JP2006113797A - Network printer system and document print method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the convenience of a printer device connected through a network. <P>SOLUTION: A server device (20) connected to a communication network is set with user information (21a) for identifying a user, and an information processor (10) capable of communicating with the server device transmits the document data of the user to the server device. The server device stores the received document data by associating it with the user information. When a printer device (30) connected to the communication network notifies the server device of the user information acquired from the user, the server device decides the authentication of the user by using the notified user information, and when the decision of authentication is successful, the server device transmits predetermined document data corresponding to the user information to a printing device. The printer device prints the document data received from the server device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for printing a document using a printer device connected to a communication network.

  Conventionally, a method is known in which a printer device is connected to a communication network, and document data held by the information processing device is transferred to the printer device via the network and printed. As an example, there is one described in Patent Document 1 described later, for example.

The method described in Patent Document 1 reads an address and a public key written in a PC card by a PC, uses the read address to access the printer device via the network, and requests authentication using the public key. To do. When the authentication is successful, the PC instructs the printer apparatus to print. By providing an authentication procedure when using the printer apparatus as in this method, it is possible to prevent the user from instructing printing to a printer apparatus that is not permitted to use.
JP 2003-101540 A

  However, in the conventional method in which a print instruction to the printer device is performed by remote control from the information processing device, document data cannot be printed in an environment without the information processing device, and even if the information processing device exists, If the apparatus does not have the corresponding document data, printing is impossible. Therefore, in order to use the printer device on the network, the user needs to prepare an information processing device that can supply document data to the printer device at the present time. There is an inconvenience that it is restricted to a specific place.

  In general, since the printer device that receives the document data prints immediately, if the information processing device is located relatively far from the printer device, the printed matter output before the user goes to the printer device. May be viewed by a third party or taken away by mistake.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can improve the convenience of a user who uses a printer device connected to a communication network.

  A network printer system according to the present invention includes a printer device and a server device that are communicably connected via a communication network, and an information processing device capable of communicating with the server device. A document transmission unit that transmits the document data to the server device, the server device receiving the document data and user information for identifying the user in association with each other, and the information received from the information processing device A registration unit for registering document data in the storage unit; and a data supply unit for supplying the document data in the storage unit to the printer device, wherein the printer device inputs user information to the printer device. And a data acquisition unit for notifying the server device of user information input by the input unit and acquiring document data from the server device A printing unit that prints the document data acquired by the data acquisition unit, and the data supply unit of the server device performs authentication determination for the user using the user information notified from the printer device, When authentication is successful in this determination, predetermined document data corresponding to the user information is transmitted to the printer apparatus.

  In the document printing method according to the present invention, user information for identifying a user is set in a server device connected to a communication network, and the information processing device capable of communicating with the server device has the user's document data Is transmitted to the server device, the server device stores the document data received from the information processing device in association with the set user information, and the printer device connected to the communication network includes the printer device. The user information is input to the server device, the input user information is notified to the server device, and the server device performs authentication determination for the user using the user information notified from the printer device, and authentication is performed in the determination. When the user is successful, predetermined document data corresponding to the notified user information is transmitted to the printer device, and the printer Location is, to print the document data received from the server device.

  According to the present invention, since document data to be printed is registered in a server device on a communication network, the user can use any location in an environment where a printer device connected to the communication network can be used. Documents can be printed, and the printed matter can be prevented from being viewed by others. Further, since the authentication determination is performed by the server device, it is possible to prevent the user's document from being illegally printed. Therefore, user convenience is improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a network printer system 100 according to the embodiment. The network printer system 100 is a system for printing document data, which is an electronic document including character strings and images, by a network printer 30 described later, and can be connected to a communication network 100A such as the Internet as shown in FIG. A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) 10 which is a simple information processing apparatus, and a data printer server 20 and a network printer 30 connected to each other via a communication network 100A.

  The PC 10 includes a document transmission unit 11 that transmits user document data to the data printer server 20 by e-mail. The document transmission unit 11 according to the present exemplary embodiment is realized by general application software that enables creation and transmission / reception of an electronic mail, and supplies the document data to the data printer server 20 as an attached file of the electronic mail. As a communication protocol for e-mail, for example, POP / SMTP is used as in the prior art. Further, the connection form of the PC 10 to the communication network 100A may be either wired or wireless. As in this embodiment, by using a widely used e-mail for registering document data, the user can easily register the document data in the data printer server 20.

