JP2012115992A - Image forming apparatus and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform user identification even at the side of an image forming apparatus when there occurs a communication failure of an identification server, and to perform image forming at any time.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus communicatively connected to the identification server comprises: a device-side storage part which can store each identification information corresponding to each server; an identification information receiving part which receives the identification information that is input by a user; a device-side communication part which transmits the received identification information to the identification server, and receives an identification result from the identification server; a device-side identification part which determines whether there exists identification information coincident with the received identification information by referring to the device-side storage part when communication with the identification server is impossible, and creates the identification result; an identification result determination part which determines whether the identification of the user has succeeded on the basis of the identification result; an identification information processing part which makes the device-side storage part store the received identification information; and an image forming part which forms an image on the basis of the determination result of identification success and image data.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus capable of authenticating a user and an image forming system including the image forming apparatus.

  In an image forming system including an image forming apparatus such as a printer, from the viewpoint of security, in order to determine whether the user has authority to use the image forming apparatus, Only when the user needs to be authenticated and the authentication is successful, the image is formed.

Such an image forming system includes an authentication server that is communicably connected to the image forming apparatus, and authentication information of each user is stored in the authentication server.
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus receives, for example, an image formation command including authentication information and image data including a user name and a password from a PC used by a user, transmits the received authentication information to an authentication server, and The authentication server determines whether there is authentication information stored in advance that matches the received authentication information, and returns the determined result to the image forming apparatus as an authentication result. The image forming apparatus determines whether an image should be formed based on the authentication result received from the authentication server. That is, image formation is performed only when user authentication is successful and it is determined that the user is a legitimate user having usage authority.

  Such an image forming system is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1 below. According to the image forming system of Patent Document 1, the authentication server authenticates a user when logging in from the operation panel or receiving print request data with authentication information added, and only when the authentication is successful. Use restriction information is acquired from an LDAP (Light Directory Access Protocol) server, and an image is formed.

JP 2008-269530 A

  However, if this authentication server goes down for some reason, for example, the power is turned off, the authentication result cannot be obtained and the above-described authentication result cannot be obtained. Therefore, even an authorized user cannot use the image forming apparatus until the authentication server is restored, which hinders the user's work. In particular, when image data should be printed urgently, there is a problem that it has a great influence.

The present invention adopts the following configuration in order to solve the above points.
<Configuration 1>
The present invention provides an image forming apparatus.
An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus that receives image data from a user terminal and is communicably connected to an authentication server via a communication network, and stores each authentication information corresponding to each user. The device-side storage unit that can be stored, the authentication information receiving unit that receives the authentication information input by the user, and whether or not communication with the authentication server is possible. The device-side communication unit that transmits the authentication information to the authentication server and receives an authentication result based on the authentication information from the authentication server, and the user has been successfully authenticated based on the authentication result from the authentication server An authentication result determination unit for determining whether or not authentication is successful, and authentication information processing for storing the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit in the device-side storage unit And an image forming unit that forms an image based on the determination result of authentication success and the image data, and the device-side storage unit when the device-side communication unit determines that communication with the authentication server is impossible. And an apparatus-side authentication unit that determines whether there is authentication information that matches the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit and forms an authentication result, and the authentication result determination unit includes: Further, it is determined whether or not the user authentication is successful based on the authentication result from the apparatus side authentication unit, and when it is determined that the authentication is successful, the image forming unit performs image formation based on the image data. It is characterized by performing.

<Configuration 2>
Furthermore, the present invention provides an image forming system.
An image forming system according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus that receives image data from a user terminal, and an authentication server that is communicably connected to the image forming apparatus via a communication network. The image forming apparatus includes an authentication information receiving unit, a device-side communication unit, a device-side storage unit, an authentication result determination unit, an image forming unit, an authentication information processing unit, and a device-side authentication unit. A server-side communication unit, and a server-side authentication unit. In the image forming apparatus, the authentication information receiving unit receives authentication information input by a user, and the device-side communication unit communicates with the authentication server. If it is determined that it is possible, the received authentication information is transmitted to the authentication server. In the authentication server, the server-side storage unit corresponds to each user for each authentication information. The server-side communication unit receives the authentication information from the image forming apparatus, and the server-side authentication unit refers to the server-side storage unit and receives the authentication received from the image forming apparatus. An authentication result indicating whether or not authentication information that matches the information exists is formed, and the server-side communication unit transmits the authentication result to the image forming apparatus. In the image forming apparatus, the apparatus-side storage The authentication unit can store each authentication information corresponding to each user, and the authentication result determination unit determines whether or not the user has been successfully authenticated based on the authentication result from the authentication server. If it is determined that the authentication is successful, the authentication information processing unit stores the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit in the device-side storage unit, and the image forming unit performs image formation based on the image data. In the image forming apparatus, when the apparatus-side communication unit determines that communication with the authentication server is impossible, the apparatus-side authentication unit refers to the apparatus-side storage unit and the authentication information Determine whether there is authentication information that matches the authentication information received by the receiving unit, and form an authentication result,
The authentication result determination unit determines whether or not the user has been successfully authenticated based on the authentication result from the device-side authentication unit. If the authentication result is determined to be successful, the image forming unit is based on the image data. Image formation.

