JP2008245191A - Image-forming device and history control program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display group history information only to a user who belongs to a designated prescribed group in an image-forming device. <P>SOLUTION: A history management section 9 stores and manages history information in association with a user name according to the use operation of the device. A user management section 11 manages a group name in association with a user name as a group. An operation input section 13 selects a group history display mode for displaying the history information of all users belonging to a group, receives the input of the group and user names, and displays group history information data. When the group history display mode is inputted, a control section 17 refers to group management data, creates the group history information data comprising the history information of all user names belonging to the group name from the history information, and controls display of the operation display section 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a history control program for the image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a history management function, such as a copying machine or a multi function peripheral (MFP), and history control suitable for being mounted therein. Regarding the program.

  In recent years, copiers and multifunction devices are equipped with a user authentication function so that, for example, a user who has entered a user name from the operation panel can use the copy function, communication function, etc. for security and unnecessary operations. Trying to ensure prevention.

  For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-142622 (Patent Document 1) is this type.

This patent document 1 is a communication device that communicates various communication data, and at the time of communication by a selected user, requesting input of a user name and searching and selecting stored transmission history information, It is possible to facilitate the operation of specifying the other party using the, and to ensure the security without making the communication partner known to others.
JP 2005-142622 A

  However, in Patent Document 1 described above, although security can be ensured by inputting a user name or using outgoing call history information, the results of user operations are stored as outgoing call history information in order of use and displayed as a list. Therefore, if a single multifunction device or the like is jointly used in a plurality of groups, the usage history information can be easily referred to by other users in addition to the used user, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of management of the history information and security. is there.

  That is, since the history information of the multifunction peripheral includes a lot of information that other users do not want to see, such as FAX transmission destination information, it is likely to be a problem.

  In particular, when a single multifunction device is shared by multiple groups, all users belonging to the group need to be able to refer to the history information of their own group. In many cases, it is not desired to refer to history information, and improvement is desired.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of displaying group history information only for users belonging to a predetermined group and a history control program for the image forming apparatus. .

  In order to solve such a problem, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention associates a history management unit that accumulates and manages history information in association with a use user name according to a use operation of the apparatus, a group name, and a user name. A user management unit for group management, a group history display mode for displaying history information of all user names belonging to the group, an input unit for receiving input of group names and user names, and a display unit for displaying at least group history information data When the group history display mode is entered, the group management data is referred to, the history information of all user names belonging to the group name is selected from the history information, and the group history information data is created and displayed. A control unit that controls display of the unit.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the control unit may generate group history information data by selecting the history information of all users belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs based on the input of the user name. .

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the control unit can perform authentication related to the user name based on authentication data set in advance and can control display of the group history information data when authentication is confirmed. is there.

  The history control program according to the present invention stores history information in association with the user name used in accordance with the use operation of the apparatus in a control computer that accumulates and controls display of the history information according to the work operation of the image forming apparatus. History management process to manage, group management and user management process to manage the group name and user name, group history display mode to display history information of all users belonging to the group name, group name and user name When the input acceptance process for accepting the input and the group history display mode are entered, the history information of all user names belonging to the group name is selected from the history information with reference to the group management data, and the group history information data Group history information creation process to create the group history information data created on the display A configuration to execute a display processing.

  In the history control program of the present invention, the group history information creation process performs group history information data creation processing by selecting history information of all user names belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs based on the input of the user name. It is also possible to configure.

  The history control program of the present invention may be configured to execute the authentication process of the input user name and output the group history information data to the display unit only when the authentication is confirmed.

  In such an image forming apparatus and history control program according to the present invention, the history information is stored and managed in association with the user name used according to the use operation of the apparatus, the group management is performed by associating the group name with the user name, Group history display mode that displays the history information of all user names belonging to the group, accepts the input of group name and user name, and when the group history display mode is entered, refers to the group management data, from the history information Since the history information of all the user names belonging to the group name is selected and group history information data is created and the created group history information data is displayed on the display unit, the group history information can be displayed only to users belonging to a certain group. Is possible.

  In the present invention, in the configuration in which the history information of all the user names belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs is selected and the group history information data is created based on the input of the user name, the user name belonging to the group name is input. It is possible to display all history information of the group to which it belongs.

  In the present invention, in the configuration in which the input user name is authenticated and the group history information data is output for display only after the authentication process, the group history information data can be displayed based on the authentication and belongs to the group. It is easy to ensure the security of user history information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The history control program will be described in the course of describing the image forming apparatus for convenience.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image reading unit 3, a communication unit 5, a storage unit 7, a history management unit 9, a user management unit 11, an operation display unit 13, and a print connected via a bus 1. A unit 15 and a control unit 17 that controls these units are included, for example, constituting a multifunction machine.

