JP2009039936A - Network printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network printer which prevents automatic resumption of processing of an interrupted security printing job. <P>SOLUTION: The network multifunction machine 1 restarts after a power supply is forcibly cut. After restarting of the network multifunction machine 1, a printer part 14 carries out initialization (step S21). A printing job management part 113 checks a spooled printing job (step S22). If there is the security printing job interrupted in processing (interrupted job) (Yes in step S23), a mail part 15 transmits by e-mail an interruption message which shows generation of the interrupted job to a user who transmits the interrupted job (step S24). Thereafter, when a resumption indication is inputted from a body operation part (Yes in step S25), the printer part 14 resumes processing of the interrupted job from a page where printing is interrupted (step S26). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a network printer having a security print function.

  Conventionally, there is a network printer having a printing function called security printing. In security printing, for example, a print job (security print job) to which authentication information such as a password is added is used. When executing the security print, the network printer does not immediately process the received security print job but stores it in the main memory or the like. The stored security print job is output as a printed document (printed document) when the password added to the print job matches the password input from the operation panel by the user.

  In the case of normal printing, the network printer processes print jobs in the order received and outputs a print document. For this reason, there is a possibility that others can view the printed document until the user goes to pick up the output printed document. The security print is used when outputting highly confidential data as a print document. That is, in the security print, since the print document is output in a state where the user is in front of the network printer, the confidentiality of the data can be ensured.

  A printing apparatus having a security print function is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 requests authentication processing again when resuming processing of a security print job that has been interrupted after the cause of the interruption has been removed. The cause of the interruption is, for example, a paper jam or out of paper. This eliminates the cause of the interruption while the user is away from the front of the network printer, thereby preventing the printing apparatus from automatically restarting the security print job.

Japanese Patent No. 3840244

  As described above, the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs an authentication process for resuming a security print job process after the cause of the interruption is removed. However, the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 may not be able to recognize the interruption of the security print job processing. For example, when the power of the printing apparatus is forcibly turned off due to a power failure or the like. In this case, the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot detect interruption of processing of a security print job by a sensor that detects a paper jam or a sensor that detects the presence or absence of printing paper. For this reason, when the printing apparatus is restarted in a state where the security print job process is interrupted, the printing apparatus may automatically restart the security print job process without performing the authentication process.

  When the printing apparatus is restarted, the user who transmitted the security print job is not always in front of the printing apparatus. For this reason, there is a problem that the confidentiality of the print document output by the security print job cannot be secured when the processing of the security print job that has been interrupted by the printing apparatus is automatically resumed after the restart. .

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a network printer that does not automatically resume processing of a security print job that has been interrupted because the power has been forcibly turned off.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an invention according to claim 1 is directed to an operation unit that receives input from a user, a storage unit that stores a print job associated with collation information, and print instruction information that matches the collation information. Is input from the operation unit, the print job management unit instructing processing of the print job, and the print job stored in the storage unit are processed and printed based on the instruction of the print job management unit And when the power is forcibly turned off when the printing unit is processing the print job, the print job management unit sends the printing unit to the printing unit after the power is restored. A stop of print job processing is instructed, and when the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit, a resumption of processing of the print job is instructed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the network printer according to the first aspect, a notification unit for notifying a user who has transmitted the print job that processing of the print job has been stopped after the power is restored. It is characterized by providing.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the network printer according to the first or second aspect, when the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit, the print job management unit performs processing of the print job. The printing unit is instructed to redo.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the network printer according to the first or second aspect, the print job management unit forces the power supply when the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit. The printing unit is instructed to resume processing of the print job from the page that was printed when the page was cut.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, an operation unit that receives input from a user, a storage unit that stores a print job associated with collation information, and print instruction information that matches the collation information are input from the operation unit. A print job management unit that instructs processing of the print job, and a print unit that processes and prints the print job stored in the storage unit based on an instruction of the print job management unit. If the power is forcibly turned off while the printing unit is processing the print job, the print job management unit instructs the printing unit to stop processing the print job after the power is restored. The print job is deleted from the storage unit.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the network printer according to the fifth aspect, a notification unit that notifies the user who has transmitted the print job that the print job has been deleted after the power is restored. It is characterized by providing.

