JP2006080769A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reader connected to a network which ensures not only the confidentiality of a read image but also the security of action itself using the image reader. <P>SOLUTION: An image reader 1 connected to a terminal device 2 through a network 3 includes; a password providing means 11 which receives a password request from the terminal device 2 to generate a password and transmits the password to the terminal device 2; a password input means 12 for manually inputting a password; an authentication means 13 for collating the password inputted by the password input means 12 with the password transmitted to the terminal device 2 by the password providing means 11; and an image reading means 14 for reading an image. The image reading means 14 is so configured that an image is read in the case that the authentication means 13 determines that the inputted password is identical to the transmitted password. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus used by being connected to a network.

   2. Description of the Related Art An image reading apparatus configured with a scanner or the like is used as means for capturing information such as texts described in drawings and documents described in drawings and the like into a computer. This image reading apparatus is used by being directly connected to a computer. Recently, however, the image reading apparatus is used by being connected to a network from the viewpoint of improving the use efficiency of the image reading apparatus.

In general, in an apparatus used by being connected to a network, information that has once flowed to the network can be widely transmitted via the network, and thus the risk of being misused cannot be eliminated. Therefore, various security measures have been proposed for such devices that are used connected to a network (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP-A-10-243134 JP 2001-268307 A

   The technique described in Patent Document 1 relates to a facsimile, and prints information received by the facsimile when the same password as that registered in advance in the facsimile is input to the facsimile. Such a technique is also employed in the image reading apparatus. In this case, if a third party knows a password registered in advance in the image reading apparatus, it is difficult to ensure security.

   The technique described in Patent Document 2 relates to an image reading apparatus connected to a network. In this technology, when using the image reading apparatus, when an e-mail address of a terminal device connected to a network is input to the image reading apparatus, the image reading apparatus generates a password for the read image that has been read and sends the password to the terminal apparatus. Send. Therefore, by using this password, the read image can be taken into the terminal device via the network.

   This technique is a method for ensuring the security of an image reading apparatus connected to a network in that the confidentiality of the read image can be ensured by preventing the read image from being known to a third party via the network. It is. However, the e-mail address of the terminal device is determined in advance, and as with the technique described in Patent Document 1, if the e-mail address is known to a third party, security for the act of using the image reading apparatus is ensured. It becomes difficult.

   Recently, for example, in-house important confidential documents are frequently copied and taken out of the company, and the contents of important confidential documents can be digitized by using an image reader. Security must be ensured even for the act of using the reader itself.

   Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and not only ensures the confidentiality of the read image but also uses the image reading device for the image reading device connected to the network. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading apparatus capable of ensuring security against the act of performing itself.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the image reading apparatus of the present invention is an image reading apparatus 1 connected to a terminal device 2 via a network 3. The image reading device 1 receives a password request from the terminal device 2, generates a password, transmits the password to the terminal device 2, a password input unit 12 that manually inputs the password, and the password An authentication unit 13 that verifies whether the password input by the input unit 12 is the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device 2 by the password providing unit 11 and an image reading unit 14 that performs image reading. The image reading apparatus 1 is characterized in that when the authentication unit 13 determines that the input password and the transmitted password are the same, the image reading unit 14 performs image reading. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 19 denotes an interface for controlling transmission / reception performed via the terminal device 2 and the network 3.

  In the image reading apparatus 1 described above, the image reading means 14 performs image reading unless the password input by the password input means 12 is the same as the password previously generated by the password providing means 11 and transmitted to the terminal device 2. Absent. Therefore, a third party who cannot know the password generated in advance by the password providing unit 11 and transmitted to the terminal device 2 cannot input the correct password, so that the image reading unit 14 can perform image reading. In this case, security for the act of using the image reading apparatus 1 itself can be ensured.

  In the image reading apparatus 1 described above, when the password providing unit 11 generates a different password each time a password request is received, a third party generates the password providing unit 11 in advance and transmits it to the terminal device 2. It becomes even more difficult to know the password that was entered. Accordingly, it is possible to strengthen security for the act of using the image reading apparatus 1 itself.

