JP2007026077A - Resource management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a font, a form, a color profile, etc., from illegally being used by an unpermitted printer and to perform license management more in detail by managing licenses of the font, form, color profile, etc., by a server. <P>SOLUTION: The resource management system comprises: a PC which issues a print job; the authentication server; and the printer. The system requests the authentication server to issue a ticket where authentication information on a resource to be used is described before issuing the print job, and sends the issued ticket and the print job to the printer. The printer having received the ticket and print job inquires of the server whether the ticket is proper and whether the resource is permitted and executes the print job by using only a permitted resource. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to management of print resources such as font data, form overlay data, and color matching data used in a printing apparatus such as a printer.

  Traditionally, fonts have no protection when downloaded, or there is protection called the key FD method.

On the other hand, as for license management of printers, there is one which authenticates usable printers using a server, as disclosed in JP-A-2001-236183.
JP 2001-236183 A

  In the key FD method, by writing the information that has already been downloaded to the FD at the time of download, if there is no FD that contains information that has not been downloaded, it cannot be re-downloaded, and when a font becomes unusable, such as a HDD crash Could not be downloaded again.

  In addition, in the printer license management disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-236183, access to unauthorized printers and driver consistency management can be performed, but resource usage rights cannot be managed.

  In the present invention, it is possible to manage resource usage by providing an authentication server for resource usage rights and executing a print job according to the following procedure.

(1) The PC requests the server to issue a resource ticket before issuing a print job.
(2) The server issues a resource ticket.
(3) Send the job with the resource ticket added to the printer.
(4) Check the validity of the ticket from the printer to the server.
(5) The server returns ticket authentication information.
(6) The printer determines the validity from the authentication information.
(7) When it is determined that the ticket is valid, the print job is executed.

  According to the present invention, when printing is performed using resources installed in the printer, the right to use is managed by the server, the use permission is denied, the ticket issuance and authentication are performed, while the printer By operating according to the usage permission / non-permission information issued by the server, it is possible to manage usage rights without protecting resources. Furthermore, finer license management such as permission for use for a limited time period and use permission for a limited time of users becomes possible. Since the resource data itself does not have protection information, unauthorized use such as so-called protection breaking can be prevented.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram that best represents the features of the present invention. The system configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, 1 is a network. The network is a concept that combines a physical cable and a protocol for communication. Here, it is assumed that communication by TCP / IP is performed. A PC 2 generates a print job using resources such as fonts, forms, and color profiles held in the printer, and sends them to the printer. Reference numeral 3 denotes a printer that performs printing, and there may be one printer, but usually a plurality of printers are connected to the network. An authentication server 4 holds information on which printer resources are available and issues an authentication ticket according to the request.

  The resources used here will be described. Fonts are indispensable for printing characters, but the right to use fonts is often bound by licenses. Usually, about 1 to 5 fonts are installed in the printer, and these usage rights are included in the price of the printer. However, the additional fonts are paid for such as purchasing fonts or paying license fees. And get the right to use. When the specified font cannot be used, it is common to print with a substitute font. For forms, standard documents are registered in the printer in advance. If the printer has registered form data, overlaying the standard documents on non-standard text reduces the print processing time and data transfer processing time. Is possible. For example, a standard contract is registered in the printer as a form, and when the name of the contract partner is printed, the contract form is overlaid and printed, so that it can be used as a regular contract. . When a form cannot be used, whether to print without overlay or to make an error depends on the printer. The color profile is information for performing color matching at the time of printing. By using the color profile, it is possible to match the color of the printer with an image processing device such as a PC monitor or color scanner. If the color profile cannot be used, accurate color matching is not performed but printing is possible.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a print job execution procedure. Before the PC issues a print job, it requests the server to issue a resource ticket in (1). The server issues a resource ticket in (2). In (3), the job with the resource ticket added is sent to the printer. The printer confirms the validity of the ticket to the server in (4), and the server returns the ticket authentication information in (5). If it is determined that the right to use the resource is obtained as a result of the authentication, the printer performs printing using the resource. If it is determined that there is no usage right, it is either an error, printing using a resource that does not require authentication instead of the resource, or printing without using the resource. Which method is used depends on the processing and resources of the printer. As an example, if it is determined that there is no right to use the font in the printer, a substitute font is used. An error occurs if it is determined that you do not have the right to use form data. If the color profile cannot be used, printing is performed without performing color matching.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the PC. The operation of the PC when issuing a print job will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step S301, the printer ID is transmitted to the server. The printer ID can identify the printer such as a printer serial number. Subsequently, the number of resources and the resource name used in S302 are transmitted. The resource name may be any information that identifies the resource, and is a combination of the resource type and file name, information stored in the resource file, etc., and is not a human-readable name if it can be processed by a computer. May be. For example, a font type name and ID for a font, a form title and ID for a form, and a profile name for a color profile correspond to this.

  Steps S301 and S302 need to be performed continuously, and are performed continuously after the connection is established on the network and then released.

