JP2009149017A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such problems that although there is a method of transmitting an encrypted file to a recorder and decrypting it in the recorder, for the purpose of preventing the leakage of the confidential information and personal information of a customer, in the process of recording (printing) a file transmitted from a host PC through a network such as an internet by the recorder, there is a risk that in the process of encrypting and transmitting to the recorder, a public key is known by a third party and there is possibility to record and output when transmission to other recorders having the same function is performed as well. <P>SOLUTION: A secret key and the public key are produced in a peculiar combination from the recorder and then, the file encrypted by the public key can be decrypted by the secret key in the recorder, when a printing (recording) request is received from the customer (user) through the network and the host PC of the recorder. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

    The present invention relates to a recording apparatus equipped with a security function.

  In recent years, with the evolution of IT, the demand for variable data for creating contents according to the receiver is increasing.

  For this reason, the industrial printing field is rapidly progressing from mass printing to high-mix low-volume printing.

  As these printing means, variable data is printed by a specialized printing company equipped with a printing machine.

  As a method, a system in which data created by a customer is transferred to a printing company and printed by the printing company has become widespread.

  Conventional recording apparatuses are configured to receive customer information including personal information from the outside, develop it into data that can be recorded in the recording apparatus, and form an image on a recording medium from the recording apparatus.

  However, damages such as leakage or loss of customer information including personal information and misuse using the leaked data have occurred. Therefore, various means for solving them have been desired.

File encryption is one of the techniques to improve this. For example, in a recording apparatus constituting an encrypted print system together with an encrypted print server apparatus and a client apparatus connected to each other via a network,
A technique has been proposed in which encrypted recording data transmitted from a client device is decrypted and output by a recording device using key information from a user.
(For example, Patent Document 1)
Also proposed is a method of selecting a type of encryption that matches the strength of encryption that the user wants to use from a plurality of encryption processing methods and selecting a decryption process in the recording device after encryption. .
(For example, Patent Document 2)

Further, there has been proposed a method for executing a complete match search and a partial match search on an encrypted file using an encrypted search key obtained by encrypting and combining data for each unit character.
(For example, Patent Document 3)
JP2007-066175 JP2005-225099 JP2002-108910

    However, according to the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, encryption / decryption processing can be automatically set, which is easy to use, but is decrypted by the recording device using the key information from the user. There are concerns known to third parties.

    Further, in Patent Document 2, since it is intended for users of various levels in operation, it is easy to use, but for the recording apparatus side, the scale of hardware or software swells and control tends to be complicated.

    Further, in the case of Patent Document 3, an excellent result in terms of security can be obtained, but the load is heavy in terms of processing speed, and it is difficult to incorporate it in a high-speed recording apparatus.

  The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems.

The recording device according to the present invention comprises:
A means for generating a cipher for encrypting recording data inside the recording apparatus, and sending the first cipher to the outside, simultaneously storing the second cipher generated in association with the apparatus, and then sending it The encrypted recording data that comes is decrypted with the second cipher.

  According to the present invention, even if the first cipher issued from the recording device is known to a third party, the first cipher cannot be decrypted, and the second cipher generated inside the recording device cannot be decrypted. Therefore, the confidentiality of the recorded data is maintained.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Example)
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram in which a recording apparatus 103 and an information processing apparatus (host PC 102 / client PC 103) used in this embodiment are connected via the Internet.

  The host PC 102 and the recording apparatus 103 are connected by a USB cable, for example. A plurality of client PCs 101 can request printing of arbitrary files by accessing the host PC 102. File encryption can be selected from the client side. A plurality of recording devices 103 may be connected.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control sequence between the recording apparatus and the information processing apparatus (host PC, client PC) according to the present invention.

  First, when a print (recording) job request including encryption is generated from the client PC (S241) and reaches the host PC via the Internet, LAN, etc., an encryption generation command is issued from the host PC to the recording device ( S221), the command is analyzed by the recording device.

  The recording device internally generates a public key for encryption and a secret key for decryption (S201), and transmits only the public key to the host PC (S202).

  The public key received by the host PC is transferred to the client PC (S222), and then the host PC waits for encryption at the client PC.

  Upon receiving the public key for encryption (S242), the client performs file encryption using the public key (S243), and then transmits the encrypted data to the host PC (S244). The received encrypted data cannot be decompressed (decrypted) on the host PC. This is because only the recording device stores the secret key generated in association with the public key used for encryption.

  Therefore, the encrypted data received by the host PC is transferred as it is to the recording device (S223).

