JP2008203970A - Job tracking information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a job tracking information management system for suppressing the leakage of information by storing content printed by a printer as print log information to make it possible to track it. <P>SOLUTION: Tracking data of a print job are recorded from both a printer driver and an output management system as a print log. Also, when the print log including an image is recorded in the printer driver, any image is prevented from being recorded from the output management system. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a job tracking information management system that suppresses information leakage by accumulating and tracking contents printed on a printer as print log information.

  In recent years, there has been an incident of leakage of confidential information such as corporate customer information. Once an information leakage case becomes public, there are cases where it is forced to spend enormous expenses on damages and responses in addition to losing trust in the company that caused the information leakage.

  Information leak incidents are so large that they cannot be compared with conventional information leak incidents, and more appropriate information leak countermeasures are required from the information management side.

  Conventionally, as a technique widely used as an information leakage countermeasure, there is a method of limiting who can access confidential information by setting an access right to confidential information or a storage server for storing the confidential information.

  However, in recent years, information leakage incidents tend to have an overwhelmingly large number of intentional internal crimes by persons who have been granted access to confidential information. It cannot be said that it is a measure against leakage.

  On the other hand, as information to be protected from information leakage, it is necessary to take into account not only a large amount of information typified by customer information of large corporations but also a small amount of information but qualitatively important information.

  Such information can be easily taken out as printed matter, and there is a demand for measures that are conscious of preventing information leakage in printing.

  The present invention relates to an information leakage suppression method for accumulating printed contents and enabling information tracking for this printing, particularly a network job tracking information management system.

  Means for preventing information leakage have been invented even for the network job tracking information management system which is the technical field of the present invention.

  For example, the print data is stored in a reprintable state by the print server, information such as the job name and user name is acquired, a time stamp is added, and a bitmap is generated from the print data. (For example, refer patent document 1).

  In addition to the above, a method of acquiring a print log on the printer side and storing it in a server (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  Similarly, the print server receives print data from the client and also receives information that can uniquely identify the user, and generates a print log based on the print data and the user information so that it can be searched, viewed, and reprinted. how to. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3).

  There is also provided a method for recording a print log on a server when creating print data with a printer driver.

Currently, there is provided an output management system for storing / managing / reprinting PDL (Page Description Language) print data output from a printer driver.
JP 2002-149371 A JP 2003-330677 A JP 2004-118243 A

  However, when an output management system that transmits print data to a direct printing device as described above is used, there is a problem that the actual print status and the recorded print log are different at present.

  Specifically, the user who actually performed the output, the date and time, device differences due to proxy printing, and the like.

  In the methods of Patent Documents 1 to 3, the printing path is limited to printing via the print server. That is, it cannot cope with a transmission form in which print data is transmitted directly to a printing device such as a printer such as the output management system.

  Also, when reprinting print data as in the output management system, in the conventional technology, even if the print log recorded in the server is one print, the actual print is performed multiple times. A situation like that could happen.

  Realization of correct log information recording is expected.

  In order to achieve the above object, a job tracking information management system according to the present invention is configured as follows.

  First extraction means for extracting / generating tracking information from the print contents of a print job input to the printer driver.

  Identification information adding means for adding identification information for uniquely identifying a print job input to the printer driver.

  Tracking information management means for accumulating and managing tracking information extracted by the first extraction means.

  First transmission means for transmitting the tracking information extracted by the first extraction means to the tracking information management means.

  Print data management means for managing the print data and transmitting the print data to the output management means when printing the print data.

  Print data storage means for storing the print data received by the print data management means.

  The print data is acquired, the status of the print device is monitored, the print data is transmitted to the print device if it is in a printable state, and if it is not a print job from the print data management means, the print data management Output management means for storing print jobs in the means;

  A second extraction unit that extracts and generates tracking information from the print contents of the print data when the print data is transmitted from the output management unit to the printing device;

  Second transmission means for transmitting the tracking information extracted by the second extraction means to the tracking information management means;

  Tracking information storage means for storing the tracking information transmitted by the first transmission means and the second transmission means.

  Further, in the job tracking information management system, the second extraction unit can extract an image from the print data when there is no identification information in the received print data. To do.

  According to the present invention, by storing an appropriate print log from the printer driver and the output management system, even for printing in which print data is directly transmitted from the output management system to the printer, a correct print log in accordance with actual printing is provided. Can be acquired. Further, when a print log including an image is stored from the printer driver, an increase in the storage capacity of the print log can be reduced by not including the image in the log stored from the output management system.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a job tracking information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The job tracking information management system includes a user client 1000, a printer 2000, an output management server 3000, a tracking information storage server 4000, and a management client 5000 connected to a network 6000.