  Further, the image reading apparatus 1 may include a password history recording unit 15 that records a transmission history of the password providing unit 11 and an input history of the password input unit 12 related to the password. By doing so, the password generation history of the image reading apparatus 1 and the input history of the password input to the image reading apparatus 1 can be left, and security management for the image reading apparatus 1 can be strengthened. .

  In general, in order to save power, an electronic apparatus such as an image reading apparatus has a standby mode called a sleep mode in which main functions are stopped except for some functions. is there. In order to operate the main function from this standby mode state, the mode is shifted to the operation mode, and after the start of the operation mode, first, warm-up, which is a preparatory operation for the operation of the main function, is performed. After this warm-up is completed, the main functions can be performed anytime. For this reason, even if the operation mode is shifted to, the main function cannot be immediately performed, and it is necessary to wait for the warm-up to end.

  Therefore, in the image reading device 1 described above, when the password providing unit 11 transmits the password to the terminal device 2, the image reading unit 1 preferably shifts from the standby mode to the operation mode. By doing so, it is possible to shift from the standby mode to the operation mode earlier than before while reducing the power consumption of the image reading apparatus 1, thereby shortening the waiting time that has conventionally occurred due to warm-up. can do.

  In the image reading apparatus 1, the image reading apparatus 1 preferably includes a read image request receiving unit 16 and a read image providing unit 17 shown in FIG. The read image request receiving unit 16 has a function of receiving, from the terminal device 2, a read image request from the terminal device 2 performed with the password transmitted to the terminal device 2. Further, the read image providing unit 17 has already input the same password as the password received by the read image request receiving unit 16 by the password input unit 12, and by this input, reads the read image acquired by the image reading unit 14 by image reading. And has a function of transmitting to the terminal device 2.

  In this way, the image reading unit 14 of the image reading apparatus 1 reads the read image acquired by the image reading unit 14 of the image reading apparatus 1 through the network 3 into the terminal device 2. It is possible to request the use of the same password as that used to acquire the image. Therefore, a third party who does not know the password cannot take the read image into the terminal device 2 via the network 3 and can secure the confidentiality of the read image.

  In the image reading apparatus 1 described above, a password is input by the password input unit 12, and when the image reading unit 14 reads the image and completes the image reading by the input, the password invalidation that invalidates the password is performed. It is preferable that the image reading unit 14 not include the image reading unit 14 when the invalidated password is input by the password input unit 12. The password invalidating means 18 preferably invalidates the password when a predetermined time has elapsed since the password was generated.

  By doing so, it is possible to make it impossible to use a used password or a password that is left unused, and security for the image reading apparatus 1 can be enhanced.

  In the image reading apparatus 1 described above, when the authentication unit 13 determines that the password input by the password input unit 12 is not the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device 2 by the password providing unit 11, the password input unit 12 When the authentication unit 13 determines that the re-input password is allowed to be re-input a predetermined number of times and none of the re-input password is the same as the transmitted password, the password invalidation unit 18 Is preferably invalidated.

  As described above, when the authentication unit 13 determines that the password input by the password input unit 12 is not the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device 2 by the password providing unit 11, the password input unit 12 The input is allowed to be limited to a predetermined number of times, for example, up to two more times. If the authentication means 13 determines that the entered password is not the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device 2 even if the password is entered three times, for example, the password providing means 11 sends the password to the terminal device 2. The password invalidation means 18 invalidates the transmitted password, so that the security for the image reading apparatus 1 can be further strengthened.

  In the image reading apparatus 1 described above, when the password providing means 11 transmits the password to the terminal device 2, the image reading means 14 shifts from the standby mode to the operation mode, and the image reading means 14 is generated. If all the passwords are invalidated, it is preferable to shift from the operation mode to the standby mode.

  As long as all the passwords are invalidated, there is no plan to use the image reading apparatus 1 for the time being. If all the generated passwords are invalidated, the image is transferred from the operation mode to the standby mode. It is possible to save power by suppressing unnecessary power consumption of the reading device 1.

