JP2020135425A - Printing system, bibliographic server, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To allow a user to manage the state of a print result at a base usually used by the user even when the user prints at a place different from the base usually used.SOLUTION: When an acquisition request for bibliographic information is received from an image formation device, information on a bibliographic server used by a user specified by a management server is acquired. The information on the bibliographic server used by the user specified and bibliographic information on the user are transmitted to the image formation device. When update of the bibliographic information by a print result is received from the image formation device, the managed bibliographic information on the user is updated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

The present invention relates to a printing system, a bibliographic server, an information processing method and a program.

Conventionally, when print data is received, the print data is retained in the image forming apparatus without printing, and the user inputs a print instruction request on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus to perform print output. .. In recent years, remote retention printing has been proposed in which a user can operate an image forming apparatus other than an image forming apparatus in which print data is retained to acquire and output the retained print data. (Patent Document 1).
Further, in Patent Document 1, when remote stationary printing is realized, either or both of the print data stored in the image forming apparatus and the print setting information (hereinafter, bibliographic information) are used in an information processing apparatus serving as a server. A configuration to manage is also proposed.
Furthermore, in order to facilitate the physical management of the image forming device managed by the server, an information processing device that serves as a server is installed for each floor (floor) of the building and each business base even within the same company. A method of managing an image forming apparatus is generally adopted.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-21126

By the way, in a configuration in which a plurality of servers for managing bibliographic information are prepared for each base or floor, it is conceivable to enable printing at a base other than the base that the user normally uses. However, if printing is simply performed at a base other than the base, there is a problem that the state of the printing result executed at the other base cannot be managed at the base that is usually used. Another problem is that a user who prints at another base cannot easily identify the print data printed at another base from the image forming apparatus of the base that he or she usually uses.
The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the above-mentioned problems. One aspect of the present invention is to provide a mechanism capable of managing the state of printing results at a base that is normally used even when printing is performed at a base that the user normally uses. Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a mechanism capable of displaying a change of state of print data caused by a user operation at another base on an image forming apparatus of a base that is usually used. ..

The present invention includes a management server that manages a plurality of bibliographic servers, a bibliographic server of a first base, an image forming apparatus of a first base, a bibliographic server of a second base, and an image forming apparatus of a second base. In the printing system including, the bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base synchronize the bibliographic information of the user, and the management server is the bibliographic server used by the user. In response to a request from the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base, information on the bibliographic server used by the designated user is transmitted to the bibliographic server of the first base. The bibliographic server and the bibliographic server of the second base manage the bibliographic information of the user, and when the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user is received from the management server, the bibliography used by the designated user. The information of the server is transmitted to the image forming apparatus of the request source, and the image forming apparatus of the first base and the image forming apparatus of the second base are the bibliographic server of the first base or the second base. When the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user is received from the bibliographic server of the base, either the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base is based on the information of the bibliographic server. The bibliographic information of the designated user is received from both sides, a screen including a list of documents is displayed based on the bibliographic information, the printing process of the selected document is executed via the screen, and the designated user The update of the bibliographic information based on the print result is sent to the bibliographic server that sent the bibliographic information of.

According to one aspect of the present invention, even when printing is performed at a base other than the base normally used by the user, the state of the print result can be managed at the base normally used. Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, the state change of the print data caused by the user operation at another base can be displayed on the image forming apparatus of the base that is usually used.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration of a printing system. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware composition of the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the software structure of a bibliographic information management client application. It is a figure which shows an example of the software structure of the bibliographic information management server application. It is a figure which shows an example of the software configuration of the management server application. It is a figure which shows an example of a data flow. It is a figure which shows an example of the data of an authenticated user. It is a figure which shows an example of the data of authorization management information. It is a figure which shows an example of the data held by the management server. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the bibliographic information managed by a client. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the bibliographic information managed by a management server. It is a figure which shows an example of the UI screen of a printing application. It is a flowchart of information processing which starts a synchronization service of bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of information processing of data access authorization. It is a flowchart of information processing of authorization token issuance. It is a flowchart of information processing related to the initial connection of the bibliographic information synchronization service. It is a flowchart of information processing for a registration request. It is a flowchart of information processing related to bibliographic information synchronization of a bibliographic information synchronization service. It is a flowchart of information processing related to the registration of bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of information processing related to the registration of a bibliographic registration user. It is a flowchart of information processing which acquires a list of bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of information processing which sends a list of bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of information processing which sends a list of bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of a print process. It is a flowchart of information processing for updating bibliographic information. It is a flowchart of information processing when a print data acquisition request is received. It is a flowchart of information processing of authorization token confirmation. It is a flowchart of information processing when a request for deletion of bibliographic information is accepted. It is a flowchart of common information processing when an image forming apparatus exchanges data.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
<Network configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of a printing system. The network 101 is, for example, a network that supports the TCP / IP protocol.
Personal computers (hereinafter, PCs) 121 and 131, which are information processing devices, image forming devices 122, 123, 124, 132, 133, 134, and a management server 110, which is an information processing device, are connected to the network 101. ing.
Further, the business base 120 of the office where the image forming devices 122 to 124 are installed and the business base 130 where the image forming devices 132 to 134 are similarly installed can be connected by the same network 101. There is.
Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus 122 is referred to as a bibliographic server, the image forming apparatus 123 is referred to as a storage machine for storing print jobs received from PC 121, and the image forming apparatus 124 is referred to as an output machine for actually printing a print job received from the image forming apparatus 124. Describe.
Further, when an example of printing at the business base 120 and the business base 130 will be described, the image forming apparatus 123 will be described as a storage machine and the image forming apparatus 134 will be described as an output device.
Further, when it is not necessary to limit the function of each image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus 122 to 124 and the image forming apparatus 132 to 134 have the same configuration.
Here, each of the functions described in the image forming devices 122 to 124 may take a form of being integrated into a certain image forming device, and the image forming device 122 or 132 serving as a bibliographic server has the function of the management server 110. It may be configured.
In addition, these configurations are merely conceptual diagrams of general configurations, and there may be a plurality of PCs 121, 131, image forming devices 122 to 124, and 132 to 134, and an authentication server is provided separately from this configuration. Etc., the configuration may include other server functions.

<Hardware configuration of image forming devices 122 to 124 and 132 to 134>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of image forming devices 122 to 124 and 132 to 134.
The controller unit 200 is a device that controls an image forming device or a printer. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 is an arithmetic unit for controlling the entire system. The system bus 211 connects the CPU 201, RAM 202, ROM 203, HDD 204, operation unit I / F 205, device I / F 207, and network I / F 210. The CPU 201 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 211. Programs and data such as an operating system, system software, and application software are also arranged in the RAM (Random Access Memory) 202. The system boot program is stored in the ROM (Read Only Memory) 203. In addition, a system program and an application program are stored in the ROM 203. Further, the ROM 203 may store information necessary for the image forming apparatus such as fonts. The HDD 204 is a hard disk drive and stores an operating system, system software, application software, image data, setting data, and the like.
The programs stored in the ROM 203 and the HDD 204 are expanded in the RAM 202. The program converted to the RAM 202 is executed by the CPU 201, and processes image data and non-image data stored in the RAM 202, ROM 203, and HDD 204. Further, in the small image forming apparatus, there is also a hard diskless configuration in which system software, application software and the like are stored in ROM 203 without mounting HDD 204. Alternatively, instead of HDD 204, a storage device other than a hard disk such as a flash memory such as SSD (Solid State Drive) may be used.

The controller unit 200 has an operation unit I / F205, a device I / F207, and a network I / F210. The operation unit I / F 205 is an interface unit with the operation unit 206 having a touch panel, and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 206 to the operation unit 206. Further, the operation unit I / F 205 transmits the information input by the user of this system from the operation unit 206 to the CPU 201. The device I / F 207 connects the scanner unit 208 and the printer unit 209, which are image input / output devices, to the controller unit 200, and inputs and outputs image data. The image data input from the scanner unit 208 via the device I / F 207 is stored in the RAM 202 or the HDD 204. The stored image data is subjected to image processing or the like by an application program stored in the RAM 202 as needed. Similarly, when the image data is output, the image data is output to the printer unit 209 via the device I / F 207. There is also a configuration in which the scanner unit 208 is not mounted like a printer. The printer unit 209 prints an image on a sheet such as paper based on the received image data.
The network I / F 210 is connected to a network LAN (Local Area Network) 212, and inputs / outputs image data of an external device on the network 101 and information for controlling an image forming apparatus. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the network 101 constituting the printing system is an Ethernet (registered trademark) or 802.11 series network, but the present invention is not limited to this. The network 100 may be constructed by public radio such as LTE and 5G. Further, data communication between each device may be performed by different communication routes and communication methods such as Ethernet, 802.11 series, WAN, and public radio.
The configuration of the image forming apparatus is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. For example, in the case of an image forming apparatus having a FAX function, an I / F for a modem device (not shown in FIG. 2) is provided in the controller unit 200, and can be connected to a public line by a modem to perform FAX transmission. May be. Alternatively, for example, the controller unit 200 may include a USB I / F (not shown) in order to enable reading and printing of data stored in a flash memory card or the like. In this embodiment, the hardware configurations of the image forming devices 122 to 124 and 132 to 134 are common.

<Hardware configuration of information processing devices 110, 121, 131>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the information processing devices 110, 121, and 131.
The controller unit 300 is a device that controls an information processing device. The CPU 301 is an arithmetic unit for controlling the entire system. The system bus 311 connects the CPU 301, RAM 302, ROM 303, HDD 304, display I / F 305, device I / F 307, and network I / F 310. The CPU 301 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 311. Programs and data such as an operating system, system software, and application software are also arranged in the RAM 302. The system boot program is stored in the ROM 303. In addition, a system program and an application program are stored in the ROM 303. The HDD 304 is a hard disk drive that stores an operating system, system software, application software, and data used in embodiments described later.

