JP6801745B2 - Image forming device, program, and image forming method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a program, and an image forming method.

In recent years, with the introduction of a plurality of printers, which can be said to be printing devices connected to a network, in a vast office, the problem of information leakage via printed matter is becoming apparent. In other words, as printers take over the print output of many employees, confidential information contained in printed matter output by one employee is often seen by other employees unintentionally. ..

Therefore, a user authentication mechanism is adopted in the printer to deal with information leakage. In this user authentication, the printer does not execute printing immediately when it receives the print data, but temporarily holds (spools) it on the internal hard disk. After sending the print data to the printer, the user goes to the place where the printer is installed, executes a login operation and a print instruction operation on the printer, and printing is executed for the first time. Hereinafter, this specification describes such a usage pattern as on-demand printing. Such on-demand printing is an excellent printing method that can not only prevent information leakage due to misplacement or misplacement of printed matter, but also reduce unnecessary printing and neglected paper documents.

Further, a well-known password authentication is a promising specific example of user authentication that does not use an IC card. When password authentication is performed by the printer, the user ID and password are entered on the touch panel provided on the operation screen of the printer. However, the act of inputting a large number of characters on the touch panel is complicated. Therefore, as a method of reducing the trouble of inputting the user ID, there is a method of displaying a plurality of users on the touch panel and selecting a button indicating the user from among them. At that time, in order to select a desired user from a large number of users, the user names are sorted in alphabetical order or alphabetical order and selected by the first letter. It is a management format like a well-known address book.

An example of an information system including a printer is shown in Patent Document 1 as a prior art document, and an example of on-demand printing is shown in Non-Patent Document 1 as a reference.

However, the conventional technique as shown above has the following problems. In the on-demand printing shown in Non-Patent Document 1, an IC card is used for user authentication. The IC card is excellent in that it requires a minimum of key operations as a user authentication method and is simple. However, the introduction cost of IC cards and card readers is expensive. In addition, it is necessary to register the information of the user to be used in the printer in advance, and for this purpose, a dedicated information system person is required. For this reason, customers who use user authentication using IC cards are limited to relatively large companies.

Although it is well known that on-demand printing is superior in today's office environment, the user authentication mechanism has been a hindrance to the introduction to small and medium-sized enterprises and business entities. Nowadays, it is required to realize on-demand printing by simple user authentication that can be used without using an IC card and without a dedicated information system person in charge.

Furthermore, in a method of reducing the trouble of inputting a user ID, if both alphabetical order and alphabetical order exist, a large area is required to display all the tabs of the acronym on the touch panel. .. In such a case, it becomes necessary to switch between the screen in alphabetical order and the screen in alphabetical order. That is, it is complicated because the time and effort for screen selection increases. Also, in small and medium-sized enterprises and business entities, there are many cases where the number of users is not large enough to manage users in alphabetical order and alphabetical order, so the user management method in alphabetical order and alphabetical order is It was not suitable for on-demand printing with a small number of users.

As described above, there has been a problem of improving the convenience of the user with respect to the technique of providing output data such as print data according to the user operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to improve the convenience of the user when providing output data according to a user operation.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention has a storage means for storing print data including user identification information transmitted by one or more terminals via a network, and a storage means for storing the print data. Among the one or more user identification information, the user identification information in which the print data is held is specified, and the first selection screen including the selection button corresponding to the specified user identification information is displayed. When the selection of the selection button is accepted, the display control means of the above and the second selection screen for displaying the print data based on the user identification information corresponding to the selection button for which the selection is accepted are displayed. The first selection screen includes a display control means and a printing means for printing print data selected as a print target on the second selection screen, and the first selection screen includes an update button and the first display control means. When the update button is selected, the user identification information included in the newly stored print data is specified, and the specified user identification information is updated and displayed on the first selection screen. It is characterized by.

