JP6874885B2 - Information processing equipment, methods and programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to image forming apparatus, methods and programs.

Conventionally, in a network-compatible image forming apparatus represented by an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), a function of transmitting a scanned image to a specified destination via a network has been known, but unlimited transmission of images is permitted. If this is done, there is a risk of information leakage problems.

In this regard, Patent Document 1 is an image in which an administrator (group leader, etc.) is automatically and forcibly added to the destination at the time of image reading and transmission for the purpose of preventing secretly transmitting important image information. Disclose the transmitter.

However, if all the images sent by the user to the outside are sent to the administrator, the monitoring burden of the administrator becomes excessive, and the administrator makes the user suppress the transmission of images to the outside as much as possible. I want to manage only the essential external image transmission.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing information transmission to the outside while reducing the burden on the administrator.

As a result of diligent studies on the configuration of an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing information transmission to the outside while reducing the burden on the administrator, the present inventor came up with the following configuration and arrived at the present invention. ..

That is, according to the present invention, an image forming apparatus for transmitting an image to a set destination, the condition determination unit for determining whether or not the set destination satisfies a predetermined condition, and the condition determination unit. A destination setting unit that sets a pre-registered destination as an image destination when it is determined that a predetermined condition is satisfied, and a destination change that prohibits the change of the pre-registered destination set by the destination setting unit. An image forming apparatus including a forbidden portion is provided.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing information transmission to the outside while reducing the burden on the administrator.

The external view of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. The functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. The figure which shows the administrator setting screen. A flowchart showing a process executed by the image forming apparatus. The figure which shows the administrator setting screen and the job setting screen. The figure which shows the administrator setting screen and the job setting screen. The figure which shows the administrator setting screen and the job setting screen. The figure which shows the administrator setting screen and the job setting screen. A flowchart showing a process executed by the image forming apparatus. The figure which shows the job setting screen. The hardware block diagram of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described later. In each of the figures referred to below, the same reference numerals are used for common elements, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Note that FIG. 1 shows an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) as a typical example of the image forming apparatus 100. Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus 100 will be referred to as an MFP 100.

The MFP 100 of the present embodiment is a network-compatible image forming apparatus, and as shown in FIG. 1, the operation panel 12 of the MFP 100 is equipped with a touch panel type display 14. A menu button for selecting each function provided by the MFP 100 is displayed on the display 14, and the user selects a desired function by touching these buttons.

Here, the MFP 100 of the present embodiment is equipped with a function of attaching a scanned image to an e-mail and transmitting it to the outside of the device. Hereinafter, the function of attaching scanned image data to an e-mail and sending it is referred to as a "Scan to E-mail" function. As shown in FIG. 1, the display 14 displays a button for selecting a "Scan to E-mail" function in addition to a button for selecting a standard function such as copying, faxing, and printing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the MFP 100 is equipped with an IC card reader 16. In the present embodiment, the user can automatically log in to the MFP 100 by holding his / her IC card over the IC card reader 16.

Subsequently, the functional configuration of the MFP 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the functional block diagram shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the MFP 100 of the present embodiment includes a user authentication unit 102, a display control unit 103, a setting information setting unit 104, a condition determination unit 105, a destination setting unit 106, a destination change prohibition unit 107, and an image generation unit 108. , An image transmission unit 109, an authentication information management unit 110, a destination information management unit 112, and a setting information management unit 114.

The user authentication unit 102 is a functional unit for executing user authentication of a user who uses the MFP 100. In the present embodiment, the user authentication unit 102 performs user authentication by collating the authentication information read from the user's IC card by the IC card reader 16 with the registration information registered in the authentication information management unit 110. In another embodiment, the user authentication may be performed based on the authentication information manually input by the user.

The display control unit 103 is a functional unit that displays display control on the display 14 of the operation panel 12 to set a screen for setting a destination for transmitting an image. The display control unit 103 accepts the setting of the destination to which the image is transmitted from the user via the setting screen displayed on the display 14, and displays the processing result and the like on the display 14.

The setting information setting unit 104 is a functional unit for setting various settings by the administrator to the MFP 100. The setting information setting unit 104 provides a screen for inputting setting information via the display control unit 103, and stores the setting information input by the administrator via the screen in the setting information management unit 114.

The condition determination unit 105 is a functional unit for determining whether or not the destination set by the user satisfies a predetermined condition.

