JP5003555B2 - Image processing apparatus, control method for the same, and control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine, a control method for the apparatus, and a control program.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copier as an image processing apparatus, when a user inputs authentication information such as a user ID or a password from an operation panel, authentication is performed based on the input authentication information, and authentication is successful. Some configurations allow the use of the device.

  Also, recently, in order to eliminate the burden of the user entering authentication information from the operation panel, the unique information of the authentication medium such as a card is managed in association with the authentication information, and the unique information of the authentication medium is stored. 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses that can perform authentication only by causing a reading apparatus to read are known (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Also, as an authentication medium, in order to reduce the cost of preparing a dedicated card, etc., company-issued employee ID cards, department-issued entry / exit cards with IC chips embedded, and personally owned by each person It is desirable that a wide variety of things such as existing mobile phones and tickets can be used as authentication media.
JP 2005-335282 A JP 2007-58744 A

  However, a configuration that can use various types of authentication media as described above has the following problems.

  That is, among the authentication media, for example, employee ID cards issued by the company, department-issued entry / exit cards, and mobile phones rented by the company are under sufficient security control, while privately owned tickets, bank cards Mobile phones and the like are not under sufficient management in terms of security because the user can discard them freely or lend them to others. It is a problem from the viewpoint of ensuring the security of the image processing apparatus to allow all use of the image processing apparatus without restriction when authentication is performed using an authentication medium with insufficient security management. There is.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an image processing apparatus having high security and a control method for the apparatus that can perform authentication using an authentication medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control program for causing a computer of an image processing apparatus to execute the image processing method.

The above problem is solved by the following means.
(1) Reading means for reading information specific to a medium from an authentication medium used by a user, storage means for storing information specific to the medium read by the reading means in association with the information of the user, The information unique to the medium read by the reading means is transmitted to a management means that manages the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium, and the owner information of the authentication medium is acquired from the management means. And when the user logs in the image processing apparatus by the user, when the medium-specific information is read again from the authentication medium by the reading unit, the read-out medium-specific information and the storage unit A specifying unit for specifying a user who uses the authentication medium from the medium-specific information and the user information stored in association with each other; and the acquisition unit Based on the more acquired owner information of the authentication medium, determining means for determining whether those of others or not the user himself identified by the authentication medium said specifying means, the authentication medium of the others by determining means An image processing apparatus comprising: a restricting unit that restricts the use of the apparatus to the specified user when it is determined that
(2) The storage unit stores the authentication medium owner information acquired by the acquisition unit in association with user information, and the determination unit stores the authentication medium owner information stored in the storage unit. 2. The image processing apparatus according to item 1, wherein the authentication medium determines whether the authentication medium belongs to the user himself / herself or another person based on user information.
(3) The image processing apparatus according to (1) or (2), wherein the restriction unit sets an expiration date of the authentication medium.
(4) The image processing apparatus according to (1) or (2), wherein the restriction unit prohibits use other than a single independent process.
(5) The image processing apparatus according to (1) or (2 ), wherein the restriction unit forcibly embeds information relating to processing as copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data in the processed image data.
(6) The image processing apparatus according to (1) or (2 ), wherein the restriction unit prohibits processing using a network.
(7) The image processing apparatus according to (1) or (2 ), wherein the restriction unit prohibits use other than execution of a job related to a first job using the authentication medium.
(8) a step of reading medium-specific information from an authentication medium used by a user, a step of storing the medium-specific information read in the reading step in association with the user information in a storage unit, and the reading Transmitting the medium-specific information read in the step to a management unit that manages the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium; and acquiring the owner information of the authentication medium from the management unit When the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, when the medium-specific information is read again from the authentication medium by the reading step, the read medium-specific information is stored in association with the storage unit. Identifying the user using the authentication medium from the medium-specific information and the user information, Based on the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquisition step, the step of determining whether the authentication medium is the user himself / herself specified by the specifying step or the other person's authentication, and the determination step And a step of restricting the use of the image processing apparatus to the specified user when it is determined that the medium is a use medium.
(9) a step of reading medium-specific information from an authentication medium used by a user, a step of storing the medium-specific information read in the reading step in association with the user information in a storage unit, and the reading Transmitting the medium-specific information read in the step to a management unit that manages the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium; and acquiring the owner information of the authentication medium from the management unit When the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, when the medium-specific information is read again from the authentication medium by the reading step, the read-out medium-specific information is associated with the storage unit. A step of identifying a user using the authentication medium from the stored medium-specific information and user information Determining whether the authentication medium belongs to the user specified by the specifying step or the other person based on the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquiring step; A control program for causing a computer of an image processing apparatus to execute a step of restricting the use of the image processing apparatus for the specified user when it is determined that the medium is an authentication medium.