The present invention has the effect of improving user convenience when using a terminal connected via a network.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a printing system connected by a network. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the multifunction device in FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functions of the software of the multifunction device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing details of the print data control unit and the user information generation unit. FIG. 5 is a chart showing the structure of the user information table. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a directory structure of the spool area. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a print data reception process. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a PO Box ID confirmation process. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying the PO Box selection screen. FIG. 10 is a state transition diagram for explaining the display state of the LCD display unit. FIG. 11 is a PO Box selection screen displayed on the LCD display unit. FIG. 12 is a PO Box selection screen displayed on the LCD display unit. FIG. 13 is a PO Box selection screen displayed on the LCD display unit. FIG. 14 is an on-demand print screen displayed on the LCD display unit.

An embodiment of an image forming apparatus, a program, and an image forming method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment)
In this embodiment, a printer connected to a network will be described as an example. The printer according to this embodiment is used by a plurality of client PCs to perform on-demand printing. Conventionally, in order for a network-compatible printer to perform on-demand printing, it has been necessary to perform user registration in advance. The printer according to the present embodiment provides a mechanism for reducing the trouble of user registration. Further, when executing a print instruction operation on the printer, the more users there are, the more complicated it is to search for their own print data. The printer according to the present embodiment provides a mechanism for reducing the trouble of searching for its own print data. The specific configuration and operation will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a printing system connected by a network. The printing system 101 is a general corporate network system. The terminals 102a, 102b and 102c are personal computers assigned to employees in the company, respectively. These terminals 102a, 102b and 102c utilize a common multifunction device 105 through the network 104 when printing a document. The multifunction device 105 includes a copy function, a facsimile function, a scanner function, and a printer function. When a user uses the printer function of the multifunction device 105, user authentication is required. In the user authentication, the user goes to the installation location of the multifunction device 105, selects a print job instructed by the user, and inputs a password or the like as necessary.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the multifunction device 105 in FIG. The multifunction device 105 is substantially equivalent to a computer from the viewpoint of an information processing device. The bus 202 includes a CPU 203, a ROM 204, a RAM 205, a hard disk device (hereinafter referred to as “HDD”) 206 which is a non-volatile storage, an LCD display unit 207 and an operation unit 208 constituting a liquid crystal touch panel, and a printing machine providing a printer function. A mechanism 209, a scanner 210 that provides a scanner function and a facsimile function, a NIC (Network Interface Card) 211 for receiving print data, and a modem 212 for transmitting and receiving facsimile are connected. In the present embodiment, the scanner 210 and the modem 212 are generally known techniques and are not directly related to each other. Therefore, further description thereof will be omitted.

The print data transmitted from the terminal is stored in the HDD 206 through the network 104 and the NIC211. After that, the user operates the operation unit 208, confirms the display contents of the LCD display unit 207, selects his / her own print job, and instructs the execution of printing. Only in this way, the print data in the HDD 206 is supplied to the printing mechanism 209, and printing is executed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functions of the software of the multifunction device 105. A program for realizing a network OS, a printing function, a user authentication function, and the like is stored in the HDD 206 of the multifunction device 105, and the functions realized by the program are shown in FIG.

The print data transmitted from the terminal is sent to the spooler 302 via the network 104. The spooler 302 stores the received print data in the spool area 303 in the HDD 206. Further, the spooler 302 sends out the print data stored (held) in the spool area 303 to the printing mechanism 209 according to the instruction of the print data control unit 304 described later.

The spool area 303 is under a specific directory in the HDD 206. In the present embodiment, since the network OS running on the multifunction device 105 is an OS compliant with POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface for UNIX (registered trademark)), it is “/ spool /”. Alternatively, it may be "/ var / spool /".

The print data control unit 304 realizes some functions. One is to read the header information of the print data received by the spooler 302 and send it as print data attribute information to the user information generation unit 305 described later. The other is to move the print data for which the spooler 302 has completed reception to the user's directory in the spool area 303, and rewrite the file name of the print data (renaming: rename). Further, in order to execute the printing of the predetermined print data in the spool area 303 instructed by the on-demand print screen creation unit 306 described later, the spooler 302 is sent to the print mechanism 209 of the print data. Instruct the output. Further, the predetermined print data stored (retained) in the spool area 303 instructed by the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, which will be described later, is deleted.

