JP2009070277A - Information processor and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate an input operation of a user of a terminal when selecting a party to be charged. <P>SOLUTION: The information processor includes a candidate acquiring section 21 for acquiring a list including a plurality of candidates to be charged for the use of a terminal used by a user; and a selection section 22 for selecting each candidate on the basis of at least one of terminal information, user information, and information on an object to be processed in the terminal. The selection section 22 includes a candidate determination section 22A for evaluating display priority of each candidate on the basis of the terminal information or the like; a UI display control section 22B for prompting the user to select a candidate to be charged by displaying a selection screen having at least some of the candidates arranged therein on the basis of the display priority; and a user input reception section 22C for determining a candidate input by the user through the selection screen as a party to be charged. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

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

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a charging system has been considered in which a user of a terminal such as a multifunction peripheral bears a terminal usage fee to a specific organization or individual. In such a billing system, particularly when the user of the terminal has a plurality of billing destination candidates, the user selects a billing destination according to the business content and the like. Accordingly, a user of a terminal having a plurality of billing destination candidates needs to make an input for selecting a billing destination candidate each time printing or the like is performed.
JP-T-2004-517525

  An object of the present invention is to facilitate an input for selecting a billing destination by a user of a terminal.

  The invention of claim 1 is a billing destination acquisition means for acquiring a list including a plurality of billing destination candidates for which a user is charged for a terminal usage fee, information on the terminal, information on the user, and An information processing apparatus comprising: a selection processing unit configured to execute the candidate selection process from the list according to at least one of processing target information of the terminal.

  A second aspect of the present invention is the information processing apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising candidate information acquisition means for acquiring information indicating the position of each candidate, wherein the terminal information includes position information indicating the position of the terminal. And the selection processing means executes the selection processing according to a positional relationship between the terminal and each candidate.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising a use date acquisition unit that acquires information on a use date of the terminal by the user, wherein the user information is: Information on a specific date and time and information on the candidate related to the user at the date and time, and the selection processing means executes the selection processing according to the candidate related to the user at the date and time of use It is characterized by.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the selection processing unit determines the display priority of each candidate included in the list, the information on the terminal, and the user's information. Display control means for displaying on the display device a selection screen that is evaluated according to at least one of the information and information to be processed by the terminal and on which at least some of the candidates are arranged based on the display priority It is characterized by that.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the selection processing unit relates to information on the terminal, information on the user, or information on a processing target of the terminal. The candidate satisfying a predetermined condition is determined as the billing destination.

  The invention of claim 6 is a billing destination acquisition means for acquiring a list including a plurality of billing destination candidates charged for the usage fee of the terminal by the user, information on the terminal, information on the user, and It is a program for causing a computer to function as selection processing means for executing the selection processing of the candidate from the list according to at least one of information to be processed by the terminal.

  According to the invention of claim 1 or claim 6, it is possible to facilitate the input of the billing destination by the user of the terminal.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the user of the terminal can select a candidate according to the positional relationship of the terminal as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the user of the terminal can select a candidate related to the use date and time of the terminal as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the terminal user can easily select the billing destination as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the selection processing means can determine the billing destination without input by the user of the terminal as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

[First embodiment]
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a billing system including an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the accounting system shown in the figure, an image processing apparatus 1 and a management server, which are examples of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, via a network 3 by a wide area network (WAN) or a local area network (LAN). 4. The schedule management server 5 and the document management server 6 are connected so that data communication is possible.

  The image processing apparatus 1 is a printing machine having a billing destination selection processing function, and includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication unit 13, a storage medium receiving unit 14, a UI unit 15, an image reading unit 16, and an image output unit 17. It is comprised including. The control unit 11 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and in this embodiment, the functions of the user authentication unit 11A, the charging destination selection processing unit 11B, and the charging log creation unit 11C are stored in the storage unit 12 or the like. It can be realized by executing. This program may be provided by being stored in various computer-readable information storage media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, or may be provided via communication means such as the Internet.

  The memory | storage part 12 is realizable with memory elements, such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory), and a hard disk. The storage unit 12 stores a program (software) executed by the control unit 11. The storage unit 12 also operates as a work memory that holds various data used in the process of the control unit 11.

