JP2007313795A - Image forming apparatus capable of storing and restoring setting information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that setting information is restored in another image forming apparatus when the setting information of an image forming apparatus is to be stored and restored in the image forming apparatus, and that there is a fear of leaking address information, password information, etc. <P>SOLUTION: For preventing the setting information from being restored in another image forming apparatus when the setting information in the image forming apparatus is to be stored and restored in the apparatus, the setting information is enciphered and stored in the setting information by making data such as a serial number proper to the image forming apparatus an encryption key. When the setting information is to be restored, restoration is carried out with the data proper to the apparatus such as the serial number of the image forming apparatus to be restored being made a decryption key. The setting information can be accordingly prevented from being stored unless it is the apparatus in which the setting information is stored. The security of the image forming apparatus is improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique that enables setting information in an image forming apparatus to be saved and restored, and relates to an image forming apparatus that improves security by using data unique to the apparatus.

  In the image forming apparatus, setting information such as an address book, password setting, department management data, and setting emulation language set in the apparatus is stored in the internal or external storage medium, and the setting information is stored from the storage medium. By reading and restoring the image, if the operation of the image forming device becomes abnormal, return to the previous setting state to perform a test, or lose data such as the address book due to incorrect operation or device abnormality. There is also a method for restoring from the backup data of the stored storage medium.

  For example, there has been a method of saving and restoring data by writing setting information of an electronic device such as an image forming apparatus to an ID card and reading it back (see Patent Document 1).

  However, there is a risk that the address book data and password data, which are part of the setting information, are leaked when the data stored in the image forming apparatus or in an external storage medium is stolen and restored to another image forming apparatus was there.

JP-A-10-240369

  The problem to be solved is that when the setting information in the image forming apparatus is to be stored and restored, the setting information cannot be restored to another image forming apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a setting information reading unit that reads setting information, a setting information storage unit that stores the setting information, and a setting information restoration unit that restores the setting information stored by the setting information storage unit. In the image forming apparatus, the setting information storage unit stores the setting information in association with data specific to the image forming apparatus when the setting information is stored, and the setting information restoration unit stores data specific to the image forming apparatus. The most important feature is that the setting information can be restored based on the above.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a setting information reading unit that reads setting information, a setting information storage unit that stores the setting information, and a setting information restoration unit that restores the setting information stored by the setting information storage unit. In the image forming apparatus, the setting information storage unit stores the setting information in association with data specific to the image forming apparatus when the setting information is stored, and the setting information restoration unit stores data specific to the image forming apparatus. The most important feature is that the setting information can be restored based on the setting information. Therefore, when the setting information in the apparatus is to be saved and restored in the image forming apparatus, the setting information is not restored to another image forming apparatus. As a result, the security of the image forming apparatus is improved.

  By a method for saving and restoring the setting information including data unique to the image forming apparatus so that the setting information is not restored to other image forming apparatuses when the setting information in the apparatus is to be saved and restored in the image forming apparatus It was realized.

  An image forming apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 101, an operation panel unit 103, an external storage device interface unit 105, a storage unit 107, a printing unit 109, and a network interface unit 111.

  The control unit 101 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a peripheral device control circuit. The control unit 101 controls the image forming apparatus 1 and functions as a setting information reading unit and a setting information restoring unit.

  The operation panel unit 103 includes an output panel and an input interface, and can instruct to save or restore setting information.

  The external storage device interface unit 105 can exchange data between the image forming apparatus and the external storage medium by connecting a flash memory 201 such as a USB memory or an optical disk device. , Serves as a setting information storage means.

  The storage unit 107 includes a magnetic storage device such as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk drive, and stores data and programs of the image forming apparatus. It also functions as setting information storage means for recording setting information of the image forming apparatus in a part of the hard disk drive.

  The printing unit 109 performs printing.

  The network interface unit 111 is a network device for connecting the image forming apparatus 1 and an external PC (Personal Computer) 301, and functions as a setting information storage unit when storing setting information in the PC.

[flowchart]
The operation flow will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of storing the setting information inside the image forming apparatus performed by the setting information reading unit and the setting information storage unit.

  When the operation panel unit 103 or the PC 301 connected through the network instructs the start of the setting information storing operation of the image forming apparatus 1, the flowchart of FIG. 2 starts executing, and the operation proceeds to S401.

  In step S401, the image forming apparatus 1 creates a setting value table for storing setting information.

  In S403, a serial number that is unique data of the image forming apparatus 1 is acquired.

  In step S405, setting information is acquired, and data is written in the setting value table prepared in step S401. As a means for acquiring this setting information, all the setting information can be acquired by a command (setting value siphoning command). As for what each setting information has, information is provided for items that can be set such as operation panel, PJL (Printer Job Language), Web, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). It shall provide a means to be able to. For example, for a Web page, a list of setting items can be acquired in HTML format. For items that can be set on the operation panel unit 103, means such as outputting a status page can be considered.

  In step S407, the setting value table is encrypted using the device-specific data as a key. Of the setting information to be acquired, data such as address books, password settings, and department management data that cannot be retrieved from others cannot be acquired as the original data, and an encryption key using API (Application Protocol Interface) is used. Can be obtained as encrypted data. Only the highly confidential data may be stored in an encrypted state, or the entire data including the normal data may be encrypted and stored again.