When the user information generation unit 305 receives the print data attribute information from the print data control unit 304, whether or not the user information contained in the print data is a new user while referring to the user information table 307 described later. To judge. As a result of this determination, if it is a new user, after adding a new record to the user information table 307, a subdirectory for the new user is created in the spool area 303.

As described above, the spooler 302, the print data control unit 304, and the user information generation unit 305 are functional blocks that operate in response to the reception of print data.

In FIG. 3, the spool area 303 has a function of a print data storage means, the spooler 302 has a function of a reception means, and the user information generation unit 305 has an identification information acquisition means, a registered determination means, and identification information. It has a function of a registration means, and the print data control unit 304 has a function of a print data storage means.

The LCD display unit 207 is a well-known color liquid crystal display. In order to display the color tabs and color marks described later in FIG. 11, it is necessary to have a display element capable of displaying multiple colors. The operation unit 208 includes a touch panel made of a well-known resistor film or the like superimposed on the LCD display unit 207, and various operation buttons. The display control unit 308 controls the display operation of the LCD display unit 207 based on the display data sent from the input / output control unit 309 described later.

The input / output control unit 309 selects one of the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, and the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 described later, and sets the display control unit 308 and the operation unit 208. Connecting. Then, the input / output control unit 309 receives the display data from the selected one of the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, and the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 and passes it to the display control unit 308. Then, the operation information of the operation unit 208 by the user is received, and the operation of sending to the selected one of the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, and the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 is executed. In addition, the input / output control unit 309 also performs an operation of switching the selection of the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, and the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 according to the operation information of the operation unit 208 by the user.

The PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 provides a function of displaying the PO Box selection screen, which will be described later, on the LCD display unit 207. In order to provide this function, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 receives the operation information of the operation unit 208, reads the user information table 307 described later, and creates display data to be displayed on the LCD display unit 207.

The on-demand print screen creation unit 306 provides a function of displaying the on-demand print screen described later on the LCD display unit 207. In order to provide this function, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306 receives the operation information of the operation unit 208, reads the user information table 307, and exchanges necessary information with the print data control unit 304 described later, and displays the LCD. Display data to be displayed on the display unit 207 is created.

The PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 provides a function of displaying the PO Box setting screen on the LCD display unit 207. In order to provide this function, the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 receives the operation information of the operation unit 208, reads the user information table 307 described later, and creates display data to be displayed on the LCD display unit 207.

As described above, the display control unit 308, the input / output control unit 309, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the on-demand print screen creation unit 306, and the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311 are functional blocks that operate according to the user's operation.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing details of the print data control unit 304 and the user information generation unit 305. Here, attention is paid to the print data control unit 304 and the user information generation unit 305 in FIG. 3, and their internal configurations are shown.

The print data control unit 304 has three functional blocks, that is, an attribute information extraction unit 402, a spool file movement processing unit 403, and a print processing unit 404.

The attribute information extraction unit 402 receives the header information of the print data from the spooler 302 and sends it as the print data attribute information to the private book box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305, which will be described later. The spool file movement processing unit 403 receives the PO Box ID from the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305, which will be described later, and the spooler 302 receives the print data of the user (PO Box ID) in the spool area 303. Move to the directory and rewrite the file name of the print data.

The print processing unit 404 outputs the print data to the printing mechanism 209 on the spooler 302 in order to execute printing of predetermined print data in the spool area 303 instructed by the on-demand print screen creation unit 306 described later. To instruct. In addition, the predetermined print data in the spool area 303, which is instructed by the on-demand print screen creation unit 306 described later, is deleted.

The user information generation unit 305 has two functional blocks, a PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 and a PO Box ID confirmation unit 406.

The PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 receives the print data attribute information from the attribute information extraction unit 402, and the POV 302 determines the PO Box ID of the print data received. Then, the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 passes the PO Box ID to the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 to confirm whether or not the PO Box ID has been registered in the user information table 307. The PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 updates the spool number and spool time of the corresponding record in the user information table 307 when the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 completes the confirmation processing of the PO Box ID.

The PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 receives the PO Box ID confirmed by the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 from the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405, searches the user information table 307 by the PO Box ID, and registers the PO Box ID in the user information table 307. Check if it has been done. Then, the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 creates a directory of the PO Box ID in the spool area 303 if it is a new user.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing the configuration of the user information table 307. The "PO Box ID" field is information included in the header of the print data for uniquely identifying the user who uses the multifunction device 105. It can be called a "user ID". The "display name" field is a name that the user wants to be displayed on the LCD display unit 207 of the multifunction device 105 instead of his own PO Box ID. This is arbitrarily set by the user by the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311. In the "PIN" field, a personal identification number set arbitrarily by the user is stored by the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311. The "PO Box color" field stores information on the color of the PO Box that is arbitrarily set by the user by the PO Box setting screen creation unit 311. The "Spool Count" field stores the number of print data existing in the user's spool directory. The "Latest spool date and time" field stores the creation date and time of the latest print data existing in the user's spool directory.

The "latest spool date and time" field is used as a key field for the sort process in the PO Box selection screen display process described later in FIG. This is to display the latest print data first when the PO Box selection screen is displayed on the LCD display unit 207 of the multifunction device 105.

The "latest spool date and time" field is also used as an index when deleting a record of a user who is not used at all in the user information table 307. For example, if the record of a user who has not been used for one month or more is kept, the user information table 307 continues to swell every time a personnel change or the like occurs, and the reference speed of the user information table 307 becomes slow. Therefore, for example, if the process of deleting the records of unused users is automatically executed periodically for 30 days, the trouble of user management becomes unnecessary. When deleting a user, the corresponding spool directory in the spool area 303 is also deleted at the same time.

The above-mentioned user deletion process may be executed periodically about once a day by using a scheduler such as cron, which is well known in POSIX OS. Although not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the current date and time information is acquired from a well-known calendar clock, the contents of the "latest spool date and time" field of the user information table 307 are confirmed, and the user deletion process is executed. A processing unit will be provided.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a directory structure of the spool area 303. A subdirectory with the same name as the PO Box ID is created under "/ spool /", which is the directory of the spool area 303. The file name is a text in which a comma (') is used as a field separator (column separator). From the left end, in the order of fields, "Job number", "Spool date and time", "Page count", "Color printing or black and white printing type", "Paper size", and "Document name". In this way, since the file name represents the specifications of the print data, the detailed information can be obtained only by reading the file name of the print data file existing in the directory of a specific user.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a print data reception process. The operation flow of the spooler 302, the print data control unit 304, and the user information generation unit 305, which starts when the spooler 302 receives print data, is shown.

When the spooler 302 receives the print data from the terminal, the spooler 302 first automatically generates a unique file name and flows the print data into the file (step S701). Along with this processing, the print data received by the spooler 302 is also passed to the print data control unit 304. Subsequently, the attribute information extraction unit 402 of the print data control unit 304 reads the attribute information of the print data from the header of the received print data (step S702).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the reception of the print data is completed (step S703). If the reception of the print data is not completed here, the print data control unit 304 waits until the spooler 302 completes the reception of the print data (NO in step S703). On the other hand, when the spooler 302 completes the reception of the print data and completes the closing process of the print data file (YES in step S703), the attribute information extraction unit 402 of the print data control unit 304 sends the print data attribute to the user information generation unit 305. Pass information. When the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 receives the print data attribute information, it executes the PO Box ID confirmation process described later (step S704) to acquire the PO Box ID of the print data received by the spooler 302. Then, the PO Box ID is handed over to the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406.

Subsequently, the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 of the user information generation unit 305 collates the PO Box ID received from the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 with the user information table 307, and the PO Box ID has already been registered in the user information table 307. It is determined whether or not there is (step S705). Here, if it is an unregistered PO Box ID (NO in step S705), the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 adds a new record of the PO Box ID to the user information table 307, and adds the spool directory of the PO Box ID to the spool area 303. Create (step S706).

On the other hand, when the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 has already registered the PO Box ID received from the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 in the user information table 307 in step S705 (YES in step S705), or step S706 is executed. After that, the PO Box ID of the received print data is fixed. Therefore, the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 passes the PO Box ID to the print data control unit 304. The spool file movement processing unit 403 of the print data control unit 304 receives the private book box ID from the private book box ID confirmation processing unit 405, and moves the print data temporarily held at the time of step S703 to the directory of the private book box ID. The file name is updated based on the print data attribute information acquired in step S702 (step S707).