According to the invention described in (1) above, when the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, the user who uses the authentication medium is specified, and the authentication medium is the one of the specified user or the other person. If it is determined that it is an authentication medium for another person, the use of the image processing apparatus is restricted for the specified user, so image processing is performed on the authentication medium for another person. An inconvenience of allowing all use of the apparatus without limitation can be prevented, and an image processing apparatus having high security can be obtained.

According to the invention described in item ( 2 ) above, it is determined whether the authentication medium belongs to the user or the other person based on the owner information and user information of the authentication medium stored in the storage means. Can do.

According to the invention described in item ( 3 ) above, the expiration date of the authentication medium is set as the use restriction by the restriction means.

According to the invention described in the preceding item ( 4 ), use other than a single independent process is prohibited as a use restriction by the restriction means.

According to the invention described in the preceding item ( 5 ), information regarding processing is forcibly embedded as copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data in the image data to be processed as a use restriction by the restriction means.

According to the invention described in the preceding item ( 6 ), processing using the network is prohibited as the use restriction by the restricting means.

According to the invention described in the preceding item ( 7 ), use other than execution of the job related to the first job using the authentication medium is prohibited as the use restriction by the restriction means.

According to the invention described in the preceding item ( 8 ), it is possible to prevent the inconvenience of allowing all the use of the image processing apparatus without limitation to another person's authentication medium, and to realize high security.

According to the invention described in ( 9 ) above, when the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, the user who uses the authentication medium is specified, and the authentication medium is the one of the specified user or the other person. If it is determined that the medium is an authentication medium for another person, the computer of the image processing apparatus can be caused to execute processing for restricting the use of the image processing apparatus for the identified user .

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system 1 in which an image forming apparatus 1 as an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is used. In this network system, an image forming apparatus 1, an authentication apparatus 2, and card management apparatuses 3 to 5 are connected to each other via a network 6.

  In this embodiment, as the image forming apparatus 1, an MFP (Multi Function Peripherals), which is a multi-function digital multifunction peripheral having a copy function, a printer function, a FAX function, and the like, is used.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10, a scanner unit 11, a printing unit 12, a recording unit 13, an operation panel 14, a card reading unit 15, an authentication processing unit 16, A network interface unit (referred to as a network I / F unit in the drawing) 17, a card type determination processing unit 18, an image processing unit 19, and the like are provided.

  The control unit 10 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like (not shown), and controls the entire image forming apparatus 1 in an integrated manner such as a copy function, a printer function, and a facsimile function. Further, in this embodiment, when the user determines whether the reliability of the card used for authentication of the image forming apparatus 1 is high or when the reliability is determined to be low, The control is performed such that a restriction is added to the card management information and the card type information is acquired from the card management devices 3 to 5 via the network 6. This point will be described later.

  The scanner unit 11 reads an original set on an automatic document feeder or a platen glass (both not shown) and converts them into image data.

  The printing unit 12 performs a printing operation of printing image data of a document read by the scanner unit 11 or print data transmitted from the outside on a sheet.

  The storage unit 13 includes a recording medium such as a hard disk, and stores the image data, programs, and other various data. In this embodiment, the card-specific information owned by the user and the user name and password as user authentication information are stored in association with each other, and card expiration date information and the like are stored as necessary. The storage unit 13 includes a plurality of boxes as storage areas, and a user box owned by each user, a group box used in a group, a shared box that can be used by all users, and the like are formed.

