JP6468135B2 - Information processing apparatus, print system, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a print system, and a program.

  When printing from the terminal device to the image forming apparatus, a printer driver is generally used as software for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus. The printer driver is prepared for each model of the image forming apparatus, for example, and the application program can print on various image forming apparatuses 30 by using the printer driver.

  In Patent Document 1, the user information is managed so that it cannot be acquired using an authority different from the user authority, and the authority of the control means for controlling the printing process with the system authority is the user of the user who instructed the printing process from the system authority. An information processing apparatus that acquires user information by changing authority is disclosed.

JP 2014-109854 A

A printer driver and an application program may exchange print settings using print setting information such as a print ticket. In addition, information regarding the user may be stored in the print setting information. The print setting information may be saved in a document file or the like handled by the application program.
However, when this document file or the like is passed to another user other than the user who created the document file, information about the user may be diverted. In addition, since the print ticket can be analyzed and can be referred to from filters described later, there is a possibility that information about the user may be leaked. For example, when a print ticket includes a password as information about the user, this password may be used by another user.
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an information processing apparatus and the like in which information about a user included in print setting information can be diverted or leaked.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, user identification information acquisition unit for acquiring user identification information from the basic software, print setting information for performing printing by an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, user identification information A setting information creation unit for creating the print information, a setting information delivery unit for delivering the print setting information to the application software for creating the print information including the print setting information, and an information reception unit for receiving the print information from the application software And a determination unit that extracts user identification information from the print information and determines to perform printing when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit. This is an information processing apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the setting information creating unit adds a print setting in addition to the user identification information, according to a print type, and adds information related to the user other than the print type and the user identification information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information is created.
The invention according to claim 3 is the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the setting information creation unit encrypts the user identification information.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the setting information creating unit sets the user identification information as a key for decryption when the user identification information is encrypted. The information processing apparatus described.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, an encryption unit that encrypts the user identification information is provided as a module separate from the setting information creation unit. is there.
The invention described in claim 6 includes a user identification information acquisition unit that acquires user identification information from basic software, a setting information generation unit that generates setting information related to a predetermined device including user identification information, and A setting information delivery unit that delivers the setting information to application software that creates transmission information including setting information, an information reception unit that receives the transmission information from the application software, and user identification information that is extracted from the transmission information. An information processing apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines to transmit the transmission information to the device when the user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit. is there.
The invention described in claim 7 includes an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material, and a terminal device that creates a print job for printing on the image forming apparatus, and the terminal device includes basic software. A user identification information acquisition unit that acquires user identification information from the printer, a setting information generation unit that generates print setting information for printing on the image forming apparatus including the user identification information, and a print including the print setting information A setting information delivery unit that delivers the print setting information to the application software that creates information; an information reception unit that receives the print information from the application software; and user identification information that is obtained by extracting user identification information from the print information Is determined by the user identification information acquisition unit to match the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit, and the determination unit , A print job transmitting unit which transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus when it is determined that performing a printing system, characterized in that it comprises a.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a user identification information acquisition function for acquiring user identification information from basic software and print setting information for performing printing by an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material are stored in a computer. A setting information creation function for creating including identification information, a setting information delivery function for delivering the print setting information to application software for creating print information including the print setting information, and receiving the print information from the application software An information receiving function, and a determination function for extracting user identification information from the print information and determining to perform printing when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition function, This is a program to be realized.
The invention according to claim 9 is the program according to claim 8, wherein the setting information creation function is implemented after obfuscation processing.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, compared to the case where printing is not performed when the user identification information matches, there is less risk that information about the user included in the print setting information will be diverted or leaked. An information processing apparatus can be provided.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to incorporate information relating to a user required depending on the type of printing into the print setting information.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the possibility that information relating to the user included in the print setting information is diverted or leaked is further reduced.
According to the invention of claim 4, the key setting becomes easier.
According to the invention of claim 5, it becomes more difficult to decrypt the encrypted user identification information.
According to the invention of claim 6, there is a risk that information about the user included in the setting information may be diverted or leaked compared to the case where the transmission information is not transmitted to the device when the user identification information matches. Smaller.
According to the invention of claim 7, a more secure printing system can be provided.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, compared to the case where printing is not performed when the user identification information matches, there is less risk that information about the user included in the print setting information will be diverted or leaked. The function can be realized by a computer.
According to the invention of claim 9, it becomes more difficult to decrypt the encrypted user identification information.

