JP2007034493A - Printing system and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system and a printing control method that can carry out secure printing by using another printer even when a printer that a client device specifies is executing another print job, gets out of order, or can not print out instantly because of a power-OFF state etc. <P>SOLUTION: Correspondence relation between printers 30-1, ..., 30-n and authentication devices 40-1, ..., 40-n which perform user authentication for acquiring printed matter from the printers 30-1, ..., 30-n is stored on a print server 20 connected to a network 50, client devices 10, 10-1, ..., 10-m send print data related to print instructions to corresponding printers 30-1, ..., 30-n through the print server 20, where the print data are accumulated and managed. When the authentication devices 40-1, ..., 40-n perform user authentication, the print jobs are taken out of print job accumulate sections 301 of corresponding printers 30-1, ..., 30-n and printing operations are performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system and a printing control method for performing security-secured printing using personal authentication, and more specifically, a printing apparatus designated by a client apparatus is executing another print job, being out of order, or being turned off. The present invention relates to a printing system and a printing control method capable of performing printing while ensuring security using another printing apparatus even in a state where printing output cannot be performed immediately due to the cause of the above.

  Recently, there are many systems that can use a printer in a so-called network environment in which a plurality of client devices are connected to a network, a plurality of printers are connected, and the plurality of printers are shared by a plurality of client devices. Has been built.

  In a system that shares a printer in such a network environment, ensuring the security of the printed document is a problem.

For example, in such a network environment, it is possible to instruct printing of a document from an arbitrary client device to an arbitrary printer, and the printer is not necessarily arranged near the client device.
1) A print instruction may be issued from a user who does not have the authority to print a document. 2) Even if a print instruction is issued from a user having a valid authority, the user outputs a document output from the printer based on the print instruction. There is a problem that this document may be taken away by a third party or the contents of the document may be seen by the time it is taken.

  In order to solve this problem, conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, when printing is performed from a printer in a network environment, an input of a personal identification number is requested from the operation panel of the printer, and the personal authentication is performed using the personal identification number. A configuration has been proposed in which printing is permitted by performing the above.

Also, as shown in Patent Document 2, a configuration has been proposed in which printing is performed by performing personal authentication using an IC card when printing from a printer.
JP-A-8-256239 JP2002-240398

  However, since both of those disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 perform personal authentication only on the printer side, there is a problem in security.

  Therefore, there is a system in which a print job related to a print instruction specifying a specific printer authenticated by a client device is stored in a specific server (security server), and print output can be performed only by authentication at the specified specific printer. Proposed.

  However, in such a system, if the specified printer is not ready for printing due to other print job execution, failure, or power off, this print is output immediately. There was a problem that could not be done.

  Therefore, the present invention secures security by using another printing device even when the printing device designated by the client device cannot perform printing output immediately due to other print jobs being executed, malfunctioning, or powered off. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system and a printing control method that make it possible to perform printing.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is directed to one or more client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices. The authentication apparatus, and the server apparatus manages the print job related to the print instruction authenticated by the client apparatus, and the print apparatus managed by the server apparatus is based on the authentication of the authentication apparatus. In the printing system executed by the printing apparatus corresponding to the printing apparatus, the server apparatus transmits a print job to the plurality of printing apparatuses, and a printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus based on the authentication of the authentication apparatus A printing apparatus specifying means for specifying the print job, and a print page for receiving the print job completion notification in the printing apparatus specified by the printing apparatus specifying means. And a deletion instruction means for instructing deletion of the corresponding print job stored in the printing apparatus in response to reception of the print job completion notification by the print job completion notification receiving means. The printing apparatus includes: a print job storage unit that stores and manages a print job transmitted from the server device by the print job transmission unit; and a print job that is stored in the print job storage unit based on authentication by the authentication device. Print job execution means for executing a desired print job, print job completion notification means for notifying the server device of completion of the print job upon completion of the print job by the print job execution means, Based on an instruction from the server device by the deletion instruction unit, the print job is deleted from the print job storage unit. Characterized by comprising a print job deletion means.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the server device is in another authentication device related to the print job while the print job is being executed in the printing device specified by the printing device specifying means. An authentication prohibiting means for prohibiting authentication is provided.