  The communication unit 13 can be realized by a network board or the like. The communication unit 13 accepts data from the management server 4 connected via the network 3 and outputs the data to the control unit 11. Further, the communication unit 13 outputs data input from the control unit 11 to the management server 4 or the like via the network 3.

The storage medium receiving unit 14 is a reader / writer device such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card or the like, a CD (Compact).
It can be realized by a drive device such as a disc (Disc), a connection port connectable to a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a mobile phone, or the like. The storage medium receiving unit 14 receives the storage medium 18 such as an IC card, reads data held in the storage medium 18, and outputs the data to the control unit 11. In addition, the storage medium receiving unit 14 writes data input from the control unit 11 in the storage medium 18 in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11.

  The UI unit 15 can be realized by a touch panel, a liquid crystal display, an input device (a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, or the like). The UI unit 15 includes a display device that displays a screen (for example, a menu screen that prompts the user to input an instruction) based on data input from the control unit 11 in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11. In addition, the UI unit 15 receives an instruction input from the user and outputs the instruction to the control unit 11.

  The image reading unit 16 can be realized by an image scanner or the like. The image reading unit 16 generates bitmap data representing an image (for example, including text, a diagram, a photograph, etc.) formed on a paper document in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11. 11 is output.

  The image output unit 17 can be realized by an output device such as a laser printer or an inkjet printer. The image output unit 17, for example, in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11, an image based on the image data input from the control unit 11 (for example, on a sheet-like image recording medium such as paper or a synthetic resin film) A color or monochrome print original image including text, graphics, photographs, and the like).

  The management server 4, the schedule management server 5, and the document management server 6 are known server computers, and are connected to the image processing apparatus 1 via the network 3 so that data communication is possible. These servers provide the image processing apparatus 1 with information necessary for print processing and information for selecting a billing destination, or collect billing logs from the image processing apparatus 1 and charge for each billing destination. And processing such as issuing an invoice.

  Next, specific processing by the image processing apparatus 1 and the management server 4 will be described. First, a user who uses the image processing apparatus 1 inserts the storage medium 18 in which the user ID is stored in the storage medium receiving unit 14. The user authentication unit 11 </ b> A acquires the user ID from the storage medium 18 and performs user authentication by inquiring of the management server 4. The user management unit 41A of the management server 4 authenticates the inquired user ID. When the user authentication is successful, the user-specific billing destination management unit 41C reads the billing destination list corresponding to the user ID from the storage unit 42 and transmits it to the image processing apparatus 1.

  Here, the billing destination refers to an organization or an individual who bears a usage fee by the user of the image processing apparatus 1. The billing destination list is a list including information for specifying an organization or an individual who is a candidate for a billing destination. Here, the information for specifying the organization or the like that is the billing destination candidate is information for specifying the name or ID of the organization or the like, for example. In the billing destination list, as shown in FIG. 2, names of a plurality of organizations and IDs are associated with one user ID.

  Then, the billing destination selection processing unit 11B performs candidate selection processing from the received billing destination list. Detailed processing in the billing destination selection processing unit 11B will be described later.

  When a billing destination is selected by the billing destination selection processing unit 11B, the UI unit 15 accepts a user instruction such as “printing 30 sheets of A4 paper in color”. In response to a user instruction, the control unit 11 causes the image reading unit 16 to read a paper document previously inserted into the image reading unit 16 by the user, and causes the image output unit 17 to perform “color printing of 30 sheets of A4 paper”. Let

  The billing log creation unit 11C creates a billing log indicating the usage status of the image processing apparatus 1 and causes the communication unit 13 to transmit it to the management server 4. The charging log includes the date and time of use of the image processing apparatus 1, the processing content such as “color printing of 30 sheets of A4 paper”, the user ID, and the charging destination information determined by the charging destination selection processing unit 11B. . The accounting log received by the management server 4 is stored in the storage unit 42. Then, the bill issuing unit 41D totals, for example, monthly usage fees according to the processing contents described in the billing log for each billing destination, and creates a bill.

