JP2008067122A - Information processor, and information processing system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of limiting image formation processing that corresponds to an image forming apparatus for each document data. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor acquires document data which is an object of image formation and is attached with image formation processing limitation information for associating apparatus specification information for specifying an image forming apparatus with limitation contents information showing limitation contents of image formation processing to the image forming apparatus, acquires an image formation instruction for instructing an output destination image forming apparatus to be an output destination to form an image shown by the document data, and limits the image formation processing of the document data corresponding to the image formation instruction on the basis of the limitation contents information included in the image formation processing limitation information attached to the document data and associated with the apparatus specification information for specifying the output destination image forming apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and a program.

Conventionally, document data generated by an information processing apparatus is provided to another information processing apparatus via a communication network, and an image indicated by the document data is placed on a medium such as paper by an image forming apparatus as required by a user. It is made to form. However, there are cases where a document data provider wants to restrict the image forming processing of document data by such an image forming apparatus due to security requirements. Thus, a technique for adding printing restriction information to document data has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-165844 A

  In the above prior art, the focus is on restricting image forming processing from the viewpoint of security. For this reason, no consideration is given to the restriction according to the image forming apparatus to be output. However, in some cases, there is a demand to limit each document data according to the image forming apparatus from the viewpoint of managing the cost caused by the image forming apparatus performing the image forming process.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and one of its purposes is an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and an information processing apparatus capable of restricting image forming processing according to the image forming apparatus for each document data. To provide a program.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above-described problem is document data that is an object of image formation, and device specifying information for specifying the image forming apparatus, and details of restrictions on image forming processing for the image forming apparatus An image forming unit that acquires document data to which image forming process restriction information that associates restriction content information indicating the image data is added, and an image that forms an image indicated by the document data on an output destination image forming apparatus that is an output destination An image forming instruction acquisition unit for acquiring a forming instruction, and the restriction content information associated with the apparatus specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming apparatus included in the image forming process restriction information added to the document data. And an image forming process restricting means for restricting an image forming process of the document data according to the image forming instruction.

  In the information processing apparatus, the device specifying information for specifying the image forming device may be information for specifying an image forming device group including a plurality of image forming devices. Further, the device specifying information for specifying the image forming device group may be a network address for specifying a network segment to which an image forming device belonging to the image forming device group is connected.

  In addition, another information processing apparatus according to the present invention, for document data that is an object of image formation, includes device specifying information that specifies an image forming device and a restriction that indicates a restriction content of image forming processing for the image forming device. Including restriction information adding means for adding image formation processing restriction information for associating with the content information, wherein the restriction content information is specified by the device specification information associated with the restriction content information. It is used to limit image forming processing.

  In addition, the information processing system according to the present invention provides apparatus specifying information for specifying an image forming apparatus for document data that is an object of image formation, and restriction contents information indicating restriction contents of image forming processing for the image forming apparatus. And information forming instruction acquiring means for acquiring an image forming instruction for forming an image indicated by the document data in an output destination image forming apparatus serving as an output destination; , Based on the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming device, included in the image forming processing restriction information added to the document data, in response to the image forming instruction. And image forming processing restriction means for restricting image forming processing of document data.

  The program according to the present invention is document data that is an object of image formation, and includes device specifying information for specifying an image forming device and restriction content information indicating restriction content of image forming processing for the image forming device. Document data acquisition means for acquiring document data to which image formation processing restriction information to be associated is added, and an image formation instruction for acquiring an image formation instruction for causing an output destination image forming apparatus to form an image indicated by the document data as an output destination Based on the acquisition unit and the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming device included in the image forming processing restriction information added to the document data, the image forming instruction is received. A program for causing a computer to function as an image forming process restricting means for restricting image forming processing of the document data according to A.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a document data generation device 1, a client device 2, an image forming device 3a, and an image forming device 3b. Yes. The document data generation device 1 and the client device 2 are connected to each other via a communication network so that data communication is possible. The client apparatus 2 and the image forming apparatuses 3a and 3b are also connected so as to be capable of data communication.

