JPH10190930A - Composite image-forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a composite image-forming device in which various image- forming outputs are unifiedly managed for each user ID. SOLUTION: In the case that an ID number entered by an ID number entry section of an operation section is verified by an management equipment, a copy operation is permitted and print information by the copy operation is stored in the management equipment. Furthermore, in a print demand from an external device (PC 101 or the like), the user ID is converted into a user ID in the inside of a copy machine 107, and when it is verified by the management equipment, print of code data is permitted and its print information is stored in the management equipment. Since the both are managed by the common ID number, the copy operation and the print operation from the external device are managed by a common database.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite image forming apparatus having a management device for managing the history of image formation output for each D information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a copying function of a copying machine,
In a management device that manages the input of a magnetic card and an ID number, the number of copies for each department is managed.

In recent multifunction devices having both a FAX function and a printer function, a FAX
A device that can separately manage the reception output and the number of printer outputs has been proposed.

[0004]

However, in the above conventional example, there is a disadvantage that the department information of a user who performs printer output by transmitting data from the outside is not managed, so that unified management with a copy user cannot be performed.

According to the present invention, various types of image forming output
An object of the present invention is to provide a composite image forming apparatus that can unify and manage each D.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a composite image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit for forming an image; and a managing unit for managing a history of image forming output for each registered ID information. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an ID number input unit for inputting a first user ID number; and a first ID unit for notifying the first ID number input from the ID number input unit to the management unit. Notification means, code data representing an image to be printed from an external device, external communication means for receiving a second user ID attached to the data, and the second ID number, One I
Conversion information input means for inputting conversion information for converting to a third ID number having a format equivalent to the D number; and converting the second ID number to a third ID number based on the conversion information. ID number converting means for performing, a data converting means for converting the received code data into bitmap image data, and a second notifying means for notifying the managing means of the third ID number, The management means may store the ID number notified by each of the notification means,
When included in the D information, a print permission signal is output to the image forming means.

With the above arrangement, when the ID number input from the ID number input means is authenticated by the management means, the copying operation is permitted, and the printing information by the copying operation is stored in the management means. You. A print request from an external device is converted from a user ID into a user ID inside the image forming apparatus. If the user ID is authenticated by the management unit, printing of code data is permitted, and the print information is managed. Stored in the means.

Since both are managed by a common ID number, a copying operation and a printing operation from an external device can be managed by a common database.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. This is 2
This is a system that connects two independent networks and one public line, and the outline of each device and operation will be described below.

The PC 101 is a computer that is usually used by a user, and is a device that creates a document and exchanges e-mail with another computer connected to a network (hereinafter, referred to as a LAN) 112. Note that the PC 109 has a similar function.

A PC 102 is similar to the PC 101, is connected to a LAN 112, and further has a scanner unit 103 and a printer unit 104 through a general-purpose interface of a computer mounted on the PC 102.
Is connected.

The scanner unit 103 stores the scanner unit 103 on a document created on the PC 102.
And the printer unit 104 is used to print out a document created on the PC 102.

The PC 102 and the scanner unit 103
The system of the printer unit 104 has a simple copy function of printing out an image read by the scanner unit 103 by the printer unit 104 by an operation from the PC 102.

The copy machine 107 has a large liquid crystal touch panel, is an image forming apparatus connected to the LAN 112, and has both a scanner function and a printer function. As a single unit, in addition to having a copy function, it has a function as an electronic filing device by connecting the magneto-optical disc unit 114. Further, the copy machine 107 also has a printer function of a computer or the like, and converts the document or the like created by the PC 101 or the PC 102 or the like into image forming command data via the LAN 112 by the copy machine into bitmap image data. Perform printing. The copy machine 11
0 has the same function.

The FAX machine 108 is an image forming apparatus having a large liquid crystal touch panel, connected to the LAN 112 and connected to the public line 116. As a single unit, a simple copy function and G3
It has a standard facsimile function and also serves as a gateway to another LAN 113 via a public line 116. Note that the FAX machine 111 has a similar function.

Next, a common part of each of the above-described image forming apparatuses will be described with reference to FIG.

The CPU 201 is a microprocessor that controls the entire image forming apparatus, and operates by a real-time OS.

The FAX 202 is a large-capacity hard disk that stores a plurality of applications for the CPU 201 to operate, and is under the control of the CPU 201 described above.

The memory 203 is a work memory for the operation of the CPU 201 and can be accessed from the CPU 201 at high speed.