  Hereinafter, functions realized by the billing destination selection processing unit 11B included in the control unit 11 of the image processing apparatus 1 described above will be described in more detail using FIG. 3 showing a functional block diagram of the billing destination selection processing unit 11B. Explained.

  First, the charging destination candidate acquisition unit 21 acquires a charging destination list provided from the management server 4. Specifically, the billing destination list corresponding to the user ID is stored in the storage unit 42 of the management server 4 and is read by the user-specific billing destination management unit 41C to the billing destination candidate obtaining unit 21 via the network 3. Provided.

  The selection processing unit 22 includes three functional blocks including a charging destination candidate determination unit 22A, a UI display control unit 22B, and a user input reception unit 22C. Further, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A includes a terminal information determination unit 22D, a user information determination unit 22E, and a processing target information determination unit 22F. Specifically, the selection processing unit 22 determines the display priority of a plurality of charging destination candidates described in the charging destination list based on terminal information, user information, and processing target information as the selection processing, and sets the charging destination. A screen for selecting the candidate is displayed on the UI unit 15 in accordance with the determination, and processing for accepting the user's selection is executed. In addition, the candidate information acquisition unit 23 and the date / time information acquisition unit 24 acquire and provide information necessary for the processing of the selection processing unit 22.

  Here, the terminal information is information indicating the position of the organization or individual who owns the image processing apparatus 1, the address of the installation location, and the like. The user information is information indicating an organization or the like related to the user. For example, the user information is information indicating an organization that is a user's business at a specific date and time, such as information indicating the user's schedule. The processing target information is information acquired from the contents of image data and the file name thereof, and is information including an organization or an individual to which information such as image data processed by the image processing apparatus 1 belongs.

  The charging destination candidate determination unit 22A evaluates the display priority of each candidate described in the charging destination list acquired by the charging destination candidate acquisition unit 21 based on the terminal information and the like, thereby displaying the display mode of each candidate in the UI unit 15 Judging. Here, the display priority is a scale indicating the possibility of the user selecting as a billing destination. Specifically, charging destination candidate determination unit 22A acquires information such as terminal information, and determines display priority according to whether the acquired information satisfies a predetermined condition.

  Further, charging destination candidate determination unit 22A includes functional blocks of terminal information determination unit 22D, user information determination unit 22E, and processing target information determination unit 22F, and causes each functional block to determine the display priority. Then, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A comprehensively evaluates the display priority based on the display priority by each functional block. Further, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A may cause at least one functional block to evaluate the display priority. Further, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A may weight the display priority that is determined by each functional block and evaluate the display priority comprehensively. The specific operation of each functional block included in charging destination candidate determination unit 22A will be described later.

  The UI display control unit 22B displays a candidate selection screen on the UI unit 15 according to the display priority evaluated by the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A, and prompts the user to select a charging destination. At this time, the UI unit 15 displays a selection screen in which candidates are arranged in descending order of display priority.

  The user input receiving unit 22C determines a candidate input by the user as a billing destination. Since the UI display control unit 22B displays a selection screen in which candidates are arranged in order of display priority, the user can smoothly input for selecting a billing destination. FIG. 4 is a display example of a billing destination selection screen in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4A, the selection screen is displayed by displaying candidates from the top in descending order of display priority, and placing the selection cursor on the candidate having the highest display priority. Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, a selection screen in which some candidates with high display priority are arranged by removing candidates with low display priority may be used.

  Next, specific operations of the functional blocks of the terminal information determination unit 22D, the user information determination unit 22E, and the processing target information determination unit 22F in the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A will be described. Each of these functional blocks acquires terminal information, user information, or processing target information, and determines the display priority of each candidate according to whether or not these pieces of information satisfy a predetermined condition.

  The terminal information determination unit 22D acquires terminal information and determines the display priority according to whether the terminal information satisfies a predetermined condition. The terminal information determination unit 22D obtains, from the storage unit 12, position information indicating the address of the installation location of the image processing apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. Further, the candidate information acquisition unit 23 inquires of the management server 4 about location information indicating the address of each candidate in the billing destination list (FIG. 2) and the location such as east longitude and north latitude. In response to the inquiry, the billing destination management unit 41B included in the management server 4 acquires position information corresponding to each candidate in the billing destination list and transmits it to the image processing apparatus 1. The terminal information determination unit 22D acquires position information corresponding to each candidate as illustrated in FIG. 6 as candidate information from the candidate information acquisition unit 23, and according to the positional relationship between each candidate and the image processing apparatus 1, Determine the display priority.

