JP2006255936A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate to install a special application to a client side, and to automatically switch to a confidential printing mode to a file with an unknown format. <P>SOLUTION: The printing apparatus has an operating panel, a print outputting device and a storing device. In the storing device, user certification information, information on a fixed form format to be printed confidentially, and a printing job being in the confidential printing mode and waiting for outputting, are held. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs print output only when a specific target user is in front of the printing apparatus.

  In recent years, networks have been established in offices, and many people share and use printing devices. When the printed matter output from the printing apparatus is left unattended, there is a security problem that even a person who does not have access rights to the information printed on the printed matter can browse.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 1 presents a technique called confidential printing. In confidential printing, since the person who instructed the print output is in front of the printing device, the keyword is input to the printing device and printing is performed only when authentication is successful. It is possible to reduce the chance that a third party who is not able to view the printed matter that has been output. However, since confidential printing, which has been presented in the past, leaves the user to the printing user to switch to confidential printing mode, the security level of the office is that of the person with the least security management in that office. There was a problem that it might be.

  In addition, products such as Microsoft Windows (registered trademark) Media Rights Manager, IBM Electronic Media Management System, and Adobe eBook are installed in a file that supports special applications on the client side information device. Provides a mechanism that can control whether or not printing is possible. In this method, whether or not printing is possible can be set for the file, and even if there is a person with poor security management in the office, the file itself can be set to be unprintable, so that the security level of the office is improved. However, this method has a problem that it is necessary to install a special application in a plurality of information devices on the client side, and a lot of labor is required for system management. In addition, there is a problem that the security of a file that does not support a special application is not protected.

On the other hand, in recent years, image recognition technology has been improved, and Patent Document 2 presents a method for retrieving similarities of document formats. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 presents a means for separating and recognizing a specific color pattern from an image file stored in an image file device. However, since Patent Document 3 does not describe confidential printing, confidential printing cannot be performed.
JP-A-7-152516 JP 2002-108936 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-189538

  According to the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the switch to confidential printing depends on each user who performs printing, the problem is that the security level of the person with the lowest awareness of security management in the office is lowered. There is.

  In addition, the method of installing a special application on the client side to control whether or not printing is possible addresses the problem of costly maintenance and management of special applications installed on multiple clients and special applications. There is a problem that security is not done for files that do not exist.

  In addition, in the method of using an image file device and switching whether or not printing can be performed only on an accumulated image, there is a problem that it is not possible to perform security protection on an image file that is directly printed without going through the image file device.

  In view of the above, the object of the present invention is to detect the attribute information of the print file and the format information of the print image on the printing apparatus side, and automatically switch to confidential printing, so that confidential printing is not set for each user. In addition, even if a special application is not installed on the client side, and the print file does not correspond to the special application, it is an object to improve the confidentiality of information than before.

[First invention]
A printing apparatus that controls whether or not confidential printing can be performed on the printing apparatus side,
Print job input means;
Means for analyzing the print job input by the input means;
Means for comparing a print job to be confidentially printed with a pre-registered standard format and determining whether or not to be confidentially printed;
Means for registering information used in the determination means;
Means for waiting for print output until the user authentication is successful according to the determination means;
Have

[Second invention]
In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, when the mode is automatically switched to the confidential printing mode,
A means for notifying that the mode has been switched to confidential printing mode;
A means for notifying a method for printing after canceling the confidential print mode;
Have

[Third invention]
In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, when the user authentication does not succeed for a certain period of time,
A means for automatically deleting a print job;

  According to the present invention, since confidential printing is automatically controlled on the printing apparatus side, it is possible to prevent a decrease in office security level due to a difference in recognition of information for each user.

  Further, in the present invention, since confidential printing is automatically controlled on the printing apparatus side, it is not necessary to install a special application on the information apparatus on the client side, and the maintenance and management costs of the information apparatus on the client side are reduced. There is an effect that can.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, since confidential printing is automatically controlled on the printing apparatus side, it is possible to provide more secure printing even for files that do not support the special application.

  In particular, the method of switching confidential printing using the standard format makes it easy to register files to be switched to confidential printing, and also automatically switches to confidential printing mode when some important files have been altered. is there.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

[First Embodiment]
The first embodiment is characterized in that user authentication information is stored in advance in a printing apparatus.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a typical system of the present invention. The printing apparatus 100 includes an operation panel 101, an image output device 106, and a storage device 102. The storage device 102 includes user authentication information 103 for printing a print job in the confidential print mode, and confidential information. Information 104 relating to the file to be printed and confidential print job 105 waiting for print output until user authentication is successful are stored. The information terminal A 107, the information terminal B 108, and the printing apparatus 100 are connected to each other via the network 109, and can transmit a print job from the information terminal to the printing apparatus.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the printing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. A print job transmitted from the information terminal A 107 is received (S201), and the received print job is developed as an image, and a feature amount is extracted and analyzed (S202). The information extracted / analyzed in S202 is compared with the confidential print target file information 104, and in S203, it is determined whether to perform confidential printing according to the determination result. If it is determined in S <b> 203 that the file is a confidential print target file 104, the print job is stored in the storage device 102 as a confidential print job 105. And it waits until a user succeeds in authentication S205. If the user wants to perform printing, he / she goes to the front of the printing apparatus, selects a file name to be printed from the operation panel 101 of the printing apparatus 100, inputs a password, and if the authentication is successful, the print output is S204 is performed. On the other hand, if the user authentication fails, the process returns to step S205 and waits until the next user authentication. In S203, if the print job does not correspond to the confidential print target file, the print output S204 is executed as it is. However, this flowchart is a flowchart for one print job. For example, even when a certain print job is waiting in step S205, when another print job is input, for another print job, A series of flow from step S201 is executed.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the concept of a print job in which an image is developed and a fixed format. Examples of standard formats include a format in which a specific character string is detected by OCR search of a certain area, a format characterized by a certain range of black density in a certain area, There is a format characterized by a line in the area. Further, detection by color may be performed as disclosed in JP-A-5-189538. A feature amount is extracted with respect to an area related to a certain fixed format of a print job in which an image is developed, and whether or not the extracted feature amount matches the fixed format is compared.