The invention of claim 3 is the invention of claim 1 or 2, wherein the authentication device is
One is provided corresponding to a plurality of printing apparatuses, and the printing apparatus acquires a desired print job from a print job storage unit of the printing apparatus based on authentication of the authentication apparatus and executes the print job.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided one or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices. A print apparatus related to a print instruction authenticated by the client apparatus and managed by the server apparatus, and a print job managed by the server apparatus is associated with the authentication apparatus based on the authentication of the authentication apparatus In the printing system executed in the above, the server device transmits a print job to the plurality of authentication devices, and a printing device that identifies a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication of the authentication device And a print job completion notification receiver for receiving the print job completion notification in the printing device specified by the printing device specifying means. And a deletion instruction means for instructing deletion of the corresponding print job stored in the authentication apparatus in response to reception of the print job completion notification by the print job completion notification receiving means. A print job storage unit that stores and manages a print job transmitted from the server device by the print job transmission unit, and deletes the print job from the print job storage unit based on an instruction from the server device by the deletion instruction unit. And a print job deleting unit that acquires a desired print job from print jobs stored in the print job storage unit based on authentication by the authentication device and executes the print job A print job execution unit that executes the print job execution unit, Characterized by comprising a print job completion notifying means for performing a completion notification of the print job.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the server device is in another authentication device related to the print job while the print job is being executed in the printing device specified by the printing device specifying means. An authentication prohibiting means for prohibiting authentication is provided.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, one authentication device is provided corresponding to a plurality of printing devices, and the print job execution means authenticates a desired print job. It is acquired from the print job storage means of the apparatus and executed.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided one or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices. A print apparatus related to a print instruction authenticated by the client apparatus and managed by the server apparatus, and a print job managed by the server apparatus is associated with the authentication apparatus based on the authentication of the authentication apparatus In the printing control method in the printing system executed in the above, the server device transmits the print job to the plurality of printing devices, the printing device stores and manages the print jobs transmitted from the server device, and Upon authentication in the authentication device, the print job stored in the printing device corresponding to the authentication device is executed by the printing device, Upon completion of the print job, a print job completion notification is transmitted from the printing device to the server device, and the server device responds to reception of the print job completion notification to all the printing devices that store the print job. An instruction to delete the corresponding print job is issued to the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus deletes the corresponding print job from the accumulated print jobs based on an instruction from the server apparatus.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided one or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices. A print apparatus related to a print instruction authenticated by the client apparatus and managed by the server apparatus, and a print job managed by the server apparatus is associated with the authentication apparatus based on the authentication of the authentication apparatus In the print control method in the printing system executed in the above, the server device transmits the print job to the plurality of authentication devices, and the authentication device stores and manages the print jobs transmitted from the server device, respectively. When the authentication is performed by the corresponding authentication device, the printing device acquires a print job stored in the authentication device and executes the print job on the printing device. In response to the completion of the print job, the print device transmits a print job completion notification to the server device, and the server device stores all the print jobs in response to receiving the print job completion notification. The authentication apparatus is instructed to delete the corresponding print job, and the authentication apparatus deletes the corresponding print job from the accumulated print job based on the instruction from the server apparatus.

  According to the present invention, in a printing system that performs security-secured printing using personal authentication, the printing apparatus designated by the client apparatus is immediately executed due to another print job being executed, being out of order, powered off, or the like. Even in a state where printing cannot be performed, it is possible to perform printing while ensuring security using another printing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a printing system and a control method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention.

  1, this printing system includes a plurality of client devices 10-1,... 10-m, a print server 20, a plurality of printing devices 30-1,... 30-n, and a plurality of printing devices 30-1. ,..., 30-n are connected to the network 50, respectively.

  Here, the client apparatuses 10-1,..., 10-m issue a print instruction for a desired document using this printing system, and perform a plurality of user authentications as to whether the user has the authority for this print instruction. Authentication apparatuses 11-1,... 11-m are connected locally.

  The authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n are connected to the network 50 corresponding to the printing devices 30-1,..., 30-n, respectively, and the above-described printing devices 30-1,. When printing a document related to a print instruction, user authentication is performed to determine whether the user has authority to print.

  User authentication in the authentication devices 11-1, ... 11-m and the authentication devices 40-1, ... 40-n is a card-like storage medium (hereinafter referred to as security) in which user identification information (user ID) carried by the user is stored. User authentication using a card), user authentication that reads biometric feature information such as a user's fingerprint, and the like can be employed. In this embodiment, a case where user authentication is performed using a security card will be described as an example. .

  Here, the security card can be composed of an IC card equipped with an IC (integrated circuit), a magnetic card using a magnetic stripe as a storage means, and the like, in addition to the user ID, department information to which the user belongs. In addition, various information necessary for user authentication such as a range of authority, a secret key used for encryption of a print job formed based on a print instruction, a public key used for encoding, and the like are stored in advance.

  The client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m send a print instruction for print data of a document created or edited by itself or a document acquired from a document management system (not shown) to a specific print in the printing apparatuses 30-1,. This is performed by specifying an apparatus, for example, the printing apparatus 30-1.

  When a print instruction is issued from the client apparatus 10-1,... 10-m of this document, user authentication is performed to determine whether or not the user has authority to issue a print instruction for the print data of this document. This is performed using authentication devices 11-1,... 11-m that are locally connected to −m.

  The authentication devices 11-1,... 11-m include a card reader that reads information necessary for user authentication from a security card carried by the user, and information required for user authentication from the security card is used for user authentication. (Hereinafter referred to as “authentication data”), and this authentication data is input to the corresponding client device 10-1,.

  The client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m perform necessary user authentication based on this authentication data. This user authentication is performed by an inquiry to the print server 20.

  That is, the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m transmit all or part of the authentication data read from the security card to the print server 20 via the network 50, and the user sends this document to the print server 20. An inquiry is made as to whether or not the user has the authority to issue a print instruction.

  The print server 20 performs user authentication processing based on an inquiry to its own database or a separately provided user management system to determine whether or not the user has the authority to issue a print instruction for the document, and the response is sent to the client device. Return to 10-1, ..., 10-m.