  Specifically, in the terminal information determination unit 22D, the place name (name of prefecture, city, ward, etc.) included in each billing destination address is the same as the place name included in the address where the image processing apparatus 1 is installed. In this case, points of display priority are given. In addition, the terminal information determination unit 22D gives display priority points according to the distance between the east longitude and north latitude where each candidate is located and the east longitude and north latitude where the image processing apparatus 1 is installed. The terminal information determination unit 22D according to the present embodiment may assign display priority points according to either the address of the installation location of the image processing apparatus 1, the name of the place included in each candidate address, or the distance between the two. Then, points of display priority may be given according to both the place name and the distance. In addition, when the candidate address and the place name included in the address of the installation location of the image processing apparatus 1 are not common, display priority points may be given according to the distance between the two derived from east longitude and north latitude.

  For example, when the user uses the image processing apparatus 1 installed in a convenience store in K city K city as shown in FIG. 5, the address of the convenience store where the image processing apparatus 1 is installed and the candidate address The display priority of each candidate can be determined according to the positional relationship between

  The user information determination unit 22E acquires user schedule information as shown in FIG. 7 from the schedule management server 5 as user information. The user's schedule information shown in the figure associates information indicating the date and time when the user is scheduled to perform work with information related to the user's business destination at that date and time. Here, the user's business destination represents an organization or the like that the user goes to or an organization or the like related to the business that the user performs for the organization or the like. The information related to the user's business destination includes information such as the name and ID of the organization that is the business destination.

  The user information determination unit 22E acquires information indicating the date and time when the user uses the image processing apparatus 1 from the date and time information acquisition unit 24, and reads information related to the user's business destination corresponding to the date and time. Furthermore, the user information determination unit 22E reads the names and IDs of the candidates from the billing destination list, and determines whether or not the names and IDs of the candidates are included in the information regarding the user's business destination corresponding to the date and time. , Give points of display priority to the included candidates.

  The processing target information determination unit 22F acquires processing target information from image data or the like to be processed in the image processing apparatus 1. Specifically, the image reading unit 16 of the image processing apparatus 1 reads image data or the like and outputs it as bitmap data to the processing target information determination unit 22F. The processing target information determination unit 22F acquires the read bitmap data and converts it into text data using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) function. The processing target information determination unit 22F acquires information indicating a character string at a specific position such as the end of the converted text data as processing target information. Further, the processing target information determination unit 22F reads the names and IDs of the candidates from the billing destination list, determines whether or not the processing target information includes information indicating the names and IDs of the candidates. Points of display priority are given to the candidates.

  When image data or the like is acquired by downloading from the document management server 6 connected to the network 3, the processing target information determination unit 22 </ b> F displays image data or the like input from the UI unit 15 by the user. Information indicating the file name or file storage location is acquired as processing target information. Further, the processing target information determination unit 22F reads the names and IDs of the candidates from the billing destination list, determines whether or not the processing target information includes information indicating the names and IDs of the candidates. Points of display priority are given to the candidates.

  The charging destination candidate determination unit 22A sums the display priority points determined by the functional blocks of the terminal information determination unit 22D, the user information determination unit 22E, and the processing target information determination unit 22F for each charging destination candidate. To comprehensively evaluate the display priority. The UI display control unit 22B displays on the screen of the UI unit 15 a selection screen in which billing destination candidates are arranged in descending order of display priority points.

  As described above, the billing destination selection processing unit 11B realizes billing destination selection processing based on the determination made by the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A and the user input to the UI unit 15 displayed by the billing destination selection processing unit 11B.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow of a billing destination selection process in the present embodiment.