In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the authentication information of the user who has been authenticated normally is stored in the apparatus-side storage unit, and when the authentication server becomes unable to communicate for some reason, it is stored in the apparatus-side storage unit. The user is authenticated based on the authentication information.
Therefore, according to the image forming apparatus and the image forming system according to the present invention, it is possible to authenticate the user on the image forming apparatus side when a communication failure of the authentication server occurs. The image formation such as can be always performed. As a result, the user's work is not disturbed, and the image forming apparatus can be used smoothly and effectively.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration in Embodiment 1 of an image forming system according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a device-side storage unit in the first embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the server side memory | storage part in Example 1 of the image forming system which concerns on this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation in the first embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure in Example 2 of the image forming system which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the apparatus side memory | storage part in Example 2 of the image forming system which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the server side memory | storage part in Example 2 of the image forming system which concerns on this invention. 6 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an operation of the image forming system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 7 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating an operation in the second embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure in Example 3 of the image forming system which concerns on this invention. 10 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an operation in the third embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention. 12 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating an operation in the third embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention. 12 is a flowchart (part 3) illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, an image forming system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment using the drawings.

<Configuration of Example 1>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system 150 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming system 150 according to the present invention includes a printer 100 as an image forming apparatus, an authentication server 110 and a PC 120 that are communicably connected to the printer 100 via a communication network 130. Including.
The PC 120 has a function of forming image data, and further has a function of causing the user to input authentication information for authenticating the user and transmitting the input authentication information to the printer 100 together with the image data. In this embodiment, the authentication information is composed of a user name and a password, but may be composed of biometric information such as a user's fingerprint.

  The printer 100 includes a device-side communication unit 101, an authentication result determination unit 102, an image forming unit 103, a device-side storage unit 104, an authentication information processing unit 105, a device-side authentication unit 106, and a device-side control unit 107.

In the printer 100, the device-side communication unit 101 has a function of communicating with the PC 120 and the authentication server 110 via the communication network 130. Specifically, the device-side communication unit 101 receives authentication information from the PC 120, further transfers the received authentication information to the authentication server 110, and receives an authentication result based on the authentication information from the authentication server 110. If communication with the authentication server 110 cannot be connected for some reason, the device-side communication unit 101 passes the received authentication information to the device-side authentication unit 106.
The authentication result determination unit 102 has a function of determining whether or not the user authentication is successful based on the authentication result. In the case of successful authentication, the authentication result determination unit 102 passes the image data from the PC 120 to the image forming unit 103 and passes an update request including authentication information from the PC 120 to the authentication information processing unit 105. In the case of authentication failure, the authentication result determination unit 102 passes a deletion request for deleting the authentication information of the user from the device-side storage unit 104 to the authentication information processing unit 105. This deletion request includes the user name included in the authentication information from the PC 120.
The image forming unit 103 has a function of printing an image based on image data.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of the device-side storage unit 104 in the printer 100.
The device-side storage unit 104 is composed of a hard disk that is a non-volatile storage device, and as shown in FIG. 2, two items of “user name” and “password” are provided.
User names such as “USER1” and “USER2” are stored corresponding to the “user name” item, and passwords such as “password 1” and “password 2” are stored corresponding to the “password” item. Has been.

  When the authentication information processing unit 105 receives an update request, the authentication information processing unit 105 stores the authentication information included in the update request in the device storage unit 104 by addition or update. On the basis of the registered user name, it is determined whether or not the corresponding user authentication information is stored in the device-side storage unit 104. If there is, the authentication information is deleted.

Upon receiving the authentication information from the device-side communication unit 101, the device-side authentication unit 106 refers to the device-side storage unit 104 to determine whether there is authentication information that matches the received authentication information. Has the ability to form results.
The apparatus-side control unit 107 has a function of controlling each unit in the printer 100.

The authentication server 110 includes a server-side storage unit 111, a server-side communication unit 112, a server-side authentication unit 113, and a server-side control unit 114.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of the server-side storage unit 111 in the authentication server 110.
The server-side storage unit 111 is composed of a hard disk that is a non-volatile storage device, and as shown in FIG. 3, two items of “user name” and “password” are provided.
User names such as “USER1” and “USER2” are stored in advance corresponding to the “user name” item, and passwords such as “password 1” and “password 2” are stored corresponding to the “password” item. Stored in advance.