  According to the present invention, the image reading means does not read an image unless the password input by the password input means of the image reading apparatus is the same as the password generated in advance by the password providing means and transmitted to the terminal device. Therefore, a third party who cannot know the password generated by the password providing means and transmitted to the terminal device in advance cannot input the correct password, so the image reading means cannot read the image, Security for the act of using the image reading apparatus itself can be ensured.

  Further, when the password providing unit of the image reading apparatus transmits the password to the terminal device, the image reading unit shifts from the standby mode to the operation mode. Accordingly, it is possible to shift from the standby mode to the operation mode earlier than before while reducing the power consumption of the image reading apparatus, and thus it is possible to reduce the waiting time that has conventionally occurred for warming up.

  In addition, the password used when the image reading unit of the image reading apparatus acquires the read image to fetch the read image acquired by the image reading unit of the image reading apparatus into the terminal device via the network. You can require the use of the same password. Therefore, a third party who cannot know the password cannot capture the read image to the terminal device via the network, and can ensure the confidentiality of the read image.

  Hereinafter, an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The first embodiment includes an image reading device 21, a personal computer 22, a mail server 23, and a DNS server 24, which are connected via a LAN 25. The mail server 23 and the DNS server 24 are devices used for using electronic mail.

  In the first embodiment, a plurality of personal computers 22 can be connected. The personal computer 22 includes a keyboard, a mouse, a display for display, a CPU, a memory, a LAN connection device, and other hardware, and an OS, a browser 22a shown in FIG. 2, a LAN control program, an e-mail transmission / reception program, and other software. Wear is provided.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image reading device 21 used in the first embodiment. The image reading device 21 includes a CPU 31, a memory 32, a LAN interface 33, an image reading unit 34, and a panel operation unit 35, which are connected via an internal bus 36. Each of these parts has the following functions. The CPU 31 is composed of a microcomputer and controls the entire image reading device 21. The memory 32 is configured by a hard disk drive or a semiconductor memory, and stores programs and information necessary for controlling the entire image reading apparatus 21. The LAN interface 33 performs control for connecting to the LAN 25. The panel operation unit 35 includes a display unit 35a and an input unit 35b. The display unit 35a is configured using liquid crystal and displays information such as character information related to the image reading device 21. The input unit 35b uses a touch panel or the like, and is used to input character information or the like necessary for operating the image reading device 21.

  The image reading unit 34 includes a scanner, and performs image reading with this scanner. Further, the image reading unit 34 is provided with a dedicated control unit, and in order to save power, the dedicated control unit uses the dedicated control unit to stop a main function except for a part of the functions. It is possible to switch and control the operation mode for operating the main function. When the operation mode is started, first, warm-up, which is a preparatory operation for the operation of the main function, is performed. After the warm-up is completed, the main function can be operated at any time. Normally, the main function is operated following the warm-up.

  Further, the image reading device 21 has software on the memory 32 such as an OS, a WWW server 21a shown in FIG. 2, a program for sending and receiving e-mails, a program for controlling the above-described units and the image reading device 21 as a whole. It is equipped with. Further, the memory 32 has a personal identification number table 32a as shown in FIG. 10 for recording the personal identification number used in this system, a personal identification number history table 32b as shown in FIG. A read image recording area 32c for recording the read image read by the image reading unit 34 is provided. In addition, the CPU 31 includes an authentication function 31a for checking whether or not the passwords described later match with a program installed in the memory 32.

  In the first embodiment, when a person in charge needs to read an image using the image reading device 21, the person in charge requests the personal identification number from the personal computer 22 to the image reading device 21. Then, the image reading device 21 generates a password and provides it to the personal computer 22. Therefore, the person in charge inputs the password provided to the personal computer 22 by the image reading device 21 into the image reading device 21. The re-operation of inputting the personal identification number to the image reading device 21 is performed three times from the viewpoint of ensuring security. If the input personal identification number matches the personal identification number generated by the image reading device 21, the image reading device 21 reads the image. Thereafter, when the person in charge requests a read image from the personal computer 22 to the image reading device 21 using the same password, the image reading device 21 provides the read image to the personal computer 22 by e-mail. The image reading device 21 performs such an operation. 4 to 9 are flowcharts for explaining this operation in the image reading apparatus 21. Hereinafter, this operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9, the image reading device is referred to as GR, the personal computer is referred to as PC, the personal identification number is referred to as PW, the personal identification number table is referred to as PW table, and the personal identification number history table is referred to as PW history table.