  First, the user inserts the storage medium 18 in which the user ID is stored into the storage medium receiving unit 14 of the image processing apparatus 1. The user authentication unit 11A reads the user ID from the storage medium 18 and performs user authentication (S801). When the user authentication is successful, the charging destination selection processing unit 11B acquires the charging destination list from the management server 4 (S802). In S803, which is the next step, if the candidate in the charging destination list acquired in S802 is a single candidate, that candidate is determined as the charging destination (S807). On the other hand, when there are a plurality of candidates in the billing destination list, the display order of each candidate is determined. The display order is determined by the terminal information determination unit 22D and the like acquiring terminal information and evaluating the display priority of each candidate according to whether or not the terminal information satisfies a predetermined condition (S804). . In S805, which is the next step, the UI display control unit 22B outputs a selection screen in which candidates are arranged in the display order determined in S804 to the UI unit 15. Then, the user input receiving unit 22C accepts an input for selecting a billing destination by the user (S806), and the billing destination is determined (S807).

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, the selection processing unit 22 determines the charging destination by the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A determining each candidate. In the following, the second embodiment will be described, but the detailed description will be omitted by assigning the same reference numerals to the parts common to the first embodiment.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the billing destination selection processing unit 11B in the second embodiment, in that the UI display control unit 22B and the user input receiving unit 22C are not included, and the function performed by the selection processing unit 22 3 is different from the functional block diagram of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  The billing destination candidate determination unit 22A included in the selection processing unit 22 includes functional blocks of a terminal information determination unit 22D ′, a user information determination unit 22E ′, and a processing target information determination unit 22F ′. Each functional block is used by a user. A candidate suitable as a billing destination is determined. Specifically, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A acquires information such as terminal information, and causes each functional block to determine a candidate suitable as a billing destination for the usage fee by the user among the candidates. The billing destination candidate determination unit 22A determines a candidate suitable as a billing destination for the user's usage fee based on the determination of at least one functional block among the functional blocks. Then, the selection processing unit 22 determines the most suitable candidate as the charging destination of the usage fee by the user based on the determination of the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A.

  The terminal information determination unit 22D 'acquires terminal information, and determines a candidate suitable as a billing destination for the user's usage fee among the candidates according to whether the terminal information satisfies a predetermined condition. Specifically, the terminal information determination unit 22D ′ acquires information indicating the organization or the like that becomes the owner of the image processing apparatus 1 from the storage unit 12 as terminal information. The terminal information determination unit 22D ′ reads the name and ID of each candidate from the billing destination list, and when the condition that the terminal information includes any candidate name or ID is satisfied, the organization included in the terminal information It is determined that the candidate corresponding to is suitable as a billing destination for the usage fee by the user.

  The user information determination unit 22E 'acquires user information, and determines a candidate suitable as a billing destination for processing by the user among the candidates according to whether or not the user information satisfies a predetermined condition. Specifically, the user information determination unit 22E ′ acquires information indicating the organization to which the user belongs from the storage medium 18 as user information. The user information determination unit 22E ′ reads the names and IDs of the candidates from the billing destination list, and when the user information satisfies the condition that any candidate name or ID is included, the organization included in the user information It is determined that a candidate corresponding to the above is suitable as a billing destination for processing by the user.

  The processing target information determination unit 22F ′ acquires the processing target information, and determines a candidate suitable as a billing destination for processing by the user among the candidates according to whether or not a predetermined condition regarding the processing target information is satisfied. Specifically, the processing target information determination unit 22F ′ acquires processing target information from image data or the like. The processing target information determination unit 22F ′ reads the names and IDs of the candidates from the billing destination list, and is included in the processing target information when the processing target information satisfies the condition that any candidate name or ID is included. The candidate corresponding to the organization or the like is determined to be suitable as a billing destination for processing by the user.

[Third embodiment]
In the third embodiment, a usage right certificate is stored in the storage medium 18 for each billing destination that bears the user's usage fee. The usage right certificate shown in FIG. 10 is information indicating that the usage fee by the user of the image processing apparatus 1 is allowed to be charged under a certain condition to the organization or individual who is the issuer. Accordingly, the usage right certificate indicates a charging destination candidate of the user who owns the storage medium 18, and one or more usage right certificates are stored in the storage medium. The billing destination selection processing unit 11B performs processing for reading a billing destination candidate from each usage right certificate using one or more usage right certificates stored in the storage medium 18 as a billing destination list and selecting the candidate.

