WO2019016438A1

WO2019016438A1 - Printing service secured via a communication network on any printing equipment belonging to a group of independent printing equipment

Info

Publication number: WO2019016438A1
Application number: PCT/FR2018/051507
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eric FRELAT; Cyril Joui
Original assignee: Mps Mobileprint Services
Priority date: 2017-07-20
Filing date: 2018-06-21
Publication date: 2019-01-24
Also published as: FR3069350A1; FR3069350B1

Abstract

A method for printing a document on an item of printing equipment belonging to a group of printing equipment connected via a network implemented by a system comprising: - the group of printing equipment; - an allocation server configured to receive, subject to the identification of a user, a printing task comprising a digital file specifying a document to be printed with parameters required to print said document (B&W, Sides, Format), and to generate a unique authentication code associated with the printing task; and a token associated with the printing task including metadata including the information associated with the identification of the user and the digital file; one local terminal per item of printing equipment, each terminal being connected to an item of printing equipment, on the one hand, and connected to said allocation server, on the other hand.

Description

SECURE PRINTING SERVICE VIA A COMMUNICATION NETWORK ON ANY PRINTING EQUIPMENT BELONGING TO A GROUPING OF INDEPENDENT PRINTING EQUIPMENTS Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of printing processes of documents through a communication network on any printing equipment, following the receipt of printing tasks. The present invention also relates to a system implementing this printing process. The present invention also relates to computer programs for implementing this method and applications applying such computer programs.

State of the Prior Art

[0002] A conventional network printing involves a server and an application or a print client. The printing application is implemented in a program called printer driver. The printer driver program is installed on a computer, which takes formatted documents as input. Since documents can have many different forms, the complete driver for printing any type of document requires a large storage capacity to process the data and the printing process with such a driver on the printer is slow.

In order to solve this problem, the document US8477350 describes a print server comprising an application manager. This application manager is configured to receive a print request initiated by a user on a network, to provide on the network a dialog box for the user to select a printer from a list of printers associated with the network. this user, and to receive the printer selected by the user via the box dialogue. A converter format is configured to receive a print job designating the selected printer and including a file to be printed and printing characteristics in a first format, and configured to convert the print job from the first format to a specific format associated with the selected printer. A print job router is configured to route the print job over the network from the print server to the selected printer, to print the print job by the selected printer, using the print job. specific format associated with the selected printer »

This type of print server solves the problems of conventional printers, which. provide a fragmented, costly and resource intensive user experience "However, there are several problems for this print server type, especially the print job is not secure. In addition, the printer is selected by the user when launching the printer operation without the possibility of subsequent change "

US8891104 describes a printer implementing a secure print on a cloud print server. The user chooses a printer from the server and gives the server a personal identification number (PIN) to securely execute a print job on the selected printer. The cloud print server communicates with the selected printer to signal the arrival of the secure print job. The printer receives from the server a ticket including the PIN given by the user and compares locally with a code entered by the user on the screen of the printer. When the code entered corresponds to the PIN, this code is validated locally, the printer carries out the printing task.

Although the document US8891104 proposes a secure printing method, this solution requires a PIN given by the user. In addition, this PIN is associated with a printer selected. When the selected printer is not accessible, for example, in a closed room, it is necessary to redo all the steps. Finally, the PIN check is done locally on the printer. To perform the verification, it is mandatory to install a particular print driver that manages the verification function locally on the printer. Such a comparison implies a greater use of processing resources at the local printer storage.

Moreover, it is still not solved the problem of selecting the printer when launching the printer operation on the server, which prevents to freely choose a printer at the last moment. Presentation of the invention

An object of the present invention is to create a unique operation. Each print job is unique from the moment the printing operation is started until the moment when the print is made. In the present invention, a unique code is generated by the server and associated with a print job, contrary to what is presented in the state of the art, where the code is linked either to the user or to the user. 'printer. When the print job is done, the code is erased. From creation to erasure, the unique code follows the print job all the time.