  As described above, the image reading device 21 has a WWW server function, and the image reading device 21 publishes a Web page on the LAN 25. From the personal computer 22, this web page can be accessed by a browser 22 a provided in the personal computer 22. This Web page is provided with a password acquisition screen shown in FIG. Therefore, the user name, the user ID, and the e-mail address of the personal computer 22 used by the person in charge are entered on the password acquisition screen. When the acquisition button is clicked, the information input on the password acquisition screen is transmitted to the image reading device 21.

  In FIG. 4, when a personal identification number is requested from the personal computer 22 as described above (S1), the image reading device 21 generates a personal identification number and transmits it to the personal computer 22 (S2). FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of S2. In S2, in FIG. 5, the image reading device 21 generates a password using a random number or the like (S1). Then, it is checked whether or not the same code number as the generated code number exists in the code number table 32a (S22), and if it exists, the code number is generated again (S21). When it is confirmed that the same password does not exist, the expiration date of the generated password is calculated (S23), along with the password, this expiration date, the user name and user ID entered on the password acquisition screen. The e-mail address and the date and time when the password is issued are recorded in the password number table 32a shown in FIG. 10 (S24). These pieces of information are also recorded in the personal identification number history table 32b shown in FIG. 11 (S25). Then, a personal identification number notification screen shown in FIG. 13 is created and transmitted to the personal computer 22 (S26). The flow of S2 is finished.

   Next, in FIG. 4, the image reading device 21 shifts the mode of the image reading unit 34 from the standby mode to the operation mode (S3). Therefore, since the image reading unit 34 starts warm-up, as will be described later, when the person in charge tries to cause the image reading device 21 to read an image, the warm-up is completed or close to the end. And waiting time due to warm-up can be shortened. After S3 ends, the image reading device 21 checks the password expiration date (S4).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of S4. In S4, in FIG. 6, the image reading device 21 takes out the expiration date of the password recorded in the password number table 32a and checks the expiration date (S41). If the expiration date has expired (S42), the fact that the expiration date has expired is recorded in the personal identification number history table 32b as shown in FIG. 11 (expiration date) (S43). The personal identification number is deleted from the personal identification number table 32a (S44). Then, it is checked whether there is any other security code for which the expiration date has not been checked in the security code table 32a (S45), and if it exists, the above processing is repeated (S41). If it does not exist, the flow of S4 is terminated.

   Next, in FIG. 4, the image reading device 21 checks whether information on the person in charge including the personal identification number has been input by the person in charge into the input unit 35 b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading apparatus 21 (S <b> 5). When inputting the information of the person in charge, the person in charge inputs the same user name, user ID, and e-mail address as entered in the personal identification number acquisition screen shown in FIG. 12, and then the personal identification number shown in FIG. Enter the PIN number notified on the notification screen. If there is no input of such information including a code number, it will progress to S9. If there is information input, the personal identification number is checked (S6).

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of S6. In S6, in FIG. 7, the image reading device 21 first resets the counter C that counts the number of input of the personal identification number (S61), then counts the counter C once (S62), and uses the input information. Based on a certain user ID and mail address, the corresponding personal identification number is extracted from the personal identification number table 32a (S63). Then, it is checked whether or not the inputted password number matches the extracted password number (S64). If the input security code matches the extracted security code, it is determined that the security code is OK (S65), and that the security code is OK, as shown in FIG. 11 (OK), the security code history table. It is recorded in the corresponding password field of 32b (S66). If the input password and the extracted password do not match, it is checked whether the counter C is 3 (S67), and if it is not 3, the information of the person in charge is requested to be input again. (S68). If the counter C is 3, since the password does not match the extracted password even if the password is input three times, it is determined that the password is not OK (S69). The fact that the number is not OK is recorded in the corresponding personal identification number column of the personal identification number history table 32b as shown in FIG. 11 (inconsistent personal identification number) (S70), and the personal identification number is deleted from the personal identification number table 32a ( The flow of S71) and S6 is ended.