  The data printer server 20 includes a storage unit 21 that is a database mechanism for storing document data, a registration unit 22 that extracts document data attached to an e-mail received from the PC 10 and registers the document data in the storage unit 21, and a storage unit And a data supply unit 23 for supplying 21 document data to the network printer 30. Extraction of document data by the registration unit 22 can be performed by using a conventionally known method of extracting an attached file from an e-mail, for example, a method of deleting an attached file from an e-mail having a virus. When there is a document data transmission request from the network printer 30, the data supply unit 23 performs an authentication process described later for the user.

  A user folder 21a is provided for each user in the storage unit 21, and the registration unit 22 identifies the user based on the transmission source address of the received electronic mail and registers the document data in the corresponding user folder 21a. Each user folder 21a has index information for identifying stored document data. As the index information, for example, a part of data such as a sentence head of document data is used.

  The storage unit 21 has a management table 21b for managing the user folder 21a. The configuration is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the management table 21b includes an authentication ID 2a and a user password 2c, which are user information used in the authentication process performed by the data supply unit 23, and a user account 2b set for each user. . The above-described user folder 21a is provided for each user account 2b in the illustrated management table 21b. In the example shown in FIG. 2, separate character strings are set for the authentication ID 2a and the user account 2b. Alternatively, the same character string as the user account 2b may be used for the authentication ID 2a. .

  As shown in FIG. 1, the network printer 30 includes an input unit 31 for inputting an authentication ID 2a, a user password 2c, and the like, a data acquisition unit 32 for acquiring document data from the data printer server 20 using the input information, And a printing unit 33 that prints out the acquired document data. The input unit 31 includes an IC card reader 31a that reads information from an IC card 40, which will be described later, presented by the user, and a touch panel 31b for input operation.

  In this embodiment, the user presents the IC card 40 when using the network printer 30. The IC card 40 is called a so-called smart card in which an IC chip is mounted on a resin card, and the mode may be either a contact type having a connection terminal or a non-contact type having a wireless communication function. In the IC card 40, an address for connecting to the data printer server 20 and the authentication ID 2a of the user are written in advance. When the user presents the IC card 40 to the IC card reader 31a, the server address The authentication ID 2a is input to the data printer server 20. This eliminates the need for the user to key in a character string such as a server address, and can use the network printer 30 promptly.

  The operation procedure of the network printer system 100 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. The procedure described below is an example in which a conventionally known FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used as a communication protocol between the data printer server 20 and the network printer 30.

  First, the user performs user registration in the data printer server 20 using the PC 10 (step S1). The user registration method can be set as appropriate. For example, the user's e-mail address and the ID / password when using the network printer 30 are notified to the data printer server 20, and the registration of the data printer server 20 that receives the notification is received. The unit 22 generates a user account (step S2).

  The account creation performed by the registration unit 22 refers to describing a user record in the management table 21b. For example, “tanaka@hoge.com” as an email address, “1234abcd” as an ID, and “9876” as a password. As shown in FIG. 2, “1234abcd” is described in the authentication ID 2a, “tanaka” is described in the user account 2b, and “9876” is described in the user password 2c. In addition, the registration unit 22 allocates an area of the user folder 21a associated with the new user account 2b to the storage unit 21 when generating an account.

  After the user registration, when an e-mail attached with document data is created by the PC 10, the PC 10 transmits it to the data printer server 20 (step S3). The registration unit 22 of the data printer server 20 extracts document data from the received e-mail and stores it in the user folder 21a of the storage unit 21 (step S4). At this time, the registration unit 22 specifies the user account 2b from the transmission source address of the received mail, and stores the document data in the user folder 21a corresponding to the user account 2b.

  The registration unit 22 executes the above procedure every time an e-mail attached with document data is received from the PC 10. As a result, user document data is sequentially registered in the data printer server 20. Each user folder 21a is disclosed as an FTP site that can be browsed only by the user. For example, the site of the user account 2b “tanaka” is disclosed at an address “tanaka.ftp.hoge.com”.

  Next, a procedure for causing the network printer 30 to print document data registered in the data printer server 20 will be described. Here, as an example, it is assumed that printing of document data is attempted by a user whose user account 2b is “tanaka”.