  In the network multifunction peripheral according to the present invention, when the storage unit stores a print job associated with the collation information, and print instruction information that matches the collation information is input, the print job management unit is stored in the storage unit. Instructs the printing unit to process the print job. If the processing of the printing unit is interrupted by forcibly turning off the power, the print job management unit instructs the stop of the processing of the print job after restarting, and if the printing instruction information is input again, Instructs resumption of print job processing. In addition, the print job management unit may instruct the stop of the print job processing after the restart and delete the print job.

  As a result, the processing of the print job whose processing has been stopped is resumed in a state where the user who has transmitted the print job whose processing has been interrupted is in front of the network work printer. As described above, the network printer according to the present invention can prevent the processing of the print job that was interrupted at the time of restarting from being automatically restarted, and thus can ensure the confidentiality of data in security printing.

  In addition, by providing a notification unit that notifies the user who sent the print job that the print job process has been stopped because the power was forcibly turned off, the user can be assured that the print job process has stopped. Can be notified.

{First embodiment}
The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, a network complex machine will be described as an example of a network printer. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network system including the configuration of the network multifunction device 1 in the present embodiment. The network system shown in FIG. 1 has a configuration in which a network multifunction device 1 and a plurality of personal computers (PC) 2, 2... Are connected to a local area network (LAN) 3.

  First, the configuration of the network multifunction device 1 will be described. The network multifunction device 1 includes a control unit 11, an operation unit 12, a touch panel display 13, a printer unit 14, a mail unit 15, a storage unit 16, and a communication unit 17. In the network MFP 1 shown in FIG. 1, only functional units necessary for the description of the present embodiment are shown, and display of the scanner unit, copy unit, fax unit, and the like is omitted.

  The control unit 11 includes a microprocessor, a main memory (RAM), and the like, and performs overall control of the network multifunction device 1. The control unit 11 includes a user information management unit 111, a print job memory 112, and a print job management unit 113.

  The operation unit 12 includes a hardware key for inputting various instructions to the network MFP 1. The touch panel display 13 displays information related to the network multifunction device 1 and various operation menus. The user can perform various operations of the network multifunction peripheral 1 using the operation unit 12 and the touch panel display 13 (hereinafter referred to as “main body operation unit”).

  The printer unit 14 functions as a network printer. That is, the printer unit 14 processes a print job transmitted from the PCs 2, 2,... And outputs a print document. The print job includes image data for printing converted from the original data (hereinafter simply referred to as “image data”), a file name of the original data, a control command for controlling the printer unit 14, and the like. The image data is created corresponding to the page of the print document to be output.

  The mail unit 15 creates a message for notifying the user who has transmitted the security print job that the process of the security print job has been interrupted, and transmits the message from the communication unit 17 by mail. The storage unit 16 includes a hard disk device (HDD). A user folder assigned to each user is created in the storage unit 16.

  The communication unit 17 transmits / receives data to / from each computer connected to the LAN 3 using a protocol such as TCP / IP.

  Next, each functional unit included in the control unit 11 will be described. The user information management unit 111 holds user management information for authenticating a user who uses the network MFP 1. In the user management information, the user ID, password, and mail address of each user are recorded. In the following description, the user ID and password are called authentication information. The user information management unit 111 is used, for example, when the user operates the main body operation unit to use the network multifunction device 1 or when the user operates the PC 2 to access a user folder created in the storage unit 16. Prompts the user for authentication information. Thereby, the user information management unit 111 can manage users who use the network multifunction peripheral 1.

  The print job memory 112 is composed of a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, and spools a print job transmitted from the PC 2, 2. For this reason, the print job memory 112 can hold the spooled print job even when the network MFP 1 is forcibly turned off due to a power failure or the like.