1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a print system to which the present embodiment is applied. It is the figure which showed the hardware structural example of the terminal device. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of an image forming apparatus. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a printer driver according to the present embodiment. It is the flowchart shown about 1st Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 1st Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 1st Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the sequence diagram shown about 1st Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. (A)-(c) is the figure which showed the screen displayed on the display mechanism of a terminal device at this time. It is the flowchart shown about 2nd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 2nd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 2nd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the sequence diagram shown about 2nd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 3rd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 3rd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the flowchart shown about 3rd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device. It is the sequence diagram shown about 3rd Embodiment of operation | movement of a terminal device.

<Description of overall configuration of print system>
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a printing system to which the present embodiment is applied.
The printing system shown in the figure is configured by connecting a terminal device 10 and image forming apparatuses 30a, 30b, and 30c to a network 90. The network 90 is connected to the network 70 via a gateway server (not shown), for example, and the print server 50 and the image forming apparatus 30d are connected to the network 70. This print system is sometimes called a cloud print system.
In the figure, the image forming apparatuses 30a, 30b, 30c, and 30d are shown. Although only four image forming apparatuses 30 are shown in the figure, five or more image forming apparatuses 30 may be provided.

  The terminal device 10 is a computer device that generates a print job for printing by the image forming apparatus 30. Then, the terminal apparatus 10 transmits a print job via the print server 50 or directly to the image forming apparatus 30 and performs printing with the image forming apparatus 30. Here, as the terminal device 10, a PC (Personal Computer), a mobile terminal, a mobile phone, or the like may be used.

  The image forming apparatus 30 is an apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium (recording material, paper) and outputs the image as a printing medium. Here, as the image forming apparatus 30, an apparatus having only a printer function may be used, or an apparatus having other image processing functions such as a scanner function and a facsimile function may be used in addition to this.

The print server 50 is a server computer that provides a service that uses various devices as the terminal device 10 and allows the image forming apparatus 30 installed in a home, office, public place, or the like to print a document. Specifically, the print job is accumulated until an inquiry about the existence of the print job is received from the image forming apparatus 30, and when the inquiry is received, the print job is converted into a format that can be processed by the image forming apparatus 30 and provided. To do.
Here, the print server 50 is connected to the network 70, but may be of a type connected to the network 90.

The network 70 is communication means used for information communication between the terminal apparatus 10 and the print server 50 and information communication between the image forming apparatus 30 and the print server 50, and is, for example, the Internet.
The network 90 is a communication unit used for information communication between the terminal device 10 and the image forming apparatus 30 and is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network).

Next, the hardware configuration of the terminal device 10 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the terminal device 10.
As shown in the figure, the terminal device 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 which is a calculation means, a main memory 12 and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 13 which are storage means. Here, the CPU 11 executes various software such as an OS (Operating System, basic software) and an application program (application software). The main memory 12 is a storage area for storing various software and data used for execution thereof, and the HDD 13 is a storage area for storing input data for various software, output data from various software, and the like.
Further, the terminal device 10 includes a communication interface (hereinafter referred to as “communication I / F”) 14 for communication with the outside, a display mechanism 15 including a video memory, a display, and the like, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. And an input device 16.

  Note that FIG. 2 can also be understood as a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the print server 50.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the image forming apparatus 30.
As illustrated, the image forming apparatus 30 includes a CPU 31, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 32, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 33, an operation panel 35, an image reading unit 36, an image forming unit 37, and a communication. Interface (hereinafter referred to as “communication I / F”) 38.

The CPU 31 implements various functions to be described later by loading various programs stored in the ROM 33 and the like into the RAM 32 and executing them.
The RAM 32 is a memory used as a working memory for the CPU 31.
The ROM 33 is a memory that stores various programs executed by the CPU 31.
The operation panel 35 is, for example, a touch panel that displays various types of information and receives operation inputs from the user.

  The image reading unit 36 reads an image recorded on a recording medium such as paper. Here, the image reading unit 36 is, for example, a scanner, and a CCD method in which reflected light with respect to light irradiated from a light source to a document is reduced by a lens and received by a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices), or an LED light source is sequentially irradiated onto a document. It is preferable to use a CIS system that receives reflected light with respect to the received light with a CIS (Contact Image Sensor).

