JP2007066208A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer device capable of preventing a confidential printed matter from being carried away by others. <P>SOLUTION: In the printer device 100 having a confidential print function for performing printing to a print job to be transmitted from a host PC 110, in which a user name and a password are set by performing personal authentication, it has a controller 105 which determines presence of paper on a paper ejection tray and executes confidential print only while there is no paper on the paper ejection tray. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer apparatus having a confidential printing function.

  Conventionally, when the confidential printing function is executed, first, a user prints a print job by setting a user name and password from the printer driver at the time of printing in the host PC. On the printer side, the print job is stored in a storage device such as a hard disk without being printed immediately. Next, the user inputs a password on the printer device side, and the confidential printing is performed only when the password matches that initially set on the host PC.

In the conventional confidential printing function, when printing is executed by specifying confidential printing, printing can be performed once the user inputs a password on the printer side. For example, printing is started when the user inputs the password. If you leave the printer device later, the print result will be left on the printer device, and anyone can take the print result from the printer device despite the confidentially printed document There was a fear.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device capable of avoiding the above-mentioned point from being taken away by another person.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a printer apparatus having a confidential printing function for printing by performing personal authentication for a print job set with a user name and a password transmitted from a host PC. And control means for determining whether or not there is paper on the paper discharge tray and performing control to execute confidential printing when there is no paper on the paper discharge tray.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printer apparatus according to the first aspect, the control means includes an input means for inputting the number of times for determining whether or not there is a sheet on the paper discharge tray.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printer apparatus of the first aspect, the personal authentication is performed by inputting a password.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to the first aspect, the printer includes an input unit having a confidential printing execution button, and the control unit performs the confidential printing when the confidential printing execution button of the input unit is pressed. It is characterized by performing.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to the fourth aspect, when the confidential printing execution button is turned off during execution of confidential printing, the control means next presses the confidential printing execution button. In this case, the user authentication is performed again.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printer apparatus according to the first aspect, the control means has a certain total number of pages based on a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages of the confidential print document is large or small. In the case of a document exceeding the value, the presence / absence determination of the paper in the paper discharge tray is performed for each predetermined page.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printer apparatus according to the sixth aspect, a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages is large or small is preset in the control means.
The invention described in claim 8 is the printer apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an input means for inputting a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages is large or small.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the printer device according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the printer device further includes an input unit for inputting a predetermined page for determining whether or not there is paper in the paper discharge tray.

  According to the printer device of the present invention, even when confidential printing is executed and the user authenticates the user such as inputting a password on the printer device, printing is performed only when there is no paper in the paper discharge tray. Therefore, the user needs to take out the printed sheets one by one from the paper discharge tray at the time of confidential printing, and cannot leave the printer device until the printing is completed. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the printing apparatus is left after the printing is started and the printing result is left on the printing apparatus even though the confidential printing is performed.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printer device 100 is connected to a host PC 110 that is a host device, and print data generated by the host PC 110 is input, analyzed, and printed out.
The printer apparatus 100 immediately prints a print job such as a host I / F apparatus 101 for connecting the host PC 110 and the printer apparatus 100, an operation panel 102 for performing various settings of the printer apparatus 100, and confidential printing. The printer 103 for controlling the print apparatus 100, the HDD 103 used for storing print data when it needs to be temporarily stored in the printer apparatus 100, the image forming apparatus and the paper supply / discharge apparatus, and the printer for controlling the entire printer apparatus 100 A controller (control means) 105 having a ROM storing a control program for the apparatus and a printer language processing program (emulation program), a work area for each program, a RAM used for image creation, a CPU, and the like. Is provided.
[First Embodiment]
The printer apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment includes a sensor in which the printer engine 104 determines whether or not there is a sheet on a paper discharge tray, and a program in the controller 105 executes printing based on information from the paper discharge sensor. It has a function to cancel.
FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart during printing according to the first embodiment.
When a print job is received from the host PC 110 (S1), if it is confidential printing (Y in S2), a password is input, and if the password matches (Y in S4), it is determined whether there is paper in the paper discharge tray ( S5) If there is, the print job is executed (S6 to S8).
The difference from the conventional confidential printing is that the presence / absence determination (S5) on the paper discharge tray is a necessary condition for starting printing.
In this way, at the time of confidential printing, the user needs to take out printed sheets from the sheet discharge tray one by one until the end of printing, and cannot leave the printer device 100. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the printing apparatus 100 is left after inputting the user name and password and the printing result is left on the printer apparatus 100 even though the confidential printing is performed.