  The operation panel 14 is used for a user to perform input for operation, or to display an operation screen, a device state, a message, and the like. A key input unit such as a numeric keypad and a start key, and a display unit including a liquid crystal touch panel I have.

  The card reading unit 15 reads information unique to a card used by a user for authentication. A card reader for reading card-specific information in a non-contact manner from an IC card in which an IC chip is embedded, or magnetic information is embedded. It consists of a card reader that reads unique information from the magnetic card.

  In this embodiment, a card is used as an authentication medium, and the card-specific information is a card number. The card may be a card used exclusively for authentication of the image forming apparatus 1, a company-issued employee ID card, or a department-issued entry / exit card. Further, instead of the card, a mobile phone, a ticket, or the like may be used as the authentication medium, and the card reading unit 15 may be configured according to the authentication medium.

  The authentication processing unit 16 determines whether or not the authentication is successful based on the user authentication result performed by the authentication device 2 and constitutes a part of the function of the control unit 10.

  The network interface unit 17 functions as a communication unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from external devices such as the authentication device 2 and the card management devices 3 to 5.

  The card type determination processing unit 18 determines a card type used for authentication based on information acquired from the card management devices 3 to 5 and constitutes a part of the function of the control unit 10. is there.

  The image processing unit 19 performs predetermined image processing on image data or the like of the document read by the scanner unit 11.

  The authentication device 2 includes an authentication server that performs user authentication, and holds authentication information for a large number of users. A schematic configuration of the authentication device 2 is shown in FIG. The authentication device 2 includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, an operation unit 23, a network interface unit 24, and the like.

  The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like (not shown), and controls the entire authentication device 2 in an integrated manner.

  The storage unit 22 includes a recording medium such as a hard disk and stores various data. In this example, as shown in FIG. 4, a user name and a password as authentication information, and use permission information for each user for each function of the image forming apparatus 1 are stored in association with each other. In this embodiment, the usage permission information includes a copy function, a box print function for printing a document stored in a user box, a box storage function for storing a document in a user box, image data of a document read by the scanner unit 11, and the like. Are defined for each of a scan-out function for transmitting an image by e-mail or the like and a fax function for transmitting image data of a document read by the scanner unit 11 by fax.

  The operation unit 23 is used by an administrator or the like to operate the authentication device 2 and includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like.

  The network interface unit 24 functions as a communication unit for transmitting / receiving data to / from an external device such as the image forming apparatus 1.

  The authentication device 2 performs user authentication by comparing and comparing the authentication information transmitted from the image forming device 1 and the authentication information held by itself, and if the authentication result is successful, the image formation for the user is performed. Use permission information for each function of the apparatus 1 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 1.

  Note that user authentication using a card may be performed inside the image forming apparatus 1.

  The card management devices 3 to 5 manage various cards owned by the user. As a representative, a schematic configuration of the card management apparatus 3 is shown in FIG. The card management device 3 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, an operation unit 33, a network interface unit 34, and the like.

  The control unit 31 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like (not shown), and controls the card management device 3 as a whole.

  The storage unit 32 includes a recording medium such as a hard disk and stores various data. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the card number, the name of the user who owns the card, and the card type are stored in association with each other.

  The operation unit 33 is used by an administrator or the like to operate the card management device 3 and includes a keyboard and a mouse.

  The network interface unit 34 functions as a communication unit for transmitting / receiving data to / from an external device such as the image forming apparatus 1.

  The card management apparatuses 3 to 5 transmit the user name and the card type corresponding to the card number to the image forming apparatus 1 in response to the card type acquisition request made by designating the card number from the image forming apparatus 1. .

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described.

  First, when the user inputs authentication information from the operation panel 14, the input authentication information is transmitted to the authentication device 2 by the authentication processing unit 16, and the authentication device 2 performs authentication. Then, the authentication result is returned to the image forming apparatus 1. In the case of successful authentication, when the user uses the card reading unit 15 to read the card used for authentication, the read card number is associated with the user name and password as the authentication information in the storage unit 13 as shown in FIG. Memorized and registered.