In the authentication server 110, the server-side communication unit 112 receives authentication information from the image forming apparatus 100 via the communication network 130 and transmits the authentication result formed by the server-side authentication unit 113 to the image forming apparatus 100. Have
The server-side authentication unit 113 has a function of referring to the server-side storage unit 111 and forming an authentication result indicating whether there is authentication information that matches the authentication information received from the printer 100.
The server side control unit 114 has a function of controlling each unit in the authentication server 110.

  In this embodiment, an example of the printer 100 is given as an image forming apparatus. When the image forming apparatus is a copying machine, instead of receiving authentication information from the PC 120 using the apparatus-side communication unit 101, the user uses a display input unit including a touch panel provided in the copying machine. Authentication information can be entered directly.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the device-side storage unit 104 and the server-side storage unit 111 are composed of hard disks, but may be composed of a flash memory, a USB memory, etc., which are nonvolatile storage devices.

<Operation of Example 1>
Next, the operation of the image forming system 150 according to the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation in the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present invention.

After the image forming system 150 is activated, the PC 120 forms image data, causes the user to input authentication information including a user name and a password (step 1), and inputs the input authentication information and image data. The print data including it is formed and transmitted to the printer 100 (step 2). In this embodiment, when USER1 uses the image forming system 150, “USER1” and “password 1” are input.
In the printer 100, after the apparatus-side communication unit 101 receives the print data, the apparatus-side control unit 107 causes the apparatus-side communication unit 101 to determine whether communication with the authentication server 110 can be connected (step 3). .

If communication is possible, the apparatus-side control unit 107 extracts authentication information from the print data, and causes the apparatus-side communication unit 101 to transmit this authentication information to the authentication server 110 (step 4).
Subsequently, in the authentication server 110, after the server-side communication unit 112 receives the authentication information, the server-side control unit 114 causes the server-side authentication unit 113 to refer to the server-side storage unit 111 and matches the received authentication information. It is determined whether or not authentication information to be present exists, and an authentication result is formed (step 5).
In this embodiment, the server-side authentication unit 113 first searches for “USER1” from the “user name” item, and finds a matching user name, so the password corresponding to the user name from the “password” item. Is compared with “password 1”, and since they match, an authentication result indicating successful authentication is formed. If a user name matching “USER1” is not found, or if the password of the user is not “password 1”, an authentication result indicating an authentication failure is formed.
Then, the server-side control unit 114 causes the server-side communication unit 112 to transmit the authentication result formed by the server-side authentication unit 113 to the printer 100 (Step 6).

If communication is not possible in step 3, the apparatus-side control unit 107 extracts authentication information including a user name and a password from the print data, and passes the authentication information to the apparatus-side authentication unit 106 (step 7).
Then, the device-side control unit 107 causes the device-side authentication unit 106 to refer to the device-side storage unit 104, determines whether or not authentication information that matches the received authentication information exists, and forms an authentication result. (Step 8).

In the printer 100, after the apparatus-side communication unit 101 receives the authentication result or the apparatus-side authentication unit 106 forms the authentication result, the apparatus-side control unit 107 sends the authentication result determination unit 102 to the authentication result determination unit 102 based on the authentication result. It is determined whether or not the user authentication is successful (step 9).
If successful, the apparatus-side control unit 107 causes the authentication result determination unit 102 to pass the image data received from the PC 120 to the image forming unit 103 and sends an update request including authentication information received from the PC 120 to the authentication information processing unit 105. (Step 10).

Thereafter, the apparatus-side control unit 107 causes the image forming unit 103 to print an image based on the image data (step 11), and the authentication information processing unit 105 stores the authentication information included in the update request in the apparatus-side storage. It is determined whether or not it is stored in the unit 104 (step 12).
If not stored, the authentication information included in the update request is added to the apparatus-side storage unit 104 (step 13). If stored, this authentication information is converted into the authentication information included in the update request. Update (step 14).

In step 9, if authentication fails, the apparatus-side control unit 107 sends a deletion request to the authentication result determination unit 102 to delete the authentication information of the user from the apparatus-side storage unit 104 to the authentication information processing unit 105. (Step 15). This deletion request includes the user name of the authentication information to be deleted.
Subsequently, the device-side control unit 107 causes the authentication information processing unit 105 to determine whether or not authentication information is stored in the device-side storage unit 104 to be deleted (step 16). Specifically, the authentication information processing unit 105 searches the user name included in the deletion request from the item “user name” in the device-side storage unit 104, and if found, affirmative; if not found, denies A judgment result is output.
If stored, the apparatus-side control unit 107 causes the authentication information processing unit 105 to delete this authentication information from the apparatus-side storage unit 104 (step 17), ends the work, and if not stored, continues the work as it is. finish.