  When the user presents his IC card 40 to the IC card reader 31a at the network printer 30, the IC card reader 31a gives the address “tanaka.ftp.hoge.com” of the data printer server 20 and the authentication ID 2a “1234abcd”. These are read and input to the data acquisition unit 32 (step S5). The data acquisition unit 32 makes a connection request to the data printer server 20 using the input address “tanaka.ftp.hoge.com” (step S6).

  When the data supply unit 23 of the data printer server 20 receives the connection request, the data supply unit 23 requests the authentication ID 2a to make a user authentication determination (step S7). In response to this request, the data acquisition unit 32 of the network printer 30 transmits the authentication ID 2a “1234abcd” that has already been input (step S8). At this time, a screen as shown in FIG. 4 for prompting the user to confirm the authentication ID 2a may be displayed on the touch panel 31b.

  When the data printer server 20 receives the authentication ID 2a from the network printer 30, the data printer server 20 further requests a user password 2c for authentication determination (step S9). When the network printer 30 receives the request for the user password 2c, the network printer 30 displays a screen as shown in FIG. 5 on the touch panel 31b to prompt the user to input the password. When the password is input (step S10), it is transmitted to the data printer server 20 (step S11).

  The data printer server 20 makes an authentication determination by comparing the received password with the user password 2c “9876” corresponding to the authentication ID 2a “1234abcd” in the management table 21b (step S12). If the authentication is successful, the network printer 30 is notified that the login is permitted (step S13). If the passwords do not match, a notification that login is not permitted is sent. As described above, by performing authentication determination using the user password 2c in addition to the authentication ID 2a, it is possible to prevent an act of illegally obtaining document data using another person's IC card 40.

  When the network printer 30 receives the login permission, the network printer 30 informs the user of the fact through a screen as shown in FIG. 6 and asks whether or not to acquire a list of document data from the data printer server 20. Then, when instructed to acquire the list, the data printer server 20 is requested to transmit the document data list of the user account 2b “tanaka” (step S14). When receiving the request for the list, the data printer server 20 extracts the index information described above from the user folder 21a of “tanaka” and transmits it to the network printer 30 as a list of document data (step S15).

  Upon receiving the list, the network printer 30 presents the contents of the list on a screen as shown in FIG. 7 so that the user can select the document data to be printed. When selected (step S16), the selected document data is requested to the data printer server 20 (step S17).

  The data printer server 20 extracts the requested document data from the “tanaka” user folder 21a and transmits it to the network printer 30 (step S19). The network printer 30 prints out the received document data by the printing unit 33 (step S20). This completes a series of processes of the network printer system 100. Note that after printing, the data printer server 20 may be instructed to delete the printed document data from the storage unit 21 as required by the user.

  According to the embodiment described above, since the document data to be printed is held by the data printer server 20 on the communication network 100A, if the network printer 30 connected to the communication network 100A can be used, The user can print the document at an arbitrary place and can prevent the printed matter from being viewed by others. Therefore, by registering desired document data in the data printer server 20 in advance, for example, it is possible to print and provide a document without bringing a PC to a meeting place outside the office. Further, since the authentication determination by the data supply unit 23 allows only legitimate users to print document data, even if a third party connects another network printer to the communication network 100A, the user's document is illegal. Can be prevented from being printed.

  In the above embodiment, FTP is used as a communication protocol between the data printer server 20 and the network printer 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an HTTP site that uses HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and has access restrictions. Alternatively, a method may be used in which a user folder is disclosed and authentication determination is performed by BASIC authentication defined by HTTP.

  In the above embodiment, the PC 10 transmits the document data by e-mail. Instead, for example, an FTP communication function is provided to the document transmission unit 11 of the PC 10 to upload the document data to the data printer server 20. It may be the method.

  In the authentication determination in the above embodiment, a password is used. However, instead of this, a password is not required and authentication determination based only on an ID may be used.

  As the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the PC 10 is used in the above embodiment. However, the information processing apparatus is not limited to the PC 10 as long as the communication network 100A can be connected. Good.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a network printer system according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the management table which the data printer server of an Example has. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement procedure of an Example. It is explanatory drawing of the screen which the network printer of an Example displays. It is explanatory drawing of the screen which the network printer of an Example displays. It is explanatory drawing of the screen which the network printer of an Example displays. It is explanatory drawing of the screen which the network printer of an Example displays.