  The user client 1000 receives a print request from the user, generates print data according to the content of the print request, and transmits it to the output management server 3000. Further, the user client 1000 extracts and generates tracking data that matches the print request, and transmits it to the tracking information storage server 4000. The output management server 3000 stores and manages the received print data. The tracking information storage server 4000 registers and stores tracking data received from the user client 1000 as a database in a storage area built in itself or other information devices. Thereafter, the output management server 3000 transmits the print data stored in the output management server 3000 to the printer 2000. The printer 2000 executes print processing according to the received print data. Further, the output management server 3000 extracts and generates tracking data that matches the print data transmission, and transmits it to the tracking information storage server 4000. The tracking information storage server 4000 registers and stores tracking data received from the output management server 3000 as a database in a storage area built in itself or other information devices. The administrator client 5000 is used by the system administrator to search and browse tracking data registered in the database as necessary. The administrator client 5000 may be the same information device as the tracking information storage server 4000.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration for print processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. The job tracking information management system according to this embodiment includes an identification information adding unit 202, a first extracting unit 203, and a first transmitting unit 204 in the printer driver 201. The identification information adding unit 202, the first extracting unit 203, and the first transmitting unit 204 may be built-in modules of the printer driver 201, or may be in the form of library modules added by individual installation. I do not care.

  The identification information adding unit 202 adds identification information for uniquely identifying the print job to the print job name. The target to which the identification information adding unit 202 adds identification information may be anything other than the print job name as long as it can be identification information such as a combination of a user name and other print job attributes. The first extraction unit 203 extracts and generates tracking data in the print job. The first transmission unit 204 transmits the tracking data extracted / generated by the first extraction unit 203 to the tracking information management unit 205. Based on the drawing function received from the print application 200, the printer driver 201 converts it into a control command that can be recognized by the printer, for example, PDL (Page Description Language). The converted control command is output to the print data management unit 206 as print data. The print data management unit 206 receives the print data and transfers it to the print data storage unit 207. The print data management unit 206 manages and reprints the print data stored in the print data storage unit 207. In addition, when there is a print request for print data stored in the print data storage unit 207 from the user client 1000, the print data management unit 206 receives the print data from the print data storage unit 207, and outputs the output management unit 208. Send to. Note that the print data management unit 206 may transmit to the output management unit 208 in accordance with a transmission schedule to the output management unit specified separately.

  The job tracking information management system according to this embodiment includes a second extraction unit 209 and a second transmission unit 210 in the output management unit 208. The second extraction unit 209 and the second transmission unit 210 may be a built-in module of the output management unit 208, or may be in the form of a library module added by individual installation.

  The output management unit 208 transmits the print data received from the print data management unit 206 to the printer 2000. The second extraction unit 209 extracts and generates tracking data in the print job. The second transmission unit 210 transmits the tracking data extracted and generated by the second extraction unit 209 to the tracking information management unit 205. The tracking information management unit 205 receives the tracking data and transfers / saves it to the tracking information storage unit 211. The tracking information management unit 205 may process or select the received tracking data as necessary. The tracking information management unit 205 may receive the tracking data and transmit it to the tracking information storage unit 211 at the same time, or may temporarily store it in a storage area such as a hard disk. Further, it may be transmitted to the tracking information storage unit 211 according to a transmission schedule to the tracking information storage unit 211 specified separately.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of the user client in the printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. When printing is started by the printing application 200 (step S301), the printer driver 201 receives a drawing command in step S302. In step S303, the identification information adding unit 202 adds an identification number to the print job name as identification information that can uniquely identify the print job. Any identification information may be used as long as the print job can be uniquely identified, such as a combination of a user name and other print job attributes. In step S304, the first extraction unit 203 collects and generates tracking data corresponding to the received drawing command. More specifically, for example, if the received drawing command is a print start command, attribute information related to the job, environment information where printing is performed, and the like are used as tracking data. Use tracking data. Conventionally, text information and image extraction can be performed with respect to the first extraction unit 203, and when text information extraction is instructed with respect to the first extraction unit 203, character string information or the like from a text drawing command. Extract and track data. Similarly, if image extraction is instructed, each image is drawn as a bitmap in a memory area or the like where each drawing command is secured. In step S <b> 305, the first transmission unit 204 transfers the collected and generated tracking data to the tracking information management unit 205. After the tracking data is collected, generated, and transferred as described above, in step S306, print data (a control command that can be recognized by the printer 2000) that matches the drawing command received in step S302 is generated. This is transferred to the print data management unit 206. In this way, the drawing command reception (S302), tracking data generation / transfer (S304, S305), and print data generation / transfer (S306) are repeatedly executed until the job end command is processed ( Step S307).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of the print data management unit 206 of the print process according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the print data is transferred from the printer driver 201 (S401), the print data management unit 206 transfers the print data to the print data storage unit 207 and stores it in step S402. In step S403, when a print request is generated according to a transmission schedule to the user client 1000, an application, or a separately designated output management unit, the print data management unit 206 receives the requested print data from the print data storage unit 207 in step S404. Read. In step S <b> 405, the print data management unit 206 transmits the read print data to the output management unit 208.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of the output management unit of the printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the output management unit 208 receives the print data (step S501), in step S502, the second extraction unit 209 collects and generates tracking data corresponding to the received print data. For example, attribute information regarding received print data, environment information on which printing is performed, and the like are used as tracking data. If image extraction can be performed with respect to the second extraction unit 209 and image extraction is instructed with respect to the second extraction unit 209, a bitmap is drawn in a memory area or the like. In step S <b> 503, the second transmission unit 210 transfers the collected and generated tracking data to the tracking information management unit 205. After the tracking data is collected, generated, and transferred, the print data is transferred to the printer 2000 in step S504. In this way, the print data reception (S501), tracking data generation / transfer (S502, S503), and print data transfer (S504) are repeatedly executed until the print data is completed (step S505).

