JP2010086155A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing attendance management even when a failure occurs on a server or a network, and reducing the load of an employee etc. to cope with such the case. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a management means for performing attendance management of a user based on the authentication of the user, and a detection means for detecting the occurrence of the failure on the server or the network. On the occurrence of the failure, the image forming apparatus further includes an output means for outputting the content of the attendance management as a certificate. By this, even when the server or the network falls down, the attendance management can be performed using the image forming apparatus, and the certificate on the content of the attendance management can easily be issued. Here, as the certificate, the output means can also outputs the content of the attendance management in a barcode form. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a multifunction peripheral provided with an authentication unit for authenticating a user.

  In many companies and business offices, etc., it is usual to manage the time (employment management) of employee attendance, retirement, going out, etc. Conventionally, such attendance management is generally performed by stamping on a time card or the like with a dedicated stamping machine or the like.

  However, it is not rare that one personal computer (PC) is assigned to one employee in a company in recent times, and these PCs are connected to each other by a LAN (Local Area Network) or the like. Communication is possible. In many cases, one main PC is positioned as a server and used to manage all these PCs.

  Under such circumstances, the attendance management described above has been performed by the following method. That is, for example, when a certain employee goes to work and activates a PC assigned to the employee, the activation is notified to the server, and this server recognizes that the employee has worked. The same applies to the case of leaving work or going out, and when the operation of shutting down the PC (turning off the power) is performed, this is notified to the server, and the server recognizes that the employee has left the office or moved out. It is.

  Such attendance management seems reasonable at first glance, but it is also true that it contains the following problems. First of all, it may take time to start up the PC, and it is difficult to accurately reflect the time of attendance and work. In particular, when there is an update of a program in the PC, the update is continued even after the PC termination procedure, and it may be a long time after the power is actually turned off. In addition, if there is a problem with the operation of the PC, there are many cases where the PC is restarted even when the employee is working, and it is easy for the server to distinguish this from actual attendance, leaving work, going out, etc. is not.

Therefore, a technique for managing attendance using an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a multifunction machine instead of the PC as described above is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below. That is, in recent companies, for example, one image forming apparatus is installed in one department, and an employee in that department can attach a personal ID card or the like to perform copying or the like. Yes. Using this, for example, when an employee goes to work, the ID card is always attached. Then, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs time management by notifying the server that the ID card has been installed from the image forming apparatus through a network such as a LAN. Since the image forming apparatus takes less time to start than a PC or the like and rarely restarts, it can be evaluated that this conventional technique is effective to some extent.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-136331

  However, this conventional technique has the following problems. That is, when there is a failure in the server or network, it is natural that the attendance management cannot be performed. Here, what becomes more problematic is the actions that employees should take when such a failure occurs. That is, in many cases, such as in many companies and offices, each employee has his / her attendance / retirement time, etc. proved by, for example, two or more superiors and manages the certificates stamped by the superiors. It must be submitted to the person in charge of the department. Such a response is troublesome for each employee, and the person in charge of the management department has to take such a response for all employees.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus capable of managing attendance even when there is a failure in a server or network and reducing the burden of dealing with employees in such cases. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following means.

  First, the present invention is premised on an image forming apparatus that includes an authentication unit that authenticates a user and can communicate with a server through a network with respect to the authentication.

  In such an image forming apparatus, a management unit that performs attendance management for the user based on the authentication and a detection unit that detects that a failure has occurred in the server or the network are provided. And when this failure occurs, an output means is provided for outputting the contents of the attendance management as a certificate. Thereby, even when the server or the network goes down, attendance management can be performed by the image forming apparatus, and a certificate about the contents of attendance management can be easily issued.

  Here, the output means can output the contents of the attendance management as the certificate in a barcode format. Also, it is possible to provide a reading means for reading the certificate in the barcode format and restoring the contents of the attendance management. Furthermore, when the failure is recovered, notification means for notifying the user of the contents of the attendance management by e-mail may be provided.

