JP2009163313A - Print system and print management program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print technology for allowing proper security while suppressing efficiency reduction of print processing. <P>SOLUTION: In this print system, terminals (1), a printer (3) outputting a print job transmitted from the terminal (1) to a print medium, and a management server (2) managing a print processing state of the print job are connected via a network (4). The print system has: a print job state information storage part (23) for storing the print processing state of the print job as print job state information; a secrecy degree derivation part (21c) for deriving a secrecy degree of the print job; and a print control content determination part (21d) for determining control contents of the print processing based on the secrecy degree of the print job, the secrecy degree of the print job preceding the print job, and the print job state information about the print job output to the print medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a print system in which a terminal, a printer that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal to a print medium, and a management server that manages the print processing status of the print job are connected via a network, and The present invention relates to a print management program used in a print system.

  In the printing system as described above, since a printer is shared by a plurality of users, when outputting a high-confidential print job from the printer, a technique for ensuring the security of data and printed matter relating to the print job is desired. ing. For example, an image forming system described in Patent Document 1 is known as a print system for protecting the security of such printed matter. This image forming system is configured by connecting an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus via a network, and the information processing apparatus performs image formation when transmitting a print job including confidential image data. The device information of the device is acquired, and it is checked whether there is a waiting job or whether there is free RAM capacity. Then, when there is no waiting job or when there is free RAM, the print job is transmitted. On the other hand, if there is a waiting job and there is no free space in the RAM, only the print job reservation is performed. When a print job is reserved, the print job is waited in the information processing apparatus until a print job transmission request is received from the image forming apparatus. As a result, processing can be performed only with the RAM, which is a volatile memory, and even if someone takes it out, it is difficult to illegally obtain image data that requires confidentiality, and confidentiality is maintained. .

As a technique for preventing other users from seeing the printed matter, an image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 2 is known. This image forming apparatus can request a password input again when it takes time to be ejected in confidential document printing. Specifically, print data specified for a confidential document entered in a queue is stored. When it takes a certain amount of time to reach the head of the queue, it has a function of selecting whether to process the print data as it is, request a new password for starting printing, or cancel the entry. With this function, general-purpose print output according to the confidential level of the user or the document becomes possible.
JP 2004-318624 A JP 2003-300366 A

  The print system of the above-mentioned patent document stops transmission of a print job and selects subsequent processing when a print job requiring confidentiality cannot be output immediately because there is a preceding print job. . However, in some cases, for example, when the confidentiality of a confidential print job and the confidentiality of a preceding print job are the same, there are times when the output may be performed as usual. If it is essential, there is a problem that not only an excessive burden is imposed for security protection, but also the efficiency of the printing process is lowered.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing technique capable of accurately performing security protection while suppressing a decrease in efficiency of printing processing.

  In order to solve the above problems, a print system according to the present invention includes a terminal, a printer that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal to a print medium, and a management server that manages a print processing state of the print job via a network. A print job status information storage unit for storing a print processing status of the print job as print job status information, a sensitivity derivation unit for deriving a sensitivity of the print job, and a print medium. A print control content determination unit that determines the control content of the print processing based on the confidentiality of the print job, the confidentiality of the print job preceding the print job, and the print job status information for the print job to be output. It was supposed to be prepared.

  According to this configuration, in addition to the sensitivity of the print job output to the print medium, the sensitivity of the print job preceding the print job is used when determining the control content of the print processing. Therefore, for example, when the confidentiality of a print job to be output to a print medium is the same as that of the preceding print job, the normal output is output following the preceding print job, and the confidentiality is different. In such a case, it is possible to suppress a situation in which print media with different sensitivity are mixed by adopting a form such as temporarily stopping output. In other words, print jobs with similar confidentiality can be output collectively, so that the reduction in print processing efficiency is suppressed, and output for disparate sensitive print jobs is temporarily stopped. It is possible to realize a printing system capable of accurately performing security protection by ensuring a sufficient time for collecting the image.