The program stored in the ROM 303 or the HDD 304 is expanded in the RAM 302. The expanded program is executed by the CPU 301 and processes the data stored in the RAM 302, the ROM 303, the HDD 304, and the data notified from the image forming apparatus connected via the network 101. Further, instead of the HDD 304, a storage device other than a hard disk such as a flash memory such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) may be used.
The controller unit 300 has a display I / F 305, a device I / F 207, and a network I / F 210. The display I / F 305 is an interface unit with an external display device, and outputs image data to be displayed on the display 306. The device I / F 207 connects the mouse 308 or keyboard 309, which is an input / output device for operating the information processing device, to the controller unit 200, and the user instructs the information processing device to execute processing. According to the instruction from the user, the information processing apparatus executes each application function by the program stored in the RAM 302 or the HDD 304.
The network I / F310 is connected to the LAN 312 to request processing from an external device on the network 101 and input / output information for controlling the image forming apparatus.
The configuration of the information processing device is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the hardware configurations of the information processing devices 110, 121, and 131 are common.

<Software configuration of bibliographic information management client application>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of client software for managing bibliographic information possessed by image forming devices 122 to 124 and 132 to 134.
The bibliographic information management client application 401 (hereinafter, bibliographic information management client application) is stored in the HDD 204 or the like and executed by the CPU 201 to operate.
The DataBase (hereinafter, DB) 413 is stored in the HDD 204, and stores the data of FIGS. 8, 9, 11, and 12. The explanation of various data will be described later.
The application control unit 415 (hereinafter, control unit 415) requests processing from other software.
The communication processing unit 416 exchanges data with an information processing device and an image forming device connected to the network 101 via the network I / F 210. Further, the communication processing unit 416 receives the processing request or the like sent from the other image forming apparatus, and transmits the response data or the request data to the other device according to the instruction of the control unit 415.

The bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 manages the request data for bibliographic information synchronization, the final synchronization date and time, and the like according to the instruction of the control unit 415.
The data management unit 412 performs data storage (INSERT), update (UPDATE), deletion (DELETE), and retrieval (SELECT) with respect to the DB 413 according to the instruction of the control unit 415.
The authentication management unit 411 manages the information required for the user authentication and device administrator authentication stored in the DB 413, which are illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, according to the instruction of the control unit 415. The authentication management unit 411 manages token information when a user who mainly uses the image forming apparatus performs a login operation or when a connection authorization to a bibliographic server is obtained.
The operation receiving unit 418 detects the content of the user instructing the operation unit 206 to execute the process via the operation unit I / F 205, and notifies the control unit 415 of the content.

The display control unit 419 displays a display prompting the operation unit 206 to operate the application and a display of the processing result via the operation unit I / F 205 according to the instruction of the control unit 415. Here, the display of the application is not limited to the operation unit 206, and the information processing device owned by the user may be displayed on the Web browser by the Web application executed by the Web servlet included in the image forming device.
The print control unit 417 analyzes the bibliographic information and the print data at the timing when printing is required according to the instruction of the control unit 415, and causes the printer unit 209 to execute the print process via the device I / F 207.
Although it is a client application for managing bibliographic information, the image forming devices 122 and 132, which are bibliographic servers, also hold the same application to obtain bibliographic information related to printing with the image forming devices 123 to 124 and 132 to 133. It is also possible to share.

<Software configuration of bibliographic information management server application>
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a bibliographic information management server application 501 (hereinafter, bibliographic information management server application) for managing bibliographic information possessed by the image forming apparatus 122 and 132 in the present embodiment.
The bibliographic information management server application 501 is stored in the HDD 204 or the like and executed by the CPU 201 to operate.
The DataBase (hereinafter, DB) 513 is stored in the HDD 204 and stores the data of FIGS. 8 and 9. The explanation of various data will be described later.
The application control unit 515 (hereinafter, control unit 515) requests processing from other software.
The communication processing unit 516 exchanges data with an information processing device and an image forming device connected to the network 101 via the network I / F 210. Further, the communication processing unit 516 receives the processing request or the like sent from the other image forming apparatus, and transmits the response data or the request data to the other device according to the instruction of the control unit 515.

The bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 manages request data for bibliographic information synchronization, the final synchronization date and time, and the like according to the instruction of the control unit 515.
The data management unit 512 performs data storage (INSERT), update (UPDATE), deletion (DELETE), and withdrawal (SELECT) from the DB 513 according to the instruction of the control unit 515.
The authentication management unit 511 manages the information required for user authentication and device administrator authentication as shown in FIGS. 9 and 8 stored in the DB 513 according to the instruction of the control unit 515.
The authentication management unit 511 manages token information when a user who mainly uses the image forming apparatus performs a login operation or when a connection authorization to the management server 110 is obtained.
The operation receiving unit 518 detects the content of the user instructing the operation unit 206 to execute the process via the operation unit I / F 205, and notifies the control unit 515.

The display control unit 519 displays a display prompting the operation unit 206 to operate the application and a display of the processing result via the operation unit I / F 205 according to the instruction of the control unit 515. Here, the display of the application is not limited to the operation unit 206, and the information processing device owned by the user may be displayed on the Web browser by the Web application executed by the Web servlet included in the image forming device.
The user information management unit 517 manages the host address of the bibliographic server used by the user managed by the authentication management unit 511 according to the instruction of the control unit 515, and manages the synchronization of the management server 110 and the user information.
Although the configuration in which the image forming apparatus 122 and the image forming apparatus 132 installed in the business bases 120 and 130 have the function of the bibliographic information management server application has been described, the image forming apparatus 122 and 132 are information processing apparatus (PC). However, the configuration of the present embodiment can be satisfied.

<Software configuration of management server application>
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a management server application 601 (hereinafter, a management server application) for managing an image forming apparatus serving as a bibliographic information management server possessed by the management server 110 which is an information processing apparatus.
The management server application 601 is stored in the HDD 304 or the like and executed and operated by the CPU 301.
The DataBase (hereinafter, DB) 613 is stored in the HDD 304, and stores the data of FIGS. 8, 10 (a), and 10 (b). The explanation of various data will be described later.
The application control unit 615 (hereinafter, control unit 615) requests processing from other software.
The communication processing unit 616 exchanges data with the information processing device and the image forming device connected to the network 101 via the network I / F 310. Further, the communication processing unit 616 receives the processing request or the like sent from the other image forming apparatus, and transmits the response data and the request data to the other device according to the instruction of the control unit 615.
The device management unit 614 manages the request data for managing the information of the device serving as the bibliographic information management server, the last connection date and time, and the like according to the instruction of the control unit 615.

The data management unit 612 saves (INSERT), updates (UPDATE), deletes (DELETE), and retrieves (SELECT) data from the DB 613 according to the instruction of the control unit 615.
The authentication management unit 611 manages the information required for user authentication as shown in FIG. 8 stored in the DB 613 according to the instruction of the control unit 615. The authentication management unit 611 mainly identifies the administrator of the device to be the bibliographic server, and manages the token information when confirming whether the bibliographic server has the authority to connect to the management server 110.
The operation receiving unit 618 detects the content of the user instructing the application to execute the process using the mouse 308 or the keyboard 309 via the device I / F 305, and notifies the control unit 615.

The display control unit 619 displays a display prompting the display 306 to operate the application and a processing result display via the display I / F 305 according to the instruction of the control unit 615. Here, the display of the application is not limited to the display 306, and the information processing device owned by the user may be displayed on the Web browser by the Web application executed by the Web servlet included in the image forming device.
The user information management unit 617 manages the host address of the bibliographic server used by the user managed by the authentication management unit 611 according to the instruction of the control unit 615, and manages the synchronization of the data with the bibliographic server connected to the management server 110. ..
The management server application 601 describes a configuration example held by the information processing device (PC) in the present embodiment, but the configuration of the present embodiment can be satisfied even if any of the image forming devices has the same function. ..

<Basic data flow of printing process>
Using FIG. 7, the data flow generated in the procedure from the user sending a print job from the PC to the image forming apparatus serving as the storage machine, displaying the document list on the image forming apparatus serving as the output device, and printing. An example will be described. Here, for convenience, the image forming apparatus serving as a storage machine uses the bibliographic server 122 and the image forming apparatus 123 for explaining the behavior of the bibliographic server, and the image forming apparatus serving as the output device uses the image forming apparatus 124. explain.
Further, in the present embodiment, an example of transmitting page description language (PDL) data to the image forming apparatus 123 as print data included in the print job will be described. The PDL includes a PCL (Printer Command LanguagePostScript, etc.), and the image forming apparatus 123 interprets the PDL and performs RIP processing to print. The print data is other than the PDL data, for example, image data such as TIFF or an application document. The format may be a format that can be interpreted and printed by the image forming apparatus 123.
Further, the bibliographic information in the present embodiment refers to information other than print data such as print settings, user names, and print execution result status.

A user who is an administrator of the printing system in the present embodiment instructs the bibliographic server 122 to start the service of the bibliographic information management server application 501. The bibliographic server 122 receives an instruction to start the service of the bibliographic information management server application 501 (S2807). The bibliographic server 122 whose service has been started sends the device unique number of the bibliographic server 122 to the management server 110 together with the authentication information entered by the user to access the management server 110, and makes an authorization request to the management server 110 ( S2808).
Here, the device unique number in the present embodiment may be a number that can uniquely identify the device, such as a serial number (serial number) at the time of factory production of the bibliographic server 122 or MacAddress. The management server 110 that has received the authorization request confirms the request of the bibliographic server 122, issues an authorization token, and responds (S2809).
The bibliographic server 122 uses the returned authorization token to transmit a request to register the device information of the bibliographic server 122 in the management server 110 (S2836). As a result, the bibliographic server 122 is in a state in which device information is managed by the management server 110.

