JP2008260162A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which urges a user into acquisition of a printing paper by a constitution that enables setting of a penalty to the person who does not come to take the printing paper although information related to the risk of not coming to take the printing paper is transmitted to the user, and a signal that the user forgets to take the printing paper is given. <P>SOLUTION: A transmitting means 18 in the printer 6 notifies any of PC1-PC5 of management information in the printing paper on a paper discharge tray managed by a monitoring part 14 together with printing information, thereby warning the user who does not come to take the printing paper. The user is notified of the number of left jobs by an EMail notification when the printing paper as a printout is left in the paper discharge tray. The user who indicates the printing are notified that printing is carried out, and that the printing paper is to be removed from the paper discharge tray. After the lapse of a fixed time, re-notification is carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs a printing process from a PC or a workstation and prints on a print data sheet.

  Conventionally, when a user who has performed printing places his / her printing paper immediately on the paper output tray of the printing apparatus and cannot obtain it, the paper on which information is printed is left on the paper output tray. In this case, since information is left for an unspecified number of people, there is a security problem that the contents can be easily viewed.

  In addition, when there are more than one such user, a plurality of different types of information are left unattended, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are at risk of information leakage. It was.

  Furthermore, in the prior art, when printed paper is generated, there is a means to notify with a lamp or a bulletin board etc., but by overlooking the lamp or overlooking the bulletin board, there is a security problem. It was not a means to solve the problem at an early stage.

In order to solve the above problem, Patent Document 1 proposes a printing apparatus mail box system that signals forgetting to remove a print job from a mail box bin.
Japanese Patent No. 2801855

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, there is no suggestion regarding the danger of not coming to pick up the printing paper even though the forgetting to remove is signaled only by signaling the forgetting to remove. Further, there is no description or suggestion of necessity for providing a penalty for those who do not come to pick up printing paper.

  Therefore, the present invention is an invention that is concerned about conventional problems and prompts the user to immediately obtain printing paper, and this brings about the advantages of enhancing security and reducing the risk of information leakage. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 relates to a printing unit that prints print data transmitted from a terminal device connected via a network, and the print data that is printed after printing is completed. A printing unit having a transmission unit that notifies the terminal device of print information, a reception unit that receives the print data transmitted from the terminal device, and a notification regarding the print data from the received print data Extraction means for extracting notification destination information indicating the destination and the print data, and monitoring means for outputting the extracted print data to a predetermined discharge tray and monitoring the discharge tray from which the print data is discharged And the transmission means passes the print information when the print data is left at the paper discharge destination after printing of the extracted print data is completed. Characterized in that it is a printing apparatus that notifies by adding information indicating that a reply is prompted to the printing device when removing the information and the print data to the effect that the print data is left as target information.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information indicating that the print data is left as is information on the danger when the print data continues to be left or the printing It includes at least one of warnings to remove data.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the receiving unit further receives a reply from the terminal device with respect to information prompting the reply.

  According to the present invention, the user is informed about the danger of not being able to pick up the printing paper, and there is a penalty for those who do not go to pick up the printing paper despite having signaled forgetting to take it. It is possible to provide a printing apparatus that prompts the user to obtain printing paper.

  Preferred embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described.

  The printing system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a network configuration including a printing apparatus and a terminal device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between the printing apparatus and the terminal apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 shows an example of print data in the printing system of this embodiment.

  PC1 to PC5 (terminal devices) in FIG. 1 are PCs (or workstations) for which a user instructs printing. The printing device 6 prints the print data instructed by the PC1 to PC5 on a sheet.

  The network 7 in FIG. 1 is a connection network that connects them or a network itself. The present embodiment is not limited to this, and the network configuration shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and there may be an example in which a PC or a printing apparatus is connected in a form other than the network (local connection such as USB).

  Further, any connection form may be used as long as the above-described PC1 to PC5 and the printing apparatus 6 are connected regardless of wired, wireless, or local.

  Next, the relationship between PC1 to PC5 and the printing apparatus 6 will be described with reference to FIG. The configuration in FIG. 2 is also an example, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the scope of the invention. The configuration shown in FIG. 2 is a preferable configuration for carrying out the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, any of PC 1 to PC 5 has an application 10 for creating document creation, document editing, etc. to be printed by the printing apparatus 6, and printing designated to print image data input by the application 10. A printer driver 11 that converts or manages the information into information that can be interpreted by the apparatus 6.

  The printer driver 11 has a function of converting a print request of the application 10 into a printer language (PDL) or print data that can be interpreted by the printer.