  In step S303, the server waits for a ticket to be issued from the server and receives the issued ticket. In step S304, the received ticket is added to the print job and sent to the printer, and the process ends.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server when a ticket issuance request is received. The operation of the server when a ticket issuance request is received will be described using FIG. In step S401, a ticket issue request is received. The ticket issue request receives the printer ID, the number of resources, and the resource name. In step S402, the number N of resources is set in the counter N. In step S403, it is determined whether N is greater than 0. If greater than 0, the process proceeds to step S404, and if it is less than 0, the process proceeds to step S407. In step S404, it is determined whether the Nth resource can be used by the printer specified by the ID. In step S405, the information determined in the previous step is held in the Nth table of the array. The array Table is an array that can hold at least N resource permission / denial information. In step S406, N is decremented by 1, and the process returns to step S403. In step S407, ticket information is generated from the array table. In the ticket information, the ticket generation time, the number of resources, and permission / non-permission information of each resource are encrypted and held together with tampering prevention information. Tampering prevention is generally performed by a method called hashing, and uses a secret key and a public key. That is, hashing information is generated from the secret key and ticket data held in the server and held in the ticket. Whether the file has been tampered with can be determined using the public key, but it cannot be generated with the public key even if new anti-tampering information is generated. With a file transfer system using the Internet, etc. It is used. In step S408, the generated ticket is sent to the requesting PC, and the process ends.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer. The operation of the printer when a print job is received will be described with reference to FIG. In step S501, a print job is received. A ticket for determining whether or not to permit use of a resource is added to the print job. In step S502, the ticket is sent to the server. In step S503, authentication information from the server is received.

  In step S504, the use of the resource whose use is not permitted is stopped. If the use of all resources is not permitted, the use of all resources is stopped, so fonts, forms, and color profiles cannot be used. However, bitmap images and graphics can be printed without using resources. It is possible. In step S505, printing is executed in the resource state set in the previous step.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server when the ticket authentication information request is received. The operation of the server when the ticket authentication information request is received will be described with reference to FIG. In step S601, a ticket issue request is received. In step S602, falsification check processing is performed. In step S603, it is determined whether or not it has been tampered with according to the processing in the previous step. If it is determined that it has been tampered with, the process proceeds to step S606. If it is determined that it has not been tampered with, the process proceeds to step S604. A ticket sent from a printer whose printer ID is different from the printer whose ID is written in the ticket is also determined to be falsified. In step S604, the expiration date of the ticket is determined. If it is determined that the expiration date has expired, that is, it has timed out, the process proceeds to step S606, and if it is determined that it is within the expiration date, the process proceeds to step S605. In step S605, use permission / denial information is generated from the contents of the ticket. In step S607, resource use permission / denial information is returned to the printer.

  FIG. 7 shows a server management screen. As can be seen from the figure, the management information includes the computer's MAC address, expiration date, and usable resource name for each printer. The MAC address is used when identifying which computer. When authentication is performed for each user, not for each computer, the user name or user ID is entered here. Normally, passwords are used for more strict management, but they cannot be seen by administrators. The expiration date is the expiration date of the resource, and the resource whose expiration date has expired is excluded from the management target. The resource type is managed by the server for each unit authenticated and managed by the printer. For example, in the state displayed on this screen, the color profile is set to All_Prof, and use of all profiles is permitted, but the use permission information is set for each typeface and font. . The unit permitted to be used by the user may be changed such that a certain user has all fonts and a certain user has individual fonts. If any of the user, expiration date, or resource is different, it will be displayed as one. In other words, when multiple resources are used by the same user, they are displayed as multiple cases.

  In addition to the information displayed in this example, set the individual user name, ID for identifying the user, group information when multiple resources are grouped as management targets, use start time, suspension information, etc. There is also a possibility.

  Next, the actual operation will be described.

  On the PC, at the time of printing, a print job for printing using font A and font B is issued, and printing is attempted with printer X. Font A is permitted to be used by printer X, and font B is not permitted to be used by printer Y. However, at the time of downloading, licenses are not managed and can be downloaded freely. The server issues a ticket, adds a ticket that uses font A and font B to the print job, and the PC sends the print job to printer X. When the printer X sends a ticket to the server, the server returns information that font A is permitted to be used and font B is not permitted to be used. The printer prints with font B disabled according to the information from the server.

  When the user purchases the right to use the font and the information that the font B can be used by the printer X is set in the server, the server returns the information indicating that the fonts A and B are permitted to be used in the same operation as described above. The printer prints with font B disabled according to the information from the server. Here, there is no need to re-download fonts or register license keys in the printer, and they can be managed only by the server.

  Similarly, when there is an expiration date for use of a resource, if the use permission is returned only during a period in which the resource can be used on the server, it is not necessary to delete the resource whose expiration date has expired from the printer.

  In addition, by using an ID for each user instead of a printer ID, it is possible to manage usage rights for each user.

  The server may not be on the same network, and may be managed by a vendor that provides resources. In the latter case, it becomes more difficult for the user to tamper with malicious intention than the former.

  As described above, it is possible to manage usage rights without protecting resources by determining whether or not to permit use of resources on the server, issuing tickets and authenticating, and the printer operating according to the authentication information. In addition, finer license management such as limited time is possible.

  The present invention may be implemented as a program installed in each apparatus in advance, or may be implemented as a software program that is loaded and executed on a general-purpose computer or the like, and the program is a medium such as a CD-ROM. May be stored.

It is a figure showing the structure of the system which implemented this invention. It is a figure showing the flow of the data of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a PC print job is issued. It is a flowchart showing the operation | movement at the time of ticket issuing of a server. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when a printer receives a print job. It is a flowchart showing the operation | movement when issuing the use permission non-permission information of a resource of a server. It is a user edit / registration screen in the server.

Claims (2)

  A system for managing software resources used for printing, authentication means for authenticating a print job using software resources used for printing, authentication information associated with the print job and issued by the authentication means, and printing device information A software resource management system, comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the software resource can be used in the printing apparatus;   2. The software resource management system according to claim 1, wherein when the use is permitted, the use is charged.

Images