  In addition to the example of FIG. 3, a method of detecting a secret mark or a secret mark may be used.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of steps S202 and S203 for determining whether the file is the confidential print target file 104 or not. In step S401, the print job is developed, and in step S402, the image is binarized. In step S403, vector extraction, OCR extraction, and density extraction are performed from the binarized image. In step S404, an image filter is created based on the information extracted in step S403. In step S405, the confidential print target file 104 is compared with the image filter created in step S404.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram related to a table T501 relating to user information, a table T503 relating to a print job, and a table T502 relating the user information T501 and the print job T503. The file name of the print job stored in T503 is displayed on the operation panel 101, and the user selects a file to be printed from a plurality of displayed file names. Next, the user inputs a password, and the password is the user information with the job ID of the selected file name of T503, and the job ID of T503 matches the job ID of T502, If the user information at T502 matches the password that matches the user information at T501, it is determined that the authentication is successful.

  In the first embodiment, it is determined whether it is a confidential print target depending on whether it is a fixed format, but as another embodiment, whether the same file is obtained by calculating MD5 of the print file. It may be determined whether or not it is a confidential printing target. In addition, a method of determining whether or not the same file confidential printing target is based on a combination of the file update date and time and the file size may be used.

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, the user information table T501 held in the first embodiment is not held, and a keyword for performing printing is determined every time it is determined that the print job is a confidential print target. The printing apparatus 100 generates the keyword and transmits the keyword to a user information terminal. In the first embodiment, there is a password for each user, and the user can perform print output by inputting the password corresponding to the user stored by the user himself. In the second embodiment, However, the printing apparatus 100 generates a keyword corresponding to the print job for each print job for confidential printing.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment. In step S601, the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job from the information terminal A107. In step S602, an image of the received print job is developed, and feature amounts are extracted and analyzed. In step S603, the result analyzed in step S602 is compared with the information 104 registered as the confidential print target file, and it is determined whether or not it is the target of confidential printing. If it is determined in step S603 that it is a target of confidential printing, the process proceeds to step S605, and the printing apparatus 100 generates a keyword corresponding to the print job and stores it in the storage apparatus 102. In step S606, the stored keyword is notified to the user. As a notification method, the user's information terminal A107 may be notified using the function of the driver for printing, or an e-mail address is stored in advance corresponding to the IP address of the user's information terminal A107. Notification by e-mail may be performed. Step S607 is a state waiting for the user to perform an authentication act. In step S608, after the user selects a print job to be printed, the user inputs the keyword notified to himself and performs authentication. If the authentication is successful, printing is performed in step S604. If authentication fails in step S608, the process returns to step S607 and waits until the user performs an authentication action next time. On the other hand, the print job determined as not corresponding to confidential printing in step S603 is printed as it is in step S604.

  However, FIG. 6 is a flowchart for a certain print job. For example, even when a certain print job is waiting in step S607, if another job is input, step S601 is performed for the other job. Execute the flow from.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a print job and a keyword table for the print job. If it is determined that the target is confidential printing, a keyword is generated for the print job and stored.

It is a block diagram of the typical system in this invention. It is a flowchart in a 1st embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a print job in which an image is developed and a fixed format. 6 is a flowchart for extracting and analyzing image information of a print job of a file according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram relating to a table relating to user information, a table relating to a print job, and a table associating the user information with the print job. It is a flowchart in 2nd Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a table associating a print job with a keyword according to the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Printing apparatus 101 Operation panel 102 Storage apparatus 103 User authentication information 104 Information regarding confidential print target file 105 Confidential print job 106 Image output apparatus 107 Information terminal A
108 Information terminal B
109 network

Claims (4)

A printing apparatus that controls whether or not confidential printing can be performed on the printing apparatus side,
Print job input means;
Means for analyzing the print job input by the input means;
Means for comparing a print job to be confidentially printed with a pre-registered standard format and determining whether or not to be confidentially printed;
Means for registering information used in the determination means;
Means for waiting for print output until the user authentication is successful according to the determination means;
A printing apparatus comprising: In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, when the mode is automatically switched to the confidential printing mode,
A means for notifying that the mode has been switched to confidential printing mode;
A means for notifying a method for printing after canceling the confidential print mode;
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
Means for generating a keyword to be used as a method for performing the printing;
Means for notifying a user of the keyword;
A printing apparatus comprising: In the printing apparatus according to claim 1, when the user authentication does not succeed for a certain period of time,
A printing apparatus comprising means for automatically deleting a print job.

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