  Various forms can be adopted for determining the control content of the printing process described above, and in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the print start transmitted from the terminal prior to the transmission of the print job is started. Based on the event, the confidentiality of the print job is derived by the confidentiality deriving unit, and the control content includes a stop of transmission of the print job.

  According to this configuration, since the transmission of the print job can be stopped at the terminal, the accumulation of the print job in the management server can be reduced, and when the sensitivity of the print job to be stopped is high, the print job is held at the terminal. Therefore, it has the advantage that it is more preferable in terms of security.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that a recovery information acquisition unit that acquires recovery information of the print medium to which the print job is output is provided, and the print job status information includes the recovery information of the print medium.

  According to this configuration, the collection information of the print medium can be used when determining the control content of the print processing. For example, when outputting a print job with high confidentiality when the print medium is not collected, the print job Or after outputting a high-confidential print job, the output of the subsequent print job is stopped until the print medium on which the print job is output is collected. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the possibility that a printed material with high confidentiality is mixed with other printed materials and exposed to the human eye, and it is possible to realize a printing system capable of more accurately protecting the security.

  Furthermore, a print management program installed in the above-described print system is also included in the scope of the rights of the present invention. That is, the print management program according to the present invention connects a terminal, a printer that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal to a print medium, and a management server that manages the print processing state of the print job via a network. In a print management program for a print system, a function of storing a print processing state of the print job as print job state information in a print job state information storage unit, a function of deriving a sensitivity of the print job, and the print medium For a print job to be output to the computer, a function for determining the control content of the printing process based on the confidentiality of the print job and the confidentiality and print job status information of the print job preceding the print job is realized in the computer It was supposed to be Such a print management program is of course accompanied by the same operation and effect as the above-described print system, and can be provided with the various additional features described above.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 includes a plurality of terminals 1a, 1b,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as terminal 1), a printer 3 that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal 1 to a print medium, and a print processing state of the print job. 2 is a functional block diagram of a print system in which a printer server 2 serving as a management server for managing the printer is connected via a network 4 such as a LAN. Of course, the number of terminals 1 and printers 3 can be changed as appropriate.

  First, the computer of the terminal 1a (the same applies to the other terminals 1b, etc.) instructs the printer 3 to print the created file or the like as a function related to the present invention by software and / or hardware. Print instruction unit 11, GUI unit 12 that controls output to monitor 5 and input from operation input device 6 such as a keyboard and mouse, data processing unit 13 that performs data processing by the user including various file processing such as file creation, and terminal An operation management unit 14 that manages various operations such as login / logoff in 1a, a network interface 15 that transmits data to the network 4, and the like are constructed. The print instructing unit 11 generates a print job including a file name and print data of the file to be output by the printer 3, designated print conditions (such as the number of copies to be printed and the number of print pages), and user identification information. A print job generation unit 11a. The print management unit 14 further includes a print start event generation unit 14 a that transmits a print start event to the printer server 2. The print start event is a confirmation notice at the start of printing that is transmitted prior to transmission of the print job, and includes the file name, user identification information, and the like of the corresponding print job (hereinafter referred to as pre-transmission print job). Is included.

  On the other hand, the computer of the printer server 2 includes, as a function related to the present invention, software, hardware, or both, a print management unit 21 that manages the print processing state of a print job, and a print job received from the terminal 1. A print job storage unit 22 that temporarily stores the print job, a print job status information storage unit 23 that stores the print processing status of the print job as print job status information, and sensitivity information that defines the relationship between the file name and the sensitivity A table 24, a print control content table 25 that defines print control content (hereinafter referred to as print control content) for the received print job, a network interface 26 that transmits data to the network 4, and the like are constructed. .