Here, FIG. 8 is an example of data of an authenticated user commonly managed by the image forming apparatus 123, 124, the bibliographic server 122, and the management server 110, and is a user name (2401), a password (2402), and a role. It is managed by the data structure as in (2403).
Further, FIG. 9 is an example of authorization management information data held by the image forming apparatus 122 when the bibliographic server 122 authorizes the management server 110. The authorization management information data is managed like the host address (2301) of the server specified as the connection destination and the authorization token (2302) issued and responded by the management server 110.
Further, FIG. 10A is an example of registration data performed by the bibliographic server 122 to the management server 110. With a data structure such as the serial number (2701) of the bibliographic server 122, the device name (2702), the device installation location (2703), the host address of the device (2704), and the date and time of the last connection to the management server 110 (2705). It is managed.
Next, the user who becomes the administrator of the printing system instructs the image forming apparatus 123 which becomes the storage machine to start the bibliographic information synchronization service (S2801).
The image forming apparatus 123 whose service has been started sets the device unique number of the image forming apparatus 123 together with the authentication information input by the user to access the data of the bibliographic server 122 in order to synchronize the bibliographic information. Send to. As a result, the image forming apparatus 123 requests the access authorization for the data of the bibliographic server 122 (S2802). Here, the device unique number to be transmitted is the same as that transmitted by the bibliographic server 122 described above to the management server 110.

The bibliographic server 122 verifies the access authority from the given user authentication information, issues an authorization token for the device unique number, and responds to the authorization request (S2803).
Similar to the above, the user instructs the image forming apparatus 124, which is the output device, to start the bibliographic information synchronization service. The image forming apparatus 124 receives an instruction to start a bibliographic information synchronization service (S2804). The image forming apparatus 124 requests access authorization (S2805) and exchanges authorization tokens (S2806) with the bibliographic server.
Here, the methods of managing the authenticated users and the authorization tokens of the image forming devices 123 and 124 are the same as those described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 8, respectively.

Next, the user starts the printer driver from the application running on the PC 121. After setting print from the printer driver screen, the user selects the image forming apparatus 123 and instructs printing. The PC 121 receives a printing instruction (S2810). By making a setting that is always retained in the image forming apparatus 123, this printing instruction is retained in the image forming apparatus 123. Alternatively, it is also possible to explicitly instruct the printer driver to perform reserved printing.
When the printer driver receives the print instruction, it adds the information of the user who operates the PC 121 to the print job, and transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus 123 (S2811).
The image forming apparatus 123 manages the print data included in the received print job and the bibliographic information separately (S2812).

FIG. 11 is an example of a data structure for managing bibliographic information generated when a print job is received by the image forming apparatus 123. User name (2501), job name (2502), document ID (2503), bibliographic server address (acquisition server) (2504), print data location address (storage location address) given to the print job ( 2505), including the print job reception date and time (2506). Further, the print setting includes information necessary for printing such as the number of pages (2507), the number of copies to print (2508), and the color setting (2509), and the print status (2510) indicating the state after printing is executed. The print setting described with reference to FIG. 11 is an example, and is a variable data structure that can be set by a function held by the image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus 123 transmits the bibliographic information generated in S2812 to the bibliographic server 122 together with the authorization token acquired in S2803 (S2813).
The bibliographic server 122 confirms the authorization token of the image forming apparatus 123, and confirms that the data of the bibliographic information stored in the bibliographic server 122 is accessible (S2814).
As a result of the confirmation, if the authorization token is within the expiration date, the bibliographic server 122 registers the received bibliographic information (S2815).

Here, FIG. 12 is an example of a data structure of bibliographic information stored in the bibliographic server 122. User name (2601), job name (2602), document ID (2603), print data location address (storage location address) (2604), corresponding document ID in order to synchronize bibliographic information between a plurality of image forming devices. Holds the date and time (last updated date and time) (2605) when the data of was last updated. Further, so that the image forming apparatus can print and display correctly, as printing settings, the information necessary for printing by the image forming apparatus such as the number of pages (2606), the number of copies to be printed (2607), and the color setting (2608), and printing execution It includes a print status (2609) that indicates the later state. Further, a deletion management flag (2610) is included as information for notifying the other image forming apparatus that the print data including the bibliographic information of the document ID has been deleted by the other image forming apparatus.
Then, the bibliographic server 122 notifies the user information in which the bibliographic information is registered and the device unique number of the own device together with the authorization token returned from the management server 110 (S2816).
The management server 110 confirms whether the token is an authorization token for the notified bibliographic server 122 (S2817), and manages the information of the bibliographic server 122 as a bibliographic server used by the notified user (S2818).

Here, FIG. 10B is an example of a data structure that manages the association of the bibliographic server used by the user on the management server 110. The user name (2711) and the bibliographic server serial number (2712) are retained so that the bibliographic server used by the user can be managed. For example, a user whose user name is Tanaka is using a bibliographic server whose serial number is AAA12345 and AAA67891.
Next, when the user outputs the print job saved in the image forming apparatus 123 to the image forming apparatus 124, the user inputs the user name and password given to the print job by the printer driver to the image forming apparatus 124 and logs in. To do. The image forming apparatus 124 accepts a user login (S2819).
The image forming apparatus 124 that has detected the login of the user transmits a request for acquiring the bibliographic information of the logged-in user together with the authorization token acquired in S2805 to the bibliographic server 122 (S2820).
The bibliographic server 122 confirms that the authorization token for the image forming apparatus 124 given to the acquisition request is accessible to the bibliographic information data stored in the bibliographic server 122 (S2821).

As a result of the confirmation, if the authorization token is within the expiration date, the bibliographic server 122 uses the list information of the bibliographic servers used by the user for the management server 110, the user information, and the authorization token returned from the management server 110. And give the requested notification (S2822).
The management server 110 confirms that the notified authorization token is issued to the bibliographic server 122 (S2823), and displays the list information of the bibliographic servers used by the notified user in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b). ) Is used (S2824).
The bibliographic server 122 responds to the bibliographic server used by the designated user returned from the management server 110 and the bibliographic information of the designated user registered in the bibliographic server 122 (S2825).
The image forming apparatus 124 confirms the response from the bibliographic server 122, and when it is necessary to acquire the image to another bibliographic server, notifies the acquisition of S2820 to other than the bibliographic server 122 (S2826). That is, the image forming apparatus 124 receives the bibliographic information of the user designated by either or both of the bibliographic server 122 and the other bibliographic server.
Then, the image forming apparatus 124 displays the document list based on the received bibliographic information list (S2827).

Here, FIG. 13 is an example of UI screen display of the printing application displayed by the image forming apparatus 124. The user name is displayed from the bibliographic information obtained from the document list of Tanaka (701). The bibliographic information, job name (705), reception date and time (706), number of copies and number of copies (707), and user name (708) of the columns 2511, 2512, and 2513 of the user name Tanaka of FIG. 11 synchronized with the image forming apparatus 124 are It is displayed. In the document list of FIG. 13, bibliographic information synchronized between bases is displayed by the synchronization service described later. Therefore, a change in the state of the print data caused by an operation on the print data at another site (for example, a print data deletion operation or a print operation) has occurred (for example, data deletion or transition to the printed state). Can be notified to the user.
Further, since the print waiting (702) button is pressed, when the printed (703) button is pressed, the display changes to display column 2514 in FIG. 11, and reprinting is possible. Become. Others include a print setting (709) button that changes the print settings of the saved bibliographic information, an image display (710) button that displays a preview image, a job delete (711) button that deletes the selected job, and a running button. It has a print stop (712) button to stop printing.
The user sets the check button of the document list to the selected state (714) and presses the print start (713) button to instruct the image forming apparatus to execute printing. The image forming apparatus 124 receives an instruction to execute printing from the user (S2828).
The image forming apparatus 124 transmits a print data acquisition request to the image forming apparatus 123, which is a storage machine, together with the access authorization token returned from the bibliographic server 122 that has acquired the bibliographic information (S2829).

The image forming apparatus 123 requests confirmation whether the authorization token given to the print data acquisition request has access authority to the bibliographic server 122 (S2830).
The bibliographic server 122 confirms the authorization token of the image forming apparatus 123 given to the confirmation request (S2831), confirms the authorization token of the image forming apparatus 124 requested to be confirmed, and responds the confirmation result to the image forming apparatus 123. (S2832).
Here, if the token has expired or if the token is other than the issued authorization token, the bibliographic server 122 responds with an authorization confirmation error.
Thereby, the image forming apparatus 123 can confirm that the image forming apparatus 124 is an image forming apparatus in which the bibliographic information corresponding to the print data is shared by the same bibliographic server 122.
When the image forming apparatus 123 can determine that the print data may be answered as a result of the response from the bibliographic server 122, the image forming apparatus 123 responds the print data to the image forming apparatus 124 (S2833).
The image forming apparatus 124 executes a printing process using the returned print data and the bibliographic information selected by the user (S2834).

After that, the image forming apparatus 124 updates the print status (2510) portion of the bibliographic information with the result of the print process, and notifies the bibliographic information update source to the bibliographic server 122 (S2835).
The bibliographic server 122 confirms that the authorization token given to the update notification from the image forming apparatus 124 is accessible to the bibliographic information data stored in the bibliographic server 122 (S2837).
As a result of the confirmation, if the authorization token is within the expiration date, the bibliographic server 122 updates the bibliographic information stored in the bibliographic server with the notified update content (S2838).
Hereinafter, how each process of the basic data flow of the above-mentioned print process is realized by each hardware and software of FIGS. 2 to 6 will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart.