Another object of the present invention is to secure the print job by the system, which contains the generation and verification of a unique code by the server, the limitation of the validation time of the unique code, the delete the code after the first use.

It is desirable to also overcome the various disadvantages of the state of the art. In particular, it is desirable to provide a printing solution that makes it possible to minimize the use of processing resources and / or local storage by checking the code at the server level.

It is particularly desirable to provide a printing solution that frees the user of the choice of the destination printer when launching the printing operation, and which provides the flexibility of a choice of the destination printer which can be freely done at the last moment by the user.

[0012] Another object of the invention is to provide a universal printing solution with any type of printer.

To do this, the present invention relates to a method of printing a document on a printing equipment belonging to a group of printing equipment connected via a network implemented by a system comprising:

- the printing equipment group,

- a configured assignment server

o to receive under the identification of a user a print job comprising a digital file specifying a document to be printed with parameters necessary for the printing of this document (B & W, RV, Format),

and to generate a unique authentication code associated with the print job, and a token associated with the print job including metadata including information related to the user identification and the digital file,

- A local terminal by printing equipment, each terminal being connected to a printing equipment on the one hand, and connected to said assignment server on the other.

In receipt of a print job, said assignment server transmits the unique authentication code associated with the received print job, and according to the digital file, transmits a list of printing equipment able to execute the print job, On entering the unique code on any of the local terminals connected to the printing equipment belonging to said list of printing equipment, the terminal comes into contact with said assignment server to communicate to him the unique code, and when checking the code, the terminal drives the printing equipment to perform the print job.

According to one embodiment, the document to be printed is attached to the print job. The assignment server includes a format converter configured to convert the document to be printed into an enriched file including the document to be printed and the parameters necessary for printing the document. The enriched file is stored in said assignment server or in an open access storage server for said assignment server. The kiosk retrieves the rich file to print the document according to the settings required for printing.

According to another embodiment, the document to be printed is in the form of an enriched file and is stored in a secure storage server, which is independent of said assignment server, and which upon request of said assignment server authorizes said terminal to recover the enriched file to be printed without said allocation server having access to the secure storage server.

The invention may furthermore have one and / or the following of the following aspects considered alone or in combination possibly multiple:

the enriched file is temporarily stored in the secure memory of the terminal;

- the file enriched in the standard format is deleted from the secure memory of the terminal after the print run;

the unique code is deleted after the completion of printing and / or has a limited validation period; - The list of printing equipment is formed by taking into account geolocation data and / or data from the group of printing equipment. Brief description of the Figures

Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following reading of detailed embodiments, with reference to the appended figures which respectively represent:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a secure printing system via a communication network on two printing equipments,

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a typical sequence of communications,

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of the assignment server.

Detailed description of an embodiment

Figure 1 illustrates a printing system in a communication network. An apparatus (1), a server (3) and two terminals (6 and 6 ') are linked and communicate using a communication network (2). The network (2) may represent, for example, the public internet, the intranet, LAN or other public or private networks and may operate according to any type of wired or standard network technology. The device (1) can be any type of computer devices, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop, an ultraportable (netbook), a tablet, a smartphone. The server (3) is a print job assignment server, which takes the input of the apparatus (1) via the network (2). The server (4) is an MPS storage server, which is directly linked to the assignment server (3) and which allows free access. The server (5) is an independent storage server, which does not give free access to the assignment server (3). The terminal (6) or (6 ') is a device that embeds an application, for example, the application SERVLESS, to carry out the printing task. This device can be a computer, a screen or a touch pad integrated in a printer, a multifunctional device or any other machine agreed according to the knowledge of the skilled person. The terminal (6) or (6 ') is connected to the assignment server on the one hand, and connected to an associated printing equipment (7) on the other hand. Each printing equipment (7, 7 ') has a terminal (6, 6').

