JP2006289850A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation device capable of performing secrecy control so that the confidential documents may not be passed to third parties. <P>SOLUTION: The image formation device 1 for receiving data from terminals and performing the printing on documents is equipped with a panel 8 into which users can input characters. When receiving the data of the confidential documents from terminals 2 to 7, the documents are printed after a password is input into the panel 8, and the input of password is not accepted until a printing permission time established elapses after receiving the data of the confidential documents passes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that manages confidentiality of a printed document.

  In an image forming apparatus that is connected to a network to which a terminal such as a personal computer is connected, receives document data from the terminal, and prints using an electrophotographic method or an electrostatic recording method, There are cases where confidential management needs to be performed so that the printed document is not taken away or the printed document is not stolen.

Patent Document 1 describes a document management system in which a password is set for confidential document data and the confidential document is not printed unless the password is input.
JP 2003-316552 A

  However, in the document management system of Patent Document 1, a third party who has stolen a password can steal a confidential document by inputting the password ahead of the user who has instructed printing from the terminal to the image forming apparatus. is there.

  Accordingly, in view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing confidential management so that a confidential document to be printed does not reach a third party.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus that receives data from a terminal and prints it on a paper surface, and the image forming apparatus includes a panel on which a user can input characters, When confidential document data is received from the terminal, the document is printed after the password is input to the panel, and the password is input until the set print permission time elapses after the confidential document data is received. Will not be accepted.

  According to this image forming apparatus, the time required for the user who has instructed printing to move from the terminal to the image forming apparatus is set as the print permission time, and the password is not accepted until this print permission time elapses. A third party can enter the password in advance and cannot print the document, thus preventing leakage of confidential documents.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when the password is not input before the set password acceptance time elapses after the printing permission time has elapsed, the confidential document data is deleted, and the confidential document data is deleted. If the deletion is displayed, the user needs to input a password to the image forming apparatus within a predetermined time after instructing printing from the terminal and print it, and take out a confidential document to a third party. Don't give time.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, by measuring and accumulating the time from receiving confidential document data until the password is input, and setting the print permission time based on the accumulated time, Based on the time when the user actually moved from the terminal to the image forming apparatus, the printing permission time is optimized for each terminal, so that no time is taken to bring a confidential document to a third party. The accumulated time may be a group of a plurality of terminals, or the time measured for each terminal and user may be measured.

  Further, if the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an input unit that allows the user to set the print permission time, the user can actively optimize the print permission time and perform confidentiality management. The input unit may be a device that is directly operated by a user such as a panel of the image forming apparatus, or may be a control unit that receives an input from a terminal via a network.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the terminal is wirelessly connected, and the print permission time is set according to the radio wave intensity when the confidential document data is received. The printing permission time can be set to an appropriate length according to the position of the terminal, and safety is high.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, if the print permission time is extended according to the received confidential document data and the capacity of the previously received data to be printed, the user who has instructed the user to print the image. The risk of a third party intervening can be reduced even when the printed document is taken out after leaving the forming device, or when leaving the seat after confirming that the data of the confidential document has been expanded. .

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when a plurality of confidential document data is received from the same user, the print permission time of the confidential document data received first is set to the last received confidential document data. If it is extended so that it expires at the same time as printing permission, when printing multiple confidential documents, even if you do not move the documents one by one, the multiple confidential documents are collected without being preempted by a third party. Can be printed.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, if an error state incapable of printing occurs, the count of the print permission time is stopped, and the count of the print permission time is resumed when the error state is canceled, Since the password reception timing is delayed according to the status of the forming apparatus, the confidentiality of the document can be maintained.

  In addition, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, if the user has an extension means that can extend the print permission time, a confidential document can be delayed by delaying the printing of the document when there is a third party around the image forming apparatus. Can be kept out of the eyes of third parties.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when an incorrect password is input, the confidential document data is deleted, and the fact that the confidential document data is deleted is displayed. Since no confidential document data remains, the data cannot be directly extracted from the memory of the image forming apparatus, which is highly secure.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, if the confidential document data that has been printed is deleted, the confidential document data that has been printed does not remain in the image forming apparatus, so that the data is not stolen from the memory.