  The print job management unit 113 manages print jobs spooled in the print job memory 112. The print job management unit 113 causes the printer unit 14 to process the print jobs for normal printing in the order in which the print jobs were spooled. The print job management unit 113 continues spooling of the security print job until an instruction to start processing of the secure print job (output instruction) is input.

  Next, PC2, 2, ... will be described. A printer driver 21 that controls the printer unit 14 of the network multifunction device 1 is installed in each of the PCs 2, 2,. The printer driver 21 converts data (original data) instructed to be printed by the user into image data to generate a print job. The generated print job is transmitted to the network MFP 1.

  Hereinafter, the security print operation in the network multifunction peripheral 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, the outline of the operation of the network multifunction peripheral 1 when executing security printing will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the network multifunction device 1 when executing security printing. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the network multifunction device 1 receives a security print job (step S11). Specifically, the user instructs the PC 2 to create a security print job. As a result, the printer driver 21 activates a browser or the like and requests the user to input authentication information for logging in to the network multifunction device 1. The input authentication information is transmitted to the network MFP 1.

  When the user information management unit 111 of the network multifunction device 1 determines that the authentication information transmitted from the PC 2 is correct, the user information management unit 111 notifies the printer driver 21 that the user has logged into the network multifunction device 1. Upon receiving the login notification, the printer driver 21 creates a security print job associated with the user authentication information and transmits it to the network MFP 1.

  After the processing shown in step S11, the print job management unit 113 spools the received security print job as a standby job in the print job memory 112. The standby job is stored in a state associated with the input authentication information.

  Next, the user operates the main body operation unit to input an output instruction for the standby job. Specifically, the user logs in to the network multifunction device 1 by operating the main body operation unit. After confirming the login of the user, the print job management unit 113 displays a list of standby jobs corresponding to the authentication information of the logged-in user on the touch panel display 13. The user selects a standby job to be output from the displayed list and inputs an output instruction.

  When an output instruction is input (Yes in step S12), the printer unit 14 processes the security print job for which the output instruction has been issued and outputs a print document (step S13). After outputting the print document, the security print job for which an output instruction has been issued is deleted. In step S13, the printer unit 14 notifies the print job management unit 113 of the page number corresponding to the image data that has been printed during the security print job processing. As a result, the print job management unit 113 records the number of processed pages (number of output pages) in association with the security print job for which the output instruction has been issued.

  If there are other waiting jobs being spooled (Yes in step S14), the network multifunction peripheral 1 returns to the process shown in step S12. On the other hand, if there is no standby job being spooled (No in step S14), the network multifunction device 1 ends the processing shown in FIG.

  Next, the operation when the network multifunction peripheral 1 is restarted will be described in detail. Here, restart means that the network MFP 1 is forcibly turned off during the security print job process (step S13 shown in FIG. 2), and then turned on again. For example, the network MFP 1 is forcibly turned off by a power failure or when the user accidentally disconnects the power cord.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the security print job process when the network multifunction peripheral 1 is restarted. First, the network multifunction device 1 is restarted by a user operation. Any user may perform the restart operation. After restarting, the printer unit 14 executes initialization (step S21). This prevents the print job process from being automatically restarted.

  Next, the print job management unit 113 confirms the print job spooled in the print job memory 112 (step S22). The print job management unit 113 deletes the print job for normal printing and continues spooling the security print job. Further, the print job management unit 113 checks whether or not a security print job (hereinafter referred to as “suspended job”) whose processing has been interrupted when the power is forcibly turned off has occurred (step S23). Specifically, the print job management unit 113 recognizes, as an interrupt job, a security print job in which the number of output pages is recorded among the security print jobs spooled in the print job memory 112.

  If no interrupted job has occurred (No in step S23), the network multifunction device 1 ends the process shown in FIG. 3 and executes the process shown in step S14 (see FIG. 2). On the other hand, if an interrupted job has occurred (Yes in step S23), the mail unit 15 creates an interrupt message indicating the occurrence of the interrupted job, and transmits the interrupt message by email (step S24). The mail transmission destination is the mail address of the user who transmitted the suspended job. Further, the contents of the interruption message include the file name of the original data, the deletion time of the interruption job, and the number of pages for which output has been completed, in addition to the text describing that the interruption job has occurred. After the mail unit 15 transmits the interruption message, the network MFP 1 can execute another job such as a copy job.