  As described above, by storing the card number and the authentication information in association with each other, when the card reading unit 15 reads the card number thereafter, the corresponding authentication information is specified even if the user does not input the authentication information. And sent to the authentication device 2 for authentication.

  The card number read by the card reading unit 15 is transmitted from the card type determination processing unit 18 to the card management devices 3 to 5.

  The card management devices 3 to 5 collate the received card number with the information (shown in FIG. 6) stored in the storage unit 32, specify the user name and card type corresponding to the card number, and The user name and card type are returned to the image forming apparatus 1.

  Based on the received information, the card type determination processing unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 1 determines the card type, for example, whether the card is the employee's ID card, the person's entry / exit certificate, a personal card, or another person's employee ID card, It is determined whether it is an entry / exit certificate of another person, and the card type is stored in association with the card number and the authentication information as shown in FIG. When the user logs in again using the stored card type information, the type of the card used by the user may be determined, or the card type information is acquired from the card management devices 3 to 5 each time the user logs in. Then, the card type may be determined.

  Based on the card type, the control unit 10 determines whether the card used for authentication is highly reliable in security, in other words, whether there is a card that is sufficiently managed in terms of security. In this embodiment, as a card (authentication medium) that is sufficiently managed in terms of security, an employee ID issued by a company with the user's own name, an entry / exit card issued by a department with the user's own name, and a company loan with the user's own name As a card (authentication medium) that is not properly managed in terms of security, such as a mobile phone, etc., which is prescribed by the company, an employee ID card issued by a company other than the other person's name, an entry / exit card issued by the other person's department, and others The company stipulates mobile phones, company-owned mobile phones, privately owned tickets, personally owned bank cards, personally owned mobile phones, etc.

  Then, depending on whether or not the card is highly reliable in terms of security, the control unit 10 restricts the use of the image forming apparatus 1 or allows the user to use it without any restriction.

  As an example of the restriction, a card expiration date may be set. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, if the card is highly reliable in terms of security, such as the employee's ID card or the person's entry / exit certificate, the expiration date is set to indefinite, and the personal card or other person's card If the security is not reliable, set an expiration date.

  When the expiration date of the card used for authentication has passed, the user must input the authentication information again, read the card number, and store / register the relationship between the card number and the authentication information from the beginning. .

  As another example of the restriction, the one-time use of a single function may be permitted and the other use may be prohibited. Specifically, the use of the copy function, the scan-out function, etc. is permitted, and the process involving the reuse (printing etc.) of the data stored in the box, the past execution history reference process, etc. are not permitted. In this case, when the usage permission information for each user for each function of the image forming apparatus 1 is defined in advance, the processing that has already been restricted is applied as it is.

  For example, when the card type is a personal card or another person's entry / exit certificate, as shown in FIG. 9, the box print function and the box storage function are set to not permitted, but are set in advance as shown in FIG. In the usage permission information for each user, “non-permitted” is set for the user with the user name “Nanunino” from the beginning. On the other hand, since the initial use permission information is “permitted” for the user with the user name “Kakikukeko”, it is set to “not permitted” as shown in FIG.

  As another example of restriction, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, the execution date, the name of the image forming apparatus, and the card number used for authentication as shown in FIG. For example, a setting for forcibly embedding information regarding processing as copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data may be performed.

  As another example of the restriction, processing for accessing an external apparatus using a network such as scan-out or facsimile transmission may be set to be prohibited.

  As another example of the restriction, a setting may be performed in which only the execution of a job related to the first job using the card is permitted and the other use is prohibited. For example, when the first job using a card is a copy job, use may be permitted only in the case of a copy job, and use may be prohibited in other cases.

  In addition, when the user registers the association between the authentication information and the card number, it is possible to register that the card is temporarily used by selecting the temporary use registration button, etc. An authentication card for temporary use may be determined to have low reliability, and the expiration date of the card may be set, or other usable functions may be restricted.