The image forming unit 37 forms an image on a recording medium. Here, the image forming unit 37 is, for example, a printer, and forms an image by transferring the toner attached to the photosensitive member to a recording medium to form an image, or ejecting ink onto the recording medium. An ink jet type may be used. In the present embodiment, an image forming unit 37 is provided as an example of a printing mechanism that performs printing based on print data.
The communication I / F 38 transmits / receives various information to / from other devices via the network.

<Description of printer driver>
There is Microsoft Windows (registered trademark) as an OS provided by Microsoft Corporation. Among these, in Windows 8 and later versions, an architecture for providing a printer driver called v4 is added. However, when a printer driver developed in accordance with this architecture (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “v4 printer driver”) is used, there may be a problem described below.

  The v4 printer driver uses a device application, which will be described in detail later, for print setting. The device application is incorporated in the v4 printer driver, but is provided as a separate module from the v4 printer driver. Therefore, the v4 printer driver and the application program exchange print settings using a print ticket. This print ticket is an example of print setting information to be described later, and includes information about the user. Examples of the information related to the user include a user ID and password used for security printing, and a storage user ID and password used for confidential box printing.

  A print ticket may be stored in a document file or the like handled by an application program. In this way, by storing the print setting values for the v4 printer driver used when printing in the past on a document file or the like, when printing the same document file or the like again, the past print setting values are set to v4. This can be reflected in the settings in the printer driver, improving operability.

However, when this document file or the like is passed to another user other than the user who created the document file, information about the user may be diverted. In addition, since the print ticket can be analyzed and can be referred to from filters described later, there is a possibility that information about the user may be leaked.
When a user's information is diverted or leaked, for example, when performing a security print, which will be described in detail later, the password required to perform the security print is known, so a user other than the user who performs the security print prints. I can do it. In addition, since information related to users is sometimes used to limit billing processing and printing functions, diversion or leakage of information related to users is a problem.

  In the prior art for suppressing this problem, for example, the management procedure of information related to the user controls the operation authority of the filter pipeline manager by the OS (shift from the system authority to the user authority in the opposite direction). It is assumed that. Furthermore, in the prior art, in addition to this, it is premised that an access service to information related to users in the property bag is provided from the filters by the filter pipeline manager. However, only an OS vendor (Microsoft in the case of Microsoft Windows) can implement these processes in the system, and ISV (Independent Software Vendor) such as a printer maker installs these processes on the OS. It is difficult to realize.

  Hereinafter, the printer driver of this embodiment will be described. In the following, for the sake of simplicity of explanation, a case where printing is performed by directly transmitting a print job to the image forming apparatus 30 without using the print server 50 will be described as an example.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the printer driver according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 4, although not constituting the printer driver 100, an application program 200 is illustrated. Similarly, although not constituting the printer driver 100, the spooler 210, the port monitor 220, and the OS 230 are illustrated, and the image forming apparatus 30 that is the transmission destination of the print job is illustrated.

  The printer driver 100 is an example of an information processing apparatus, and is the above-described v4 printer driver. The printer driver 100 includes a print dialog 110, a device application 120, a configuration module 130, and a print filter pipeline 140.

  The print dialog 110 is a module that displays information regarding the image forming apparatus 30 to the user. The display is performed using the display mechanism 15. The user selects the image forming apparatus 30 that performs printing from the screen displayed by the print dialog 110. Further, the user performs print settings for performing printing with the image forming apparatus 30 while viewing the screen displayed by the print dialog 110. The print dialog 110 creates a print ticket based on this. In the present embodiment, the print ticket includes a user ID as user identification information. Then, the print dialog 110 sends a print ticket to the application program 200.

  Therefore, the print dialog 110 is an example of a setting information creation unit that creates a print ticket (print setting information) for printing with the image forming apparatus 30 including a user ID. The print dialog 110 is an example of a setting information delivery unit that delivers a print ticket to an application program.

  The device application 120 is an example of a user identification information acquisition unit that acquires a user ID from the OS 230. The device application 120 provides setting items that are not provided in the print dialog 110 that is a standard user interface. In other words, setting items for specifying whether or not to execute filters, which will be described later, and the execution form can be displayed by the print dialog 110 provided by the OS 230. However, other setting items are provided by the device application 120. This setting item relates to a function unique to the image forming apparatus 30, for example. The device application 120 is created by a printer manufacturer and is incorporated in the printer driver 100. In the present embodiment, the device application 120 acquires a user ID from the OS 230 and sends it to the print dialog 110.