  The print management unit 21 further receives a print start event and a print job (hereinafter collectively referred to as reception data) transmitted from the terminal 1 and temporarily stores the received print job in the print job storage unit 22. A print job transmission / reception unit 21a for storing the print job to the designated printer 3 and a print job management unit 21b for acquiring print job status information stored in the print job status information storage unit 23; , A confidentiality deriving unit 21c for deriving the confidentiality of the received data from the file name included in the received data with reference to the confidentiality information table 24, and print control for determining and controlling the contents of the print control for the received received data A content determination unit 21d. More specifically, this print control content includes the confidentiality of received received data, the confidentiality of the immediately preceding print job (hereinafter referred to as the immediately preceding print job) and print job status information. It is determined based on.

  The print job storage unit 22 holds a print job received by the print job transmission / reception unit 21a. Each print job is information for uniquely identifying the print job (hereinafter referred to as print job identification information). ) And is managed here by a FIFO (First In First Out) type data structure represented by a queue. By managing print jobs using a FIFO-type data structure, it is possible to specify the print job reception order. It should be noted that the print job reception time may be associated and stored without using the FIFO structure.

  The print job status information storage unit 23 stores print job identification information and print job status information in association with each other. The print job status information represents the print processing status of the print job. In this embodiment, the print job is stored in the print job storage unit 22 and has not been transmitted to the printer 3 yet. “Waiting”, “Print job transmitted”, which is a state where the print job stored in the print job storage unit 22 has been transmitted to the printer 3, and no print job stored in the print job storage unit 22, and There is “initial” which is not transmitted to the printer 3. Further, not only the print job is output to the print medium but also the collection status after the print job is output to the print medium may be included. The print job status information includes processing time such as the time when the print job is transmitted to the printer 3. At this time, the processing time is acquired and stored by a timer (not shown).

  In the present embodiment, the relationship between the file name and the confidentiality specified in the confidentiality information table 24 is expressed as a point for each file name. For example, “file name: customer information” Is in a form in which point 5 is given and point 1 is given to “file name: document 1”. Here, the higher the point value, the higher the confidentiality. Of course, instead of such numerical values, forms such as high, medium and low secret levels may be adopted.

  Further, the print control content in the present embodiment is the transmission stop of the print job before transmission or the output stop of the print job, and more specifically, transmission of transmission of the print job before transmission from the terminal 1 to the printer server 2 is permitted. This is realized by prohibiting until the image is obtained or by stopping the transmission of the print job to the printer 3 for a predetermined time. The transmission stop time of the print job to the printer 3 is defined in the print control content table 25 according to the difference in confidentiality between the print jobs to be compared. For example, when the difference in density is greater than 1 and less than or equal to 2, the stop time is 1 minute. When greater than 2 and less than 3, the relationship is 1.5 minutes. When greater than 3, the relationship is defined as 2 minutes. Instead of using the print control content table 25, a mode in which a value obtained by multiplying a point difference by a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) as a stop time may be employed.

  When the print job transmission / reception unit 21a receives a print job from the terminal 1, the print job transmission / reception unit 21a stores the print job in the print job storage unit 22, and sets the print job status information of the print job as “waiting for print job”. The information is recorded in the information storage unit 23. When the print job can be transmitted to the printer 3, the print job acquired from the print job storage unit 22 is transmitted to the printer 3. At this time, the print job transmission / reception unit 21a updates the print job status information of the print job transmitted to the printer 3 stored in the print job status information storage unit 23 to “print job transmitted”.

  The print job management unit 21b acquires the print job status information stored in the print job status information storage unit 23 that is sequentially updated in this way, using the print job identification information as a key. The print job status information acquired here is used for determining the control content of the printing process.

  The confidentiality deriving unit 21 c extracts the file name included in the received data, and compares the extracted file name with the file name of the confidentiality information table 24. At this time, if the corresponding file name is registered in the confidentiality information table 24, it is acquired as the confidentiality of the print job or the print job before transmission. On the other hand, if it is not registered, the confidentiality is set to zero.