<Flowchart to start bibliographic information synchronization service>
14 (a) and 14 (b) are flowcharts showing an example of the processing executed when the services of the bibliographic information management server application 501 and the bibliographic information management client application 401 are started.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 and the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
FIG. 14A is a flowchart illustrating processing related to the bibliographic information management server application 501. The administrator uniquely identifies the user, such as the host address of the management server 110 and the user name of the administrator who has the authority to manage the printing system of the present embodiment, for the bibliographic server 122 or 132. Enter. The operation receiving unit 518 receives an operation from the user and notifies the control unit 515 (S801). The user who has the administrator authority may be identified by an ID card, biometric authentication, authentication using a mobile terminal, or the like.
The control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to store the input from the user in the non-volatile area (S802).
Further, the user gives an instruction to use the service of the bibliographic information management server application 501. The operation receiving unit 518 receives the service start instruction from the user and notifies the control unit 515 (S803).
The control unit 515 acquires an authorization token from the management server 110 in order to start the service of the bibliographic information management server application 501 when the service is received (S804). The details of the method of obtaining the authorization token will be described with reference to FIG.
After acquiring the authorization token, the control unit 515 registers its own device as a client in the management server 110 (S805). The details of the registration process actually performed will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 14B is a flowchart illustrating processing related to the bibliographic information management client application 401.
FIG. 14B shows the host address of the management server 110 and the user name of an administrator or the like who has the authority to manage the printing system of the present embodiment for the image forming devices 123 to 124 or 133 to 132. Enter the ID and password that uniquely identify the user. The operation receiving unit 418 receives an operation from the user and notifies the control unit 415 (S811). The user who has the administrator authority may be identified by an ID card, biometric authentication, authentication using a mobile terminal, or the like.
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to store the input from the user in the non-volatile area (S812).
Further, the user gives an instruction to use the service of the bibliographic information management client application 401. The operation receiving unit 418 receives the service start instruction from the user and notifies the control unit 15 (S813).
The control unit 415 acquires an authorization token from the bibliographic server in order to start the service of the bibliographic information management client application 401 when the service is received (S814). The details of the method of obtaining the authorization token will be described with reference to FIG.
After acquiring the authorization token, the control unit 415 registers its own device as a client in the bibliographic server (S815). The details of the registration process actually performed will be described with reference to FIG.

<Flowchart of data access authorization>
FIG. 15 is a flowchart in which the image forming devices 123 to 124 or 133 to 134 obtain the connection authorization to the bibliographic server 122 or 132. It is also a flowchart in which the bibliographic server 122 or 132 obtains the connection authorization to the management server 110.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 and the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to connect to the server host address of the connection destination entered by the user (S901).
The control unit 415 proceeds to S903 if the connection by the communication processing unit 416 is successful, and proceeds to S911 if the connection is unsuccessful (S902). If the connection fails, the control unit 415 instructs the display control unit 419 and the like to notify the connection error (S911), and ends the process. Here, the error may be displayed on the screen during user operation in FIG. 13, or the error content may be saved in the non-volatile area so that the occurrence of the error can be confirmed later. ..

If the connection is successful, the control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to communicate the authentication request to the server based on the user ID and the password input and saved by the user (S903).
Here, the destination to send the authentication request does not necessarily have to be the server host address of the connection destination, and may be configured to be sent to another authentication server. Further, the authentication method does not matter as long as the configuration can satisfy the present embodiment, such as a configuration in which all image forming devices refer to authentication information centrally managed by the management server 110 or the like, or a configuration in which the authentication information is shared.

The control unit 415 proceeds to S905 if the response of the authentication request by the communication processing unit 416 is not an authentication error, and proceeds to S910 if there is an authentication error (S904).
In the case of an authentication error, the control unit 415 instructs the display control unit 419 and the like to notify the display control unit 419 and the like of an error indicating that the connection authorization has not been obtained for the connected server (S910), and ends the process.
If it is not an authentication error, the control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to communicate the authentication result and the authorization token issuance request with the server using the device unique number of the device (S905). ..
The control unit 415 proceeds to S907 when the authorization token is returned from the connected server as a result of the communication by the communication processing unit 416, and proceeds to S908 when the response is not the response of the authorization token (S906).
When the authorization token is returned, the control unit 415 instructs the authentication management unit 411 and the data management unit 412 so that the host address of the connected server and the authorization token are associated with each other as described with reference to FIG. , Stored in the non-volatile region (S907).

When there is no response of the authorization token, the control unit 415 confirms the error content, proceeds to S910 in the case of an unauthorized error, and proceeds to S909 in the case of a non-authorized error (S908).
In the case of an error other than the unauthorized error, the control unit 415 instructs the display control unit 419 and the like to notify the display control unit 419 and the like of an error indicating that another error has been responded from the connected server (S909), and ends the process.
Here, an example in which the bibliographic information management client application 401 obtains the connection authorization to the bibliographic information management server application 501 has been described, but the bibliographic information management server application 501 also performs the same processing to obtain the connection authorization to the management server 110. get.
The authentication management unit 511 is the authentication management unit 411, the data management unit 512 is the data management unit 412, the control unit 515 is the control unit 415, the communication processing unit 516 is the communication processing unit 416, and the display control unit 519 is the display control unit. The CPU 201 executes the same process as 419.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when any of the management server 110 having a server function or the bibliographic servers 122 and 132 receives the request of S905 described above.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301 of each information processing device. Alternatively, it is processed by each software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
An authorization token issuance request is received from the network I / F 210 via the network 101 from the image forming apparatus having a client function, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 detects and starts. ..
Based on the request of the communication processing unit 516, the control unit 515 issues an authority confirmation instruction to the authentication management unit 511 and the data management unit 512 (S1001).
Here, the authority is role-managed for the user name according to the data structure described in FIG. 8, and the control unit 515 confirms whether it is the role of the administrator of the printing system described in the present embodiment. To do. Further, the role of the connectable user may be changed to a role other than the administrator.

As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1003 if the requesting device has the authority to access the data managed by the server, and proceeds to S1005 if the requesting device does not have the authority (S1002).
If there is no authority, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to an error without authority to the request source (S1005), and ends the process.
If there is an authority, the control unit 515 issues an authorization token associated with the device-specific value to the authentication management unit 511 and instructs the authentication management unit 511 to store it in the non-volatile area (S1003).
The control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the issued token to the request source (S1004).
Here, an example in which the bibliographic information management server application 501 accepts the connection authorization request from the bibliographic information management client application 401 has been described, but the management server 110 also performs the same processing and responds to the bibliographic information management server application 501 with the connection authorization. To do.
In the above, the CPU 301 of the management server 110 executes the management server application 601 in the same manner. In that case, the authentication management unit 611 has the same processing as the authentication management unit 511, the data management unit 612 has the same processing as the data management unit 512, the control unit 615 has the control unit 515, and the communication processing unit 616 has the same processing as the communication processing unit 516. CPU 301 executes it.

<Flowchart of initial connection of bibliographic information synchronization service>
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of a process in which the image forming apparatus 123 to 124 or 133 to 134 registers the own device as a client with the bibliographic server 122 or 132. It is also a flowchart in which the bibliographic server 122 or 132 registers its own device as a client with the management server 110.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 and the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to generate request data for registering as a client with the server from the information constituting the own device (S1101).
Here, the request data includes information as described with reference to FIG. 10 (a).
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to communicate the generated request data with the server to be connected (S1102).

Subsequently, the control unit 415 confirms the result of communication. If an error is responded, the process proceeds to S1104, and if there is no error response, it is determined that the client registration with the server has been completed, and the process ends (S1103).
When an error is responded, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412, saves the error information (S1104), and confirms the content of the error (S1105).
If the content of the error is a retryable error, the control unit 415 re-executes the process of S1102. Here, the retryable error is an error in which the server is temporarily unable to respond in a busy state, a connection error due to the number of simultaneous connections being exceeded, or the like.
If there is no retryable error, the control unit 415 ends the process. Here, since this process is executed after the user's operation, it is described as an example in which the user can confirm the error status later. In addition, when an error occurs, a message function such as e-mail may be used to dynamically notify the user.
Here, an example in which the bibliographic information management client application 401 performs client registration for the bibliographic information management server application 501 has been described, but the bibliographic information management server application 501 also performs the same processing for the management server 110. ..
In the above, the CPU 201 of the management server 110 similarly executes the bibliographic information management server application 501. In that case, the CPU 201 executes the data management unit 512 so that the data management unit 412, the control unit 515 the control unit 415, and the communication processing unit 516 perform the same processing as the communication processing unit 416.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the bibliographic server 122 or 132 receives the request of S1102 from the image forming apparatus serving as a client.
It is also a flowchart when the management server 110 receives the request from the bibliographic server 122 or 132.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus or the software of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301.
A client registration request is received from the network I / F 210 via the network 101 from an image forming apparatus having a client function, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 detects and starts.
The control unit 515 extracts the authorization token to which the request has been given, and instructs the authentication management unit 511 to confirm (S1201).

As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1203 if the authorization token is valid, and proceeds to S1212 if the authorization token is not valid, such as when the expiration date has expired (S1202).
If it is not a valid authorization token, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an authorization error (S1212).
If it is a valid authorization token, the control unit 515 confirms the request content (S123).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1205 if there is no defect in the request content, and proceeds to S1213 if there is a defect (S1204).
When there is a defect in the request content, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an error indicating that the request format is defective (S1213).

If there is no defect in the request content, the control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to confirm whether the request source has been registered (S1205).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1214 if the requesting device has already been registered as a client, and proceeds to S1207 if it has not been registered (S1206).
If it has already been registered, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the client registration error to the request source (S1214).
If the request source has not been registered, the control unit 515 requests the data management unit 512 and registers the device information of the request source in the DB 513 (S1207). Here, the data structure to be registered is the structure described with reference to FIG. 10A.
The control unit 515 confirms whether or not it has been correctly registered in DB 513, and if it can be registered correctly, it proceeds to S1216, and if it has not been correctly registered, it proceeds to S1215 (S1208).