  As can be seen from the above description, only the personal identification number recorded in the personal identification number table 32a can be used by the image reading device 21 as the personal identification number. Therefore, when a certain password number is deleted from the password number table 32a, the password number becomes unusable thereafter.

  Next, in FIG. 4, if the result of the password check is not OK (S7), the image reading device 21 proceeds to S9. If the result of the password check is OK (S7), image reading is performed (S8). As described above, when the image reading device 21 transmits the personal identification number to the personal computer 22, the mode of the image reading unit 34 is shifted from the standby mode to the operation mode, and the image reading unit 34 has already warmed up. Has started. Therefore, when the result of checking the personal identification number is OK, the warm-up is completed or close to completion. Accordingly, the waiting time due to warm-up until image reading is performed can be shortened.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the contents of S8 for performing image reading. In S8, in FIG. 8, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading apparatus 21 operates the scanner to read the image (S81), and records the read image in the read image recording area 32c in association with the code number (S82). ). When the recording to the read image recording area 32c is completed, the image reading using the personal identification number has achieved the purpose. Therefore, in order to prevent the same personal identification number from being used again, the personal identification number is stored in the personal identification number history table. It deletes from 32b (S83), and ends the flow of S8.

  Next, in FIG. 4, the image reading device 21 checks whether a request for a read image is made from the personal computer 22 (S9). The request for the read image from the personal computer 22 is performed as follows. The image reading device 21 includes a read image acquisition screen shown in FIG. 14 in addition to the password acquisition screen shown in FIG. 12 as a Web page. Therefore, the Web page is accessed from the personal computer 22 by the browser 22a provided in the personal computer 22. Then, when the person in charge causes the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 to read the image, the same password as the password entered to the input unit 35b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading device 21 is obtained. The user name, user ID, and e-mail address are entered on the read image acquisition screen shown in FIG. When the acquisition button is clicked, information on the read image acquisition screen is transmitted to the image reading device 21. If the read image request is not made in S9, the process proceeds to S11. If a read image request has been made, the image reading device 21 transmits the read image by e-mail to the personal computer 22 that has made the request (S10).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the contents of S10. In S10, in FIG. 9, the image reading device 21 selects the read image recorded in the read image recording area 32c based on the password transmitted from the personal computer 22 when the read image is requested. A read image associated with the personal identification number is extracted (S101), and transmitted to the personal computer 22 that has requested the read image (S102). Then, the fact that the read image associated with the personal identification number has been transmitted to the personal computer 22 is recorded in the personal identification number column of the personal identification number history table 32b as shown in FIG. S103), the flow of S10 is terminated.

  Next, in FIG. 4, the image reading device 21 checks whether or not a password number exists in the password number table 32a (S11). As described above, when the expiration date of the security code has passed or the security code (password) does not match, the security code is deleted from the security code table 32a (S44, S71). Further, in order to cause the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 to perform image reading, the personal identification number is input by the person in charge to the input unit 35 b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading device 21, and the input personal identification number is input. If it is determined that the password is OK, the password is already used, and the password is also deleted from the password number table 32a (S83). Therefore, if there is no personal identification number in the personal identification number table 32a, the image reading device 21 should not be used for the time being. Therefore, the image reading device 21 shifts the mode of the image reading unit 34 from the operation mode to the standby mode (S12), and returns to the top of the flow of FIG. 4 (S1). If there is even one security code in the security code table 32a, the process returns to the top of the flow of FIG. 4 as it is (S1).

  In the first embodiment described above, the personal identification number input by the person in charge to the input unit 35 b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading device 21 is generated in advance by the image reading device 21 and transmitted to the personal computer 22. Unless the same, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 does not read an image (S5 to S8). For this reason, since a third party who cannot know the password generated in advance by the image reading device 21 and transmitted to the personal computer 22 cannot input the correct password, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 receives an image. Reading cannot be performed, and security for the act of using the image reading device 21 itself can be ensured.