  The configuration module 130 passes the capabilities of the image forming apparatus 30 and the default print ticket to the print dialog 110. The configuration module 130 verifies the print setting value of the print ticket. In other words, the configuration module 130 performs processing for eliminating functional contradiction included in the print settings included in the print ticket. For example, even if the image forming apparatus 30 has a double-sided printing function, there is a case where double-sided printing cannot be performed when an envelope paper size is designated as the paper. In this case, the configuration module 130 performs processing for changing the print setting to single-sided printing.

  When there is a print instruction from the user, drawing data and the like are created in an XPS (XML Paper Specification) format, which is sent from the application program 200 to the printer driver 100 as an XPS spool file. The XPS spool file is an example of print information created by the application program 200 and includes a print ticket.

In the printer driver 100, a plurality of filter processes that perform processes related to layout and rendering are performed, so that an image forming apparatus 30 that is an output destination can interpret data in XPS format, such as PDL (Page Description Language) or PJL (PJL). (Printer Job Language: printer job language) and generate a print job. By this filter processing, processing such as double-sided printing, N-up printing, color control, punching, and stapling performed by the image forming apparatus 30 can be performed.
The print job is sent to the image forming apparatus 30 via the spooler 210 and the port monitor 220, and printing is performed in the image forming apparatus 30 through image processing such as rasterization processing and screen processing. The spooler 210 and the port monitor 220 are an example of a print job transmission unit that transmits a print job to the image forming apparatus 30.

  The print filter pipeline 140 is a functional unit that performs filter processing, and includes a setting filter 141, a layout filter 142, and a renderer filter 143 as the above-described filters. In the print filter pipeline 140, processing for sequentially processing the XPS spool file with these filters is performed.

  The setting filter 141 is an example of an information receiving unit that receives an XPS spool file from the application program 200. The setting filter 141 reads the print ticket and writes data necessary for printing in the print ticket.

  The setting filter 141 according to the present embodiment is an example of a determination unit that extracts a user ID from the XPS spool file and determines to perform printing when the extracted user ID matches the user ID acquired by the device application 120. is there. That is, the setting filter 141 acquires the user ID from the OS 230 and compares it with the user ID included in the print ticket. If both user IDs match, a decision is made to print, and if they do not match, a decision is made not to print and printing is stopped.

  The layout filter 142 performs layout-related processing such as change in magnification, imposition layout for bookbinding, and stamps.

  The renderer filter 143 renders the XPS spool file and converts it into PDL. The renderer filter 143 converts print ticket print setting data into PJL.

<Description of Operation of Terminal Device 10>
Next, the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described.
Here, the first embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described first.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 5A to FIG. 5C are flowcharts illustrating the first embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating the first embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10. Further, FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrams showing screens displayed on the display mechanism 15 of the terminal device 10 at this time.
First, the user taps the tile 151 of the application program displayed on the start screen shown in FIG. 7A (step 101). When the tile 151 is tapped, the shell of the OS 230 activates the application program 200 corresponding to the tapped tile 151 (step 102).

  The user displays a document to be printed by the application program 200 on the display mechanism 15 (step 103). Then, the user opens the system menu 152 and taps the device 153 (step 104). In response to this operation, the shell of the OS 230 requests drawing data from the application program 200 (step 105). When the application program 200 passes the drawing data to the OS 230, the print dialog 110 of the OS 230 is activated (step 106). The print dialog 110 lists and displays the printable image forming apparatuses 30 registered in the OS 230 (step 107).

  The user taps and selects an icon of the image forming apparatus 30 used for printing from the listed image forming apparatuses 30 (step 108). The print dialog 110 requests the capability of the selected image forming apparatus 30 and the default print ticket from the configuration module 130 of the printer driver 100 (step 109).

  The configuration module 130 of the printer driver 100 returns the capability of the selected image forming apparatus 30 and the default print ticket to the print dialog 110 (step 110).

  The print dialog 110 passes the print ticket to the application program 200 and requests creation of a preview image of drawing data (step 111). The application program 200 reads the passed print ticket, understands the set value, generates a preview image according to the set value, and returns it to the print dialog 110 (step 112).