The destination setting unit 106 is a functional unit for automatically setting the destination of the e-mail to which the scanned image is attached when the user selects the "Scan to E-mail" function. The destination setting unit 106 reads out the e-mail address registered in advance by the administrator from the e-mail addresses registered in the destination information management unit 112, and forcibly sets this as the destination of the scanned image.

The destination change prohibition unit 107 is a functional unit for prohibiting the change of the destination set by the destination setting unit 106. The destination change prohibition unit 107 displays the destination set by the destination setting unit 106 on the display 14 in a manner in which the user cannot change it via the display control unit 103. Further, in another method, when the destination set by the destination setting unit 106 is changed, the destination change prohibition unit 107 does not set the changed destination as the destination of the image.

The image generation unit 108 is a functional unit for generating an image scanned by a scanner mounted on the MFP 100 as image data (hereinafter, simply referred to as an image) in a general-purpose image format such as JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, or PDF. is there.

The image transmission unit 109 is a functional unit for transmitting the image generated by the image generation unit 108 to the outside via the network. In the following, the image transmission unit 109 will be described based on the case where the image generated by the image generation unit 108 is attached to an e-mail and transmitted to the outside, but in other embodiments, an appropriate file transfer such as FTP is performed. The image file may be transferred to the outside according to the protocol.

The functional configuration of the MFP 100 of the present embodiment has been described above. Next, the administrator setting of the "Scan to E-mail" function in the present embodiment will be described.

In the present embodiment, the administrator makes the following settings for the "Scan to E-mail" function of the MFP 100. That is, when the administrator sets the necessity of automatic setting of the e-mail address (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as the destination or the address) which is the destination of the e-mail to which the scanned image is attached, and the automatic setting is required. Sets one or more destinations to be automatically set. In addition, the administrator sets the presence or absence of a condition for automatically setting the destination, and if the condition is present, sets one or more conditions. Further, the administrator sets the conditions for changing the set destination.

FIG. 3A shows an administrator setting screen 50 for setting the “Scan to E-mail” function. The administrator setting screen 50 can be accessed only by the administrator. As shown in FIG. 3A, the administrator setting screen 50 includes four fields 52, 54, 56, 58. In the field 52, two radio buttons for setting the necessity of automatic setting of the destination are displayed, and in the field 54, three check boxes for setting the destination to be automatically set are displayed. Further, in the field 56, two radio buttons for setting the presence / absence of a condition for automatically setting the destination and four check boxes for setting the condition are displayed. Further, in the field 58, three radio buttons for setting the conditions for changing the destination are displayed.

The administrator selects each item displayed on the administrator setting screen 50. In response to this, the setting information setting unit 104 generates the setting information (hereinafter, simply referred to as setting information) of the "Scan to E-mail" function shown in FIG. 3 (b), and the setting information management unit 114 (FIG. 2).

The administrator settings for the "Scan to E-mail" function in this embodiment have been described above. Next, the process executed by the MFP 100 when displaying the "Scan to E-mail" job setting screen is shown in the figure. This will be described based on the flowchart shown in 4. In the following description, FIG. 2 will be referred to as appropriate.

In response to the touch of the "Scan to E-mail" button displayed on the display 14, the condition determination unit 105, the destination setting unit 106, the destination change prohibition unit 107, and the display control unit 103 of the MFP 100 cooperate. Then, the process shown in FIG. 4 is executed.

In step 101, the necessity of automatic destination setting is determined by referring to the setting information stored in the setting information management unit 114. As a result, if the automatic destination setting is negative (OFF), the process proceeds to step 106, and the job setting screen of the "Scan to E-mail" function (hereinafter, simply referred to as the job setting screen) is displayed on the display 14. Display and end the process.

On the other hand, when the automatic destination setting is required (ON), the process proceeds to step 102, and the presence or absence of the automatic setting condition is determined by referring to the setting information. As a result, when the automatic setting condition is set to Yes (ON), the process proceeds to step 106, the job setting screen is displayed on the display 14, and the process ends.

On the other hand, when the automatic setting condition is none (OFF), the process proceeds to step 103, and a preset address is automatically set as the destination. Specifically, among the "logged-in user", "administrator", and "arbitrary destination", which are candidates for the destination to be automatically set by referring to the setting information, the candidate that is valid (ON) The address is read from the destination information management unit 112 and set.

In the following step 104, the setting of the condition relating to the change of the destination is determined with reference to the setting information. As a result, when all the destination changeable conditions are set to valid (ON), the process proceeds to step 106, the job setting screen is displayed on the display 14, and the process ends.