  Note that the above-described restrictions on the use of the image forming apparatus 1 are not limited to one, and two or more may be simultaneously employed. For example, in the case of a card with low reliability, an expiration date may be set, and prohibition of box printing, forced embedding of a background pattern, etc. may be executed together.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed by the image forming apparatus 1 when registering an authentication card. This process is executed by the CPU of the control unit 10 operating according to a program recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM.

  When the user inputs authentication information from the operation panel 14, this information is acquired in step S01, and the acquired authentication information is transmitted to the authentication device 2 in step S02.

  When the authentication result is received from the authentication device 2 in step S03, it is determined in step S04 whether or not the authentication is successful. If the authentication has failed (NO in step S04), the process ends. If the authentication is successful (YES in step S04), after obtaining the card number from the authentication card via the card reading unit 15 in step S05, it is determined whether or not the temporary use registration button is pressed in step S06. To do.

  If it is pressed (YES in step S06), the process proceeds to step S11. If not pressed (NO in step S06), in step S07, the read card number is designated and a card information acquisition request is issued to the card management devices 3-5.

  When the user name and card type information corresponding to the card number are transmitted from the card management devices 3 to 5, they are acquired in step S08, and the process proceeds to step S09.

  In step S09, it is determined from the acquired card information whether the card is highly reliable in terms of security. If it is a highly reliable card (YES in step S09), the process proceeds to step S10. If the card is not highly reliable (NO in step S09), the process proceeds to step S11.

  In step S10, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the card number, the authentication information, and the card information are registered in association with each other, and the expiration date of the card is registered as “indefinite”. On the other hand, in step S11, the card number, authentication information, and card information are registered in association with each other, and the expiration date of the card is registered. In the case of temporary registration (YES in step S06), the card number and the authentication information are registered in association with each other, the expiration date of the card is registered, and the temporary use is registered.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the image forming apparatus 1 when an authentication card is used after registration of a card number, authentication information, card information, and the like. This process is also executed by the CPU of the control unit 10 operating according to a program recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM.

  In step S21, when the card number of the authentication card is acquired from the card reading unit 15, it is determined in step S22 whether the card is valid (whether the expiration date has passed). If the expiration date has passed (NO in step S22), the card cannot be used, and the process ends.

  If it is valid (YES in step S22), authentication information associated with the card number is transmitted to the authentication device 2 in step S23. The authentication device 2 performs authentication based on the authentication information and transmits the result to the image forming device 1.

  In step S25, it is determined whether authentication is successful. If authentication is not successful (NO in step S25), the process is terminated. If authentication is successful (YES in step S25), in step S26, information on whether or not the card type or temporary registration registered in association with the card number is acquired from the storage unit 16, and whether or not the card is highly reliable is determined. Investigate. If the card is highly reliable (YES in step S27), the process designated by the user is executed in step S28 without being restricted in use due to the card reliability. However, when the use restriction is set in advance for the user, the use restriction is applied.

  On the other hand, if the card is not highly reliable (NO in step S27), the process designated by the user is executed in step S29 within the range of use restrictions associated with the card reliability.

  As described above, in this embodiment, it is determined whether the authentication card possessed by the user has high reliability in terms of security, and when it is determined that the card is low in reliability, the use of the image forming apparatus is determined. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an inconvenience of allowing all use of the image forming apparatus to a card with low reliability, and to provide an image forming apparatus having high security.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an authentication process performed by the authentication device 2.

  In step S31, authentication information from the image forming apparatus 1 is received, authentication is performed in step S32, and if authentication is successful (YES in step S32), use for the user registered in the storage unit 22 in step S33. Reply permission function. If the authentication is not successful (NO in step S32), an authentication failure message is returned in step S34.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing card information return processing performed by the card management devices 3 to 5.

  In step S41, when a card information acquisition request is received from the image forming apparatus 1, it is checked in step S42 whether or not the corresponding card is registered (YES in step S42), and in step S43, The card information registered in the storage unit 33 is returned. If it is not registered (NO in step S42), it is returned in step S44 that the card is not registered.