  At this time, the screen shown in FIG. 7B is displayed on the display mechanism 15 (step 113). The screen in FIG. 7B is used to select standard area setting items from among the print settings. A document 154 to be printed by the application program 200 is displayed on the left side of the screen. On the right side of the screen, a screen displayed by the print dialog 110 is displayed. On the right side of the screen, along with the preview screen 155, a control 156 that is a screen on which the user performs print settings is displayed. The user uses the input device 16 to input print settings from the control 156. Specifically, for example, the user selects an item from the pull-down menu to input the print direction, and inputs a number of copies by inputting a number.

  When the user taps “Other Settings” from this state, the print dialog 110 activates the device application 120 of the printer driver 100 (step 114).

  The device application 120 requests the configuration module 130 for the capability and print ticket of the image forming apparatus 30 corresponding to “other settings” (step 115). The configuration module 130 returns the capability and print ticket of the image forming apparatus 30 corresponding to “other settings” to the device application 120 (step 116).

At this time, the screen of FIG. 7C is displayed on the display mechanism 15 (step 117). The screen shown in FIG. 7C is used to select not only the standard area setting items but also the extended area setting items as print settings.
The document 154 to be printed by the application program 200 is displayed as it is on the left side of the screen at the same position as in FIG. On the other hand, a screen displayed by the device application 120 is displayed on the right side of the screen. On the right side of the screen, a control 157 that is a screen for the user to perform print settings is displayed. In the control 157, the print settings for the standard area and the extended area can be changed according to the capability of the image forming apparatus 30. For example, when the selected image forming apparatus 30 supports security printing, a control 157 relating to security printing is displayed.

  The user inputs print settings from the screen of FIG. 7C, and when the input is completed, taps the return button 158 to notify the device application 120 of the end of the print settings (step 118). This returns to the screen of FIG. 7B.

  Next, the device application 120 acquires the user ID that is currently operating the device application 120 from the OS 230 (step 119). The device application 120 stores the print settings and the user ID in the print ticket (step 120).

  The application data for which the print setting has been completed may be continuously subjected to print processing, or may be printed once stored as application data in an external storage device. At this time, printing may be performed by the same user as the user who performed the print setting, or may be a different user. In this embodiment, in any case, data stored in the print ticket is used as a setting for printing.

Next, a process from when a print instruction is issued until printing is described.
The user instructs the start of printing (step 121). Specifically, when printing is performed following step 120, the user taps the print button 159 on the screen of FIG. 7B to instruct the start of printing. When printing the stored application data, the user activates the application program 200, selects the print data, selects the image forming apparatus 30, and displays the screen of FIG. 7B. The user then taps the print button 159 to instruct the start of printing.

  When the user gives a print instruction, the OS 230 or the application program 200 creates an XPS spool file and passes it to the setting filter 141 of the print filter pipeline 140 (step 122).

The setting filter 141 first extracts the user ID stored in the print ticket in the XPS spool file (step 123).
Next, the setting filter 141 acquires the user ID from the OS 230 (step 124). Then, the user ID extracted from the print ticket is compared with the user ID acquired from the OS 230, and it is determined whether or not they match (step 125).

  As a result, if they match (Yes in step 125), the printing process is continued (step 126). On the other hand, if they do not match (No in step 125), the printing process is stopped (step 127).

  After step 126, the layout filter 142 performs processing related to the layout (step 128). Further, the renderer filter 143 renders the XPS spool file and converts it into PDL, and converts the print setting data of the print ticket into PJL (step 129).

  As a result, a print job is generated, and the print job is sent to the image forming apparatus 30 via the spooler 210 and the port monitor 220 (step 130).

  In the present embodiment, the user ID is stored in the print ticket when print settings are made. In step 125, the user ID stored in the print ticket is compared with the user ID for printing. When the user IDs coincide with each other, printing is performed by the same user as the user who performed the print setting. In this case, printing is performed. On the other hand, when the user IDs do not match, it is a time when printing is performed by a user different from the user who made the print settings, and in this case, printing is stopped. As a result, the risk of diverting information about the user included in the print ticket is further reduced. In addition, the risk of leaking information about the user is further reduced. As a result, information about the user can be protected.