  Further, the printer driver 11 has a function capable of performing function settings related to various printings such as a paper feed tray, a paper discharge tray, a paper size, and a paper type at the time of printing from the application 10 or the like.

  The printer driver 11 and the printing device 6 include a paper discharge tray as a tray for holding one or a plurality of printing sheets, and a system / device for printing with monochrome or color ink or toner, and all means related to printing work , In a printing environment that includes devices and media.

  The printing apparatus 6 includes a print control unit 12 that controls printing of a print document, a monitoring unit 14 that monitors a paper discharge tray, and a communication control unit 13 that communicates with one of the printer drivers 11 from the PC 1 to the PC 5. .

  The print control unit 12 includes a printing unit 15 that prints a print document and an extraction unit 16 that extracts image data of the print document.

  The communication control unit 13 includes a receiving unit 19 that receives image data transmitted from the printer driver 11, and a transmitting unit 18 that transmits print information including image data of a print document to the printer driver 11.

  The transmission unit 18 notifies the management information on the printing paper on the paper discharge tray managed by the monitoring unit 14 to any one of the PC 1 to the PC 5 together with the printing information.

  As will be described in detail later, the transmission unit 18 notifies the user of misplacement of the print paper in the paper discharge tray in addition to the management information on the print paper in the paper discharge tray. Furthermore, the danger of misplaced printing paper is notified to the user either directly or indirectly from either PC1 to PC5. Also, a warning is given to a user who does not come to pick up the printing paper.

  When any of the above-described PC1 to PC5 issues a print instruction, print data is created on the PC, and the print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 6 through some connection form (network 7 in FIG. 1). .

  When the print data is created in any one of the PC1 to PC5, the user name and the email address that instructed printing are added to the print data as information.

  This state is shown in the print data diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the user name + Email address + print data is sent to the printing apparatus 6.

  The user name and the email address are information managed in any of the PC1 to PC5, and are information that can be easily obtained in the process of creating print data on the PC during printing. .

  Alternatively, there is a method in which the acquisition destination is managed by a printer driver that executes processing when creating print data. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a method for managing these pieces of information (user name and email address) is not limited.

  In any of the PC1 to PC5, the printing apparatus 6 instructed to print obtains the user name and the email address information included in the print data, performs printing with the print data, and then sends the user the Email. To notify that the sheet has been discharged (see FIG. 3).

  In the present embodiment, by notifying that the paper has been discharged, it is possible to prevent the sheet printed on the paper discharge tray from being left unattended, and the risk to security can be reduced.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the user, the device on which the device is mounted, and the user who has instructed printing are notified that printing has been performed directly or indirectly, and removal from the paper discharge tray is notified. Reduce risk with media. By promoting compliance with security, it is possible to expect an advantage that a user can be notified to each individual user with a more enhanced notification means than a conventional notification means, and a normal business form can be implemented.

  Next, the text of Email in the printing system of the present embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows an example of the email text of the printing system of this embodiment. FIG. 7 shows a third warning example in the printing system of this embodiment.

  In addition, not only the user but also a print sheet that is a print output is present in the discharge tray of the printing apparatus 6 until now (not shown / remains). The email notification shown in the third email warning example in FIG. 7 is performed for all users. At that time, the number of jobs left unattended is notified.

  In the present embodiment, it is notified that printing has been performed directly or indirectly to the user who has instructed printing, and removal from the paper discharge tray. This is carried out after a certain period of time, but further printing is instructed, and the number of print jobs left on the paper discharge tray is notified to all users who are left unattended. Reduce risk with the equipment and media on which the instrument is installed.

  This means that the number of printed paper jobs that must be taken into consideration on the printing device is notified by notifying each individual user by means that are enhanced than the conventional means, and also notifying other printing device users. By informing them, you can expect to be more compliant with security, and you can expect the advantage of being able to implement normal business practices.

  Also in this embodiment, it is possible to prevent sheets printed on the paper discharge tray from being left unattended, and to reduce the risk to security.

  These Email notifications are repeatedly notified (transmitted) to the user who is the transmission destination again after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  Thereby, it is possible to prevent the sheet printed on the paper discharge tray from being left unattended, and to reduce the risk to security.

  In the present embodiment, the user who has instructed printing is directly or indirectly notified that printing has been performed and removal from the paper discharge tray after a predetermined time has elapsed, and further, printing is instructed and the paper discharge tray The number of printing jobs left unattended is notified to all users who have been left unattended, and this notification is sent to the user repeatedly by sending this notification after a certain period of time, and the means is installed. Reduce risk with equipment and media.