  In the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m, if it is determined that the user does not have the authority to print the document, the print job based on the print instruction is not submitted and discarded.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the user has the authority to issue a print instruction for the document, the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m generate a print job based on the print instruction, The print job is encrypted using the secret key read from the security card, and the encrypted print job is transmitted to the print server 20 via the network 50 by designating the printing apparatus 30-1.

  Here, the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m have a plurality of printer drivers corresponding to the printing apparatuses 30-1,. A plurality of corresponding print jobs are generated, the plurality of print jobs are encrypted using a secret key read from the security card, and the plurality of encrypted print jobs are transmitted to the print server 20 via the network 50. Send sequentially.

  The print server 20 analyzes a plurality of print jobs transmitted from the client apparatuses 10-1,..., 10-m, and prints the print jobs based on the analysis results based on the identification information and the user ID of the user who issued the print instruction. In addition to management by the job management unit 207, the plurality of print jobs are transmitted to the corresponding printing apparatus via the network 50.

  Upon receiving a print job from the print server 20, the printing apparatuses 30-1 to 30-n accumulate and manage the print jobs in the print job accumulation unit 301, respectively. At this time, printing related to the plurality of print jobs stored in the print server 20 is not started.

  When the user who has issued a print instruction on the client device 10-1,... 10-m or the user who has the authority to acquire the printed material based on the print instruction acquires the printed material based on the print instruction, print output is performed. The user goes near the designated printing apparatus 30-1 and performs user authentication with the authentication apparatus 40-1 corresponding to the printing apparatus 30-1.

  This user authentication is performed using a security card in the same manner as the user authentication by the authentication devices 11-1,.

  For example, when a user inserts a security card carried by the user into the authentication device 40-1 corresponding to the printing device 30-1, the authentication device 40-1 reads authentication data necessary for user authentication from the security card. It is done.

  The read authentication data is sent to the print server 20 via the network 50, and the print server 20 authenticates whether or not the user has the authority to acquire a printed material based on the print instruction.

  This user authentication is also performed based on an inquiry to the database of the print server 20 or a separately provided user management system.

  If it is determined by the user authentication that the user does not have the authority to acquire a printed material based on the printing instruction in the printing apparatus 30-1, printing based on the printing instruction is prohibited.

  If it is determined by the user authentication that the user has the authority to acquire a printed matter based on the print instruction in the printing apparatus 30-1, the print server 20 authenticates the authentication apparatuses 40-1,. The print job is specified from the identification information stored and managed based on the user ID included in the authentication data sent from -n.

  Further, the print server 20 stores a correspondence table that stores the correspondence between the printing devices 30-1,... 30-n and the authentication devices 40-1,. A printing device 30-1 corresponding to the device 40-1 is specified with reference to the correspondence table, and a print permission notification for permitting printing of the print job is transmitted to the specified printing device 30-1.

  As a result, the printing apparatus 30-1 takes out the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 301, decrypts the print job using the public key included in the authentication data, and starts printing the print job. .

  In this embodiment, if the designated printing apparatus 30-1 is in a state where it cannot immediately print out due to another print job being executed, being out of order, or being turned off, the designated printing is performed. The other printing apparatuses 30-2,..., 30-n other than the apparatus 30-1 are configured to be able to perform print output related to this print job in the same manner.

  For example, when the printing apparatus 30-1 is in a state in which printing cannot be immediately performed due to another print job being executed, being out of order, or being turned off, the user can print other than the printing apparatus 30-1. A security card carried by the user is inserted into an authentication apparatus 40-2 corresponding to the apparatus, for example, the printing apparatus 30-2.

  As a result, the authentication device 40-2 reads the authentication data necessary for user authentication from the security card, and the read authentication data is sent to the print server 20 via the network 50. Authentication is performed as to whether or not the user has authority to acquire a printed material based on the print instruction.

  When it is determined by this user authentication that this user has the authority to acquire a printed matter based on the print instruction, the print server 20 determines that the user ID included in the authentication data sent to the authentication device 40-2. A print job is identified from the identification information stored and managed based on the information, and a print permission notification for permitting printing of the print job is transmitted to the identified printing apparatus 30-2.

  As a result, the printing apparatus 30-2 takes out the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 301, decrypts the print job using the public key included in the authentication data, and starts printing the print job. .

  Note that when performing user authentication by the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n, the authentication processing unit 205 of the print server 20 is configured to prohibit authentication for the same print job as the print job once authenticated. This is to prevent unauthorized printing due to double authentication.

  According to such a configuration, for example, when the client apparatus 10-1 issues a print instruction for designating the printing apparatus 30-1, the printing apparatus 30-1 is executing another print job, is out of order, or Even if it is in a state where printing cannot be immediately performed due to a power-off or the like, user authentication is performed by the authentication devices 40-2,... 40-n corresponding to the other printing devices 30-2,. Similarly, printing can be performed.

  Further, in this case, since printing is performed based on authentication by the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n, this printed matter is taken away by a third party or the contents thereof are seen. In addition, since the authentication determination configuration is not provided in the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n, the authentication apparatuses 11-1,. It is possible to employ various authentication devices as -m and authentication devices 40-1,.