  Further, it is the device application 120 provided by the ISV such as a printer manufacturer that acquires the user ID from the OS 230 and stores it in the print ticket. The setting filter 141 provided by the ISV extracts the user ID from the print ticket, acquires the user ID from the OS 230, and compares the two. That is, these processes can be implemented by the ISV in the printer driver 100, and need not be an OS vendor.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described.
8A to 8C are flowcharts illustrating the second embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the second embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10.

  In the second embodiment, the device application 120 creates a print ticket by adding information about the user other than the print type and the user ID according to the print type. The setting filter 141 compares user IDs as in the first embodiment. Further, when printing is performed, information regarding the type of printing and the user is also incorporated into the printer job and sent to the image forming apparatus 30.

The type of printing is, for example, security printing or confidential box printing.
The security print is a function in which, when the user inputs a user ID and password in the image forming apparatus 30 and the user ID and password sent in advance match, printing is performed, and when they do not match, printing is not performed. In this case, from the terminal device 10 side, it is necessary to incorporate a password in addition to the user ID as information about the user into the print job and send it to the image forming apparatus 30.

  In the confidential box print, a confidential box corresponding to each user is provided in the image forming apparatus 30. After the user selects a confidential box in the image forming apparatus 30, a personal identification number is input, and a storage user ID sent in advance is sent. When the personal identification number and the personal identification number match, the print job stored in the confidential box is executed. In this case, from the terminal device 10 side, it is necessary to incorporate the storage user ID and the personal identification number in addition to the user ID as information relating to the user into the print job and send it to the image forming apparatus 30. The user ID and the storage user ID may be the same or different.

In the second embodiment, Step 201 to Step 217 are the same as Step 101 to Step 117, and thus description thereof is omitted.
In the second embodiment, in the next step 218, information related to the user such as a password is input from the screen of FIG.
After step 219 to step 220, which are the same as steps 118 to 119, the device application 120 stores information about the user such as the print type, user ID, and print settings in the print ticket (step 221).

Then, after Steps 222 to 223 similar to Steps 121 to 122, the setting filter 141 takes out information about the user such as the type of printing and the user ID stored in the print ticket in the XPS spool file (Step S1). 224).
Steps 225 to 231 are the same as steps 124 to 130. As a result, the user ID, password, and the like are incorporated into the print job as information regarding the type of printing and the user, and sent to the image forming apparatus 30.

  In the present embodiment, necessary user information can be incorporated into a print ticket depending on the type of printing.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described.
FIGS. 10A to 10C are flowcharts illustrating the third embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating the third embodiment of the operation of the terminal device 10.

  In the third embodiment, as compared with the second embodiment, the device application 120 encrypts information about a user such as a user ID. The setting filter 141 compares the user IDs after decrypting the encryption.

In the third embodiment, Step 301 to Step 318 are the same as Step 201 to Step 218, and thus description thereof is omitted.
In the third embodiment, information about the user such as the user ID is then encrypted (step 319).
After step 320 to step 321 similar to step 219 to step 220, the device application 120 stores information about the user such as the print type, the encrypted user ID, and the print setting in the print ticket (step 322). ).

  After step 323 to step 324 similar to step 222 to step 223, the setting filter 141 decodes information about the user such as the user ID (step 325).

  Steps 326 to 333 are the same as steps 224 to 231.

  In the present embodiment, it is more secure by encrypting information about the user such as a user ID and a password.

[Fourth Embodiment]
In the fourth embodiment, as compared with the third embodiment, the device application 120 sets a user ID as a key for performing decryption when encrypting information about the user such as a user ID.

[Fifth Embodiment]
In the fifth embodiment, when the device application 120 is described in a script language such as Java (registered trademark), the encryption algorithm is reverse-engineered to prevent the encrypted user ID from being decrypted. , Obfuscated software is used as the device application 120. That is, in this case, the device application 120 is mounted after performing obfuscation processing.
As methods for obfuscating Java scripts, tools such as ProGuard used in the Android SDK and DashO provided by Pre Emptive Solutions are known. These tools make it difficult to analyze the code by combining processing such as changing the names of variables and functions used in Java scripts, changing the control flow, and encrypting character strings.