  Under the control of the control unit 17, the image reading unit 3 optically reads an image from, for example, a printed document having a plurality of pages, prints electronic image data by performing filter processing, scaling processing, gradation processing, and the like. A known scanner or the like is generated as a job, and the generated image data is sequentially stored in the storage unit 7 for each page of the document.

  The communication unit 5 is an interface unit that performs facsimile transmission / reception of document data including image data, for example, with another multifunction device 21 via the network 19 using a predetermined protocol.

  The storage unit 7 stores history information, group history information data, history display mode data, user management data, and authentication data, which will be described later, in addition to the image data captured from the image reading unit 3 under the control of the control unit 17. In addition to functioning, for example, a hard disk (HDD) that stores an operation program of the control unit 17.

  The history management unit 9 associates history information corresponding to functional operations such as an image reading operation, a printing operation, a facsimile transmission / reception operation, and a storage operation of a document data in a storage box with the user name to be used. For example, the storage unit 7 has a function of storing and controlling the data.

As the history information, for example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the reception numbers “001” to “004” in the functional operation order, the execution date and time “xx / xx / xx” of the operational function, the data destination “AA Corporation”, “BB Co., Ltd.”, “(Co) DDD”, user name “abcd”, “UserA”, “UserB” of the operated user, group name (group name) of the user “first group (G)”, “ The “second group (G)” and the like are all tabulated.
As will be described later, the user management unit 11 has a function of creating and managing a user name and password for each user as user management data under the control of the control unit 17.

  The history display mode includes, for example, a “group mode” that displays history information only of history information associated with user names belonging to the group name. In addition to this, the history display mode of only history information associated with individual user names to be displayed in history information is “individual mode”, history of only history information associated with individual user names and specified specified user names The display mode can be set to “specified mode”.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, the group mode is a group history display mode including only history information associated with the user names “UserA” and “UserB” belonging to the same group (for example, the second group (G)). .

  The history display mode, the user name, and the password are input and set from the operation display unit 13.

  The operation display unit 13 is, for example, a liquid crystal display as a display unit that specifically displays the above-described history information, group history information data, history display mode, and the like in addition to various operation images under the control of the control unit 17. A touch panel or the like as an input unit for inputting a print processing execution instruction, a facsimile transmission / reception instruction, and a group history information data creation / change instruction.

  The operation display unit 13 also functions as an input unit that receives selection input of “group mode”, “individual mode”, and “designation mode” to be displayed from the history information, and input of a user name and a group name.

  Under the control of the control unit 17, the printing unit 15 develops the image data or print job stored in the storage unit 7 into print image image data, performs toner development processing, transfers the toner development onto the printing paper, and fixes the toner. This is a known color or monochrome printing section.

  The control unit 17 has a main control function for controlling the communication unit 5, the storage unit 7, the history management unit 9, the user management unit 11, the operation display unit 13, and the printing unit 15 described above. It is formed with a CPU and a ROM that stores an operation program of the CPU, and realizes its function together with the history management unit 9 and the user management unit 11.

  Based on the history display mode selected by the operation display unit 13, the control unit 17 selects target history information from the history information, creates and controls group history information data, and stores and controls the storage unit 7. When there is a display request, the group history information data is output to the operation display unit 13.

  That is, for example, when the second group is selected as the history display mode, the control unit 17 records the history information of all users “UserA” and “UserB” belonging to the second group as shown in FIG. 2B based on the history display mode. In addition to functioning as a group history information data creation unit (simply abbreviated as “creation unit” in FIG. 1) for creating and controlling group history information data collected and collected, the group history information data is output to the operation display unit 13. ing.

  The control unit 17 refers to the user management data of the user management unit 11, has a user name and password authentication processing function input from the operation display unit 13, and includes authentication data related to a preset user name and password and Function that controls execution of image reading operation, print job reception operation, printing operation, facsimile transmission / reception operation, group history information data creation and output operation only when the input user name and password match, that is, when authentication is confirmed. have.

  Note that if the input user name and password do not match, the control unit 17 determines that the authentication has failed and stops the process.

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the program is started, history information management processing is executed in step S1, and history information as shown in FIG. 2A is accumulated. In addition, user history management processing is performed in step S2, and group names, users are recorded in step S3. The input of the name is accepted.

  In the following description, it is assumed that the second group is selected and input in step S3, and the name of the user who has instructed selection is input.

  In step S4, the presence / absence of the next history information is determined. If the next history information is present and step S4 is "next history exists", it is determined whether or not the history display mode is the group mode in step S5. The first time is determined from the first history information.

  If there is no mode setting or a mode other than the group mode, “no applicable mode” is set and the process returns to step S4. If “group mode” is set, the log information relating to the corresponding user name is added to the group log information data in step S6. The process returns to step S4.