  In the above-described configuration, even though the authentication processing unit 205 prohibits double authentication of the same print job, the print job relating to the print instruction from the client device 10-1,. Since 30-1 to 30-n are stored and managed in the print job storage unit 301, there are some problems in the security of the print job after the printing in the printing apparatus is completed.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when printing of the corresponding print job is completed by any printing apparatus, the printing apparatus notifies the print server 20 of the print completion, and the print server 20 notifies the print completion notification. On the basis of the print job deletion instruction unit 212, all the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n are instructed to delete the corresponding print job, and all the printing apparatuses 30- including the printing apparatus that has performed printing based on the deletion instruction. 1,... 30-n, the print job stored in the print job storage unit 301 is forcibly deleted.

  Accordingly, it is possible to solve the security problem that a print job that has already been printed remains in another printing apparatus.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a detailed configuration of the print server 20 shown in FIG.

  2, the print server 20 includes a network interface unit 201 that constitutes an interface with the network 50, a print job reception unit 202, a print job analysis unit 203, an authentication data reception unit 204, an authentication processing unit 205, and an authentication result transmission unit. 206, a print job management unit 207, a print job transmission unit 208, a correspondence storage unit 209, a printing apparatus identification unit 210, a print permission notification unit 211, a print job deletion instruction unit 212, and a job completion notification reception unit 213. Is done.

  Here, the print job receiving unit 202 receives a plurality of print jobs related to print instructions from the client apparatuses 10-1 to 10 -m via the network interface unit 201.

  The print job analysis unit 203 analyzes the plurality of print jobs received by the print job reception unit 202, and prints the plurality of print jobs via the print job transmission unit 208, the network interface unit 201, and the network 50. Send to.

  The authentication data receiving unit 204 receives authentication data related to an inquiry from the client devices 10-1,... 10-m and authentication data from the authentication devices 40-1,.

  Based on the authentication data received by the authentication data receiving unit 204, the authentication processing unit 205 authenticates the authentication data from the client devices 10-1, ... 10-m and the authentication data from the authentication devices 40-1, ... 40-n. User authentication is performed based on the above.

  Here, the user authentication based on the authentication data related to the inquiry from the client devices 10-1,..., 10-m in the authentication processing unit 205 is a print instruction from the client devices 10-1,. The user authentication based on the authentication data from the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n obtains a printed matter related to the print instruction. Authentication is performed to determine whether or not the user who has the right is authorized.

  This user authentication can be performed with reference to a database (not shown) in the print server 20 or a database of a user management system (not shown) linked to the printing system.

  When the authentication processing unit 205 performs user authentication based on the authentication data related to the inquiry from the client devices 10-1,... 10-m, the authentication result transmission unit 206 passes the authentication result via the network interface unit 201. When the user authentication is performed based on the authentication data from the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n, the authentication result is passed through the network interface unit 201. To the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n.

  The print job management unit 207 generates identification information for identifying the print job based on the analysis result by the print job analysis unit 203, and manages the print job with the identification information and the user ID of the user who has given the print instruction. .

  It should be noted that the authentication processing unit 205, when performing user authentication based on the authentication data from the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n, uses the same print job that prohibits authentication for the same print job as the print job once authenticated. Performs double authentication prohibition processing.

  In addition, the authentication processing unit 205 receives a job completion notification indicating that printing of the print job has been completed on any printing apparatus by the job completion notification receiving unit 213 from the printing apparatus via the network 50 and the network interface unit 201. Then, a print job deletion notification instructing the deletion of the print job is transmitted to all the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n via the job deletion instruction unit 212, the network interface unit 201, and the network 50.

  The correspondence relationship storage unit 209 stores a correspondence relationship table that stores the correspondence relationship between the printing devices 30-1, ... 30-n and the authentication devices 40-1, ... 40-n. Correspondence stored in the correspondence storage unit 209 depending on which authentication device 40-1,... 40-n the authentication device 40-1,. Referring to the relationship table, the printer that transmits the print job is specified from the printers 30-1,... 30-n.

  The print permission notification unit 211 transmits a print permission notification to the printing apparatus specified by the printing apparatus specifying unit 210 via the network interface unit 201.

  3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a detailed configuration of the client apparatuses 10-1,... 10-m (collectively referred to as client apparatus 10) illustrated in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, a client device 10 issues a print instruction using this printing system, and is composed of a personal computer or the like, and authentication devices 11-1,... 11-m (collectively referred to as authentication device 11) are locally provided. Connected.

  The client apparatus 10 includes a print instruction reception unit 101, a print job generation unit 102, an authentication data reception unit 103, an authentication processing unit 104, an authentication data transmission unit 105, an authentication result reception unit 106, a print job encryption unit 107, a print job. A transmission unit 108, a network interface unit 109, and an all printing device driver 110 are provided.

  Here, the print instruction receiving unit 101 receives a print instruction for print data specifying a predetermined printing device 30-1,... 30-n using this printing system based on an input selection operation such as a keyboard and a mouse (not shown). .

  The authentication data receiving unit 103 receives authentication data related to this print instruction from the authentication device 11.