  As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, attendance management is possible even when there is a failure in the server or the network, and in such a case, the burden of dealing with employees or the like can be reduced. Can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention. In this embodiment, the present invention is embodied as a digital multi-function peripheral which is a form of an image forming apparatus.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall configuration of a multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment. When a user prints a document using the multifunction device, the document is placed on the document table 103, for example, and a printing instruction is given to the operation buttons of the touch panel 300 provided near the document table 103. When the instruction is given, printing is performed by operating the following sections (drive sections).

  In the image reading unit 101, the light emitted from the light source 104 is reflected by the document placed on the document table 103, and is guided by the mirrors 105, 106, and 107 to the image sensor 108 such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device). The image sensor 108 photoelectrically converts the received light to generate image data of the document. In this manner, the image data of the document is read by the image reading unit 101.

  The photosensitive drum 109 provided in the image forming unit 102 rotates in a predetermined direction at a constant speed, and around the charger drum 110, the exposure unit 111, the developing unit 112, and the transfer, in that order from the upstream side in the rotation direction. A device 113 and the like are arranged. The charger 111 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 109. The exposure device 111 irradiates light according to the image data read by the image reading unit 101 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 109. The developing unit 112 attaches toner to the electrostatic latent image formed by the exposure unit 111 to form a toner image on the photosensitive drum 109. The transfer unit 113 transfers the toner image on the photosensitive drum 109 to a sheet. In this way, the series of processes is performed in the image forming unit 102 by rotating the photosensitive drum 109.

  Further, when printing, the image forming unit 102 draws, for example, one A4 size sheet from the sheet feeding device 114 to the transport path L using the pickup roller 115. In addition to the paper feeding device 114, auxiliary paper feeding devices (optional paper feeders) 114a, 114b, and 114c as described in the background art can be attached to the multifunction peripheral 100 from the outside. In these sheets, for example, sheets of different sizes such as B5, B4, and A3 are stored, and sheets of a size selected by the user according to the application are fed. The sheet pulled out to the conveyance path L is sent between the photosensitive drum 109 and the transfer unit 113 by the conveyance roller 116 and the registration roller 117.

  When the sheet passes between the heating roller 119 and the pressure roller 120 in the fixing device 118, the visible image is fixed to the sheet by heat and a pressing force to the sheet. In order to perform the fixing appropriately, the heat amount of the heating roller is optimally set according to the paper size. The image forming unit 102 discharges the sheet that has passed through the fixing device 118 to the discharge tray 121.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram relating to control of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The MFP 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 202, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 203, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 204, and a driver 205 corresponding to each driving unit in the above printing. They are connected via a bus 206.

  The CPU 201 uses, for example, the RAM 202 as a work area, executes a program stored in the ROM 203, the HDD 204, and the like, and exchanges data and commands with the driver 205 based on the execution result, as shown in FIG. The operation of each driving unit is controlled. Also, each means (shown in FIG. 3) described later other than the above-described drive unit operates as each means when the CPU 201 executes a program.

  In order to perform attendance management as described in the background art using such a multi-function device 100, the following is performed.

  A user (employee or the like) who has attended work first attaches his / her ID card 2 to the card reader 1. Then, the authentication unit 301 reads the information (for example, user ID) of the ID card 2 and compares the user ID registered with the authentication unit 301 to perform user authentication. Note that this user authentication procedure is merely an example, and other procedures such as a procedure of inputting a password or the like from the touch panel 300 may be used.

  When the user authentication is performed in this way, the authentication unit 301 displays the attendance management screen 400 as shown in FIG. 4 on the touch panel 300, for example. When the user presses the “attendance” button 401 and further presses the “OK” button 405, the management means 302 is notified that the user has attended work.

  Similarly, on the attendance management screen 400, when the user presses the “Exit” button 402, the “Go out” button 403, the “Re-enter” button 404, and further presses the “OK” button 405, The management means 302 is notified that the employee has left, moved out, or re-entered. In the following, for convenience, these procedures including the above-mentioned attendance will be collectively referred to as “attendance procedures”.