  The document data generation device 1 is a personal computer, for example. In the present embodiment, the document data generation device 1 generates document data to which image formation processing restriction information is added based on a user's instruction operation, and the document data in response to a request from the client device 2 via a communication network. Send.

  Specifically, the document data generation device 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, an operation unit 13, a display unit 14, and a communication unit 15.

  The control unit 11 is a CPU or the like, and operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 12. An example of processing executed by the control unit 11 in this embodiment will be described later. The storage unit 12 is a computer-readable information storage medium that holds a program executed by the control unit 11, and includes at least one of a memory element such as a RAM or a ROM and a disk device such as a hard disk drive. Consists of. The storage unit 12 also operates as a work memory for the control unit 11.

  The operation unit 13 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse, and receives a user instruction operation and outputs the content of the instruction operation to the control unit 11. The display unit 14 is a display, for example, and displays information according to an instruction from the control unit 11.

  The communication unit 15 is a network interface and transmits information via a communication network in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 11. In addition, the communication unit 15 receives information that arrives via the communication network and outputs the information to the control unit 11.

  The client device 2 is, for example, a personal computer. In the present embodiment, the client apparatus 2 acquires document data provided from the document data generation apparatus 1 based on a user's instruction operation, and transmits an image formation instruction for the document data to the image forming apparatus 3a or 3b. To do.

  Specifically, the client device 2 includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, an operation unit 23, a display unit 24, and a communication unit 25. Each of these units may have the same configuration as the control unit 11, the storage unit 12, the operation unit 13, the display unit 14, and the communication unit 15.

  The image forming apparatus 3a and the image forming apparatus 3b are, for example, a printer, a multifunction peripheral, or the like, and perform image forming processing for forming an image on a medium such as paper based on control information transmitted from the client apparatus 2.

  Hereinafter, functions realized by the information processing system having the above-described configuration will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the document data generation apparatus 1 is functionally configured to include a document data generation unit 31, a restriction information addition unit 32, and a document data output unit 33. These functions can be realized, for example, when the control unit 11 executes a program such as application software stored in the storage unit 12.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the client device 2 is functionally configured to include a document data acquisition unit 34, an image formation instruction acquisition unit 35, and an image formation processing restriction unit 36. These functions can be realized, for example, when the control unit 21 executes a program stored in the storage unit 22. In this case, the image forming process restriction unit 36 may be realized by executing a printer driver program, for example. These programs executed by the control unit 11 and the control unit 21 may be provided via a communication network such as the Internet, or may be variously readable by a computer such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM. The information storage medium may be provided by being stored.

  The document data generation unit 31 generates document data based on a user instruction operation. The document data generated by the document data generation unit 31 may include arbitrary data such as text, graphics, photos, and tables as long as the data represents an image to be image-formed.

  The restriction information adding unit 32 adds image forming process restriction information to the document data generated by the document data generating unit 31. Here, the image forming process restriction information is data that associates the apparatus specifying information for specifying the image forming apparatus that is the target of the image forming process and the restriction content information that indicates the restriction contents of the image forming process for the image forming apparatus.

  The device specifying information may be, for example, an address (IP address or the like) on the network of the image forming device specified by the device specifying information. Further, it may be a community name set by the user, or may be information composed of a combination of the MAC address of the image forming apparatus and the information of the manufacturer that manufactured the image forming apparatus and the serial number. . Further, in the image forming process restriction information added to one document data, these plural types of device specifying information may be mixed.

  Further, the device specifying information may be information for specifying an image forming device group composed of a plurality of image forming devices. In this way, for example, it is possible to impose a common content restriction on a plurality of image forming apparatuses installed in a certain department. In this case, the device specifying information for specifying the image forming device group may be a group name associated with a plurality of image forming devices in advance. Thereby, the user can reduce time and labor when the content of restriction corresponding to the image forming apparatus is designated by an instruction operation on the operation unit 13.

