result” item, information indicating the processing result of the image forming process is stored. If the image forming process is normally completed, “OK” is stored. If the image forming process is abnormally ended, “NG” is stored. When the image formation instruction information is input, the control unit 10 generates log information based on the instruction content, and stores the generated log information in this log information storage area.

<B: Operation>
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the user of the image forming apparatus 1 operates the operation unit 60 to input image formation instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed. Specifically, the user inputs image formation instruction information to the image forming apparatus 1 by placing a document on the document placement unit of the image reading unit 30 and operating the operation unit 60. This image formation instruction information includes a user ID for identifying the user, processing format information, and output format information. In addition, when the input document is transmitted to another device such as a server device or a personal computer, the destination information indicating the destination device is also included in the image processing instruction information.
The image formation instruction information may be input to the image forming apparatus 1 by being received from another apparatus such as a personal computer via the communication unit 70.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed by the image forming apparatus 1. The process shown in FIG. 3 is started when image formation instruction information is input to the image forming apparatus 1. When the image formation instruction information is input, the control unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 1 first reads the setting information stored in the storage unit 20 and determines whether or not to prioritize accumulation (storage) of log information. (Step S1). When it is determined that log information accumulation is prioritized (step S1; YES), log information accumulation priority processing shown in steps S11 to S16 is executed. On the contrary, when it is determined not to give priority to the accumulation of log information but to give priority to the image forming process, the image forming priority process shown in steps S21 to S26 is executed.

  First, the log information storage priority process shown in steps S11 to S16 will be described. The control unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 1 controls the image reading unit 30 to read the image of the placed document (step S11). Specifically, the image reading unit 30 optically reads the placed document under the control of the control unit 10 to generate image data representing the image of the document, and the generated image data is sent to the control unit 10. Supply.

  Next, the control unit 10 generates log information from the generated image data and the input image formation instruction information, and accumulates it in the log information storage area A2 of the storage unit 20 (step S12). Specifically, the control unit 10 generates log information that associates the image data generated by the image reading unit 30, the user ID included in the image formation instruction information, the processing format information, and the output format information. And stored in the log information storage area A2.

  Until the end of the log information accumulation process is confirmed, the control unit 10 does not start the image forming process shown in the next step S13. For example, when an error occurs in the log information accumulation process and the process is interrupted, the control unit 10 performs a process such as displaying the fact on the display unit 50 and does not start the image forming process. .

  When it is confirmed that the log information accumulation process is completed, the control unit 10 performs an image forming process (step S13). Specifically, when the output format information is information indicating print output, the control unit 10 controls the image forming unit 40 to form an image on a sheet (sheet) and print it out. When the output format information is information indicating FAX transmission, mail transmission, file transfer, or the like, the control unit 10 controls the communication unit 70 to transmit image data to the device indicated by the transmission destination information.

  When the image forming process is completed, the control unit 10 adds the output result indicating the image forming result to the log information generated in step S12 to reflect the output result in the log information (step S14). By performing the processing from step S12 to step S14 described above, accumulation of log information and image formation are performed.

  When the image data is generated in step S11, the control unit 10 performs the log information accumulation process shown in step S12, and the document to be processed next is placed on the document placing table of the image reading unit 30. It is determined whether or not (step S15). If it is determined that the document is placed (step S15; YES), the control unit 10 controls the image reading unit 30 to generate image data representing the image of the placed document (step S16). The process shown in steps S12 to S14 is performed on the generated image data, and it is determined whether or not a document to be processed next is placed (step S15). As described above, when there are a plurality of placed documents, the log information accumulation and the image forming process are executed by repeatedly executing the processes shown in steps S12 to S16. In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, the control unit 10 can execute the next image reading in parallel with the log information accumulation process.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a time chart when log information storage priority processing is performed on a plurality of documents. In the figure, the case where the image forming process and the log storing process are executed on three originals of the original a, the original b, and the original c is illustrated. In the figure, P1 indicates a log accumulation process (the process in step S12 in FIG. 3) performed by the image forming apparatus 1, and P2 indicates an image formation process (the process in step S13 in FIG. 3). P3 indicates a result reflection process (the process of step S14 in FIG. 3). When the process is performed on a plurality of originals, as shown in the figure, three processes of log information accumulation process P1 → image forming process P2 → result reflection process P3 are repeatedly executed in order. In FIG. 4, the log accumulation process, the image formation process, and the result reflection process for the document a are denoted by P1a, P2a, and P3a, respectively. The same applies to the original document b and the original document c, and P1b to P3b and P1c to P3c are assigned to the respective processes.

When the log information accumulation priority process is performed, as described above, the control unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 1 confirms that the log information accumulation process is completed, and does not start the image formation process unless the confirmation is performed. . Therefore, even if a failure such as a power failure occurs at any point during the processing, there is no possibility that a history (log information) regarding the output image remains. For example, even when the power is cut off between the time when the image formation output for the document a is completed and the result is reflected (time t _{1 in} FIG. 4), the log information accumulation process for the document a Since P1a is completed, the fact that image formation has been performed remains in the history. That is, when the log information accumulation priority process is performed, it is possible to reliably accumulate log information.