If the registration is not correctly performed in the DB 513, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with a server processing error (S1215). Here, the server processing error is an error that may be recovered by retrying.
When the server processing can be correctly registered in the DB 513, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source that the server processing has been performed correctly (S1216).
Here, an example is described in which the bibliographic information management server application 501 receives a notification of client registration from the bibliographic information management client application 401. However, even if the management server 110 receives a notification of client registration from the bibliographic information management server application 501, the same processing is performed.
In the above, the CPU 301 of the management server 110 executes the management server application 601 in the same manner. In that case, the CPU 201 of the management server 110 executes the bibliographic information management server application 501 in the same manner. In that case, the authentication management unit 611 is the authentication management unit 511, the data management unit 612 is the data management unit 512, the DB 613 is the DB 513, the control unit 615 is the control unit 515, and the communication processing unit 616 is the same processing as the communication processing unit 516. CPU 301 executes.

<Bibliographic information synchronization flow chart of bibliographic information synchronization service>
FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the user transmits print data from the PC 121 or 131 to the image forming devices 123 to 124 or 133 to 134. Here, for convenience, a process when a print job is transmitted from the PC 121 to the image forming apparatus 123 (storage machine) will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
The user operates the PC 121. Then, the CPU 301 transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus 123 connected by the network 101 via the network I / F 310. This flowchart starts when the transmitted print job is received by the network I / F 210 of the image forming apparatus 123, and the communication processing unit 416 notifies the control unit 415 of the received print job.

The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to receive the received print job and saves it in the non-volatile area (S1301).
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to divide and manage the print data and the bibliographic information from the print job (S1302).
The control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to create request data to be registered in the bibliographic server from the extracted bibliographic information (S1303).
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 of the created request data, and transmits a registration request to the bibliographic server (S1304).
The control unit 415 confirms the result of the request transmission processing of the communication processing unit 416, and if an error is responded, proceeds to S1306, and if there is no error response, determines that the request processing is completed and ends the processing (S1305). ).
When an error is returned as a result of the request transmission process, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 and saves the error information (S1306).
If the saved error information is not a retryable error, the control unit 415 ends the process as an error end, and if the saved error information is a retryable error, instructs the communication processing unit 416 to re-execute S1304 (S1307). ).
Here, an example in which the image forming apparatus 123 accepts a print job has been described, but when another image forming apparatus accepts a print job, the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus executes the same processing.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the bibliographic server 122 receives the request of S1304 from the image forming apparatus 123. Here, for convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 123 to the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
FIG. 20 is a process in which a request from the image forming apparatus 123 is received by the network I / F 210 of the bibliographic server 122, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 notifies the control unit 515. To start.
The control unit 515 instructs the authentication management unit 511 to confirm the authorization token given to the request (S1401).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1403 if the access authorization is correct within the expiration date of the authorization token, and proceeds to S1421 if the access authorization is not correct (S1402).

If the access authorization is not correct, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an authorization error, and ends the process (S1421).
If the access authorization is correct, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 to confirm the content of the request (S1403).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1422 if there is a defect in the request content, and proceeds to S1405 if there is no defect (S1404).
If the request content is incomplete, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request format error to the request source, and ends the processing (S1422).
If there is no defect in the request content, the control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to confirm whether the requested bibliographic information has already been registered (S1405).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S1423 in the case of bibliographic information that has already been registered, and proceeds to S1407 in the case of bibliographic information that has not yet been registered (S1406).

In the case of the already registered bibliographic information, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 and the data management unit 512 to update the bibliographic information stored in the DB 513 (S1423). In the case of bibliographic information that has not been registered yet, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 and the data management unit 512 to register the bibliographic information in the DB 513 as new bibliographic information (S1407). Here, the bibliographic information handled by DB 513 is a data structure example described with reference to FIG.
The control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 to correct the time with the image forming apparatus that has received the request, and updates the last update date and time (2605) of the processed bibliographic information (S1408).
The control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to confirm whether the registration / update process in the DB 513 has been performed correctly. If the registration is successful, the process proceeds to S1410, and if the registration fails, S1424 Proceed to (S1409).

If the registration has failed, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an error in the server processing, and ends the processing (S1424).
If the registration is successful, the control unit 515 instructs the management server 110 to request the communication processing unit 516 to notify the user information in the bibliographic information and the device unique number of the own device (S1410).
The control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source that the requested bibliographic information has been successfully registered, and ends the processing (S1411).
Here, an example in which the bibliographic server 122 accepts a request for registration of bibliographic information is described. However, when the bibliographic server 132 accepts the same process, the CPU 201 of the bibliographic server 132 executes the same process.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the management server 110 receives the request of S1410 from the bibliographic server 122. Here, for convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the bibliographic server 122 to the management server 110 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301 of the management server 110.
In FIG. 21, a request from the bibliographic server 122 is received by the network I / F 310 of the management server 110, and the communication processing unit 616 of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301 notifies the control unit 615 to start the process. ..
The control unit 615 instructs the authentication management unit 611 to confirm the authorization token given to the request (S1501).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 615 proceeds to S1503 if the access authorization is correct within the expiration date of the authorization token, and proceeds to S1511 if the access authorization is not correct (S1502).

If the access authorization is not correct, the control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 616 to respond to the request source with an authorization error, and ends the process (S1511).
If the access authorization is correct, the control unit 615 instructs the device management unit 614 and the user information management unit 617 to confirm the content of the request (S1503).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 615 proceeds to S1512 if there is a defect in the request content, and proceeds to S1505 if there is no defect (S1504).
If the request content is incomplete, the control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 616 to respond to the request format error to the request source, and ends the processing (S1512).
If there is no defect in the request content, the control unit 615 instructs the data management unit 612 to confirm whether the requested user information has already been registered (S1505).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 615 proceeds to S1513 if the user information has already been registered, and proceeds to S1507 if the user information has not been registered yet (S1506).

In the case of already registered user information, the control unit 615 instructs the user information management unit 617 and the data management unit 612 to update the user information stored in the DB 613 (S1513). In the case of user information that has not been registered yet, the control unit 615 instructs the user information management unit 617, the device management unit 614, and the data management unit 612 to register the device corresponding to the new user information in the DB 613. (S1507).
Here, the user information and the device management information handled by the DB 613 have the data structure described in FIG. 10B. The user name Tanaka in column 2721 of FIG. 10B is the serial number. The bibliographic server of AAA12345 and AAA67891 is used, and the bibliographic server has the serial number of FIG. 10 (a). You can check the details by using (2701) as a key. In addition, the control unit 615 instructs the device management unit 614 to correct the time with the image forming apparatus that has received the request, and also updates the last update date and time (2705) of the processed bibliographic information.
The control unit 615 instructs the data management unit 612 to confirm whether the registration / update process in the DB 613 has been performed correctly, and if the registration is successful, proceeds to S1509, and if the registration fails, S1414. Proceed to (S1508).

If the registration has failed, the control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 616 to respond to the request source with an error in the server processing, and ends the processing (S1514).
If the registration is successful, the control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 616 to respond to the request source that the registration of the requested user information is successful, and ends the process (S1509).
Here, an example in which the management server 110 accepts the request from the bibliographic server 122 has been described, but the same process is executed when the request from the bibliographic server 132 is received.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing an example of processing when the image forming apparatus 122 to 124 or 132 to 134 acquires a list of bibliographic information from the bibliographic server.
Here, for convenience, a process in which the image forming apparatus 124 acquires a list of bibliographic information from the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each composite.
FIG. 22 shows that when the CPU 201 of the image forming apparatus 124 detects the synchronization trigger of the bibliographic information, the bibliographic information management client application 401 is executed and started. In the present embodiment, the bibliographic information synchronization trigger will be described by exemplifying that the user logs in to use the image forming apparatus. However, the bibliographic information synchronization may be a polling process after waiting for a certain period of time, or may be a dynamic trigger for detecting an update by socket communication with the server.

The control unit 415 instructs the authentication management unit 411 to specify the logged-in user, and instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to create the bibliographic information acquisition request (S1601).
The control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 and the data management unit 412 to confirm whether or not there is a final synchronization time of the corresponding user (S1602).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 415 proceeds to S1603 if there is a final synchronization time of the corresponding user, and a user who has never synchronized with the bibliographic server 122 proceeds to S1604 because the final synchronization time does not exist (S1602). ..
When there is a final synchronization time of the corresponding user, the control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to assign the final synchronization time to the request data (S1603).
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to notify the bibliographic server 122 of the created request data in order to acquire the list of bibliographic information (S1604).
The control unit 415 confirms the communication result of the communication processing unit 416, and if there is an error response, the process proceeds to S1611, and if there is no error response, the process proceeds to S1606 (S1605).

If the response from the bibliographic server 122 is an error response, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to save the error content (S1611), and confirms the error content.
As a result of checking the error content, the control unit 415 ends the process if the error is not a retryable error, and instructs the communication processing unit 416 to re-execute the request of S1604 in the case of a retryable error (S1612). ).
When the process proceeds to S1606 according to the confirmation of S1605, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 and saves the response bibliographic information list in the non-volatile area (S1606).
Next, the control unit 415 confirms the content of the response data, confirms whether the instruction to acquire the bibliographic information is included in the server other than the bibliographic server 122 communicated in S1604, and if it is included, proceeds to S1615 and includes the instruction. If not, the process proceeds to S1611 (S1607).
When the control unit 415 proceeds to the process to S1615, it instructs the data management unit 412 to confirm whether the instructed host address included in the response is the server that has already been inquired (S1615). As a result of the confirmation, the control unit 415 proceeds to S1611 if the server has already been inquired, and proceeds to S1608 if it has not been inquired.
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to communicate the acquisition request of the bibliographic information list used in S1604 with the bibliographic server included in the response data (S1608). In S1608, the control unit 415 recursively executes the process of FIG. 22.