  In addition, the device specifying information for specifying the image forming device group is described in a network address (for example, 192.168. *. * In the IP network) specifying the network segment to which the image forming device belonging to the image forming device group is connected. Address). By using a network address as device specifying information, for example, a new image forming apparatus is connected to a network segment specified by the network address, or an image forming apparatus connected to the network segment is replaced with another model. Even in this case, it is possible to impose a common content restriction on image forming apparatuses connected to a specific network segment without changing the image forming process restriction information added to the document data. Alternatively, the device specifying information may be a domain name that specifies a network domain to which a plurality of image forming devices belong.

  The restriction content information may be information indicating that the image forming process itself is restricted, or may be information indicating that the image forming process having a predetermined content is restricted. As a specific example, there may be one that restricts color printing, one that restricts single-sided printing, or one that restricts image forming processing for a predetermined size or type of paper. Further, for example, only image forming processing in a predetermined printing mode may be permitted such as printing a plurality of images on one sheet, and image forming processing in other printing modes may be restricted.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the contents of the image forming process restriction information added to the document data. In the example of FIG. 3, the image forming process restriction information is represented by a table in which restriction content information is associated with apparatus specifying information for specifying each of the image forming apparatus 3a and the image forming apparatus 3b. Here, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx indicates the IP address of the image forming apparatus 3a, and yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy indicates the IP address of the image forming apparatus 3b.

  The restriction information adding unit 32 may encrypt the image forming process restriction information using, for example, a secret key in a public key cryptosystem and add it to the document data. In this way, the client device 2 can decrypt the image forming process restriction information using the public key corresponding to the secret key, and can restrict the image forming process using the decrypted image forming process restriction information. It becomes difficult for a third party to illegally rewrite the image forming process restriction information.

  The restriction information adding unit 32 requests the user to input authentication information (password or the like) when the user tries to perform an instruction operation for adding image forming process restriction information to the operation unit 13. It is good. In this way, only the user who generated the document data or the user who once added the image formation process restriction information to the document data can add new image formation process restriction information or update the added image formation process restriction information. It can be carried out.

  The document data output unit 33 accepts a data transmission request from the client device 2 and outputs document data to which image forming process restriction information held in the storage unit 12 is added in response to the request. As a result, the document data generating apparatus 1 transmits the document data to the client apparatus 2 via the communication network.

  The document data acquisition unit 34 acquires document data to which image formation processing restriction information as described above is added. Specifically, the document data acquisition unit 34 acquires the document data by receiving the document data transmitted from the document data generation apparatus 1 by transmitting a data transmission request to the document data generation apparatus 1. To do.

  The image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 acquires an image formation instruction for forming an image indicated by the document data acquired by the document data acquisition unit 34 in an output destination image forming apparatus serving as an output destination. Here, the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 acquires an image formation instruction based on an instruction operation performed on the operation unit 23 by the user.

  The image formation processing restriction unit 36 includes restriction content information associated with device specifying information for specifying an output destination image forming device, which is included in the image formation processing restriction information added to the document data acquired by the document data acquisition unit 34. Based on this, the image forming instruction of the document data corresponding to the image forming instruction acquired by the image forming instruction acquiring unit 35 is limited. Here, the output destination image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus designated as an output destination in the image forming instruction acquired by the image forming instruction acquiring unit 35.

  As a specific example, if the image forming process restricting unit 36 determines whether or not to restrict the image forming process according to the image forming instruction and determines that the restriction is unnecessary, the image forming process restricting unit 36 sends a document to the output destination image forming apparatus. Control information for executing data image forming processing is transmitted. As a result, the output destination image forming apparatus executes image forming processing and forms an image indicated by the document data on the medium. On the other hand, when it is determined that the image forming process is to be restricted, control information for simply executing the image forming process with the restricted contents may be transmitted to the output destination image forming apparatus. For example, when color output is restricted, control information for executing image forming processing in the monochrome printing mode is transmitted. Further, the image forming process restriction unit 36 presents information to the user that the image forming process is restricted, and determines whether to stop or continue the image forming process in accordance with a user instruction for the presented information. You may judge.