On the other hand, if either of the conditions that all destinations cannot be changed or only the automatically set destinations cannot be changed is set to valid (ON), the process proceeds to step 105, and the address automatically set in step 103 above is used. Prohibit changes. After that, the process proceeds to step 106, the job setting screen is displayed on the display 14, and the process is completed.

The process executed by the MFP 100 when the job setting screen of "Scan to E-mail" is displayed has been described above. Subsequently, the result of the above-mentioned process is obtained between the administrator setting screen 50 and the job setting screen. It will be explained concretely in comparison.

As shown in FIG. 5A, when the administrator selects the "No" button in the field 52 of the administrator setting screen 50 (when the "No" button is selected, the other fields 54, 56, 58 are displayed. (Grayed out), the job setting screen 70 shown in FIG. 5B is displayed on the display 14. In this case, the job setting screen 70 displays a text box 72 for inputting an address in a state in which it can be input. Therefore, the user can set the destination of the image by inputting a desired address in the text box 72.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the administrator selects the “Yes” button in the field 52 of the administrator setting screen 50 (when the “Yes” button is selected, the other fields 54, 56, 58 are displayed. (The grayout will be cleared), select the "Logged-in user destinations" checkbox in field 54, select the "Always auto-set" button in field 56, and select "All destinations can be changed" in field 58. When the button “” is selected, the job setting screen 70 shown in FIG. 6B is displayed on the display 14. In this case, the address "user@x.co.jp" of the logged-in user is displayed in the text box 72 of the job setting screen 70 without waiting for the user's input. However, in this case, since "all destinations can be changed" is set to valid (ON) as a condition for changing the destination, the user can freely change the contents of this text box 72. Can be done.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the administrator selects the “Yes” button in the field 52 of the administrator setting screen 50, and selects the “Destination of logged-in user” check box in the field 54. When the "Always automatically set" button in the field 56 is selected and then the "All destinations cannot be changed" button in the field 58 is selected, the job setting screen 70 shown in FIG. 7B is displayed. It is displayed on 14. In this case, the address "user@x.co.jp" of the logged-in user is displayed in the text box 72 of the job setting screen 70 without waiting for the user's input.

However, in this case, since "cannot change all destinations" is set to valid (ON) as a condition for changing the destination, the text box 72 is displayed in a mode in which the operation is not accepted. In this case, since the user cannot input the address through the text box 72, the destination is limited to the logged-in user, information transmission to the outside is suppressed, and as a result, information leakage is prevented.

Further, in this case, the text box 72 is displayed in such a manner that its contents (address of the logged-in user “user@x.co.jp”) can be determined. Grayout can be exemplified as such an embodiment, but the present embodiment is not limited to this, and any embodiment can be adopted. Hereinafter, such an aspect will be referred to as "gray out" for convenience.

In another embodiment, when "Unchangeable for all destinations" is set to Enabled (ON), after accepting the operation of the text box 72, the new destination changed in the text box 72 is sent. You may not set it as the destination of the email to which the image is attached (in this case, the email sending job will result in an error).

As shown in FIG. 8A, the administrator selects the "Yes" button in the field 52 of the administrator setting screen 50, selects the "Administrator's destination" check box in the field 54, and selects the "Administrator's destination" check box in the field 56. After selecting the "Automatically set when the following conditions are met" button, select the "When including external destinations" check box, and select "Only automatically set destinations cannot be changed" in field 58. When the button is selected, the job setting screen 70 shown in FIG. 8B is displayed on the display 14. In this case, the text box 72 of the job setting screen 70 is displayed in a state where it can be input, and the user can input a desired address in the text box 72. After that, when the user inputs a desired address in the text box 72, the MFP 100 performs a process of determining whether to automatically add the set destination based on whether or not the input address satisfies the condition. Will be described later.

The processing executed by the MFP 100 when displaying the "Scan to E-mail" job setting screen and the result have been described above. Subsequently, the user can display the destination on the "Scan to E-mail" job setting screen. The process executed by the MFP 100 when editing is performed will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In response to the user editing the destination on the job setting screen of "Scan to E-mail", the destination setting unit 106, the destination change prohibition unit 107, and the display control unit 103 of the MFP 100 cooperate with each other in FIG. Execute the process shown in. In addition, in the setting of the condition related to the change of the destination, when the condition of "all destinations cannot be changed" is set to valid (ON), the user is completely prohibited from editing the destination. The following processing is not executed.