Finally, the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 updates the record of the PO Box ID in the user information table 307. Specifically, the number of print data files existing in the directory of the private book box ID is checked, the "spool number" field of the private book box ID is updated, and the file name of the latest print data file created in step S707 is used. The "latest spool date and time" field is updated based on the attached "spool date and time" (step S708). Then, a series of processes is completed.

At the time of new user registration executed in step S706, the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 sets the PO Box color to "navy blue" as the default value (default) in the initial state for the new user. Set. The PO Box color value can be arbitrarily changed by the user on the PO Box setting screen described later in FIG.

As described above, when the multifunction device 105 receives the print data, the user information generation unit 305 determines whether or not the user is an existing user. As a result of this determination, if it is determined that the user is a new user, the user information table 307 is immediately registered. Then, a spool directory for a new user is created, and the print data file of the received print data is moved to the directory.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the PO Box ID confirmation process, and shows the details of the process in step S704 of FIG. When the processing is started, the private book box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 first determines whether or not the authenticated user name exists in the print data attribute information received from the attribute information extraction unit 402 of the print data control unit 304. (Step S801). The authentication user name is an arbitrary user name that is input and set from the setting screen of the printer driver installed in the terminal. Here, if the authenticated user name exists (YES in step S801), the authenticated user name is extracted and passed to the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 (step S802) to end the process.

On the other hand, if there is no authenticated user name in step S801 (NO in step S801), the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 is designated as a PO Box ID that is set in advance when the multifunction device 105 is installed. Is confirmed (step S803). Here, if it is a "user name" (YES in step S803), the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 extracts the logon user name from the print data attribute information and passes it to the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406. (Step S804), the process ends. The "user name" is a login ID used for user authentication when using an OS running on a terminal. The OS is, for example, Windows®. When the printer driver installed in the terminal generates print data, it includes this login ID as a user name in the header of the print data.

If the designation format of the PO Box ID confirmed by the PO Box ID confirmation processing unit 405 of the user information generation unit 305 in step S803 is "computer name + user name" (NO in step S803), the PO Box ID of the user information generation unit 305 The confirmation processing unit 405 extracts the computer name and the logon user name from the print data attribute information, passes them to the PO Box ID confirmation unit 406 in a combined format (step S805), and ends the processing.

The "computer name" is an arbitrary machine name given by the installation worker when installing an OS running on a terminal. When the printer driver installed in the terminal generates print data, it includes this machine name as a computer name in the print data header.

As described above, the user information generation unit 305 reads the print data attribute information included in the header of the print data, and first confirms whether or not there is an authenticated user name. If there is an authenticated user name, the highest priority is obtained as a PO Box ID for uniquely identifying the user. Next, if there is no authenticated user name, it is confirmed whether the PO Box ID format set in the multifunction device 105 is set to "user name" or "computer name + user name" in advance. As a result of the confirmation, if it is "user name", the user name is acquired as the PO Box ID from the print data attribute information. If it is "computer name + user name", the computer name and user name are acquired from the print data attribute information, and these are combined to form a PO Box ID.

That is, as soon as the print data is received from the user, the PO Box ID that uniquely identifies the user is read from the header in the print data.

The PO Box ID format depends on how the terminals existing on the network 104 are managed. In the case of Windows (registered trademark), it is divided into a "domain management" method and a "workgroup management" method.

In the case of the "domain management" method, the domain management server exists on the network 104. Since the uniqueness of the user name is guaranteed by the domain management server, the user can be identified only by the user name.

In the case of the "workgroup management" method, the uniqueness of the user name cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, the computer name is added to the user name so that uniqueness can be guaranteed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying the PO Box selection screen. The operation flow of the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310, the input / output control unit 309, the display control unit 308, and the LCD display unit 207, which is started by the user operating the operation unit 208, is shown.

When the process is started, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 acquires information on the "tab color" to be displayed and the "page number" to be displayed from the argument (parameter) passed at the time of startup (step S901). ). Next, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 executes a refined search of the user information table 307 based on the "tab color" acquired in step S901 (step S902). In this refinement search, the value of the "number of spools" field is narrowed down to one or more records.