  Then, after receiving the encrypted data (S203), the recording device reads the aforementioned secret key stored in association with the corresponding public key, and decompresses (decrypts) the encrypted data (S204). Then, printing (recording) is performed directly (S205).

  When the recording is completed, the completion status is transmitted to the host PC (S206), and the completion status is transferred from the host PC to the client PC (S224) and received by the client PC (S245). The above series of sequences is completed, and the job ends.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control unit hardware of the recording apparatus embodying the present invention.

  The control unit of the recording apparatus 103 includes a CPU 302, executes a control program stored in a non-volatile memory (ROM) 303, and records data and commands from the host PC 102 to the reception buffer 306 via the interface controller 201. Memorize temporarily.

  When a print (recording) job request including encryption is generated from the client PC and the encryption generation command is received from the host PC 102 to the recording apparatus, the CPU 302 activates the encryption generator 300.

  Then, a public key for encryption is generated from the cryptographic generator 300, and then a secret key used by the recording apparatus itself at the time of decryption is also generated in association with the public key. The CPU 302 reads out the public key and secret key and stores them in the EEPROM 305. The public key is transmitted to the host PC 102, but only the recording device 103 knows the secret key.

  Thereafter, when the encrypted recording data is received, it is decoded (decompressed) when it passes through the decryption logic 307 and written into the VRAM 308 as bitmap data. The public key and secret key used for encryption and decryption are stored in the nonvolatile EEPROM 305. At the time of decryption, the secret key associated with the received public key is read together with the encrypted data and decryption logic is used. Are written in a register (not shown).

  In addition to this, the CPU 302 also uses a RAM 304 as a working memory at the time of image development.

  The CPU 302 includes a recording head control circuit 309 that drives and controls the recording heads 310 to 317, a cleaning operation for keeping each recording head in an optimum state for recording, and a head U that controls the movement of the recording heads 310 to 317 during the recording operation. / D (Up and Down) motor 320, a cap motor 321 for controlling movement of a cap mechanism (not shown), and a general motor such as a transport motor 322 for transporting a recording medium. An actuator such as a motor is driven via an input / output port 318 and a drive unit 319.

  FIG. 4 shows an image for recording an image on the recording medium 401 to which the recording heads 310 to 317 are conveyed. The recording medium 401 is continuously conveyed in the direction of the arrow in the figure by a conveying roller 406 and a conveying belt 407 driven by a conveying motor 322 during a recording operation.

  Reference numerals 402 and 403 denote front end detection sensors that detect the front end (or rear end) of the recording medium 401. The recording image 404 drawn on the surface of the recording medium 401 is completed when it passes through the recording head 317 on the most downstream side in the transport direction.

The recording heads 310 to 317 are normally sealed by the cap mechanisms 410 to 417 (during standby). During the recording operation, the recording heads 310 to 317 are temporarily moved upward by the head U / D motor 320. Thereafter, the cap mechanisms 410 to 417 are slid by the cap motor 321. Further, the face surface of the recording heads 310 to 317 having the nozzle rows for discharging ink descends to about 1 [mm] from the surface of the recording medium 401 and stops (shown). The breakdown of the recording heads 310 to 317 is the recording head 310, 314: black, the recording head 311, 315: cyan, the recording head 312, 316: magenta, and the recording heads 313, 317: yellow.

  There are two reasons for having two sets of recording heads: to use as a higher-speed line printer and to continue the recording operation even after entering the recovery operation to maintain the recording performance of the recording head.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a printing business recording apparatus that realizes the production of extremely high-quality printed matter over a network in a short time while ensuring security including personal information.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the system containing the recording device of this invention. It is a flow which shows operation | movement of the system containing the recording device of this invention. 2 is an electrical block diagram of the recording apparatus of the present invention. FIG. It is a schematic image figure of the recording part of the recording device of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

101 Client PC
102 Host PC
103 Recording Device 300 Cryptographic Generator 302 CPU
303 ROM
305 EEPROM
307 Decryption logic 308 VRAM

Claims (1)

Decryption means for decrypting the encrypted recording data;
In a recording apparatus comprising recording means for recording the recording data decrypted by the decrypting means,
When an encryption transmission request for encrypting the recording data is received from an external device connected to the recording device,
"First encryption"
A cipher generating means for generating a “second cipher” related to the “first cipher”;
Encryption transmitting means for transmitting the “first encryption” to the external device;
The recorded data received after being encrypted by the “first cipher”
A recording apparatus, wherein decryption is performed using the “second cipher”.

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