  The print control content determination unit 21d is based on the data type of the received data, the print job status information of the immediately preceding print job, the confidentiality derived by the confidentiality derivation unit 21c, and the control content defined in the print control content table 25. The control is performed for the pre-transmission print job or the received print job. Specifically, if the received data is a print start event and the print job status information of the previous print job is in a predetermined state, transmission of the pre-transmission print job from the terminal 1 is permitted. On the other hand, if the print job status information of the immediately preceding print job is other than the predetermined status, whether or not the pre-transmission print job can be transmitted is determined according to the sensitivity of the print start event and the sensitivity of the immediately preceding print job. The If the received data is a print job, the transmission stop time is acquired from the above-described print control content table 25 according to the sensitivity of the received print job and the sensitivity of the immediately preceding print job, and the acquired transmission is acquired. The transmission of the print job to the printer 3 is stopped according to the stop time.

  Next, the flow of the printing process of the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, when the print job transmission / reception unit 21a of the printer server 2 receives data from the terminal 1 (# 01), it is determined whether the received data is a print job or a print start event (# 02).

  If the data received by the print job transmission / reception unit 21a is not a print job, that is, a print start event (No branch of # 02), the print job management unit 21b reads the previous job from the print job status information storage unit 23. The print job status information of the print job is acquired, and the status of the previous print job is checked (# 03, # 04). At this time, there is no print job status information of the previous print job in the print job status information storage unit 23, that is, when the received print start event is the first print start event (Yes branch of # 03), or print job management If the print job status information of the previous print job acquired by the unit 21b is “print job transmitted” (Yes branch of # 04), the print control content determination unit 21d transmits to the terminal 1 that has transmitted the print start event. In response to this, it is notified that transmission of the print job is permitted (# 09). The terminal 1 that has received permission to transmit the print job transmits the print job to the printer server 2.

  On the other hand, when the print job status information of the immediately preceding print job acquired by the print job management unit 21b is “waiting for print job” (No branch of # 04), the confidentiality deriving unit 21c causes the print job before transmission. The sensitivity of the print start event and the sensitivity of the immediately preceding print job are derived (# 05). Thereafter, the difference in the sensitivity is obtained by the printing control content determination unit 21d. When it is determined that this difference in density exceeds a predetermined threshold (here, 1 point) (No branch at # 06), the print control content determination unit 21d determines to prohibit transmission of a pre-transmission print job as print control content. Then, a transmission prohibition command is issued to the terminal 1 that has transmitted the print start event from the print control content determination unit 21d (# 07). That is, a print job transmission prohibition command is transmitted from the print control content determination unit 21d to the terminal 1 that has transmitted the print start event, and the terminal 1 uses the operation management unit 14 based on the received transmission prohibition command. The print job cannot be transmitted. At this time, a monitor screen display indicating that transmission of a print job is prohibited may be performed. Further, instead of prohibiting transmission of a print job, printing operation regulation such as locking of printing operation may be performed. Furthermore, the content of the print control may be such that a stop time is obtained according to a difference in sensitivity as described later, and transmission of a print job is stopped based on the obtained stop time. If the difference in density is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold (Yes branch at # 06), the print control content determination unit 21d determines transmission permission of the print job before transmission as the print control content, and the print control content determination unit 21d. However, the terminal 1 that has transmitted the print start event is notified that the transmission of the print job is permitted (# 09). In the present embodiment, the print control content determination unit 21d determines whether to permit or prohibit transmission of a pre-transmission print job according to the sensitivity difference. May be registered in the print control content table 25 in association with each other. In this case, the process of # 06 is a process of acquiring the print control content from the print control content table 25 according to the difference in confidentiality instead of comparing the difference in confidentiality with the threshold value.

  The terminal 1 that has received permission to transmit the print job transmits the pre-transmission print job to the printer server 2, and the printer server 2 makes the following determination on the received print job. The terminal 1 can also be configured to directly send a print job to the printer 3 instead of the printer server 2. In this case, the print control content determination unit 21d registers the print job status information corresponding to the pre-transmission print job as “print job transmitted” in the print job status information storage unit 23, and prints the subsequent print jobs. This print job status information is used for control.