  Further, since the image reading device 21 generates a different password for each generation (S21, S22), the third party can know the password generated by the image reading device 21 and transmitted to the personal computer 22 in advance. It becomes even more difficult. Therefore, it is possible to strengthen security for the act of using the image reading device 21 itself.

  In addition, the password generation history of the image reading device 21 and the input history of the password input by the person in charge to the input unit 35b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading device 21 may be left in the password number history table 32b. (S25, S43, S66, S70, S103), and by checking the personal identification number history table 32b, security management for the image reading device 21 can be strengthened. Further, security management can be strengthened by restricting browsing of the personal identification number history table 32b to a specific administrator.

  When the image reading device 21 transmits the personal identification number to the personal computer 22, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 shifts from the standby mode to the operation mode (S3). Therefore, it is possible to shift from the standby mode to the operation mode earlier than before while reducing the power consumption of the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21, thereby shortening the waiting time that has conventionally occurred due to warm-up. can do.

  When the expiration date has passed or the password (password) does not match, the password is deleted from the password table 32a (S44, S71), and the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 reads the image. When the person in charge inputs the personal identification number to the input unit 35b of the panel operation unit 35 of the image reading device 21 and determines that the inputted personal identification number is OK, the personal identification number is As used, the personal identification number is deleted from the personal identification number table 32a (S83). Accordingly, it is possible to make it impossible to use a used security code or a security code that is left unused without being used, and security for the image reading device 21 can be enhanced.

  If no password is present in the password table 32a, the mode of the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 is shifted from the operation mode to the standby mode (S12). This is because, when there is no personal identification number in the personal identification number table 32a, the image reading device 21 is not used for the time being, so it is not necessary to set the mode of the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 to the operation mode. Because. Therefore, the standby mode can be avoided when the standby mode is not required, and the power saving of the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 can be achieved.

  In addition, when the personal computer 22 requests transmission of the read image acquired by the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 receives an image by a person in charge when the read image is acquired. The same password as the password entered to the reading device 21 must be attached (S101). Therefore, a third party who cannot know the personal identification number cannot make a transmission request for the read image from the personal computer 22 to the image reading device 21, and can secure the confidentiality of the read image.

  In the first embodiment, the user name and user ID are entered in addition to the mail address of the personal computer 22 on the password acquisition screen shown in FIG. 12 and the read image acquisition screen shown in FIG. However, instead of inputting both the user name and the user ID, only one of the user name and the user ID may be used, or any information as long as the user can be recognized. It can replace with these and can be used.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. 15 and 16 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the image reading apparatus 21 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 15, the steps having the same step numbers as those in FIG. 4 have the same contents as those in the first embodiment. That is, the second embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment, except that as shown in FIG. 15, S13 is used instead of S8 to S10 in the flowchart of FIG. 4 in the first embodiment. The other points are exactly the same as in the first embodiment.

  That is, in the first embodiment, after the image reading device 21 performs image reading, when a read image is requested from the personal computer 22 to the image reading device 21, the image reading device 21 sends an email to the personal computer 22. A scanned image is provided. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the person in charge needs to perform an operation for requesting a read image in addition to requesting a personal identification number from the personal computer 22 to the image reading device 21, which is excellent in terms of ensuring security. However, it is troublesome twice. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the read image is provided to the personal computer 22 by e-mail immediately after the image reading device 21 reads the image.

  This point will be described in detail. In FIG. 15, the personal identification number is checked in S7 as in the first embodiment, and if the personal identification number is OK, the process proceeds to S13. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the contents of S13 for reading an image and transmitting the read image to the personal computer 22. In S13, in FIG. 16, the image reading unit 34 of the image reading device 21 operates the scanner to read the image (S131), and the read read image is displayed on the panel of the image reading device 21 by the person in charge in S5. The scanned image is transmitted to the personal computer 22 based on the mail address input together with the password in the input unit 35b of the operation unit 35 (S132). When the transmission is completed, the image reading using the personal identification number has achieved the purpose. Therefore, in order to prevent the same personal identification number from being used again, the personal identification number is deleted from the personal identification number history table 32b ( S133) The fact that the read image has been transmitted to the personal computer 22 is recorded in the corresponding personal identification number column of the personal identification number history table 32b as shown in FIG. 11 (image transmission completed) (S134), and the flow of S13 is completed. To do.