Next, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 executes a descending sort of the narrowed down records in the user information table 307 based on the value in the "latest spool date and time" field of the user information table 307 (step S903). Finally, the PO Box selection screen creation unit 310 sends the information of nine records in the specified range to the display control unit 308 through the input / output control unit 309 based on the information of the "page number". The display control unit 308 controls the LCD display unit 207 to display information for nine items (step S904). Then, a series of processes is completed.

FIG. 10 is a state transition diagram for explaining the display state of the LCD display unit 207. When the power is off or in the sleep state (state S1001), nothing is displayed on the LCD display unit 207. When the power is turned on from the state S1001 or the state returns from the sleep state, the PO Box selection screen is displayed (state S1002). On the PO Box selection screen, by pressing the update button or color selection tab button described later, the displayed contents change in the state of the PO Box selection screen.

When a specific PO Box is selected from the state S1002 and a predetermined login procedure is performed, the on-demand print screen is displayed (state S1003). On the on-demand print screen, a list of print data is displayed on the LCD display unit 207, and it is individually specified whether to print or delete without printing. When a predetermined button is pressed from the state S1003, the PO Box setting screen is displayed (state S1004). On the PO Box setting screen, the user can set the display name, password, display color, and so on.

11, 12 and 13 are PO Box selection screens displayed on the LCD display unit 207. On the PO Box selection screen 1101 displayed as the display contents of the touch panel, a color tab 1102 for selecting users by color and an "all" tab 1103 for selecting all users are displayed. The color tab 1102 has a dark blue tab 1102a, a blue tab 1102b, a green tab 1102c, a pink tab 1102d, a red tab 1102e, and a black tab 1102f arranged from the left side of FIG.

Below the color tab 1102 and the "all" tab 1103, there is a user display area 1104 that displays up to nine users. A PO Box button 1105 is displayed in the user display area 1104. The PO Box button 1105 is composed of a combination of the color mark 1106 and the user name display field 1107.

In the example shown in FIG. 11, the PO Box buttons 1105 of all users whose print data exists in the spool area 303 are displayed for three people. The user display area 1104 can display up to nine user's PO Box buttons 1105. If the number of all users whose print data exists in the spool area 303 is 10 or more, it is necessary to display the 10th and subsequent users on another screen. For this reason, the previous page button 1109 and the next page button 1110 are displayed at the lower right of the PO Box selection screen 1101.

If the total number of users whose print data exists in the spool area 303 is 9 or less, the previous page button 1109 and the next page button 1110 are displayed in light colors, and the buttons cannot be operated.

If the total number of users whose print data exists in the spool area 303 is 10 or more and 18 or less, the user display area 1104 displays the PO Box button 1105 on two screens. When the first nine items are displayed in the user display area 1104, the previous page button 1109 is displayed in a light color and the button operation becomes impossible, but the next page button 1110 is displayed in a dark color and the button operation is performed. You will be ready to do it. When the 10th and subsequent items in the latter half are displayed in the user display area 1104, the previous page button 1109 is displayed in a dark color and the buttons can be operated, but the next page button 1110 is displayed in a light color. Button operation becomes impossible.

The previous page button 1109 and the next page button 1110 correspond to the designation of "what page" in step S901 of FIG.

Now, in the state of FIG. 11, the "all" tab 1103 is pressed, and the PO Box buttons 1105 of all users in which the print data exists are listed in the user display area 1104. "User 1" is displayed in blue, "User 3" is displayed in black, and "Administrator" is displayed in red color mark 1106.

When the blue tab 1102b is pressed in the state of FIG. 11, the blue tab 1102b is displayed so as to protrude to the front as shown in FIG. 12, and in the user display area 1104, the PO Box of "user 1" belonging to "blue" is displayed. Only button 1105 is displayed. This is the result of the operation when "blue" is specified as an argument in the PO Box selection screen display process of FIG.