  In this way, the management unit 302 performs attendance management for each user. In addition, attendance, leaving work, going out, and re-entry shown here are examples of work forms, and of course, other work forms may be used.

  The MFP 100 of the present invention includes a communication interface 310 and can communicate with personal computers (PCs) 350, 351, and 352 of each user via a network 360 such as a LAN (Local Area Network). . In the present embodiment, a case will be described as an example where the PC 350 is positioned as a server among these PCs, and the PCs 351 and 352 of each user are managed.

  The management means 302 can transmit the attendance management performed as described above to the server 350, and the attendance management can be performed by the server 350. Each user of the PCs 351 and 352 can inquire the server 350 about the contents of their attendance management. The contents can be obtained from the server 350 in the form of a table as shown in FIG.

  Here, it is assumed that a failure occurs in the server 350 or the network 360 for some reason. Then, the detection unit 303 detects the occurrence of this failure. For example, the authentication means 301 is detected when the user depresses the “attendance” button 401, the “retirement” button 402, the “going out” button 403, and the “reentry” button 404 and further depresses the “OK” button 405. Is performed when the server issues an authentication request to the server. When the user performs the above time procedure in the state where the occurrence of the failure is detected as described above, the output unit 304 outputs the contents of the user's time management as a certificate. Alternatively, the output unit 304 outputs the contents of the user's attendance procedure '(that is, one-time procedure) when the failure occurs as a certificate.

  This certificate is a printed matter in which the tabular attendance management shown in FIG. Alternatively, the output means 304 may output the contents of attendance management as a certificate in the form of a barcode as shown in FIG. This is particularly effective when the attendance management in the table format shown in FIG.

  The user submits the certificate thus output to, for example, a person in charge in the management department. In this way, attendance management can be easily performed for each employee and for the person in charge in the management department when a server or network failure occurs.

  In particular, when the certificate is issued in the barcode format as described above, the reading unit 305 of the multifunction peripheral 100 can read the barcode to restore the contents of the attendance management. Thereby, when the failure is recovered, the management means 302 can transmit the contents of the attendance management to the server 350 via the network 360, and can restore the ordinary attendance management.

  In particular, when the failure is recovered, the notification unit 306 may be configured to notify the user's PC 351 of the contents of the attendance management by e-mail. In this way, even if there is a failure as described above, each user can be sure that his / her attendance management is being performed without any problem, so it is safe.

  As described above, according to the present invention, safe and simple attendance management can be realized even when a network failure occurs.

  In FIG. 6, it has been described that the certificate is output in the barcode format, but it is needless to say that the barcode may be a two-dimensional barcode. In addition to the barcode format, this certificate may be output in a text format that can be read by an OCR (Optical Character Reader), for example. In these cases, the reading unit 305 may be changed to a configuration that can read each type of certificate.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention can perform attendance management even when there is a failure in the server or the network, and in such a case, it is possible to reduce the burden of dealing with employees. Therefore, it is useful as a copying machine or a multifunction machine.

1 is a schematic diagram of an overall configuration of a multifunction machine according to the present invention. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a multifunction machine according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of the multifunction peripheral according to the present invention. An example of the time management screen. An example of time management content. An example of a barcode.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Card reader 2 ID card 100 MFP 300 Touch panel 301 Authentication means 302 Management means 303 Detection means 304 Output means 305 Reading means 306 Notification means 310 Communication interface 350 Server 351, 352 Personal computer 360 Network

Claims (4)

In an image forming apparatus provided with an authentication unit for authenticating a user and capable of communicating with a server through a network with respect to the authentication,
Management means for managing the attendance of the user based on the authentication;
Detection means for detecting that a failure has occurred in the server or the network;
An output means for outputting the contents of the attendance management as a certificate when the failure occurs;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs the contents of the attendance management as the certificate in a barcode format.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a reading unit that reads the certificate in a barcode format and restores the contents of the attendance management.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising notification means for notifying the user of the contents of the attendance management by e-mail when the failure is recovered.

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