The high-speed CPU bus 204 is provided with the CPU
A bus for connecting the CPU 201, the FAX 202, the memory 203, and each functional unit to transfer data processed by the CPU 201 to each functional unit or to transfer data between each functional unit at high speed (DMA transfer). belongs to. Generally, a VL bus or a PCI bus is used.

The RIP 205 is a functional unit that receives an image forming command input from an external interface connected to a computer and converts the command into a bitmap image in accordance with the content of the command. The image forming command is a high-speed C
High-speed image bus 216 input from PU bus 204
To output an image. RIP types include PostScript, PCL, LIPS, CaP
SL and the like.

The image processing 206 is performed by the high-speed image bus 21.
6 is a functional unit that performs filtering processing on the image image, such as smoothing processing and edge processing, on the image image input from 6 according to a processing instruction instructed by the CPU 201.

Other functions of the image processing 206 include a character recognition (OCR) function for an image input from the high-speed image bus 216 and an image separation function for separating a character portion from an image portion. .

The compression / decompression 207 is a high-speed image bus 2
07, MH, M
The data is compressed by an image compression method such as R, MMR, JPEG or the like, and the compressed data is transmitted to the high-speed CPU bus 204 or the high-speed image bus 216 again. Compressed data,
It has the function of decompressing data according to the method compressed by this functional unit and transmitting it to the high-speed image bus 216.

The bus bridge 208 is a high-speed CPU bus 2
A bus bridge controller for connecting the CPU 04 and the low-speed CPU bus 209 to absorb a difference in processing speed between the buses. Through this bus bridge 208, the CPU 201 operating at high speed can be connected to the low-speed CPU bus 2.
09, a low-speed operating functional unit can be accessed.

The low-speed CPU bus 209 is connected to the high-speed CPU.
This bus has a bus configuration with a lower transfer speed than the bus 204, and is a bus for connecting functional units having a relatively low processing capacity. Generally, an ISA bus or the like is used.

The modem 210 is connected to the public line 211 and the low-speed C
A functional unit that intervenes with the PU bus 209,
It has a function of modulating digital data sent from the U bus 209 so that it can be sent to the public line, and a function of converting modulated data sent from the public line into digital data that can be processed in the image forming apparatus.

The LAN 212 is a functional unit for connecting the present image forming apparatus to a private network, and is for transmitting and receiving data to and from the private network.
Generally, Ethernet and the like can be mentioned.

The management device interface 214 is a functional unit for connecting the image forming apparatus and the management device 222. The management device interface 214 sends a control command from the image forming device to the management device via the interface 214, This is a functional unit used to return an enable signal from the printer to the image forming apparatus.

The panel interface 215 exchanges various control signals with the operation unit 221 of the image forming apparatus, and transmits signals of input switches such as keys disposed on the operation unit 221 to the CPU 201,
A unit that performs resolution conversion for displaying the image data created by the P205, the image processing unit 206, and the compression / decompression unit 207 on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 221.

The high-speed image bus 216 is a bus for interconnecting the image input / output bus and the scanner interface 217 and the printer interface 219 in various image generation units (RIP 205, image processing 206, compression / decompression 207). This bus is controlled by CP
The data transfer is performed under the control of the bus controller without being controlled by U201.

A scanner unit 218 is a visible image reading device equipped with an automatic document feeder, and includes a RGB three-line CCD color sensor or a one-line monochrome CC.
It has a D-line sensor. The image data read by the scanner unit 218 is transferred to the high-speed image bus 216 by the scanner interface unit 217.

Scanner interface unit 217
In the above, the image data read by the scanner unit 218 is subjected to optimal binarization according to the contents of processing in the subsequent process, and serial-parallel conversion is performed according to the data width of the high-speed image bus 216. , Read RGB color data of three primary colors
It has a function of converting to YBk data.

The printer unit 220 prints the image data received from the printer interface unit 219 as visible image data on recording paper. The printer unit 220 uses a bubble jet printer that prints on recording paper using a bubble jet method or an electrophotographic technology that forms an image on a photosensitive drum using a laser beam and forms an image on recording paper. Laser beam printer. Laser beam printers include a monochromatic printer and a CMYBk color laser beam printer.

Printer interface unit 219
Is a device for transferring image data sent from the high-speed image bus 216 to the printer unit, and a bus width conversion function for converting the bus width of the high-speed image bus 216 into a bus width corresponding to the gradation of the printer to be output. And a function for absorbing a difference between a printing speed of the printer and a transfer speed of image data of the high-speed image bus 216.

The operation unit 221 has a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached on the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hard keys. A signal input from the touch panel or the hard keys is transmitted to the CPU 201 via the above-described panel interface 215, and the liquid crystal display unit displays the image data sent from the panel interface 215. The liquid crystal display displays a function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming apparatus.