Now, suppose that a user named "User 2" has transmitted print data in the state of FIG. When the "user 2" looks at the touch panel of the multifunction device 105, the "user 2" does not exist in the PO Box button 1105 listed in the user display area 1104. Therefore, "User 2" presses the update button. Then, as shown in FIG. 13, the PO Box button 1105d of "User 2" with the green tab 1102c appears. This is the result of the operation when nothing is specified as an argument in the PO Box selection screen display process of FIG. That is, by pressing the update button, the PO Box selection screen display process is executed, and the existence of the print data of "User 2" that was not displayed until immediately before the update button is pressed is displayed.

If the number of users registered in the multifunction device 105 is large but only one user has print data, the PO Box button for one person is displayed in the user display area 1104 of the PO Box selection screen 1101 of FIG. Only 1105 is displayed. Since the corresponding user only has to select and press the button, in this case, it is not necessary to bother to select and press the color tab 1102.

The color tab 1002 is provided in order to more easily narrow down the users when the number of users who have print data increases and the "all" tab 1103 cannot be displayed in the user display area 1104. Has been done.

FIG. 14 is an on-demand print screen displayed on the LCD display unit. Now, when "User 2" presses his PO Box button 1105d in the state of FIG. 13, the displayed contents change as shown in FIG. If you need to enter the password, a screen for that purpose will be displayed, but details will be omitted.

The initial state of the on-demand print screen 1401 is a state in which the "print" tab 1402 is projected. In this state, the print data field 1404 is displayed in the print data display area 1403 together with information such as the document name and the date and time. When the print data field 1404 on the touch panel is pressed, the print data is specified, and the display color is highlighted. Then, when the "print" button 1405 at the lower right of the screen is pressed, the specified print data is printed. On the other hand, if the "Delete" tab 1406 is pressed, the print data specified by the same operation can be deleted.

The application examples listed below can be considered for this embodiment.
(1) In the present embodiment, a multifunction device has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a single-function printer without a copy function, a facsimile function, and a scanner function may be used.
(2) It is also possible to give the multifunction device a web server function, access the multifunction device from the terminal with a web browser, and provide the terminal with a user interface equivalent to the private book box setting screen.
(3) The field separator of the print data file name shown in FIG. 6 is not limited to a comma. The characters used in the file name are, for example, the URL encoding method described in RFC3896 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986) and RFC3548 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3548). If you use the rules for converting with alphanumeric characters and limited symbol characters, such as the Base64 encoding method described in, you can use characters that are not used in those encoding methods or character strings that are unlikely to appear in the field separator. it can.

In this embodiment, the printer function of the multifunction device has been described as an example. Does the multifunction device extract information that uniquely identifies the user from the "authentication user name" or "user name" and "computer name" included in the header of the print data, and is it already registered in the internal user information table? Check if it is. If it is determined that the user is a new user, register immediately and create a spool directory unique to that user. Therefore, the manual user registration work required for the conventional on-demand printing is eliminated, and on-demand printing that does not require user management can be realized.

Further, in the multifunction device of the present embodiment, in order to easily narrow down the users registered in the user information table, the users having the print data file are displayed on the touch panel. Since the user only has to select the button indicating himself / herself from the button list of the user who has the print data displayed on the touch panel, the user who holds the print data can be easily narrowed down.

In addition, to make it easier to narrow down the users, we have added a "PO Box Color" field to the user information table. By selecting and registering any color, each user can be identified by color, and by selecting and pressing the color tab displayed on the touch panel, the user whose print data is held can be easily identified. Can be narrowed down to.

By the way, the printing device of this embodiment includes a control device such as a CPU, a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM, an external storage device such as an HDD and a CD drive device, and a display device such as a display device. It is equipped with input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, and has a hardware configuration that uses a normal computer. The program executed by the printing apparatus of the present embodiment is a file in an installable format or an executable format on a computer such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a DVD (Digital Versaille Disk). It is recorded and provided on a readable recording medium.

Further, the program executed by the printing apparatus of the present embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by downloading via the network. Further, the program executed by the printing apparatus of the present embodiment may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Further, the program of the present embodiment may be configured to be provided by incorporating it into a ROM or the like in advance.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and other modifications, as long as they do not deviate from the gist of the present invention described in the claims. It includes application examples.