1 is a configuration diagram of a network system in which an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is used. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus used in the network system of FIG. 1. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an authentication apparatus. 10 is a table showing a state in which authentication information for each user and use permission information for each user for each function of the image forming apparatus are stored in association with the authentication apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a card management apparatus. It is a table | surface which shows the state in which the card number, the card-owning user name, and the card type are stored in association with the card management device. It is a table | surface which shows the state in which the card number, the user name, and the password were stored in association. 10 is a table showing a state in which card type information is stored in association with a card number and authentication information. It is a table | surface which shows the state by which the box print function and the box preservation | save function were set to disapproval when a card | curd is a thing with low reliability. 10 is a table showing a state in which forcing embedding of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data is set when a card has low reliability. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed by the image forming apparatus when registering an authentication card. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the image forming apparatus when an authentication card is used after registration of a card number, a user name, card information, and the like. It is a flowchart which shows the authentication process performed with an authentication apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the card information reply process performed with a card management apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Authentication apparatus 3 Card management apparatus 10 Control part 11 Scanner part 12 Printing part 13 Storage part 14 Operation panel 15 Card reading part 16 Authentication processing part 17 Network interface part 18 Card type judgment processing part 19 Image processing part

Claims (9)

Reading means for reading medium-specific information from the authentication medium used by the user;
Storage means for storing information specific to the medium read by the reading means in association with the information of the user;
Transmitting means for transmitting the medium-specific information read by the reading means to a management means for managing the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium;
Obtaining means for obtaining owner information of the authentication medium from the management means;
When the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, when the reading unit reads the information specific to the medium from the authentication medium again, the information specific to the read medium is stored in association with the storage unit. A specifying means for specifying a user who uses the authentication medium from the medium-specific information and the user information;
A determination unit that determines whether the authentication medium belongs to the user specified by the specifying unit or another person based on the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquiring unit ;
Limiting means for limiting the use of the own device to the specified user when it is determined by the determination means that it is an authentication medium for another person ,
An image processing apparatus comprising: The storage means stores the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquisition means in association with user information,
The image according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether the authentication medium belongs to the user himself / herself or another person based on owner information and user information of the authentication medium stored in the storage unit. Processing equipment. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restriction unit sets an expiration date of the authentication medium. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit prohibits use other than a single independent process. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit forcibly embeds information relating to processing as copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data in the processed image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restriction unit prohibits processing using a network. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit prohibits use other than execution of a job related to a first job using the authentication medium. Reading medium-specific information from the authentication medium used by the user;
Storing the information unique to the medium read in the reading step in a storage means in association with the information of the user;
Transmitting the medium-specific information read by the reading step to a management means for managing the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium;
Obtaining owner information of the authentication medium from the management means;
When the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, when the medium-specific information is read again from the authentication medium in the reading step, the read medium-specific information is stored in association with the storage unit. Identifying the user using the authentication medium from the medium-specific information and the user information;
Determining whether the authentication medium belongs to the user specified by the specifying step or another person based on the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquiring step;
A step of restricting the use of the image processing apparatus to the identified user when it is determined by the determination step that the authentication medium is another person's authentication medium;
An image processing apparatus control method comprising: Reading medium-specific information from the authentication medium used by the user;
Storing the information unique to the medium read in the reading step in a storage means in association with the information of the user;
Transmitting the medium-specific information read by the reading step to a management means for managing the information in association with the owner of the authentication medium;
Obtaining owner information of the authentication medium from the management means;
When the user logs in to the image processing apparatus, when the medium-specific information is read again from the authentication medium by the reading step, the read medium-specific information is stored in association with the storage unit. Identifying the user using the authentication medium from the medium-specific information and the user information;
Determining whether the authentication medium belongs to the user specified by the specifying step or another person based on the owner information of the authentication medium acquired by the acquiring step;
A step of restricting the use of the image processing apparatus to the identified user when it is determined by the determination step that the authentication medium is another person's authentication medium;
Is a control program for causing a computer of the image processing apparatus to execute.

Images