  Next, the image formation priority process shown in steps S21 to S26 of FIG. 3 will be described. In the case of this image formation priority process, the control unit 10 performs a log information accumulation process and an image formation process in parallel. Specifically, first, the control unit 10 of the image forming apparatus 1 controls the image reading unit 30 to read the image of the placed document and generate image data (step S21). Subsequently, the control unit 10 performs an image forming process (step S23) in parallel with the log information accumulation process (step S22). When the log information storage process and the image forming process are finished, the control unit 10 synchronizes and reflects the result in the log information (step S24).

  When the image data is generated in step S23, the control unit 10 performs the result reflection process shown in step S24, and determines whether or not the document to be processed next is placed on the document placing table of the image reading unit 30. Is determined (step S25). If it is determined that the document is placed (step S25; YES), the control unit 10 controls the image reading unit 30 to read the image of the placed document and generate image data (step S26). ) The processing from step S22 to step S26 is executed on the generated image data. As described above, when there are a plurality of placed documents, the log information accumulation and the image forming process are executed by repeatedly executing the processes shown in steps S22 to S26.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a time chart when image formation priority processing is performed on a plurality of documents (documents a, b, and c). In the figure, P1 indicates log accumulation processing (processing in step S22 in FIG. 3) performed by the image forming apparatus 1, and P2 indicates image formation processing (processing in step S23 in FIG. 3). P3 indicates a result reflection process (the process of step S24 in FIG. 3). When the process is performed on a plurality of documents, log information storage processing P1 and image formation processing P2 are executed in parallel as shown in the figure, and log information storage processing P1 is performed on one document. When the image forming process P2 is completed, the result is reflected.

In the case of image formation priority processing, if a failure occurs during the processing, the image is output normally, but it does not remain in the history. Specifically, when a power failure occurs, for example, in a time t _2, as shown, although the image forming processing P2c for the original c is completed, the log information storage process P1c for the original c is not finished Therefore, although image formation is performed on the document c, log information is not stored. However, as apparent from a comparison between FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, no extra processing (log information storage processing) other than the original processing is entered between the image reading processing and the output processing. This shortens the convenience for the user.

  As described above, when the image forming instruction information is input, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not to reliably accumulate log information based on the setting information stored in the storage unit 20. judge. If the determination result is affirmative, the image forming process is performed after confirming that the log information storage process has been completed. By sequentially executing the log information accumulation process and the image forming process, the log information can be reliably accumulated. Conversely, if the determination result is negative, the image forming process is executed in parallel with the log information storage process. By performing the log information accumulation process and the image forming process in parallel, a delay in the image forming process can be prevented. In this way, by using two types of processing means properly based on the setting information stored in the storage unit 20, for example, according to the policy of the image forming apparatus (sensitivity of handling information, etc.) It is possible to control the means for accumulating log information as to whether or not is output. For example, in the case of an image forming apparatus that handles a document with low confidentiality (which does not cause much trouble even if leaked), log information of the image can be left without impairing convenience.

<C: Modification>
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, It can implement with another various form. An example is shown below.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 that has read a document and generated the image data performs accumulation of log information, image forming processing, and the like. In contrast, two or more devices connected via a communication network share the functions according to the above-described embodiment, and a system including the plurality of devices realizes the image forming apparatus 1 of the same embodiment. May be.

  One example will be described below with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes an image forming processing system in which an image forming apparatus 3 and a server apparatus 4 are connected via a communication network. In the image forming system 2, the image forming apparatus 3 mounts functions corresponding to the image reading unit 30 and the image forming unit 40 of the image forming apparatus 1 in the above embodiment. The server device 4 also has a storage area for storing log information, and the server device 4 implements a log information storage function and the like. In the image forming system 2, the image forming apparatus 3 to which the image forming instruction information is input transmits log information related to the image forming instruction information to the server apparatus 4. When the server apparatus 4 receives the log information, the image forming apparatus 3 receives a predetermined memory. Log information is stored in the area. In this image forming system 2, the image forming apparatus 3 and the server apparatus 4 transmit a predetermined signal via a communication network to achieve the execution timing of each process, whereby log information accumulation priority processing and image formation priority processing are performed. And execute.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the processing means is selected based on the setting information stored in the storage unit 20. This setting information does not have to be one, and a plurality of setting information of two or more may be used. For example, setting information may be stored for each user. Specifically, a user ID for identifying a user and setting information are associated with each other and stored in the storage unit. When image formation instruction information is input, the user ID included in the image formation instruction information is stored in the storage unit. The processing means may be selected based on the setting information stored in association with the searched one. Further, for example, setting information may be provided for each time zone, such as using image formation priority processing means during the daytime and using log information storage priority processing means early in the morning or late at night.