  Here, a specific example of the processing contents of the image formation processing restriction unit 36 will be described. In this example, it is assumed that, when the image forming process restriction information illustrated in FIG. 3 is added to the document data, the user instructs the image forming of the document data using the image forming apparatus 3a as the output destination. The image forming process restriction information in FIG. 3 includes information indicating color output restriction as restriction content information in association with the apparatus specifying information for specifying the image forming apparatus 3a. Therefore, the image forming process restriction unit 36 causes the display unit 24 to display information indicating that color output of the document data is restricted. Then, in accordance with an instruction operation performed on the operation unit 23 by the user, it is selected whether to execute the image forming process in a state where color output is limited or to cancel the image forming process. When it is selected to execute the image forming process, the control information for executing the image forming process for forming the image indicated by the document data is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 3a together with the information for specifying the monochrome printing mode. The image forming apparatus 3a executes an image forming process for forming an image indicated by the document data on the medium in the monochrome printing mode in accordance with the control information.

  In the example in which the image forming process restriction information in FIG. 3 is added to the document data, when the image forming apparatus 3b is designated as the output destination image forming apparatus, the image forming process restriction unit 36 executes the image forming process. Information indicating that this is prohibited is displayed on the display unit 24. In this case, the user cannot cause the image forming apparatus 3b to execute the image forming process.

  Here, the image formation processing restriction unit 36 may acquire device specifying information for specifying the image forming device designated as the output destination image forming device based on the information held in the storage unit 22. You may acquire by the information received from the output destination image forming apparatus via the communication network. For example, an example in which the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 designates an output destination image forming apparatus with a community name will be described. Here, it is assumed that, for example, a MAC address is used as the device specifying information in the image forming process restriction information added to the document data. In this case, the image forming process restricting unit 36 transmits a request for notifying the device specifying information to the output destination image forming device designated by the community name via the communication network. In response to this, the output destination image forming apparatus returns apparatus specifying information such as a MAC address. The image forming process restricting unit 36 determines whether or not it is necessary to restrict the image forming process in accordance with the returned device specifying information. In this way, a user who gives an image formation instruction can specify an output destination image forming apparatus without being aware of the type of apparatus specifying information set in the document data.

  Next, an example of the flow of processing realized in the information processing system according to this embodiment will be described.

  First, an example of a processing flow when the restriction information adding unit 32 adds image forming process restriction information to document data will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. The process described here is executed, for example, when the user performs an instruction operation for designating document data and adding image forming process restriction information to the operation unit 13 of the document data generation apparatus 1.

  First, the restriction information adding unit 32 determines whether image forming process restriction information has already been added to the designated document data (S1). If it is determined in S1 that the image forming process restriction information is not added, the restriction information adding unit 32 causes the display unit 14 to display a dialog for prompting the input of a password, thereby allowing the user to set a new password (S2). ).

  Conversely, if it is determined in S1 that the image forming process restriction information has already been added, the restriction information adding unit 32 displays a dialog prompting the user to input a password that has already been set, and authenticates with the password. Perform (S3). When the authentication fails (that is, when the user cannot input a correct password), the restriction information adding unit 32 ends the process. If authentication is successful (i.e., the user has correctly entered a set password), processing continues.

  After the password is set in S2, or after the authentication by the password is successful in S3, the restriction information adding unit 32 displays on the display unit 14 a dialog for prompting input of device specifying information for specifying the image forming device to be restricted. Let And the apparatus specific information which a user inputs is acquired (S4). Subsequently, the restriction information adding unit 32 causes the display unit 14 to display a dialog for prompting input of restriction content information indicating restriction content for the image forming apparatus specified by the device specifying information acquired in S4. And the restriction content information which a user inputs is acquired (S5).