Next, the main part of this embodiment is
A method of managing copy / print output information by ID number will be described.

(A) Registration of ID Number from Operation Unit First, the procedure for registering an ID number from the operation unit 221 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in S101, when an ID key is pressed on the operation unit 121, a selection screen (F101) as shown in FIG. 7A is displayed. Then, in S102, when "register ID number" is selected and the OK key is pressed,
An ID number input screen (F10) as shown in FIG.
2)

Next, in S103, a four-digit number is input using the numeric keypad, and in S104, the OK key is pressed to confirm the ID number. Next, in S105, the ID to be further registered
It is determined whether or not there is a number.
Then, after selecting with the ▲ ▼ keys, the process returns to S103 and a number is input again.

If there is no ID number, the ID number is registered when the ID key is pressed to end the ID number registration screen in S107. In S108, the registered ID number is I /
The information is notified to the management device 222 via F214, and is stored in the nonvolatile memory in the management device 222.

As described above, the registration sequence of the ID number ends.

(B) Network user I from the operation unit
D Registration The procedure for registering a network user ID from the operation unit 121 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in S201, "register network user ID" is selected in S102 described above. S
At 202, a character input screen (F103) as shown in (3) of FIG. 7 is displayed. Here, by pressing the input mode key, the input of alphabets and symbols can be selected. Also, numbers can be input from the numeric keypad. Then, the network user ID is input by such an input unit.

Next, in S203, the user presses the OK key to determine the network user ID. In S204, the ID number registered inside is displayed (F104).

Here, when the ID number corresponding to the network user ID is selected with the ▲ ▼ keys and the OK key is pressed,
The corresponding ID number is determined.

If there is a network user ID to be further registered (S205), S202 to S20
Repeat the operation up to 4.

In step S206, the registration screen is terminated by pressing the ID key, and the entered network user ID is entered.
And a table of the corresponding internal ID number are stored in the nonvolatile memory in the copy machine 107.

As described above, the network user I
The D number registration sequence ends.

(C) Copy Operation by Inputting ID Number A procedure for inputting an ID number from the operation unit 121 and performing a copy operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, while waiting for the ID number in S301, a message prompting the input of an ID number is displayed on the copy operation screen of the copy machine 107 as shown in (5) of FIG. 7 (F105).

In S302, when the user inputs a four-digit number, in S303, the copy machine 107
4, the input ID number is transmitted to the management device 222.

When the management apparatus 222 receives the ID number in S312 from the ID number reception waiting state in S311,
It is determined whether or not the received ID number matches any of the registered ID numbers (S313). If there is a match, an enable signal to the copy machine 107 in the I / F 214 is sent. Activate (S3
14). If there is no match, the process returns to S311 while the enable signal to the copy machine 107 remains inactive (S315).

In S304, when the copy machine 107 detects that the enable signal has become active,
A message indicating that copying is possible is displayed on the operation unit 221, and a copy operation is accepted (S305). Accordingly, in S306, when the user performs a copy operation and starts output, the copy machine 107 notifies the management device 222 of the copy condition and the output count signal via the I / F 214.

In step S316, the management device 222 updates the management information corresponding to the received ID number in accordance with the notified information.

In the copy machine 107, when the copy operation is completed in S307, the user presses the ID key to notify the end. And when the ID key is pressed,
In S308, the copy machine 107 notifies the management device 222 of the end of the copy operation via the I / F 214.

Upon receiving the copy end, the management device 222 makes the enable signal in the I / F 214 non-active (S317).

The copy machine 107 confirms that the enable signal has become non-active,
The screen returns to the D number input screen (S309).

As described above, the copy sequence by inputting the ID number is completed.

(D) Procedure for printing from a PC via a network The procedure for outputting document data from a PC connected to the network will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In step S401, the copy machine 107 is in a state of waiting for data reception. In step S402, a process of transferring document data created by the user on the PC 101 to the copy machine 107 is started by a print start command from the user. Along with the transfer of the document data, the PC 101 notifies the copy machine 107 of the network user ID.

In S403, the copy machine 107 searches the registered table for the notified network user ID. If there is a matching user ID as a result of the search (S404), the corresponding ID number is extracted (S405).

In S 406, the copy machine 107 sends the extracted ID number to the management device 22 via the I / F 214.
Send to 2.

The management apparatus 222 is in a state of waiting for receiving an ID number in S414. When receiving the ID number in S415, if any of the registered ID numbers matches the received ID number (S416). ), I / F214
Then, an enable signal to the copy machine 107 is activated (S417). If there is no match, the process returns to S414 while keeping the enable signal to the copy machine 107 inactive (S418).