[Sixth Embodiment]
In the sixth embodiment, as in the fifth embodiment, in order to prevent the encrypted user ID from being decrypted, an encryption unit that encrypts the user ID is a module separate from the device application 120. Prepare. The encryption unit is preferably created in a language that is difficult to analyze (reverse engineering). Examples of languages that are difficult to analyze include C ++.
As a method of calling a software module created in C ++ from a Java script, methods such as JNA (Java Native Access), swing, JNI (Java Native Interface) are known. These techniques provide a means for enabling an interface between software modules created in Java scripts and software modules created in different languages.

  In the above-described example, the print ticket is used as print setting information for performing printing by the image forming apparatus 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the image forming apparatus has a facsimile function, a print ticket may be used as setting information regarding a predetermined device. In this case, the print ticket is setting information for transmitting a facsimile, and a user ID is stored and passed to the application program 200 as in the case described above. When performing facsimile from the application program 200, the XPS spool file is transferred to the setting filter 141 of the print filter pipeline 140. Further, in the setting filter 141, the user IDs are compared in the same manner as described above, and when they match, it is determined that transmission information for performing facsimile is transmitted. When performing facsimile, this transmission information is sent to the image forming apparatus 30. If they do not match, the setting filter 141 determines not to transmit the transmission information.

<Description of the program>
Note that the processing performed by the printer driver 100 is realized by the CPU 11 of the terminal device 10 executing various software as described above. Therefore, the printer driver 100 creates a user identification information acquisition function for acquiring a user ID from the OS 230 and a print ticket including the user ID for printing on the image forming apparatus 30 that forms an image on a recording material. A setting information creation function to perform, a setting information delivery function for delivering a print ticket to an application program 200 for creating an XPS spool file including a print ticket, an information reception function for receiving an XPS spool file from the application program 200, and an XPS spool file It can also be understood as a program that realizes a determination function that determines that printing is performed when the extracted user ID matches the user ID acquired by the user identification information acquisition function.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Terminal device, 30 ... Image forming apparatus, 50 ... Print server, 100 ... Printer driver, 110 ... Print dialog, 120 ... Device application, 130 ... Configuration module, 140 ... Print filter pipeline, 200 ... Application program, 210 ... Spooler, 220 ... Port monitor, 230 ... OS

Claims (9)

A user identification information acquisition unit for acquiring user identification information from the basic software;
A setting information creation unit that creates print setting information for printing with an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material, including user identification information;
A setting information delivery unit that delivers the print setting information to application software that creates print information including the print setting information;
An information receiving unit for receiving the print information from the application software;
A determination unit that extracts user identification information from the print information and determines to perform printing when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The setting information creating unit creates print setting information by adding information related to a user other than the printing type and the user identification information in addition to the user identification information according to a printing type. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting information creation unit encrypts the user identification information.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the user identification information is encrypted, the setting information creation unit sets the user identification information as a key for performing decryption.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an encryption unit that encrypts the user identification information is provided as a module separate from the setting information creation unit. A user identification information acquisition unit for acquiring user identification information from the basic software;
A setting information creating unit that creates setting information related to a predetermined device including user identification information;
A setting information delivery unit that delivers the setting information to application software that creates transmission information including the setting information;
An information receiving unit for receiving the transmission information from the application software;
A determination unit that extracts user identification information from the transmission information and determines to transmit the transmission information to the device when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit;
An information processing apparatus comprising: An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material;
A terminal device for creating a print job for printing on the image forming apparatus;
With
The terminal device
A user identification information acquisition unit for acquiring user identification information from the basic software;
A setting information creation unit for creating print setting information for printing with the image forming apparatus, including user identification information;
A setting information delivery unit that delivers the print setting information to application software that creates print information including the print setting information;
An information receiving unit for receiving the print information from the application software;
A determination unit that extracts user identification information from the print information and determines to perform printing when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit;
A print job transmission unit that transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus when the determination unit determines to perform printing;
A printing system comprising: On the computer,
A user identification information acquisition function for acquiring user identification information from the basic software;
A setting information creation function for creating print setting information for printing in an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material, including user identification information;
A setting information delivery function for delivering the print setting information to application software for creating print information including the print setting information;
An information receiving function for receiving the print information from the application software;
A determination function for extracting user identification information from the print information, and determining to perform printing when the extracted user identification information matches the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition function;
A program that realizes   The program according to claim 8, wherein the setting information creation function is implemented after obfuscation processing is performed.

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