  When the received data is a print job (Yes branch of # 02), the print job transmission / reception unit 21a stores the received print job in the print job storage unit 22, and the print job management unit 21b stores the print job status information. The print job status information of the previous print job stored in the unit 23 is acquired, and the status of the previous print job is checked (# 11). At this time, if the previous print job status information cannot be acquired, there is no previous print job (Yes branch of # 11), and the print job stored in the print job storage unit 22 is transmitted by the print job transmission / reception unit 21a. It is transmitted to the printer 3 (# 18). At this time, the print job transmission / reception unit 21a updates the print job status information of this print job as “print job transmitted”.

  If the print job status information of the immediately preceding print job acquired by the print job management unit 21b is “waiting for print job” or “print job has been transmitted” (No branch of # 11), the confidentiality deriving unit 21c derives the confidentiality of the received print job and the confidentiality of the previous print job (# 13), and the print control content determination unit 21d compares them (# 14). When it is determined that the difference between the density of the print job and the density of the immediately preceding print job exceeds a predetermined threshold (1 point) (No branch of # 14), the print control content table 25 is based on these densities. The stop time is acquired from (# 15).

  This will be described in detail by taking the case of FIG. 4 as an example. Assume that the received print job has a file name “customer information.xls” and the confidentiality derived by referring to the confidentiality information table 24 is 5. On the other hand, the print job immediately before this print job has the file name “application form.doc” and the confidentiality is 1. Therefore, the difference in sensitivity is 4, and by referring to the above-described print control content table 25, it is determined to stop transmission of the print job for 2 minutes (see the stop time column in FIG. 4).

  When the stop time is determined in this way, the print control content determination unit 21d refers to the print job status information acquired by the print job management unit 21b and acquires the transmission time of the previous print job to the printer 3. (# 16). Then, the transmission time to the printer 3 of the print job whose transmission is stopped can be calculated by adding the stop time to the transmission time. In this way, until the stop time elapses, that is, until the calculated transmission time is reached, the print control content determination unit 21d stops the transmission of the print job to the printer 3 (No branch of # 17). As described above, the start time of the stop time is set as the transmission time of the immediately preceding print job to the printer 3. When the determined stop time has elapsed (Yes branch of # 17), the print job transmitting / receiving unit 21a is notified that the transmission stop has been canceled, and the print job stored in the print job storage unit 22 is the print job. The data is transmitted to the printer 3 by the transmission / reception unit 21a (# 18). If it is determined that the sensitivity of the received print job and the sensitivity of the immediately preceding print job are equal to or less than the predetermined threshold (Yes branch of # 14), the above-described transmission stop process is not performed, and the print job transmission / reception unit 21a. As a result, the print job is transmitted to the printer 3 and normal print processing is performed (# 18). At this time, the print job transmission / reception unit 21a updates the print job status information of the print job transmitted to the printer 3 stored in the print job status information storage unit 23 as “print job transmitted”.

  In this embodiment, in the process of # 11, the determination based on the presence or absence of the previous print job is performed. However, the determination based on whether or not the previous print job is waiting is added to the determination of # 11. You can also. In this case, the process proceeds to # 13 only when the immediately preceding print job is waiting. Further, although the determination using the difference in sensitivity between both print jobs is performed in # 14, the waiting time when the difference in sensitivity is less than a predetermined threshold is registered in the print control content table 25. Thus, it is possible to eliminate the determination process of # 14.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the print system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, collection information of a print medium (hereinafter referred to as a printed material) on which a print job is output is included as print job status information. Therefore, here, as the print job status information, in addition to the status of the first embodiment, “printed (not collected)” and “printed (collected)”, which are the statuses after the print job is output to the print medium "and so on.