<Effect of Example 1>
In the first embodiment according to the present invention, authentication information of a user who has been properly authenticated is stored in the device-side storage unit 104, and when the authentication server 110 becomes unable to communicate due to a power failure, for example, The user is authenticated based on the authentication information stored in the device-side storage unit 104.
Therefore, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, when a communication failure occurs in the authentication server 110, it is possible to perform user authentication on the image forming apparatus side. Formation can be performed at any time. As a result, the user's work is not disturbed, and the image forming apparatus can be used smoothly and effectively.
Further, if the authentication server 110 fails to authenticate even once for a single user, the authentication information of the user is deleted from the device-side storage unit 104, so that an image is formed using invalid authentication information. Can also be prevented.

Next, Example 2 will be described.
In addition, the same code | symbol is provided about the structure similar to Example 1, and the same description is abbreviate | omitted.
<Configuration of Example 2>
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system 250 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 5, the image forming system 250 according to the present invention includes a printer 200 as an image forming apparatus, an authentication server 210 and a PC 120 that are communicably connected to the printer 200 via a communication network 130. Contains.
The printer 200 includes an apparatus-side communication unit 101, an authentication result determination unit 102, an image forming unit 103, an apparatus-side storage unit 204, an authentication information processing unit 105, an apparatus-side authentication unit 106, an apparatus-side timer 209, an authentication information confirmation unit 208, A device-side control unit 207 is provided.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of the device-side storage unit 204 in the printer 200.
The device-side storage unit 204 includes a hard disk that is a non-volatile storage device, and includes three items “user name”, “password”, and “last authentication time” as shown in FIG.
User names such as “USER1” and “USER2” are stored corresponding to the “user name” item, and passwords such as “password 1” and “password 2” are stored corresponding to the “password” item. Corresponding to the item “Final authentication time”, the final authentication time including the year, month, date, and time such as “201008091200” and “201008070810” is stored. This final authentication time indicates the time when the user was last successfully authenticated.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of the server-side storage unit 213 in the authentication server 210.
The server-side storage unit 213 includes a hard disk that is a non-volatile storage device, and includes three items “user name”, “password”, and “authentication information update time” as shown in FIG. .
User names such as “USER1” and “USER2” are stored in advance corresponding to the “user name” item, and passwords such as “password 1” and “password 2” are stored corresponding to the “password” item. Corresponding to the item “authentication information update time”, authentication information update times including year, month, date, and time are stored, such as “201005011000” and “201006051335”. This authentication information update time indicates the time when each authentication information update time stored in the server-side storage unit 213 is added or last updated.

The apparatus side timer 209 has a function of measuring time.
The authentication information confirmation unit 208 receives an update time request signal for sequentially requesting the authentication information update time corresponding to the authentication information of each user stored in the device-side storage unit 204 at 12:00 every day. When the authentication information update unit 208 receives the authentication information update time from the authentication server 210, the authentication information confirmation unit 208 determines whether the authentication information update time is later than the last authentication time corresponding to the same user. However, if it is late, it has a function of passing a deletion request for deleting the authentication information of the user from the apparatus-side storage unit 204 to the authentication information processing unit 105. This deletion request includes the user name included in the authentication information from the PC 120.
The device side control unit 207 has a function of controlling each unit in the printer 200 and also has a function of reading time from the device side timer 209. When the user is properly authenticated by the device-side authentication unit 106, the device-side control unit 207 reads the current time from the printer 200 and stores it in the device-side storage unit 204 as the user's last authentication time.

The authentication server 110 includes a server-side storage unit 211, a server-side communication unit 112, a server-side authentication unit 113, an update time acquisition unit 215, and a server-side control unit 214.
The update time acquisition unit 215 has a function of reading the authentication information update time corresponding to each user from the server-side storage unit 211 based on the update time request signal from the printer 200.
The server side communication unit 112 has a function of receiving an update time request signal from the printer 200 and transmitting the authentication information update time read by the update time acquisition unit 215 to the printer 200.
The server side control unit 214 has a function of controlling each unit in the authentication server 210.

In this embodiment, the authentication information confirmation unit 208 is provided in the printer 100, but it may be an independent terminal that is communicably connected to the printer 200 and the authentication server 210 via the communication network 130.
In this embodiment, the authentication information confirmation unit 208 forms the update time request signal at 12:00 every day. However, the update time request signal is generated at other frequencies, for example, once every hour or twice daily. It may be formed.

<Operation of Example 2>
Next, the operation of the image forming system 250 according to the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart.
8 and 9 are flowcharts showing the operation of the image forming system 250 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, steps 1 to 17 are the same as those in the first embodiment in the flowchart of this embodiment.
However, after the authentication information is added or updated in the authentication-side storage unit 204 in Step 13 and Step 14, the device-side control unit 207 reads the time at that time from the device-side timer 209 and uses this time as the authentication information. Is stored in the authentication-side storage unit 204 as the last authentication time (step 18).