When the enable signal becomes active (S407), the copy machine 107 starts the document data printing process (S408).

In step S409, when printing is started and the paper is output, the printing conditions and the output count signal are transmitted to the I / F 21.
4 to the management device 222. Management device 222
Updates the management information corresponding to the received ID number in S419 according to the notified information.

When the printing is completed in S410, the copy machine 107 notifies the I / F 214 of the end of the operation.
Is transmitted to the management device 222 via. Management device 222
When the print completion is received, the enable signal is deactivated (S420).

After confirming that the enable signal has become non-active, the copy machine 107 returns to the idle state in S401 (S411).

In the copy machine 107, S4
As a result of matching the user ID in 04, the matching user ID
Does not exist, or when the enable signal is not activated for the ID transmitted to the management device 222, the copy machine 107 transmits a message indicating that printing cannot be started to the PC 101 (S41).
2). In addition, the received data of the same job, including the data received thereafter, is discarded without printing (S413).

As described above, the printing sequence via the network is completed.

As described above, in the management device connected to the copy machine, the user who performs the copy operation,
For a user who prints from a PC on a network, unified management of a database such as the number of print output sheets can be realized based on a common ID number.

In the above example, the conversion table for converting the network user ID into the ID inside the copy machine is provided inside the copy machine, and the copy machine performs the conversion work. Other transformations can be performed in other ways.

For example, a conversion table may be provided on another computer connected to the network to function as an ID number server.

Here, the copy machine notifies the received network user ID to the ID number server. The ID number server, based on the held conversion table, stores the notified network user ID into the I
It converts it to a D number and notifies the copy machine of the result.
If the corresponding ID number does not exist, a conversion error is notified.

The copy machine transmits the ID number notified from the ID number server to the management device. When a conversion error is notified from the ID number server, the same error processing as in the above example is performed. Other operations are the same as in the above-described example.

[0076]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a composite image forming apparatus having a printer function, ID management similar to the copy function can be applied to the printer function, and counter management can be performed using a common database.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a common portion of each image forming apparatus provided in the system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an ID number registration procedure from an operation unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for registering a network user ID from an operation unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for inputting an ID number from an operation unit and performing a copy operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for outputting document data from a PC connected to a network in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing transition of an operation screen in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101, 102, 109: PC, 103: Scanner unit, 104: Printer unit, 107, 110: Copy machine, 108, 111: FAX machine, 112: LAN, 201: CPU, 218: Scanner, 220: Printer, 221 ... Operation unit 222: management device.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image forming means for forming an image,
What is claimed is: 1. A composite image forming apparatus comprising: a management unit configured to manage a history of image formation output for each registered ID information; an ID number input unit for inputting a first user ID number; First notification means for notifying the management means of the first ID number input from the external device, code data representing an image to be printed from an external device, and a second user attached to the data. External communication means for receiving an ID; conversion information input means for inputting conversion information for converting the second ID number into a third ID number having a format equivalent to the first ID number; Based on the conversion information, the second ID number to the third I
ID number conversion means for converting to a D number, data conversion means for converting the received code data to bitmap image data, and second notification for notifying the third ID number to the management means Means, and the management means is an ID notified by each of the notification means.
If the number is included in the registered ID information, a composite image forming apparatus outputs a print permission signal to the image forming unit. 2. The multi-function apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit permits a copying operation when the printing unit detects a print permission signal based on the notification of the first notification unit from the management unit. Image forming device. 3. The image forming unit according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit, when detecting a printing permission signal based on the notification of the second notifying unit, from the managing unit, stores the print permission signal in the bitmap image data by the data converting unit. A composite image forming apparatus, which starts the conversion operation of (1). 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a communication unit for notifying the management unit of information associated with image formation, from the image forming unit to the management unit. While performing the forming operation, notifies the management unit of information associated with image formation, the management unit,
Create management information based on the information associated with the image formation
A composite image forming apparatus characterized by storing. 5. A combination of a domain name and a user name on a local area network as a second ID number according to claim 1, wherein a local area network communication means is used as the external communication means. And a composite image forming apparatus. 6. A network user ID according to claim 5, wherein the third ID number converted from the received second ID number is not registered in the management means, A composite image forming apparatus for notifying that a printing operation cannot be performed. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the third ID number converted from the received second ID number is not registered in the management means. A composite image forming apparatus characterized by being discarded. 8. The composite image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a page description language (PDL) is used as code data representing an image.