  In the second embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, the second extracting unit 209 shows a process of extracting an image from the print data when there is no identification information in the received print data. Note that the configuration of the job tracking information management system in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process of the output management unit of the printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the output management unit 208 receives print data (step S601), in step S602, the second extraction unit 209 checks whether there is identification information added by the identification information addition unit 202. If there is no identification information, the first extraction unit 203 and the first transmission unit 204 determine that the image is not collected and transmitted as tracking data to the tracking information management unit 205, and the second extraction unit 209 prints Extract images from data. If the identification information is added to the print data in step S602, it is determined that the tracking data including the image has already been transmitted from the first transmission unit 204 to the tracking information management unit, and step S603 is performed. Do not do.

  In step S604, the second extraction unit 209 collects and generates tracking data corresponding to the received print data. For example, attribute information regarding received print data, environment information on which printing is performed, and the like are used as tracking data. In step S605, the second transmission unit 210 transfers the collected and generated tracking data to the tracking information management unit 205. After the tracking data is collected, generated, and transferred, the print data is transferred to the printer 2000 in step S606.

  The above is the description of the embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the configurations of these embodiments, and the functions shown in the claims or the functions of the configurations of the embodiments can be achieved. Any configuration is applicable. For example, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), or may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device (a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile device, etc.). .

  The object of the present invention can also be achieved by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus reading and executing a storage medium storing a program code that realizes the procedure of the flowchart shown in the above-described embodiment. The

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like is used. be able to.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by executing the program code read by the computer. In addition, based on the instruction of the program code, an OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing. The case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

  Further, the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, based on the instruction of the program code, the CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing. Moreover, the case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

System Configuration. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of printing processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing processing of a user client in print processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a print data management unit of print processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of an output management unit of print processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of an output management unit of print processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1000 User client 2000 Printer 3000 Output management server 4000 Tracking information storage server 5000 Management client

Claims (2)

It is a job tracking information management system that suppresses information leakage by accumulating and tracking the contents printed on the printer as print log information,
A first extraction unit that extracts and generates tracking information from the print contents of a print job input to the printer driver;
Identification information adding means for adding identification information for uniquely identifying a print job input to the printer driver;
Tracking information management means for accumulating and managing the tracking information extracted by the first extraction means;
First transmission means for transmitting the tracking information extracted by the first extraction means to the tracking information management means;
When the print data is managed and the print data is printed, a print data management unit that transmits the print data to an output management unit;
Print data storage means for storing the print data received by the print data management means;
The print data is acquired, the status of the print device is monitored, the print data is transmitted to the print device if it is in a printable state, and if it is not a print job from the print data management means, the print data management Output management means for storing print jobs in the means;
A second extraction unit that extracts and generates tracking information from the print contents of the print data when transmitting the print data from the output management unit to the printing device;
Second transmission means for transmitting the tracking information extracted by the second extraction means to the tracking information management means;
A job tracking information management system comprising: tracking information storage means for storing the tracking information transmitted by the first transmission means and the second transmission means.   2. The job tracking information management system according to claim 1, wherein the second extraction means is capable of extracting an image from the print data when the received print data has no identification information. Job tracking information management system.

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