101 Printing system 102a-c terminal 104 Network 105 Multifunction device 202 Bus 203 CPU
204 ROM
205 RAM
206 HDD
207 LCD display unit 208 Operation unit 209 Printing mechanism 210 Scanner 211 NIC
212 Modem 302 Spooler 303 Spool area 304 Print data control unit 305 User information generation unit 306 On-demand print screen creation unit 307 User information table 308 Display control unit 309 Input / output control unit 310 Private book box selection screen creation unit 311 Private book box setting screen creation unit 402 Attribute information extraction unit 403 Spool file movement processing unit 404 Print processing unit 405 Private book box ID confirmation processing unit 406 Private book box ID confirmation unit 1101 Private book box selection screen 1102 Color tab 1102a Navy blue tab 1102b Blue tab 1102c Green tab 1102d Pink tab 1102e Red tab 1102f Black tab 1103 "All" tab 1104 User display area 1105a to d Private book box button 1106 Color mark 1107 User name display field 1108 Update button 1109 Previous page button 1110 Next page button 1401 On-demand print screen 1402 "Print" tab 1403 Print data display area 1404 Print Data field 1405 button 1406 "Delete" tab

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-274064

Product Information / imagio / IPSiO Personal Authentication Kit | Ricoh Japan: [Searched on September 18, 2009], Internet <URL: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/imagio/mfp-sol/ic-card/function /function2.html ＞

Claims (8)

A storage means for storing print data including user identification information transmitted by one or more terminals via a network, and a storage means.
A first selection screen including one or a plurality of user identification information stored in the storage means, the user identification information in which print data is held, and a selection button corresponding to the specified user identification information. The first display control means to display
When the selection of the selection button is accepted, the second display control means for displaying the second selection screen for selectively displaying the print data based on the user identification information corresponding to the selection button for which the selection has been accepted, and
A printing means for printing the print data selected as the print target on the second selection screen, and
Equipped with a,
The first selection screen includes an update button.
When the update button is selected, the first display control means identifies the user identification information included in the newly stored print data, and the specified user identification information is used as the first selection screen. Update to display,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that. When the print data is printed by the printing means, it further has a deleting means for deleting the print data selected as a print target on the second selection screen from the storage means.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The print data further includes a user name.
The first display control means displays a first selection screen including a selection button that is displayed including the user name.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . The print data further includes a computer name.
The first display control means displays a first selection screen including a selection button that is displayed including the computer name.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . It has a third display control means for displaying a setting screen for setting a display name to be displayed on the selection button.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the image forming apparatus is characterized. When it is determined that the user identification information included in the print data is a new user, it has a means for storing the user identification information of the new user in the storage means.
The first display control means displays a first selection screen including a selection button on which user identification information of the new user is displayed.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the image forming apparatus is characterized. For the computer of the image forming device
A storage step for storing print data including user identification information transmitted by one or more terminals via a network.
A first selection screen including a selection button corresponding to the user identification information in which the print data is retained is specified from the one or more user identification information stored in the storage step. The first display control step to display
When the selection of the selection button is accepted, the second display control step of displaying the second selection screen for displaying the print data based on the user identification information corresponding to the selection button for which the selection is accepted can be selected.
A printing step for printing the print data selected as the print target on the second selection screen, and
To run ,
When the update button included in the first selection screen is selected, the first display control step identifies the user identification information included in the newly stored print data, and identifies the identified user. The information is updated and displayed on the first selection screen.
Program for. An image forming method performed by an image forming apparatus.
A storage step for storing print data including user identification information transmitted by one or more terminals via a network.
A first selection screen including one or a plurality of user identification information stored in the storage step, the user identification information in which print data is held, and a selection button corresponding to the specified user identification information. The first display control step to display
When the selection of the selection button is accepted, the second display control step of displaying the second selection screen for displaying the print data based on the user identification information corresponding to the selection button for which the selection is accepted can be selected.
A printing step for printing the print data selected as the print target on the second selection screen, and
Only including,
When the update button included in the first selection screen is selected, the first display control step identifies the user identification information included in the newly stored print data, and identifies the identified user. The information is updated and displayed on the first selection screen.
Image formation method.

Images