In step 201, the necessity of automatic destination setting is determined with reference to the setting information. As a result, if the automatic destination setting is negative (OFF), the process proceeds to step 211. On the other hand, when the destination automatic setting is required (ON), the process proceeds to step 202, and the presence / absence of the automatic setting condition is determined by referring to the setting information. As a result, if the automatic setting condition is set to none (OFF), the process proceeds to step 211.

On the other hand, in the determination of step 202, if the automatic setting condition is set to Yes (ON), the process proceeds to step 203, and it is determined whether or not the address has been added to the text box 72 of the job setting screen. As a result, if the address is not added (S203, No), the process proceeds to step 208. On the other hand, when the address is added (S203, Yes), the process proceeds to step 204, and it is determined whether or not the added address satisfies the set automatic setting condition by referring to the setting information.

As a result, if the condition is not satisfied (S204, No), the process proceeds to step 208. On the other hand, if the condition is satisfied (S204, Yes), the process proceeds to step 205, and a preset address is automatically set as the destination of the e-mail to which the scanned image is attached by adding it to the address input by the user. Specifically, among the "logged-in user", "administrator", and "arbitrary destination", which are candidates for the destination to be automatically set by referring to the setting information, the candidate set to valid (ON). Address is read from the destination information management unit 112 and set.

In the following step 206, the setting of the condition relating to the change of the destination is determined with reference to the setting information. As a result, when the condition of "all destinations can be changed" is set to valid (ON), the process proceeds to step 208. On the other hand, when the condition "only the automatically set destination cannot be changed" is set to valid (ON), the process proceeds to step 207, prohibiting the change of the address automatically set in the previous step 205, and then step 208. Proceed to.

In step 208, it is determined whether or not the address entered in the text box 72 of the job setting screen has been deleted. As a result, if the address has not been deleted (S208, No), the process proceeds to step 211. On the other hand, when the address is deleted (S208, Yes), the process proceeds to step 209, and it is determined whether or not the deleted address satisfies the set automatic setting condition by referring to the setting information.

As a result, if the condition is not satisfied (S209, No), the process proceeds to step 211. On the other hand, if the condition is satisfied (S209, Yes), the process proceeds to step 210, and after deleting the previously automatically set address in relation to the address deleted by the user, the process proceeds to step 211.

In step 211, it is determined whether or not the destination of the e-mail to which the scanned image is attached is confirmed. This determination can be made based on an event from the user, such as the job setting screen being closed or the start button on the operation panel 12 being pressed. If the destination is confirmed as a result of the determination in step 211 (S211 and Yes), the process ends as it is. On the other hand, if the destination is not fixed (S211, No), the process returns to step 201 and repeats the series of processes described above.

The process executed by the MFP 100 when the user edits the destination on the job setting screen of "Scan to E-mail" has been described above. Next, the result of the above-mentioned process will be specifically described.

When the administrator makes settings with the contents shown in FIG. 8A via the administrator setting screen 50, the job setting screen 70 (including the inputtable text box 72) shown in FIG. 8B is displayed. In response to the display, consider a case where the user inputs an external address in the text box 72 as shown in FIG. 10A.

In this case, the check box of "Administrator's destination" is selected as the destination to be automatically set, and "When the destination is included outside the company" is set as the automatic setting condition, as shown in FIG. 10 (b). A new text box 74 displaying the administrator address "admin@x.co.jp" is displayed on the job setting screen. However, in this case, as a condition for changing the destination, "only the automatically set destination cannot be changed" is set to valid (ON), so that the text box 74 is managed as shown in FIG. 10 (b). The person's address “admin@x.co.jp” is displayed in gray out. Therefore, the user cannot delete the administrator address "admin@x.co.jp" displayed in the text box 74.

That is, in this case, when the user transmits an image outside the company, the image is also transmitted to the administrator, so that the administrator can detect the transmission of information to the outside. Further, by displaying the administrator's address in the text box 74 in a distinguishable manner, it is possible to alert the user that the image is transmitted to the administrator, which is a deterrent against information leakage. Work as a force.

In another embodiment, in this case, after accepting the operation of the text box 74, the new destination changed in the text box 74 may not be set as the destination of the mail to which the image is attached (this). If so, the email sending job will result in an error).