  FIG. 5 shows a functional block diagram of the printing system in the second embodiment. In addition, about the functional element similar to FIG. 1, it represents using the same code | symbol. Although the basic configuration is the same as in FIG. 1, in order to acquire the collection information described above, the printer 3 is provided with a collection state detection means 31, and the printer server 2 is provided with a collection information acquisition unit 21f. Etc. are different.

  The collection state detection means 31 provided in the printer 3 is a detection sensor that detects the presence or absence of printed matter on the tray of the printer 3 and a collection information that generates collection information based on the detection result of the detection sensor and transmits it to the printer server 2. It is composed of an information generator and the like. Further, the collection information acquisition unit 21f provided in the printer server 2 acquires the collection information from the collection state detection unit 31, and immediately before being stored in the print job state information storage unit 23 based on the acquired collection information. Update the print job status information for the print job.

  Next, the flow of the printing process of the printing system according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7. The same reference numerals are given to the same processing steps as those of the first embodiment. These descriptions are omitted.

  The print job transmission / reception unit 21a of the printer server 2 receives the data (# 01), the data type is a print start event (No branch of # 02), and the print job immediately before acquired by the print job management unit 21b If the print job status information is “print job transmitted” (Yes branch at # 04), the print 2 is not collected by the printer 2 based on the print job status information stored in the print job status storage unit 23. It is determined whether or not there is (# 08). When there is an uncollected printed matter (No branch at # 08), the confidentiality deriving unit 21c derives the confidentiality of the print start event as the confidentiality of the print job before transmission and the confidentiality of the immediately preceding print job. (# 05).

  Next, the print control content determination unit 21d compares the confidentiality of the print start event with the confidentiality of the immediately preceding print job (# 06). When it is determined that the difference between the sensitivity of the print start event and the sensitivity of the immediately preceding print job exceeds a predetermined threshold (here, 1 point) (No branch of # 06), the print control content determination unit 21d Transmission prohibition of the pre-transmission print job is determined as the print control content, and a transmission prohibition command is issued to the terminal 1 that transmitted the print start event (# 07). On the other hand, when there is no unrecovered printed matter (Yes branch at # 08) or when the difference in density is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold (Yes branch at # 06), the print control content determination unit 21d transmits the print control content. The transmission permission of the previous print job is determined, and the terminal 1 that has transmitted the print start event is notified from the print control content determination unit 21d that the transmission of the print job is permitted (# 09).

  If the received data is a print job (Yes branch of # 02), the state of the immediately preceding print job is determined based on the print job state information of the immediately preceding print job acquired by the print job management unit 21b. (# 12). At this time, if there is an uncollected printed matter or the print job status information of the immediately preceding print job is “waiting for print job” (Yes branch of # 12), the confidentiality deriving unit 21c receives the received print The confidentiality of the job and the immediately preceding print job is derived (# 13), the stop time is determined as in the first embodiment (# 15), and after the stop time has elapsed (Yes branch of # 17) The print job transmitting / receiving unit 21a transmits the print job to the printer 3 (# 18). In this embodiment, the stop time is determined according to the sensitivity of the received print job and the immediately preceding print job. However, if there is an uncollected print, the sensitivity of the received print job is If it is above a predetermined level (for example, the density point is 4 or more), or if the density of the previous print job is above the predetermined level even if it is less than the predetermined level, transmission of the print job to the printer 3 is stopped, If the collection of the printed matter is recognized based on the collection information, the print job can be transmitted to the printer 3.

  On the other hand, when a print job is received from the terminal 1, there is no previous print job, there is no uncollected printed matter (No branch of # 12), or the sensitivity and uncollected of the received print job or When the difference in the density of the print jobs waiting for transmission is equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold (No branch of # 14), the print job transmission / reception unit 21a transmits the print job to the printer 3 and normal printing processing is performed (# 18). .