  The authentication processing unit 104 performs user authentication based on the authentication data received by the authentication data receiving unit 103 to determine whether or not the user who issues the print instruction is a user who has a valid authority.

  User authentication by the authentication processing unit 104 is performed by an inquiry to the print server 20.

  That is, when user authentication is performed by the authentication processing unit 104, a part or all of the authentication data from the authentication device 11 is transmitted to the print server 20 via the authentication data transmission unit 105 and the network interface unit 109, thereby An inquiry is made as to whether the user involved in this is a user who has the authority to issue a print instruction using this printing system.

  Then, the result of the inquiry is received by the authentication result receiving unit 106 via the network interface unit 109, and the authentication processing unit 104 determines that the user related to the authentication data is based on the received information of the authentication result receiving unit 106. Is used to determine whether the user is authorized to issue a print instruction.

  When it is determined by the user authentication in the authentication processing unit 104 that the user related to the authentication data is a valid user who has the authority to issue a print instruction using the print system, the print job generation unit 102 receives a print instruction. Based on the print data relating to the print instruction received by the unit 101, a print job for issuing a print instruction is generated using this printing system.

  The print job generation unit 102 generates a print job using all the printing apparatus drivers 110.

  That is, the entire printing device driver 110 has a plurality of printer drivers 110-1,... 110-n respectively corresponding to the printing devices 30-1,. Even when the print instruction received by the print instruction receiving unit 102 specifies the printing apparatus 30-1, not only the generation of a print job corresponding to the printing apparatus 30-2 using the printer driver 110-1 based on the print data, A plurality of print jobs corresponding to the other printing apparatuses 30-2,..., 30-n are also generated using the printer drivers 110-2,.

  The print job encryption unit 107 uses a print job encryption secret key included in the authentication data for a plurality of print jobs corresponding to the printing apparatuses 30-1,..., 30-n generated by the print job generation unit 102. Respectively.

  The print job transmission unit 108 transmits a plurality of print jobs encrypted by the print job encryption unit 107 to the print server 20 via the network interface unit 109 and the network 50.

  If there is a printer driver that can be shared among the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n, all the printing apparatus drivers 110 are provided with this sharable printer driver so that all the printing apparatuses can be shared. The number of printer drivers provided in the driver 110 can be reduced.

  Further, when the printing device that can be replaced with the printing device specified by the printing instruction received by the printing instruction receiving unit 101 is limited, the print job generation unit 102 does not support all the printing devices. A plurality of print jobs including the alternative printing device may be generated.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job generated by the print job generation unit 102 of the client apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 3 in the above configuration.

  In this embodiment, the print job generation unit 102 of the client apparatus 10 includes a plurality of printer drivers 110-1,... 110- of all the printing apparatus drivers 110 based on the print data related to the print instruction received by the print instruction reception unit 101. n is used to generate a plurality of print jobs respectively corresponding to the printing apparatuses 30-1,.

  That is, in the client device 10, the print job generation unit 102 assigns to the printing devices 30-1 to 30 -n corresponding to the print job 1 related to the print instruction received by the print instruction reception unit 101. A plurality of corresponding print jobs job1_Drv1,... Job1_DrvN,... JobM_Drv1,... JobM_DrvN are respectively generated and sequentially transmitted to the print server 20, as shown in FIG.

  In the print server 20, the print job analysis unit 203 analyzes this print job, so that the print jobs job1_Drv1,... JobM_Drv1 generated by the printer driver 110-1 are transmitted to the printing apparatus 30-1 and transmitted to the printing apparatus 30. Print job job1_Drv2,..., JobM_Drv2 stored in the print job storage unit 301 of −1 and generated by the printer driver 110-2 are transmitted to the print device 30-2 and transmitted to the print job storage unit 301 of the print device 30-2. Similarly, the print jobs job1_DrvN,... JobM_DrvN generated by the printer driver 110-n are transmitted to the printing apparatus 30-n and accumulated in the print job accumulation unit 301 of the printing apparatus 30-n.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of the client device 10 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, the client apparatus 10 first checks whether the print instruction receiving unit 101 has received a print instruction (step 401). If the print instruction has not been received (NO in step 401), the client apparatus 10 returns to step 401 to print. Although it waits for the reception of the instruction, if it is determined that the printing instruction has been received (YES in step 401), it is next checked whether the authentication data receiving unit 103 has received the authentication data related to this printing instruction (step 402).

  If authentication data has not been received (NO in step 402), the process returns to step 402 and waits for reception of authentication data.

  When the authentication data is received (YES in step 402), the authentication processing unit 104 performs user authentication based on the received authentication data to determine whether the user related to the authentication data has the authority to issue a print instruction using the printing system. Perform (step 403).

  If the user authentication determines that the user has authority to issue a print instruction using the printing system (YES in step 404), the print data related to the print instruction received by the print instruction receiving unit 101 is displayed. Based on this, a plurality of print jobs corresponding to all printing apparatuses are generated by the print job generation unit 102 using the all printing apparatus driver 110.