Explanation of symbols

100 network printer system 100A communication network 10 PC
20 data printer server 30 network printer 40 IC card 11: document transmission unit 21: storage unit, 21a: user folder, 21b: management table, 22: registration unit, 23: data supply unit 2a: authentication ID, 2b: user account, 2c: User password 31: Input unit, 31a: IC card reader, 31b: Touch panel, 32: Data acquisition unit, 33: Printing unit

Claims (18)

A printer device and a server device that are communicably connected via a communication network, and an information processing device capable of communicating with the server device;
The information processing apparatus includes a document transmission unit that transmits user document data to the server apparatus.
The server device includes a storage unit that associates and stores document data and user information for identifying the user, a registration unit that registers document data received from the information processing device in the storage unit, and A data supply unit for supplying document data to the printer device;
The printer device includes an input unit for inputting user information to the printer device, a data acquisition unit for notifying the server device of user information input by the input unit and acquiring document data from the server device, and the data A printing unit for printing the document data acquired by the acquisition unit,
The data supply unit of the server device performs authentication determination for the user using the user information notified from the printer device, and when authentication is successful in the determination, predetermined document data corresponding to the user information is obtained. A network printer system which transmits to the printer device.   The network printer system according to claim 1, wherein the data supply unit requests a password from the printer device in the authentication determination.   The network printer system according to claim 1, wherein the data supply unit supplies document data to the printer device based on FTP (File Transfer Protocol).   4. The network printer system according to claim 3, wherein the data supply unit notifies the printer device of a list of document data corresponding to user information notified from the printer device. The document transmission unit transmits the document data to the server device by e-mail;
The registration unit extracts the document data from the received electronic mail, and registers the extracted document data in the storage unit in association with user information corresponding to a transmission source address of the electronic mail. Item 5. The network printer system according to any one of Items 1 to 4.   The network printer system according to claim 1, wherein the input unit acquires user information to be input from an IC card that holds the user information. Set user information to identify the user in the server device connected to the communication network,
An information processing device capable of communicating with the server device transmits the user document data to the server device,
The server device stores the document data received from the information processing device in association with the set user information,
A printer device connected to the communication network inputs user information to the printer device, and notifies the server device of the input user information;
The server device performs an authentication determination on the user using the user information notified from the printer device, and when the authentication is successful in the determination, predetermined document data corresponding to the notified user information is Sent to the printer,
A document printing method, wherein the printer device prints document data received from the server device.   8. The document printing method according to claim 7, wherein the server device requests a password from the printer device in the authentication determination.   9. The document printing method according to claim 7, wherein the server device supplies document data to the printer device based on FTP (File Transfer Protocol).   The document printing method according to claim 9, wherein the server device notifies the printer device of a list of document data corresponding to user information notified from the printer device. The information processing device transmits document data to the server device by e-mail,
11. The server device extracts the document data from the received electronic mail, and stores the extracted document data in association with user information corresponding to a transmission source address of the electronic mail. The document printing method according to any one of the above.   The document printing method according to claim 7, wherein the printer apparatus acquires user information to be input from an IC card that holds the user information. A server device capable of communicating with an information processing device that transmits user document data and a printer device that prints document data,
A storage unit that associates and stores document data and user information for identifying the user, a registration unit that registers document data received from the information processing apparatus in the storage unit, and document data stored in the storage unit A data supply unit for supplying to the device,
When the data supply unit receives a connection request from the printer device, the data supply unit requests user information from the printer device, performs an authentication determination on the user using the user information acquired by the request, When the authentication is successful, the server device transmits predetermined document data corresponding to the acquired user information to the printer device.   The server device according to claim 13, wherein the data supply unit requests a password from the printer device in the authentication determination.   15. The server device according to claim 13, wherein the data supply unit supplies document data to the printer device based on FTP (File Transfer Protocol).   16. The server apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the data supply unit notifies the printer apparatus of a list of document data corresponding to user information notified from the printer apparatus.   The registration unit receives document data from the information processing apparatus by e-mail, extracts the document data from the received e-mail, and uses the extracted document data to correspond to a source address of the e-mail The server device according to claim 13, wherein the server device is registered in the storage unit in association with information. Computer
A program that functions as the server device according to any one of claims 13 to 17.

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