Figure 2 illustrates the communications between the different components of the system. A user identifies himself using the device (1) and sends a print job (2001) via email, upload (upload) or another channel that has access to the network. This print job includes a digital file specifying a document to print, which can be in different formats (txt, word, ppt, jpg etc.). The print job can contain the document to be printed with or without parameters needed for printing, for example, in color or black & white, paper size (A3 / A4), double-sided printing. But it is also possible to send a simple print command without attached document.

FIG. 3 illustrates the assignment server comprising several components: a Document Manager (31), a Document Storage (32), a document converter (33), a User Manager (34) and a Printer Manager (35).

The Document Manager (31) manages all the information on the document to be printed while the Printer Manager (35) manages all the information on the group of printing equipment. The documents are stored in Document Storage (32).

The Document Converter (33) is a SAAS application that converts a supported format set to standard format, including a document to an enriched file. A document consists of content, for example text and / or figures. An enriched file contains information additional information on the parameters necessary for printing, for example a PDF pivot.

The User Manager (34) is a software application as a service (SAAS abbreviation for software as a service in English) management of user accounts. He manages the creation of a new account, the credit of the account, search for the user account from his email or universal unique identifier (UUID).

The Document Manager (31) is a SAAS application for managing the life cycle of a print job. It does print job processing with the following steps:

• Receiving a print job under a user's identification,

· Associate the print job to a user account via the User Manager,

• Identification of the document to print in the print job and storage in the Document Storage (32),

• If needed, conversion of the document attached to the print job into PDF pivot format via the PDF Converter

Document (33), and store it in the Document Storage (32),

• Generation of a unique authentication code and token associated with the print job,

· Sending the unique authentication code to the user via email, SMS or return by secure http.

The Printer Manager (35) collects the information of the printing equipment regularly, which can be the address of the place, the opening hours, the format (A3 or A4), the type of printing ( color or black and white), payment methods accepted, the number of printers available and in working order ... This information about printing equipment is presented on a geolocation map. Accompanying the unique code, it is also transmitted a link to the geolocation map with a list of printing equipment capable of performing the print job. The proposal of printers takes into account the geolocation of the user, the metadata of the print job (format, color, double-sided), and the availability of printers (opening hours). When the user clicks on the link, a map is opened with all printers available at a certain distance from the radiation around it when clicking. This map is updated regularly according to the status of printers and geolocation of the user. Whenever the user clicks on the link, he can find different printers available on the updated map.

[0028] The token associated with the print job includes metadata including the user identification information, the digital file and the printers on the list. It is updated after the completion of the print job.

The present invention also relates to secure printing, that is to say that the user sends a print command without any attached document. In this case, the print command contains information specifying the location of the document to be printed in the form of an enriched file in a secure and independent storage server. At the request of the assignment server, the storage server authorizes said terminal to retrieve the enriched file without said allocation server having access to the secure storage server.

The system concerns two types of communications: a first type is between the device (1) and the server (3), a second type is between the server (3) and the terminal (6) with an application. These two types of communication are independent. On the one hand, the user on the device (1) sends only one print job to the server without coming into contact with the printer network. On the other side, the network of the printer does not depend on print job or user. The application on the terminal asks the server and downloads the document to print. The document flow is unidirectional. The servers do not send documents to the terminal on their own initiative.

In addition, it is an open network, which allows to add new servers and is not dependent on closed private network. The number of terminals with the authorized printer is proportionate to the number of servers available. Thus, new printers can be added to the printer network under a SERVLESS license without a predetermined number limitation. The advantage is that this system provides great freedom to the user on the choice of printing.

When the user wishes to print, he is free to choose at any time a printer on the geolocation map with a list of printers transmitted, unlike the state of the art, which requires to select the printer at the start of the job. In addition, he can decide the settings at the printing location. For example, a user started a print job the day before an appointment at the city hall by sending a copy of his EDF invoice to the assignment server. He clicked on the link that was sent to him, opened the card with a list of printers and identified a printer available from 8am in a small shop on his way. The next day, on his way, he tried unsuccessfully to print his bill to this printer, which broke down during use. He reopened the map and discovered another printer at the town hall. On the spot, by entering the code and choosing the parameters (color or white / black, A3 / A4, double-sided), he managed to print his document on the printer installed in the waiting room of the town hall.