  After confirming the content of the suspension message, the user who has transmitted the suspension job operates the main body operation unit and inputs an instruction to resume the suspension job. Note that the input procedure of the instruction for restarting the suspended job is the same as the input procedure of the output instruction for the standby job. That is, when the user operates the main body operation unit and logs in to the network multifunction device 1, a list of interrupted jobs and standby jobs is displayed on the touch panel display 13. The user selects an interrupted job from the displayed list and inputs a restart instruction.

  If a restart instruction is input for the interrupted job (Yes in step S25), the printer unit 14 restarts the interrupted job processing (step S26). At this time, the printer unit 14 acquires the number of output pages of the interrupted job via the print job management unit 113, and resumes the processing of the interrupted job from the page where printing is interrupted. After all the image data included in the security print job is output as a print document, the network multifunction device 1 ends the process shown in FIG. 3 and executes the process shown in step S14 (see FIG. 2). Even after restarting the interrupted job processing, the print job management unit 113 records the number of output pages of the security print job being processed.

  As described above, the network multifunction peripheral 1 according to the present embodiment initializes the printer unit 14 when an interrupted job occurs due to the forced power off, and displays an interrupt message indicating the occurrence of the interrupted job. Send by email to the user who sent the suspended job. After confirming the interruption message, the user operates the main body operation unit to instruct to resume processing of the interruption job. As a result, the processing of the suspended job is resumed in a state where the user who transmitted the suspended job is in front of the network multifunction device 1. Therefore, the network multifunction peripheral 1 according to the present embodiment can prevent the security print job processing from being automatically restarted at the time of restart, and thus can ensure the confidentiality of the original data.

  In the present embodiment, when the state in which the restart instruction for the suspended job is not input continues for a certain period of time, the print job management unit 113 may delete the suspended job.

  In this embodiment, the case where the interrupted job process is resumed from the page where printing is interrupted has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the print job management unit 113 may initialize the number of output pages recorded in the print job memory 112 and restart the interrupted job process from the beginning.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although the mail part 15 demonstrated as an example the case where the interruption message was transmitted by mail, it is not restricted to this. For example, when the mail address of the user who sent the suspended job is not registered or when the mail cannot be sent, the mail unit 15 may save the suspended message in the user folder 161 of the user who sent the suspended job. Good. In this case, when the user who transmitted the interruption job accesses the user folder 161, the network multifunction peripheral 1 notifies the user that the interruption message has been saved.

  Moreover, in this Embodiment, although the mail part 15 demonstrated as an example the case where the interruption message was transmitted by mail, it is not restricted to this. For example, when the user who has transmitted an interrupted job operates the main body operation unit and logs in to the network multifunction device 1, the user information management unit 111 may display a pop-up indicating the occurrence of the interrupted job on the touch panel display 13. . Alternatively, when the user who has transmitted the interrupted job logs in to the network multifunction peripheral 1 via the browser, the user information management unit 111 may display a pop-up indicating the occurrence of the interrupted job on the browser. In this case, the content displayed in the pop-up only needs to include a sentence describing the occurrence of the interrupted job, the file name of the original data, and the like.

{Second Embodiment}
Next, a network multifunction peripheral according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The configuration of the network MFP according to the present embodiment is the same as that of the network MFP 1 shown in FIG. Further, the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment executes a security print job process based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment will be described focusing on differences from the network multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a security print job process when the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment is restarted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, after the network multifunction peripheral 1 is restarted, the printer unit 14 executes initialization (step S31). The print job management unit 113 confirms the print job spooled in the print job memory 112 (step S32). That is, the print job management unit 113 deletes the normal print print job spooled in the print job memory 112 and continues the spool of the security print job. Step S31 and step S32 correspond to step S21 and step S22 (see FIG. 3), respectively.