  Further, the restriction information adding unit 32 associates the device identification information acquired in S4 with the restriction content information acquired in S5, adds the information to the document data as image forming process restriction information (S6), and ends the process.

  Next, in the client device 2, an example of a processing flow when the user gives an image formation instruction to the document data acquired by the document data acquisition unit 34 and held in the storage unit 22 will be described with reference to FIG. A description will be given based on the flowchart.

  In this case, the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 first acquires an image formation instruction for causing the output destination image forming apparatus to form an image based on an instruction operation performed by the user on the operation unit 23 (S11). In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that the user specifies the contents of the image forming process (print mode designation, paper size designation, etc.) together with the image formation instruction.

  Next, the image forming process restriction unit 36 determines whether or not image forming process restriction information is added to the document data that is the target of the image forming instruction (S12). If the image forming process restriction information is added, a request for returning the device specifying information is transmitted to the output destination image forming device specified in S11, and the device specifying information is acquired ( S13). Further, the image forming process restriction unit 36 determines whether or not the device specifying information has been successfully acquired in S13 (S14).

  If it is determined in step S14 that the device specifying information has been successfully acquired, the image forming process restriction unit 36 further determines whether the acquired device specifying information of the output destination image forming device is included in the image forming processing restriction information. Is determined (S15). When it is determined that it is included, the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information is acquired (S16). Further, the image formation processing restriction unit 36 compares the restriction content information acquired in S16 with the content of the image formation processing designated by the image formation instruction, and determines whether or not restriction is necessary (S17). If it is determined that the restriction is necessary, information indicating that the image forming process is restricted is displayed on the display unit 24 (S18).

  Then, according to the user's instruction, it is selected whether to continue or cancel the image forming process with the limited contents (S19). If it is selected to continue the image forming process in S19, control information for executing the image forming process with the restriction indicated by the restriction content information is transmitted to the output destination image forming apparatus. Thereby, the output destination image forming apparatus executes an image forming process according to the restriction content (S20). On the other hand, when the cancellation of the image forming process is selected in S19, the process ends.

  If it is determined in S12 that the image forming process restriction information is not added, or if it is determined in S14 that acquisition of the device specifying information has failed, the device specifying information of the output destination image forming apparatus is set in S15. If it is determined that the information is not included, or if it is determined in S17 that no restriction is necessary, the image forming process restricting unit 36 transmits control information for executing the image forming process to the output destination image forming apparatus as it is. To do. In response to this, the output destination image forming apparatus executes normal image forming processing (S21).

  In the example of FIG. 5, when the restriction content information for the output destination image forming apparatus cannot be acquired, the image forming process can be executed without restriction. However, in this case, the image forming process is completely performed. It is good also as restricting to.

  According to the present embodiment described above, the image forming process is restricted according to the image forming process restriction information included in the document data, so that the image forming process corresponding to the output destination image forming apparatus is performed for each document data. Limits can be realized.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the restriction information adding unit 32 may add restriction information to document data acquired from another information processing apparatus as well as the document data generated in the document data generation apparatus 1. In the above description, the functions of the restriction information adding unit 32 included in the document data generation device 1, the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 and the image formation processing restriction unit 36 included in the client device 2 are as follows. One information processing apparatus may coexist.

  Further, the functions of the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 and the image formation processing restriction unit 36 may be included in the image forming apparatus. In this case, the image forming apparatus receives the control information transmitted from the client apparatus 2 or the like, thereby acquiring the document data and the image forming instruction to which the image forming process restriction information included in the control information is added. Then, it is determined whether to limit the image forming process according to the acquired image forming process restriction information, and the image forming process is limited according to the determination result.