On the other hand, in the printer 200, the apparatus-side control unit 207 sends authentication information corresponding to the user to the authentication information confirmation unit 208 for each user stored in the apparatus-side storage unit 204 at 12:00 every day. An update time request signal for sequentially requesting update times is formed (step 19).
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, since the authentication information and the last authentication time of five users are stored in the device-side storage unit 204, authentication of each user from USER1 to USER5 is performed. Request information update times sequentially.

Subsequently, the device-side control unit 207 causes the device-side communication unit 101 to transmit the formed update time request signal to the authentication server (step 20).
In the authentication server 210, after the server side communication unit 112 receives the update time request signal, the server side control unit 214 sends the authentication information corresponding to each user to the update time acquisition unit 215 based on the update time request signal. The update time is read from the server-side storage unit 211 (step 21), and each read authentication information update time is sequentially transmitted to the printer 200 by the server-side communication unit 112 (step 22).

In the printer 200, when the apparatus-side communication unit 101 receives the first (that is, USER1) authentication information update time from the authentication server 210, the apparatus-side control unit 207 sends the authentication information update time to the authentication information confirmation unit 208. It is determined whether it is later than the last authentication time corresponding to the same user (step 23).
If it is late, the device-side control unit 207 causes the authentication information confirmation unit 208 to form a deletion request for deleting the user's authentication information from the device-side storage unit 204 and passes it to the authentication information processing unit 105 (step 24). . Thereafter, the apparatus-side control unit 207 executes step 16 and determines whether or not the next user authentication information has been received (step 25). If it is received, the process returns to step 23, the authentication information update time is compared with the final authentication time for the next user, and if it is not received, the operation is terminated.
In step 23, if the authentication information update time is earlier, the apparatus-side control unit 207 executes step 25, and determines whether authentication information of the next user has been received.

In this embodiment, since the final authentication time of USER1 is “201008091200” and the authentication information update time is “201005011000”, the final authentication time is later. Accordingly, as soon as the determination in step 23 is completed for USER1, the apparatus-side control unit 207 determines whether or not the authentication information update time of the next user (ie, USER2) has been received. Since USER2 is later in the final authentication time, Step 23 and Step 25 are repeated.
However, for USER3, since the authentication information update time “201008091611” is later than the last authentication time “201007231912”, the device-side control unit 207 executes steps 24, 16 and 17 in order, Whether or not the authentication information update time of the next user (that is, USER4) has been received after deleting the authentication information and the last authentication time of USER3 stored in the device-side storage unit 204 and executing step 24 Determine.
For USER5, the final authentication time is later, and the authentication information of USER6 is not stored in the device-side storage unit 204, so the operation ends.

<Effect of Example 2>
In the second embodiment according to the present invention, the authentication information is quickly found in a timely manner by comparing the last authentication time of the authentication information stored in the device-side storage unit 204 with the authentication information update time at a predetermined frequency. delete.
Therefore, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the authentication information on the authentication server side is updated, but invalid authentication information on the image forming apparatus side is deleted in a timely manner even when the authentication has not been performed yet. Therefore, it is possible to further prevent an image from being formed using invalid authentication information.

Next, Example 3 will be described.
In addition, the same code | symbol is provided about the structure similar to Example 2, and the same description is abbreviate | omitted.
<Configuration of Example 3>
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image forming system 350 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 10, the image forming system 350 according to the present invention includes an authentication that is communicably connected to the printers 300 </ b> A and 300 </ b> B via the printer 300 </ b> A and the printer 300 </ b> B as the image forming apparatus and the communication network 330. The server 310, the management server 340, and the PC 120 are included.
The communication network 330 includes the Internet, and assigns specific IP addresses to the printers 300A and B, the authentication server 310, the management server 340, and the PC 120 on the Internet. In this embodiment, the IP address of the printer 300A is 192.168.0.2, and the IP address of the printer 300B is 192.168.0.3.

The printer 300A includes a device-side communication unit 301, an authentication result determination unit 102, an image forming unit 103, a device-side storage unit 204, an authentication information processing unit 105, a device-side authentication unit 106, a device-side timer 209, an authentication information confirmation unit 308, and An apparatus-side control unit 307 is provided, and the printer 300B has the same configuration as the printer 300A.
In addition, the image forming system 350 according to the present embodiment includes, as an example, only the two image forming apparatuses, the printer 300A and the printer 300B. However, any number of image forming apparatuses can be connected if necessary. good.

The apparatus-side communication unit 301 has a function of communicating with the PC 120, the authentication server 310, and the management server 340 via the communication network 330.
Based on the authentication information update time from the management server 340, the authentication information confirmation unit 308 determines whether or not the authentication information update time is later than the last authentication time corresponding to the same user. A function of passing a deletion request for deleting the authentication information from the apparatus-side storage unit 204 to the authentication information processing unit 105; This deletion request includes the user name included in the authentication information from the PC 120.
The device side control unit 307 has a function of controlling each unit in the printer 300 </ b> A, and also has a function of reading time from the device side timer 209.