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, when the confidentiality of the print job output to the print medium is approximately the same as that of the preceding print job, the output is performed as usual following the preceding print job. When there is a divergence, temporarily stopping output or prohibiting transmission can suppress a situation in which printed materials with divergence are mixed. That is, it is possible to avoid as much as possible a situation in which a printed matter with a high confidentiality gets caught in a printed matter with a low confidentiality and is taken away by mistake, leading to information leakage. In this way, print jobs with the same level of sensitivity can be output together, thereby reducing the efficiency of the printing process, and output jobs that are dissimilarly sensitive are temporarily stopped or prohibited from being sent. Thus, it is possible to ensure confidentiality protection by ensuring a sufficient time for collecting the printed matter. Furthermore, since the transmission of the print job can be stopped at the terminal by making a determination based on the print start event, the accumulation of the print job in the management server can be reduced, and the print job to be stopped when the confidentiality of the print job to be stopped is high. Since the job is held at the terminal, there is also an advantage that it is preferable in terms of security.

  Further, according to the second embodiment described above, when the control information of the printing process is determined, the collection information of the printed material is used, and when a print job with high confidentiality is output when the printed material is not collected, the printing is performed. After the job output is stopped and a print job with high confidentiality is output, the output of the subsequent print job can be stopped until the printed material output by the print job is collected. The possibility of being mixed with other printed materials and being exposed to the human eye is reduced, so that the security can be more accurately performed.

[Other Embodiments]
(1) In the embodiment described above, the print control content is determined based on the sensitivity of the preceding print job and the print job status information, but the sensitivity of the preceding print job is not used without using the print job status information. Based on the above, it is possible to adopt a form in which the contents of the print control are determined. In this case, for example, in the first embodiment described above, it is possible to adopt a form in which the reception time of the print job for determining the print control content is used as the starting point of the stop time count.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the confidentiality of the print job is derived based on the file name. However, other forms are also possible. For example, an authority level may be determined for each user, held in the confidentiality information table, and compared with user identification information included in the print job, the confidentiality of the print job may be derived based on the authority level. good. Further, the confidential information table may be omitted, and the confidentiality may be set for the print job itself. The confidentiality setting may be performed not for each file but for each folder including the file, or may be performed based on the contents of the print data.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, if the print job or print start event for determining the print control content and the preceding print job or print start event used for the determination are the same user, such determination processing is not performed. A normal printing process may be used. Whether or not they are the same can be determined using user identification information included in the print job.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, the temporary output stop or transmission prohibition of the print job is set as the print control content. Of course, other forms are possible. For example, in the first embodiment, a sort process for rearranging each print job with the same sensitivity may be set, or a process for canceling the received print job and notifying the terminal of the print job may be set. Also good.

  Also, when multiple printers are provided, output is stopped at the printer specified in the print job, but when normal printing is possible on other printers, the print job can be transferred to this other printer. Alternatively, the terminal may be notified that immediate printing is possible with another printer. It is preferable that such various print control contents are held in the print control content table 25 and desired print control contents can be selected from the outside according to the purpose.

(5) In the first embodiment described above, the print control content is determined based on the difference between the confidentiality of the received print job and the confidentiality of the print job preceding the print job. In the case where the confidentiality is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, transmission of a print job to the printer may be stopped. In the second embodiment, the print control content may be determined based on the difference between the sensitivity of the received print job and the sensitivity of the uncollected print job. For example, the first embodiment In this way, it is possible to adopt a form in which the output is stopped for a predetermined time according to the difference between the two machine densities.

(6) In the above-described embodiment, the confidentiality of the received print job is compared with the confidentiality of the print job immediately preceding the print job. It may be configured to compare with the average density of all or a part of the job.

(7) FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a printing system provided with another form of collection information acquisition means. In addition, about the functional element similar to FIG. 5, it represents using the same code | symbol. As a difference from FIG. 5, the print management unit 21 includes a print code information generation unit 21 g that generates print code information to be added to the print data of the received print job, and the generated print code information for the print job. A print data generation unit 21h that generates code-added print data in addition to the print data is further provided.