  If no interrupted job has occurred (No in step S33), the network multifunction device 1 ends the process shown in FIG. 4 and executes the process shown in step S14 (see FIG. 2). On the other hand, if an interrupted job has occurred (Yes in step S33), the mail unit 15 creates a delete message notifying that the interrupted job has occurred and the interrupted job has been deleted (step S34).

  The print job management unit 113 deletes the interrupted job from the print job memory 112 (step S35). Thereafter, the mail unit 15 transmits a deletion message by e-mail using the e-mail address of the user who transmitted the interruption job as a transmission destination (step S36). Then, the network MFP 1 ends the process shown in FIG. 4 and executes the process shown in step S14 (see FIG. 2).

  As described above, the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment deletes the interrupted job generated when the power is forcibly turned off and notifies the user who transmitted the interrupted job that the interrupted job has been deleted. Notify at. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the interrupted job from being automatically restarted when the network multifunction peripheral is restarted. Further, since the network multifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment deletes the interrupted job when it is restarted, it is easy to ensure the RAM capacity.

  In the present embodiment, the print job management unit 113 may store the image data included in the interrupted job in the user folder 161. In this case, the mail unit 15 describes the image data storage folder and the file name of the stored image data in the deletion message. Thus, the user who has transmitted the interrupted job can easily restore the deleted interrupted job using the image data stored in the user folder 161.

  Further, as in the first embodiment, the print job management unit 113 may store a deletion message in the user folder 161.

  Similarly to the first embodiment, when the user who has transmitted the suspended job logs in to the network multifunction device 1 by operating the main body operation unit, the user information management unit 111 displays a pop-up indicating deletion of the suspended job. May be displayed on the touch panel display 13. In addition, when the user who has transmitted the interrupted job logs in to the network multifunction peripheral 1 via a web browser or the like, the user information management unit 111 may display a popup indicating deletion of the interrupted job on the browser.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network system including a configuration of a network multifunction peripheral according to a first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of security printing in the network multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when the network multifunction peripheral according to the first embodiment is restarted. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation when the network multifunction peripheral according to the second embodiment is restarted.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network multifunction device 11 Control part 12 Operation part 13 Touch panel type display 14 Printer part 15 Mail part 111 User information management part 112 Print job memory 113 Print job management part

Claims (6)

An operation unit for receiving input from the user;
A storage unit for storing a print job associated with the verification information;
When print instruction information that matches the collation information is input from the operation unit, a print job management unit that instructs processing of the print job;
A printing unit that processes and prints the print job stored in the storage unit based on an instruction from the print job management unit;
With
If the power is forcibly turned off while the print unit is processing the print job, the print job management unit instructs the print unit to stop processing the print job after the power is restored. When the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit, the network printer is configured to instruct resumption of processing of the print job. The network printer according to claim 1, further comprising:
A notification unit for notifying a user who has transmitted the print job that processing of the print job has been stopped after the power is restored;
A network printer comprising: The network printer according to claim 1 or 2,
The network printer according to claim 1, wherein when the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit, the print job management unit instructs the print unit to redo the processing of the print job. The network printer according to claim 1 or 2,
When the print instruction information is input again from the operation unit, the print job management unit restarts processing of the print job from a page that was printed when the power is forcibly turned off. A network printer, characterized by instructing a section. An operation unit for receiving input from the user;
A storage unit for storing a print job associated with the verification information;
When print instruction information that matches the collation information is input from the operation unit, a print job management unit that instructs processing of the print job;
A printing unit that processes and prints the print job stored in the storage unit based on an instruction from the print job management unit;
With
If the power is forcibly turned off while the print unit is processing the print job, the print job management unit instructs the print unit to stop processing the print job after the power is restored. A network printer, wherein the print job is deleted from the storage unit. The network printer according to claim 5, further comprising:
A notification unit for notifying the user who has transmitted the print job that the print job has been deleted after the power is restored;
A network printer comprising:

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