For example, the case where the response data is as follows can be given as an example.
header:
Request-Instruction: 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1
body:
<User_name> Tanaka </ / user_name>
<Biblio_datas>
<Data>
<Job_name> index. html </ b_name>
<Document_id> 376-984-254 // document_id>
<Address> 192.168.10.10.10 // address>
<Pages> 1 </ pages>
<Copies> 1 </ copies>
<Color> 0 </ color>
<Status> 0 </ status>
</ Data>
</ Biblio_datas>

For example, when 192.168.0.1 included in the response data is the IP address of the bibliographic server 132, the control unit 415 notifies the bibliographic server 132 of the request after requesting the bibliographic server 122 to acquire the bibliographic information list. I do.
Here, even if the bibliographic information is not responded from the bibliographic server 122, if there is a request instruction to another server, the control unit 415 makes a request for acquiring the bibliographic information to that server.
Further, if the responded request destination does not include the information of the bibliographic server 122, the control unit 415 may determine that the bibliographic server mainly used by the user Tanaka is other than the bibliographic server 122. At this time, the control unit 415 may hold the designated server included in the response data in the non-volatile area, and may acquire the designated server from other than the bibliographic server 122 while the user Tanaka is logged in. In addition, the bibliographic server information list acquired by the user Tanaka at the time of login may be retained until it is restarted.

Next, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to save the inquired bibliographic server information as the inquired server information in the temporary area (S1616). This is controlled so that the same server is not repeatedly queried.
If an error is returned as a result of the communication processing of the request executed by the communication processing unit 416 in S1608, the control unit 415 proceeds to S1614 (S1609).
If an error response is obtained as a result of communication with the server, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 and saves the error content (S1613).
After that, the control unit 415 confirms whether the error content is a retryable error, and if the error cannot be retried, proceeds to S1611, and if the error can be retried, instructs the communication processing unit to re-execute S1608 (S1614). ).

When the control unit 415 proceeds to S1610 as a result of confirmation of S1609, it instructs the data management unit 412 of the response data from the contact server included in the response data from the bibliographic server 122 and saves it in the temporary area (S1610). .. Here, the temporary area may be a volatile area such as RAM 202 without being stored in the DB 413, and is treated as data that may be deleted when the user restarts or the user logs out. Further, even when the data is stored in the non-volatile area, it is sufficient that the response data can be discriminated against the response data from the bibliographic server 122 which is normally connected.
The control unit 415 manages the completion of synchronization, and instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to save the final synchronization time included in the response from the bibliographic server 122 (S1611). This last synchronization time is used to manage the time when the user last synchronized.
Here, an example in which the image forming apparatus 123 receives the response data from the bibliographic server 122 has been described, but the same processing is performed when the other image forming apparatus transmits the request and when the bibliographic server 132 first receives the request. , CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus executes.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the bibliographic server 122 receives the requests of S1604 and S1608 from the image forming apparatus. For convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 123 to the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 201 of the bibliographic server 122.
FIG. 23 is a process in which a request from the image forming apparatus 123 is received by the network I / F 210 of the bibliographic server 122, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 notifies the control unit 515. To start.
In S1701 to S1704, the same processing as in S1401 to S1404 described with reference to FIG. 4 is performed. Further, S1721 to S1722 are also subjected to the same processing as S1421 to S1422 described with reference to FIG.
Next, when the control unit 515 proceeds to S1705 by confirmation of S1704, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 and the authentication management unit 511 to identify the requesting user from the request (S1705). ..

The control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to confirm whether the bibliographic information about the specified user is registered in the bibliographic server. The control unit 515 proceeds to S1707 if the bibliographic information about the specified user is registered, and proceeds to S1723 if it is not registered (S1706).
If the bibliographic information about the specified user is not registered, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 to generate response data in which the bibliographic information about the requesting user is not registered, and proceeds to S1712 (S1723). ).
When the bibliographic information about the specified user is registered, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 to check whether the request has the time when the user last synchronized with the bibliographic server (last synchronization time). To do. If there is a final synchronization time, the process proceeds to S1708, and if not, the process proceeds to S1709 (S1707).

When there is a final synchronization time, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 and the data management unit 512 to acquire the bibliographic information updated after the final synchronization time from the DB 513 (S1708).
If there is no final synchronization time, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 and the data management unit 512 to acquire all the bibliographic information about the user from the DB 513 (S1709).
The control unit 515 confirms with the data management unit 512, confirms whether the data has been acquired correctly, proceeds to S1711 if the data acquisition is successful, and proceeds to S1724 if the data acquisition fails (S1710).
When the data acquisition fails, the control unit 515 generates error response data indicating the failure of the server processing (S1724).
When the data acquisition is successful, the control unit 515 forms the acquired bibliographic information list so that it can respond as response data (S1711).

Next, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to request the management server 110 to request the acquisition of the list of bibliographic servers used by the specified user (S1712).
When the communication processing unit 516 communicates with the management server 110 and the bibliographic server used by the specified user includes information other than the information of the bibliographic server (bibliographic server 122), the control unit 515 proceeds to S1714 and is not included. In the case, the process proceeds to S1715 (S1713).
When the bibliographic server used by the specified user contains information other than the information of the bibliographic server (bibliographic server 122), the control unit 515 adds information instructing another bibliographic server to acquire the bibliographic information (S1714). .. Here, in the response from the management server 110, among the information managed as shown in FIG. 10A, the device host address of the other bibliographic server is responded, and it is possible to create response data instructing the communication process.
For example, in the attribute of the response data to be responded, the host address of the bibliographic server managed in FIG. 10 (a) as shown in "Request-Instruction: 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1" is added. It is possible to specify the connection destination by adding them to the header attributes of the response in order.
Finally, the control unit 515 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514 to give the final synchronization time to the response, and responds to the created response data to the request source (S1715).
Here, an example in which the bibliographic server 122 accepts the bibliographic information registration request has been described, but when the bibliographic server 132 accepts the request, the CPU 201 of the bibliographic server 132 executes the same process.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the management server 110 receives the request of S1712 from the bibliographic server 122. Here, for convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the bibliographic server 122 to the management server 110 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301 of the management server 110.
In FIG. 24, a request from the bibliographic server 122 is received by the network I / F 310 of the management server 110, and the communication processing unit 616 of the management server application 601 executed by the CPU 301 notifies the control unit 615 to start the process. ..
Since S1801 to S1804 are the same processes as S1501 to S1504 described with reference to FIG. 21, the description thereof will be omitted. Further, since S1821 to S1822 are the same processes as S1511 to S1512 described with reference to FIG. 21, the description thereof will be omitted.

The control unit 615 proceeds with the process to S1805, and instructs the user information management unit 517 to specify the user information of the request source from the notified request data (S1805).
The control unit 615 instructs the data management unit 512 to check whether the specified user information is registered in the DB 513, and if it is not registered, proceeds to S1823, and if it is registered, proceeds to S1807 (S1806). ..
When the user information is not registered in the DB 513, the control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an error response indicating that the request source user is not registered (S1823).
If registered, the control unit 615 instructs the data management unit 512 to acquire data regarding the user who requested synchronization (S1807).
The control unit 615 confirms whether the data acquisition has been performed correctly, and if the data acquisition is successful, proceeds to S1809, and if the data acquisition fails, proceeds to S1824 (S1808).
If the data acquisition fails, the control unit 615 generates response data indicating an error in the server processing (S1824).
When the data acquisition is successful, the control unit 615 instructs the user information management unit 617 and the device management unit 614 to create response data based on the acquired data (S1809).

For example, when acquiring the data of the user name: Tanaka in FIG. 10 (b), the serial number. The detailed information of each device is acquired from FIG. 10 (a).
From the acquired detailed information of the device, as the bibliographic server used by the requesting user name: Tanaka, the response data can be listed as follows in the format of eXtensible Markup Language (hereinafter, XML).
<? xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"? ＞
<Xml_information>
<Version> 00.01 </ version>
</ Xml_information>
<Servers>
<Server>
<Ds_no> AAA12345 </ ds_no>
<Name> iR-ADV C5560 </ name>
<Host_addr> 192.168.0.1 </ host_addr>
<Location> XXX Building 16th floor </ location>
</ Server>
<Server>
<Ds_no> AAA67891 </ ds_no>
<Name> iR-ADV C5560 </ name>
<Host_addr> 192.168.1.1 </ host_addr>
<Location> XXX Building 8th floor </ location>
</ Server>
</ Servers>

User name: From Tanaka, the detailed information of the device registered in FIG. 10 (a) to be indexed is returned to the request source. In addition to the XML format, the description format does not need to be limited as long as it is a format capable of structurally responding to data such as Javascript (registered trademark) Object Notification (JSON).
The control unit 615 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the created response data to the request source (S1810).

Here, an example in which the management server 110 accepts the request from the bibliographic server 122 has been described, but the same process is executed when the request from the bibliographic server 132 is received.
As a result, for example, when the user name: Tanaka, who normally operates at the business base 120, submits a print job to the image forming apparatus 122 and tries to print from the image forming apparatus 134, the management server 110 becomes the bibliographic server 132. A list of bibliographic information with the bibliographic server 122 can be obtained.
For example, when the image forming apparatus 134 performs the processing of FIG. 22 and the bibliographic server 132 performs the request processing of FIG. 23, the bibliographic server 132 sends bibliography to the response data according to the response data from the management server 110 described with reference to FIG. It responds including the information of the server 122.
The image forming apparatus 134 makes a bibliographic information acquisition request to the bibliographic server 122 by executing S1712 based on the returned bibliographic server information, and the bibliographic information of the print job input to the image forming apparatus 123. Can be shared.

<Flowchart between print processing output machine, submission machine, and bibliographic server>
Up to the above, the method of sharing the bibliographic information list of the print job submitted by the user among a plurality of image forming devices has been described. In the following, an example of the processing executed when actually printing is described will be described using the shared bibliographic information list.
FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed by the image forming apparatus when the user prints. Here, for convenience, a process in which the image forming apparatus 134 shares bibliographic information using the bibliographic servers 132 and 122 and prints a print job submitted to the image forming apparatus 123 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.