  In the above description, the image forming process restricting unit 36 determines whether or not the restriction is necessary after the content of the image forming process is designated by the user. However, the image forming process is restricted by other methods. It is good to do. For example, after the image formation instruction acquisition unit 35 acquires the information of the output destination image forming apparatus, the image formation processing restriction unit 36 adds the restriction content information corresponding to the output destination image forming apparatus to the document data. Obtained from the restriction information, and presenting a process content selection screen that allows the user to select the content of the image forming process in a state where selection candidates are restricted according to the obtained restriction content information. For example, when the paper size that can be selected is restricted to a predetermined value according to the restriction content information, the image forming process restriction unit 36 is in a state where the paper size is already selected and other paper sizes are deleted from the selection candidates. The processing content selection screen is presented to the user. Accordingly, when the user selects the content of the image forming process on the screen, the user cannot select a selection candidate restricted by the restricted content information, and the image forming process restricting unit 36 responds to the restricted content information. The contents of the image forming process can be limited.

It is a block diagram showing the schematic structure of the information processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram showing the function of a document data generation apparatus and a client apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of image formation process restriction information. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process performed by the document data generation apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process performed by the client apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document data generation apparatus, 2 Client apparatus, 3a, 3b Image forming apparatus, 11, 21 Control part, 12, 22 Storage part, 13, 23 Operation part, 14, 24 Display part, 15, 25 Communication part, 31 Document data Generation unit, 32 Restriction information addition unit, 33 Document data output unit, 34 Document data acquisition unit, 35 Image formation instruction acquisition unit, 36 Image formation process restriction unit

Claims (6)

Image forming process restriction information that associates apparatus specifying information for specifying an image forming apparatus with restriction contents information indicating restriction contents of image forming processing for the image forming apparatus is added as document data to be image formed. Document data acquisition means for acquiring the acquired document data;
Image formation instruction acquisition means for acquiring an image formation instruction for forming an image indicated by the document data in an output destination image forming apparatus serving as an output destination;
The document according to the image forming instruction based on the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming device, which is included in the image forming processing restriction information added to the document data. Image formation processing restriction means for restricting data image formation processing;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The apparatus specifying information for specifying the image forming apparatus is information for specifying an image forming apparatus group including a plurality of image forming apparatuses. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The information processing apparatus characterized in that the apparatus specifying information for specifying the image forming apparatus group is a network address for specifying a network segment to which an image forming apparatus belonging to the image forming apparatus group is connected. Image forming process restriction information for associating device specifying information for specifying an image forming apparatus with restriction content information indicating restriction contents of image forming processing for the image forming apparatus is added to document data to be image formed. Including restriction information adding means,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the restriction content information is used to restrict an image forming process of the document data by an image forming apparatus specified by device specifying information associated with the restriction content information. Image forming process restriction information for associating device specifying information for specifying an image forming apparatus with restriction content information indicating restriction contents of image forming processing for the image forming apparatus is added to document data to be image formed. Restriction information adding means;
Image formation instruction acquisition means for acquiring an image formation instruction for forming an image indicated by the document data in an output destination image forming apparatus serving as an output destination;
The document according to the image forming instruction based on the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming device, which is included in the image forming processing restriction information added to the document data. Image formation processing restriction means for restricting data image formation processing;
An information processing system comprising: Image forming process restriction information that associates apparatus specifying information for specifying an image forming apparatus with restriction contents information indicating restriction contents of image forming processing for the image forming apparatus is added as document data to be image formed. Document data acquisition means for acquiring stored document data,
Included in the image formation instruction obtaining means for obtaining an image formation instruction for forming an image indicated by the document data in an output destination image forming apparatus as an output destination, and the image formation processing restriction information added to the document data An image forming process restricting means for restricting an image forming process of the document data in accordance with the image forming instruction based on the restriction content information associated with the device specifying information for specifying the output destination image forming device;
As a program to make the computer function.

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