The authentication server 310 includes a server side storage unit 211, a server side communication unit 312, a server side authentication unit 113, an update time acquisition unit 315, and a server side control unit 314.
The server side communication unit 312 has a function of communicating with the printers 300 </ b> A and 300 and the management server 340 via the communication network 330.
The update time acquisition unit 315 has a function of reading the authentication information update time corresponding to each user from the server side storage unit 211 based on the management side update time request signal from the management server 340.
The server-side control unit 314 has a function of controlling each unit in the authentication server 310.

The management server 340 includes a management side communication unit 341, a management side storage unit 342, a management side confirmation unit 343, a management side timer 344, and a management side control unit 345.
The management-side communication unit 341 has a function of communicating with the printers 300 </ b> A and 300 and the authentication server 310 via the communication network 330.
The management-side storage unit 342 includes a hard disk that is a nonvolatile storage device, and has a function of storing a predetermined update reference time and the IP addresses of the printers 300A and 300B in advance.
The management-side confirmation unit 343 is a management-side update time request signal for sequentially requesting the authentication information update times corresponding to all the users stored in the server-side storage unit 211 at 12:00 every day. And a function of determining whether or not the authentication information update time from the authentication server 310 is later than the update reference time stored in the management-side storage unit 342. If it is late, the authentication information update time is sequentially transmitted to the printer 300A and the printer 300B by the management-side communication unit 341.
In this embodiment, the management-side update time request signal is formed at 12:00 every day, and the update reference time is set to the last final confirmation time. When the current date is August 10, 2010, the last confirmation time is 12:00 on August 9, 2010, that is, “201008091200”.
The management timer 344 has a function of measuring time.
The management side control unit 345 has a function of controlling each unit in the management server 340 and also has a function of reading time from the management side timer 344.

<Operation of Example 3>
Next, the operation of the image forming system 350 according to the present invention will be described with reference to a flowchart.
11 to 13 are flowcharts showing the operation of the image forming system 350 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, steps 1 to 18 are the same as those in the second embodiment in the flowchart of this embodiment. That is, when communication with the authentication server 310 is possible, user authentication is performed by the authentication server. When communication with the authentication server 310 is not possible, user authentication is performed by the printer 300A and the printer 300B. .

On the other hand, in the management server 340, the management-side control unit 345 sends authentication information update times corresponding to all users stored in the server-side storage unit 211 to the management-side confirmation unit 343 at 12:00 every day. A management side update time request signal for requesting sequentially is formed (step 19).
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the server-side storage unit 211 stores authentication information and last authentication time of ten users, so that each user authentication from USER1 to USER10 is performed. Request information update times sequentially.
Subsequently, the management-side control unit 345 causes the management-side communication unit 341 to transmit the formed management-side update time request signal to the authentication server (Step 20).
In the authentication server 310, after the server side communication unit 312 receives the management side update time request signal, the server side control unit 314 sends the update time acquisition unit 315 to each user based on the management side update time request signal. The corresponding authentication information update time is read from the server-side storage unit 211 (step 21), and the read authentication information update time of each user is sequentially transmitted to the server-side communication unit 312 to the management server 340. (Step 22).

In the management server 340, when the management side communication unit 341 receives the first (that is, USER1) authentication information update time from the authentication server 310, the management side control unit 345 sends the authentication information update time to the management side confirmation unit 343. Is later than the update reference time (step 23).
If it is early, the management-side control unit 345 determines whether or not the next user authentication information update time exists (step 24).
If there is, the process returns to step 23, and the authentication information update time of the next user is compared with the update reference time. The data is stored in the side storage unit 342 (step 25).
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the authentication information update time of USER1 is “201005011000” and the update reference time is “201008091200”, so the update reference time is later. Therefore, as soon as the comparison for USER1 is completed, the authentication information update time of the next user, that is, USER2, is compared with the update reference time.

If it is determined in step 23 that the management side control unit 345 is late, the management side control unit 345 updates the authentication information of the user on the management side communication unit based on the IP address of each printer stored in the management side storage unit 342. The time is transmitted to the image forming apparatus having the smallest IP address, that is, the printer 300A whose IP address is 192.168.0.2 (step 26).
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the authentication information update time of USER3 is “201008091611”, which is later than “201008091200”. Therefore, step 26 is executed for USER3, and the authentication information update of USER3 is performed. The time is transmitted to the printer 300A.

Then, the management-side control unit 345 determines whether there is a next image forming apparatus based on the size of the IP address (step 27). If there is, the management-side control unit 345 transmits to the next image forming apparatus (step 28). If not, return to step 24.
In this embodiment, since there is a printer 300B having an IP address of 192.168.0.3, the authentication information update time of USER3 is also transmitted to the printer B, and then step 27 is executed once again so that the image forming apparatus having a larger IP address. It turns out that there is no, and returns to step 24.