  On the other hand, if there is no next history information and step S2 is “no history”, the user authentication of the user name that has input the display instruction is performed in step S7, and if the password matches and the authentication is confirmed, the step The process proceeds to S8, the process ends with the display processing of the group history information data of the second group, and the process ends if the passwords do not match and authentication is not confirmed.

  For example, if “user name” is input in step S3, the history information of the group corresponding to the user name is inspected in step S4, additionally accumulated in step S6, and the user name in step S8. Is displayed.

  Such a process is a history control program according to the present invention.

  In such an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, a history management unit 9 that accumulates and manages history information in association with a user name to be used in accordance with a use operation of the apparatus, and a user who performs group management in association with a group name and a user name Management unit 11, selection of group history display mode for displaying history information of all user names belonging to the group, operation display unit (input unit) 13 for accepting input of group name and user name, and display of group history information data When the operation display unit (display unit) 13 to be operated and the group history display mode are input, the history information of all user names belonging to the group name is selected from the history information with reference to the group management data, and the group history information And a control unit 17 that creates data and controls the display of the operation display unit 13.

  Therefore, group history information can be displayed only for all user names belonging to a certain group name. If a group name is entered, group history information for all users belonging to that group is displayed, while other group history information is displayed. Since no information is displayed, security of individual group history information can be ensured.

  Based on the input of the user name, it is also possible to select the history information of all the user names belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs and to create group history information data. It is also possible to display history information data.

  In addition, when the authentication of the entered user name is confirmed, the group history information data is displayed. Therefore, it is possible to allow only a specific user to publish history information. It can be secured.

  By the way, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the group history display mode, the above-described individual user names, combinations of individual user names and designated user names, and the like are possible and are set in the user management unit 11 in advance. In addition, the control unit 17 may be formed accordingly.

  Furthermore, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration in which the user name is selected as a history display selection target, and a configuration in which a plurality of history display modes are set and managed by selecting an arbitrary history item forming history information as a selection target. This is possible, and the user management unit 11 and the control unit 17 may be formed accordingly.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus described above, the history display mode is selected and displayed on the operation display unit 13. However, a configuration in which the history display mode selection unit and the display unit are separated is naturally possible. Is sufficient to display at least group history information data.

  Then, referring to the history control program according to the present invention, the history information associated with the user name used in accordance with the use operation of the apparatus is stored in the control computer that stores and controls the history information according to the work operation of the image forming apparatus. History management processing for storing and managing information, user management processing for managing groups by associating group names and user names, group history display mode for displaying history information for all user names belonging to the group name, and group When receiving the input of the user name and the user name and the group history display mode, the history information of all user names belonging to the group name is selected from the history information with reference to the group management data. Group history information creation process to create group history information data and the created group history information data It is intended to execute a display process of displaying on the display unit.

  In such a history control program, the group history information creation processing is configured to execute group history information data creation processing by selecting all history information belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs based on the input of the user name, In the configuration in which the authentication process for the input user name is executed and the group history information data display output process is executed, the same effects as those of the image forming apparatus described above can be obtained.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the historical information which concerns on this invention, and group historical information data. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bus 3 Image reading part 5 Communication part 7 Memory | storage part 9 History management part 11 User management part 13 Operation display part (selection part)
15 Printing unit 17 Control unit (authentication unit)
19 Network 21 MFP

Claims (6)

A history management unit that accumulates and manages history information in association with the user name used according to the operation of the device;
A user management unit that performs group management in association with a group name and the user name;
A group history display mode for displaying the history information of all user names belonging to the group, an input unit for receiving input of the group name and the user name;
A display unit for displaying at least group history information data;
When the group history display mode is input, the history information of all user names belonging to the group name is selected from the history information with reference to the group management data to create the group history information data, A control unit for controlling display of the display unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit creates the group history information data by selecting the history information of all user names belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs based on the input of the user name. . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs authentication related to the user name based on authentication data set in advance, and controls display of the group history information data when the authentication is confirmed. . In a control computer that stores and controls display of history information according to the operation of the image forming apparatus,
A history management process for accumulating and managing history information in association with the user name used according to the operation of the device;
A user management process for managing a group by associating a group name with the user name;
A group history display mode for displaying the history information of all user names belonging to the group, an input reception process for receiving input of the group name and the user name;
Group history for creating the group history information data by selecting the history information of all user names belonging to the group name from the history information with reference to the group management data when the group history display mode is input Information creation process,
A display process for displaying the created group history information data on a display unit;
A history control program for an image forming apparatus, characterized in that 5. The group history information creation process executes the group history information data creation process by selecting the history information of all user names belonging to the group name to which the user name belongs based on the input of the user name. A program for controlling the history of the image forming apparatus. 5. The group history information creation processing performs authentication related to the user name based on authentication data set in advance, and outputs the group history information data to a display unit when authentication is confirmed. Or a history control program for an image forming apparatus according to 5;

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