  The print code may be a one-dimensional code such as a character string or a barcode, or may be a two-dimensional code such as a QR code, and the generation of the print code information is performed by using a file name or user identification information included in the print job. It can be performed by a known method using arbitrary data such as print job identification information.

  The flow of collection information acquisition processing in this alternative form is as follows. First, when a print job is received, the print management unit 21 generates print code information based on the print job received by the print code information generation unit 21g, and the generated print code information is generated by the print data generation unit 21h. Added to the print data of the print job. At this time, the generated print code information is stored in association with the print job status information of the print job stored in the print job status information storage unit 23. This print code is printed on the printed matter output from the printer 3, and the user causes the terminal 1 to acquire this print code via a code reader or the like. The acquired print code is transmitted to the printer server 2 and compared with the print code information stored in the print job status information storage unit 23. By this comparison, the matched print job status information is updated to “printed (collected)”.

  Thereby, since the collection information of the printed matter can be reflected in the print job status information, the print job of the uncollected printed matter can be specified from the print job status information. Furthermore, it is possible to derive the confidentiality of the print job of the uncollected printed matter, and by comparing the confidentiality of the print job of the uncollected printed matter with the confidentiality of the received print job, it is possible to obtain an accurate confidentiality. A determination can be made. The print code information generation unit, the print data generation unit, and the like may be provided on the terminal 1 side.

(8) It is good also as a structure which uses combining 1st Embodiment mentioned above and 2nd Embodiment. Further, each unit provided in the printer server may be configured to be distributed to other servers.

  In the above-described embodiment, the print start event is generated in the terminal 1 and the determination based on the print start event is performed in the printer server 2, but based on only the print job transmitted from the terminal 1 without performing these. The printer server 2 may make a determination.

Functional block diagram of the printing system in the first embodiment Flowchart showing print processing in the first embodiment Flowchart showing print processing in the first embodiment Diagram explaining the determination of print control content Functional block diagram of a printing system in the second embodiment Flowchart showing print processing in the second embodiment Flowchart showing print processing in the second embodiment Functional block diagram showing another form of collection information acquisition of printed matter in the second embodiment

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal 2 Printer server 3 Printer 11 Print instruction | indication part 11a Print job generation part 14 Operation management part 14a Print start event generation part 21 Print management part 21a Print job transmission / reception part 21b Print job management part 21c Sensitivity derivation part 21d Determination of print control content Unit 21f collection information acquisition unit 22 print job storage unit 23 print job status information storage unit 24 density information table 25 print control content table

Claims (4)

In a print system in which a terminal, a printer that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal to a print medium, and a management server that manages a print processing state of the print job are connected via a network,
A print job status information storage unit for storing the print processing status of the print job as print job status information;
A sensitivity deriving unit for deriving the sensitivity of the print job;
Print control content for determining the control content of print processing based on the confidentiality of the print job, the confidentiality of the print job preceding the print job, and the print job status information for the print job to be output to the print medium A printing system including a determination unit. Based on the print start event transmitted from the terminal prior to transmission of the print job, the confidentiality of the print job is derived by the confidentiality deriving unit,
The print system according to claim 1, wherein the control content includes a stop of transmission of the print job. A recovery information acquisition unit that acquires recovery information of the print medium on which the print job is output;
The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print job status information includes collection information of the print medium. In a print management program for a print system in which a terminal, a printer that outputs a print job transmitted from the terminal to a print medium, and a management server that manages a print processing state of the print job are connected via a network.
A function of storing the print processing status of the print job as print job status information in a print job status information storage unit;
A function for deriving the confidentiality of the print job;
A function for determining the control content of the print processing based on the confidentiality of the print job, the confidentiality of the print job preceding the print job, and the print job status information for the print job to be output to the print medium. Print management program to be realized on a computer.

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