When each printer receives the authentication information update time (step 29), the apparatus-side control unit 307 causes the authentication information confirmation unit 308 to check whether the authentication information update time is later than the final authentication time corresponding to the same user. (Step 30).
If it is early, the operation on the image forming apparatus side is finished as it is, and if it is late, the apparatus-side control unit 307 sends a deletion request to the authentication information confirmation unit 308 to delete this user authentication information from the apparatus-side storage unit 204. Form it and pass it to the authentication information processing unit 105 (step 31), and then execute step 16.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, for USER3, the authentication information update time “201008091611” is later than the final authentication time “201007231912”, so the apparatus-side control unit 307 Deletes the authentication information and the last authentication time of USER3 stored in the apparatus-side storage unit 204 by sequentially executing steps 31, 16 and 17.
In addition, for USER5, since the last authentication time “20100810925” is later than the authentication information update time “201008091611”, the printer 300A ends the operation while the authentication information USER5 is stored.

<Effect of Example 3>
In Embodiment 3 according to the present invention, the plurality of image forming apparatuses in the image forming system do not directly transmit the update time request signal to the authentication server 310, but the management server 340 collectively collects one management side update time request signal. Is transmitted to the authentication server 310.
Therefore, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, each time the authentication information is confirmed, the management-side update time request signal to the authentication server 310 is only issued once, so the amount of communication with the authentication server 310 is reduced. can do. As a result, since the load on the authentication server 310 is reduced, the operation speed of the authentication server 310 and the stability during operation can be improved.

150 250 350 Image forming system 100 200 300A 300B Printer 101 301 Device side communication unit 102 Authentication result determination unit 103 Image forming unit 104 204 Device side storage unit 105 Authentication information processing unit 106 Device side authentication unit 107 207 307 Device side control unit 208 308 Authentication information confirmation unit 209 Device side timer 110 210 310 Authentication server 111 211 Server side storage unit 112 312 Server side communication unit 113 Server side authentication unit 114 214 314 Server side control unit 215 315 Update time acquisition unit 120 PC
130 330 Communication network 340 Management server 341 Management side communication unit 342 Management side storage unit 343 Management side confirmation unit 344 Management side timer 345 Management side control unit

Claims (13)