  The generated plurality of print jobs are respectively encrypted by the print job encryption unit 107 using the secret key included in the authentication data (step 406), and the plurality of encrypted print jobs are networked by the print job transmission unit 108. The data is sequentially transmitted to the print server 20 via the interface unit 109 (step 407), and the processing in the client device 10 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 404 that the user related to the authentication data does not have the authority to issue a print instruction using this printing system (NO in step 404), the user issues a print instruction using this printing system. Therefore, a print instruction prohibition message is displayed on the display device of the client apparatus 10 and the like indicating that the print instruction authority is not granted (step 408), and the print instruction received by the print instruction receiving unit 101 is displayed. Print prohibition processing such as discarding is performed (step 409), and the processing in the client device 10 is terminated.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of the print server 20 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the print server 20 first checks whether the print job reception unit 202 has received a print job from the client device 10 (step 501).

  If an encrypted print job from the client device 10 is not received (NO in step 501), it is checked whether a job completion notification is received (step 512). If it is not a job completion notification (step 512). NO), the process proceeds to step 504.

  When the print job reception unit 202 receives an encrypted print job from the client device 10 (YES in step 501), the print job analysis unit 203 analyzes the print job (step 502), and based on the analysis result, The print job management unit 207 manages the print job with the identification information and the user ID of the user who has instructed printing, and transmits the plurality of print jobs to the corresponding printing apparatus via the network 50 (step 503).

  In step 504, it is checked whether the authentication data receiving unit 204 has received authentication data based on the inquiry from the client device 10 or authentication data from the authentication device 40. If the authentication data has not been received (NO in step 504), the process returns to step 501.

  If it is determined in step 504 that authentication data has been received (YES in step 504), user authentication is performed by the authentication processing unit 205 (step 505).

  Next, it is checked whether the user authentication is authentication based on an inquiry from the client apparatus 10, that is, an authentication request from the client apparatus 10 (step 506). If the user authentication is an authentication request from the client device 10 (YES in step 506), the authentication result is transmitted to the client device 10 via the authentication result transmitting unit 206 and the network interface 201 (step 506). 507), the processing of the print server 20 is terminated.

  In step 506, if the user authentication is not an authentication request from the client device 10 (NO in step 506), the user authentication is based on the authentication data from the authentication device 40. It is determined whether or not the user has the authority to acquire a printed material based on the instruction (step 508).

  If it is determined that the user has the authority to acquire the printed matter (YES in step 508), the authentication sent from the authentication device 40 with reference to the identification information managed by the print job management unit 207 is obtained. A printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus 40 that specifies the print job to be printed based on the user ID included in the data and transmits the authentication data with reference to the correspondence table stored in the correspondence storage unit 209 30 is specified (step 509).

  Then, a print permission notification for permitting execution of the print job is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 identified in step 509 via the print permission notification unit 211 and the network interface unit 201 (step 510). The process ends.

  If it is determined in step 508 that the user related to the authentication data does not have the authority to acquire a printed matter based on the print instruction (NO in step 508), printing based on the print instruction cannot be performed. The print prohibition process is performed (step 511), and the process of the print server 20 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 512 that a job completion notification has been received (YES in step 512), the print job deletion instructing unit 212 applies to all the printing apparatuses 30-1,. Then, a job deletion instruction for instructing deletion of the print job is issued (step 503), and the processing of the print server 20 is terminated.

  The print job deletion unit 302 forcibly deletes the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 301 in all the printing devices 30-1,..., 30-n including the printing device that performed printing based on this deletion instruction. .

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n (collectively referred to as authentication device 40) shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7, the authentication device 40 first checks whether authentication data has been accepted by inserting a security card (step 601). If authentication data is accepted (YES in step 601), an authentication request is made to the print server 20 based on this authentication data (step 602).

  When an authentication result is received from the print server 20 in response to this authentication request (YES in step 603), it is checked whether there is a print request authority based on this authentication result (step 604).

  If it is determined that there is no authority for the print request (NO in step 604), a print prohibition process is performed (step 606), and the process of the authentication device 40 is terminated.

  If it is determined in step 604 that the print request is authorized (YES in step 604), a print permission process for permitting the corresponding printing apparatus 30 to print the print job is performed (step 605). .

  In this case, the printing apparatus 30 takes out the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 301, decrypts the print job using the public key included in the authentication data, and starts printing the print job.

  When the printing of this print job is completed, the printing apparatus 30 notifies the print server 20 of the job completion. In response to the job completion notification, the print server 20 issues an instruction to delete the print job to all the printing apparatuses 30-1,..., 30-n including the printing apparatus that has performed the printing, and based on the deletion instruction. The corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 301 of all the printing apparatuses 30-1,... 30-n is forcibly deleted.

  In the above embodiment, the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n and the printing devices 30-1,..., 30 have a one-to-one relationship in which one printing device corresponds to one authentication device. Although the configuration in which −n is provided is employed, a corresponding authentication device may be incorporated into a corresponding printing device and configured as one device.

  Further, in the configuration of FIG. 1, a configuration including a configuration in which k printing apparatuses are associated with one authentication apparatus may be partially or entirely employed.

  In this case, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, k printing apparatuses 30-1-1 to 30-1 -k correspond to one authentication apparatus 40-1, and the printing apparatus 30-1-. 1,... 30-1-k, the print job related to the print instruction from the client apparatus 10 is accumulated via the network 50, and the printing apparatus is authenticated by the user authentication using the authentication apparatus 40-1. Printing by 30-1-1,... 30-1-k is permitted.