  This means that the user must effectively implement a normal business form by repeatedly prompting them to comply with security by repeatedly communicating with each user by means that are stronger than conventional means. Can be expected, and as a result, the further advantage of being normalized can be expected.

  In addition, it is possible to expect the advantage that complicated control can be simplified and a security environment free from burden can be constructed.

  Another aspect of email notification to the user in the printing system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and 7. FIG. 4 shows a first warning example of an Email notification in the printing apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 5 shows a second warning example of the Email notification in the printing apparatus of this embodiment. The present embodiment is not limited to this, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present embodiment. Each of FIGS. 4, 5, and 7 is an example of an e-mail notification method to the user.

  4, 5, and 7, the user who has received the Email notification leaves the print paper as his print output on the discharge tray of the printing apparatus according to the mail text (remaining) Know)

  When the user removes the printed paper from the paper discharge tray, the user notifies the email notification as a reply to the email notification.

  In the present embodiment, the notification method is to write back a message that informs that it has been removed in the reply sentence.

  An example sentence is Done. Note that, as described above, this sentence example is merely an example, and does not specify a reply unit. Another message may be used, and such a means may be used as long as it can be performed by blank mail.

  In this embodiment, emphasis is placed on using a means of replying with Email. In addition, the Done reply given in this example is temporarily stopped, that is, the device is informed that there is no print job (printed paper) that is currently left unattended, and is described in the present invention permanently. It does not stop the email notification that is being sent.

  When the user again performs printing in the same manner or repeats the leaving state, the Email notification is executed. In that case, it can be stopped as described above by returning Done again.

  It is possible to have a message word that permanently stops and restarts this Email notification.

  For example, it is defined as Permanent Stop: Disable, Resume: Enable (this is also an example, so there is no restriction on the character string of the message). The device recognizes this message and sends / stops Email according to its function. It is also possible to execute a permanent stop / restart operation by controlling.

  In addition, as an application example, it is added that it is possible to set “not removed”, “permanent stop”, and “resume” by directly operating the device by an instruction on the panel of the device. .

  In the present embodiment, the user who has instructed printing is directly or indirectly notified that printing has been performed and removal from the paper discharge tray after a predetermined time has elapsed, and further, printing is instructed and the paper discharge tray The user is notified of the number of print jobs left unattended, and this notification is repeated after a certain period of time. The user has removed the print paper left from the output tray. It is possible to stop troublesome notification to the user after reducing the risk to security with the device and media having means for communicating with the device.

  In addition, taking advantage of the present embodiment, it is possible to stop complicated notifications to the user, and it is possible to construct managed security rules.

  The number of print jobs left in the paper discharge tray is the number of jobs that have been printed by the printing device, and notifications such as “Mail removed” notification by email reply or direct operation on the panel of the printing device. The difference can be calculated from the number.

  In addition, the printing apparatus can manage and count the print jobs for each user and the number of print pages for each user.

  A print job can usually be managed with unique print information, but it may be managed with time and user name, and information for identifying a job unique to the print job is added to the print data from the printer driver. Therefore, it can be used as information to be managed.

  The number of jobs and the number of pages for each managed user are utilized in the text of the Email notification. An example is shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the user who has instructed printing is directly (directly) indirectly notified that printing has been performed and removal from the paper discharge tray after a certain period of time, and further, printing is instructed, Communicating the number of print jobs left on the paper output tray to the user who has left the job, means for notifying the number of print jobs left and the number of pages for each user left at that time It becomes possible to inform the user of the risk of neglecting more with the device and media having the above.

  This strongly encourages adherence to security by communicating to individual users by means that are enhanced over conventional means, and also providing more detailed information about the user's own printing, By worrying about the number of neglected pages and the number of pages, you can expect the advantage of being able to lead to normal business form.

  Further, it is possible to more strongly urge the user to prevent the sheet printed on the paper discharge tray from being left, and to further reduce the security risk.

  Processing in the printing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing on the printing apparatus side in the printing system of the present embodiment.

  Print data is received (step S101). The user name, email address, and print job information in the print data are separated (step S102). After the separation, it is pooled in a predetermined jurisdiction (step S103).

  It is determined whether or not the user name is new (step S104). If it is determined that it is new (step S104 / YES), the user name is registered in a list for each user name (step S105).