  In addition, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, if the user has a stop unit that can stop the count of the print permission time from the terminal, the user performs the other work after instructing to print the confidential document. Confidential documents can be retrieved.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention does not accept password input during the print permission time set after receiving the confidential document data. high.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a usage pattern of an image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In this usage mode, the image forming apparatus 1 is connected to a network such as a local area network, receives a document data from the personal computer terminals 2 to 7 on the network, and prints it on a sheet of paper, as well as a copy function and a fax function. This is a composite printer that also has The image forming apparatus 1 includes a panel 8 shown in FIG. 2, and the panel 8 includes a display 9 including a liquid crystal display device and a plurality of keys 10 for inputting characters.

Next, the print processing operation of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 shows the flow of print processing operation when the image forming apparatus 1 receives confidential document data from the terminal 2, for example. When receiving the print data of the confidential document, the image forming apparatus 1 causes the monitor of the terminal 2 to display a request for setting the password (PW) to the user in step S1. When the user inputs a password to the terminal 2, the input password is set for the data. In step S2, a print permission time for the data is set, and counting of the print permission time is started. A method for setting the print permission time will be described later. In step S3, it waits for the set print permission time to elapse, and in step S4, as shown in FIG. 4, the panel 8 is displayed to input the password set for the document, and the key is displayed on the panel 8. 10 monitors whether a password is entered. If the password is input to the panel 8, the confidential document is printed in step S5, and the confidential data printed in step S6 is deleted from the memory inside the image forming apparatus 1. If no password is input in step S4, it is determined in step S7 whether a predetermined password (PW) reception time has elapsed. If the password reception time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S4. If it is determined in step S7 that the password acceptance time has passed, the confidential document data is deleted from the memory of the image forming apparatus 1 in step S8, and the display 9 of the panel 8 is displayed in step S9 as shown in FIG. The fact that the data of the confidential document has been deleted is displayed, and at the same time, the same display is made on the screen of the terminal 2.

  Here, a method for setting the print permission time will be described. The image forming apparatus 1 stores data as illustrated in FIG. 6 in an internal memory. The data shown in FIG. 6 indicates the time Tn (n is a natural number) from when a password is set at each terminal 2 to 7 until the password is input to the panel 8 when printing is actually performed. It is accumulated and recorded every time. The printing permission time is initially set to a time determined in advance for each terminal 2 to 7 by the key 10 by the administrator operating the panel 8 to shift to the password-protected setting mode. Is set. However, when the confidential document data is received from the terminals 2 to 7 that have been printed three times or more in the past, the image forming apparatus 1 removes the maximum value and the minimum value from the Tn accumulated for each of the terminals 2 to 7. Set the average value as the print permission time. In the example of FIG. 6, the printing permission time in the next printing of the terminal 2 is the average value (10 + 15 + 11 + 12) / 4 = 12 of T1, T2, T4 and T5 excluding the maximum value T3 = 30 and the minimum value T6 = 9. Set to seconds. When the administrator re-enters the initial value of one of the terminals 2 to 7, the data of the terminal in the memory is cleared, and the print permission time is automatically set in the fourth and subsequent printings after resetting. .

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment does not accept the input of the password during the print permission time. Therefore, when the user issues a print instruction from the terminals 2 to 7, the image forming apparatus 1 is advanced to the image forming apparatus 1. I cannot enter my password and take away confidential documents. In addition, since the administrator can input the initial value of the print permission time, when the network is constructed or when the image forming apparatus 1 or the terminals 2 to 7 are moved, printing that is considered to be appropriate even if there is no past data. The permission time can be set and the confidentiality of the document can be maintained. Also, if a password is not input to the panel 8 during the password reception time, the user may immediately go to the image forming apparatus 1 for taking a document for some reason after instructing printing of a confidential document from the terminals 2 to 7. It is anticipated that it will no longer be possible, and by deleting the data of the confidential document in step S8, there is no room for taking out the confidential document to a third party. Further, since the data printed in step S5 is deleted from the memory inside the image forming apparatus 1 in step S6, a third party cannot directly access the memory and steal the data.