  In addition, the usage right certificate has conditions such as a period during which the user can select a billing destination, an apparatus that the billing organization or the like permits the user to charge for the usage fee, and an upper limit amount that the user can charge. included. Such a usage right certificate is stored in the storage medium 18 by, for example, an administrator of the employer such as the user's supervisor operating the image processing apparatus. When the usage right certificate is created, a signature for certifying the content of the usage right certificate is attached using the private key owned by the image processing apparatus, and tampering by others is prevented.

  In the following, the third embodiment will be described in more detail. However, parts common to the first embodiment and the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 11 is an overall configuration diagram of a charging system including an information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the accounting system shown in the figure, an image processing apparatus 1 and a management server, which are examples of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, via a network 3 by a wide area network (WAN) or a local area network (LAN). 4. The document management server 6 and the certificate authority 7 are connected so that data communication is possible. Further, the image processing apparatus 1 includes a usage right certificate processing unit 11D. The usage right certificate processing unit 11D performs processing for verifying the signature of the usage right certificate read from the storage medium 18.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the billing destination selection processing unit 11B in the present embodiment is configured with functional blocks similar to those in the first embodiment, but is functional blocks similar to those in the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. It may be constituted by.

  First, the charging destination candidate acquisition unit 21 ″ reads the usage right certificate stored in the storage medium 18. The charging destination candidate acquisition unit 21 ″ uses one or more usage right certificates as a charging destination list and uses each usage right. Get a candidate from a certificate.

  Next, specific operations of the functional blocks of the terminal information determination unit 22D ″ and the user information determination unit 22E ″ in the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A will be described. Each of these functional blocks obtains terminal information and user information, and determines the display priority of each candidate depending on whether or not these pieces of information satisfy a predetermined condition.

  The terminal information determination unit 22D ″ reads the terminal conditions for charging the candidate from each usage right certificate stored in the storage medium 18. Here, the usage right certificate includes an organization or the like serving as a charging destination. The conditions regarding the name, ID, etc. indicating the owner, the conditions regarding the address, the east longitude, the north latitude, etc. of the terminal that is allowed to be charged by the user are described. Also, the terminal information determination unit 22D ″ 4, information representing the organization or the like that becomes the owner of the image processing apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. 4, and information representing the location such as the installation location or the east longitude / northern latitude is acquired from the storage unit 12 as terminal information. The terminal information determination unit 22D ″ acquires terminal conditions for charging candidates from each usage right certificate, and determines the display priority of each candidate according to the terminal information and terminal conditions for charging each candidate. To do.

  The user information determination unit 22E ″ reads information indicating a period during which the user is allowed to be charged by the organization that issued the usage right certificate from each usage right certificate stored in the storage medium 18 as user information. The user information determination unit 22E ″ acquires information indicating the date and time when the user uses the image processing apparatus 1 from the date and time information acquisition unit 24. The user information determination unit 22E ″ determines whether or not the user can charge the user information described in each usage right certificate according to the information indicating the date and time when the image processing apparatus 1 is used. Give points of display priority.

  The charging destination candidate determination unit 22A adds the display priority points determined for the functional blocks of the terminal information determination unit 22D "and the user information determination unit 22E" for each charging destination candidate, thereby increasing the display priority. Assess comprehensively. The UI display control unit 22B displays a selection screen in which billing destination candidates are arranged in descending order of display priority.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart of processing for selecting a billing destination and updating the usage right certificate. First, when a user inserts a storage medium 18 storing a user ID into the storage medium receiving unit 14 of the image processing apparatus 1, the user authentication unit 11A reads the user ID from the storage medium 18 and performs user authentication. This is performed (S1301). Next, the charging destination candidate acquisition unit 21 reads the usage right certificate as a charging destination list from the storage medium 18 in which one or more usage right certificates are stored (S1302). In the next step S1303, when the read usage right certificate is singular and the billing destination candidate is singular, the usage right certificate processing unit 11D verifies the signature of the usage right certificate. (S1308). On the other hand, when there are a plurality of read usage right certificates and a plurality of charging destination candidates, the charging destination candidate determination unit 22A acquires information such as terminal information. Then, the billing destination candidate determination unit 22A determines a display priority point for each candidate according to the acquired terminal information and the terminal conditions acquired from the usage right certificate, and determines the display order. (S1304). The UI display control unit 22B outputs a selection screen in which the candidates are arranged to the UI unit 15 according to the determined display order (S1305). The user input receiving unit 22C accepts the selection of the billing destination by the user (S1306), and the usage right certificate corresponding to the selected candidate is determined (S1307). The usage right certificate processing unit 11D verifies the signature of the determined usage right certificate (S1308).