  Thereafter, the number of print jobs, number of removed pages, number of printed pages, and relation in the list are initialized to 0 (step S106).

  In the list for each user, the email address is initialized with the obtained information (step S107).

  If it is determined that it is not new (step S104 / NO), the number of print jobs in the list for each user is incremented by 1 (step S108).

  Thereafter, the print page number relation in the list for each user is updated (step S109).

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not printing has been normally completed (step S110). When it is determined that the processing has been completed normally (step S110 / YES), it is determined whether or not notification Status = Enable (step S111).

  If it is determined that the process has not been completed normally (step S110 / NO), the process proceeds to an error recovery process.

  When it is determined that the notification status = Enable (step S111 / YES), a warning is notified by Email (step S112).

  When it is determined that the notification status is not “Enable” (step S111 / NO), the process is terminated.

  In step S112, it is determined whether or not printing has been executed and whether or not the print document has been left unattended after a warning is notified by Email (step S113).

  If it is determined that the process has been repeated (step S113 / YES), a predetermined time elapses (step S114). Thereafter, the process returns to step S111.

  When it is determined that the process has not been repeated (step S113 / NO), the process ends.

  Asynchronous Event performed in the above-described processing and separate processing will be described. Email information is received (step S201). After the reception, the received setting is set in the notification status (step S202).

By operating on the panel, it is possible to indicate and set removal. An example panel is shown below. When the user name is specified by a list or input, the panel displays the number of print jobs and the number of printed pages (number of pages to be removed) of the user who are supposed to be left in the paper discharge tray. After the user removes the tray or decides to remove it, the user can operate <Done> (by clicking or the like) to set the removal.
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User name: USER__ (input) <list>
Number of print jobs: 3 jobs Number of print pages: 30 pages <Done><Cancel>
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In addition, on a special screen, it is possible to instruct and set a permanent stop and restart as follows.
* Disable: Permanent stop / Enable: Resume
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User name: USER__ (input) <list>

<Disable><Enable>
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As print data + user name + Email address + “job identification information”, job identification information as date + time + Mac address is given as unique information for identifying a job.
Example: 20070220133959004032456E99

  A means for counting the number of pages in the print data; Alternatively, print page number information is included in the print data.

  Supplementary explanation * <Calculation of the number of print jobs left on the tray>

As an apparatus management method, a simple difference is shown in this example. The following simple list for each user is provided. The list is newly created when a new user performs printing. On the list, the number of print jobs of the user is counted, and the number of operations to be removed is further counted, thereby simply calculating the number of neglected.
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User name: USER
Total number of TOTAL print jobs: 100
Number of removal: 98
Email address: xyz@nts.xxx.co.jp
TOTAL Number of printed pages: 990
Latest printed pages: 2
Notification Status: Enable
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The apparatus has means for resetting the counter for each user.

  These normal business forms or business forms according to the present invention can greatly contribute to the improvement of the security environment in the company or in the group, which has been a problem in the prior art.

It is a figure which shows an example of the network structure which has the printing apparatus of this embodiment, and a terminal device. It is a block diagram which shows the relationship between the printing apparatus of this embodiment, and a terminal device as an example. It is a figure which shows the printing data in the printing system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the 1st warning in the printing system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the 2nd warning in the printing system of this embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reply with Email removed in the printing system according to the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the 3rd warning in the printing system of this embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the process by the side of the printing apparatus in the printing system of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 6 Printing apparatus 7 Network 10 Application 11 Printer driver 12 Print control part 13 Communication control part 14 Monitoring part 15 Printing means 16 Extraction means 18 Transmission means 19 Reception means

Claims (3)

Printing means for printing print data transmitted from a terminal device connected via a network;
A printing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that notifies the terminal device of print information related to the printed print data after printing is completed;
Receiving means for receiving the print data transmitted from the terminal device;
Extraction means for extracting notification destination information indicating a notification destination related to the print data and the print data from the received print data;
Monitoring means for outputting the extracted print data to a predetermined paper discharge tray and monitoring the paper discharge tray from which the print data has been discharged;
The transmission means leaves the print data as the notification destination information in the print information when the print data is left at the paper discharge destination after the printing of the extracted print data is completed. A printing apparatus characterized by adding information to the effect and information for prompting a reply to the printing apparatus when the print data is removed.   2. The information that the print data is left unattended includes at least one of information on a danger when the print data is left unattended or a warning that the print data is to be removed. The printing apparatus as described in.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit further receives a reply from the terminal apparatus with respect to information for prompting the reply.

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