  As described above, the second embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment, and after the image reading device 21 performs image reading, the personal computer 22 does not wait for a read image request to the image reading device 21. The only difference is that it is immediately transmitted to the personal computer 22, and the other points are exactly the same as in the first embodiment. Therefore, the second embodiment has the same operations and effects as those of the first embodiment except for the operations and effects related to this point. In the second embodiment, the mail address used by the image reading device 21 for transmitting the read image is input together with the password, and the read image is transmitted to the mail address only when the password is OK. A third party who cannot know the security code cannot take the read image into the personal computer, and in the second embodiment, the confidentiality of the read image can be ensured. When the block diagram showing the configuration of the image reading apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is made to correspond to the second embodiment, the read image request receiving means 16 is unnecessary.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image reading apparatus of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of a system in which an image reading apparatus according to Embodiment 1 is used. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image reading apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image reading apparatus in the first embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of S2 of FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of S4 of FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of S6 of FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of S8 of FIG. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of S10 of FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a personal identification number (PW) table in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a personal identification number (PW) history table in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a password acquisition screen in Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a personal identification number notification screen in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a read image acquisition screen according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image reading apparatus according to the second embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of S13 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image reading apparatus 2 Terminal apparatus 3 Network 11 Password providing means 12 Password input means 13 Authentication means 14 Image reading means 15 Password history recording means 16 Read image request receiving means 17 Read image providing means 18 Password invalidation means 19 Interface 21 Image reading Equipment (GR)
21a WWW server 22 Personal computer (PC)
22a browser 23 mail server 24 DNS server 25 LAN
31 CPU
31a Authentication function 32 Memory 32a Security code table 32b Security code history table 32c Reading image recording area 33 LAN interface 34 Image reading part 35 Panel operation part 35a Display part 35b Input part 36 Internal bus

Claims (9)

An image reading device connected to a terminal device via a network,
A password providing means for receiving a password request from the terminal device, generating a password, and transmitting the password to the terminal device;
Password input means for manually inputting the password;
Authentication means for verifying whether the password input by the password input means is the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device by the password providing means;
An image reading means for reading an image,
2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the authentication unit determines that the input password is the same as the transmitted password, the image reading unit performs image reading.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the password providing unit generates a different password every time the password request is received.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a password history recording unit that records a transmission history of the password providing unit and an input history of the password input unit regarding the password.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the password providing unit transmits the password to the terminal device, the image reading unit shifts from a standby mode to an operation mode. A read image request receiving means for receiving a read image request made with the password transmitted to the terminal device from the terminal device;
The same password as the password received by the scanned image request receiving unit is already input by the password input unit, and the scanned image acquired by the image scanning by the image scanning unit is transmitted to the terminal device by the input. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a read image providing unit. When the password is input by the password input means, the image reading means performs the image reading by the input, and when the image reading is terminated, the password input means includes a password invalidating means for invalidating the password,
6. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the invalidated password is input by the password input unit, the image reading unit does not perform the image reading.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the password invalidating unit invalidates the password when a predetermined time elapses after the password is generated. When the authentication unit determines that the password input by the password input unit is not the same as the password transmitted to the terminal device by the password providing unit, the password input unit re-enters the password a predetermined number of times. And allow
The image according to claim 6 or 7, wherein when the authentication unit determines that none of the re-input passwords is the same as the transmitted password, the password invalidating unit invalidates the transmitted password. Reader. When the password providing means transmits a password to the terminal device, the image reading means shifts from the standby mode to the operation mode, and
The image reading apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image reading unit shifts from the operation mode to the standby mode if all the generated passwords are invalidated.

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