  In step S409, the storage location of the setting information is designated.

  If the storage location is an internal HDD (Hard Disk Drive) in the image forming apparatus, the operation proceeds to S411, the encrypted setting value table is recorded in a part of the internal HDD, and the operation ends.

  If the storage location of the setting information designated in S409 is a USB memory, the operation proceeds to S413, the encrypted setting value table is recorded in the USB memory, and the operation is terminated.

  If the storage location of the setting information specified in S409 is a PC, the operation proceeds to S415, the encrypted setting value table is recorded in the PC, and the operation ends.

  This is the end of the description of the setting information storage flowchart.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the setting information restoring operation performed by the setting information restoring unit. The operation will be described below.

  When the operation panel unit 103 or the PC 301 connected through the network is instructed to start the restoration operation of the setting information of the image forming apparatus 1, the flowchart of FIG. 3 starts execution, and the operation proceeds to S501.

  In step S501, the location where the setting information is stored is designated to be restored.

  If the designation in S501 is an internal HDD, the operation proceeds to S503, the encrypted setting value table stored in the internal HDD is read into the image forming apparatus 1 in S503, and the operation proceeds to S509.

  If the designation in S501 is a USB memory, the operation proceeds to S505, the encrypted setting value table stored in the USB memory is read into the image forming apparatus 1 in S505, and the operation proceeds to S509.

  If the designation in S501 is PC, the operation proceeds to S507, the encrypted setting value table stored in the PC is read into the image forming apparatus 1 in S507, and the operation proceeds to S509.

  In S509, a serial number, which is device-specific data, is acquired.

  In S511, the encrypted set value table read using the serial number is decrypted.

  A setting value table for holding the data decrypted in S513 is created.

  The setting information in the setting value table decoded in S515 is written into the setting value table in the image forming apparatus.

  In step S517, the setting value table data is restored in the image forming apparatus. At this time, the highly confidential data such as the address book obtained as encrypted in S407 is stored in the apparatus by using a restoration API that restores the apparatus by designating the same encryption key as the reading API. Write.

  The setting information restoration operation is thus completed.

[Effect of Example]
The image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to save and restore the setting information. If the settings of the apparatus are periodically saved, the setting information can be restored at any time.

  Since many recent devices store information in the HDD, etc., there is a possibility that all settings will be lost when the HDD breaks down. However, the setting information in this embodiment is stored in an external storage device or Such a situation can be avoided when saving to a PC.

  In addition, since encryption / decryption is performed using a serial number unique to the device, data can be restored only by the device that stores the setting information, so that security can be improved.

[Others]
In this embodiment, the serial number of the apparatus is adopted as the data unique to the image forming apparatus, but a MAC address held by the network interface unit of the apparatus may be used. An encryption key dedicated to encryption / decryption of the setting information may be prepared for each apparatus.

  In this embodiment, a flash memory is used as a removable storage device for recording setting information, but a storage medium such as a writable optical disk or magnetic disk may be used.

1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus (first embodiment). FIG. 6 is a flowchart for storing setting information (Example 1); 10 is a flowchart for restoring setting information (Example 1).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 101 Control part (setting information reading means, setting information restoration means)
103 Operation Panel Unit 105 External Storage Device Interface Unit 107 Storage Unit (Setting Information Saving Unit)
109 Printing Section 111 Network Interface Section 201 Flash Memory (Setting Information Saving Unit)
301 PC (setting information storage means)

Claims (6)

In the image forming apparatus, comprising: a setting information reading unit that reads setting information; a setting information storage unit that stores the setting information; and a setting information restoration unit that restores the setting information stored by the setting information storage unit. The means stores the setting information in association with data unique to the image forming apparatus when storing the setting information,
The image forming apparatus characterized in that the setting information restoring means can restore the setting information based on data unique to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The setting information storage unit stores the setting information including data unique to the image forming apparatus when storing the setting information,
The setting information restoring unit can restore the setting information only when the data unique to the image forming apparatus included in the setting information matches the data unique to the image forming apparatus of the image forming apparatus that restores the setting information. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The setting information storage means encrypts and stores the setting information when storing the setting information,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the setting information restoring unit restores the setting information after decrypting the encrypted setting information when restoring the setting information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3,
The setting information storage unit encrypts and stores the setting information using the data unique to the image forming apparatus as an encryption key when storing the setting information,
The setting information restoring means restores the setting information after decrypting the setting information using the data unique to the image forming apparatus as a decryption key when restoring the setting information. Image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The image forming apparatus, wherein the data unique to the image forming apparatus is a serial number and / or a MAC (Media Access Control) address of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The setting information storage means stores the setting information through a storage medium detachable from the image forming apparatus such as a USB memory or a writable optical disk, a storage medium mounted in the image forming apparatus such as a hard disk drive, or a network. Save it to an external information terminal, etc.
The setting information restoring means includes
The image forming apparatus, wherein the setting information stored in an external information terminal device or the like can be restored through the removable storage medium, a storage medium mounted in the image forming apparatus, or the network.

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