An image forming apparatus that receives image data from a user terminal and is communicably connected to an authentication server via a communication network,
A device-side storage unit capable of storing each authentication information corresponding to each user;
An authentication information receiving unit for receiving authentication information input by the user;
It is determined whether or not communication with the authentication server is possible. When it is determined that communication is possible, the received authentication information is transmitted to the authentication server, and an authentication result based on the authentication information from the authentication server A device-side communication unit that receives
An authentication result determination unit for determining whether or not a user has been successfully authenticated based on the authentication result from the authentication server;
If it is determined that authentication is successful, an authentication information processing unit that stores the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit in the device-side storage unit;
An image forming unit that performs image formation based on the determination result of the authentication success and the image data;
If the device-side communication unit determines that communication with the authentication server is impossible, referring to the device-side storage unit, there is authentication information that matches the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit. A device-side authentication unit that forms an authentication result by determining whether or not
The authentication result determination unit further determines whether or not the user authentication is successful based on the authentication result from the device-side authentication unit,
When it is determined that authentication is successful, the image forming unit forms an image based on the image data. The user terminal causes the user to input the authentication information, transmits the input authentication information to the image forming apparatus,
The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the authentication information receiving unit includes the device-side communication unit and receives the authentication information from the user terminal.   The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the authentication information receiving unit in the image forming apparatus includes a display input unit for allowing the user to input the authentication information. An image forming system including an image forming apparatus that receives image data from a user terminal, and an authentication server that is communicably connected to the image forming apparatus via a communication network,
The image forming apparatus includes an authentication information receiving unit, a device side communication unit, a device side storage unit, an authentication result determination unit, an image forming unit, an authentication information processing unit, and a device side authentication unit.
The authentication server includes a server-side storage unit, a server-side communication unit, and a server-side authentication unit,
In the image forming apparatus,
The authentication information receiving unit receives authentication information input by a user,
When the apparatus-side communication unit determines that communication with the authentication server is possible, it transmits the received authentication information to the authentication server,
In the authentication server,
The server-side storage unit stores each authentication information corresponding to each user in advance,
The server-side communication unit receives the authentication information from the image forming apparatus;
The server-side authentication unit refers to the server-side storage unit to form an authentication result indicating whether or not authentication information matching the authentication information received from the image forming apparatus exists;
The server-side communication unit transmits the authentication result to the image forming apparatus,
In the image forming apparatus,
The device-side storage unit can store each authentication information corresponding to each user,
The authentication result determination unit determines whether or not user authentication is successful based on the authentication result from the authentication server,
If it is determined that the authentication is successful, the authentication information processing unit stores the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit in the device-side storage unit, the image forming unit performs image formation based on the image data,
In the image forming apparatus,
If the device-side communication unit determines that communication with the authentication server is impossible, the device-side authentication unit refers to the device-side storage unit and the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit Determine whether matching authentication information exists and form an authentication result,
The authentication result determination unit determines whether or not user authentication is successful based on the authentication result from the device-side authentication unit,
When it is determined that authentication is successful, the image forming unit forms an image based on the image data. The authentication information includes a user name for identifying the user,
If the authentication result determination unit determines that the authentication has failed, the authentication information processing unit refers to the device-side storage unit and includes the user name included in the authentication information received by the authentication information receiving unit 5. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein it is determined whether or not authentication information exists, and if there is, the authentication information is deleted from the apparatus-side storage unit. The image forming apparatus further includes a device-side timer for measuring time,
The device-side storage unit further stores a last authentication time indicating a time when each user was lastly authenticated based on the timer, corresponding to each user,
The server-side storage unit stores the authentication information update time indicating the time when each authentication information stored in the server-side storage unit is added or last updated corresponding to each user. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the image forming system is an image forming system. The image forming apparatus further includes an authentication information confirmation unit,
The authentication server further includes an update time acquisition unit,
In the image forming apparatus,
The authentication information confirmation unit forms an update time request signal for sequentially requesting the authentication information update time corresponding to the authentication information of each user stored in the device-side storage unit,
The apparatus-side communication unit transmits the update time request signal to the authentication server,
In the authentication server,
The server communication unit receives the update time request signal from the image forming apparatus;
The update time acquisition unit reads the authentication information update time corresponding to each user with reference to the server-side storage unit based on the update time request signal,
The server communication unit sequentially transmits the read authentication information update times to the image forming apparatus,
In the image forming apparatus,
The apparatus-side communication unit receives the authentication information update time from the authentication server,
The authentication information confirmation unit determines whether or not the authentication information update time corresponding to each user is later than the last authentication time corresponding to the same user, and if it is late, the authentication information of the user is The image forming system according to claim 6, wherein the image forming system is deleted from the storage unit. In the authentication server,
The update time acquisition unit forms an error signal when the authentication information update time of the requested user is not stored in the server-side storage unit,
The server communication unit transmits the error signal to the image forming apparatus;
In the image forming apparatus,
The device-side communication unit receives the error signal from the authentication server,
The image formation according to claim 7, wherein the authentication information confirmation unit deletes the authentication information of the user stored in the device-side storage unit based on the error signal from the authentication server. system.   The image forming system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the authentication information confirmation unit forms the update time request signal at a predetermined frequency. A management server that is communicably connected to the image forming apparatus and the authentication server via a communication network;
The management server includes a management side confirmation unit, a management side communication unit, and a management side storage unit,
The image forming apparatus further includes an authentication information confirmation unit,
The authentication server further includes an update time acquisition unit,
In the management server,
The management side confirmation unit forms a management side update time request signal for sequentially requesting the authentication information update times corresponding to all users stored in the server side storage unit,
The management side communication unit transmits the management side update time request signal to the authentication server,
In the authentication server,
The server communication unit receives the management side update time request signal from the management server,
The update time acquisition unit reads the authentication information update time corresponding to each user with reference to the server-side storage unit based on the management-side update time request signal,
The server communication unit sequentially transmits the read authentication information update times to the management server,
In the management server,
The management-side storage unit stores a predetermined update reference time in advance,
The management-side communication unit receives the authentication information update time from the authentication server,
The management side confirmation unit sequentially determines whether or not the authentication information update time corresponding to each user is later than an update reference time,
When late, the management communication unit transmits the authentication information update time corresponding to the user to the image forming apparatus,
In the image forming apparatus,
The device-side communication unit receives the authentication information update time from the management server,
The authentication information confirmation unit determines whether or not the authentication information update time is later than the last authentication time corresponding to the same user, and deletes the authentication information of the user from the device-side storage unit when the authentication information update time is later The image forming system according to claim 6. The management server
A management timer that measures the time,
When the management side confirmation unit completes determining whether or not the authentication information update time is later than the update reference time for all users, the time at that time is read and the time is used as the update reference time to store the management side A management-side control unit to be stored in the unit,
The image forming system according to claim 10, wherein the management side confirmation unit forms the management side update time request signal at a predetermined frequency. The user terminal causes the user to input the authentication information, transmits the input authentication information to the image forming apparatus,
In the image forming apparatus,
The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the authentication information receiving unit includes the device-side communication unit and receives the authentication information from the user terminal.   The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the authentication information receiving unit in the image forming apparatus includes a display input unit for allowing the user to input the authentication information.

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