  Further, instead of making the determination using the setting information, the contents and format of the image data of the input document may be analyzed, and the determination may be performed for each document according to the analysis result. For example, character analysis processing or the like may be performed on the image data of the placed document to identify the type of document, description content, or the like, and determination may be made based on the identification result. Specifically, character recognition processing or the like is performed on the image data of the document, and log information storage priority processing is performed when a word such as “confidential” or “strict” is included in the document. By doing so, it is possible to perform image forming processing while always leaving log information reliably for confidential documents. As another example, for example, identification data such as a bar code for identifying the contents of a document is attached to the document in advance, and the document is identified by the identification data when the document is read. The determination may be performed based on the determination.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the log information storage priority processing unit or the image formation priority processing unit is selected based on the setting information stored in the storage unit 20. A processing unit that performs only image forming processing without performing processing (prohibiting storage of log information in the storage unit) is further provided, and one of the three types of processing units is selected and executed. Good. When performing image formation processing on documents with low confidentiality, there are many cases where log information does not need to be accumulated, so if only image formation processing is performed without performing log accumulation processing, The processing speed can be further increased.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, information such as “date and time” and “user ID” is used as accumulated log information. However, the log information is not limited to these. Any information can be used as log information as long as it is information indicating what kind of image formation is performed, such as “file name” and “destination information”.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the log information of the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the embodiment. It is a time chart in the log information storage priority process of the embodiment. 6 is a time chart in image formation priority processing of the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image processing system which is a modification of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,3 ... Image forming apparatus, 10 ... Control part, 20 ... Memory | storage part, 30 ... Image reading part, 40 ... Image forming part, 50 ... Display part, 60 ... Operation part, 70 ... Communication part, 80 ... Time measuring part, 2 ... image forming system, 4 ... server device.

Claims (11)

Acquisition means for acquiring image data;
Instruction information receiving means for inputting instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed;
Image forming means for forming an image of the image data acquired by the acquiring means with the content indicated by the instruction information, and outputting the image data;
Storage means for storing, as log information, the image data acquired by the acquisition means and the instruction information input to the instruction information receiving means;
Determining means for determining whether to prioritize storage of the log information;
If it is determined by the determination means that the storage of the log information is prioritized, it is confirmed that the storage of the log information by the storage means is completed. If this confirmation is not performed, image formation by the image forming means is performed. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that does not permit the control. Acquisition means for acquiring image data;
Instruction information receiving means for inputting instruction information indicating what kind of image formation is to be performed;
Image forming means for forming an image of the image data acquired by the acquiring means with the content indicated by the instruction information, and outputting the image data;
Transmitting means for transmitting the image data acquired by the acquiring means and the instruction information input to the instruction information receiving means as log information to a predetermined device via a communication network;
Determination means for determining whether or not to prioritize transmission of the log information;
If it is determined by the determination means that the transmission of the log information is prioritized, it is confirmed that the transmission of the log information by the transmission means is completed. If this confirmation is not performed, the image formation by the image forming means is performed. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that does not permit the control. Image reading means for optically reading a document and generating image data representing an image of the document;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the image data generated by the image reading unit. Log information storage determining means for determining whether to store the log information;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a log information storage control unit that prohibits storage in the storage unit. Log information transmission determination means for determining whether to transmit the log information;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a log information transmission control unit that prohibits transmission of the log information when a determination result by the log information transmission determination unit is negative. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit forms and prints an image on a sheet with contents indicated by the instruction information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit outputs the image data read by the image reading unit by transmitting the image data to a predetermined apparatus. User information storage means for storing user identification information for identifying a user and information indicating whether or not to preferentially store the log information;
A user identification information receiving means for inputting the user identification information,
The determination unit searches the user information storage unit for a match with the user identification information input to the user identification information reception unit, and the log based on the information stored corresponding to the searched one The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether to prioritize storage of information. User information storage means for storing user identification information for identifying a user and information indicating whether or not to give priority to transmission of the log information;
A user identification information receiving means for inputting the user identification information,
The determination unit searches the user information storage unit for a match with the user identification information input to the user identification information reception unit, and the log based on the information stored corresponding to the searched one The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein it is determined whether or not priority is given to transmission of information. Image reading means for optically reading a document and generating image data representing an image of the document;
The acquisition unit acquires the image data generated by the image reading unit,
2. The determination unit according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit analyzes the image data generated by the image reading unit and determines whether to prioritize storage of the log information according to the analysis result. Image forming apparatus. Image reading means for optically reading a document and generating image data representing an image of the document;
The acquisition unit acquires the image data generated by the image reading unit,
3. The determination unit according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit analyzes the image data generated by the image reading unit, and determines whether to give priority to transmission of the log information according to the analysis result. Image forming apparatus.

Images