  In step S1 of FIG. 3, instead of allowing the user to set a password on the terminal 2, for example, a password predetermined for each user, such as a login password for the network, is automatically set for the confidential document data. May be.

  Also, in step S1 of FIG. 3, if the user can freely set the print permission time together with the password in the terminals 2 to 7, a third party inputs the password and takes away the document by the user's own management. It is also possible to avoid a situation in which the user has to wait for the print permission time to elapse in front of the image forming apparatus 1 while shortening the possible time.

  In FIG. 6, the time Tn until the password is input to the panel 8 is accumulated for each of the terminals 2 to 7, but if the time Tn is accumulated for each user identified by the terminals 2 to 7 and the network login ID, A more appropriate print permission time can be set in accordance with the way the user moves and walking speed.

  In addition, if an interface (setting item on the screen) that allows the user to temporarily stop the count of the print permission time is provided in the terminals 2 to 7, the user may print a confidential document after performing other work. It is possible, and confidential documents can be printed safely according to the user's work procedure.

  Further, if the user can input the panel 8 or the terminals 2 to 7 to extend the print permission time, when there is another person around the image forming apparatus 1, the printing of the confidential document is delayed. Confidential documents cannot be seen by others.

  In addition, when the terminals 2 to 7 that transmit confidential data are connected to a network by a wireless LAN, the radio wave when the wireless terminal adapter provided in the vicinity of the image forming apparatus 1 receives data from the terminals 2 to 7 If the print permission time is set according to the strength of the terminal, even if the terminals 2 to 7 move, an appropriate print permission time according to the position of the terminals 2 to 7 can be set.

  FIG. 7 shows a flow of control operation when printing confidential document data of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, further control is added to the image forming apparatus 1 of the first embodiment. In this embodiment, when confidential data is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1, first, in step S11, it is confirmed whether or not the image forming apparatus 1 is in a printable state. Set up. If the image forming apparatus 1 is in an error state where printing cannot be performed for some reason in step S11, an error is displayed on the screens of the terminals 2 to 7 that have transmitted the print data in step S12. In this case, in step S13, after confirming that the error of the image forming apparatus 1 has been canceled and returned to a printable state, the process proceeds to step S1 to set a password. In the present embodiment, when the password is set in step S1, the print permission time set for the confidential data is displayed on the terminals 2 to 7 in step S14 to notify the user, and then printing is performed in step S2. Start counting the permitted time. The subsequent processing is the same as the flow of the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, when the image forming apparatus 1 is in an error state due to a trouble such as a paper jam, the printing permission time elapses while another user is performing the trouble processing because the start of counting the printing permission time is delayed. Thus, a user is not required to input a password, and a plurality of users can securely print confidential documents in order.

  FIG. 8 shows a flow of processing of the third embodiment in which counting of the print permission time is stopped when an error state incapable of printing occurs after the print permission time is counted. In the present embodiment, when the print permission time has not elapsed in step S3, it is further confirmed in step S21 whether or not the image forming apparatus 1 can print. If the image forming apparatus 1 is in an unprintable error state in step S21, the process proceeds to step S22 to stop the count of the print permission time, and in step S23, an error is displayed on the terminal 2 that has transmitted the confidential data to be printed. Wait for the error to be cleared in S24. If the error is canceled and the image forming apparatus 1 returns to the printable state, the process proceeds to step S25 to restart the count of the print permission time, and returns to step S3 to wait for the print permission time to elapse. The processing after the print permission time has elapsed is the same as in the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, when the image forming apparatus 1 enters an error state due to a trouble such as a paper jam after setting the password and starting the printing permission time, the start of counting the printing permission time is temporarily stopped. Multiple users can securely print confidential documents in order without requiring a password to be input after another user is performing trouble processing. In step S25, the user may be notified of the remaining print permission time, or the print permission time may be counted again from the beginning instead of halfway.

  FIG. 9 shows the flow of printing according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. As in the second embodiment, the present embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the print permission time is notified in step S14 and the processing when an incorrect password is input. In the present embodiment, when the password is input in step S4, if it is determined in step S31 that the password is incorrect, the process immediately proceeds to step S8 even if the password reception time has not elapsed, and the confidential document is concerned. In step S9, the fact that the data has been deleted is displayed on the panel 8 as shown in FIG.