The operation unit 206 of the image forming apparatus 134 is operated, the CPU 201 detects that the user has logged in via the operation unit I / F 205, notifies the operation reception unit 418, and the control unit 415 logs in to the user. Detect (S1901).
The control unit 415 acquires a list of bibliographic information about the logged-in user by the method described with reference to FIG. 22 (S1902).
The control unit 415 detects that the user instructs the operation unit 206 to start the reserved print in the same manner as in S1901 (S1903). Here, the control unit 415 instructs the display control unit 419 to display the bibliographic information list acquired in S1902 on the operation unit 206 as shown in FIG.
The user operates the operation unit 206, selects the bibliographic information to be printed from the displayed list of bibliographic information, and instructs printing. The control unit 415 receives a notification of this print instruction from the operation reception unit 418 (S1904).
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to check whether the print data related to the bibliographic information to be printed is in the own device, and if it is in the own device, proceeds to S1912, and if it is not in the own device, proceeds to S1906. (S1905).

Here, as shown in FIG. 11, the bibliographic information includes a host address indicating a storage location of print data. It is determined that the information stored in the local host with the host address indicating the storage location is the print data saved in the own device (input as a print job). Further, it can be determined that the bibliographic information whose storage location is other than the host of the own device is print data stored in another image forming apparatus. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, it is possible to identify the acquired bibliographic server by the host address (2504) of the acquired server.
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to obtain an authorization token (2302) corresponding to the host address (2504) of the bibliographic information acquisition server instructed by the user based on the data stored in FIG. Confirm (S1906).
As a result of the confirmation, if there is an authorization token corresponding to the host address of the bibliographic server that acquired the bibliographic information to be printed, the process proceeds to S1909, and if there is no authorization token, the process proceeds to S1908 (S1907).
If there is no authorization token, the control unit 415 performs the process described with reference to FIG. 15 and issues the authorization token from the server from which the bibliographic information is acquired (S1908).

The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to send a print data acquisition request to the storage location host address (2505) instructed to print by the user using the authorization token and the document ID (2505). S1909).
The control unit 415 confirms the response from the image forming apparatus 123 (S1910).
As a result of the confirmation, the control unit 415 proceeds to S1912 when the print data is responded, and proceeds to S1921 when the print data is not responded (S1911).
When the print data is not responded, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to save the error information (S1921).
The control unit 415 confirms the saved error content, instructs the communication processing unit 416 to re-execute S1909 if the error can be retried, and proceeds to S1923 if the error cannot be retried (S1922).
In the case of an error that cannot be retried, the control unit 415 instructs the display control unit 419 to display the print error on the operation unit 206, and notifies the user of the error (S1923).

When the control unit 415 proceeds to the process in S1912, the print control unit 417 is instructed to print with the returned print data and the bibliographic information selected by the user (S1912).
Here, the print control unit 417 controls the printer unit 209 via the device I / F 207, and executes the print setting of the designated bibliographic information and printing according to the print data.
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to update the print status (2510) of the bibliographic information instructed to print with the printed result, and instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to update the updated result in the bibliography. Notify the bibliographic server that acquired the information (S1913). The details of the process of updating the bibliographic information to the bibliographic server will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, an example in which the image forming apparatus 134 receives a printing instruction has been described, but when another image forming apparatus receives a printing instruction from the user, the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus executes the same processing.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the control unit 415 updates the bibliographic information at a timing similar to that of S1913 described with reference to FIG. 25. Here, for convenience, a process when the image forming apparatus 134 updates the bibliographic information acquired from the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example. The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
In FIG. 26, when the image forming apparatus 134 needs to update the bibliographic information, the control unit 415 of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 starts the process.
The control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to acquire the bibliographic information to be updated (S2901).
The control unit 415 confirms whether the bibliographic information update process is deletion (S2902). As a result of the confirmation, if the instruction is to delete the bibliographic information, the process proceeds to S2909, and if the instruction is not the deletion instruction, the process proceeds to S2903 (S2902).

When the process proceeds to S2903, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to update the corresponding bibliographic information with the contents of the designated bibliographic information (S2903).
The control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to create request data for updating the bibliographic information registered in the bibliographic server from the updated information (S2904).
Here, the deletion instruction is determined in S2902 when the CPU 201 detects the user instruction from the job deletion (711) button described in FIG. 13 via the operation unit I / F 205, the flowchart of FIG. 26 starts. An example is the case where it is done.

When the process proceeds to S2909, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to delete the bibliographic information calculated from the designated bibliographic information (S2909).
The control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 to create request data for notifying the bibliographic server of the deleted bibliographic information (S2910).
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to make a request for the created request data to the bibliographic server designated for processing in FIG. 26 (S2905).
The control unit 415 proceeds to S2907 when an error is returned from the bibliographic server as a result of the communication of the communication processing unit 416, and ends this flowchart in the case of a response other than the error (S2906).
When the process proceeds to S2907, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to save the error information (S2907).
The control unit 415 confirms the saved error content, and if the error can be retried, instructs the communication processing unit 416 to re-execute the request of S2905 (S2908).
Here, when the bibliographic server receives the request data created in S2904 of FIG. 26 from the image forming apparatus, it executes the process described in FIG. 20 and updates the bibliographic information registered in the bibliographic server by confirming S1406. The processing of S1423 is performed.
Further, when the request data created in S2910 of FIG. 26 is received, the process of FIG. 29 is executed. Details of the processing actually executed will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when a certain image forming apparatus receives request S1909 of a print data acquisition request stored in the image forming apparatus. Here, for convenience, the processing when the image forming apparatus 134 executes the request S1909 to the image forming apparatus 123 will be described as an example. The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
In FIG. 27, the image forming apparatus 123 receives the request from the image forming apparatus 134 on the network I / F 210, and the communication processing unit 416 of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 notifies the control unit 415. Start processing.
The control unit 415 instructs the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 414 and the authentication management unit 411 to extract the authorization token and the document ID from the received request (S2001).
The control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to make a request for authorization confirmation to the bibliographic server 122 to which the extracted authorization token is connected (S2002).
The control unit 415 proceeds to S2004 when the authorization is confirmed with the bibliographic server 122 as a result of the communication of the communication processing unit 416, and proceeds to S2011 when the authorization confirmation is not obtained (S2003).

If the authorization confirmation cannot be obtained, the control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to respond to the request source with an authorization error, and ends the process (S2011).
When the authorization is confirmed, the control unit 415 instructs the data management unit 412 to search the document data stored in the own device by using the extracted document ID (S2004).
The control unit 415 confirms that the print data has been acquired as a result of the search, proceeds to S2006 if the print data can be acquired, and proceeds to S2012 if the print data cannot be acquired (S2005).
When the print data cannot be acquired, the control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to respond to the request source with an error indicating that the data of the specified document ID is not saved (S2012).
When the print data can be acquired, the control unit 415 instructs the communication processing unit 416 to respond to the request source with the target print data (S2006).
Here, an example in which the image forming apparatus 123 accepts a print data acquisition request has been described, but the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus performs the same processing when the image forming apparatus 122, 124, or 132 to 134 accepts the request. Execute.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when the bibliographic server receives the request for S2002 from the image forming apparatus. For convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 123 to the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example.
The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of the bibliographic server 122.
FIG. 28 is a process in which a request from the image forming apparatus 123 is received by the network I / F 210 of the bibliographic server 122, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management client application 401 executed by the CPU 201 notifies the control unit 515. To start.
S2101 to S2102 are the same processes as S1402 to S1403 described with reference to FIG. 20, and S2111 is the same process as S1421.
When the process proceeds to S2103, the control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 of the registration status of the authorization token requested for confirmation from the image forming apparatus 123 (S2103).
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S2105 when the authorization token is correct within the expiration date, and proceeds to S2112 when it is out of the expiration date or invalid (S2104).
If the authorization token is correct, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with a response indicating that the authorization token has been confirmed (S2105).
When the authorization token is invalid, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with a response indicating that the authorization token is an invalid token in the confirmation of the authorization token (S2112).
Here, an example in which the bibliographic server 122 accepts the bibliographic information registration request has been described, but when the bibliographic server 132 accepts the request, the CPU 201 of the bibliographic server 132 executes the same process.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing an example of processing executed when a bibliographic server receives a request for deleting bibliographic information from an image forming apparatus. Here, for convenience, a process when the image forming apparatus 134 notifies the bibliographic server 122 of the request data created in S2910 of FIG. 26 will be described as an example. The steps of each flowchart are processed by the functions of the software of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.
In FIG. 29, the image forming apparatus 122 receives the request from the image forming apparatus 134 on the network I / F 210, and the communication processing unit 516 of the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 notifies the control unit 515. Start processing.
S3001 to S3005 are the same processes as S1401 to S1405 described with reference to FIG. 20, and S3021 to S3022 are the same processes as S1421 to S1422 described with reference to FIG. Further, S3023 is the same process as S1424 described with reference to FIG. The processing described with reference to FIG. 20 will be omitted.
When the control unit 515 advances the process to S3006, the data management unit 512 is instructed to confirm whether the bibliographic information is registered in the DB 513 from the bibliographic information ID specified from the request for deletion request. As a result of confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S3007 in the case of registered bibliographic information, and proceeds to S3010 in the case of unregistered bibliographic information (S3006).