On entering the unique code on any of the local terminals (6), the terminal (6) comes into contact (2003) with the assignment server (3) to communicate the unique code. When the code is verified on the server (3), a confirmation instruction (2004) is sent from the server (3) to the terminal (6).

The terminal retrieves the file enriched by the establishment of a download channel (2005) via the network (2) using a protocol for example HTTPs (http secure). The "servless" application downloads the PDF document, either from the MPS storage, or from another private or public storage. The streaming technique is one way to download securely. In addition, it is possible to add a key to secure the communication. When the document is downloaded, it is stored locally in a random access memory (RAM), in order to regularly clean the downloaded documents in this RAM. It's a safer solution than storing documents on a hard drive.

The terminal drives the printing equipment associated with this terminal to perform the print job by the instruction (2006).

After completion of the print job, the printing equipment returns to the terminal a completion signal (2007) of the print job and the status of the printing equipment. The terminal sends the information to the server (3) by the signal (2008). The token associated with this print job includes this information to update the user account and the status of the print device. The user account is then debited for the completed print job. It is also possible to pay locally for the print job, which avoids debiting the user account.

In addition, the terminal regularly sends the status of the printing equipment to the server (3).

The unique code is deleted from the server (3) after the completion of printing. Moreover, the code has a limited validation time, for example 72h. Thus, the SERVLESS application on the terminal performs four functions: firstly, being the interface between the user and the machine; secondly, downloading the document and printing control; thirdly, collection and feedback of information on the printer; fourth, support for different payment methods.

Claims

claims

A method of printing a document on a printing equipment belonging to a group of printing equipment connected via a network implemented by a system comprising:

- the printing equipment group,

- a configured assignment server

o to receive under the identification of a user a print job comprising a digital file specifying a document to be printed,

a local terminal per printing equipment, each terminal being connected to a printing equipment on the one hand, and connected to said assignment server, on the other hand,

when receiving a print job, said assignment server transmits the unique authentication code associated with the received print job, and according to the digital file and the user geolocation, transmits a list of equipment print capable of performing the print job,

upon entering the unique code on any of the local terminals connected to the printing equipment belonging to said list of printing equipment, the terminal contacts said assignment server to communicate the unique code, and when checking the code, the terminal drives the printing equipment to perform the print job.

2. Printing method according to claim 1 characterized in that the document to be printed is attached to the print job.

3. Printing method according to claim 2, characterized in that said assignment server comprises a format converter configured to convert the document to be printed in an enriched file including the document to be printed and the parameters necessary for printing the document. .

4. Printing method according to claim 3 characterized in that the enriched file is stored in said assignment server or in a storage server freely accessible by said assignment server.

5. Printing method according to claims 3 and 4 characterized in that the terminal retrieves the enriched file to print the document in accordance with the parameters necessary for printing.

6. Printing method according to claim 1 characterized in that the document to be printed is in the form of an enriched file and is stored in a secure storage server, which is independent of said assignment server, and which, on request of said assignment server, allows said terminal to retrieve the enriched file to be printed without said assignment server having access to the secure storage server.

7. Printing method according to any one of claims 3 to 6 characterized in that the enriched file is temporarily stored in the secure memory of the terminal.

8. Printing method according to the preceding claim characterized in that the file enriched in the standard format is removed from the secure memory of the terminal after the printing process.

9. Printing method according to claim 1 characterized in that said unique code is deleted after the completion of printing and / or has a limited validation period.

0. Printing method according to claim 1 characterized in that the list of printing equipment is formed by taking into account geolocation data and / or data of the group of printing equipment.