  Further, when a print job is completed by any one of the printing devices 30-1-1,... 30-1-k, the print job storage unit of the printing devices 30-1-1,. The corresponding print job stored in 301 is deleted by the print job deletion unit 302.

  In the above-described embodiment, the print job storage unit 301 is provided in each of the printing apparatuses 30-1,..., 30-n, and the print job related to the print instruction is temporarily stored in all the printing apparatuses 30-1,. However, instead of the printing devices 30-1,... 30-n, the authentication devices 40-2,... 40-n are configured to store print jobs related to printing instructions. Also good.

  FIG. 9 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of another embodiment of the printing system according to the present invention configured as described above.

  9, this printing system is similar to the printing system shown in FIG. 1 and includes a plurality of client devices 10-1,... 10-m, a print server 20, and a plurality of printing devices 30-1,. n and authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices 30-1,.

  However, in this embodiment, instead of the printing devices 30-1,... 30-n, the authentication devices 40-1,... 40-n are provided with a print job storage unit 401 and a print job deletion unit 402. Different from the printing system shown in FIG.

  In this configuration, print jobs from the client devices 10-1,... 10-m are stored in the print job storage unit 401 of the authentication devices 40-1,.

  When a user who has given a print instruction on the client device 10-1,... 10-m or a user who has the authority to obtain a printed matter based on this print instruction obtains a printed matter based on this print instruction, a print output is designated. The user authentication is performed by the authentication device 40-1 corresponding to the printing device 30-1.

  When a print permission notification of the corresponding print job is notified from the print server 20 based on the user authentication, the authentication device 40-1 takes out the corresponding print job from the print jobs stored in the print job storage unit 401, The print job is decrypted using the public key included in the authentication data, and the decrypted print job is sent to the corresponding printing apparatus 30-1, whereby printing of the print job on the printing apparatus 30-1 is started. .

  Also in this embodiment, the designated printing apparatus 30-1 is designated when it cannot immediately print out due to other print job execution, failure, or power off. Other printing apparatuses 30-2,..., 30-n other than the printing apparatus 30-1 are configured to be able to perform print output related to this print job in the same manner.

  In this way, when the printing of the corresponding print job is completed in any of the printing apparatuses, a printing completion notification is notified from the printing apparatus to the print server 20. As a result, the print server 20 issues a print job deletion instruction to all the authentication devices 40-1,..., 40-n from the print job deletion instruction unit 212 based on the print completion notification, and all the authentication devices 40-1. 40-n forcibly delete the corresponding print job stored in the print job storage unit 401 based on this deletion instruction.

  In the above-described embodiment, the authentication devices 40-1, ... 40-n and the printing devices 30-1, ... 30 have a one-to-one relationship in which one printing device corresponds to one authentication device. Although the configuration in which −n is provided is employed, a corresponding authentication device may be incorporated into a corresponding printing device and configured as one device.

  In addition, in the configuration of FIG. 9, a configuration including a configuration in which k printing apparatuses are associated with one authentication apparatus may be partially or entirely employed.

  In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, k printing apparatuses 30-1-1 to 30-1 -k correspond to one authentication apparatus 40-1, and the authentication apparatus 40-1 A print job related to a print instruction from the client apparatus 10 is accumulated in the print job accumulation unit 301 via the network 50, and printing apparatuses 30-1-1,... 30- by user authentication using the authentication apparatus 40-1. Printing with 1-k is permitted.

  Further, when the print job is completed by any one of the printing devices 30-1-1 to 30-1-k, the corresponding print job accumulated in the print job accumulation unit 301 of the authentication device 40-1 is It is deleted by the print job deletion unit 302.

  In the above embodiment, the print job relating to the print instruction is encrypted using the secret key included in the authentication data, and the client device 10-1,... 1 to 30-n or the authentication device 40-1, ... 40-n, and the printing device 30-1, ... 30-n or the authentication device 40-1, ... 40-n by the public key included in the authentication data However, if the network 50 is in an environment where there is no risk of information leakage, it is not always necessary to encrypt and decrypt the print job.

  The printing system and the control method thereof according to the present invention can be applied to a printing system for various documents that require security.

  According to the present invention, in a printing system that performs security-secured printing using personal authentication, the printing apparatus designated by the client apparatus is immediately executed due to another print job being executed, being out of order, powered off, or the like. Even in a state where printing cannot be performed, it is possible to perform printing while ensuring security using another printing apparatus.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a detailed configuration of a print server illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a detailed structure of the client apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job generated by a job generation unit of the client apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the client apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of the print server shown in FIG. 2. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the authentication apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification of the printing system shown in FIG. It is a system block diagram which shows the outline of the other Example of the printing system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the modification of the printing system shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10-1, ... 10-m Client device 11, 11-1, ... 11-m Authentication device 12 Security card 20 Print server 30, 30-1, ... 30-n Printing device 40, 40-1, ... 40 -N Authentication device 50 Network 101 Print instruction reception unit 102 Print job generation unit 103 Authentication data reception unit 104 Authentication processing unit 105 Authentication data transmission unit 106 Authentication result reception unit 107 Print job encryption unit 108 Print job transmission unit 109 Network interface unit DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 110 All printing apparatus drivers 201 Network interface part 202 Print job reception part 203 Print job analysis part 204 Authentication data reception part 205 Authentication processing part 206 Authentication result transmission part 207 Print job management part 208 Print job transmission part 209 Correspondence relation storage part 210 Printing device specifying unit 211 Print permission notification unit 212 Print job deletion instruction unit 213 Job completion notification reception unit 301 Print job storage unit 302 Print job deletion unit 401 Print job storage unit 402 Print job deletion unit