  In S1308, the usage right certificate processing unit 11D acquires the public key of the usage right setting device described in the usage right certificate from the certificate authority 7 through the network 3, and decrypts the signature information with the public key. Next, the usage right certificate processing unit 11D verifies the signature by verifying whether the hash value derived from the original text of the usage right certificate matches the decrypted signature information. If the signature verification is successful, the user can use the image processing apparatus 1 (S1309).

  Further, the usage right certificate processing unit 11D subtracts the usage fee from the user from the upper limit usage amount stored in the usage right certificate (S1310). Then, the usage right certificate processing unit 11D changes the information of the image processing apparatus 1 to the usage right setting device column, and the hash value calculated from the original text of the updated usage right certificate is stored in the storage unit 12. Encryption is performed using a secret key stored in the damper area, and the information is added as signature information to the usage right certificate (S1311).

It is a figure showing the whole billing system composition concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of an accounting destination list. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of the accounting destination selection process part concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the selection screen of the accounting destination which the UI part of an image processing apparatus displays. It is a figure which shows an example of terminal information. It is a figure which shows the positional information linked | related with each candidate of an accounting destination list. It is a figure which shows an example of a user's schedule information. It is a flowchart of the selection process of the accounting destination concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of the accounting destination selection process part concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the usage right certificate concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the charging system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the function of the accounting destination selection process part concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the selection process of the accounting destination concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  1 Image processing device, 3 network, 4 management server, 5 schedule management server, 6 document management server, 7 certificate authority, 11 control unit, 11A user authentication unit, 11B charging destination selection processing unit, 11C charging log creation unit, 11D use Certificate processing unit 12 Storage unit, 13 Communication unit, 14 Storage medium receiving unit, 15 UI unit, 16 Image reading unit, 17 Image output unit, 18 Storage medium, 21 Billing destination candidate acquisition unit, 22 Selection processing unit, 22A Charging destination candidate determination unit, 22B UI display control unit, 22C user input reception unit, 22D terminal information determination unit, 22E user information determination unit, 22F processing target information determination unit, 23 candidate information acquisition unit, 24 date / time information acquisition unit, 41 Control unit, 41A User management unit, 41B Billing destination management unit, 41C Billing destination management unit by user, 41D Part, 42 storage unit.

Claims (6)

A billing destination acquisition means for acquiring a list including a plurality of candidates for a billing destination for which the user is charged for the use of the terminal;
Selection processing means for performing the candidate selection processing from the list according to at least one of the terminal information, the user information, and the processing target information of the terminal;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Candidate information acquiring means for acquiring information indicating the position of each candidate,
The terminal information includes position information indicating the position of the terminal,
The selection processing means executes the selection processing according to a positional relationship between the terminal and each candidate.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Use date and time obtaining means for obtaining information on the use date and time of the terminal by the user;
The user information includes information on a specific date and time, and information on the candidate related to the user at the date and time,
The selection processing means executes the selection processing according to the candidate related to the user at the use date and time.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The selection processing means evaluates the display priority of each candidate included in the list according to at least one of the terminal information, the user information, and the processing target information of the terminal,
Further comprising display control means for causing a display device to display a selection screen in which at least some of the candidates are arranged based on the display priority.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The selection processing means determines the candidate satisfying a predetermined condition related to the terminal information, the user information, or the processing target information of the terminal as the billing destination.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that. Charging destination acquisition means for acquiring a list including a plurality of candidates of charging destinations for which the user is charged for the use of the terminal; and
Selection processing means for executing the selection process of the candidate from the list according to at least one of the terminal information, the user information, and the processing target information of the terminal;
As a program to make the computer function.

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