[Second Embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment, the control program in the printer controller 105 holds and stores in advance a numerical value N (where N is a natural number) for determining that the total number of pages is “large”. When the total number of pages of a document exceeds a certain value, it has a function of determining whether to interrupt printing based on the presence or absence of paper in the paper discharge tray only every two pages.
FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart during the printing operation according to the second embodiment. When a print job is received from the host PC 110 (S1), if it is confidential printing (Y in S2), a password is input, and if the passwords match (Y in S4), the total number of pages of the accumulated document is N or more. (S5).
If it is determined that the number is less than N, the process proceeds to step S6, where it is determined whether or not there is a sheet in the sheet discharge tray (S6), and if there is, a print job is executed (S7, S8, S13).
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S5 that the number is N or more, it is determined whether the page is an odd number (S9). Is executed (S11, S12, S13).
In this way, the user does not need to remove the paper for each page in the confidential printing of the document having a large total number of pages, so that the user's labor can be reduced and the time until the printing is completed can be reduced.
[Third Embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 according to the third embodiment, the operation panel 102 has a function of an input unit for the user to input a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages is large or small. The control method is the same as in the second embodiment.
In this way, the user can arbitrarily set a numerical value.
[Fourth Embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 according to the fourth embodiment, the operation panel 102 has a function of an input unit for the user to input a numerical value for how many pages the presence / absence of paper in the paper discharge tray is confirmed. The control method is almost the same as in the third embodiment.
The difference from the apparatus of the third embodiment is that the condition of step S9 in FIG. 3 for determining whether or not the page is an odd page is a determination as to whether or not it is a multiple of the numerical value set by the user. In this way, the user can arbitrarily set a numerical value.

[Fifth Embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 according to the fifth embodiment, the operation panel 102 functions as an input unit for inputting the number of times of determination of the presence or absence of paper in the paper discharge tray (the number of times to confirm that there is a person near the printer apparatus 100). Have The control method is almost the same as in the third embodiment.
The difference from the apparatus of the third embodiment is that the condition of step S9 in FIG. 3 for determining whether the page is an odd page is a multiple of the quotient when the total number of pages is divided by the value input by the user. It is a point that determines whether.
In this way, no matter how many pages of documents are confidentially printed, it is only necessary to remove the paper from the paper discharge tray for a certain set number of times.
[Sixth Embodiment]
In the printer device 100 of the sixth embodiment, the operation panel 102 has a confidential print execution button, and the controller 105 executes printing only when the confidential print execution button is pressed, and if not pressed, printing is performed. It has the function to control not to perform. The control method is almost the same as in the first embodiment.
The difference from the apparatus of the first embodiment is that step S5 in FIG. 2 which checks the presence or absence of paper in the paper discharge tray is a check whether or not the confidential printing execution button is pressed.
In this way, the user only has to press the button on the operation panel 102, so that the user's trouble can be reduced, and printing is not stopped, so that the total printing time can be shortened.

[Seventh Embodiment]
In the printer device 100 of the seventh embodiment, the controller 105 needs to input the password again when the confidential printing execution button is pressed next when the confidential printing execution button is turned off during the confidential printing. It has the function to control.
In this way, when a user who is executing confidential printing leaves the printer device 100, another user simply presses the confidential print execution button, and printing is started. Can be prevented.
[Eighth Embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 of the eighth embodiment, the apparatus main body has a human body detection sensor, and the controller 105 has a control function for executing / stopping printing based on information from the human body detection sensor. The control method is almost the same as in the first embodiment.
The difference from the apparatus of the first embodiment is that step S5 in FIG. 2 that checks whether or not there is a sheet in the paper discharge tray is a check of whether or not the human body detection sensor determines “manned”.
In this way, the user can prevent leakage of confidential printing information as long as the user is in front of the printer device, and the user's trouble can be saved.

[Ninth Embodiment]
The printer apparatus 100 according to the ninth embodiment includes a human body detection sensor as in the eighth embodiment, and the controller 105 determines that the human body detection sensor is “unmanned” during execution of confidential printing, and then “manned”. When it is determined, it has a control function that requires password input again.
In this way, when a user who is executing confidential printing leaves the printer apparatus 100, printing is started only by another user standing near the printer apparatus 100, and the confidential printing document is different. It is possible to prevent the situation of crossing people.
[Tenth embodiment]
In the printer apparatus 100 of the ninth embodiment, the apparatus main body has a fingerprint sensor, and the controller 105 has a control function for starting confidential printing even by fingerprint authentication instead of password input.
In this way, the user can authenticate only by passing a finger through the fingerprint sensor, and can save the trouble of inputting a password.

1 is a configuration diagram of a printer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an operation | movement flowchart at the time of the printing which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is an operation | movement flowchart at the time of the printing which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  100 Printer, 102 Operation Panel, 105 Controller, 110 Host PC

Claims (9)

  In a printer apparatus having a confidential printing function for performing authentication and printing for a print job set with a user name and password transmitted from a host PC, it is determined whether or not there is paper on a paper discharge tray, and the paper discharge A printer apparatus comprising control means for controlling to execute confidential printing when there is no sheet on the tray.   2. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit that inputs a number of times for the control unit to determine whether or not there is a sheet on the paper discharge tray.   2. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the personal authentication is performed by inputting a password.   2. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit having a confidential printing execution button, wherein the control unit executes confidential printing when the confidential printing execution button of the input unit is pressed. Printer device.   5. The printer apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when the confidential printing execution button is turned off during execution of confidential printing, the control unit performs authentication again when the confidential printing execution button is pressed next time. A printer apparatus characterized by the above.   2. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether the total number of pages exceeds a certain value based on a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages of the confidential print document is large or small. A printer apparatus that determines whether or not there is a sheet in the sheet discharge tray for each predetermined page.   7. The printer apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages is large or small is preset in the control means.   7. The printer apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an input means for inputting a numerical value for determining whether the total number of pages is large or small.   7. The printer apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an input unit for inputting a predetermined page for determining whether or not there is paper in the paper discharge tray.

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