Claims (8)

One or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices, and authenticated by the client devices A print system that manages a print job related to the print instruction by the server device and executes a print job managed by the server device by a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication of the authentication device;
The server device
Print job transmission means for transmitting the print job to the plurality of printing apparatuses;
Printing device specifying means for specifying a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication of the authentication device;
A print job completion notice receiving means for receiving a completion notice of the print job in the printing apparatus specified by the printing apparatus specifying means;
Delete instruction means for instructing deletion of the corresponding print job stored in the printing apparatus in response to reception of the print job completion notice by the print job completion notice receiving means,
The printing apparatus includes:
Print job storage means for storing and managing print jobs transmitted from the server device by the print job transmission means;
A print job execution means for executing a desired print job among the print jobs stored in the print job storage means based on authentication by the authentication device;
A print job completion notifying unit for notifying the server device of completion of the print job upon completion of the print job by the print job execution unit;
A print system comprising: a print job deletion unit that deletes a print job from the print job storage unit based on an instruction from the server device by the deletion instruction unit. The server device
2. The printing according to claim 1, further comprising: an authentication prohibiting unit that prohibits authentication by another authentication device related to the print job during execution of the print job in the printing device specified by the printing device specifying unit. system. The authentication device
One corresponding to a plurality of printing devices,
The printing apparatus includes:
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein a desired print job is acquired from a print job storage unit of the printing apparatus based on authentication of the authentication apparatus and executed. One or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices, and authenticated by the client devices A print system that manages a print job related to the print instruction by the server device and executes a print job managed by the server device by a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication of the authentication device;
The server device
Print job transmission means for transmitting the print job to the plurality of authentication devices;
Printing device specifying means for specifying a printing device corresponding to the authentication device based on authentication of the authentication device;
A print job completion notice receiving means for receiving a completion notice of the print job in the printing apparatus specified by the printing apparatus specifying means;
Delete instruction means for instructing deletion of the corresponding print job stored in the authentication device in response to reception of the print job completion notice by the print job completion notice receiving means,
The authentication device
Print job storage means for storing and managing print jobs transmitted from the server device by the print job transmission means;
A print job deletion unit that deletes the print job from the print job storage unit based on an instruction from the server device by the deletion instruction unit;
The printing apparatus includes:
A print job execution unit that acquires and executes a desired print job from among the print jobs stored in the print job storage unit based on authentication by the authentication device;
A print system comprising: a print job completion notifying unit that notifies the server device of completion of the print job upon completion of the print job by the print job execution unit. The server device
5. The printing according to claim 4, further comprising: an authentication prohibiting unit that prohibits authentication by another authentication device related to the print job during execution of the print job in the printing device specified by the printing device specifying unit. system. The authentication device
One corresponding to a plurality of printing devices,
The print job execution means includes
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein a desired print job is acquired from the print job storage unit of the authentication device and executed. One or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices, and authenticated by the client devices A print control method in a printing system for managing a print job related to a print instruction by the server apparatus and executing a print job managed by the server apparatus by a printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus based on authentication of the authentication apparatus In
The server device transmits the print job to the plurality of printing devices;
The printing device stores and manages each print job transmitted from the server device,
At the time of authentication in the authentication device, a print job stored in a printing device corresponding to the authentication device is executed by the printing device,
Upon completion of the print job, a print job completion notification is transmitted from the printing apparatus to the server apparatus.
In response to receiving the print job completion notification, the server device instructs all the printing devices that store the print job to delete the print job,
The printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus deletes the corresponding print job from the accumulated print jobs based on an instruction from the server apparatus. One or a plurality of client devices connected to a network, a server device, a plurality of printing devices, and a plurality of authentication devices provided corresponding to the plurality of printing devices, and authenticated by the client devices A print control method in a printing system for managing a print job related to a print instruction by the server apparatus and executing a print job managed by the server apparatus by a printing apparatus corresponding to the authentication apparatus based on authentication of the authentication apparatus In
The server device transmits the print job to the plurality of authentication devices;
The authentication device stores and manages each print job transmitted from the server device,
The printing device acquires a print job stored in the authentication device and executes the print job in the printing device upon authentication in the corresponding authentication device.
Upon completion of the print job, a print job completion notification is transmitted from the printing apparatus to the server apparatus.
In response to receiving the print job completion notification, the server device instructs all the authentication devices that store the print job to delete the print job.
The print control method, wherein the authentication device deletes the print job from the accumulated print jobs based on an instruction from the server device.

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