When proceeding to S3007, the control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to change the designated bibliographic information deletion management flag (2610) to deleted (S3007).
The control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to set the last update date and time (2605) of the bibliographic information, which updated the deletion management flag (2610), to the current time, and updates the data of the DB 513 (S3008). As a result, when the image forming apparatus serving as a client makes a request for synchronization of bibliographic information, it becomes possible to respond including the deleted bibliographic information in the search result of S1708 or S1709 described with reference to FIG. 23. In addition, the deleted bibliographic information may be physically deleted from the DB 513 after being stored for a certain period of time, or the administrator of this system may instruct the data to be physically deleted (data compaction) in a batch. ..
The control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512 to confirm whether the update process for the DB 513 is successful, and if it succeeds, proceeds to S3010, and if it fails, proceeds to S3024 (S3009).

When proceeding to S3024, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with an error in the server processing (S3024).
When proceeding to S3010, the control unit 515 instructs the data management unit 512, the bibliographic information synchronization management unit 514, and the user information management unit 517, and the bibliographic information used by the user of the user information included in the request is deleted by this deletion process. Check if the number is 0. As a result of the confirmation, the control unit 515 proceeds to S3011 when the number of bibliographic information used by the user is 0, and proceeds to S3012 in other cases (S3010).
When proceeding to S3011, the control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to make a request to the management server 110 to notify the update of removing the own server from the server information used by the user (S3011). As a result, the management server 110 removes the information of the bibliographic server 122 from the list of bibliographic servers used by the user managed in FIG. 10B by performing the process of S1513 described with reference to FIG. 21 and updates the user information.
The control unit 515 instructs the communication processing unit 516 to respond to the request source with the result of the bibliographic information deletion processing (S3012).

FIG. 30 shows the bibliographic server in which each image forming apparatus has a server function or the management server 110 via the network 101 among the above-mentioned FIGS. It is a flowchart explaining the common process when exchanging the exchanged data. Specifically, the communication processing of S905, S1102, S1304, S1410, S1604, S1608, S1712, S1909, S1913, S2002, and S3011 corresponds to the processing of this figure.
For convenience, a process when a request is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 123 to the bibliographic server 122 will be described as an example.
The processing is performed by each software of the bibliographic information management client application 401 or the bibliographic information management server application 501 executed by the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus.

When executing a process involving communication processing, the control unit 415 specifies a successful connection or a preset finite number of retries to the communication processing unit 416 and attempts to connect to the host address specified as the connection destination. Instruct (S2201). The communication processing unit 416 attempts to connect to the host address (S2202). The control unit 415 confirms the communication result after the connection is successful or the number of retries is equal to or greater than the number of retries.
As a result of confirmation, the control unit 415 proceeds to S2204 when the designated connection process succeeds, and proceeds to S2211 when the connection fails (S2203).
If the confirmation result of the connection process is a failure, the control unit 415 responds with a connection error to the caller who requested the communication process, and ends the process (S2211).
If the result of the connection process is successful, the control unit 415 instructs the authentication management unit 411 to give an authorization token corresponding to the specified host address, and performs communication processing using the request instructed by the caller. Here, as described with reference to FIG. 9, the authorization token (2302) is stored in the non-volatile area and corresponds to the server host address (2301) of the connection destination.

The control unit 415 confirms the response result from the server by the communication processing performed by the communication processing unit 416 (S2205).
The control unit 415 proceeds to S2207 when the response result is an authentication error, and proceeds to S2207 when no authentication error occurs (S2206).
In the case of an authentication error, the control unit 415 acquires the authorization token again by performing the process described with reference to FIG. 15 (S2207). Here, although the main process is passed in the communication process S903 of FIG. 15, if the authentication can be performed correctly, S2207 does not pass and the process returns to the process of FIG. 15 correctly. Here, in the case of an authentication error, since the process passes to the process of S910 in FIG. 15, the communication process S905 for requesting the issuance of the authorization token does not loop.
The control unit 415 returns the above-mentioned processing result to each of the calling flowcharts and ends the processing (S2208).

Here, the caller treats the authorization error due to communication as a retryable error, and re-executes the communication process with the authorization token acquired again in S2207, so that the communication process request to the specified host address has the authorization authority. It can be done with a guarantee.
Further, a configuration may be adopted in which the number of retries is set for the authorization error to limit the number of retries.
Here, an example in which the image forming apparatus 123 transmits a request to the bibliographic server 122 has been described, but when performing a process requiring communication, the CPU 201 of each image forming apparatus executes the same process.
When the bibliographic information management server application 501 performs processing, the control unit 515 is the control unit 415, the communication processing unit 516 is the communication processing unit 416, the authentication management unit 511 is the authentication management unit 411, and the data management unit 512 is the data. It performs the same function as the management unit 412.

As described above, the data configurations described in FIGS. 8 to 12 can be processed by the software of FIGS. 4 to 6 operated by the image forming apparatus and the information processing apparatus described in FIG. 1 to perform the processes of FIGS. 14 to 30. By doing so, the data flow described in FIG. 7 is realized.
As a result, the bibliographic information can be correctly synchronized on the bibliographic server of the business base that the user usually uses even when printing at business bases where the trafficking machine, output machine, and bibliographic server that the user usually uses are different. ..
In addition, in order to acquire bibliographic information, S1604 is carried out, and after the bibliographic information is acquired, a print job is input to an image forming apparatus installed other than the business base that is normally used for processing S1608, and is usually used. It is possible to acquire bibliographic information from a bibliographic server that is not printed. Therefore, it can be managed with the data structure as shown in FIG. 10B, and bibliographic information can be correctly synchronized even for users who use a plurality of business bases.
Further, in the common processing of each communication process from the image forming apparatus, an authorization token is issued between the journal server and the image forming apparatus (S2207 in FIG. 30), and the authorization token is issued for each connection destination in the data configuration as shown in FIG. By managing it, you can perform printing processing that ensures security.

<Other Embodiments>
The present invention provides a system or device via a network or storage medium with a program that realizes one or more of the functions of the above embodiments. It can also be realized by a process in which one or more processors in the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes a program. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

Although an example of the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment.

As described above, according to the processing of each of the above-described embodiments, even when printing is performed at a base other than the base normally used by the user, the state of the print result can be managed at the base normally used.

110 Management server 122, 132 Bibliographic server 123, 124, 133, 134 Image forming device

Claims (8)

Printing including a management server that manages a plurality of bibliographic servers, a bibliographic server of a first base and an image forming apparatus of a first base, and a bibliographic server of a second base and an image forming apparatus of a second base. It's a system
The bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base synchronize the bibliographic information of the user.
The management server
It manages the bibliographic server used by the user, and sends the information of the bibliographic server used by the specified user in response to the request from the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base.
The bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base are
When the user's bibliographic information is managed and the information of the bibliographic server used by the specified user is received from the management server, the information of the bibliographic server used by the specified user is transmitted to the image forming apparatus of the request source. And
The image forming apparatus of the first base and the image forming apparatus of the second base are
When the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user is received from the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base, the bibliography of the first base is based on the information of the bibliographic server. Receives the bibliographic information of the designated user from either or both of the server and the bibliographic server of the second base, displays a screen including a list of documents based on the bibliographic information, and is selected via the screen. A printing system characterized in that it executes a printing process of a document and sends an update of the bibliographic information based on the printing result to a bibliographic server that has transmitted the bibliographic information of the specified user. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the bibliographic server of the first base is an image forming apparatus having a printing means for printing an image on a sheet. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the bibliographic server of the second base is an image forming apparatus having a printing means for printing an image on a sheet. The image forming apparatus of the first base and the image forming apparatus of the second base are
A display control means for displaying a screen for selecting print data to be printed based on the synchronized bibliographic information is further provided.
The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the printing means prints an image on a sheet based on print data selected via the screen. When a bibliographic information acquisition request is received from the image forming apparatus, the acquisition means for acquiring the information of the bibliographic server used by the user specified by the management server, and the acquisition means.
A transmission means for transmitting the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user and the bibliographic information of the user to the image forming apparatus.
Upon receiving the update of the bibliographic information based on the print result from the image forming apparatus, the updating means for updating the bibliographic information of the managing user and the updating means.
A bibliographic server characterized by having. Printing including a management server that manages a plurality of bibliographic servers, a bibliographic server of the first base and an image forming apparatus of the first base, and a bibliographic server of the second base and an image forming apparatus of the second base. It is an information processing method in the system
The bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base synchronize the bibliographic information of the user.
The management server manages the bibliographic server used by the user, and the bibliographic server used by the designated user in response to a request from the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base. Send information,
The bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base manage the bibliographic information of the user, and when the management server receives the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user, the designated one is designated. Send the information of the bibliographic server used by the user to the image forming device of the requester,
The image forming apparatus of the first base and the image forming apparatus of the second base are bibliographic servers used by the designated user from the bibliographic server of the first base or the bibliographic server of the second base. When the bibliographic information of the designated user is received, the bibliographic information of the designated user is received from either or both of the bibliographic server of the first base and the bibliographic server of the second base based on the information of the bibliographic server. A screen including a list of documents is displayed based on the bibliographic information, the print process of the selected document is executed via the screen, and the bibliographic information based on the print result is sent to the bibliographic server that has transmitted the bibliographic information of the specified user. An information processing method characterized by sending updates of. Information processing method executed by the bibliographic server
When a bibliographic information acquisition request is received from the image forming device, the acquisition process of acquiring the information of the bibliographic server used by the user specified by the management server, and the acquisition process.
A transmission process for transmitting the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user and the bibliographic information of the user to the image forming apparatus.
Upon receiving the update of the bibliographic information based on the print result from the image forming apparatus, the update process of updating the bibliographic information of the user who manages it, and the update process.
An information processing method characterized by including. Computer,
When a bibliographic information acquisition request is received from the image forming apparatus, the acquisition means for acquiring the information of the bibliographic server used by the user specified by the management server, and the acquisition means.
A transmission means for transmitting the information of the bibliographic server used by the designated user and the bibliographic information of the user to the image forming apparatus.
Upon receiving the update of the bibliographic information based on the print result from the image forming apparatus, the updating means for updating the bibliographic information of the managing user and the updating means.
A program to make it work.

Images