  As a result, even if a third party guesses the password and inputs it to the panel 8 of the image forming apparatus 1 to attempt to take out the confidential document, the passwords match because the chance of inputting the password is only once. The document is unlikely to be printed. It should be noted that password mistakes may be permitted a plurality of finite times, for example, up to three times.

  FIG. 11 shows the flow of printing according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the printing permission time is notified in step S14, and while waiting for the printing permission time to elapse in step S3, the next one is sent from any of the terminals 2-7. A difference from the first embodiment is that a process when print data of a confidential document is received is added. In this embodiment, if it is determined in step S3 that the print permission time has not elapsed, it is confirmed in step S41 whether the next confidential data has been received. If the next data is not received, step S3 and step S41 are repeated and the passage of the print permission time is awaited. If the reception of the next confidential document data is confirmed before the print permission time elapses in step S41, the printing process of the confidential document received later is started in step S42, that is, the same processing as in FIG. Run one more in parallel. Further, in step S43, it is confirmed whether or not the sender of the data confirmed to be received in step S41 is the same as the user who transmitted the data of the previous data to be subjected to the printing process. If the transmitted users are different, the process returns to step S3 for the printing process and waits for the printing permission time to elapse. However, if it is determined in step S43 that the sender of the data received later is the same as the user who transmitted the previous data that is the target of the printing process, the data that is the processing target of the flow is determined. The set print permission time is extended to expire at the same time as the print permission time set for the data received later, that is, set to the same value as the print permission time set for the data received later. Then, the process returns to step S3. The flow after the extended print permission time has passed is the same as in the first embodiment.

  In the present exemplary embodiment, when the same user prints a plurality of confidential documents, each time one piece of data is transmitted, the user does not have to move to the front of the image forming apparatus 1 and input a password to the panel 8 first. Since the password acceptance time for accepting the password to print the transmitted data starts at the same time as the password acceptance time of the last data sent, permission to print the previous data during the work of sending the later data The time does not pass and the previous data cannot be printed. The user match may be determined based on whether the terminals that transmit the data match, or may be determined based on a login ID to the network, or each time print data is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1. You may make it input a user's ID.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a usage form of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a panel of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. 2 is a flowchart of a printing process of the image forming apparatus in FIG. The figure which shows the display within the password reception time of the panel of FIG. The figure which shows the display at the time of the data deletion by the password non-input of the panel of FIG. 2 is a table illustrating data accumulated in a memory of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. 10 is a flowchart of print processing of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart of print processing of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart of print processing of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the display of the panel at the time of the data deletion by the illegal password input of FIG. 10 is a flowchart of print processing of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming device 2-7 Terminal 8 Panel 9 Display 10 Key

Claims (12)

An image forming apparatus that receives data from a terminal and prints it on a sheet of paper,
The image forming apparatus includes a panel on which a user can input characters,
When the confidential document data is received from the terminal, the document is printed after the password is input to the panel,
An image forming apparatus, wherein an input of a password is not accepted until a set print permission time elapses after receiving the confidential document data.   When the password is not input before the set password acceptance time elapses after the print permission time has elapsed, the confidential document data is deleted, and the fact that the confidential document data is deleted is displayed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   3. The print permission time is set based on the accumulated time by measuring and accumulating a time from receiving confidential document data until a password is input. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit that allows a user to set the print permission time.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is wirelessly connected, and the print permission time is set according to a radio wave intensity when the confidential document data is received.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print permission time is extended in accordance with the received confidential document data and the volume of the previously received data to be printed.   When multiple confidential document data are received from the same user, the print permission time of the previously received confidential document data is extended to expire at the same time as the print permission time of the last received confidential document data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.   8. The print permission time count is stopped when an error state that cannot be printed is reached, and the count of the print permission time is restarted when the error state is canceled. The image forming apparatus described in 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an extension unit that allows a user to extend the print permission time.   11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when an incorrect password is input, the confidential document data is deleted, and the fact that the confidential document data is deleted is displayed. .   12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data of a confidential document that has been printed is deleted.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stop unit that allows a user to stop counting the print permission time from the terminal.

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