For example, in response to the administrator's address "admin@x.co.jp" being displayed in the text box 74, the user can use the external address "aa@a.co" as shown in FIG. 10 (c). When ".jp" is deleted, in response to this, the text box 74 displaying the administrator's address "admin@x.co.jp" is deleted as shown in FIG. 10 (d). Furthermore, if the user newly enters the company address "shanai@x.co.jp" in the text box 72, "shanai@x.co.jp" does not meet the set automatic setting conditions. (That is, it is not an external address), the administrator's address is not set as the destination, and the text box 74 is not displayed on the job setting screen.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to set to add the destination of the administrator only when a predetermined condition is satisfied. This prevents an increase in the number of images transmitted to the administrator, and as a result, reduces the monitoring burden on the administrator.

Finally, the hardware configuration of the MFP 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the hardware configuration diagram shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 11, the controller (computer) of the image forming apparatus 100 includes at least a processor 20 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus, a ROM 21 that stores a boot program, a firmware program, and the like, and an execution for executing the program. A RAM 22 that provides space, an auxiliary storage device 23 for storing an operating system (OS), various applications, etc., an external connection interface 24 for connecting an external input / output device such as an IC card reader 16, and an operation panel. It includes an input / output interface 25 for connecting 12 and the like, a printer engine 26 for executing print processing, a scan engine 27 for executing scan processing, and a network interface 28 for connecting to a network.

Each function of the above-described embodiment can be realized by a device-executable program described in C, C ++, C #, Java (registered trademark), etc., and the program of the present embodiment is a hard disk device, a CD-ROM, or the like. , MO, DVD, flexible disc, EEPROM (registered trademark), EPROM, etc. can be stored and distributed in a device-readable recording medium, and can be transmitted via a network in a format that other devices can.

Although the present invention has been described above with embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and as long as the present invention exerts its actions and effects within the range of embodiments that can be inferred by those skilled in the art. , Is included in the scope of the present invention.

12 ... Operation panel 14 ... Display 16 ... IC card reader 20 ... Processor 21 ... ROM
22 ... RAM
23 ... Auxiliary storage device 24 ... External connection interface 25 ... Input / output interface 26 ... Printer engine 27 ... Scan engine 28 ... Network interface 50 ... Administrator setting screen 52,54,56,58 ... Field 70 ... Job setting screen 72, 74 ... Text box 100 ... Image forming apparatus (MFP)
102 ... User authentication unit 103 ... Display control unit 104 ... Setting information setting unit 105 ... Condition determination unit 106 ... Destination setting unit 107 ... Destination change prohibition unit 108 ... Image generation unit 109 ... Image transmission unit 110 ... Authentication information management unit 112 ... Destination information management unit 114 ... Setting information management unit

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-064337

Claims (6)

An information processing device that sends an e-mail to the first destination set by the user.
When the first destination includes a destination outside the company, a destination setting unit that adds a pre-registered second destination to the destination set by the user, and
A transmitter that sends an email to the first and second recipients ,
A display control unit that displays a screen for the user to set the destination on the display unit
Have,
The display control unit displays the second destination on the screen when a destination outside the company is set as the first destination, and when the destination outside the company is deleted from the first destination, the first destination. Delete the destination of 2 from the screen
An information processing device characterized by this. A destination change prohibition unit that prohibits the change of the second destination set by the destination setting unit based on the condition relating to the second destination set by the administrator is further included.
The information processing device according to claim 1. A program executed by an information processing device that sends an e-mail to a first destination set by a user.
When the first destination includes a destination outside the company, a destination setting unit that adds a pre-registered second destination to the destination set by the user.
A transmitter that sends mail to the first and second recipients ,
Display control unit that displays a screen for the user to set the destination on the display unit
To function as
The display control unit displays the second destination on the screen when a destination outside the company is set as the first destination, and when the destination outside the company is deleted from the first destination, the first destination. Delete the destination of 2 from the screen
A program characterized by that. A claim that further functions the information processing device as a destination change prohibition unit that prohibits the change of the second destination set by the destination setting unit based on the conditions related to the second destination set by the administrator. The program according to item 3. A method of controlling an information processing device that sends an e-mail to a first destination set by a user.
When the first destination includes a destination outside the company, a step of setting to add a pre-registered second destination to the destination set by the user, and
The step of sending an email to the first and second recipients ,
Steps to display the screen for the user to set the destination on the display unit
Have,
In the step of displaying, when an external destination is set as the first destination, the second destination is displayed on the screen, and when the external destination is deleted from the first destination, the first destination is described. Delete the destination of 2 from the screen
A method characterized by that. Further including a step of prohibiting the change of the second destination set in the step of making the setting based on the condition relating to the second destination set by the administrator.
The method according to claim 5.

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